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I also saw the track list on amazon. it seems to be more a sampler than a recorded session or set. Cuban Holiday and another track seems to be from Bird with the Herd. The Candido tracks from Birdland ....I know only about two of them "Broadway" on "Summit Meeting at Birdland" with Candido just on "Broadway" for March 53, and later from May 53 "Cheryl". But it´s not really Cu-bop, it´s more standard Bird with Candido added. Until now, the only pure Afro Cuban "life" of Bird that I heard is the 3 tracks "Mambo", "Lament of Conga" and "Reminiscing at Twilight". Even Cuban Holiday from Woody Herman sounds more like just a bit of latin flavour from the theme......, the solos is just swing like the rest of the stuff.... Same with Kenton. As Al McKibbon said in an interview, Kenton tried to go with the latin wave for some time but didn´t know what to do with it. He just added two percussion players but didn´t know how to dig into their stuff......, I wouldn´t put down Kenton the way McKibbon did, but it really seems that Dizzy was the man when it came about the Jazz meets Cuba connection. And Howard McGhee with Brew Moore and the Machito Band, they really got involved in Machito´s music, even Brew Moore who just stuck with his Lester Young licks, but he did that all his live but could play anything.....

The only live Afro Cubop with Bird I have is on a Spotlite LP, listed from about 1950 with Machito. The tunes are "Tanga" (if I remember right), "Lament of the Conga", and "Reminiscing at Twilight", a Dance number without solos. And I think it was some private recording made by Marshall Stearns.....

So I did remember quite well.... Strange, with all that BN reissue I think I never saw a BN CD or LP with the "Three Bips and a Bop" material.

got them on individual LPs a long time ago, japanese Verve, quite expensive then. Oh yeah, that cover art was typical for Verve. Strange paintings, and quite short liner notes, not very representative for the music, not like those Ira Gitler or someone of that category would write.... Some of it sounded quite commercially for me, most of all "Temptation", more like Hollywood movie from the 50´s than Bird....

should give the Chronological a try. It´s a shame I read so much about him and would like to hear the stuff he did with Dameron (Three Bips and a Bop from Blue Note), but it never happened. I think there was some with him on a Spotlite collection "Cool Whalin´".... ... ps...: and I think one of his last performances was at the North See Jazz Festival, I think he was about 60 when he died (1979 or so)

I remember I was a bit astonished during the 90´s that many artists of my taste started to record for Verve. During my youth, it was more a label of mainstream, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and so, and the more commercial stuff of Bird....

glad you like it. The best is still to come: cd 2, the wonderful rare ballad "If you where here", a beauty, really a heartfelt ballad. Bud didn´t play it often. And I hadn´t heard other people play it, until I discovered a Tommy Dorsey recording of it with vocals. Great the two versions of "The Best Thing for You", really Bud at it´s best, fast and "eating up" those tricky changes. And after the first version he says "same again" and plays another great version of the tune. And cd 3 is very very good. I´d say cd 1 is the worst, cd 2 still starts with a "tired" Bud on a quite lazy version of "Moose the Mooche", but then things improve. It was recorded on different dates.

@aparxa: I think, Vol. 4 is a really enjoyable album. Philly Joe Jones is great on "Buster Rides again" and I like the quite "Monkish" touch of Bud on the whole album. And "Time Waits" is a beautiful ballad. "John´s Abbey" and "Monopoly" became Powell-Standards during the following years in Europe and back at Birdland 1964. And "Dry Soul" is much more interesting than "Some Soul" from the Vol. 3 "Bud!".

and how about Vol. 4 (Time Waits) ? Do you like it more that "The Scene Changes". I wouldn´t say I don´t like "The Scene", but it´s a strange album, it sounds much more like a Sonny Clark thing than Bud

The Griffin-Powell duo (Perdido and Idaho), I think was recorded at France Paudras´home in February 1964. It´s somtimes misdated as 1960 or 1961 but I think Griff came to Europe in late 62. Bud and Griff were quite close. They played again in august 1964 at Edenville (the Black Lion album "Hot House", the Mythic Sound "Holidays at Edenville", and the obscure Duke-Label). As for the Bud -Pres "connection", that didn´t take place......, Bud played with at least two "Lestorian" tenorists: With Zoot Sims in Paris, and with Brew Moore in Copenhagen. The Zoot Sims tracks are of special interest, because here Bud plays in a very relaxed "laid back" manner. I agree with @John L about the difference between the super relaxed Lester and the tense neurotic Bud, but it seems, that the Zoot Sims date was an exception. You can find it on the ESP reissue of "At the Cafe Blue Note". I had an earlier copy on the "Mythic Sound" series....

Their stories were conflated in Bernard Tavernier's fine movie, Round Midnight. I think there was one attempt of Bud to play with Prez, it must have been something like Prez´ birthdayparty celebrated at Birdland, around 1958 or so. And I think Bud wanted to play behind Prez, but Prez didn´t like it. On the other hand, Bud played very fine with Hawk at the Essen Festival 1960 ("Hawk in Germany")

Yeah , it seems that Bud did more recordings with horn players during that year 1963. Dexter is one of them, the others might be "Americans in Europe" from early 1963 at Koblenz, where he meets Don Byas and Idrees Sulieman. And not to forget the "Dizzy Gillespie with the Double Six of Paris", there is enough solo space for Bud also. I´m not very exited about the Reprise Album "Bud Powell in Paris". Again......the drummer, with all due respect to Kansas Fields, but he was not the ideal drummer for Bud. @king ubu: I wouldn´t say I don´t like the "plays Bird" album for Bud´s playing which is fine, but it sounds strange, maybe it´s the recording, I don´t know. I know it was not overdubbed, but it sounds to my ears like if the bass and drums had been recorded before and the piano after that. Somehow it doesn´t happen together. Maybe that´s was just the times, the way they thought a trio might be recorded. When I was younger, it didn´t count for me. I was such a fan of Bud I bought everything, but as older I get, as much I need to hear it as a whole thing, what happens, how the drums sound, they got very important for me.....

Thank you so much ! Great reading. Well, I think 1973 was quite a rough period for acoustic jazz. I think, Mr. Mobley suffered very much from the loss of interest in what he was doing, what he had planned to do in future. And even in the late 70´s with all that bop revival that I witnessed, it seems there was no place for Hank. I think, Hank and Archie Shepp were quite close, even if they had different conceptions about music. And later, when all people started to re-consider straight ahead stuff, Archie played A-Train, Sophisticated Lady and much Ellington-compositions....

JSngry: Great reading. I heard about that John Litweiler DB article and Hank´s impressions about Paris, with Archie Shepp and Don Byas. Please, can you post the rest of the article ?

I got all the Steeple Chase material. the five CDs and the limited edition "Budism" plus some unissued live material. If you buy it only to compare it with the early Verves and BN´s, better don´t buy it. But if you want to hear Bud in a more relaxed manner, I´d recommend it. It´s not the strongest Bud from his years in Europe, but any Budfan might purchase it. One thing about the "Budism". Some of the material is good, and there are some tracks of Bud at his worst, like some of the 1954/55 Verve or the mentioned 1964 Roulette album. The recordings are from different dates from April and September 1962, and I think it was one set, when Bud played really sad, Buttercup and Confirmation are painful to hear, but there is enough good material. I think, Bud wasn´t really pleased with the rhythm section, and I think he decided to go safe and that´s why he played more easy stuff like Straight No Chaser and Blues in the Closet for more than 15 minutes. Maybe he didn´t know what to play with them, it´s possible they were not familiar with his work...., and to play with a pick up rhythm section who doesn´t know your music, you have to stretch on the few tunes they know, just to make a whole set. Yes, and one more of that kind is "Bud plays Bird" from 1957/58 for Roulette. Bud plays fine, anyway better than his Verve stuff from1954/55, but it sounds like if his solos where dubbed over. There is so little interaction between the rhythm section and Bud´s playing, that some of my friends really wondered if it´s dubbed over. And the strange thing is, that we talk about George Duvivier and Art Taylor, who sure could play, especially with Bud. They sound great on Bud´s 1953 recordings....

You make some good points. Of course, in any given Gordon set there would have been one ballad feature. On this CD it's all ballads, all taken from various sets. So while someone may not like George's playing on this set (I do), it's certainly wasn't like this on every tune, not by any stretch. And I heard this band live. It was great. Your post also reminded me of something that I think John Lewis(!) once said - to the effect that though jazz is an improvised music, there is usually far less real improvisation going on than we think. There's generally a standard routine which is mostly worked out ahead of time (even before the tour begins) and for the musicians at least, there are few surprises. And he wasn't just talking about the MJQ. That´s it ! It´s a ballad album. Maybe the next set should be an album just with medium tempo tunes. Medium tempo, thats George Cables at his best. Tunes like Cheese Cake, Fried Bananas, and above all "The Panther". I heard George playing fantastic things on that stuff. The way how he´s more laid back , more loose at the beginning of his solo, and then how he creates the tension, how he builds his solo . full of surprises. The audience went nuts, they loved it..... Make an album just with medium tempos, and people will praise it.

Well, I can understand some of your opinions about George Cables playing ballads on Dexter´s albums/shows. George got his own style, maybe he is not always my first choice, but I can recognize him after just a few bars. Too many arpeggios, yes, but it obviously was part of the "show". Look, it was latterday Dex, and like most artists torwards the end of their career they got a special standard program how they manage to get through a show. I saw so many artists torwards the end of their career, and whatever style or generation or stage manner, they have a standard routine. And part of the show is the showcase for one special band member. It could be Foley doing his stuff on "New Blues", which always was the 2nd number of the show, from the early 80´s until 1991, it could be 20 or more chorusses of John Hicks´ piano on Pharoah´s up tempo showcase "Dr. Pitt", it could be Don Pullen doing everything from stride to Cecil Taylor on Mingus´ Sue´s Changes, it might be the organ solo during Lou Donaldson´s "Midnight Creeper", ........ .....and it is George Cables when his "ballad" turn comes. Anyway, as much as I remember, there where 2 or 2 ballads he played, "More Than You Know", "As Time Goes By", and sometimes as an encore Body and Soul. Well, George Cables, seeming endless arpeggios, and part of the show was during the end of his rubato solo, when they play a few bars in time until Dexter comes back for the theme and his long solo candenza....., you bought the tickets and knew exactly what will happen.....

As many others, I own very much material with Tommy Flanagan as a sideman, but don´t have dates where he was the leader. But that´s mostly my own fault, since I don´t buy very much piano-trio. I´d like to mention a lesser known date, it´s maybe the only occasion Flanagan recorded with Miles in a Studio: The 1956 date from "Collector´s Items" (Weird Blues, No Line, In You Own Sweet Way). I particularly like the stuff Flanagan is playing on that date, especially his lovely solo on the medium tempo "Weird Blues" But I heard him as a trio unit live in 1985. It was one of those big festivals we had then, with almost everybody...... Miles, Astrud Gilberto, Pharoah Sanders, Jackie McLean, Lou Donaldson, Jimmie Witherspoon, Charlie Harden, the MJQ........, everybody ......., and a Tommy Flanagan Trio , really great with nobody less than George Mraz and Art Taylor. They really cooked. I think it was the best trio I ever heard......

Well I´m not the Keith Jarrett freak like many were during that special time in the mid 70´s, late 70´ all those solo performances and the ECM stuff. Sure it must be fantastic music, but not my kind of thing. I really dug Keith for his piano with the Charles Lloyd Quartet of the late 60´s . Even if Lloyd never was my first choice, this was a very good group. I love his electric piano/organ stuff on Miles´ 1971 group, and later I picked one album with a very fine acoustic trio, something dedicated to Miles.... He sure can play fantastic, no question, but somehow I never was t h e Keith Jarrett groupie like many folks from my generation were or still are.....

I love everything Pharaoh did and does and heard him live on several occasions. the last time was 2 years ago. He still played great but looked frail and I wondered if he will be active for more years. So I´m very glad to hear he´s still playing. The fotos look wonderful. Hope he will do Europe again....

Maybe I also have two or three CDs from that label ? Is it possible there was a lot of OOP material from CBS Lps from the late 70, ? I got Dexter´s "Great Encounters" on that label, and is it possible, that the huge 1977 Montreux All-Star-Band Vol. I and II is also a Wounded Bird production ? It´s more than 3 hours music, with some of the greatest musicians from bop to jazzrock, like Maynard Ferguson, Woody Shaw, Slide Hampton, James Moody, Hubert Laws, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Benny Golson, Bob James, George Duke, Billy Cobham.....

snakes......if I don´t expect them drunk people, or let´s say I try to avoid them

That´s interesting, because I once read a statement done by Miles. When he was asked what he thinks about the "New Thing" "Avantgarde" (Free Jazz), he aswered something like that he doesn´t know what´s so revolutionary about it. He said "Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz" already did that stuff in the late 40´s, but then it did make sense....

Maybe from Konitz, really. Anyway, Lennie Tristano sure had the occasion to work with good drummers too. He worked with Max Roach, then there are the broadcasts "Bands for Bonds" from 1947. Two sessions, one with Max Roach, the other with Buddy Rich. Well those were pick up all star groups......, like the Metronome All Stars.....

Not exactly John Coltrane, but: I think it was in the 70´s that Tristano, who didn´t perform anymore made a statement that if he ever would play again in public, he would like to have Elvin Jones