Gheorghe

That´s it. Now I can imagine more of it. So....... Johnny "Guitar" Watson is R&B something that seems I haven´t explored. So this is similar to B.B. King ? Since as I said I saw B.B. King once when he was on tour schedule with Miles, without playing together, just one set Miles and one set B.B. King. As about changing styles in the 70´s Miles was not the only one who did it. Maybe he was the most famous one, but others from around his generation (a bit younger, a bit older) also changed their styles in the 70´s : Rollins, and even Diz. When I first saw him in the 70´s he didn´t play with a classic be bop quintet, he had an electric guitar, an electric bass and a more rock oriented drummer. Others like acoustic pianist Hampton Hawes also switched to electric piano. But I think this was natural. It´s fine if musicians from the older generation at some point tried out a newer style and mastered it in their very individual way: Like Roy Eldrigde from the swing era went as far as playing boppish "Ornithology" in 1947 and Benny Goodman did some small group bop on "Stealin´ Appels". Really fine, and maybe it was the same when Diz after 1970 did some tunes with a rock rhythm and mastered it. And don´t forget Ornette Coleman. His 60´s "free jazz" was part of the acoustic tradition and his 70´s Prime Time was an adaption of his "free style" to funk rhythms........really wonderful how all those guys did their stuff........

This was also one of my first Gilberto albums

This one has a special meaning to me since Art Pepper played a festival gig in Austria during that period, and on the playing list was his famous version of "Your´s my heart only". I heard another version of it on the Croydon Concert also 1981. I think those two "widow´s taste" albums are wonderful. I think, on the Austrian gig Pepper had to play with Stan Getz´s rhythm section, I don´t know exactly what had happened that he didn´t have his usual rhythm section. Especially for his version of "There will never be another you". He is great on that, wonderful block chords. He played it again in Paris at BlueNote in 1961 of 62 with Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clark. Both versions are great.

I also didn´t understand the photo of that "boy next door" with a girl....... THIS should be Richard Carpenter, I imagined he looked more "gangster like" after all those stories told about him. I have a Tadd Dameron bio where it seems that Carpenter had quite an important role for Dameron during the last years of his life, which is strange since Dameron practically didn´t do nothing from the early 60´s on (he didn´t even play on his last "album" "Magic Touch" .

Must have that, didn´t know there´s a Dave Liebman bio. He is one of the first jazz artists I admired. I think it was short time after he had left Miles.

I still don´t know what is the connection between Miles and Johnny "Guitar" Watson, who anyway, as I said before is not familiar to me.....

Maybe Johnny Guitar Watson is not exactly in my playing list. I have and know most of the jazz stuff from all those labels BN, Prestige, Impulse, Mileston, Columbia and what it is, all those artists from bop to 70´s electric, but maybe not those who not are exactly "jazz artists" , I know that´s not the right definition for it but maybe you can follow me and check out what I try to say: For example: Once I heard a double concert Miles Davis/B.B.King, I don´t know why the combinated them, but I must admit that the B.B. King stuff after two three tunes was not anymore what I usually listen to. Back to Miles: on that 1986 concert he was in top form, anyway the band sounded much better than the only studio produced "Tutu", and to hear some of the tunes from the Tutu album live was a much more interesting experience than hearing the record. I don´t know what was the reason for combining Miles/B.B.King, I think that package toured U.S. AND Europe.

Again an "Island record". One of the best, if I could keep only one Wayne Shorter BN I´d keep this one. @Big Beat Steve.: Yes it was Bellaphone Import. The "Steaming" was as a single LP with another cover photo than the original Steamin, and others were twofers (right, Prestige 24000 series. I had one of it with a cover photo of Miles in the 70´s at the boxing gym, which has nothing to do with the content, since the content was most of the pre 55 Miles, which I later purchased as "Dig", "Miles and Horns" "Blue Haze" "Walkin" "Bag´s Groove" and "Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants...... (I hope I didn´t forgether any). One record that always was particular interesting for me was "Musings of Miles" since it points out torward the first classic quintet, with Garland and Philly J.J. on it.... Also a record for the Island.....

The 4 Prestiges "Cookin´, Relaxin´, Workin´ and Steamin´ always have been favourites of mine, they would be records for the "Island". Somehow I find the first Prestige record of the 1.st Quintet, simply called "Miles" not so exiting like those four records. "Steamin´" was one of the very first "jazz records" I had, I think the other records were available only on expensive japanese LP pressings.

they are wonderful ! When I was younger I had difficulties to tell from the record who of them is soloing, but later I learned to figure out how Zoot Sims phrases and how Al Cohn. It´s fascinating how long there collaboration went on. First I got aware of them on "Miles and Horns", than on that "Tenor Conclave". Too bad I never caught Zoot Sims "live" but I saw Al Cohn once with Woody Herman in a rare "All Star Small Group", a wonderful experience.....

I didn´t know the expression "jerk" in this context (being a hobby fisherman I know a "Jerk Bait" is some big bait for some big pike and so on), but I deduced from the track that it´s about rude behaviour torwards the audience or fellow musicians. In this context I remember the trumpet player Joe Newman. During the late 70´s early 80´s he came quite often to "Jazzland" in Vienna as a solo artist, working with very very fine local musicians but the way how he "lectured" them on stage was just sad shit. You don´t have to "lecture" good musicians only because they are "locals" how to play "Bye Bye Blackbird". They did a good job, but with that shitty behaviour after some time nobody in my town wanted to play anymore with him. Maybe he was not aware of it. Joe Newman is a very fine mainstream trumpet player but maybe he is not the greatest of them all. We had artists with bigger names like let´s say Woody Shaw and I didn´t hear no complaints about the locals who played with him. Another guy I would like to mention was Sonny Stitt. Once he came in town to play with some of the best European musicians around, on piano we had the great Fritz Pauer and on bass was Alarad Pege, the great hungarian bass solist and bass professor. And Sonny Stitt just did really bullshit on stage, "lecturing" them how to play and this was stupid, because with all my deepest respect for Sonny Stitt and I never will say else than that he was one of the great virtuosos on alto and tenor, but if someone can play and Fritz Pauer and Alardar Pege and the drummer who was very fine really play, it´s easy to play a set with Sonny Stitt, his music is not so "far out" that you might have to figure out strange things........ Things got even worse after the concert. It was announced that Sonny might visit the club "Jazz Freddy" and would jam with tenorists Harry Sokal and Roman Schwaller and the same rhythm section, but Mr. Stitt started to show the piano player on stage "how to play piano" and so this was a really embarrasing experience in Spring 1980.

Milestone was a fantastic label ! They really did something for acoustic musicians when others didn´t record them. And all those albums they made, they sounded so modern, so hip and quick. I think Joe Henderson did some of his best work for Milestone, he never sounded better. Even the more overproduced studio thing "Canyon Lady" doesn´t sound like cheap studio crap, it is a fine album and captures much of Henderson´s virtuosity. All those Milestone Artists made some of their very best stuff during those years, Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, and of course Joe Henderson. I think they also were scheduled for festivals as part of the "Milestone Family", because how otherwise I could explain that in 1979 in Velden we had so many "Milestone Artists" (Rollins, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson, they all were scheduled)........

2 month ago I bought a DVD from one of the Arkestra Members, they sold them for the audience during intermission. Right now I have to fix my place and a lot of my stuff is sealed, and the DVD-player anyway has some defect, so I´ll have to buy a new one, but I hope that "Space Video" I bought will be the film "Joyful Noise". I don´t know, the written stuff on that tiny DVD explains something about "director´s cut", so it might be a longer version.....

Maybe you should give some of Miles´ 1981/82 recordings a try. Here you have Miles again playing acoustic trumpet withouth the "wah wah" which I think you don´t like from stuff of Miles in the 70´s. Here in 1981 you even have some moments when Miles looks back into the 50´s playing a quite new version of "My Man is Gone Now" where he alters funk with swing so it could be a link for fans of the "old Miles" to the Miles of the 80´s . On the album "We Want Miles" I think may of his old fans would find something thats more interesting for them than "Aghartha" or "Pangeea".

Glad to read that there are still jazz festivals with Jazz Musicians, not like in Vienna where the "Jazz Fest" IMHO doesn´t have names that I can associate with what I´m used to listen to. And who is "Jamie Cullum" ?

I think the winter broadcasts with Oscar Pettiford and Roy Haynes are the best from all 1953 Bud Birdland broadcasts especially for the tunes he chose. Later, from summer 1953 on his performances became a routine, he played to many tunes in the same key (F) and did dozens of versions of the same tunes (I´ve got you under my Skin, I want to be happy etc.). But what really knocked me out is the few tracks on Summer Broadcasts with Bird and Candido. But when I was young, the following LP really puzzled me: It was from those cheap Musidisk LPs, an easy way for us Europeans to buy records. It´s titled "From Birdland 1956" and has listed Paul Chambers and Art Taylor but as soon as I heard it I knew it must have been earlier and with another bassist and drummer, so soon it became clear that it was the "Winter Broadcasts" from the ESP label. I think ESP tried to publish as much Bud as they could since Bernard Stollman would have liked to be Bud´s "manager". They also issued some Bud in Paris at Blue Note 1961 and also Bud´s very last appearance in a studio in the mid sixties was intentioned to be for Stollman´s label but years later was published on Mainstream with no informations at all and wrong recording dates (Ups´n Downs).

I have the CD with both sessions, one is a studio date, and the other one is live. Sorry to say right now I have most stuff sealed cause I move upstairs and have to wait to check out who´s on it, but if I remember well it´s the same group. They toured Sweden during that time, late 50´s I think 1958. The great swedish trumpet player Ericson is on it. I think it´s the only record of Tommy Potter under his own name. And quite late in his career, but he also did some tour dates with Bird-Memory groups feat. Howard McGhee, Sonny Stitt and sometimes J.J. Johnson plus Walter Bishop and Kenny Clark in the mid/late 60´s, also can be seen on a video tape of one concert. I always liked his bass playing. And on the rare occasions when he did a solo, it´s really fine. What really knocked me out is Tommy Potter´s ballad feature "Talk of the Town" on a ballad medley Bird,Dorham from "Bird at Cafe Society.......

I have the same ! Really a great collection. It´s interesting how Diz sounded on the earlier big band stuff and on the 1949 stuff he tried to reach a bigger audience I think, with more vocals and funny tunes like "Hey Pete, let´s eat more meat". And I think it was the first time, I heard that mistery "Metronome All Stars" . Until then I had seen only a picture of that all star summit.

"A Portrait of Thelonious" only has some Monk tunes, it´s not a whole Monkt tunes album. But listen to the Mythic Sound CD "A Tribute to Thelonious" from 1964, it has only Monk tunes, the first half of the album is solo and done in the Paris Appartment, and the trio stuff is with John Ore and J.C. Moses. The photo I think was early 1964 when Monk came to Paris and was greeted by Bud on the Airport. And there was a tour in spring 1961 with both Monk and Bud, I think it was some Italian towns, among them San Remo. Bud played the first half, and then Monk, there´s also a CD about it "Pianology" with the stuff Bud did and some by Monk.

You missing a lot if Seven Steps to Heaven is about the latest Miles stuff you listen to. Well, with the exception of that remark on "On the Corner", the author wrote other "strange things" too: About Paris 1949, that Miles was "bored" there, that the Paris stay was "boring" to him. Now, I think most people know that Miles was fond of Paris and the audience and you can hear it through his playing. This is fast stuff like only Diz and Fats could do it at that time I think.

I love the way Mr. Flanagan plays. And his trios really were trios to listen to, he had the best bassists and drummers around so it was not like in other cases that it´s all piano piano piano and the bass and drums have only a supporting role. To have Flanagan with Reggie Workman and Joe Chambers that´s just a dream team. I was lucky the only time I saw Mr. Flanagan live it was also a helluva trio, he had George Mraz and Art Taylor and so I´m more into groups with horn players and on that festival schedule we had Miles, Jackie McLean, Pharoah Sanders, Lou Donaldson etc, but I´ll never forget the fantastic set of Tommy Flanagan with Mraz and Taylor........

Just for fun : Someone who remembers this one ? I want to say this was the only Miles Davis book around, when others didn´t exist. Actually it was also one of my first "jazz books". The author also had difficulties with Miles 70´s music but actually it was written when the latest Miles album was "On the Corner", so it must have been from 1972 and I think in 1977 I purchased it. The strange thing is, Mr. Cole says about "On the Corner" that "it´s an insult on the intelect of people"..... can you imagine that. So even when this book was brandnew, I had albums that even didn´t exist when the book was written: Aghartha, let´s say "Agharta" was the latest record that existed when we were teenies, we all tried to be cool like Miles Davis, to wear sunglasses and all that things, you could say we was "Children of Agharta". Nobody knew really much about it, there was no liner notes, and from the cover art some even thought that it was "recorded under water" since you see the NY skyline and some water plants and fishes and stuff..... Anyway, I was the biggest Miles fan around even if I didn´t know more than two of his albums "Steamin´" from 1956 and "Agharta" from 1975 because that´s what was in the record store

I wouldn´t say I´m a big Oscar Peterson fan, but this album has a special meaning to me. A friend of mine at high school had it when I was just starting to listen to jazz. See, Oscar Peterson was something that people dug who otherwise didn´t listen to jazz . But later, just a few years ago I bought the CD just for historical reasons, since I liked it so much when I was still a boy. And I want to say, I like THIS, and "Nighttrain" best. I don´t usually listen much to Peterson, but what I like on those albums is that Mr. Peterson doesn´t "overdo" the stuff. He had a helluva technique, but this here is really a beauty, nice spare piano, things that I can dig after a day of hard work when I maybe dont want to "figure out" heavier stuff like Mingus or Trane or whatever......

Oh, this really looks like something fantastic !

Is this Dorothy Donegan ? I think I saw her live once, but IMHO she overdoes the piano a bit, very technical really, but maybe some pianists just think if the piano has 88 keys you have to play them all at once......, I like the piano more if it can also get out of the way, leaving space for the other musicians.....but if I here someone like Dorothy Donegan I always think I can imagine them as child wonders, beeing carried from one competition to the next, and then at some point they switch to "jazz"...... And maybe she was not presented were she expected to be presented, it was a small cellar club, fine but maybe not for her, she seemed to be a little lost and overdressed for that joint....... poor Mrs Donegan......