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Is it possible I saw and heard Gary Smulyan with the Woody Herman Herd in 1979 ? I remember a very strong baritone player and I think it was he. And about Dick Oatts, I think I saw and heard him in 1978 with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band

1977, it might be from that last year when Mingus was able to play, with his last band with Jack Walrath, Ricky Ford, Bob Neloms and Dannie Richmond. Looking at the photo and seeing the kinky afro hair style I think it was during that time, since one or two years earlier his hair was shorter. I remember it well, they usually performed extended live versions of the long title tunes from the commercially released 1977 albums "Two or Three Shades of Blues" and "Cumbia and Jazz Fusion". Usually they started with "Song for Harry Carney". The band was really strong.

Great albums , listened to them recently, always great

Tony Inzalaco was very much in action in Europe in the 70´s. He was or is a very very fine drummer. I saw him live on several occasions, he played very much in Vienna with the Frith Pauer Trio (Fritz Pauer p, Jimmy Woode b, Tony Inzalaco dr) and I remember an unforgettable night at Jazz Freddy: Johnny Griffin with the Fritz Pauer Trio, so I saw Tony Inzalaco with Griff , those were the days !

Oh that´s really sad news. Though the early 80´s I got to know him personally we had many occasions to talk about music and listen to tapes etc. He played a very impressive set on Hollabrunn Jazz Festival 1985 with some of his old buddies like Paul Fields. During the time I knew him, he recorded "Pannonian Flower" a really strong composition.

"five stars" especially for the participation of Sam Jones and my favourite drummer Philly Joe Jones. This is one of the greatest Bud Powell albums after 1953. All compositions by him, and they are great compositions. John´s Abbey became a signature tune during Bud´s years in Paris and after his comeback to the states. He never failed when he played it. And he kept "Monopoly" in his song book. And "Buster Rides Again" is a fantastic latin tune with the great Philly J.J. doing an extended drum solo.

A wonderful album, I think it was actually the first Clifford Brown/Max Roach I ever heard, decades ago. Great compositions by Richie Powell !

And interesting combination with J.C. Moses, who was very much in demand in the avantgarde scene. A very good drummer !

Yeah and Al Haig on piano, who of course also had played with Bird and Getz. I think Roy Haynes was much enough in action in the late 40´s, he also had recorded with Bud´s Modernists, and he played with Lester Young. Wardell Gray is fantastic here, as is the rhythm section. The ballads are great !

Yes its true I had forgotten to mention Danny Ray Thompson and the french horn player who was really fine. About Michael Ray, I saw him with the Arkestra in 1980, he together with John Gilmore were very important voices in the Arkestra. To see Julian Priester with the Arkestra must have been a very special occasion.

Always a pleasure to hear those 1956 Prestige dates with the first great quintet. I think one of the first jazz records I ever heard was "Steamin" which was quite available during that time, but with another cover than the original one. Things like this turned me to jazz when I was a boy.....

On Sunday I saw the Sun Ra Arkestra live here in Vienna. I was lucky I had a table in the 1st row so it was a "supersonic" experience for me to see and hear them in action from such a short distance. My deepest respect for the Master Marshall Allen, who at 95 years age is so much in action, he was constantly in action playing mostly alto and conducting the band. Fantastic musicians, I´d like to mention Knoel Scott on bs and doing the announcements, James Steward on ts, Cecil Brooks on tp, Farid Abdul-Bari Barron on piano and keyboard, and the great young drummer I think Wayne Anthony Smith jr. And the fantastic singer Tara Middleton. It was very interesting to compare her voice with the former concerts almost 40 years ago with June Tyson. Tara Middleton is a really strong bluesy voice and was very much in action, like June Tyson in former days together with Sun Ra himself. I could recognize some tunes from earlier records and concerts, from "Nothing Is", some Fletcher Henderson stuff as usual, and a very fine version of "Strangers in Paradise". It was a fantastic experience and highly recommanded if you catch them live. Right now they are on an extended European Tour, after this they will play in the States and in september I think back in Europe, also open air at Poschiavo, Switzerland.......

On Sunday I´ll see the Sun Ra Arkestra under the leadership of 95 year old Marshall Allen. I´m really lookin forward listening again to some intergalactic-musical proceedings, space chants, free forms and even some old Fletcher Henderson tunes. I still saw the Arkestra with Sun Ra himself in 1980. Right now they are on tour here in Europe.

One of my favourite 60´s records. I saw Jackie McLean live with 2 of the musicians involved here (Herbie Lewis and Billy Higgins) plus Bobby Hutcherson, who was on the following 2 albums "One Step Beyond" and "Destination Out".

I saw him live at least in 1978 and 1979. The 1978 was a whole concert (with JoAnne Brackeen on piano !), the second was a festival schedule. I missed a third date that would have been with Tete Montoliu, but I had flu and couldn´t go and see them.

Same mistake here. I think I had the same problem. Now it´s hard to find.

Yes I remember that Pat LaBarbera was on the 1979 edition. I think the actual album was "Remembrance" from 1978. The Sonny Fortune version, I remember Willie Pickens on piano.

Oh, if that´s the case, I think I might not regret so much that I haven´t purchased that album. I had thought it might be a really encounter with hornplayers. Anyway, I think the most spinning Errol gets from me ist the "Cool Blues" session date, the tracks with Bird and Earl Coleman. Actually, did Erroll play with other hornplayers or vocalists on other occasions, I mean other settings that trio ?

Yes might have been 1996. Saw Elvin only twice, one edition was 1979 but I don´t remember exactly the personnel. Yes, the Lou Donaldson album might have been Sweet Lou. I want to say, I´m not deaf to electric jazz and have all of Miles´ 1970-75 albums, but this 74 Lou Donaldson album is just a shame. To record music that sounds like the background music you might hear in a commercial complex is just a no go for a famous jazz label and an artist who once recorded "Blues Walk", one of the most important hard bop records. I think I had bought it because somewhere I read "2012" and thought it might be recorded in 2012 maybe with his road band which I saw. A terrible mistake.....

Ravi Coltrane is a very fine player and I too saw him for the first time together with Sonny Fortune with a quite late Elvin Jones edition. About mid seventies BN, I never purchased anything but saw the BN Discography and from the player´s list they all seem to be grossly overproduced, a lot of instruments..., Once I bought a Lou Donaldson thing from 1974, because I had thought it´s a regular jazz record and what I heard was the dullest thing I ever heard. I actually threw it into a garbage can. Another thing I remember from visiting a record shop when I was young and started to collect records. There was a record shop where the records where not after alphabetically order of artists, but after record labels and as a saw "Blue Note" I hurried to that section, hoping to find all those classic BN records I had heard about, but believe it or not, there was not even one of those records, all of it was mid seventies BN.

Too bad I didn´t purchase this when it was easy available in all record shops. Would have liked to hear how Errol sounds with Brass. During the 70´s Errol Garner was quite en vogue here in Vienna, especially among middle aged people who otherwise didn´t listen much to jazz. They might have some classical and one or two Errol´s, but no Trane, Mingus or Ornette, not even Miles or Bird. So when I came in visit somewhere and would browse through the them their records the only stuff I would listen too was Erroll, maybe out of necessity. But I always have liked him. I think even the most critical Miles who dissed almost everybody had some nice words about Erroll. Nice shirt indeed, and believe it or not, but my first pair of cuffs was also those frensh cuffs and I still have them and wear them ocasionally. I´m not so much into non jazz music but since I had learned some hungarian when I was younger, I had to read what´s written on the record and it says it is in the memory of Bartók for the 5th anniversary after his death. Hungarian Radio record from 1950. The strange thing I heard something that sounds a bit like Bartók to me I found on Graham Moncur´s "Some Other Stuff" on the tune "Twins". It reminds me of some transsilvanian folk music I heard much in my youth. The kind of stuff you heard on weddings, and the kind of stuff that I think had influenced Belá Bartók´s writing.

One special think about Thad Jones on small band records is that even here he shows his great talent for arrangement. His voicings make you think that it´s a larger band playing. Like Tadd Dameron, he also had that quality. All three Thad Jones BN´s are great, as is the Debut LP "The Fabulous Thad Jones". I saw him "live" only once with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band late in 1978, but to my disappointment he only conducted, I had hoped he also might play some trumpet. Anyway it was torwards the end of his collaboration with Mel Lewis I think.... This, together with "Fuego" are my favourit Byrd albums from the 50´s.

Don´t see much "hard bop" here. Maybe I´m not as much into other music, but if you say "mysterious hardbop" one of the only recordings I can think about is that strange partially pianoless Transition record that sometimes is listed as being led by Paul Chambers (three tracks) which also has Trane, Pepper Adams and Curtis Fuller and a more obscure tenor player too, who seems to double on one or two tracks on piano. This was first on the 2-Lp set BN LA-Series "Paul Chambers - John Coltrane". Later I found it on a japanese cardboard CD as bonus tracks on that 1956 Westcoast Date with Trane, Kenny Drews, Chambers and Philly J.J. That´s a quite hard to find record and I think it´s definitly hard bop.......

I have a CD with the same cover and maybe the complete BN of Elmo Hope, the trio stuff from 1953 with Philly J.J., and the quintet from 1957 I think....

I would have liked to see him live. As much as I remember, a really strange thing was he never was scheduled on the many jazz concerts and festivals I attended from 1977-1985. Almost all the legendary musicans could be seen and heard live then, but is it possible that Horace Silver was not touring much then? Or at least he wasn´t doin Europe....... maybe....