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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.......

Though he made many BN albums under his own name, I want to mention Joe Henderson: After listening to some BN-albums from the second great decade of that label (60´s), I noticed again, that his presence as a sideman would create most exiting moments on albums where he was a "sideman". This is the case on his solo on Hancock´s "The Prisoner". I think this highly emotional solo is the highlight of that tune, that album...... And on "McCoy Tyner´s" 1967 album "the real Mc Coy" I think I paid most attention to his playing. And "Unity" with Larry Young......, and all those others , with Andrew Hill that one from 1963 I forgot the title but it´s fantastic, all the stuff with Kenny Dorham, just fantastic what this great musician did........, one of the giants......

It´s hard to say that, I think. So many "sidemen" made their own albums under their own names, using the leader of another album as "sideman". So ..... this was the "Blue Note Family", right ? I would have said Art Taylor. But he also made an album under his name. Maybe James Spaulding, I think he is on some very substantial albums but as much as I know he didn´t record under his own name for the label.

Incredible ! Such a great drummer. It seems strange to me that I had heard him only one time live, a few years ago with his own quartet, but though he had played with almost everybody, I don´t remember that i would have seen him in other seetings. He was fantastic in any style from the 40´s on, with Lester, Bird, Bud, with Trane......

I must admit the name Marcus Belgrave occurred for me the first time on that vocal version of Duke Ellington´s Sound of Love on Changes, he was an additional trumpet and the singer was Jackie Paris. Jack Walrath..... I think he may have had quite a hard time at the beginning. And he was not allowed much solo spot on Changes. But later he became a very very much involved member of the band. I still remember his fantastic trumpet work on "For Harry Carney". "For Harry Carney" is played at a slower and softer pace on "Changes" but became a tour de force on most of the Mingus Concerts we could witness. Very often it was the first tune of a set, and it was so exiting, each soloist had a spot where he played only with the drums, I mean sections where the bass laid out. Dannie Richmond, fantastic ! I ´ll never forget those hot versions of "Harry Carney". Usually the band played this, and "Fables of Faubus" and "Sue´s Changes" (also from the Changes album), and sometimes if it was a longer set, they might add a fast "Remember Rockefeller at Attika" (later titled Just for Laughs). And on the last tour in Europe (I can speak only bout European concerts) they still had "Harry Carney" in the book, usually as the first tune, and then they played much better versions of "Cumbia" and "Three or Four Shades" than the overproduced studio albums.....

This one is great. Though Brew Moore was heavily influenced by Lester Young I always thought he´s original enough and as much saxophone he played he could stand his own from the forties on. I love the stuff he did with Machito together with Howard McGhee, the legendary live sessions with Miles and J.J.Johnson, with Bird himself and his role in Europe. Here I like very much the tracks from Stockholm. I think all of it was done torwards the very end of his live, but he still plays fantastic. But he was a difficult man, and his "offending the audience" as you can hear him say something between two tunes, was legendary.

Yes that´s possible. I think in one of the biographies about Mingus (I think it was the one written by Brian Priestley) Dannie Richmond is quoted as saying some words about the album, that it was done just after he came back into the band and though it´s obvious that Mingus was not in full action on that album, Dannie was so kind to tell the press, that he thinks it was his own fault that the album didn´t come off that well. I have not seen the Mingus bands from the early 70s, but I think from 1975 the bands were really powerful, first the one with Adams/Puller, and then the one with Ricky Ford and Bob Neloms. But between Pullen and Neloms at least for a short time was Danny Mixon, I think that´s the band that did Europe in ´76....., one year later it was Neloms .....

It´s natural that I like very much Mingus 70´s work, which is natural that was the time we heard him...., But "Changes 1 /2" I would say would set the pace for the tour programm. Sue´s Changes was part of every show. On Mingus Moves it sounds that the group still had not arrived. If I remember well, the trumpet player still was not Walrath, it was somone else less known. And what I miss most is that though Dannie Richmond had just returned , you don´t have the famous drums bass interaction. The Don Pullen Composition "New Comer" is the best work. I hard them perform it after Mingus´ death.

I don´t remember where I did read it, but somewhere it was reported that Mingus performed it even much later, maybe mid 70´s and went as far as even doing some dance steps along with it, and that heavy as he was, his feet were really fast...... Excerps from Isabel´s Table Dance appeard also on other occasions, I think I remember he inserted parts of it on "Fables of Faubus", mostly on "Right Now at the Jazzworkshop".

She really knows her stuff and I think she was a girl wonder, she was maybe 14,15 years old when she was on stage with Frank Morgan, really played some vintage bop alto. But maybe for record companies that stuff didn´t sell enough so they pushed her into a vocal career.......

I have that book , I purchased it years ago. Good reading, but a new book would be welcome (years ago it was announced that Dexters widow Maxine Gordon will publish a very personal book about his live, but until now there are no further evidences).....

How that ? Why not about mid 50s ? That was the period when Miles´ became famous for his muted trumped ,as I have tried to describe...... If it´s about from mid 80´s on, well there still were some great moments on some tunes, but especially the stuff were he used a mute (Time after Time) became just boring. And I have some 80´s recordings also live stuff, where he plays mute but I almost can´t hear him. Sure , Miles had to build up his chops again after years of inactivity, but it´s strange that in mid 1981 on the Kix gigs he sounds much stronger than let´s say in autumn of that year at Hollywood Bowl or worse in Japan. He tries to play the mute on stuff like "My Man is Gone Now" which really sounded strong at Kix, and there you just can´t hear him....... As I still believe, the best time for that ballad/mediumtempo sound of Miles was the 50´s.

Right now while I read this I almost had forgotten Mingus had two periods with Columbia. Imagine, I had forgotten that the 1959 sides also was Columbia. It seems that I was only aware of two CBS albums that was "Let My Children Hear Music" and "Mingus and Friends in Concert". Somewhere I have read that the people from Columbia dropped Mingus "like a hot potatoe". Anyway, Columbia or CBS had that reissue boom during the late 70´s where they issued some albums under the name "Contemporary Masters" and one of it was Mingus´ "Nostalgia at Time Square - his immortal 1959 sessions" with some stuff from the original albums, some restored soloes that had been edited...... I think CBS had become such a big thing in music business they could "afford" to have some "difficult" artists that would might sell harder. Don´t forget they even got Ornette under contract, above all "Skies of America".....

I wouldn´t say he was exclusively using the muted trumpet. It´s true that from the midfifties on he used the harmon mute for the ballads and the medium tempus, but would play open horn on most of the remaining faster and stronger be-bop tunes. Take for an example one of his most typical Prestige albums "Steamin´". He plays open only on "Salt Peanuts" and "Well you needn´t ". I´m not sure now but I think in 1951-53 he still didn´t use the mute, he started with one mute in spring 1954 but it´s a different one which sounds rather strange. You can hear it on those tracks he made with Dave Schildkraut and others. There is plays the mute also on the fast "April" but it sound´s funny to me. The good Miles Davis sound on harmon mute I think started around 1955 with the album "Musings of Miles". The reason "why" he did it......? I´m sure it was stylistic reasons. He became a big fan of that light Ahmad Jamal influenced ballad style medium tempos style and that´s from where that relaxed "Miles Davis" sound comes from . Anyway, from 1963 on he played much more open horn again..... even on ballads, listen to "Valentine" from 1964.....

I´d like to state that the set list is also very interesting. I think this was from his years in Europe. After he had settled in the States and had his own quartet, even a long show might not include so many tunes. I remember and see on live recordings, that tunes often lasted 15 - 20 minutes..... As I remember, they had shorter or longer shows, and a longer set might start with a fast tune like a fast "It´s You Or No One", followed by a medium tempo like let´s say "Fried Bananas", followed by a ballad and the last tune might be a fast blues like "Backstage" or "Gingerbread Boy" with an extended drum solo, into the theme song LTD. On shorter sets he would omit the medium tune. I often was quite astonished how he switched from an ultra rapid tempo to an extremly slow ballad. Here he reminds me of Bud Powell, who sometimes went from an ultra fast tune to an extremly slow ballad......

No, in dutch language. Maybe knowing German and English we might understand some of it, but with some difficulties......, if it had been in French I would have purchased it.

I think he felt more comfortable with Atlantic, with Nesuhi Ertegun and Ilhan Mimaroglu. Anyway Columbia was very good for artists and they made albums that sold well and made fine money, but they could drop artists very fast, as happened to Woody Shaw, and Dexter Gordon, eventually they were dropped from the list, at least that´s what I think how it was....

Rein de Graaff wrote a book, something like "Bebop life" but as I know in Dutch so it would be hard to read it. Excerps or memories about Dex, about touring with him are in the liner notes of a CD/DVD set from "Northsea 1979". About the hard job to take care of Dex that he wouldn´t loose his money, drink too much etc. ...., and one thing was once on tour Dex woke up in the night and asked Rein if his wife could make a tea (!?) for him, and when Rein de Graaff told him they on tour Dex said "this tour is going too fast, man"......

Thanks for your kind answers. Of course I intended to write "El Gran...." Anyway, during his at least 14 years in Europe mainly in Denmark Dexter really liked to use the language of the respective country for his stage announcement. Hip as Dexter was, you could almost feel that it was often a kind harmless way of puttin´ the audience on, that´s part of his generation, Bird did it, Diz did it, Monk did it. And since a lot of his live recordings were made in Denmark, there is a lot of announcing a tune also in danish. After telling the name of the following song he would say "OR !" and give a danish translation of it. Famous was his announcing of "I wanna blow now" . "And now...... a very very important composition by the very very..........slippery........trombonist.....Bennie Green, and this is called (says it in a very straight and official manner ) "I....want... to....blowwww......now...." OR "jai once spielen nu.." (or like that ) The joke is also, that Bennie Greens "very very important composition" is not more than a very very simple blues riff , a Bennie Greeen trademark anyway.......

Thank you for your kind and very helpful advices ! About the idea to give him stronger pronounced 70´s rock jazz, I think that might be stuff he might have anyway, at least Herbie Hancocks Headhunters. The point is I have some LPs I don´t play anymore since I got them on CD. About the "Three or Four Shades....", I didn´t buy it when it came out, when I first saw it I didn´t like the album cover, and the personnel (at least with Mingus), but one year later i bought it together with "Cumbia". Anyway, I played it sometimes for people who don´t have their roots in acoustic jazz, and they liked it. My two sons when they were in their teens they liked it, especially the first side.

Yes it sold well, I was and still am a hard core Mingus Fan and didn´t buy it first since I was not curious about hearing Mingus with fusion guitarists, but a year later I bought it . My thought was, if the guy likes fusion and as a limited affinity to jazz and likes Bitches Brew and obviously listens also to the old "Birth of the Cool", he might like it, or it might be a point of departure. Many rock freaks during my youth got acquainted to electric Miles and then said oh maybe I should listen also to some other earlier Miles too.

Hello friends ! Yesterday I visited an old friend with whom I share the passion of fly-fishing for trout and he gave me some of his self made flies and ...... to my surprise he spinned Miles´ Birth of the Cool. He´s a vinyl freak but I didn´t know he listens to jazz, I had known he was more into rock. He showed me the album covers of Bitches Brew and so on, so he seems to like some kind of our music too. I´d like to make a present for him, I got the Mingus LP "Three or Four Shades of the Blues" with those guitars Larry Coryell and John Scofield and those really catchy tunes "Better Git it in Your Soul" and "Noddin´ Ya Head Blues". Since I have the CD I´d like to give him the LP: I think if he likes some jazz and is into 70´s rock, he might like that side of Mingus too. What do you think ? I remember when I started to listen to jazz (early 70´s ) my first "heroes" was Miles and Mingus. I didn´t even know about other artists. So Mingus was something like a "bottom" for me and I´d like to offer that hearing experience also to my old fly-fishing friend and (maybe "new") jazz friend......

It was recorded and is the first half of the album "Great Encounters". Slow, gutteral voice, yes ! Didn´t Dex announce Griffin as "we got another tenor player.......just where we need it (laughter from the audience) "...... And further: We´ll play some "European Soul Tenor" for you (Blues Up and Down). Really great !

I think Charles McPherson got his influences from the more mellow side of Bird. His playing, even with Mingus always reminded me of a relaxed more laid back side of Bird. He is a wonderful musician and I can enjoy his playing very much. I think my first hearing experiences were the post Dolphy Mingus recordings, stuff like "Monterey" and "Minneapolis", and the marathon session 1970 for the french America label.

Fitting to the Dex 95th Birthday thread: What are your favourite Dexter ´s stage announcements, they were part of the game and a trade mark: "I want to take a moment to introduce........the moo-sah-kas (the musicians, musiker).... starting with El Grade Senior frah Catalonia...TETE MONTE LIU (smile). " our trommelschleger frah Van Luta......Alex......Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiel................................., really !