Gheorghe

It seems that Graz in the 60´s had a great live scene. I remember the strange LP Max Roach and Sonny Rollins Graz 1963 (misdated, it is more possibly 1966), and the Jimmy Giuffree Trio live at Graz 1961 also on Hat Hut, which will be a present from my wife for my birthday (she saw it in the record store). So I´ll also be in for the Coltrane stuff of course.

Fantastic Ornette Coleman, after decades again with the Original Quartet and the great Prime Tune. Some tunes are played as by the quartet as by Prime Time, which is particularly interesting.

Yeah, rock guitarists are into E. When I was younger and switched from acoustic jazz to Electric jazz for 2 years, I also became in touch with playing in E and didn´t find it so difficult. But in General I prefer B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, D-flat...…..well, bop keys…...

I also thought so. But once I had the honour and pleasure to play with the great alto saxophonist Allan Praskin and he said we´ll play a Parker blues (I don´t remember what title it was) in B natural. Now you might expect that this might not be a problem for a piano player, but since I never played anything else but jazz, I´m not really familiar with "non jazz keys". Especially B natural could throw me. I somehow mastered it only because I thought about an old Parker record that runs too fast so a B-flat tune actually sounded like B natural. That´s how I could kept that B-natural sounding stuff in mind and managed to comp and solo on it properly, but it was a challenge, of course an interesting one. Thanks God it was a medium blues, I don´t know what would have happened if he would have called an uptempo tune in that "impossible" key

A very fine Ben Webster live date at Montmatre, Copenhagen. Stellar rhythm section with Kenny Drew, NHOP and Alex Riel. Wonderful, especially the ballads, Ben Webster is one of the great ballad players, his sound...… Incredible.

I heard Wynton Marsalis twice in 1983, the first time with the VSOP II with his brother Branford and the Incredible Hancock/Carter/Tony Williams. Just incredible ! Fantastic ! And later in the year it was his current working quintet, also very fine music. Well, Wynton Marsalis was quite new then and was considered a very good young trumpet player. From those two performances that I attended, I can´t say nothing negative about him.

I already have the Columbia "Bootleg Series" with the three CDs of the 1969 quintet plus a DVD. Is there different playing on this ? The Album cover looks interesting, it Looks very similar to the original Bitches Brew painting, but is another way of painting…..

I must say, I´m afraid the CD players in the car could do some damage to my CDs. I´m afraid the CD-Players in cars are not as good as the DENON-CD Player I have in my house. I noticed that two or three CDs I possibly played in the car got stuck in the last track (it´s Always the last track I don´t know why), so I had to re-buy them. I don´t have nasty neighbors , I´m lucky, but the strange Thing is as older as I don´t turn up that much, though my hearing has suffered . What´s house music, is this a kind of disco stuff, you see I´m only into jazz 100%......

I must admit that I don´t need the car to go to work, since my office is not so far away from my house. I use the car when I go fishing and during the drive to the river I listen to USB sticks. I record my LPs on USB, that means About 30 LPs on one stick. Because at home I listen rarely to Vinyl, more to CDs, so I save my old Vinyl collection for trips with the car and can enjoy Albums I haven´t listened to for dozens of years…….

Great, this and the twin Album "Love Song" .

Always a pleasure.

Very interesting ! i was born in 1959, so let´s say I was part of the era of the 70´s, watching out what´s happening. As a teenager I got much influence from those, who were a few years older, those who were let´s say between 20 and 25 years old. Many of them still had John Coltrane as a super hero. And it could be sessions with free form or sessions with funk form, the saxophonists always had Coltrane in their mind. And on the other hand, not too few of the listeners of the electric jazz movement at least had a few Albums of acoustic jazz too. Those who listened to Bitches Brew and Agharta, also had at least one or two Davis albums of the 50´s or 60s. And those who listened to free stuff like Ornette Coleman, at least had one or two Charlie Parker albums too, since they considered Parker the first revolutionary. So it was a very cool and easy way to get in touch with many aspects of jazz, and don´t forget one thing. Many Kids played some Instrument and cellar Rooms for rehearsals were cheap, you shared the rent with other bands and could jam a lot and check out what´s were happening. So you could learn a lot about the music and the different styles from acoustic to electric. I started with acoustic Music and then switched to funk an jazz rock, and then back to acoustic……., as I´d say I was part of that generation and a kid of the 70´s.

My favourite playing list of albums recorded in the 70´s is quite long. From the older masters it´s those who made very fine albums in the 70´s, like let´s say most of the Milestone artists, stars like Sonny Rollins, Mc Coy Tyner, Ron Carter, Joe Henderson..... Then the VSOP Albums for CBS, the newly discoverd Dexter on CBS (best: Manhattan Symphony), the Albums Dizzy made with a bit more electric touch, and don´t Forget the huge two double Albums "Montreux Summit" : This is a real history of all styles of jazz, from old Things like "Blues March" to funky stuff composed by George Duke or Bob James. Then of course the music that was created in the 70´s because you can´t say you listen to 70´s jazz if you cut out the electric stuff: The whole jazz-rock Fusion stuff: All the Miles Electric Albums, the Headhunters, Return to Forever, Larry Coryell, Billy Cobham-George Duke, Weather Report...….

New Steps and Unity were the most evident two Albums when I first saw Sun Ra live in spring 1980. Then I bought only "Unity" which seemed to be more similar to the mixture of free-jazz., space chants and old Fletcher Henderson arrangements, that made the Arkestra so attractive. I bought "New Steps" (the quartet album) About 10 years ago and it it´s possible it was that non-legit issue. I wonder why they didn´t reissue also the twin album "Unity" on CD. About "Other Voices...…" I still haven´t heard. It is possible it was not in the stores during my time...… it seems there was that Twin thing "Unity" "New Steps", similar album covers with some dark brown desert sand or something….

Great !

From the post 1973 live double albums of Miles´ Group I like this most. It was a great group, the one with Dave Liebman

I saw many Dizzy concerts but missed the Diz-Makeba thing. I think that was the last time he performed in Europe, Right ? Friends who attended it told me it was not so much Dizzy. I think I also saw a CD of it and traced that there is not so much of Dizzy playing on it.

Yes, really hard to believe. And this album was hard to find at least when I became a BN collector. All other albums were already reissued as RVG, but this one was only available on japanese cardboard after a long time.

Great 1962 performace by Bud. And recommanded to those who always say that Bud in the later years had lost much of his tehnical skills. This is top Bud Powell, period. Great selection of bop standards and moving ballads. The two bonus tracks Bud-Griffin duo have already been issued on the Xanadu album "Bud in Paris". And as on the Xanadu LP, also here the recording years is wrong. The two tunes with Griffin in Paudras´ home were not done in 1960, but in 1964. In 1960 Griffin was not in Paris, and Bud had not started to be recorded in Paudras´ home. This was much later.

I love it, so much pre-bop trumpet. This, together with "Trumpet Battle at Minton´s ".

Great performance from 1967. I like very much Albert Heath´s drumming on this, but of course everybody plays great !

I heard Griff in April 1978 just before he returned to the States. This record was done shortly after his return. Then I saw the working quartet with Ronnie Matthews in spring 1980.

I think the 1971 tour band was not very well documentated and it would be interesting to hear some. Older friends have told me in a very enthusiastic manner about Miles Davis´ concert in Vienna in 1971 I think at "Konzerthaus". I was too young then.

It bothers me too. I hate to see cover photos that are from another period of the live of the Artists. It also happens in the opposite manner: You see a cover photo of a later period of the Artists, only to discover that the Music is from an early stage of his Career .

I think I remember some 1977 Earl Coleman was played on our then very popular austrian Saturday night Radio Show "Jazz Shop", moderated by Herwig Wurzer (I call him the Austrian Symphony Sid), and he also commented Earl Coleman´s Deep voice and announced the record this way "Right now something for the ladies to listen to….." Sorry to say I don´t have the late 1977 Earl Coleman stuff, but I also love his stuff from the 40´s very much, especially the sides with Fats Navarro and Don Lanphere……. But I don´t know absolute Nothing about his life. On this cover photo he looks quite dapper, almost like Horace Silver…..