Michael Weiss

I learned Deep in a Dream off of this great record. I played it for Hank after nearly everyone had left the jam session that followed the Town Hall Blue Note concert of 1985. While I was playing he was egging me on with stuff like "yeah, come up this chord, now come down that scale." A precious memory. As most people in-the-know know Hank wasn't invited and appeared anyway. At the end of the night he apparently lost his overcoat, had no money, so Kenny Washington and I cabbed him to Penn Station and gave him trainfare back to Philly.

A memorial service for Percy Heath will take place at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem this Friday, June 10, 7:00 - 9:00pm. 132 West 138th Street between Lenox and 7th Avenues. Many musicians and speakers to appear.

June 24-25 I'll be at the Knickerbocker restaurant (University Place at 9th Street) from 9:45pm. with Gerald Cannon, bass and Daniel sadownick, percussion. No Cover. Michael Weiss

I'll never see another dime from SteepleChase, so I'm not as interested in promoting that recording as my last one, which was self-produced. While I'm not displeased with Milestones, it doesn't have any original compositions of mine and was produced on a shoestring, while Soul Journey's contents are all originals and was made using the finest ingredients (studio, engineer, mastering - not to mention personnel). On my CDBaby page all nine tracks have mp3 samples. I don't know why Amazon doesn't have any samples of Milestones.

[shameless plug] Gotta keep those units moving! cdbaby.com/cd/mweiss

Having grown up in Dallas, I played with Marchel on a number of occasions, beginning with the Recovery Room in the 1970s. Coincidentally I got a call from him yesterday. But for the Jazz Under the Stars concert I brought down Eric Alexander, John Webber and Joe Farnsworth with me. That was in 1998. Haven't been back since.

Having seen them both recently, I'd love to splice together two scenes (and repeat them endlessly in a loop): 1. the parrot in the movie, The Ladykillers, bobbing up and down 2. Keith Jarrett in the Miles Davis Isle of Wight DVD bobbing up and down. Highly recommended!

If I'm not mistaken, the Carnegie Hall concert was produced by my old friend, Kenneth Lee Karpe, who passed away a year and a half ago. Kenny Karpe had a loft in the mid fifties at Park Avenue and 28th street which became a rehearsal space and hang out for a number of musicians - Oscar Pettiford and his big band, Thelonious, Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton, Max Roach and many others. Kenny was involved along with Jules Colomby with Signal Records. He also had some role later on in producing Ravi Shankar. Kenny was a fixture on the NY scene until he became ill a few years ago. He appears briefly in the film Straight No Chaser bumping into Monk on Amsterdam Ave.

Hank played that year at the Angry Squire (NYC) with Duke Jordan. He had a lot of trouble executing, but what did come out of his horn was unmistakably Hank, which I think everyone there was grateful to hear in person.

Students, listen up: There is not one better soloist to learn the language of bebop. Start with Hank, then go on to everyone else. If every jazz program had a required curriculum, it should be that every student (of every instrument) must transcribe 20 Hank Mobley solos and be able to play them along with the records. Jazz education would then be in a much healthier place. There would be no need for clumsy theory books. The Montmartre tapes are classic. Hank is reaching beyond, really stretching. Also, great Tootie Heath - like he plays on the Prisoner. Hank wasn't even invited to appear at the One Night of Blue Note concert at Town Hall in 1985, but he showed up anyway. After the concert, Kenny Washington and I cabbed Hank to Penn Station and gave him train fare back to Philly - he was broke (in more ways than one). Amazing that Blue Note couldn't honor one of their star recording artists.

#1 Go!/A Swingin' Affair - a tie (recorded two days apart). #2 Clubhouse and Gettin' Around - a tie (also recorded consecutive days) Both have the best rhythm sections. Best overall marks for players and repertoire.

You couldn't have put it better. You have to listen! - the composition, the structures, the solos. Sometimes it takes several repeated listenings before these things become apparent. People get distracted by the wrong things because they don't know how to listen to music. All three Columbias are great. Joy Ryder's pieces are not quite as complex but still it's a must have. Phantom Navigator's compositions, like Atlantis are amazingly detailed and complex, not to mention beautiful, such as Mahogany Bird and Flagships. Forbidden Plan-It contains some masterful counterpoint. High Life, represents to me the highest level of artistic expression - composition and improvisation - by one artist, in the 1990s.

Photo #1 is bassist, Bob Cunningham Photo #2 is Cecil Payne

Great record. A no-brainer.

The Jazztet reunited in 1995 for a European summer concert tour. Art, Benny, Curtis, Buster Williams, Carl Allen and myself.

Joe, I don't know if what I practice adds anything substantial to this discussion, but since you asked: My own time at home on the piano is spent playing classical music - *Szymanowski's Mazurkas, Four Polish Dances and Valse Romantique, Scriabin sonatas and etudes - or working on my own compositions. Every now and then I might take a little something through the keys, or blow on a tune for a while. Just playing the instrument for a couple of hours is all I need before a performance. There are several exercises I recommend to my students which deal with scales, fingerings, technique, keys, transposition, problem solving, etc. *These are some of the hippest pieces I've come across in the classical repertoire. I strongly recommend any serious pianists out there to check this stuff out. Marc-Andre Hamelin CD on Hyperion.

Johnny Griffin reunites his quartet with Michael Weiss, John Webber, Kenny Washington for an upcoming two day stint at the Blue Note, NYC, March 15 and 16.

Thanks. Glad you like them. Michael

I drop in a post now and then. I'm not interested in creating a commotion, but if I can add some useful information I will. However, I'm always willing to answer any questions posed to me. Thanks for the invite, Chuck.

To Johnny Griffin fans: Griff is returning to the US for a brief trip next month: We'll be at the Blue Note, NYC on March 15-16. The regular quartet with John Webber and Kenny Washington. Griff then plays a concert in Chicago on March 19 with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. He hasn't played stateside in almost three years.

This is a rare opportunity to hear Joe Wilder blow in a relaxed quartet setting in one of NYC's most comfortable venues. Friday, February 11 Kitano Hotel Park Avenue @38th Street 9:00pm - 12:00am

Some of Bill's best playing on record is on Lou Donaldson's Fried Buzzard.

Bill was around 5'5". The Savoy date is very good - worth having. He played me a cassette of a gig with Bu that included Billy Harper, Slide Hampton and McCoy Tyner. They played Passion Dance! Could have been from Slugs. I played a gig with Junior and Bill at the Village Gate around 1987. Might have been a benefit for Barry Harris' Jazz Cultural Theater. Dig the band that played after us: Tommy Turrentine, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Tommy Flanagan, Art Taylor. Forgot who was playing bass. Can you imagine that? This is a photo from a gig we played in Ancona in 1986.

My collection, all LPs: ORIGINAL SATURNS Invisible Shield Continuation Other Planes of There Cosmic tones for Mental Therapy Secrets of the Sun Interstellar Low Ways Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow featuring Black Harold and Pharoah Sanders We Travel the Spaceways Space Probe Visits Planet Earth at Montreux Vol. 1/2 ORIGINAL SAVOY The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra ORIGINAL ESPs Nothing Is Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1 Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 2 ORIGINAL ACTUEL Solar-myth Approach Vol. 2 ORIGINAL SHANDAR Nuits de la Fondation Maeght Vol. 2 IMPULSE REISSUES Fate in a Pleasant Mood Magic City The Nubians of Plutonia Super-sonic Sounds Jazz in Silhouette Pathways to Unknown Worlds Angels and Demons at Play Astro Black OTHERS It's After the End of the World (MPS) Solar-myth Approach Vol. 1 (Affinity) Pictures of Infinity (Black Lion) Sun Song (Delmark) Sound of Joy (Delmark) Didn't see anyone mention Pathways to Unknown Worlds, one of my favorites. Also the Saturn with Pharoah as well as Continuation, Invisible Shield, Space Probe - all interesting stuff.

Hi Brad, The Bud Powell project with Barry was very enjoyable. We spent two afternoons up at WKCR with the liner notes editor, Peter Pullman (great name!). We listened to every track (all takes) and the tape recorder recorded our conversations and observations. The funny part about it is that when I saw the transcript, there was no reference to when we said what, so by itself the commentary made no sense: MW:"Wow, did you hear that...." BH: "Oh shit...." BH: "They shouldn't have released that...." MW: "Oh man, there's that b9 on the major 7th chord...." I went back and put time-references to the comments so people would at least have some idea of what we were talking about. Barry and I often have musical dialogues over the phone while at our pianos in Weehawken and Brooklyn respectively. Over the years, it's become a very important musical relationship for me. Not many people have the kind of appreciation for the beauty of melody and voice leading as Barry has. As far as Barry participating in a web forum, I think that's a long shot. Hi David (WFIU guy), You guys have my last CD, Soul Journey. Do you have a tape from the Roland Kirk concert? You may have answered Bright Moment's prayers. In the late seventies, there was a small committee of a few musicians, including myself, Dave Miller, Cliff Tinder, who were lobbying the I.U. Auditorium people to bring jazz musicians other than Dave Brubeck, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Al Hirt to Bloomington (you get the picture?). We brought Dexter and then Roland Kirk. The same stuffy bureaucrat that we had to fight with to bring Rahsaan to IU was the one driving him to the airport the morning after the concert when he died in the car! Give Joe Bourne my regards. Come over and visit my page at that other webforum, AAJ.