bertrand

From jazzleadsheets.com. I was at the first session last year!!! One year ago today (January 3, 2019) we were at the Van Gelder Recording Studio celebrating Herbie's 100th birthday with his family and pianists Frank Kimbrough and Glenn Zaleski. Both Frank and Glenn each recorded a previously unrecorded Herbie Nichols composition, on the same piano Herbie played for his Blue Note sessions. These were the initial recordings that started my new project, the Herbie Nichols Solo Piano Summit. Today, January 3, 2020, on Herbie's 101st birthday, we're announcing that as soon as possible we will be releasing, not just the above two recordings and lead sheets, but 24 previously unrecorded Herbie Nichols compositions recorded by 23 different great pianists (encompassing eight generations!) in our special Herbie Nichols Solo Piano Summit project. All were recorded at the Rudy Van Gelder Studio on the same famous Steinway B piano that Herbie and so many famous jazz pianists (Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and many others) recorded on. As a producer, it was a great honor for me to work with these 23 pianists, who, in turn, all said they were honored to get to pay tribute to this great pianist/composer Herbie Nichols. I'm anxious for everyone to get to hear these new, previously unrecorded Herbie Nichols compositions. Look for more announcements about the specifics of the project from jazzleadsheets.com. Herbie Nichols is a classic example of a visionary jazz composer whose music was way ahead of its time. His life story and music have some parallels to those of Thelonious Monk, whom he knew well. Like Monk, Nichols wrote music in the 1940s and '50s that was much more advanced and idiosyncratic than the mainstream of jazz at the time. However, whereas Monk's music became widely known later in his life, Nichols did not live long enough to see such recognition. During his lifetime, he was mostly known as a Dixieland, rhythm and blues, and swing pianist and as the composer of Lady Sings The Blues, a classic ballad that Billie Holiday added lyrics to and recorded in 1956. Only after his death (at age 44) did the larger jazz community start to discover more of his music. Nichols recorded only seven sessions as a leader. The first was in 1952, later released on the Savoy label; this was a quartet session of standards and blues and included his first recorded composition, Who's Blues. The three instrumental tracks from this session only happened because there was time left over after the main two vocal tracks were recorded (bassist/vocalist Chocolate Williams and the Chocolateers). In 1955 and 1956 he did five sessions for Blue Note, his best-known recordings. Almost entirely comprising original compositions, these sessions featured Nichols in trio settings with Al McKibbon or Teddy Kotick on bass, and Art Blakey or Max Roach on drums. These recordings, some of which were not released until the 1990s, are the definitive examples of Nichols' playing and composing styles. His songs are playful and endlessly inventive, while mostly keeping AABA-based forms. The melodic and harmonic language is at times quirky like Monk's, but often bluesier and not as jagged-edged; many of his melodies are quite singable. However, Herbie also had tremendous "chops" and could really fly over the keyboard. Nichols' soloing on these Blue Note recordings is quite unusual: not purely improvisation, most of the time he simply plays variations on his melodies—something Monk would also do, but not as much as Nichols did. Nichols' last recording as a leader was the Bethlehem album "Love, Gloom, Cash, Love", recorded in 1957 with George Duvivier on bass and Dannie Richmond on drums. In the 1980s and '90s, several musicians started playing Herbie Nichols' compositions. Trombonist Roswell Rudd, who knew Nichols in the '60s, published a book of some of Nichols' songs that were not recorded in his lifetime. Rudd recorded these, as did the Herbie Nichols Project, a group led by pianist Frank Kimbrough and bassist Ben Allison which recorded three albums in 1995-96, 1999, and 2001. Others who have recorded and/or performed Nichols' songs include Steve Lacy, Vijay Iyer, and Julian Priester. Many of Nichols' other compositions, however, have yet to be recorded. Don Sickler: I first read about Herbie Nichols in A.B. Spellman's great book, "Black Music." Later, when Herbie's grand nephew Lawrence Sealey came on the scene, I learned a lot more about Herbie from Mark Miller's fantastic portrait, "Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life."

Wayne was not given the tapes to destroy, I guarantee you. I was hoping he would remember the 5 compositions that were on the session. It was in 2006. He was 73 at the time. And he still remembers his music today at the age of 86. It was Matt Pierson. I asked a couple of people who heard it. Not a funk record by any stretch.

I believe Horace got the Pep's tapes, but Shorter did not ask for his session. When I worked on the composition appendix for the Shorter book, I tried to get more info on what the 5 songs actually were. Wayne's response was that he did not remember the record at all! I remember that comment about Pearson, and I am trying to figure out more about Wayne's relationship with Duke. Duke produced four Wayne sessions for Blue Note, I am not convinced Wayne was not happy with his work. Joe Chambers told me Duke was very hands off, almost invisible, at the sessions, so how could he mess it up? Lots of loose ends to tie up...

The website is not a reality yet, but just to get things rolling I started a Duke Pearson Research group on Facebook. Would love to see some board members. My friend, the great guitarist Steve Herberman has dug up a lot of great newspaper articles. Steve also moderates an AMAZING Wes Montgomery Facebook Research group.

Now I really, really want to hear the Dorham. It's like telling a kid not to put his fingers in the light socket. Not quite true. When Blue Note asked those of us on the old board for archival release suggestions in 1999 for the 60th anniversary, this one came up and was dismissed. Now it's the 80th anniversary and they have new management. Typical of the business world, no way around it.

Seriously, if he tries to take credit for the find as if no one thought of it before him, I will spill the beans on social media.

Are the Kenny Dorham and Wayne Shorter rejected sessions up next.

If there is a press release touting the Blakey as a lost treasure unearthed by everyone's favorite 'Jazz Detective' in the bowels of the Blue Note vaults, I will puke. I hope said Jazz Detective applied his skills to figuring out the composer of 'Jimerick'.

I think the son Chuck met passed away a few years ago. The relationship to Malcolm is fascinating. I know someone who might have more info. I will check in and report back.

Amazon used to say when a CD was an on-demand printing. It was hard to find on the page, but now I don't see it anymore. Can anyone find an example of where it says it? Did they decide not to mention it anymore? I was looking at Jack Wilson's Something Personal. In contrast, Deep Discount shows it clearly. Example: Got a Good Thing Goin (Manufactured on Demand)

Yes. I am talking about sessions that were released. Instead of having Frank or Duke as sole producers, they are given joint credit. Never noticed that before. Thinking of Home does not know which to credit. Another thing I noticed: Duke produced his first big band record, 12/15/67. Alfred retired in July/August 1967. I assume he was the only producer up until then, unless someone has a counterexample. So that first big band record may be the first session Duke ever produced, unless someone has a counterexample. I am wondering where info about producer credit is actually stored. The session logs? I am working on a website that will house all my ongoing research on Duke. One section will give a chronological listing of all sessions he produced. Hopefully, we will eventuelly establish which was first and last. 12/15/67 is one of the first. The 1975 Turrentine compilation may be one of the last, but he did not produce the original sessions. The 1974 Moceir Santos is one of the last he produced. Bertrand.

Interesting new find: several Hutcherson sessions and one Lee Morgan list Wolff and Pearson as co-producers.

There is a stash at the Library of Congress.

Someone could put them out as a 'true' bootleg.

My blog piece: https://americanart.si.edu/blog/take-five-duke-pearson-and-blue-note-records

Why are there still missing tracks? Was Sony not able to get the rights to the 6 tracks that were on the original Capitol LP? I thought these were going to come out one set at a time, so I bought Machine Gun, set 1, when it came out. I guess they changed their mind...

What else would be on that album, other than the three tracks? Is there really enough for an album? I played portions of a 1970 interview with Duke, a track from the Newport Jazztet date, and a rejected track from Solid which popped up on YouTube.

I will explain about the blurb at the concert.

Billy Preston was the 5th Beatle. Or 6th, if you also count George Martin. And of course, there was Stu Sutcliffe.

This Saturday in Baltimore, caught David with special guests Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur III and Dave Burrell. They were in town for the Paris/Algiers conference at Johns Hopkins. I was in the front row.

Reminder: If you are in DC tonight, swing by the Cleveland Park Library for a FREE talk on Duke Pearson, 6:30PM. Including some rare audio tracked down thanks to this very board!

Any hope to find this at a reasonable price? Thanks, Bertrand.

My friend Integriti Reeves and I will be giving a talk on Duke at the Cleveland Park Branch of the DC Public Library on Monday 11/18, at 6:30PM. Details to follow.

Following up to see if anyone might have the articles I listed on September 5th above. Thanks!

Let's see what shape the piano is in.