BillF

Yes, the choice of tunes is a bit disappointing. They were clearly using a big commercial success they'd had with "Moanin'" and "Blues March". And, yes, they did play Shorter tunes at concerts. When I saw the same band three months later in Manchester I recall that they played "Lester Left Town".

American visitors like Stitt, Rollins, Griffin, Webster, Mobley, etc, etc who came here to Manchester's Club 43 seemed to do fine with local pianists like Joe Palin, who played in a sub-Flanagan style. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/oct/18/obituaries.mainsection

Well, Tracey was the house pianist at Scott's during the visits of those Americans and perhaps he wasn't the best for the job, but I don't know who else could have done it. Le Sage was a competent pianist - and vibist too, but he didn't belong to that hard bop clique of Scott, Hayes, King, Deuchar and Seamen who were based on the Scott club. Terry Shannon was fine, but not accomplished technically and Gordon Beck, who was later to do the job excellently, hadn't yet emerged.

I could have added Jimmy Blanton who went at 23. Fortunately, there were exceptions, most notably ragtime pianist Eubie Blake, who continued to play and record until his death at 96 in 1983. (Uncertainty over his birthdate meant that he was originally thought to have reached 100.)

Vi Redd Amber Rudd Benny Green

It's one I've known for about 60 years, but clearly it's time I listened to it again.

So good that we now have nonagenarians in a profession where people used to die at 25 (Charlie Christian, Clifford Brown, Scott LaFaro) or 26 (Fats Navarro).

Labelled "Streamed live on July 27 2021".

I don't think I'll recommend you this one, Gheorghe. It seems to typify exactly the sort of jazz book you don't like. And, of course, it isn't about bebop, despite the cover photo!

Yes, Tracey was decidedly Monkish and, of course, that takes us pretty far from Getz, Lucky and Byas, though not from Griffin, I would have thought. (I haven't forgotten those Five Spot discs.) Another former Monk partner, Rollins, actually praised Tracey's playing.

But Tracey, although stylistically suitable for visitors like Rollins, just wasn't right for Thompson or Byas, nor for Getz, of course. Actually I saw the Scott group with Lucky when they visited Leeds and I saw no signs of tension. But then I remember very little of the gig - just Ronnie's promise to bring to the Leeds club an all American group starring Getz and Stuff Smith. It would be called the Getz Stuff Quintet.

Can you tell him from Kurt Vile?

What about the oft-repeated claim that if you played a Hawkins 33 rpm recording at 45 rpm, it sounded like Bird? This is how it sounded to me.

I'll back the Gitler recommendations and, of course, his sleeve notes were wonderful: "Horace mines a vein of Silver", etc!

The music is the same. I used to own it in this format:

Now playing: