Gheorghe

I think he started to become irrascible quite early. It´s described in the book about the live of Paul Chambers (Mr. PC), where he starts to shout at PC in the bus in GB, when he sat next to a british bass player, and said something about "white honk" . On the other hand, on a video from the Giants of Jazz he is very articulate and announces Kai Winding to the Danish audience as being also born in Denmark and announces what Kai Winding will play. And.....Kai Winding was white. But I think Sonny Stitt became somehow a bitter person, he thought he might have gotten more fame, not being in the shadow of Bird..... Dexter, with exception of his heavy drinking and some weak performances and being late on show, was a more positive person. He could make fans and friends much easier. Art Pepper......well I think he was the most erratic of all of them.

I didn´t get to meet the famous guitarists personally, Wes was dead when I was a kid, Kenny Burrell I think didn´t tour much, in any case I can´t remember to see him on concert or festival in Austria. I jammed a few times with Karl Ratzer when I was almost a kid and he was very quiet, but wonderful to make music on bandstand when we did some standards and bop standards with Allen Praskin. Really wonderful. I played with other guitarist on gigs or jam sessions and they were very nice and cooperative with a few exceptions when they were too loud and would cover everything and do endless solos....

Yes, it seems that Hampton had an ear for modern jazz also. But he had to make money, a lot of money with his "act", I mean people jumpin´ to that hits "Flyin Home", "Hamps Boogie" "Hey Baba Rebop" and so on..... and it was still that way when I finally heard him in 1983. But Hamp really seemed to be interested in more modern musicians too, especially when he did that series of "Who is Who in Jazz" with albums with Dexter, with Mulligan, with Mingus. Dig how he plays those Mingus compositions, they have other forms than the usually 32 bars or 12 bars, and other chords than old swing music, but Hampton really manages to play them and solo on them. The only strange thing is that his vibes sound very unusual for younger ears, it sounds more like a xylophone and people of my generation grew up with Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson.....

The strange thing is that as a boy I got to Bird through Mingus. And Miles. Mingus with "Parkeriana" and Miles with "Ah-Leu-Cha" from one of his CBS-Albums with the first great quintet. I thought: Who must be that legendary Charlie Parker they are referring to and tell that they had learned stuff from him ? So the next day I first bought that Savoy Double Album (Master-Takes?) and was mesmerized. I became a Parker fan from the first notes I heard. A week later it was the Dial records with Miles, and on some tracks Jay Jay Johnson, and the earlier sides "Cool Blues" with Garner.... And at the same time "Bird and Diz at Carnegie Hall". But a key moment for me was even one week later when I found "One Night at Birdland" the CBS double album with Bird,Fats, Bud.

Thank you John for your interesting comparation of Dexter and Stitt. I had the same impression, that Dexter though he was drinking excessivly, he at least came in action on stage and at least between 1978-1981 he seldom disappointed his audience. In March 1980 I had the interesting possibility to see them both within an interval of 3 days in Viena. Stitt played with some stellar European players like the great Fritz Pauer on piano, the great Aladár Pege on bass and Fritz Ozmec on drums. It was obvious from the first moment that Stitt was quite juiced. He nevertheless played a satisfying two sets concert, though there were moments when he became shitty and treated those great musicians like schoolboys, lecturing them on stage. About chain-smoking, well smoking on stage was the most normal thing then, but I observed that Stitt didn´t smoke sooo much, and if he lighted sometimes a cigarette, he took two or three smokes and threw the cigarette down. After the concert he was invited to continue at the famous club "Jazz by Freddie", but then it was a disappointing thing. Stitt was so drunk it was incredible. He played with the same rhythm section but had to sit down. There were to other young and fine tenorplayers who shared stage with him: Roman Schwaller and Harry Sokal. It was announced as "The Father of the Tenor Saxophone and Two of his Sons". Well, Stitt sure was a legend, but he never would have been "The Father of the Tenor Saxophone". They played two Blues in B-Flat, maybe "Tenor Madness" and "Blues Walk", and then things went out of control. Stitt sat down at the piano and started to fumble around at the piano, tried to "sing" and made grimasses at the audience. When the set was over, he would have left without his saxophone and someone had to run after him and give him his saxophone.......just sad I´d say. Dexter´s long set 3 days later was much better. Though it was obvious that Dexter also had a great amount of alcool in his blood, he at least played really extended solos and still was not as far behind the beat as he would be later. The group was Dexter with Kirk Leightsey, John Heard and Eddie Gladden and as much as I remember they played "It´s You or No One", "Fried Bananas", "More than you know" and "Backstages". On Backstages there was an endless drum solo by Gladden and that´s the only time Dexter had a bottle of beer and a cigarette. The last time I saw Dexter was in 1983 and it was a performance almost as embarassing as that Stitt-Performance I already described. Otherwise during my decades of listening to live music I seldom was disappointed, there was only one more time we all left embarrassed, when Woody Shaw did Viena in 1987. It was chain smoking and chain drinking on stage and a very shaky trumpet playing....

I would have liked to hear Cedar Walton with that fantastic trio live. I saw Cedar Walton Trio somewhere in the beginning of this century, but don´t remember the personnel, but sure it was not Billy Higgins. About Lionel Hampton, I saw him with his BigBand in 1983, but this personnel seems to be a quite "modern" company for that time.

Erroll Garner sang "I See You In My Dreams". Dexter Gordon sang "Jelly Jelly Jelly". David Schnitter sang "Georgia on My Mind on a 1976 Messenger Album "Bag Gammon" (I think that´s the title of the album" Bud Powell sang "This is no laughing Matter" on Steeplechase Golden Circle Vol. 5, and "Chrismas Song" on a Bud at Home recordings on Mythic Sound.....

Great, I have them all. The first one, is that live (I only know the Milestones double album "Fats Navarro with the Dameron Band")? And I have a Musidisc "Tadd Dameron-Fats Navarro" mistitled "Birdland 1949" (actually "Royal Roost 1948). And of course the studio stuff , All the Savoy and BN Material. From the 1956 records I love most "Matin Call". The last thing "Magic Touch" , I have some difficulties with it. IMHO it´s more "smooth" than the great Dameron of the 40´s , and I really miss Dameron´s piano. He had that special style of his own, but I think that at that time (60´s) he was already so ill he couldnt finger the piano anymore, like Mingus on "Me Myself an Eye" where he couldn´t play bass anymore).

Is it possible that he together with some other rock musicians of their band (I don´t know their name) did a DB interview somewhere in the early 80´s. Since DB (not to my personal pleasure) featured also other kinds of music than jazz, I read some names during those years I was a subscriber. I don´t remember what they said in that interview but I´m sure they were not as articulate as Charlie Watts who also did a DB interview.

He writes, that Jackie McLean was working on his autobiography but then he died (never knew the causes), and that he was in contact with McLeans wife Dolly, who stated that she will complete the book, eventually with the help of family members. I hope there is something goin on in that direction, since I´m sure a lot of fans all over the world would buy it.

I heard the Lone-Lee on radio in 1977 when it came out. We had that fantastic weekly jazz on radio on Ö3 (Jazz Shop) and the guy who run it was the legendary Herwig Wurzer, something like an austrian version of Symphony Sid, the voice in the night with his special style of hip talking. I had it on tape and years after that wanted to buy it but it was no longer as CD on Amazone, and the only version I found on discogs was LP, so my wife bought it for me for father´s day two years ago.....

Well, I also could not say there might be much which is new to me, but it´s a nice chronological thing about all his musical activities and recordings from the beginning until his late career. Not, that I wouldn´t know the records or other things, but it is easy reading before goin to sleep. I read a few lines and don´t have to count sheeps Like let´s say Carl Smith´s "All recordings of Bud Powell", also a chronological thing. What I miss, and maybe never saw, would be something more personal, maybe some photos of his private live, his wife, his children, and I never knew what was the cause of his death. He was 74 and had a fantastic creative life and his education thing on Hartt, but I would have hoped he would have lived some more years.

Ajaaa, alles klar

A very good book about Jackie McLeans recordings, very interesting thoughts. Really for musicians.

Danke Dir sehr ! He super oder "leiwaund" wie wir in Wien sagen. Und für einen Wiesbadner schreibst Du ein tolles Wienerisch ! Ja, unsere Frauen, sie leben hoch !

Yes, that was 1986. After that, Eddie Harris played for TWO WEEKS at Jazzspelunke, Dürergasse 1060 Viena with the same bassist and drummer. Fantastic, I was there almost every evening (which was easy for a working person since live music was only until 22.00h . And they played mostly the stuff from that LP. Did you see it too ? I was mostly sittin at the bar, I was a Spelunke regular and played there quite often. One evening, when the Eddie Harris was on stage, Austro-Pop-singer Wilfried was there, and we talked a lot about jazz, he stated that he is a big fan of Eddie Harris and has all his albums. Really a great evening. Great music, and after that a lot of talk and laughin with Wilfried. He seemed to be happy there is a guy to talk about jazz and other things of life, without wanting an autograph or something...... , this was an evening when everything was right....

Yes, agree to everything. Especially that Bud is in best form with horn players, like Byas and here the rare encounter with Moore. There is another wonderful set of Bud with a Lestorian tenorist (Zoot Sims) from Paris also (I have it on Mythic Sound, but it is also on the CD version of the ESP record. The tape anamolies are also on my copy of the session with Moore, but I didn´t buy this one since I already have it from the Francis Paudras archives...., it´s the same on that....

Oh yeah, Dușco Goicovici , I loved him. This is another musician who was presented at Herwig Wurzer´s Jazz Shop. That Macedonia stuff is great, isn´t one of the tunes that wonderful "saga secorama". And the other , more "american" thing was an Enja recording "After Hours". And I love his trumpet sound....., once I heard that Miles also liked him very much and was the first who told him to go to the States.

One of my favourites of course. The first LP I had was "Schizofrenia". I love all other BN also very much, but this one was the first. The last time I saw him live must have been around 2004, 2005 or about that time. He still looked much younger than past 70, he could have been 50. The rare event was also that before the concert startet (at Vienna Concert House) Joe Zawinul came on stage and announced Wayne..... Wayne was great, but the kind of music they played was much more difficult than all those "All Seeing Eye", "Ju Ju" and how they are. It was somehow avoiding rhythm, it was more free, but not in the aggresive way free players used to play, somehow other stuff, maybe a bit like the kind of ECM. Only at one point he quoted a little from a composition I know...

How about Coltrane´s fantastic playing and sound on the 1956 Prestige album Tadd Dameron with John Coltrane ? All those beautiful tunes, "On a Misty Night", "Soultrane" "Mating Call" , and Coltrane is in top form on those .....

I must admit I maybe was "too young" for the Stones, as some of my a bit older friends said. (born let´s say 1953-55) while I was born 1959. Same with Beatles. Before I got acquaintet with jazz I listened to the usual hit parades with all that early 70´s stuff like "Mexio", "Mama Lou", "Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree" or stuff like that, so I wasn´t really informed about the 60´s rock´n roll bands as a kid. But I first read the name of Charlie Watts in DB in an extended interview, he had long hair then, but was very skinny, but I was astonished how much he knows about jazz and jazz drumming and how many name musicians he knew. And I got it confirmed yesterday when it was in the newspaper about his death that they wrote he had been a big jazz fan too.

Danke Dir sehr !

Never saw that. Frrom what year is it, it may be fifties, early sixties . Did Peter Ind really have such long hair and such a beard then. Is this before the hippie movement. Also on later photos he looks a bit like a hippie. Anyway I have heard, that Lennie Tristano was a very strange person and some of his students also became a bit "strange" and always remained associated with the "Tristano School". Somehow I didn´t listen much to other Tristano records than those from the 40s, mostly with Billy Bauer in trio, and then of course with Konitz and Warne Marsh, but very very little after 1955 (I only liked the tracks live with Konitz, but somehow I´m not prepared for all that overdubbing. I still have a record "Crescent into the Maelstrom" with some really strange music, but two very fine solo ballads from 1965 in Paris, I think Darn That Dream is one of them.

Thanks for your interesting example of pianists. But the interesting thing about Oscar Peterson is, that he almost never was fully mentioned in books about jazz during my youth (Joachim Behrend, Arrigo Pollilo, Leonard Feather, Ira Gitler, etc.) He didn´t make "history", he filled concert halls, mostly with people in evening robes who otherwise do not listen to jazz. He was a very technical pianist but tended to play clichés and just banged all them keys and covered everything, with that grin he had.... But he was never a history figure like Trane, Miles, Monk, Diz, Rollins and ....yeah Dexter of course as one of the jazz masters of the 40´s and still running very well in later years. And yeah, Dexter compared to Stitt was a showman, an entertainer and of course one of the most important post war tenors. Maybe my question in the title of the topic was very influenced by my kind of listening more like a musician. I don´t need to have a guy who´s nice and talks to the audience, I listen very closely to each note and how he resolves difficult chord progressions and can play all tempos from ballad to real uptempo. That´s maybe that recently I found more stuff to learn and study than Dexter in his last years when he had become a star.....

There is still a record shop in the first district of Vienna, it´s EMI. This has been when I was still a kid and bought records there. Great that it survived for so long time, and they still have enough jazz, so that even I can find sometimes something I didn´t have. Thats where I usually go if I go shoppin in the Inner City with my wife. Two days ago it was a special occasion because we are preparing our 25th anniversary of wedding. You know, dress for the occasion, and above all, the right shoes. I like shopping and have a good taste for fashion and shows so she is really happy to do this things together with me. After we found the right shoes in a really fancy luxury shoe shop we were happy and relaxed and enjoyed the early evening in the fancy innercity of Vienna, among all them tourists. And as it is, we passed by the record shop and my wife says, hey why don´t we go inside and look a bit, I´d like to buy you somethings. Our game is always the same, I tell her....look a little if you find something for me, and though she´s not a jazz fan she knows what artists I like. She passed by the rafts with Austrian or European jazz and asked: Monk? I said, might be hard I think I have all of them. "Mingus"? I said good choice, but I have lot of Mingus. She picked up the "Newport Rebels" and I said gee I don´t have that. Herbie Hancock she also "knows". I said, yeah but not Headhunters I have that, and all BN I also have. She picks up "VSOP live under the Sky" and I really didn´t have that. After that "jazz exercise" she said "When I was a little girl, my parents once took me to the opera "Magic Flute" by Mozart, I liked that. So I said ok let´s buy it for you. This was a bit hard for me since we are no classic specialists. I saw some edition that seemed to be old, decades old, so better not and asked what is a more new edition because it might sound better, and that I bought for her. I also heard that once, I remember that soprano "Queen of the Night" ...