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I also have the Mythic Sound CD "Writin´ for Duke" with the unissued tracks from that session. There is a wonderful version of Duke´s "I Got It Bad", maybe the only time Bud played this. Maybe the choice of drummer Kansas Fields is not the best one. They better would have used Kenny Clarke, who always played with Bud in Paris all the years. The "Bud in Paris" has very fine stuff. "Dear Old Stockholm" sounds great, and I don´t think Bud played it on many other occasions. "Jordu" is great and Bud played it on some occasions in NY after his return to the States.

So I´m not the only person who thinks it´s not the best writing

Great stuff, Larry Young one of my favourites, but I think my very favourite album of his is "Unity". Art Pepper Quartet wonderful, great music and my favourite Quartet with him. But the cover photo is terrible. It looks like they pissin´ and Art Pepper just was not photogenic anyway, I mean you see his face and think about drugs and jail.... and somehow mean. On the other hand , for example Chet Baker: You see he´s a live-long junkie, but he had that nice smile until the very end. When he did not disappear, he was on time, and very very articulate and if you wanted to meet him after the gig for an autograph or a photo, he could be so nice and had that smile. You can see it also on that very late interview in London, which is on video from a concert....

I like this most from all 5 BN albums Rollins did.

As a Mingus fan, a must. But somehow, Santoro´s writing style is a bit strange. He repeats phrases very very often. For example: "He was his father´s son" "He was feeling the zeitgeist again" "He was closing circles everywhere" you can read this and other´s dozens of times......

Yeah, this might have been Walrath, Ricky Ford, Danny Mixon, the band that toured Europe in August/September 1976.

Really ? This must have been quite late in Harry Edison´s career. I saw him with Jaws in 1978. So, in 92 he must have been already 77 years old.

Of course I have this. But for me it is not as fine as Monterey 1964, or the also from 1965 "My Favourite Quintet". Of course there are great moments, but it´s even more chaotic than "Town Hall 1962". And on some pieces Mingus put down his bass and played piano. And otherwise, the wonderful piano of Jakie Byard is missing. And some of it sounds quite abstract like "The Art of Tatum and Freddie Webster"...... sounds a bit strange....

I haven´t seen Buddy Tate with his own group, but saw him with "Woody Herman´s All-Stars" in 1985. This was the only time I saw Woody Herman without his Herd. I think the lineup, besides Buddy Tate was Al Cohn from the older generation, and two youngsters Scott Hamilton and Varren Vaché . Veteran Joe Bunch was on piano, Jake Hanna on drums, and sorry to say that the scheduled George Duvivier on bass was not there. But a very very young bass player was very good. I don´t know who the kid was, but even Woody always looked with admiration to him, when he soloed. Woody himself played much and great clarinet and even sung a song....

I love James Moody and must admit, that my first hearing experience was from the legendary "Miles Davis-Tadd Dameron" in Paris 1949, which came out in 1977. I had not heard about Moody before and was astonished how modern he sounds, and I had heard Dave Liebman live on several occasions before and he was then my favourite Saxophonist, and I was astonished that some "scream" in Moody´s solos almost reminded me of Liebman and other post Coltrane saxophonists..... Later I saw Moody on several occasions, very often with Dizzy. One fantastic live concert was 1999 at the Viennese Jazzland, my wife and me were in the first row. During that time, it was the most normal thing that you smoke in a jazz club. And when Moody was scheduled, we were told NOT to smoke. Art Farmer was there and had a long talk with Moody during intermission. It was the last time I saw him, he died shortly after that. After the concert, Moody shook my wife´s and my hands and said "Thank you for not smoking" and we said "WE MUST THANK YOU, it was WONDERFUL". One year later, my wife and me were in Miami and Moody was in town. I think it was "Van Dyke´s" on Lincoln Road. Before the concert startet, we were allready there and here comes James Moody with his bags and spotted us, came to our table, shook our hands and said "You were in Vienna last year. Art Farmer was there" Yes, we said, it´s so sad he died. But isn´t that incredible ? Mr Moody, who played hunderts of gigs for millions of people, recongnized us two a year later on an other continent.......

Thanks for sharing this !

Yes, and of course I have that album. All God´s Chillun was one of his favourites, he always played it great, like the bop line based on the same chords: "Little Willie Leaps". I read your very very interesting analysis of Bud´s style and appreciate it very much to read from another Bud Powell fan. You mention that in later years his piano execution sometimes becomes "muddy". I try now to remind , which of his sessions I thought that it were somewhat below his peak and the first that come to my mind are those from late 1954 and early 1955, but as early as March 1955 he came back to action. His first tune "Conception" on that Verve album is one of my favourites. I´d say his albums for Victor are not so good, especially "Strictly Powell" becomes a bit boaring, Many people say they don´t like "The Return of Bud Powell" from october 1964, but IMHO the only "fault" is that he flubs a bit on the octaves of "I Know that you Know". But he recovers quickly. Searching "mistakes" reminds me of some event I witnessed when I was about 19,20 years old: Two ladies took me to the opera, I am not really used to classical music but found it sounds good and enjoyed it. But during the break and after the concert those two ladies made jokes on some female singer that she didn´t hit a high note properly and on an other point faultered. I didn´t know what they was talkin about and asked "why you say this ?" They answered "that´s part of the game" and I couldn´t believe it. You go to some opera to enjoy it and then complain that it didn´t sound good and even make jokes out of it. I always remember this incident if I hear people say that Bud didn´t sound good if he "flubs a little on a theme and stuff......" In my opinion Bud was one of the foremost creators of bop, like Bird, like Diz, like Fats, Max Roach etc. And bop means group playing. On the very early recordings of Bud they didn´t really record the drums, even if it was someone as great as Roach. That´s why I like many of his later records, you don´t hear only his piano, you hear what the bass does, and above all, what the drummer does. That´s why I really like those with Kenny Clarke also...

Yes, I also have that small dropout in the beginning of "Rifftide". You say, that Bud was in a generally miserable state in 1959 - 1961. I´m not sure if I can agree to this. His recordings from that time, mostly live show Bud in top form: 1959 Blakey in Paris (Bud replacing Walter Davis on Side One on "Bouncing with Bud" and "Dance of the Infidels". 1960 Hawk in Germany (or: Essen Festival Allstars). This is also Bud at his best. 1961 Tribute to Cannonball (with Byas and Idrees Sulieman). I agree with you that there ar very good performances in 1962 from Switzerland, Denmark and for a lesser amount Sweden Golden Circle. But especially Golden Circle is quite a routine. Blues Themes that run 15 minutes, 18 minutes and even 20 minutes , and on the later published "Budism" there are some performances, that really sound sad and remind me of the shake 1954/55 recordings. But it´s interesting, that Bud didn´t play much in Paris in 1962. He seemed to tour Switzerland and Scandinavia most of the time.

Is this his solo performance from Montreux ? This was very much discussed over here when it came out. It got radio play also. I saw Ray Bryant shortly after this, but with a quintet if I remember right. Very nice, very articulate....

I´d think more, 1 or 2 years too early. It took it´s time for the Adams-Pullen band to find it´s way and sound, Hamiet Bluiett was not so happy in the band and Mingus also was not so happy with him. He was more docile during that time and I read somewhere that he said in an interview "I don´t care how far they get out, as long as they are swingin". But after composing for that new band, without Bluiett, things really started to happen and he was "his old self again", as his wife Sue reported. The years from 1975-77 were the best years after the famous 1964 year. Such a wealth of new compositions like "Sue´s Changes", "Duke Ellington´s Sound of Love", "Three or Four Shades of Blues" and above all "Cumbia and Jazz Fusion".....And even when Adams and Pullen left, Walrath, Ricky Ford and Bob Neloms and the wonderful Danny Richmond were very very good players for that great music. You should have heard them in the years 75-77, that´s the period I can witness that it was really great....

Thats the stuff I allready have. So I don´t think I will buy the Steeplechase now. And as I said, the most interesting things are those with Byas and Brew. But the most stunning trio performances on video I saw, is also from Copenhaga with I think Anthropology played really fast and at it´s best, incredible !!! and one of the greatest versions of "Midnight" I ever heard. And Bud seems to flirt with a young lady from the audience, he always looks at her and smiles and obviously plays especially for her.

Well yeah, Richard Davis would be one of the replacements for Mingus´ missing bass anyway. I never was happy with the two basses Eddie Gomez and George Mraz on "Me Myself an Eye". This fast "exercises" on the high register, with the strings down like a guitar, that sounds more like a parody of "bass". Even Mingus complained bitterly. Both Gomez and Mraz ar fantastic bass players, but I don´t really like such solo passages. They could have choose Al McKibbon, about the same age like Mingus, and really something. His playing and soloing on "Giants of Jazz" is really a highlight, the way I like a bass to sound and to be played. They could have used let´s say Ray Drummond, if they wanted a younger bassist. He was top. But about Mingus Dynasty, maybe because I saw the original live and in action, I´m reluctant in this way. I only saw it, when it was on a festival schedule. I was looking forward since they still had some of Mingus´ original players, like George Adams, John Handy, and Jimmy Knepper, but it was really a dead thing. They all seemed to sleep.

I love Tadd Dameron´s compositions, but I also love his unique piano style. The way how he comps , those broad chords, and also his little solos, not so much virtousity, but little beauties. For me it was a big, big disappointment that he doesn´t play himself on it. I don´t really know the reasons, the only thing I know is that it was toward the end of his live, and in his last years he was very very sick and had a terminal cancer. So maybe it was like Mingus´ on his last record, where he didn´t play bass because he became ill....

I know the stuff and it´s great to hear Bud with horns, which I like most. Brew Moore and Byas are on Rifftide, Byas plays I remember Clifford (Brew out), and so on. It´s very interesting to listen to Bud with Brew after listening to Bud with Zoot. This is two Lester Young influenced players, and Bud has a great ability to adapt his playing to this style, he plays great as ever, but in a ....a bit more relaxed manner. Bud with Byas was quite often, on the CBS CD in Paris (Tribute to Cannonball), on "Americans in Europe" etc etc. Bud, as great as he is, is even greater when he can play with some good horns, like on "Blakey in Paris 1959" "Hawk in Germany 1960", with Barney Wilen, with Clark Terry, and so on. It´s really a pity, that on his last extended gig at Birdland in autumn 64 they didn´t make no effort to add a horn player on some occasions. Bud sometimes seemed to be bored to play so much trio music, carrying the load alone. A good trumpet, sax, trombone , and he becomes really inspired....

@kh1958 Yes, George Adams rollin´his eyes. I also found that really scary. Sorry to say, making grimasses and tensioned face and or angry look is not seldon. Sorry to say I also had such a habit while playing, until my wife said "you play so beautifully and you are lookin good, but closing your eyes or looking up on ceiling is an absolute no go. It looks ridiculous. CUT THAT OUT and play the way you play and look to the other musicians and in the audience and SMILE. And she was damn right. Music even if it is up tempo and "difficult" must not mean that your face expression prooves this. @Enterprise Server I can understand that with the girlfriend. Sometimes it is hard to make compromises. For example: This year, on september 19h Ron Carter will play in town, but this date is our 25 years wedding anniversary and so it is impossible to go there. @sidewinder Well the Mingus Dynastie is not the same as Mingus himself of course. At the beginning, they still had his last band with I think Cameron Brown on bass. Later, hungarian bassist Aladár Pege got one of Mingus´ basses from Sue. There was an extended interview with Mr. Pege about it. I saw the "Mingus Dynastie" conducted by Jimmy Knepper in 1989, but it was zero to me. They had George Adams and John Handy in the band, but it didn´t happen really. And Jimmy Knepper, the way how he "conducted" and looked really bored, was quite a parody. I´m glad I can keep my memories about Mingus alive. For those who wrote pm about sending copies of the tape from Buenos Aires, that an argentinian guy gave me during that time 1977: I´m not going to make copies, never ever. And I invited them to join the discussion HERE. I don´t exchange tapes or set lists on pm, but LOVE to share impressions on the board, and also offered set lists when I started this topic.......

I heard once, that Ralph Towner in the early 60´s had studied classical guitar at the Music Academy in Vienna with a famous classical guitar professor, I think his name was Karl Scheidt. I got to see Mr. Scheidt for a few times. A very very nice and smiling old gentleman. I saw "Oregon" one time in 1983 at Wiesen Jazzfestival. Some things, mostly with percussion sounded good, though this is not exactly my kind of music.

Yes, this picture of Mingus on the White House ground, were Jimmy Carter greeted and hugged him and Mingus burstet out in tears. So sad. And really sad the story Max Roach told later, that he was also on that White House festival and someone went to Max and said to him "Mingus want´s to say hello", and Roach didn´t go, he said he still was angry at Mingus for some hassles decades ago with the Debut-Label. And Roach later felt sorry that they couldn´t make peace. As you say, nobody knew about his illness, at least here in Europe. We saw in summer 1977 that he walked with a cane, but we all thought that maybe he had a slipped disc or problems with his knees during to all that overweight, something that´s normal for overweight people who are 55 years old. When he chancelled that following tour at the end of November 1977 (with Coryell, Scofield and Catharine), we were very disappointed but tought that maybe he has a knee operation and the following year he´ll be ready and steady again. Then the last album "Me Myself an Eye", where Mingus didn´t play bass. On the back cover Mingus is in a wheel chair, we thought that he wanted to make an album during reconvalescence after some operation, concentrating more on his composer roll than on his bassist role. I am very glad that I get so many responses on my topic. Makes me happy to exchange impressions with other Mingus fans all over the world. But on interesting thing: Most of you seemed to have seen Mingus live much earlier than in my case. You refere to concerts between 1972 and 74 (with the exception of the 1976 performance with "Isabel´s Table Dance". Is it possible you didn´t see him in 1977 because he played more in other continents like South America, Europe and North Africa. Here in Europe he was very very active during his last active year.

This was my first Montgomery album. Fantastic !

I know you are a Mingus fan, I think for much time you had a Mingus pic in your avatar. But I was sure you saw or heard much more Mingus than me. We here in Europe, and me being still underage in 1976 (In 1977 I was finally 18) it was much more difficult to get to other towns or even other countries to see festivals. hi@ll: Come on, come on, I´m sure there are more Mingus freaks.....

Hello Friends ! We have discussed very much about Mingus in several topics (Carnegie Hall 74, Mingus Workshops 64 etc). I would like to start a discussion about live performances, mostly with the bands with Ricky Ford , Jack Walrath, first Danny Mixon and then Bob Neloms. I´m sure there are a lot of buddies around, who are about the same generation like me, who also saw performances in that period and would like to share their impressions here. Well, around 1976 I was a teenager and already a very very big fan of Mingus. I even can say that Mingus was one of my very first guides to that great music. I still didn´t have a car, but had a lot of jazz buddies who were about 5 years older than me, and if someone had a shabby old car or a bus, they invited me to go with them to festivals. It was cool for my parents, if school was okay and it was. In summer 1976 there was the Willisau Festival in Switzerland. Mingus had his band with Jack Walrath, Ricky Ford, Danny Mixon and of course Danny Richmond. Usually during that years, the band started with "Song for Harry Carney" with that ostinato bass figure and quiet voicings, but it was a bit faster than the studio version and the got into dialoques between each soloist and Danny Richmond, really strong. Mingus would play an extended solo running the whole range of his instrument to the highest register, full of tension. The second tune might have been "Fables of Faubus" with Mingus shouting the "Faubus Song" (name me someone, who´s ridiculous.....), extended solos by all five musicians. Then was "Sue´s Changes", really wonderful, a very long version. The last tune was "Remember Rockefeller at Attica" done very fast. And they closed with a very very short version of Cherokee/Koko , and incredible tempo. In september 1976 it was in Vienna at Stadthalle, the same band of course. It was a shorter set, since it was a double schedule Mingus and then the Thad Jones - Mel Lewis Big Band. Mingus started with "Fables" and then "Sue´s Changes". During the solo parts I remember that Mixon got into some stride piano, and then some swing with bass lines in the left hand, very much to the delightment of the audience. And they closed with that short signature "Cherokee". In 1977 it was the same band, but Bob Neloms replaced Danny Mixon. The great thing about 1977 were the live versions of the tunes from his newest albums "Three or Four Shades of the Blues" and "Cumbia&Jazz Fusion". They toured very very much, first the States, then Buenos Aires, then Europe and Tunisia. At that time, some young bass player from Buenos Aires studied bass in Vienna and brought a tape, which he had made with a little cassette recorder with integratet mike. Of course not the best sound quality, but good enough to hear all the music. Again, " Song for Harry Carney" even more exiting than the year before, Cumbia & Jazz Fusion with all those sections, first that ostinato thing with the dialoque between Ford and Walrath, and Walrath was really fantastic on his latin solo, then the straight ahead part, the short ballad motiv and the spanish sounding solo of Neloms. Then that two beat stuff with Mingus shouting his rap about "Mama´s little baby don´t like no shortnin´bread" It went along with "Mama´s little baby wants truffles, caviar, diamonds, diamonds in the nose, diamonds on the toes......" There was a funny thing Mingus did on Cumbia at the ending. It was like fading out, and then only Mingus walked on , tapping his foot , and playing higher and higher notes, until only his foot tapping remained. "Three or Four Shades of Blues" much better than the studio version. And faster. "Noddin´ya Head Blues" with a long bass intro by Mingus. He was really in top form. In Europe, they also used to start with "Song For Harry Carney" and would play both "Cumbia" and "Three or Four Shades"..... that´s what we heard. Mingus usually announced the titles and became angry only when he snarled "No flash bulbs allowed", or if he saw that somebody would tape the show. And once the mike was off when Mingus would start that "Mama´s little baby" rap, and he snarled "put that mike on, put that mike on, put that f**** mike on !". I think this was also on TV. It is said that we don´t know anything about his trip to Tunisia..... I think that after the tour he had a schedule at "Village Vanguard" and then went again on tour. I heard, that in Boulder, after the concert he went to the piano and wanted to play something for the audience, but had to stop, because the sound engeneer had started a Weather Report tape. The album he made for Hampton "Who is Who in Jazz" is a little strange. But all my respect for Hamp, that he dug into Mingus´ music, it´s quite astonishing that he played solos on tunes that he might not have known before and that have difficult changes. Only the arrangements were not really hot. Mingus played some astonishing solos on "Peggy´s Blues Skylight" and "Just for Laughs" (Rockefeller at Attica) and again shows how he plays the whole range of the instrument. We were looking forward to his autumn tour in late November, it was already scheduled with Larry Coryell , Philipp Catherine and John Scofield, to promote his album and were ready to travel to Germany to see this, but in the last moment it was chancelled. A bitter disappointment. There was also discussion of a further Atlantic Album, this time to bring Mingus together with Stanley Clark. But it didn´t happen since Mingus said something that Clark wouldn´t or could´t play A Train, which is nonsense, since Clark know all the stuff from the tradition to funk, and for example his playing with Dexter on "Tangerine" is really a highlight. There was a DB interview of Mingus with Arnold Jay Smith, but at that time I still was not a DB subscriber. Maybe someone can show that DB interview with Mingus ?