AllenLowe

I'm going to remain above the fray here, Dan - let's keep our personal things outside -

god help us if Scott Yanow is among the most influential -

let's not get violent, boys, but part of the problem is that Lou Donaldon plays well, but is basically an uninspired soloist in any context (OK, start the screaming and yelling) -

beautiful tune - but let's not forget Johnny Mercer, who wrote the great lyrics -

there are many problems with his late recordings - first, Tommy Campbell, the drummer, sucks, is way too loud; the electric bass dominates the group. The ironic thing is that Sonny, at one time, was working to unclutter the rhythm section; the late groups are nothing but clutter. Also, I hate the sound of the albums; Sonny started using that clip-on microphone, which is incredibly un-natural sounding. And most of the studio albums were mixed terribly, and sound like they were recorded with complete isolation. Sonny sounds like he phoned it in, and everything is equallly loud, as though they were fantasizing they might get some commercial air play. Sad stuff -

"the roots of jazz in america are in the blues" - unproveable and basically untrue - though I agreee that jazz and all of American pop music comes from the musical habits of African Americans - but there's a lot more to it than the blues -

I remember he always used to appear on the Alan Burke Show during the 1960s -

Forget about Oprah and jazz - I heard that she was somewhere accepting an award at the same time as Sonny Rollins - and it turned out she had never heard of Sonny Rollins!

Kenny- I was just goofing - I'm sure Melbourne is fine, as is your station. WKCR just has a particular history -

this is different because its...WKCR - a superior station in every way, which should be supported - Melbourne is ok, but let's face it, it's Melbourne -

jeez, that record Hot Dog is god-awful, to me it smacks of the sad-ass jazz attitude that "hey we can make one of them rock and roll records and make lotsa cash 'cause them kiddies don't know one thing from another it's all the same to them"

I think it's nuts to leave tube equipment on all the time - NOS tubes are slowly disappearing, current production tubes suck, and I hope you guys are all using the good old stuff -

He made some live recordings with Frank Sinatra that are quite good -

ahhh - all those other recordings are masterpieces compared to Hot Dog -

Hot Dog is the worst and most inept attempt at funk that I have ever heard, and that's saying something -

1) Deep Night is a beautiful old tune - my favorite version is Booker Ervin's on Structurally Sound. 2) Evans was also a big admirer of Oscar Peterson. So his taste could certainly waver from the sublime to the ridiculous...

Hot Dog by Lou Donaldson -

I don't know - I recall them together on one of Nieldinger's private releases - I'd have to check my shelves -

There was an album from ca/ 1964. PLays Jazz Standards. Great stuff, not the edited performances. As for the Bridge, I just find that Sonny sounds constricted on that -

Isn't there some stuff he did with Marty Krystall/Buell Neidlinger?

one of the things that happened after the 1950s was that Sonny, who was used to being the dominant tenor saxophonist in jazz, was thrown for something of a loop by the rise of Coltrane. What followed was a real time of search - some sabbatical, some time on the bridge, head shaving, and than a flirtation with the avant garde. (Paul Bley, by the way, has given a fascinatnig account of the session with Hawk). I love Sonny's 60's work, if not all of it is fully realized, especially the "Our Man in Jazz" material. Peronsally I find The Bridge dull and still-born. But I love the Jazz Standards recordings, which are incredible. All and all this is my favorite Sonny -

another fasincating, Monk-related piece, by the way, is Mary Lou Williams' 1944 solo recording of Caravan; it is unlike anything else she ever recorded, and is remarkable in that it shows the INFLUENCE of Monk - very unusual for its time -

maybe we SHOULD end this thread and get onto wholesome pastimes, like making fun of the dead -

The Monk tracks are interesting for a number of reasons. Mary Lou Williams once commented that Monk, in those days, was playing like Teddy Wilson; on the evidence of those recordings he was definitely working in that idiom, though he already had his own take in it. And he developed very quickly - there is an Onyx LP of Monk backing another soloist - I forget which - in which he plays Nice Work If You Can get and Melcancholy Baby; it is from 1941 and he is already the definitive Monk -

What's wrong with you guys? Can't you see "she's" definitely a cross-dresser. The jock strap bulge gives it away -