Gheorghe

Agreed. Who of us will start a bass-players thread ? Back to Mraz: Well, as I said, his playing with Tommy Flanagan was one of the highlights in my live experiences. By the way, the Festival I saw then, where he played was only a few miles from the border line to the then communist Cehoslovacia, his birth country.

Interesting review of different bass players ! About Ron Carter: I like him very much now, but during the time I heard him most, (70´s ) sometimes his extremly amplified sound and those many glissandi annoyed me and I didn´t find his solos as exiting as those of Mingus let´s say. But now I listen very much to jazz of the 70s and really like it as part of the time of that sound. Paul Chambers was my first love on bass. I was so fascinated about his playing on my first jazz LP (Miles´Steamin´) that I decided to buy a bass fiddle and learn it (autodidactic) as a second instrument. I still have that bass fiddle and very good bass players wanted to buy it, but nope....., though I concentrate on piano and due to some health issues with my left hand in the past can´t handle it any more..... Very interesting the point of view about that George Joyner with Garland. I also was surprised that Garland used on that session a more old fashioned player with the bop sound of Curley Russel or Tommy Potter or Gene Ramey, that someone like Chambers or Watkins. But as you said, I love Curley on the 1954 Blakey session, and on "Blowin´in from Chicago". Ray Brown, well all those years with Peterson....., and sometimes he is too loud. He is terrible loud on the 1956 Bud Powell session for Verve, which otherwise would be a very good album. And in later years he was even louder.

I saw him in 2005 with his band "Fountain of Youth". He was in top form and still looked much younger than 80.

That´s a terrible blow. He was one of my favourite bassists from the younger generation during the time I saw him life. The last time I saw him in 1985 with the absolute dream piano trio: Tommy Flanagan, George Mraz, Art Taylor !!!!

I think until his last occasion to perform it always depended what mood Bud was into. Something had to do with the quantities of Largatyle Buttercup gave him, sometimes it was that someone gave him a drink or he cadged a drink, or sometimes it may have been frustration (his comeback to NY, where he found out that the only purpose was paying back his depts for hospital bills, not "handling his own dough") . So even in the course of an evening it could happen that it started great and then the next set was not up to his standards. Look at the video from Denmark, were Bud plays "Round Midnight" almost exclusivly for a young lady, who looks just fascinated and lits a cigarette, and Bud smiles to her and seems to talk to her through that wonderful music. The best version of Midnight I ever heard or saw..... In Sweden he himself says on Vol. 5 how much he enjoyed his stay. But some pieces are only routine, like the over long "Straight No Chaser" and "Blues for Closet". Maybe he had troubles with the rhythm section and decided to play medium tempo blues form for that reason. Few days later in Denmark he made one of his best studio albums with 15 year old NHOP.

For me too as a reunion, but I didn´t mention it in this context, because it´s a rare thing at BN to record such reunions, they usually used current rhythm sections. As I know, the 1963 date for Dexter in Paris was meant to be with Kenny Drew on piano, who got sick. Dexter wanted to do originals and Bud would not cooperate on that new material. So what came out was a topnotch bop session with some of the most famous bop standards played by three creators of that style with the fantastic Pierre Michelot. That´s my impression on that album. But as I said, it´s quite untypical for BN.

For me, it´s the very best from all BN albums Dexter made in the 60´s. I like them all, but let´s say: "Dexter Calling" would be great, but somehow the great rhythm section, one of the best of all, somehow does not fit to Dexter or vice versa. "Gettin Around" is a bit too comfortable "A Swinging Affair" would be from the same date als "Go" but doesn´t have the same fire.....

Great man and a great life ! Once I read a great story from Austrian Festival Organizator Fritz Thom about his meeting with George Wein on a winter day at Wein´s home (I think it was in the northern part of the States, somewhere with a lot of snow in winter, since Fritz Thom helped Mr. Wein to remove the snow around his house..... and then they stayed in the living room and talked.... I think, it was written in the illustrated program book of the "Danube Jazz Festival Hollabrunn 1985) where a lot of stars from Wein´s schedule performed, including Mr. Wein himself with his Newport Allstars.......

Looked for it yesterday but for sources available for me (Amazon) it is only on Amazon.UK, but why not on Amazon.de ?

Time flies. Wynton is now as old as Dizzy was when I saw him first (1978 or so). And Wynton was the "wunderkind" of 1980 or so, with Blakey, and still very fine with VSOP II in 1983. But I don´t know what he really did after that, only sometimes read his commentaries as he pretends to tell the world what is jazz and what not. But Wynton a living legend who changed music ? Like Diz ? Not at all. He is always scheduled in Europ with that Lincoln Orchestra or something like that. I never heard it.

I wrote my personal "Brubeck experience" in my posting from Thursday ora 09:29 on page 1 ! That´s what I was asking.

What can I say ? That combination is my absolute dream band. I must have it.

If my perfect pitch is still intact: Isn´t the disco part of Disco Monk in G-flat, and the slower "Monkish ballad" part in D-natural ? Both keys not often played in "jazz" ? If I think spontanously, the only D-natural tune that comes to my ear and I play sometimes, is "Thou Swell".....

My absolute jazz entry, before I heard Bitches Brew, was "Steaming". Soon after that I had "Miles in Antibes" and then "Bitches Brew". So I had a mini history of Miles within 3 albums (First Quintet, Seconde Quintet, electric Miles). But how can you handle my writing about my lack of passion for Brubeck ?

Inspired by Mark Strykers article: Sonny Stitt Nightwork with Howard McGhee, Walter Bishop, Tommy Potter and Kenny Clark. Recorded in Switzerland.

Wonderful article, Mark ! Really enjoyed it. I love McGhee´s trumpet from the first time I heard it on Fats Navarro-Howard McGhee Boptet. He is also fantastic on a Spotlite LP "Afro-Cuban" with Brew Moore and the Machito band. On Howard´s Blues it´s just incredible how strong he is. Also like very much his BN recordings 1950 and 53. He had slowed down a bit in the 60´s but still is great on the Black Lion LP "Nightwork" with Sonny Stitt as the leader. Once I read an interview with Howard McGhee´s son "Bootsy", were he says something about his father.

But many rock fans eventually became interested in jazz through jazz rock a la Miles, Headhunters, RTF, Billie Cobhan-George Duke and so on. I still listen often to Bitches Brew but always wonder why it became so popular among youngsters then, since this is quite intellectual music, it´s not so "radio playing" like "On The Corner". It´s strange that I being a 1959 born, rock never really appealed to me, I came to rock through 70´s Miles, Hancock , and so on since this was the time. So it was the other way round. I still meet jazz fans of my generation, who also listen to let´s say Led Zeppelin or so and say this is more intelectual rock. Well, my musical intellect is satisfied with jazz. If I want or must listen to something else, it´s usually "easy music" like shlagers.

I don´t know if those two were mentioned. It seems that the big Festival "Velden 1979" was mostly Milestone stars like Rollins (latest album Don´t Ask" from 1979), Ron Carter (latest album Parade from 1979, Joe Henderson (latest album "Relaxin at Camarillo" ). And the finale was Woody Herman. Here´s the album he made in 1979 with the same personnel I saw, but with great guest stars....)

Interesting that you mentioned "Time Out". When I was just starting to listen to jazz in the mid 70´s, my heroes were Mingus and Miles, and through them I got to Bird Diz Bud and so on, and also through Mingus to Ornette Coleman and so on. Through "electric" Miles also to that kind of early 70´s rock jazz. I also had a kind of names and asked someone from my class, if he knows some of them or can recommand something to me. I had written the name "Dave Brubeck" on that list and he shouted with enthusiasm "You must get into that, he is just fantastic!". So I thought if Miles and Mingus and Bird and Ornette are "fantastic", how must be this if this guy says it is so great. And then I heard that Take Five and Blue Rondo and something like "Unsquare Dance" and it didn´t mean nothing to me. I couldn´t get that deep love for music I got from let´s say Mingus. Just impossible for me. I later heard some earlier stuff on Bellaphone, it must have been some live performance, it was swinging but I couldn´t stand the way Brubeck hammered on that piano, I was used to Bud, Monk, McCoy, Herbie. So it was the wrong start for me with Brubeck. There was no vibrations for me and later I found out that the Brubeck fans is a different category of audience ...... In general, I don´t have much love for so called "West Coast" from the 50´s, though I love much later Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. CTI the same on me. The only two I have is Mulligan/Baker 1974 at Carnegie Hall. For the big sound of Ron Carter on bass. ECM also missing in my collection with the exception of "Lookout Farm and "Drum Ode". And I had to laugh when I read Lieb´s autobio and he said that Manfred Eicher didn´t like drum ode, it was not what he liked for his label.....so....naturally I like Drum Ode since it is not typical "ECM"....

I love those tracks, always loved the way Bud plays "Embraceable You" , it´s like if he would have re-composed it. Same with "Devotion". This is a tune that speaks for itself and doesn´t need improvised chorusses. It would destroy the message of that tune. And "Woddy" and "Burt Covers Bud" (actually Bean´n the Boys, a Hawkins composition ) are just perfect. I like those 1953 recordings more than some of the earlier trio recordings. Especially on the two July 1950 tracks with Buddy Rich it´s too much high register virtuoso stuff, I like more the 1950 solos on Birdland with Bird and Fats, thats more music, not so much high register virtuoso stuff.....

Good reason to listen to a lot of his wonderful albums, on Roadshows there is also recordings from celebrating his 80th Birthday on stage.

my place is in 1130. Hi let´s go to Schonbrunn and ask if Dexter was there

I think, in Viena it was in the record shops early 1980. We saw Dexter in March 80 at "Viena Jazz Fruehling" and the next day hurried to "Radio Kratz" and asked for new Dexter albums and he handed me this one, together with Manhattan Symphony. I bought them both. Yes, those two tunes with Eddie Jefferson "Dexter Dig´s In" and "Papermoon". It´s interesting that "Dig´s In" is played in G here (original version D-flat), and "Papermoon" is in D-flat) ! I don´t like "Ruby My Dear" so much. Monk´s music doesn´t really fit to Dexter, that´s my opinion. Great cover photo ! I would have liked to know where it was made. Looks like a palace from the 18´th century. It always reminded me of the famous Schonbrunn in Viena, only 15 minutes to walk from my house. Others have to travel thousands of miles to visit it

The Sun Ra ESP was the first Sun Ra I had. I bought it together with a batch of other records from a young woman who moved to South America and sold all her stuff, among this a huge collection of jazz, mostly avantgarde and electric Miles early 70´s. So my "Nothing Is" was my first impression of Sun Ra and I liked it from the first moment on. Later, just for not wearing out my old LP I also bought it on CD (mini LP cover), since I listen quite often to it. My personal listening experience of it is that I always listen to it at dark with all lights off. I´ve kept this listening in the dark for 45 years now....(referring to this LP! ) The Sun Ra I heard in the late 70´s was more traditional, his own act of space free jazz mixed with some bop and swing standards....

Yes, and in 1979 I saw Sonny Rollins live with the quartet with Mark Soskin, Jerome Harris and Al Foster. And on the same festival was scheduled Larry Coryell. So I had to have that album when it came out, as a reflection about the live performances I attended (both Rollins and Coryell). And even if some of the albums of that time got also negative press, now that I look back and so many of those geniusses are gone, I often listen to the albums that came out when they lived and when I saw them performing. It was the time when we all waited for new albums of our favourites coming out, Hubbard, Henderson, Dexter, Woody Shaw, VSOP Quintet, Art Blakey, and we always were very quick to buy those albums....