Gheorghe

He has done fantastic things on the drums. I can´t say more than about drumming and good drummers and of course good musicians in general. All that other stuff I see on that article, all those herbs, brains, and scelets that´s not my thing......, ony music....

It´s a pity that it happened in 1954. That year was the absolute nadir of Bud´s career. Didn´t Bird also play at the Haig ? I think I remember from the book "To Bird with Love" some angry letters from club owners, maybe the Haig, torwards the union, complaining about erratic performances.......

Bennie Wallace, I remember he was very much en vogue here in Vienna around 1980, among insiders. The club I frequented to listen to new records and to check out gigs, they would spin among else the album were he plays Monk tunes. I remember Wallace was a very very young man, and had the gift to play the old tunes with a very personal approach. But I don´t remember I would have heard much about him after that short period.

Usually around Mingus´ Birthday I also spin....not necessary in that order "Black Saint" , "Complete Town Hall", "Blues and Roots" ...., and the "Ellington/Mingus/Roach". The reason may be a historic one: Decades ago I got those records around the time of Mingus´ Birthday (late April). I play other Mingus items, mostly the 64 stuff with Dolphy and the Mid-Late 70´s stuff Adams/Pullen Walrath/Neloms/Ford etc. on other occasions, since I purchased or got them as gift in other periods of the year......

That Woody Shaw Group with Steve Turre, Mulgrew Miller, Stafford James and Tony Reedus was fantastic. After that european tour they recorded for "Elektra Musician", which was a hopeful label led by former CBS boss Bruce Lundvall. There´s an interview with Woody at the end, were he referred to a "tedious tour through Europe they had done before". I still had the opportunity to hear that great group early in 1983, but I think after 1983 Woody disbanded and for the last unhappy years he had to travel much as a single with pick up groups, though there were still great moments when he had Gary Allen etc., but the last time I saw him in Vienna was a very painful experience.....

If I remember right, in the early 80´s Burton Green played a few gigs with some of the most important avantgardists from my homecountry Austria, people like Fritz Novotny (Reform Art Unit) on soprano sax, who had started his own taste of avantgarde as early as 1959, almost in the same time like Ornette and Don Cherry in the States....., and if I remember right they had invited Burton Green to play with them. Really interesting encounter, and Green doing a very important Fritz Novotny composition "Pannonian Flower" and if I remember right, as an encore they did Monk´s "Crepuscule with Nellie" . Fritz hadn´t played it before but sure knew the tune, I think I heard the tape ! There was quite much happening then in town.......

Yes, I have read that interview. One thing Dexter said in another interview, was a very important thing about mutual influences. Like, young Coltrane was quite influenced by Dex and then became one of the most influencial leaders of the instrument himself, with a lot of followers. And in the 70´s Dexter would "borrow" some of Trane´s ideas, like his version of Body and Soul on "Manhattan Symphony" and on numerous live occasions I witnessed myself. And Dexter did also quite a lot of modal tunes, based on stuff like "Impressions" etc., . So that´s a really wonderful thing that happened: Dexter as the prototyp of the bop movement influencing the next young players in the 50´s, and than later getting influences from them too.

It can´t be Paul Chambers, Chambers had a rounder face. Yeah John Ore. There ar not so many fotos around with him, saw him only on a foto when playing with Bud, and with Monk. And yes, when I saw the photo I also remembered it´s from Nica´s book "3 Wishes" ). And I remember I also had thought the trumpet player looks like Maggie, but the young Maggie in the 40´s with that smart look, because Maggie in the 60´s and the foto is from the 60´s, Howard McGhee in the 60´s didn´t look that well, low life had taken it´s toll, saw videos from the mid 60´s with some Charlie Parker memorial and he really looks worn out. The "3 wishes" book is a strange book. Some of the guys really have fine answers, others ...... forget it. The worst is Lionel Hampton it doesn´t make sense at all, and the shortest and most ugly is that of Al Haig. It´s strange some of them where you think they are intelligent people they give silly answers, and others where you might think they are lost, they might give some astute answers. For example Bud Powell. During that time really erratic behaviour and disappearing and missing sets, but his answers on the question "3 wishes" are: 1) Not to have to go to a hospital again 2) to travel to Japan 3) to make a record......., none of the wishes came true

I think I remember his name. The 90´s was a strange period. I think many very good players came around, but years later you must ask what ever happened to them ? Wasn´t Gary Thomas on saxophone on Miles´s last group in the last year of his live 1991 ? Didn´t know about Herbie Hancock dissing musicians like that. I always had the impressions Hancock is one of the most articulate and nicest guys in jazz history.....

I love them all, they are superb, and I have them all, but maybe "The Prisoner" is the one that fascinates me most.

Does he still play ! He is one of the most exiting bassists from the 60´s on. Love his playing on many classic BN from the more advanced level.....

Those Uncle Poe´s live sets are really treasures !

Wasn´t he the official "leader" of the Paris Reunion Band ? Must have been a gas that band, never heard them. They were booked for a 3 days festival in the mid 80´s but I had only tickets for the first two days so I missed their show. Wasn´t it Nathan Davis as the leader, Woody Shaw, Dizzy Reece, Johnny Griffin, and at least on the first gigs even Kenny Clarke ? This must have been an allstar band and I don´t know why there are no records, something like that might be historic, unique......

One of the real great innovators. When I grew up, Free Jazz was still quite in action and Cecil Taylor together with Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry sure was one of the most important leaders of that great movement. His music is harder to understand than Ornette and Don Cherry, but if you get into it, it will thrill you.

I´m from Austria, so that´s also a german speaking country, though we have another accent than especially people from Northern Germany. Austrian , especially Viennese style cookin is quite famous and many tourists are visiting our country and enjoy our restaurants. Once, my wife and me made a holiday-visit to a small town in Northern Germany, where we visited some friends. We really had fun, especially if we went to restaurants and if it´s about food, ingredients and some beverages we have other expressions for them than the german people, much to the delightment of the locals . They really "studied" our funny expressions, we have other words for a lot of things that really sounds funny to them but they love it, especially since there are many Germans comin to Austria on holiday, but very few Austrians goin to lesser frequented northern german towns. So even one year later when we came back, they recognized us as those "funny Austrian people". The shop were my wife asked for a plastic bag and she said in the austrian manner "Sackerl" and the woman said " a .... what?........ you mean a "Tuetchen". The next year she recognized us as those who say "Sackerl". In Germany we ordered "Viennese Schnitzel" and they served it with mushroom sauce and french frieds, quite unusual for austrians, but we loved it. They had Schnitzel with mushroom sauce or with some picant sauce and that was "Schnitzel Hunter´s style" or "Schnitzel Gipsy Style". When the waiter asked "What kind of Schnitzel" I said "make a Hunter out of it...." and everybody laughed, they never heard that...... Wow.......... never thought I´d ever write on a non-jazz topic.........

Want to tell you we had the pleasure to play .... among other stuff......Con Alma with a wonderful trumpet player who knows and plays many many tunes from that era, Con Alma was a highlight, and he knows all those arrangements. Other great moments were Manteca, Ornithology, Groovin´ High and many others, and he has very beautiful, soft sound, so you hear that Dizzy stuff with a mellow trumpet sound, like if Chet Baker would have done a set of Dizzy compositions, or Diz himself at a later stage of his career when he played softer and more in the middle register. I´m lookin forward playing again with that wonderful trumpet player.....

Great ! Almost forgot how good it is ! Once I got to play with a group that was very very much orientated in that kind of style. I wouldn´t play that stuff every day but it´s great how people are happy if you play that....

Thank you all for your kind and very constructive replies ! Yes, I´m sure it makes sense to start from a more historical point, like Mingus´s 50s and 60´s outputs. In my own case my first real listening experience was the Mingus with Dolphy and Jakie Byard from Paris 1964, that was a 3 LP set . I liked it from the first hearing, and it was one of my first records I had, the first was Davis´ Steamin´. Imagine, I had read about Bird from the liner notes of Davis´ album and after I heard "Parkeriana" from the Mingus set I really became interested in Bird also. So in my case I started from a quite advanced stage of Mingus´ music with all them tempo changes, dissonant sounds and everything, but I don´t thing I´d be a good example, I always wanted to "study" what I was listening to, and I think my friend is more the kind of person who may enjoy some stuff but wouldn´t listen to it as a musician listens to. Anyway I ´ll give him other records , Mingus, some Miles, some Blakey Messengers as you mentioned it. I remember a person who was not a jazz buff but was crazy about "Moanin´" and "Blue March", playing it over and over again at a very high volume.......

Saw him once in 1983 with that great quartet with Michel Petrucciani, Palle Danielsen I think and the young drummer Sunship. I also have the album they did for Electra Musician shortly after his comeback. But I think he had the most succes just before I became interested in jazz. When I started to study all that music and heard all the day long Miles, Mingus, Trane, Ornette and all of them, I didn´t really know about Charles Llyod but guys maybe 5 , 6 years older were from that flower power generation when Charles Llyod was something like a hero, best selling jazz artist or very near to it. I got to spin two of his albums from the 60s with quite straight ahead stuff, with the great group Keith, McBee, Jack DeJohnette. I liked them though I must say if I want to hear something from the 60´s I listen more to Trane, to Joe Henderson, Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter .

A request I got from a stunnig beautiful lady was "When I fall in Love". I think I never played it better...... Otherwise, I like to play bop and if there´s a hip audience and a guy wants to hear our rendition of a certain tune, I remember one guy from the audience wanted "In Walked Bud" so I like requests of that kind.

One of my all time favourites. Maybe the first listening experience besides the classic Ornette Coleman stuff was his playing with Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry, Henry Grimes in 1963 in Europe. Wonderful drummer. And I saw and heard him life at least two times. One time it was with George Coleman Quartet, with Hilton Ruiz, Ray Drummond and Billy Higgins. But the most powerful thing I heard, and I tell you one thing, it was one of the very very best concerts I ever was blessed to witness, it was an all star band led by Jackie McLean, with Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis and Billy Higgins. I remember it as if it would have been yesterday: The first tune was a very extended version of "Blue ´n Boogie" with everybody soloing, and after a very interesting somehow very percussive bass solo from Mr. Lewis Billy Higgins started his solo with a powerwork starting on the snare I never heard something as sharp and hip and powerful as this solo. A second huge solo spot for Higgins was on Salt Peanuts.......,

I have them both but bought the Mini-Lp-format Japanese BN, many years ago. Wonderful albums like all of Freddie´s albums..... I noticed that Blue Spirits as a very very strange amplified sound of the bass. It sounds almost like a boosting synti bass. But still enjoyful to hear, even if I doubt it was the original sound. Strange thing on two of those reissues then. Two of them have that strange bass sound: Blue Spirits, and Dizzy Reece "Sounding off" . I haven´t noticed that on other items and I have dozens of them......

But not his last recorded documents. I think the very last "recorded" Monk was 1975 the quartet with Paul Jeffrey, Larry Ridley and Monk jr. . One year later Monk performed for the last time but I don´t think it was recorded.

But all of them ar good. Though for me BN means the period from late 40s (the Monk, Bud, Fats stuff etc.) the 50´s (all that Hard Bop ) and 60´s until maybe 1970 (hard bop, a few of the better boogaloo, and of course more advanced stuff´). When I started to be aware of jazz, BN was something like a magic word for me, though it was the worst time for that label I think. At least in Europe many classics were OOP, and I remember I went to a record shop where the LPs were sorted by Label Name. I hurried to the BN section but to my embarassment there was no artist I might know, most of it seemed to be grossly overproduced mid 70´s studio stuff. Once I bought by mistake a Lou Donaldson album from 1974 and after one painful listening experience I threw it away...., I wanna say : Nothing against 70´s electric jazz, but not that kind.

Right. But as good as Bob Cranshaw is and I think he must have been part of the dream team of many sessions, nevertheless I dare to say, that he is mostly on the more "straight ahead" sessions from the label´s 60s period. Let´s say: Albums like "Idle Moments" and so on they are wonderful music, timeless beautiful things, but from a certain point of view I´d pay more attention to the more advanced efforts, stuff that maybe did not sell as well as "Idle" "Sidewinder" "Song For My Father" and so on, but more the stuff men like Wayne Shorter, like Sam Rivers, like Andrew Hill would make, or the Jackie McLean projects with Graham Moncur III , and so on. Bob Cranshaw was steady and very very fine, but Ron or Richard Davis or some of those guys would fit better into the more advanced stuff. Joe Chambers he was very very good and is a very sharp drummer and would push the music. There were other drummers who never did exite me really, though they good and steady, Al Harwood had a good timing, but he would not exite me......., other stuff with Tony, with Elvin, with.... yeah ...Joe Chambers.......