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A long time ago I think I purchased a strange Coltrane LP Box with 5 LPs, and I think they all were rare broadcasts, no studio recordings. And the first LP had the whole Johnny Hodges Material . I also remember "Mellow Tone" as the most successful track of it.

Yes the announcements are not well recorded, but anyway it´s nothing more than just shouting out the names of the musicians. No "hip talk" or something... Tommy Turk, I´m sure he might also be on other JATP recordings, but the worst thing was when Granz added him to Bird´s quintet on some 1949 studio recordings, I think those with those strange titles "Cardboard" "Passport" "Visa" etc. , this might have been almost around the same period like the JATP. About Sonny Criss it seems we have similar impressions. Never thought about the Willie Smith Sound but you might be right. If I consider it, there are shades of Smith in his playing. I´ve heard once, that Sonny Criss had heard Bird at JATP 1946, which anyway was in LA, and got his influences from Bird´s sound on those concerts. I never cared for Sonny Criss, I think he is on another Bird date, I´m not sure right now but is it possible he was on some "Inglewood Jam". HAWK and FATS, and Fats on "Things we did last summer"....

I´ve listened again to that really great album, the best of the Jazz at the Philharmonics, and I can´t find something really "far-out" in Bird´s playing. IMHO everything I´ve heard him play, has that unique balance and melody in it. On Indiana (Ice Freezes Red) he makes some outbursts into the highest range of his instrument, but even this is not new. He did it much earlier, as on the 1947 Broadcasts "Bands for Bonds" on "Donna Lee" ( based on Indiana as everybody might know) where he reaches a very high note, announced by Barry Ulanov in a very strange manner as "some very strange recording noises by Bird". I´ve heard things that Bird was difficult for those who had been used to oldtime jazz, but maybe I´m too young, I grew up with Bird´s sound in my ears, that´s the musical language I understand best, so Bird and Diz always have sounded to me so familiar I never traced something "far out". But the second alto player Sonny Criss, he sounds strange, he cannot really phrase a thing like Bird, he´s got fantastic chops but doesn´t have the imagination to really "sing" on the horn like Bird. Many bop followers were faced with that problem: They thought they must sound more abstract and then it might be the "bop thing"........ The other players are cool. Flip Philips is an older guy but play he does, he really had chops. That trombone player has great chops but sounds more like Dixieland to me. Hank Jones is fantastic. I think Hank Jones always was the real Gentleman of the piano.

This is an interesting record. But it´s quite unusual for the choice of "Sentimental Journey" as the first tune. And "When I fall in love" as a medium tempo and not ballad. There´s a whole bunch of McLean´s recordings for Prestige from that period. Later I heard Jackie McLean was not really happy with that deal. But now they are classics.

One special highlight on it is the ballad feature of Fats "Things we did last summer". Fantastic ! And a rare recorded document of Fats playing a ballad.

this was one of my first albums : The 2 LP CBS set with that painting of Bird. Fantastic. though until there I never had heard a worse sound quality (my item seemed to have only the treble and you had to turn the treble completle down and the bass up and still would have a very very metallic sound) I had the Savoy studio dates before (this actually was my first Bird), but studio recordings were to short and you couldn´t hear the drums. Besides Bird I was mostly impressed with Bud and Blakey. I loved that fierce drumming Blakey had on this and when I later bought a studio record of the Messengers I was disappointed the drums didn´t sound as loud as on Bird 1950. I love powerful drumming. And Bud: I was the lines, it was how he makes the piano sound, something I never had heard before that way .....

I have that record . The "far out" or more abstractly sounding Bird..... could it be Sonny Criss ? I had the same problem once I think it was an Inglewood Jam, where they are both. Sonny Criss had a sound very similar to Bird. I think he got his sound from the hard sound Bird had on his 1946 JATP recordings. But the difference is that Criss seems to exagerate a bit . On those early recordings 1949-52 he always sounds a little nervous, he doesn´t leave space and doesn´t have those little melodies in it that Bird would have had.

Well "White Chrismas" was a request on air. But I think Charlie Parker was hip enough he would play any tune with nice changes so you can blow on them. That was Bird, the tune was just a blowing vehicle. So if Bird was in a mellow mood and I´ve heard he had his mellow sides also, he just wanted to be kind and anyway he did his very personal version of that tune. And really: Both White Chrismas and Slow Boat have changes any bop freak can blow on them. I´m not a professional musician and do only some club dates, sometimes I´m lucky I have occasions to play or jam with good professional musicians also, but I´d say for myself if I´d get a request "White Chrismas" or "Slow Boat" I´d be happy to please the person who asked for it. As for "Feelings", yeah I´ve heard a lot of guys refuse it, but what can happen worse than do a short version, I think a slow bossa or something like that, on it just not to hurt the "feelings" of someone. If it´s a club gig and you can be flexible, and it´s the last set, why not. If we are on pressure of time and most folks came to hear other stuff, it might be impossible...... Anyway, at least in my case it´s a question of age: When I was young and more arrogant, maybe I declined a request in a more direct and harsh manner, but now, it´s more important for me to have happy faces in the audience and not to hurt anybody´s feeling if possible. if we can manage to include the request without completely destroying the general conception , there´s nothing wrong I think.....

In the late 80´s I remember we did it a few times as a reggae

oh thanks for the info. I had thought it´s Trane´s because the time I purchased it, it was under Trane´s name, one on Musidisc I think "tanganyika strut" and one on an italian label Lineatre or something like that. As you say, both with Wilbur Harden, and I think this was my first encounter with Doug Watkins. Needless to say I got much more albums later.

absolutely. I think he had a very very strong and fat sound and that´s the best thing for the then "new" hard bop sound. Very much in evidence as early as his 1955 playing with the Jazz Messengers. A great sideman. His sound is even stronger than that of Paul Chambers, but IMHO he was not such a great soloist like Paul Chambers. Sometimes, as on some of Contrane´s albums for Savoy he just keeps walkin on his solo spot

This one might be the greatest thing and I really was glad when it started, but after a few minutes there are some strange symbols on the screen and they don´t get away. I found the video on you tube also but it also has those strange symbols on the whole screen. That´s really a disappointment. This almost two hours of music should be published on DVD, or just as a music CD. Two giants like that together, that´s an historic moment. I really hope it will be possible to enjoy it without those annoying symbols.

I think it depends on where you play. I remember when I was a youngster sometimes we got a gig somewhere where the audience wasn´t really used to jazz or to what to expect from a jazz performance. Most people who were not so much associated to jazz, had heard and had liked one single tune "Take Five". It seems that this was something that appealed to people who said they didn´t really like jazz but liked "Take Five". Others "Mercy Mercy Mercy". Well I could do more out of "Mercy" than of Take Five". "Take Five" and me , "we" had the wrong start, we never became friends...... On very rare occasions where someone had a request which really was not a "jazz associated" tune (I think it was a country melody or something like that and the only thing I ever knew is "jazz") I had to explain it in the kind manner, somehow like "look it´s like food, if you want pizza, you go to a pizza place and if you want chinese food you go to a chinese place and that´s what most people understand, that you can´t cook on anything.... The most ideal requests happend if a fan asked for a tune that you haven´t played yet but might go into the direction you play. If you are lucky you somehow know the tune and can execute it.

Brew Moore "Brew´s Stockholm Dew" with Lars Sjosten Trio is a fine record.

I´ve thought that at least when they made to the records "At Bohemia" in late 1955, though Horace Silver was still in the band, Blakey had become the leader. Because only on the late54/early55 record "Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers" Silver got top billing. And it´s significant that on the two "Bohemia" albums there is no Horace Silver composition. After Mobley had left Blakey, they still recorded very much together. After 1956 there´s that whole bunch of BN albums Mobley did, and at least on some of them is Blakey on drums, and after 1959 he still did at least two albums with Blakey "Roll Call" and "Soul Station". I never learned about the reasons why Mobley returned to the band and if he did, why didn´t he stay longer. 1957 was a good year for Mobley since he made so many records as a leader and a sideman, and in 1958 his recording evidence was less, there is 'Pecking Time" but somehow I don´t like that album so much. Wasn´t Hank arrested sometime for the usual things then ?

Thank you for sharing this great memories. The Double Quartet was quite well documented, usually they did two long tunes, one was called "A little Booker" as I remember, and the other was something based on the changes of Bird´s Confirmation. Well it´s a nice listening experience even if strings always sound a bit funny to me. About the "iron curtain"...... two years later Roach performed in East Berlin GDR ..... yes 1985 I got the CD.

The Chattahooche Red I must admit I haven´t heard. But Pictures in a Frame. It´s interesting there are a lot of Roach Fans, I´m glad he was one of my heros and I think the first time I heard them with Billy Harper and Reggie Workman this was one of the greatest concerts I ever heard, I´ll never forget that. And as you like more the Pope/Hill version: They were also in my hometown, spring 1980 if I remember right. I was there and the next day it was on radio, I recorded that on tape. It´s got that slow blues "six beat blues" which they performed often, and "Peaceful Heart" one of the most played tracks. Normally they did "It´s Time" and "Peaceful Heart" both more than 20 minutes long. That´s how I heard them. And Roach came down the club to greet Art Farmer, but maybe due to contractual reasons he didn´t sit in...... Heard Izipho Zam yesterday. Beautiful especially the long title track. That´s Pharoah at it´s best, and Sonny Sherrock´s guitar riffs are beautiful. Anyway those are the tunes you never get bored even if it´s repeating a riff, it get´s into your soul, you could listen to it for hours..... I think it´s very near to the other best achievments "The Creator has a Master Plan" and "Healing Song" (from At the East). And the first track has a lot of good piano also. Lonnie Liston Smith was one of the first of a long row of píanists who had that certain powerful quality Sanders want´s for his music. Joe Bonner was one, John Hicks , and for a very long time Bill Henderson. Only downer on that record: It´s not very well recorded, it´s very heard to hear the piano, it´s underrecorded. I think, though all those Strata East are first rate music, it still was low budged and good recording equipment was missing.....

have listened to it yesterday. The best track is the Red Cross, Clifford Jordan is fantastic on it. But I must admit it´s not very very well recorded. The bass is too loud. Okay the bass is the leader and want´s to show he´s the leader, but IMHO it´s overrecorded, louder than the other instruments. But I´m not an audiophile, it´s only because after 40 years of music my hearing isn´t that good any more and anyway I have difficulties hearing high frequenzes (flutes and the upper register of other instruments), so a very loud bass is an additional difficulty. But Wilbur Ware has great lines parallel to the lead voices, I first noticed that on a very early record I think on "Dial S for Sonny". I like him most as a sideman. As a soloist maybe he does not appeal me as much as let´s say Mingus, who always seems to tell a story on his bass........ But it´s interesting how those Strata East focus on very interesting musicians like Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell together with some from the older generation. And a lot of pianoless combos, Ornette-like.

Yes, I´ve heard so much about it, but missed it when it was available then, the only Horo´s I had and have are the two Sun Ra´s

Needless to say I heard him almost every time I could. He performed at least twice a year for several days at Jazzland and I was a regular. I was a youngster in the 70´s and spent most of my money buying records and going to Jazzland. Though I still was quite shy, I asked Art Farmer to sign "To Duke with Love" for me, which he did, asking me "what´s your name" so he even wrote it with a dedication for me ! Great site about him ! There are also famous Art Farmer Quotes. I might add another one. In his book "Worte zur Musik" , Frederick Gulda stated that when he played at Vanguard Art Farmer went up to him and said to him "get that edge off" . Indeed, it happens that people who were not born into jazz and have learned it out of classical music, sometimes are tending to stiff-collared phrases while improvising, it doesn´t "flow" the way it should. That´s what Art Farmer meant....... to get rid of that "edge"

There was a lot of Max Roach from the late 70´s that was not released on CD, never understood why. Got a fanstastic Live at Amsterdam also from 77/78 the great quartet with Cecil Bridgewater, Billy Harper, Reggie Workman (I liked that version more than the second quartet with Pope and Calvin Hill instead of those two, though they also exceptional musicians). Those days with Roach touring with that quartet were heaven on earth for me. I think the label of a lot of rare live stuff was Denon. They also did the best Archie Shepp Quartet recordings from that time. Such a fantastic album. And it has a very very special meaning for me, since it was the first Art Farmer album I purchased, and the rhythm section is fantastic. I purchased the LP shortly after it came out, Art Farmer was married in Vienna, he lived there when he was not touring. Needless to say I got the album signed from him with a really nice dedication. That´s a treasure for me. Needless to say for just listening I bought it on CD also a few years ago.

Yout got this ? It must be a rarity today. The only recorded version of Bemsha Swing. All those 10 CDs are very interesting.

solid. I like the versions of Ruby My Dear, Monk´s Dream and Off Minor and Thelonious. There is another record for about the same period "At Cafe Blue Note", with a fantastic version of "Round Midnight" too.

You are right. I also had the Verve twofers in the lat 70´s. While the first twofer is the complete first two albums with the 1949-51 sessions, the second one doesn´t have all the tracks. Actually those Verve albums from the period 1954-56 are 5 separate albums: Piano Moods Bud Powell "57" The Lonely One Piano Interpretations Blues in the Closet. The most uninteresting one is "57". I never knew why it´s titled "57" since it was recorded in late december54 and january 55. Really a sad thing with a shaky "That Old Black Magic", a completely forgettable "Like Someone in Love". "Piano Interpretations is much better. It has a fantastic version of "Conception" And there are some great moments on "Blues in the Closet", especially the "I Should Care" and "I didn´t know what time it was", and a nice stride section on "My Heart stood still". Peter Pullman´s book gives some inside views about that period. It´s reported that the sessions were not supervised by Norman Granz.

Well me not really. I really got into bass bowing as a listening experience by listening to the first jazz lp I ever had, Miles with Paul Chambers on bass. I taught myself to play bass when I was at high school and even could work some gigs. No one less than a really good austrian bass player told me I should go onm but I always felt my instrument is the piano and after 37-40 years I think there´s not much left even if I might still know how to finger it. I still have the bass fiddle at home, much to the annoyment of my wife "grin" I don´t feel hurt if it sounds "ugly" for classical trained musicians or listeners, and he can get far out also if he likes, but those bowed octaves alternating with plugged bass sounded a bit funny to me. But maybe a few more listening. Well Charlie Haden knew the music very well and is hand in glowe with Ornette and Cherry and them all, but when he starts solo, it sometimes sounds funny to me, very very diatonic, like childs songs. I feel more comfortable if Henry Grimes plays a solo, it´s more jazzy......