Gheorghe

Very interesting to read. I didn´t know that Curtis Fuller had lung cancer. In most cases, I heard this is a terminal desease. He had been inactive for the last 5 years of his live I read. That means, that it may be that I saw him live just before he retired. Maybe, he didn´t have the speed of his early years, but still very much worth listenig. And above all, he was such a nice man. I was at that concert with my wife and had my "Bone and Bari" CD with me. Before the concert started, my wife said "look, the musicians are sitting down there, now go down and ask him to sign the record. He had a big, warm smile, shook my hand and was delighted when he saw the album, asked my name and wrote my name and "Peace from Curtis Fuller". Really a wonderful memory. I heard, that even when he made those great records in 1957 for BN, he still had a "day job".

This is an album I like to listen to after a hard day of work when I just close my eyes and relax. It swings, everybody´s great on it, and it is long tunes. It GROOVES. I have one wonderful memory about this album. Somewhere in the early 2000´s it was a really hot summer night. I was alone at home since my wife had some business in another country. And I also had lot of work had to work at home until after midnight. Then I finished and spinned "The Sermon" and it was so beautiful, so relaxing, with the windows open and looking out into the night and hear the groovy stuff. Maybe this Vol 2 is even more exiting that Vol 1. Vol 1 is strictly the Dameron Band with Dameron tunes, which is wonderful, fantastic. But on Vol. 2 there are those great encounters with others, like Howard McGhee, Milt Jackson, and the sides with Bud´s Modernists. Wonderful.

I also saw Harold Land only one time in person. And this was in 1983 with Dizzy Gillespie. It was scheduled as "Dizzy Gillespie All Star Quintet" and had Dizzy, Harold Land, George Cables, Herbie Lewis and Louis Hayes. Really all stars. But the interesting thing was, that I wouldn´t have associated Dizzy so much with Harold Land before. I think, this might have organized somehow by Timeless or WIM WIGT also from Netherlands, who booked a lot of Timeless Artists for Europe touring. So they might have combined Dizzy with musicians from the Timeless "pool". And it was strange, since it was the only time I saw Dizzy with an acoustic bass player. Usually, from the 70´s on, Diz performed with a quartet with guitar, electric bass and drums....

The last time I saw him live, a few years ago, he signed me this album "Bone and Bari". He was really very very nice .

Is this the Xanadu album from Paris ? I have it LP with the same photo, but a golden cover and it´s titled "Bud in Paris". Bud plays really great on this, fast like in his early days, (Shaw Nuff, Get Happy, John´s Abbey). And great the two tunes with Barney Wilen (Oleo, Autumn in New York). I like very much the 4 sections from the Oscar Pettiford Memorial Concert. There is only a wrong date on the two duos with Johnny Griffin. They are not from February 1960 (when Griffin was not in Paris), they are from February 1964 recorded at Francis Paudras´ home.

Never saw that. Pardon for a dumb question: Is this a woman or a man ?

A story about Terumasa Hino : I saw him once in 1979 in a Dave Liebman quintet with fantastic musicians: with Terumasa Hino, John Scofield, Ron McLure, Jeff Ballard and Hino, with all due respect for the others , often stole the show, he was so great. He had, as I think I remember, a Don Cherry style pocket trumpet. It was in a Viennese Jazz Club. In the course of the evening, torwards the last set, two japanese girls came in and allready were pretty drunk. Nevertheless they still ordered wine and as they saw Hino, they went crazy and shouted at him and tried to flirt with him. He tried to ignore them and went on to play his great music. When it came to the end, the girls jumped up and went up on the stage to him and wanted to kiss him and who knows what more. It was really embarrasing, and Hino first tried to refuse politely, but it didn´t help. So he said something in japanese to them in a very very angry manner and went to down in the separate room for the musicians. He played so great, but this behaviour of the drunk girls was really disturbing.

Yes, this one was issues after decades. I like mostly the Quintet Set with Hawk and Fats. That´s great. The first half is what it is, a jam session. Again, most solists are great, but for my tastes,Sonny Criss tries too much to put into his solos. He got his sound from the sound Bird had in 1946 at JATP, but if you listen to Bird, even on his fastest tunes he always has a lot of melody in it. Criss tries to overdo Bird technically, that´s all I can say here. And Tommy Turk also has much technique, but I cant´s stand what he does musically. Anyway, Fats still had all his power and it´s a rare occasion to hear him do a ballad "Things we did last summer".

Is this the one from 1952 with Charlie Parker on it. As you say "teenage hormone jazz", I want to say something about it. As a teenager I first heard some Miles Davis Prestige stuff with Coltrane, then above all Charles Mingus with Dolphy and only after that, and due to the title "Parkeriana" I learned that there was a Charlie Parker, and I fell in love with Birds stuff. A little later I discovered those Norman Granz jam sessions JATP and also this one from 1952 and at first hearing I said "wow, so hot, so many great musicians from different generations". But after some spinning I discovered that something is missing. It´s kind of a routine, and the drummers are not really up to what Bird plays. The same was with many of the Pablo recordings. I bought them, listend to them a few times and thought wow really strong, but something that I need was missing. I was used from the beginning to let´s say hear the interaction of Philly Joe Jones with Miles and Trane, or let´s say Danny Richmond knowing every bit of what´s happening when Dolphy plays, and what Max Roach does with Charlie Parker, or let´s say Billy Higgins with Ornette. So, the Granz stuff is nice to hear and you hear some fine solos, but I didn´t find much to "figure out" , to get inside the music....

Well as I said, someone let me listen to her Round Midnight because they knew that I might know many many versions of Roundmidnite and what I think about this one. As I said I found it interesting . I´m sure she was a great singer, but I must admit I haven´t listened much to other music than jazz in the last 45 years. So I can´t say much about popmusic, rockmusic and easy music an classical music. But as I repeat, I liked that Round Midnight because it is associated to something I know very well. So I can´t really contribute to running threads about musicians who are from other genres (Bob Dylan corner, James Morrison corner, Classical discussion and so on...... I didn´t want to interfere, being a nobody if it´s about non jazz music, but remembered that I had listened to her Round Midnight and wanted to say this. Thanks. Gh.

The only thing I heard from Amy Winehouse in my whole life was a version of "Round Midnight" that she sang, as much as I try to remember. I think, they played it for ME, because they wanted to know what I think about that version of Round Midnite. Some said it´s not good, but I said why not, it´s interesting and something else and I was impressed that a singer who otherwise sang stuff that´s not MY music, did this .

I remember this was in the record shops in the 70´s and sold quite well. But why "Satch and Josh" , I thought, "Satch" was Louis Armstrong. I have a few of those Pablo´s from the 70´s but they don´t get as much spinning as other labels. I think, Pablo , Norman Granz had his own philosophy of getting stars from different generations together. At Chrismas I got from my wife "Diz and Basie -The Gifted Ones". Well, it is nice, but really much they don´t have to say each other. They play mostly Blues, and Basie´s piano is too spare and thin for a quartet like this. He is great with his big band when it is together with Freddie Green, but here the thing you hear most, is Ray Browns much too loud bass....

This one was the first I saw in the record shops in the 70´s. You must know, until then I didn´t have many albums. I had sold all Oscar Petersonalbums after hearing my first "real jazz album" Miles DAvis´ "Steaming". An from this moment on I "decided" that all those 5 musicians ar "the best of all" . That it was from my then perspective. So I wanted to purchase albums with them as leaders: Soon I bought this Red Garland, Trane´s "Soultrane" , Paul Chamber´s "High Step" and Philly Joe Jones´Blues for Dracula".

I love that Billy Eckstine album with Fats Navarro on trumpet. I bought it in 1978 and we, some friends listened much to it and tried to imitate Ernie Bubbles Whitman´s voice Very nice that dialog with Lena Horne: Whitman to Lena: Nice green dress you are wearing. Lena, thanks Ernie, that´s a nice red tie you are wearing. Whitman: Red tie ? Oh, thats my tongue hangin out. Jazz perennial also fine, it´s more a sampler of different sessions. The addition of Tommy Turk to the Quintet is a bit strange. Tommy Turk was a helluva trombonist, really fast, but the style..... not really my stuff. Fat´s last studio session: It´s okay, but some compositions, mostly the first sound a bit strange. It´s strange, that Fats sounded much stronger and more inspired on that legendary One Night at Birdland from 1950, very near to his death. I saw Dizzy in 1983 and he had his old buddy from the 40´s J C Heard on drums. Fantastic ! The others were Ed Cherry and Mike Howell. And a day before Blakey played and Dizzy sat in on "Wee", isn´t that great ?

I think I was meant to become a great fan of the more interesting things of music from the very start. Until the mid 70´s I only had heard some Oscar Peterson and maybe Erroll Garner at the house of some friends, who usually listened to classical music. Then someone from the older guys had this Mingus album and I listened to it and bought it the next day. What can I say: THIS WAS AND STILL IS, some of the greatest music I ever heard. So this was somehow my very start. Mingus became my idol, my mentor, his music on that album was from history (Parkeriana) to the great Meditations, and Fables of Faubus. And it was really helpful for me, since it has straight ahead passages, tempo changes and more "free passages". Everything !

My first Mingus Album was "The Great Concert of Charles Mingus" from 1964 with Eric Dolphy, Cliff Jordan, Jakie Byard and Danny Richmond. At that time, mid 70´s I was only 16 years old, I had only to records: Miles "Steamin´" and Mingus "Great Concert" (I had sold the 3 Oscar Peterson albums I had before, because they didn´t interest me anymore after hearing Red Garland on Miles´ "Steaming" and Jakie Byard with Mingus. It seems I was meant to get in some heavier stuff from the very start on. I said this is the greatest stuff I ever heard, those tempo changes, changes of moods, sometimes hard swinging, sometimes gettin almost into free jazz, it was MY GUIDE to the history of jazz (Parkeriana) and the then future of jazz (Meditations on Integration). So it was "Parkeriana" that I first heard or read about the name Charlie Parker, so I began to listen to Bird after I had heard Mingus......

Amen to that. In 1978 I was a regular at all good jazz clubs in my town and heard great musicians, and like you said it, It was such a wealth of music then and so many occasions to hear that great stuff. The sound of that recordings.......fantastic, you can imagine you are sitting in the club. About Red Garland himself: I was astonished how old he looks on this pictures. only few strands of hair left, and slicked back. He looks more like an old clerk than a jazz musician. I have a special love for Red Garland: When I was 16, the first real jazz album I got was Miles Davis "Steaming". Until then I had heard only some Oscar Peterson at some friends and until then I thought he is the greatest, because I didn´t know others. When I heard those Garland solos, that nice thing on "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" and that chords on "When I fall in Love"...... I said: THIS IS MUSIC. And I forgot completly about Oscar Peterson. What may be the reason ? Maybe, young and unexperienced how I was then, I nevertheless had a feeling for what means playing music TOGETHER, not just banging all them 88 keys with a grin that means "I am the greatest".....

wow, Tin Tin Deo. He recorded it also on the great album "Art Pepper meets the Rhythm Section".

April 22nd is Mingus´Birthday, he would be 99 years old. I want to say that Charles Mingus was one of the first musicians that fascinated me, actually I first heard Miles and then Mingus, when I was about 16 years old. This was the second Mingus album I had, and I still love it.

I should listen to this again. As much as I remember Jackie plays alto AND tenor on the title track. And I think Curtis Fuller is also on this. But I always thought that I couldn´t recognize Jackie on that photo. I saw him live on several occasions and as much as I remember he was quite heavy an somehow "Mingus-like", also the lighter, more yellowish skin, like Mingus....

Great, the only one with Sam Rivers.

It´s such a wonderful album, really to enjoy. Everybody is great here. I closed my eyes and to listen to every note.

My God, if I think how I translated the title of that album when I was a teenager: "eine f***ende Sonate" Well, everybody is playing great on this. One of the few recordings of Tommy Turrentine, who is really fine and it´s a pity he was so underrated. On the BN documentary film you can see him and he talks, but he looks very very frail. Butch Warren , on the last tune "Love" quotes "Old Devil Moon". I read the story about that session in Max Bolleman´s book "Sounds", he was the owner of the studio where most of the Timeless records were made. It was a terrible stress on that session because of the very unruly and uncoperative behaviour of Woody Shaw, and even worse, of his then girlfriend. But the music was great which is astonishing under those terrible circumstances.

Now without thinking, I can mention Horace Silver´s "Further Explorations".

I saw so many album postings and albums in your ´70s thread that I always said: Same tastes like me, same period I witnessed, and now I notice you listen to some things that are completely unknown to me. It´s sure it´s my fault, I thing I´m not very open for music that is not strictly the so called "jazz". My knowlegde goes from bop, hardbop, modal,free to electric jazz (jazzrock,funk) , but it´s quite hard for me to dig into other stuff