bertrand

I guess the probability of running into them at an airport is higher! Of course, you even got to fly with Jackie Mac. Did you chat with Steve Davis at all? He's a real nice cat. I stayed in the same hotel as Jackie in St. Louis one week-end (as well as Billy Higgins, Richard Davis, Randy Weston, and Sonny Fortune). But that doesn't count, since we were all there attending a Miles Davis conference! Bertrand.

What, they couldnt find a picture of Larry Young from *any* era??? The song titles must be made up by the bootlegger - I wonder what the tunes really are. Rooster, did you find this on e-bay or do you have a copy yourself? If it's the second option, you know what my next question will be... You guessed it: how is the sound quality? Bertrand.

I see that Dream Keeper will need to be revisited by me in the next few days. The live show was definitely great, so maybe I did not listen attentively enough. Bertrand.

In the same spirit as the 'Faces And Places' thread... Have you ever run into any jazz musicians in a 'civilian' context? After all, they need to go to the grocery store or the barber or take the subway like the rest of us. This excludes: 1. Meeting a musician at a gig, obviously 2. Running into a musician that you know on a professional level, because you are a musician or a jazz researcher or someone in the field Not to knock local musicians who are great, but I am thinking more of musicians known on an international level. I know a lot of D.C. musicians, and I've occasionally run into them in the Subway or on the street. However, the odds of running into the three I mention below are very small, especially since I saw them in D.C. and they live in the NYC area. One example I remember from the old board: someone posted that they once ran into Dr. Lonnie Smith at Tower Records. Also, a guy from my office was from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (in fact he moved back there) where the Turbanator lives, and I asked him if he ever ran into a guy with a turban and a cane and a beard. He said he had run into someone with that description at the beach! Anyway, my three: 1. James Williams. I ran into him at Dupont Circle in D.C. one Sunday. I know him a little, and I know he has friends in D.C., so it wasn't unlikely. But he was just walking down the street... 2. I'm 99% sure I saw Ron Carter at the D.C. Zoo one Saturday about two years ago. He had that pipe... 3. One Friday night, I walk into the Borders' in Friendship Heights at the D.C./Maryland border and who do I see but Joe Chambers! I know he has a girlfriend in D.C. (she was with him). I would not have recognized him, except that I had just seen him play in Delaware a few weeks before. My uncle, who is a doctor in St. Brieuc, France (and knows nothing about Jazz) has an amazing story. One time, he had to fly from Paris to his home and took a small chartered plane. The only other passengers were a few 'bizarre' African-Americans. The next day, he was walking with his son who plays the trumpet and knows a little bit about Jazz. They stopped in front of a poster of Miles who was playing that night. My uncle said: 'that's the guy I just flew in with'. Imagine! Miles must have gotten a kick out of sharing a plane with probably the only person in France who had no clue as to who he was! Any other stories? Bertrand.

Speaking of that Terence Blanchard Jazz In Film album... The date 1999 is, I assume, the release date. I wonder when it was recorded. It must be one of Joe Henderson's last sessions, if not the last. How much solo space does Joe get? Bertrand.

The Ballad Of The Fallen (w/ arrangements by Carla Bley) is an absolute masterpiece, not just for Haden's playing, but also for many of the sidemen (Steve Slagle etc.) and especially Dewey Redman, who is just brilliant on La Pasionara. I was lucky to hear this group in July 1985 at the Vitrolles Festival near Marseille, France. It was a 12-piece band, but the Carla Bley half of the group was replaced by other musicians (Ken McIntyre, Jim Pepper, Amina Claudine Myers, Craig Harris, Baikida Carroll). No Don Cherry either. The group was a lot less tight than on the record, although they played the same tunes. Essentially, they played the heads, then each solist got a 10-15 minute spot where they sometimes went into totally unrelated areas (Craig Harris especially). However, Dewey's solo was simply amazing. It was airy, dancing, just plain made you feel good to be alive. I ran into someone who saw the group a few days later, and he said Dewey was good at that concert, but concurred that his solo at Vitrolles was mind-blowing. I sure wish I had a tape of that concert to be able to revisit it. It almost didn't happen because Haden was very ill. They also played in the early nineties at the Duke Ellington School in D.C., with material from Dream Keeper (a much weaker record). This concert was super-tightly arranged, and really blew my mind. Another one I would love to revisit. Bertrand.

In A Few Good Men, Tom Cruise walks right in front of the apartment building in D.C. where I lived at the time (The Allen park, 20th Street, N.W., in Adams Morgan) [or that I had just moved out of, depending on when it was filmed]. Bertrand.

Haven't heard the 4tet, but Al played his ass off last Tuesday with McCoy Tyner at the University of Maryland. Bertrand.

Mike Mossman will be in D.C. next Friday at the Smithsonian's Imax Jazz Cafe, as a guest with the group Cu-bop. Bertrand.

Kevin, I meant that only volume 1 was reissued on CD * a second time *. The original LPs with the covers with jars of preserves came out on CD (and on VHS). Years after they went OOP, the first volume (w/ Henderson, Hubbard, Hancock and Hutcherson - i.e. the 4-H club) was reissued on CD as Town Hall Concert. The other three CDs were not reissued at that time (nor later). Bertrand.

The authorship of 'Blue Ching' is in question. It sounds like a Bobby Timmons tune, but it appears on the legendary rejected Kenny Dorham BN session (the one with Grant Green), so it may be a Dorham tune. Bertrand.

The Town Hall Concert CD in question was volume 1 of One Night With BN Preserved. The other three volumes were never reissued. I sure hope the DVD does come out. I got a free Toshiba DVD player in May with my Sprint rewards but I still haven't hooked it up! If this DVD does come out, it will be a strong incentive to hook up my player. After all, volume 2 had a half-hour set with Jackie McLean, Woody Shaw, McCoy Tyner, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette... Bertrand.

I've wondered about this for years... 'Witch Hunt' from Speak No Evil starts with what sounds like a written introduction, then goes into the head/solo/head structure. I always wondered if this intro was perhaps lifted from a piece of classical music, as was the intro to Woody Shaw's 'Zoltan' on Unity. The answer may be obvious, and I apologize in advance for my complete ignorance of classical music. It's just always struck me as odd, because Wayne's compositions at that time mostly adhered to the head/solo/head format, at least as they appeared on the records. What Wayne had on paper in the privacy of his own home is another story... Of course nowadays, he's revisiting the old tunes and altering them dramatically (e.g. Orbits), or perhaps pulling out sections of the compositions that were not used on the records before. According to an interview with Peter Erskine in the recent BBC radio documentary, Wayne would bring massive scores to Weather Report recording sessions, and Zawinul would extract just a small portion to use on the record. Some accounts have Miles doing the same thing, although Hancock in another interview says that Miles would leave Wayne's stuff pretty much as is. Anyway, any ideas concerning the origins of the intro to 'Witch Hunt' will be appreciated. Bertrand. P.S. Is there any realationship between the tunes 'Capricorn' (which appears on Water Babies and Super Nova), and 'Capricorn II' on Alegria, or are they similar in name only?

Andrew Hill uses Ron Horton when he does use a trumpet player, and I think they are a very good fit. I've talked to Ron a few times, and he has a very deep understanding of Andrew's music. If Andrew is hired to play in a quartet setting, then he seems to choose a sax rather than a trumpet. Most touring quartets are sax + rhythm, rather than trumpet + rhythm. I wonder why that is? Bertrand.

Is there any hope those magical 50% off coupons from last summer will make a reappearance? I still haven't finished going through all the goodies I bought! Bertrand.

Chuck, Please tell us more about the unissued Freddie Redd date. Is this the unissued trio date that is listed in the Mosaic Redd booklet as having been recorded at the same date as Lonely City? Thanks, Bertrand.

Is the second track really called 'Domino', or is it the song 'Domingo' which Golson recorded elsewhere? Bertrand.

I read somewhere that bass player John Menegon's new CD features his current boss, the great Dewey Redman. In light of the fact that Dewey hardly gets to record anymore (and a shame that is - he played beautifully with Jane Bunnett in December), I was thinking of hunting for it. I could find no mention on the web, however. Has anyone heard this? What label is it on? What tunes do they do? Is Dewey on all or most of it? Who else is on it? Where can I find it at not too exorbitant a cost? Thanks in advance, Bertrand.

I think he listened to them - he just didn't include them in his book. The complete history of BN has yet to be written. An album like Evolution cannot be glossed over. It didn't have the influence it should have had, but it's a highly original and satisfying record nonetheless. Bertrand.

He even boasts in the intro about skipping Moncur. I hope this shows up at daedalus books at a discount. I picked up Szwed's Miles book for a fraction of the list price (the fraction is 1/4, to be exact), and they have other remainders of recently issued books. I would galdly pay $7-$8 for Cook's shallow book, but not the list price. Bertrand.

Weizen, Are there really alternates on the JRVG, including one of 'Weaver Of Dreams' which is not even on the Connoisseur? And if so, does Shorter really solo on it (he only plays on the intro on the master take)? And is this alternate really up-tempo, or do you perhaps mean 'Marie Antoinette' instead? Speaking of 'Marie Antoinette', did anyone ever notice how Bill Lee appropriated part of the head for the soundtrack to 'She's Gotta Have It'? I believe it's the fragment entitled 'He's On It'. Bertrand.

Not only was Aric's check good, but Weizy was selling him a CD he ripped off from Starbucks, so he really came out ahead!!! Bertrand.

BruceH, About that Tom Hanks - directed movie. On the one-hand, I appreciated the names of some of my heroes (Dorham and others) being dropped. On the other hand, I thought the character of the black bell boy near the end of the film was totally racist - a throwback to Minstrel shows. My wife and I had a very icky feeling when we saw this on the screen. Surprisingly, none of the reviewer's mentioned this at the time, so I did not expect it. Bertrand.

Jim, Mike, Thanks for the info - I actually got it last week, and hadn't had a chance to post an update. I can't believe I didn't check Brian's book - my mind has just gone since I turned 40. It sure does sound like Jackie on both 'Confirmation' and 'Just Bohemia'. I agree with Jim that the latter tune is very interesting. From Mingus' announcement, I seem to gather that it is *not* his composition. I wonder who wrote it. Also interesting is the jazztet's version of 'Serenata'. This is the same tune that Wayne Shorter plays on Alegria. This is the second instance I know of of a classical piece arranged by Wayne that Golson got to before him (Golson also does 'Valse Triste' under the title 'Tryst' on Stockholm Sojourn). Wayne credits it to Leroy Anderson, but the jazztet version is credited it to 'Bloom'. Danilo Perez also has a tune with that title on a CD from a few years back (must be the same tune), but it's Brad Mehldau who plays on the tune on the Shorter CD. Jim, did you notice how the Anita O'Day set is by-passed in the liner notes? Bertrand.

Leeway, Bohemian Caverns has a *very* bad reputation among musicians, which is why I did not suggest it. It's a nice room, but there's a risk of getting burned. Just a warning... Bertrand.