Gheorghe

How much time did Lucky Thompson spend in Paris ? I did know about his late fifties things in Paris. One LP that was on sale when I was young was that "Oscar Pettiford" Memorial Concert from Paris, october 1960 with Lucky Thompson Trio some tracks and Bud Powell Trio some tracks. On a club date they played a few tunes together. I´ve read once , I think Ronnie Scott wrote it, that Lucky Thompson was not an easy guy to work with. British pianists had difficulties working with some "difficult" tenorplayers. Lucky was one of them, the others was Brew Moore and Don Byas if I remember right.

Really interesting, two Mingus-orientated players, one Ornette Coleman orientated player and the allrounder Reggie Workman (though I remember I heard Workman mostly with drummers, Roach and Blakey. It´s really astonishing to read about the combination Adams/Pullen with Blackwell, especially since Richmond was still alive. Mentioning Ed Blackwell: Wasn´t 1984 also the year of that kind of Ornette Coleman acoustic revival (without Ornette) "Old and New Dreams"? I always found it interesting how former sideman kept acoustic groups, while their leaders had gotten tired of it (VSOP , an acoustic Miles Band without Miles , "Old and New Dreams" an acoustic Colemanband without Ornette ).....

As much as I love Bud and everything he played , though (as I mentioned above but didn´t have feedback) he did play a bit too much in the same key (F) in 1953 which even annoyed his greatest admirer Mingus, it´s almost a sacrilege to "cut out Mr. B." Maybe I wouldn´t say that if I haven´t heard the Mr. B stuff too, but as this is historical performances and never again it will happen that you can hear all those guys they wrote book about - during the course of one evening at Birdland, it might be great to hear it as a "whole thing"..........

One composition of Fritz Pauer that Art Farmer used to play was "Cherokee Sketches". Of course it´s based on Cherokee and played at an ultra fast tempo. IMHO Art Farmer was more comfortable at medium tempos. Fritz Pauer loved Monk and some of his tunes are based on Monkish style elements, like one tune I witnessed the first playing in public was "Spelunke" dedicated to a former jazz club in my hometown, which was great cause it was mostly musicians playin for musicians. Chet Baker performed there once with Karl Ratzer. I was a regular and used to play there when I was almost a kid. By the way it was the club where Fritz Pauer let me sit in. All this happened 40 years ago. It was just a great time, that special block near Vienna Food Market had jazz in the air. You could meet fellow dudes on street and check out a gig. "hey there, need a bass player next week, can you make it...." that´s how it was..... One composition of Fritz Pauer that Art Farmer used to play was "Cherokee Sketches". Of course it´s based on Cherokee and played at an ultra fast tempo. IMHO Art Farmer was more comfortable at medium tempos. Fritz Pauer loved Monk and some of his tunes are based on Monkish style elements, like one tune I witnessed the first playing in public was "Spelunke" dedicated to a former jazz club in my hometown, which was great cause it was mostly musicians playin for musicians. Chet Baker performed there once with Karl Ratzer. I was a regular and used to play there when I was almost a kid. By the way it was the club where Fritz Pauer let me sit in. All this happened 40 years ago. It was just a great time, that special block near Vienna Food Market had jazz in the air. You could meet fellow dudes on street and check out a gig. "hey there, need a bass player next week, can you make it...." that´s how it was.....

Denardo´s fine to me also. Yeah, I got those Impulse LPs when they where around (in the 70´s). Always liked the covers they made, still like to hold it in my hands. And the music is really advanced. The later BN´s from the same period they are much more conventional, maybe that´s what it was the BN slogan "it must schwing"(sic). Crisis with both Don Cherry and Dewey Redman, and Charlie Haden back on bass. A beautiful record. And the first tune on AT 12 always really moved me. Also the later version with a string quarted. String quartets usually is not my thing, but the way it´s arranged with the voices really moves me. It´s such a beautiful tune, something like hopless hope...... Lead´s me from Impulse to those Caravan of Dreams records. Got some of them, but only had heard once the "Opening at....", would like to see it reissued, IMHO the best of Prime Time, really something, and .....pardon for all who criticize his violin playin...., on that one "Compute" or how the tune is titled Ornette is really great on the fiddle. The way how even Miles seemed to praise Ornettes violin (other than his trumpet playing) "the violin is ok, you can get away with it playing some sounds, fillin in some sounds on some occasions....."

I heard the stuff from july 53 , sets alternating with Mr. B, who´s also really great on that, as usual. I love those live tracks and A.T´s drumming on it, discussed it once with Bichos (Marcel). On studio recordings you can´t hear him, but here his drummin is really a gas, and he does fantastic things on Un Poco Loco, and Budo. Bud is still very much in control of the keyboard, he had his "un" years in 1954, 1955 but later he returned to much fine playing. The only "downer" for me on all those 53 broadcasts is the very similar program on all of it. And most tunes are in the key of F. Even Mingus, one of Bud´s greatest admires had some critical remark about that, even if he exagerated it in his typical Mingus manner , as he said something that Bud could or would only play in the key of F. I think, the first broadcast from february 53 is the best, with rare live versions of "Tea for Two", "Bean ´n the Boys aka Burt covers Bud", and a wonderful "It could happen to you". And of course the stuff with Bird and Candido and the few with Diz (Woodyn You especially). But it seems, that after may 1953 it became a routine, those from september 53 sometimes sound like if Bud wasn´t really interested any more in what he was doin.

Just heard the record ! Great. Well I can understand what George Coleman says about Mike Stern, from his point of view, but I really liked Mike Stern, I heard him with Miles in the first period after his comeback. Mike Stern was the best, somehow people praised John Scofield much more , but I liked the sound of that first 1981 Miles sextet. I was astonished Mike Stern sounds exactly like on those 1981 Miles dates. Then, Miles would also do some straight ahead (Kix, Ursula), and thats how Mike Stern sounds here. I was a bit astonished to hear Ron Carter much more subdued than I used to hear him. Ron had that big amplified sound and very much glissando effects in his solos, when I heard him in the 70´s maybe 80´s. Here the sound of the bass is much more like someone from an earlier generation, not that big Ron Carter sound......

Thanks for the recommandation. Must have that. My wife ordered it for me for father´s day.

Oh yes, I have that record and love it. See, when I was young, Sun Ra was starting to mix his usual free-jazz big band program with some standards, starting with old Fletcher Henderson Arrangements, and it must have been because of that renewed interest in straight ahead acoustic stuff. So word spread that Sun Ra plays a mix of his intergalatic stuff with some really swinging old stuff, and that´s how I heard him first. And naturally we were running to the record stores to check out what Sun Ra records we might find and there was those two Horo Double LPs with very similar covers: The "New Step" as a rare combo recording just with John Gilmore, and the "Unity" with the whole band. So we young "newborn" Ra-Freaks (smile) bought those two albums. It was like if you listen to Mingus. You hear Mingus play some straight ahead starting thema and then out they go, and that´s how you "learn" about "far out" stuff, and same with Sun Ra. We all had to learn that there is more about jazz than just tappin your foot, but you need personalities like Sun Ra to reach that point.......

Fritz Pauer was fantastic, he was a master. I was blessed I heard him so much with all those great musicians. And he was such I great person to meet. I was still almost a kid, I think I was 18 when he let me sit in, that was a great honour for me....... Fritz Pauer was fantastic, he was a master. I was blessed I heard him so much with all those great musicians. And he was such I great person to meet. I was still almost a kid, I think I was 18 when he let me sit in, that was a great honour for me.......

I don´t think the Bud Griffin Duo was recorded in February 1960. I don´t even think Griffin was in Paris as early as 1960 and it sound´s much more like something done 4 years later (Idaho and Perdido). Strange that there are no recordings available of Bud playing on those tours " Birdland 56" and "Birdland 57".

Really sad news, he was a fantastic drummer. Saw him on several occasions, mostly with Diz. That great quartet Diz had with Rodney Jones, Benjamin Franclin Brown and Mickey Roker , a fantastic group.

I saw him live on several occasions from the late 70´s on. I´ll never forget how deeply impressed I was from the first time I saw him, it was at a strange place, a quite uggly hall called "Kongresshaus" which doesn´t exist anymore, I think there´s a food market now. That was the time when he had that fantastic quartet with Siegfried Kessler on piano, Bob Cunningham on bass and Clifford Jarvis on drums. They really cooked. The next time I think it was with Ken Werner, Santi Debriano and John Betsch. Also saw him in Trio Format without piano, but Mr. Shepp played a trio piece on piano too, I think it was a Monk Tune "Ask Me Now" and it sounded so much like Monk.

I think Duvivier was one of the most recorded bass players in the 50´s and very much active until his death. He is also on most of Bud Powell´s records from 1953 on. In july 1985 I was at the Hollabrunn Festival and Woody Herman was on schedule with an allstar band with Scott Hamilton, Buddy Tate and others, and George Duvivier should be the bass player and I was looking forward to finally see him live, but it was reported he is sick and some young bass player played instead of him. Later I found out Duvivier had died only a few days later.....

This might be the reason ! Berg and Moore were almost 20 years younger than Jordan and Coleman. So, the first collaborations between the Cedar Walton Trio with Tenorists was horn players from the same generation like him. Maybe they were more interesting in doing their own stuff . Berg and Moore were very young and highly talented and obviously willing to play Cedar Walton´s music. Poor Berg, when I saw him later with Miles, it was the most uninteresting chapter of Miles music, just a stage show with "Time after Time" and "Human Nature".... and Berg couldn´t do anything to help things make better. He would have been great with Miles in 1981 when the stuff still was rougher and more jazzy......

Can it be said that "Eastern Rebellion" was the next step after the "Magic Triangle feat. Clifford Jordan"? This must have been in ´75, really strong music, but I think it was reported that during the end of the Jordan-Walton/Jones/Higgins collaboration some problems had appeared. George Coleman was great in any surroundings. He must have been an ideal partner for Cedar Walton. I didn´t hear the formation with Bob Berg, but I´m sure it was great and would be a nice choice to purchase. George Coleman Quartet with Hilton Ruiz.......I remember that well, must have been in late ´78, ´79, yes with Billy Higgins and I think Ray Drummond. They did a very fine album "Amsterdam at Dark" on Timeless, I think they did the tour after that album and played tunes from that album. I remember it well.

I remember his Name as on the cover of some orchestral thing that was called "Dave Pell´s Prez Conference". This was during the Super-Sax Era. You remember Super Sax: That was en vogue, everybody had that. Bird´s stuff orchestrated, and because it sounded more "modern" than the old poor recorded Bird records, people even heard it more than the "original". Even me , if I was exhausted I´d relax listening to Super Sax. It was some fashion, it was just that era of the late 70´s when there was a renewed interest in acoustic jazz. And so, as I had some Super Sax recordings, the record dealer once handed me that "Dave Pell Prez Conference" and said look, that could be something for you. And I bought it. Strange, since I got a turntable again, 2 years ago, I got it some spinning. I don´t know who of the guys was Dave Pell, since they play in ensemble, but also with Supersax I never knew who´s the leader, the only known man on it was Warne Marsh.

Really strange stories about him. Heard him on so many of those live albums Montreux 77 that I almost forgot to be aware about him. Strange that he played with all those who had top billing (Diz and all of them) just to become relativley obscure. Well, Japan must be a heaven for jazz traditionalists, they seem to have their Satch, their Bird, everything. And not forget all the reissues, they seem to love that music so it must be heaven for jazz musicians and jazz lovers to be their.

But later in the early 60´s Tadd Dameron, he himself one of the key figures of so called "bop" wrote some charts for him, for a tour to Russia if I remember right. And it´s reported, that even Louis Armstrong seemed to like one track that was played for him on a Blindfold Test if I remember right, it was "John´s Delight", from the Tadd Dameron band of early 1949, when Miles had replaced Fats. I must admit, this "Johns Delight" is some easy listenin tune, so I can imagine how Louis Armstrong said something nice about it. About Benny Goodman: I think first of all he didn´t like that others got more writings and more gigs, when Billie Eckstine´s Bigband and later Dizzy´s Bigband got top billing. I think Benny Goodman was a business man too. Otherwise, musically ......., let me see........"Airmail Special" sounds outright hip. It´s modern for it´s time and towards be-bop. That stuff can go as "bop", hear Billie Eckstine´s band cookin on that, with Fats, one of his best solos....... Where end´s swing and where start´s bop ? Some of so called tunes on those Savoy sides made by first hand boppers Dex and JJ Johnson don´t sound much more modern like old swing riff´s (Dexter Dig´s In), all those many many Savoy tunes based on rhythm changes, other 32 bar changes and so on, that´s called bop but every pre-bopper could play that.....

I think it was Woody Shaw who had persuaded Dexter to return to the States. I think all material of Dexter with and without Woody should get legal pressing, it´s of historic importance and should not be limited to bootleg recordings. As the once announced Dexter Bio, I´m still waiting to see it published. Dexter was a main figure in late 70´s early 80´s acoustic jazz (that´s my opinion out from the point of view when I was the young guy of that generation listening to all that stuff). Dexter was the old master, once leading the scene of the 40´s together on stage with Bird, Diz, Bud, Max, Fats, Mr. B. , Tadd, and so on, and playing in a more modern way in the late 70´s early 80´s. And Woody was the young lion, the one who made us believe that jazz is going on, that there is something new after Diz, Miles, and someone who might scare Freddy Hubbard, a great and still young trumpet player himself then......

Many people say Louis Armstrong didn´t like bop and maybe that was so. I think Curtis Fuller once told that he would have liked to play with Louis but he said "too much bebop" . But I think Louis was hip enough to dig good music and good musicians even if they was from the modern section. He got Dexter Gordon to play with him. I think he told Dexter something like "kid, I like your sound". I think, many of the musicians from the older generation had ambivalent feelings about that bebop, fearing that they get much publicity. Same with Benny Goodman. He had harsh words about the boppers, but later made a side with Fats and Wardell Gray. And dig that session Bird with Miles and Kai Winding and the old style trumpetist Max Kaminsky. Miles and Kaminsky trading 4´s , sharing the stage, you can imagine that. I think if it happened or not, it might not have been impossible, if Louis and Clifford Brown would have played together once......

Such a great musician ! Saw him live on several occasions. My favourit album of his own is "Parade". I love that !Beside his immense recording activity in the 60´s , much more than his longtime collaboration with Miles, he was THE acoustic bassist in my youth, the ´70s when acustic jazz was a smaller part of the game. But all those great VSOP records and concerts, that was the thing, that huge sound he had, the tricky use of glissando, giving the bass a more up to date listening experience than the old school bassists. He was something like a Mr. Hip. We kids from that generation including those who dug more the Stanley Clark fender bass and the Michael Henderson electric bass with Miles, fell in love with what Ron Carter did........ That´s something I would have liked to tell him if I could send him my congratulations........

But it is strange. There are so many videos about musicians from the much older generation, and Hank....let´s say he lived in a period when most musicians from his generation appeared on TV. But it is strange. There are so many videos about musicians from the much older generation, and Hank....let´s say he lived in a period when most musicians from his generation appeared on TV.

Can you tell us how it was, bertrand ?

I´m so glad I caught her live and can say I don´t know her only from records. Imagine, Ella and Diz 100 years old, and I saw them every year they did Europe, the usual festival-routine. So you could catch Ella and Diz every year. And sometimes it seems to me it was yesterday, time flies. The last time I saw her was in 1983 and she still had it all, beautiful voice, fantastic..... ! But I saw a very late version of "You are the sunshine of your life", very near the end of her life, but it´s amazing how beautiful she does it, just wonderful, and believe me I had to cry when I saw and heard it, it really moved me. Anyway, Ella and Diz are among my favourites. It was my time......