Gheorghe

Had ordered it in Juni, got a mail from Amazon that it will be delayed and probably shipped in october, since then I never heard anything.

I got this last Chrismas from my wife. Wonderful. The version of "Be bop" is fantastic.

Thank you for your impressions, actually a review. Which album was it. Yesterday I listened to the 1977 Tempest at the Coloseum and love it. That version of "Red Clay".....incredible. Well, maybe I should say it´s not exactly the kind of album for acoustic purists, searching the "pure sound", but on the other hand I´m a product of that time and though I didn´t come to jazz via rock or fusion, but vice versa, it was part of the time. And I was a musician, and my friends were musicians. That was the sound we wanted, and since many of my musician friends were drummers, Tony Williams was kind of our hero. I still listen very very much from what the drummer does, and that was the times, and what young so called "modern oriented" players did, as well as in so called "acoustic, though amplified" surroundings, as well as going electric all the way. Most of us did both. But I´m not speaking about the many amateur bands who played Dixie or something like that. They were kind of a close community and others who liked Trane, Tony, George Duke, or even Charlie Parker, were "outlaws". Once I was asked to sit in in a Dixie band and they called "Sweet Georgie Brown". Well , I tried my best to fit into it without giving up my own personality, let´s say the way Fats did "Georgia Brown" on the 1947 session with a mixed group of younger and older musicians, or Bird and Diz on Band for Bonds, but I also wanted to "honour" them oldtimers with some nice fast stride as I had heard it from Bud let´s say on "Idaho", but though some people from the audience and even the younger musicians who had to play permanent in that band, the leader, an older beer drinking banjo player and ex policeman hated it

Good Point ! That´s it: Not only his bop lines, also very much his harmonies. In that context, very much the later interpretations of Ballads. I´m not good in theory but this way how Bud resolves certain chord progressions, especially in ballads, it became part of me. I couldn´t write that chords, and don´t know what poly chords is, but even if I play other ballads, I have that harmony in mind, it comes from itself, I can´t help doin it. It´s in my mind and that´s how it comes out. During the last weeks, due to COVID Lockdown I can play piano only at home. And that´s how it came I played Hildegard Knef´s "Für mich solls Rote Rosen regnen" just for my wife, and I never had played it and had heard it only when we went to some evergreen dancing on a Danube ship, but it came out in a way like maybe Bud would have played it. She loved it and I think I´ll do it as a last encore only solo piano when gigs will be possible again....

On the Geneva album there are two tracks Bud-Griffin added, which also appear on the Xanadu album Bud in Paris. I don´t know who invented that it was recorded in 1960, since Griff came to Europe three years later, and I´m sure it was done in february 64, when Bud could leave the sanatorium on weekends. Someone was not aware of the story of Griffin......, but they kept that 1960 as date of the recording for decades..... I´m not a jazz historian, I´m an avid listender and a some time player, but it´s a fact that Griffin came to Europe later than Bud . By the way: Highly recommended for reading: Mike Hennesey "Little Giant"....

Definitly yes ! In my childhood in the 60´s many houses had at least an upright piano, those of the upper class had a black Bosendorfer flugel, and many kids took piano lessons. We also had a piano, my father played some classical pieces, but using too much pedal to cover the mistakes, but he showed me the piano and told me the notes, the scales, the cromatic scales and let me say the right note if I turn my back and only hear it. That´s from were I have my perfect pitch. When I was 5 they tried piano lessons, but I was mad at it, I could play much stuff from ear and didn´t understand why I should play scales and boring sounding etudes.....so I cut it out and went on myself. Anyway I became interested in jazz.... The upper class usually listened to classic music, but as you say, if they had "jazz" they had one or two Oscar Peterson or Errol Garner albums, maybe Brubeck but I remember only Peterson and Garner. That was also the first "jazz" I heard , but after someone brought me a CBS- sampler to hear and on it was Davis´"Milestones" and a Mingus thing from the late 50´s , I knew where I have to go further....

I have all those Hank Mobley albums from 55-57 from BN as mini LP cardboard sleeve CDs. They are very fine, but my really favourit Mobley stuff is from the early 60´s for the much better sound of Mobley. I listended to all the BNs, but as older I get, I always get back spinning only some of them, my all time favourites.....

You are right, it really is strange. Of course I also have the CD with the Geneva concert. And yes, Bud´s ups and down were during his whole career. At the end, like after his comeback to Birdland 1964 he could still play great , and in the next set he would play without inspiration. But one strange thing about the Swiss recordings is that sometimes it seems that Bud tends to give space for a bass solo, but after a few bars he forgets about it and plays solo himself again. On other occasions Bud really gives space for the fellow musicians, so it is more a group performance. And one thing that I regret: In the 50´s Bud composed at least three great latin pieces "Un Poco Loco", "Buster Rides Again" and "Comin´ Up", but he never would perform them again. So this sets sometimes get monotonous, since it´s only swing, some medium tempo, some up tempo, and usually two ballads Round Midnight (always great !) and "I remember Clifford". It´s a pity that there never was something with latin touch also. Bud could have played very fine Dizzy´s "Manteca", "Tin Tin Deo" and "Con Alma". Actually, he played once "Tin Tin Deo" with Diz in Paris (with the Double Six).

Hello Friends ! For some weeks I have listened more to 70´s jazz, like VSOP and some electric jazz, but yesterday I was in the mood to go all the way back to listen to that much praised recording of Bud in Switzerland. Bud is really in top form. It´s interesting to compare those tracks with the tracks from Golden Circle only 2 months or so later on which Bud seems to have slowed down a bit. What may have been the reason ? The Rhythm section ? In Lausanne especially the bass player seems to have studied Bud´s Repertoire. He plays a more old fashioned style of bass of the 40´s like Tommy Potter or Curley Russell. The only weaker thing is "Evidence" since Bud doesn´t seem to know the rhythmic conception of that theme.

Oh yes, those Verve double albums were around 1978. I also had the Bud Powell double album from this series

I haven´t heard about that TV show, but when I saw the photo I thought it is Chet Baker. By the way: West Coast is not really present in my collection. I started listening to Chet when he had his comeback, and love what he did in those years from the 70´s until his death, which is really deep and moving. The strange thing is that the first Mulligan-Baker I heard was on the Carnegie Hall 1974 set, which I heard at a club and had no idea who is playing, but recognized the great bass of one of my favourites Ron Carter. Bob Brookmeyer on the other hand......., my only listening experience was that disappointing Mel Lewis Big Band where he had composed and arranged after Thad Jones had left. I had heard the original Thad Jones - Mel Lewis BB and loved it, but Brookmeyers contribution ......well maybe I´m too dumb to dig it, but I just didn´t like it, and there were a lot of guys who were at that festival and all who I knew said the same thing, maybe we all were into another direction....

I have the Pablo album Lockjaw with OP-Trio. Well I bought it because I wanted to hear Jaws. OP is quite ok, though I like another Pablo album Jaws with the Tommy Flanagan trio more, since Flanagan is one of the best pianists of his time. He doesn´t exagerate his tehnical abilities like OP and nevertheless has a fantastic tehnique, and really tells a story when he is soloing and also is great in comping other soloists. My favourite OP album is "In Tune" with the Singers Unlimited, not because I´m such a big fan of Unlimited, and my discography of vocals is quite scarce, but because it was en vogue in my youth and OP does not cover everything, he is more subdued here so I can enjoy the sound more . But as I have mentioned in my VSOP thread, there were different "fan-groups" during my teenage years and early twen years, when I was most involved in the scene: One minority was the 100% OP fans, but they were not so much present in the joints were jazz was played. There was a Jazz LP-lovers circle who met once the month and one evening someone had invited me and there they had also gentleman around 50, named "Hans" and every phrase he spoke started and ended with Oscar Peterson. He would not have tolerated other opinios. But one thing is interesting: Most OP-Fans were just fans, not musicians.

Big deal at the time.....I don´t know. It was more a musician´s kind of favourite. You must know, the small after hours clubs was very much musicians or budding musicians listening and discussing the music maybe not from the way non playing music lovers might listen to it. That´s the way I was brought up: Listen and Learn. I heard it at the mentioned club and no one less than the wonderful alto saxophonist Allen Praskin, who had settled in Europe pulled my coat to it. One day we both were at my place and before the regular rehearsal for a gig startet, he wanted to run through some Monk tunes with me , I remember one of "Four in One", and the other was a particulary difficult tune from the 1952BN session. And Mr. Praskin said to me I should listen to the Bennie Wallace version, the more open approach to the Monk compositions..... like if Mr. Praskin played old bop standards but with the knowledge that there was Jackie McLean, Dolphy, and Ornette after that......, just wonderful. So I´d say it was especially interesting for musicians who studied Monk´s music.....

Hi Peter, but I was referring to both acoustic and electric jazz in my posting from yesterday (as I said we dug both acoustic and electric. We heard old acoustic Miles LPs like "Steamin´" with the same enthusiasm as we listened to "Headhunters".... And not to forget what was before, Bop, Hardbop, Free. And pre bop pioneers like Roy, Hawk, Lester, Art Tatum, Billie Holyday etc. we also "studied".... You mentioned jazz "from the 1920´s". Well I must admit we were listening mostly to what was played live and what WE could play with others, which ranged from acoustic (then so called "modern jazz" to the contemporanous electric jazz. There was a club in Vienna, that presented also some "oldtime" jazz., but in general those bands were mostly amateur bands of older music lovers, and there was also another audience like we youngsters were. They were from aonther generation and didn´t like youngsters like we were, with long hair and all that..... Yes, I also must admit I had very very little Pablo and Concord and more Muse and Timeless, but I think Timeless came even a bit later than the mid seventies. The first Timless I remember was two Blakey albums from 1977, and then very very much, a lot of great US-Stars.... ECM I listened only very very little, the only things I really loved was the two Dave Liebman albums "Lookout Farm" and "Drum Ode". Oh yes, and probably you will also post your point of view about it.

Just have listened to the first VSOP. Just wonderful besides the acoustic set is the sextet with Eddie Henderson, Julian Priester, Bennie Maupin, Buster Williams and Billy Hart. And of course the electric band with Wah Wah Watson and Bennie Maupin. The presence of all that music at that time sure made us musicians and fans flexible, that we dug acoustic AND electric. To hear let´s say old Miles LPs like "Steamin´" with the same enthusiasm like "Headhunters". I think there was two groups of fans, those who listend more to "Headhunters" and those who listend more to "RTF". In my case, though RTF has some great music, I preferred Hancock´s bands, it´s more earth-bound and I think or at least knew people who were crazy about RTF were mostly the kind of more philosophical young persons who asked themselfs who they are and what can they do to make the world better and so on.... In the later 80´s I heard a fantastic re-make of "Headhunters" that was called "Headhunters II" with still Wah Wah Watson, and Mike Brecker on sax.

The Bennie Wallace album must have been around 1980. It was very much discussed here in Vienna, it´s top musicians, and it was spinned very often in that fancy old jazzclub "Spelunke" which we had. When there was not live music (anyway, you could play live only from 19.00 - 22.00 because it was an old building and other families had their appartments there), they spinned all those fine records, and we the regulars sittin at the bar discussed the music , just wonderful.

Capurange and Tangerine are my favourite Prestige albums of Gordon from that period in the early 70´s. It was somehow a strange time, acoustic jazz like that was disappearing for quite some years, I always thought the great era of Prestige was the 50´s.

I think, that besides the fact, that BN was on top of Hardbop in the 50´s Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Blakey Messengers etc. ) , Modal and a bit into "free" by Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Sam Rivers and so on, and besides that those " boogaloo hits" like Sidewinder and Midnight Creeper and so, but also kept in a kind of tradition, which is not necessarly typical hardbop, it´s somehow "swingin´ mainstream" . I must admit that the "mainstream corner" from BN is the lest interesting for me personally. Things like "The Three Sounds", the Turrentine albums, the Ike Quebec albums and so on .... let´s say I have some of them and can enjoy them, but it is not necessarly what I want to hear to really pay attention to what is happening. It´s great music and great players, no question, but if I have to choose between a Turrentine album and a Jackie McLean album what do you think I would prefer ?

oh yeah, I have that. So I have the Parker set in two editions

Very fine bop session. I think it was always quite hard to find. Bird also played a complete set on that date I think. It was issued on another label. The strange thing is I first had it on a Musidisc album, something called "Bird-Broadcasts"....

When was it recorded ? I heard "Jumpin´Blues" by Dexter only in later years. It is on "American Classic" from 1982 and on the 60´s Birthday from Vanguard 1983.

If you like the Reprise date, I mean that date from february 1963, you might also like the Mythic Sound album "Writin´ for Duke" with the material for that session, that was not issued on the original LP. Originally it was planned, that Bud would write new material for that session, among others one title "Tune for Duke". But as it was said, "for commercial reasons" they kept more the standard tunes which are on the Reprise album". What is really great on the "Writin´for Duke" is Bud´s version of Ellington´s "I got it bad" , which really should be heard. "Tune for Duke" is nice and swinging, but some other compositions would have needed more repetions or they was written to quickly. "Free" is nothing else than a fast C-minor blues, but not really great. If you ask me for my opinion, the main reason why I listen less to all the material from this session is the drumming of Kansas Fields, who may be a good old time drummer, but is not the best choice for a Bud Powell trio.

In later years, but also in earlier years, Bud sounded most inspired when he played with great fellow musicians. The "Tribute to Cannonball" with Don Byas and Idrees Sulieman from 1961 , The Dexter Gordon Date from 1963 The rare Bud at Birdland 1957 with Donald Byrd and Phil Woods. And maybe you would like the 1964 Trio album that originally had the title "The Invisible Cage" , but later it was reissued as " Blues for Bouffémont", with new compositions and some great Art Taylor on drums.

I didn´t know there would be so much Lou Donaldson discussion on that thread, since I must admit as much as I like to listen to LD nothing really changed, I heard him twice in 1986 with Herman Foster, and later with organ players, but the music was quite the same like in the 50´s and 60´s. But a few years ago I was mislead and bought a LD CD which I thought that might be something new, and it was a 1974 BN, just boring, nothing else than boring and it was the only time that after one listenig I threw it into the garbage can.