Ted O'Reilly

I could come across a radio broadcast of Lee Konitz with Sammy Price on piano. That happened on a Saturday afternoon in Toronto, not inside a jazz bar in America.

"Forrest Flower" or Forest Flower? If you mean the live Charles Lloyd, that was released on Atlantic. There was a studio version of the tune from two and a half years earlier, with a different band on Columbia. But from the same 1966 Monterey JF came the John Handy "If Only We Knew/Spanish Lady" release, and that was on Columbia. This might lead one to believe that there might have been an independent recording company taping everything, then making deals with different artists' labels to sell the masters for release

I interviewed Jimmy and asked about The Peacocks...he said it was meant to be just a solo record, but (producer) Stan Getz couldn't keep himself in the control room so there were duets, then full rhythm sections to aid the tenorman. Fine record though, by my measure...

Can't say anything about the technique, but he used cello tuning rather than bass tuning, didn't he? Maybe that's why...

I was at the Nice Jazz Festival that year... Didn't catch that performance -- there was so much going on at the same time! I do remember well a solo piano performance by Rowles in the evening at the amphitheatre.

Maybe the gloves were brown so the stain from the nicotine wouldn't show...

I'll bet the rarest, the one very few of you will have, is the one I recorded and released: "Live At Café des Copains" (Unisson DDA 1004, LP and Cassette). Solo piano from June 26, 1985 (wow! 30 years ago!). It was a pretty hard sell, I'll admit: lack of distribution, no CD release -- couldn't afford to have it in three formats -- and lastly, though terrific, Stanley wasn't really well known. Master tapes available for reissue!!!

Very much agreed. IMO, Alderson spoiled a bunch of otherwise excellent Prestige albums. I've never understood why Schlitten employed him so often. Maybe his studio time came cheap. Bob Porter told me Don used Alderson because Rudy wouldn't let him smoke Mary Jane in his studio That explains a lot...perhaps Alderson had Mary Jane tune the piano, place the microphones and do the e.q. for him. A musician friend told me that (in the Englewood Cliffs studio) RvG banned smoking anything. He remarked that Van Gelder wore white cotton gloves when touching any of the equipment... Apocryphal, or can anyone confirm that?

"Who says jazz don't get on the charts?" Well, maybe a few years back... But it does make me wonder, what was the last instrumental track to make it to the Top Ten? Always used to be, 'til about the mid-60s. (I blame the Beatles!)

Thinking of Jim Hall, the fine Toronto bassist Steve Wallace has proven himself to be a fine writer in the last couple of years, on his blog about "Jazz, baseball, life and other ephemera." He added a fine appreciation of Jim Hall a few weeks back. http://wallacebass.com/?p=4296

My "String Along With Basie" arrived this morning, and has been played through twice. Lovely! Nice to hear Ben Webster with Basie for three tracks, and Illinois Jacquet on the other seven. The only drawback is that (while I already know it) all the personnel / dates info is in Japanese only. Tunes / composers in both Japanese and English, and the original liner notes are in English on the back, and I assume that's the same inside, in Japanese. I have long liked this slightly-odd Basie release, and am happy to have it on CD in nice, honest stereo

A terrific up-to-date interpretation of Sherlock. Perfect for these times! Looking forward to the up-coming series, having seen them all so far. And probably most other interpretations, even those slightly off the canon: Michael Caine, Gene Wilder, Nicol Williamson and many others. Even though I originally dreaded its arrival, the CBS "Elementary" with Jonny Lee Miller (and a female Watson, Lucy Liu!) has proven to be excellent! (And let's not forget that "House" (read Homes/Holmes) was a medical version with Englishman-playing-American-doctor -- Hugh Laurie -- was Sherlock with a drug problem in a hospital instead of Baker Street.) It's a wonderful source of popular drama, is A.C. Doyle's if not quite Shakespeare. I've see the current McKellan "Mr. Holmes" movie, and liked it a lot, maybe seven-and-a-half stars. Interesting idea that almost makes it, and McKellan is fine, as is the always effective and lovely under-recognized actor Laura Linney. assuming that's what this thread is about .... enjoyed the first two (mini-)seasons a lot - hoping for more to come! There have been three seasons produced and shown...and "mini seasons" is only in comparison to most others. (Perhaps you've only seen 6 show, so you have lots to look forward to.) BBC sets out to do a 3-show season, and does it perfectly with cinema-quality production in every way. I think that's far superior to 22 episodes of studio-bound repetitious seasons of most shows... So far, 9 excellent additions to the Holmes oeuvre, 3 more this year. Wonderful, and enough to savour...

There was a pretty good jazz/rock band out of Toronto that carried that name...and they've reformed! http://www.lighthouserockson.com/history.html

"This video is not available", Youtube tells me. Just had a flashback: I recall this being in the library of the radio station where I worked, but I hated the sound of the mono-to-stereo augmentation, and I think I lifted the tonearm after about 2 minutes. I trust the copy I just ordered is the wonderful mono sound you've promised me, JSngry, or yer gittin' the bill! How soon will this one enter the discussion? (I admit to 'admiring', if not quite 'liking' it. Somehow, Drama Meets Power....

Took your advice, and found it on Spanish CD (along with "Steve's Songs" -- gotta be Steve Allen), but it'll take the best part of a month to cross the Atlantic, so you're just going to have to be patient to see if I agree...

I don't think I'm misremembering, but I'm sure in my pop-radio days c.1962/64 I had a 45 of Cast Your Fate that was just the trio, and that later it came out with strings added. Could anyone confirm my five-decade memory? And I wonder if that might have been just about the last instrumental to make a Top 40 list? As the definition of pop-radio for me then, the Programme Director wanted the station sound to be Bobby Darin's "18 Yellow Roses", but I fought for Louis' "Hello Dolly". I mean, it was Louis! (And late night when the PD wasn't listening dropped in :"Every Day" (Basie/Williams) as an oldie.

Sorry, I really don't understand this. Should I read "doesn't really fall down"? And that the reason you like it is that it's well-recorded? ...and Barron's is good because they didn't aim to make it good, just tossed it off -- took the money and ran? (Can't believe that of him.) Really, just need clarification, not being argumentative.

Okay, I'm slow.... What is this signifying? "[...] not only is ornament produced by criminals but also a crime is committed through the fact that ornament inflicts serious insury on people's health, on the national budget and hence on cultural evolution." So, this is not to your taste?

Okay, I'm slow.... What is this signifying?

"Frenesi" by Artie Shaw. (I share a birthdate with Nick Nolte.)

What the heck is going on there???

Agree with Peter here... I think of Abdullah Ibrahim (as Dollar Brand then) in a trio version turning the dross of "Shrimp Boats" into fine-spun gold.

Peter, personal feelings certainly enter into it, and over the years (as a Torontonian, where OP lived) I had some interactions with him, and found Oscar to be a really nice man, so that likely colours my opinion of him, but I liked his playing long before I met him. I might like Allen, too, should I meet him, even though he doesn't like OP.... And while I think of it, there's an OP release that came out many years after its recording which I've enjoyed, "The Oscar Peterson Trio at Zardi's", with The Trio (Ray and Herb) at a Hollywood club in 1995 (Pablo 2PACD-2620-118-2). The piano's out of tune, though not horribly, and the band swings, quite wonderfully. I think it's up there with the Stratford and Concertgebouw albums, and toss in On The Town, too...

Why would this be his Final Album? If he's still playing, he's still creating, and never-say-never-and-all-that. C'mon, he's only 87 -- not even the pianists' ideal *88* years old. ( I happen to have quite a bit of Junior on DATs, and if he were to release some at a later date, wouldn't that negate this "Final Album"?)

Over-cooked the soufflé a bit here, haven't you, Allen? I understand how one could not like Oscar (I do, and thin he could be a terrific accompanist), but "Oscar Peterson was the most incompetent jazz pianist ever"? Really?