Gheorghe

Thanks for sharing. Indeed a very interesting story. I also have that record "For Musisians Only". Haven´t spinned it for a long time, but I remember that I also had the impression that the up tempo didn´t appeal to John Lewis. He was best on medium tempos. Same on Bird and Diz at Carnegie Hall. Not much to hear from John Lewis.

Thank you Mr. Weiss for sharing this great video.

Yeah of course, all those you mentioned.

Anyway it seems that Adams was best known or remembered for his time with Mingus. I think from 73-75 ? (if I remember right, after 75 it was Ricky Ford instead of Adams, and first Danny Mixon instead of Pullen, later of cours Bob Neloms, that´s maybe the last time I saw the band?) . But again, I´d like to mention why I have such great memories of musicians like George Adams: I was a newbie and first it seemed I preferred to listen to hard bop, to 50´s Miles, to 50´s BlueNote Stuff which was easy listening for a starter. More advanced fans laughed me off and kept tellin me to open up my mind and learn about what´s goin on. Completly free stuff like Contempory Five or Cecil Taylor was to hard for me, but with musicians like George Adams I could learn to open up, cause through their music they showed me there´s just one thing "music", there´s no gap between old and new things, it just flows. George Adams, Dave Murray all those great musicians from that generation.......

yeah, the girl from the Dutch Big Band might have been in her twenties in 1990, was nice to see all those folks in that fancy town, Barbara Dennerlein was there, Louis Sclavis was there....., great memories...... About Moondance: Yeah Cm. Well anyway if she wants it in Ebm that will be allright. If she wants C minor it´s also okay. A lotta tunes she wants in the key of C , Aint Missbehavin, Love´s her to stay , I thought about you, Tenderly, Dream a little dream, almost the half of her list. Right now I heard Blue Champain by Manhattan Transfer, also great. On Dream a little dream anyway on the Doris Day version the piano is really audible, so I can figure out what she might want....

Thank you so much @page. Well she mailed me Eb, Now one thing, am I deaf or isn´t that version C minor ? Sure its not a good recording and maybe something´s with my speakers, but I was quite sure this is C minor ? Well, I transcribed some of the tunes in the keys she wants. Anyway thanks for your advice not to trust the RB. One example: "I thought about you"...the RB chords are the Miles 1963/64 stuff, not really for vocalists. I got other chords, cause she might not be happy with the Miles thing, would´t be the right support for her.... Another thing. You from Netherlands right ? I remember many many years ago when I played at the International Jazz Festival Sibiu (RO) and the first band was a big band from Netherlands, they also had a fine young female singer. They did mostly swing stuff, the name of the band was something with Bouwkunde or Baukunde (???) Orchestra, I remember that well, they were very nice young people, the singer was a girl "Marlon", "Marleen" ? something like that. I think they were music students, that´s how it was announced.... Wait a minute, I remember the first tune was "Here´s the Band" something like that, as a starter...... Remember things that was 25 years ago but don´t remember what I did last week ...

well as I said there was one edition of a Mingus Ghost Band that I saw live , I think it was 1989, yeah 89 cause Diz also was there with an All Star Band. The "Mingus Band" had Jimmie Knepper conducting, from the Mingus Alumni I recognized a quite subdued George Adams, John Handy. Danny Richmond had died already, it was Billy Hart on drums, anyway it was the last occasion I saw Adams.

To me, George Adams (and also Don Pullen) was one of the most significant musicians of the ´70s. It was the time when I was young and it was a time of stylistic transition: Many fans said "acoustic jazz is out", others said "harmonies and melodies is out and free is the thing", and so on, but for many musicians it was a challenge to create a "link" between straight ahead and avantgarde, and George Adams is one of the best examples of that generation: I´ll never forget the first time I heard him with Mingus. The way how Adams would start in a more conventional manner and then get out quickly doin his thing, but never leaving the form and the structure of the song. That´s what was great. I told that so many guys who thought they great cause they can go "far out" but couldn´t do a 12 bar blues Sure I still heard a lot of him even after Mingus died, the great collaboration with Pullen and Richmond, and some other projects, yeah with McCoy that was great. I´m not soooo much into the later Gil Evans stuff, somehow I missed that. The last time I saw Adams was some really sad thing with some "Mingus Ghost Band" led by Jimmy Knepper (1989, 1990 ???), who imho was one of the best trombonists to play Mingus´ music, but that last try of Mingus revival was just a very disappointing appearence and anyway Adams didn´t get much space..... and Knepper wasn´t interested at all in what he was doin on that occasion...

Yeah, heard that ! Would be good as a bossa too, yeah. First, some minutes ago just before I looked at that thread I listened to Doris Day doin No Moon at all , sure as a swing tune. No I heard that in G minor, which sound natural to me. Wonder how it might sound in E-flat cause she mailed that she want´s it in E-flat. Not, that this might be a problem, but we´ll see. Maybe for some tunes she wrote the wrong key, but anyway I´ll fix it in E-flat too. Listend to some other tunes. Time after Time by Ella. Until now, maybe from horn players first I knew this as a ballad, but nice with slow medium swing too. Listened to Moondance, found only a Van Morrison version, but this might be cool . She seems to like Doris Day, cause a lot of that stuff is Doris Day stuff. And I thought I´m an Oldie with all my "Manteca´s " and "Salt Peanuts" the Monk Tunes, the Bud tunes, but live´s full of surprises. Last thing: You say big bands almost never do D flat. Well maybe decades ago it was else. Heard Billie Eckstine´s band doin "Our Delight" in D-flat. Usually most dudes do it in A flat. And Jay McShann "Wrap your troubles in dreams" also D-flat Tomorrow I´ll transcribe the tunes I didn´t know in the keys she wants (I mean the chord symbols, cause I can´t read a note even if it´s as big as a house You see, that´s the slower pace writin it down myself on a small paper, but that´s how I get it in my head....... after that, I´ll have some brainstorming with the bass player

Bb girl Yeah B flat is a bop key, all those "rhythm-changes" tunes they in B flat, a lot of stuff. Now if I play a set, I try to avoid Bb, if it´s a rhythm tune I like Db , Eb, Ab those sound good. Db is more "pastel", Eb sounds a bit darker, and Ab even more, not only because it got a lot of black keys, it´s the "colour" of the key, how it sounds. Noticed at least to tunes from your list are also on the list I got: "I thought about you" and "No Moon at All". I´m really curious how she does "I remember you". I played that tune, mostly medium tempo. The bass player said me he will ask her if she also has some bossa , cause those are mostly swing tunes and ballads, at least "Ipanema" might be possible.

Hello Page, thank you for your fast reply. I remember the "I´m beginning to see the light" with Ella withz Count Basie. My problem with sheets is, I´m quite an old fashioned guy. Never really bothered about reading sheet . Usually I listen to the tune, get the chords just from hearing it and if the form is more complicate or unusual to the stuff I frequently do, I might write the chord symbols on a little paper an that´s it. I´ll see, together with my bassist and drummer we listen to a few versions of the tunes. The key is not an issue for me. If I heard the tune once, got the chord progressions in my head , I hope I can do it in any key. My "difficult" keys are those, that are completely unusual in jazz (A natural, D natural, B natural). I started as a "B-flat man" *smile" when I was a kid. My advantage is though I don´t read music, I got perfect pitch, so if I hear the tune I know in what key it´s done. I hear the keys like "colors", you know. I didn´t study music. When i was a kid, my father showed me on the keyboard the notes. He said. now this a C, now here the next a C sharp, then a D, then a D sharp and so on. Then he would me close the eyes or let me look into another direction and would hit a note and ask "what note is it" and I might tell him. After that he might play a tune and say "listen and play it from ear", or "tell me what key I played "........

Just now I got her song list. Sorry I didn´t answer earlier to your kind postings, but I thought I´d better wait until I get the song list and the key she want´s for each song. Ain´t Misbehavin in C Time after Time in Bb I didn´t know what time it was Eb Love is here to stay in C I thought about you C Tenderly C Dream a little Dream C Moondance Eb Comes Love Ab I Remember You F Blue Champagne A Im beginning to see the ligth C Howh high the Moon Eb Body and Soul in Bb They cant take that away in C So it seems she´s more into swing tunes than latin, and maybe not into portugese lyrics...., Many of the tunes seem to be easy and I know them and played some of them on several ocasion, but not all of them. Blue Champagne and Comes Love I don´t know. Some or the tunes I had played in other keys, maybe Tenderly i used to play in Eb for example, How High the Moon in G. I´ll have to listen to some vocal versions of the tunes from the list. How do you think about the song list ?

Got a Vogue disc from about that period, 1953, 54 "Byas meets the Girls" , might be something from that period. With Mary Lou Williams, with Beryl Briden and so on.....if I remember well, didn´t spin it lately..... Bought it many many years ago together with some other Byas albums. But somehow, the earlier and later recordings got spinned much more often (the Savoy dates, and later the boppish Copenhagen recordings about ´63 , the "Americans in Europe" on Impulse! and so on......

??????????!

As for the "Bud plays Bird", I wouldn´t say Bud´s playing is bad on it, but on some tunes he sounds like he is not really interested in what he´s doing. Same on a lot of the RCA material. On the other hand sound very good on his playing a few weeks later (november 57) in Paris, his first booking there at Club Saint Germain, with Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke. The fast version of "bebop" is great, and the way he leads from "Bud on Bach" to "Yesterdays", one of the best versions of that ballad.

Joe Henderson has a special meaning to me because he was one of the tenor players who impressed me deeply when I was a young guy. From my point of view I had than (1977,1978), he was a link between straight ahead and newer stuff. I´d recommend "Relaxin´ at Camerillo" from 1979 as a very good example of the Henderson I got to listen to closely. It´s a great little album, with Chick Corea, with Tony Williams on some tracks (Crimson Lake is great.....) . Another album that has a special meaning to me, even if the setting isn´t necessarly my kind of stuff, is "Canyon Lady" done for an a bit larger ensemble, from 1973. But listen to Mighty Joe what he does on it, on Tres Palabres, on the title tune, just fanstastic. Oh, he was great, I loved him, I was lucky to see him live on several occasions.

Hello Page: Yes sure I will tell you how it went, but it will be in early july. Until then I got other gigs, but you see how concerned I am about that gig with the singer, if I worry about it now. But I don´t worry about what key it will be, and the songs, well I don´t think it will be too complecated stuff, standards that a musician knows anyway . If I can manage to follow your advice and think about the lyrics and that a singer got to have the tempo to bring out the lyrics, I hope I can support her rather than interfere with her music.....

I loved very much what she did, especially on Ellington tunes. Strange, few days ago I frequently listend to her records. RIP

Thank you JSngry, really fine to listen how she accompanies herself. Great ! A few days ago I put an Ernestine Anderson album on the turntable, with Hank Jones on piano. "Days of Wine and Roses", that also might be fine, or "Don´t get around much anymore". Heard another album with Monty Alexander playing with her, but I like Hank Jones better. Monty Alexander is a bit too heavy.

from me too, have a great one FFA

I saw him live for the first time in the beginning of july 1979, that was just a few weeks after the record date "Don´t Ask" with the controversial "Disco Monk". I think, the album wasn´t out yet, Rollins in any case did "Isn´t she lovely" and of course "Don´t stop the Carnaval" from other recent albums. Though I don´t remember all the other tunes he didn, I think he didn´t play "disco Monk" since I might have noticed that groove even if I wouldn´t have known the tune. By the way, Larry Corryell was also on schedule at that festival, but they didn´t play together...... I might say Sonny Rollins was the main reason why I made that long trip with a really old little car on terrible streets , always had in my mind "man, you goin´ to see Sonny Rollins, incredible, THE Sonny Rollins......, oh my God, great memories......

I saw him live for the first time in the beginning of july 1979, that was just a few weeks after the record date "Don´t Ask" with the controversial "Disco Monk". I think, the album wasn´t out yet, Rollins in any case did "Isn´t she lovely" and of course "Don´t stop the Carnaval" from other recent albums. Though I don´t remember all the other tunes he didn, I think he didn´t play "disco Monk" since I might have noticed that groove even if I wouldn´t have known the tune. By the way, Larry Corryell was also on schedule at that festival, but they didn´t play together...... I might say Sonny Rollins was the main reason why I made that long trip with a really old little car on terrible streets , always had in my mind "man, you goin´ to see Sonny Rollins, incredible, THE Sonny Rollins......, oh my God, great memories......

Once again thank you so much for your kind support, @Page, @JSngry. I´m just overwhelmed by the really useful infos you give me. Yeah I listened to the slow version of "The Way You Look Tonight", great arrangement and really the chord in bar 9 of the A section and the transition to the bridge, just wonderful. And I like that key A flat, that´s really a good warm sound I dig. The main point will be to forget about the way you comp for horn players, to get inside the lyrics, to let the singer set the pace and listen carefully to the way she developes the song and agree about the right tempo for expressing the lyrics. My luck is a got quick ears and hope I can link into it without creating a mess. I must think otherwise than I usually do. People call me for my bebop thing and I´ll have to get rid of my too Powellish touch and approach.I´m used to "hey there , give us some "Salt Peanuts" give us some heat...... See, when I do a set like I did last week , I ´d start with a rather fast stuff and switch to a complete different mood with a very slow ballad. For example, I know the lyrics of "Polka Dots and Moobeams" but when I played it last week it got another meaning because I use the more dramatic approach of Bud so it get´s another message than that for the lyrics with the "pugnosed dream". Let´s say if a singer might do it, I have to catch the meaning of the song, not to express the drama the way I usually do.... The singer sent notice that next week or after two weeks she will mail a set list (anyway the deal is about 2/3 of the program trio with our usual program, and about 1/3 with the singer. I´m lookin forward getting an idea of the tunes she want´s us to do. And another point. She prepares for her master degree at some university in some other town, and the final examen will be just a few days before the gig, uh uh , and I´ll be in Eastern Europe and be back only a few days before the gig. There will not be much time to prepare, hope I manage to make things so that I won´t mess with her stuff. At least, when I get the set list, I can try to get inside the tunes the lyrics and try to find a piano approach suitable for her. Though I still didn´t get to know her, she must be good if my bass player says she´s good, so my deepest respect for her and I´m really concerned about how to make it sound reasonable good......

many years ago it seemed I had a lot of money to spend on records and somehow I collected most of the BN stuff. Naturally I got so many Grant Green albums I don´t remember exaxtly which is which, usually if I feel it´s time for some Grant Green it always remain´s Idle Moments that will be spinned..... Is Grandstand the one with that blues "from Maude´s flat" or something like that ? Yeah, really nice, but as you told, something with the recording sound seems to be strange. I don´t hear very well due to age and my fondness for really powerful drummers, but something sounds like if it got a defect. I thought it´s the later RVG reissues, sometimes they don´t sound good, but who knows.......

Hello Page ! Thank you so much for your kind help ! Yes, I´m sure the main question will be to agree about the keys. It will be a pleasure for me to play for her in the keys she want´s . It shouldn´t be a problem. Once I had a gig with a saxophonist who was on schedule an who told me "listen man, I don´t want RB keys, I got tired to play "rhythm changes" in B flat. Play it in D flat, in A flat, in B natural anything......., and it was beautiful..... Your set list is a very good one ! Very much of the stuff I know. "The way you look tonight" ...... sure in a comfortable medium tempo, I guess. I know the tune very well because when I had to play it was considered to be ultra-fast, that´s how I know it as an instrumental, but it must be fine to check the message of that tune when it´s played softer. Great ! Nice list of tunes, really, Ballads, medium tempos. And I agree with you there must be some of Jobin. Do singers sing "Wave" ? "Corcovado"? stuff I think I remember from the Getz/Gilberto things..... Maybe I should be careful how to comp for her, compin´ for singers might be different from compin for saxophonists and trumpet players ? Kind regards, Gheorghe