AllenLowe

well, memory does play tricks, but I just remember there was some buzz in the audience, as Ware had sent in a substitute - I think - but this was 35 years ago - I heard Monk in person only threee times - the first time was at the Vanguard, and he was energetic and amazing. There was another time, somewhere I cannot recall, and he also excellent - the LAST time I saw him was a year or so later, 1970-71 perhaps - it was as part of the Schaefer Beer Central Park music series - maybe someone can check the dates - I believe he only had a trio, not certain, but I recall no horn - and he was practically catatonic, he barely played -

YES- That Bop Thing is one of the greatest McGhee dates -

she's hangin' with Elvis at the mall -

yeah, I was exaggerating, he's not the dullest in the Universe - but maybe the dullest of any tenor with a good reputation - it's just, to me, that in the midst of all this interesting music, he sounds so damn conventional, and not even as a usefoil foil to Monk - just conventional. As I said, I don't want to start a war here, but I get the feeling he was just the guy who showed up on time and knew the music. Interesting sidebar - I saw Monk at the Village Vanguard, circa 1969 or 1970, and he had Pat Patrick playing tenor - and I remember thinking, wow, this guy fits the music nicely. Of course I was a teen than, but that's how I recall it (I also recall that Monk kept introducing "WIlbur Ware on bass," when the bassist was clearly someone else - sorry I don't remember who) -

well, Mike, I know what you mean - but - and I feel like I'm on Jerry Springer, as I've never admitted this in public before - I cannot listen to Rouse. I find him to be the dullest horn player in the universe. There...I've said it - now someone hit me with a chair -

I haven't seen her -

I don't want to start a war here, but I cannot stand Rouse's playing - it is thin, shallow, and boring to my ears - I always prefer Monk in a trio, where he can completey shape the performance - to me Rouse is a classic journeyman performer, competent but uninspired -

funny McGhee story - I interviewed him in the late 1970s; he was standing with his wife (who was white) many years before, when Miles Davis wandered by; Miles points to her, says loudly: "Who's the white bitch?" Charming guy, that Miles...

actually, Mike and Chuck, it's all being issued on wire recordings -

true - but not only is Hawkins great but also Sir Charles -

how come there's no: She's Having My Baby; Puppy Love; River of Shit (the Fugs, and I know he's a big Fugs fan); Moose the Mooche; Hello I Must Be Going; Breaking Up Is Hard to Do; My Heart Belongs to Daddy; Poon Tang; Satisfaction -

pick up the Capitols with Hawkins and Sir Charles Thompson - a fascinating look at the music JUST BEFORE bebop - when McGhee still was more Eldridge-ish -

no less an authority thanTeddy Wilson told the pianist Dick Katz, when he was studying with Wilson back in the 1940s, to listen to Monk because he was "a rhythm master" -

wait - now I think we're confusing him with Huckleberry Hound -

yes, everybody knows that Chuck Berry played GUITAR on those sides with Billie -

absolute best, if you can find it, for sound, is the old Herwin LP, mastered by Nick Perls - amazing -

Actually, Barry Harris can do Monk so well it's scary - Barry lived with Monk at Nica's house for the last years of Monk's life, and told me how strange and catatonic Monk had become - the night after Monk died, Barry played at the Angry Squire, a club in NYC, and did nothing but Monk tunes, nailing the voicings, the touch, the lines, everything - wow!

I'm not trying to frighten you, but before you start classes you might want to watch the film Blackboard Jungle - just as a precaution -

I played in a tribute concert to Monk about 20 years ago, and instead of Monk tunes - which I don't feel I do really well - I played standards that I;d heard him perform and that influenced me in the listening: Just You Just Me, You Are too Beautiful, Tea For Two (all on one Riverside, as I recall) - this was much more manageable for me, in trying to channel the feeling I got from listening to him -

nice guys, well meaning (I did some of a blues series for them) but not real adventurous or cutting edge - I would also be nervous as a lot of the older jazz they re-mastered for Rhino was over-procesed and full of audible noise reduction distortion -

I found Paudras's book annoying sycophantic - it's too bad, as I spent a day with him in NYC in 1980, and he was a truly nice guy with good intentions, who was quite knowledgeable about Bud in both personal and musical ways -

do not as agee about Byas, as here was a guy who was as competetive as they come, and who went to the trouble to show up - I will repeat my earlier assertion that he was seriously upstaged, and, as I mentioned, this is supported by what musicians who were actually playing at the time reported as the contemporarty response from other musicians - and Chuck's point about the use of the word "context" is right on the money-

not Mobley psychodrama - just a guy who realized he was significanly upstaged -

exactly, and ironically so, as, at least where I work, older workers have less absences and stay longer in their jobs -

I agree with Francis, as I understand his point - as a matter of fact, clearly Byas agreed as well, as his stage departure was surprising and unannounced. Yes, he was part of the pre-history of bop, but his playing, great as it was, was briefly swept aside in the bop whirlwind - to understand this is to understand the CONTEMPORARY response to the new bebop boys - Joe Albany once pointed this out to me, saying, yes, guys like Hawkins and Lester Young (his examples) were still great players, but in the very immediate flash of the new style, before the dust settled, their playing suddenly seemed very out of date. Of course, as perspective was gained that changed - and much as I l love Sid Catlett, on this date, Max sweeps him away, as well -