AllenLowe

depends if it's the good hives or the bad hives... to me Pete Brown is the one sax player I can listen to who plays "funky" in a way which feels natural and not like the run of bad rock and roll saxophone players. He just has the feel and the rhythm - not to mention that on things like Mound Bayou (by Humes again, though it is unfortunately a Leonard Feather tune) he has a time feel that predicts certain bebop things. My favorite thing on Unlucky Woman is when he plays one particularly funky phrase and you can hear the band responding (which includes, I think, Dizzy, IIRC). Another early alto I like is Rudy Williams. and when I heard Earl Warren play in NYC in the '70s, he was playing more alto in that style than anyone I ever heard in person, including Benny Carter (and Earl never recorded in a way that reflected his abilities). and yes, Stoval is quite good, especially with Byas. though now that I think of it the award for Funkiest saxman, who even beats Pete Brown, goes to..... Horsecollar WIlliams with Etta Jones. Amazing stuff.

best stuff is from the 1940s - there's a Classic CD - and there's a solo on a Helen Humes Decca, called Unlucky Women, that may be the single funkiest alto solo ever put on record.

Pete Brown? Greatest blues alto player ever, in some opinions. Ubu - time to draw another line.

and actually it''s not "Jones" but, according to his birth certificate, "Jonz."

I see those connections but also, very powerfully, Dolphy. And interestingly enough the only other alto Julius ever mentioned to me by name was Lee Konitz.

1) Son House in Seattle brand new release, just bought it, everything is in mint shape. 2 cds, live in concert. Arcola Records $10 plus $3 shipping USA, $8 to Europe. 2) Duke Ellington: A Drum is a Woman new issue, great sound Jazz Track mint $8 plus shipping, as above my paypay is alowe5@maine.rr.com

hey, I liked those Savoy Lps - especially in the notes where they tell you how fascinating you'll find the conversations on the stopped takes (which was usually a shrill whistle and somebody yelling "hey,") But the sound was very good. And those were the first Bird I ever heard.

beware - Membram destroys things, sonically.

I think so - he also may have been Mingus' uncle.

funky band.

listening now - 1) nice session but not quite tip top Moore. Even Fruscella, who generally is fine, has a few hesitant moments. But let me say something important, which is that Bill Triglia, who was a friend of mine, is one of the best pianists of that era. Listen to his work on this. 2) Interesting quotes from two musicians I knew in the 1970s, both with whom I was speaking about Fruscella, though at separate times: "Tony was playing that way BEORE Miles, and he also had it together before Miles." - Bill Triglia (see above) "I knew Fruscella! He was doing that Miles thing BEFORE Miles was doing it." - Sir John Godfrey (drummer) this is highly recommended; the musicians sound a little off balance, maybe tired or under-rehearsed (or stoned?); though even Triglia sounds a little hesitant at times and he was straight as an arrow; whatever the cause, this is very precious stuff. I love the '50s in jazz.

yes, and the reality is that good bios capture the essence, as the Monk bio does. It's a rarity for a jazz book. other good jazz books like this: Sue Mingus' (Tonight at Noon?) Death of a Bebop Wife (kinda like if James Joyce got drunk, was hit over the head, and decided to write about Al Haig) Beneath the Underdog (yes I know; still, amazing book, more real than reality) Sun Ra/Miles Davis (both by John Szwed, the smartest guy I know, even if he doesn't return my emails) John Coltrane by Lewis Porter (yeah he plays piano with me but I am completely objective) I may not be typical, probably more but my mind is a blank; also, I find even the bad, tawdry, insane and psychotic stuff inspiring. But that may just be me. Whatever the reason, the life is just such a part of the whole thing that I want it all.

love Fess.

Bud could still play - I wouldn't say he was '40s sharp, but there's plenty there. Years ago a collector in Europe sent me ANOTHER tape of that era Powell, which was even better than those 2, but I don't think it ever got issued. But I don't remember much else about it, unfortunately. The best discussion of this time, musically, was in Dan Morgenstern's notes to one of the reissues of Portrait of Thelonious, if you can find it somewhere.

I have just the opposite response to things like the Monk bio - to me, such large and blunt doses of reality are inspiring. It's like having access to the the kind of consciousness which produces such important work, for better or for worse. You just have to face this stuff. Same with Bud. I find it exhilarating. We're not in Kansas anymore......

I'm with David on this - yes, funny stuff - it's like someone defending themselves in court for shooting someone on the grounds that the victim failed to wear a bullet-proof vest.

if you can find it there's an amazing (and sonically very difficult) cut of Dizzy's small band from 1944 or so with Budd Johnson and George Wallington - probably an air shot, Great music, very early bebop band. I have it on one of those French historic CDs (white cover). I think I also used it on Devilin Tune. I love David Weiss's story - New York in the '70s was kind of amazing - when I think of all the musicians who were still around, like Dickey Wells, Earl Warren, Eddie Durham, Sam Price, yikes, it was like a moveable enclyclopedia of jazz. I was at Jimmy Ryan's one night in the middle '70s, maybe, and who walked by but Budd Johnson with his friend Al Sears. Wish I had a video cam in those days.

might be,

it's weird, I could swear I used that version of West End Blues somewhere - though let me add, for later Bud that this is as good as Geneva, and in significantly better sound: http://www.amazon.com/Lausanne-1962-Bud-Powell/dp/B00004TGOV/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1317153770&sr=1-1 it's Bud live in Lausanne, 1962 - I actually mastered it for a Japanese company and have a LOT of copies (they didn't believe in cash),

a lot of people had to deal with Sly and his thugs, and it was not a pretty picture, from what I've read.

I think it's on Devilin' Tune - I got it off of one of Paudras' cds -

my only orders are to get me out of Maine. I do not want anything left in this god-forsaken place.

well, he can blame lots of people, but he and his whole entourage were quite psychotic and self destructive.

by now, all that were ordered prior to this week have gone out - will ship the latest order in a day or so. Thanks, everyone. Now if we only had some gigs.....

likely.