Gheorghe

Now that you are talking about Ornette, Cecil Taylor and so on......that´s a big point ! When Alfred Lion started to give avant garde a try and started to record some of the most popular New Thing artists, he did it in his own manner, so when they recorded it, it was more in a way that could be understood by the public. Like in my case: I came up listening to hardbop, it was my music that I understood, but being a teenager I felt like I might learn some more stuff to get further, more advanced in my musical knowledge. Listening to the two Coleman albums "Golden Circle", or to Don Cherry´s "Complete Communion", or even to Cecil Taylors "Unit Structures", it was much easier for me to get into that thing, because it was one of Alfred Lion´s principles that even if it might get "far out", it got to get to a point wher it "has to schwing", like he would say. So, for an avantgarde "newbie", like I was during that time, it was much easier to get into that stuff by listening to the albums that I have mentioned. It was such a great time in my life, when everything was new and I was eager to learn about it. Like reading books, not only the classics, but the contemporanous authors, poetry, stuff like that....... just a wonderful period in my life, when I was eager to learn about those things, and BN sure helped me a lot during that period.....

It´s hard for me now, cause I´m afraid it will be OT, but if you talkin about James Moody and bop tenor, dig his solos on the Miles Davis-Tadd Dameron album from Paris 1949. That´s some first class Moody and very very advanced. Believe it or not: When I bought that album in (1977), my main man on tenor was Dave Liebman, I still was almost a kid and didn´t know all the guys, Liebman was in town and playin great. When I heard some stuff Moody played on the uptempo tunes like "Allen´s Alley" etc. , it sounded really advanced with some avantgarde screams, the stuff that had impressed me when I heard the only tenor player I knew.....Dave Liebman..... Back to Dexter: I´m not sure, but I think Dexter was on the scene a bit earlier. He had started with Mr. B in 1944, and if I´m right, Moody started with Diz two years later. It´s strange, but Dex got more exposure than Moody. That´s like Diz or Fats, who got more exposure than Maggie, who also was a helluva trumpet player....

Once I collected so much BN, but I couldn´t say I listen to all of them frequently. Now, if I think back, I wouldn´t have needed to own all Lee Morgans from the 50´s and 60´s the "Cooker" is the best one and I keep listening to it. Or "Search of a New Land", those two are fine, the latter much better than "Sidewinder". Same with Mobley, with Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Smith. Just 2 or 3 albums from each of them might be enough. And I almost never listen to the "Three Sounds". That´s some kind of Oscar Peterson imitation. That kind of jazz for people who usually don´t listen to jazz. I love Wayne Shortes "All Seein Eye", it´s much better than "Adam´s Apple".....

Well I think it was Dexter´s highly individual aproach of the bop-vocabulary. He didn´t just play "Diz or Bird" on his instrument. He managed to get his own style, like Bud, like J.J. Johnson, so I consider him one of the main artists of that style. And he managed to live longer than many of the creators of that style. Like Dizzy, he still was active, when most of the others were dead. Dizzy could play anything, but he didn´t need to play bebop, he WAS bebop. Same with Dexter.

I must admit I really don´t know much about the albums BN made after the label was re-born. It seems that many outputs were short-lived and not as well advertised as the classic BN´s. So I wasn´t aware Tony went back to record for BN that late. I really love his two 1964 and 1965 albums "Lifetime" and "Spring", and the stuff he did later with Larry Young and so on. And of course the VSOP. The last time I saw him life was with VSOP II. I had heard that towards the end of his life he played in a more traditional manner but I didn´t really follow, there was so much looking back during that time, "New Stars" who sounded very much like the idols, trumpet players who got Miles´ sound from the 60´s , alto players who got JackieMcLean´s sound etc etc, who got record contracts, and later you wouldn´t hear very much about them. It was the time when I slowly stopped to buy records

I didn´t know about the other 7 volumes until recently. Had thought Billie´s Bounce is the last one. It seems that the next 7 albums were not very well advertised. Tried to find some of them on amazon now, but not all of them. But naturally I must get them. By the way: Yesterday I contiued my personal Dexter festival at home, and listened to another Steeplechase album, the famous "Montmatre Summit" feat. Dexter with Jackie McLean (original album titles: "The Meeting" and "The Source").

@caravan: thank you ! Great thing ! Gave me that big big smile, yeah I love everything that Dex did. and from my present view: Now I like some of that stuff, where older guys mixed their stuff with then "modern" instruments. During that time I remember their were some bad review, people saying why Hamp played on the electric piano when a good acoustic piano was available. Now, after 40 years I say I like a lot of that stuff, same with Dizzy, when he went on tour with electric guitar and fender bass instead of acoustic piano and upright bass fiddle. Now, I love that sound. And, last not least: Klook is GREAT ! Made me so happy to see him here in action, great drumming !

I have it as part of the Dexter Prestige box. Yes, I noticed that. The problem is, I have all the single Prestige CDs, only Blues a la Suisse is missing, so it would be a little to much for me to buy the whole box only for one missing item. I would have been interested in that record, since Hawes plays electric piano. Not, that I´m a fan of the Fender Rhodes, I love the acoustic piano, but I would have liked to hear how Dexter sounds in that context..... Anyway: Some interesting Dexter from about that time, also with a mixture of "crossover" or "fusion" musicians and mainstream stars are the two albums of "Montreux Summit 1977" , where Dexter is well featured.

I have tried for many years to find that Prestige LP (or better CD) Blues a la Suisse with the same personnel (Hawes on electric piano, Cranshaw on electric bass and Klook on Drums). Never found it. I also listened a lot to Dexter those days. Mostly to the SteepleChase albums "Dexter in Radioland". They all are great, with one exception: "Vol. 1, Cry Me a River". Well, the Ballad is wonderful, but I don´t know what Dexter´s doing on "April". I heard so many of his recordings and saw him live so many times, he allways was great even if he had his "cups", but on that "April" from 1962 it sounds like he´s puttin on his audience. Another point: Does anyone have informations about the progresses of Maxine Gordon´s book about her late husband ?

I don´t remember exactly where I was, but it was a terrible blow. The next thing I remember was the album "Sphere", done by Charlie Rouse, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams and Ben Riley and in the liner note they wrote that it was recorded while Monk was at the hospital in coma and that they hoped that someday he might here it, and that they learned about his death after finishing that album.

Well I love them all: Hank, Griff, Wayne etc. from the records. And when I started to hear the Messengers live, it was Bobby Watson and David Schnitter. I loved that group (with Valery Ponomarev on tp). They where hot. And if I remember well, the last edition I heard they had a young guy on tenor and his name was Javon Jackson, right ? He did some very good stuff.

I love his ballad interpretations here: Above all the version of "I Should Care" played in another key than usual (D-flat). That´s one of the best versions of that tune, that I heard. And "I didn´t know what time it was". Woodyn You and My Heart stood still are also solid, same about "Elogie" which is much better here than on the Victor LP. Nobody mentions the second Roost session from 1953. That´s also nice Bud, a bit subdued, but still fine....

I saw him life only once, it was in the mid 80´s with George Mraz and Art Taylor. One of the best trio sets I ever heard.

I don´t know what SHM reissues are, but I voted for TOCJ reissues. I purchased a lot of that.

hi Big Beat Steve ! Thank you for diggin´into the two albums I mentioned. Well Bird in Paris really doesn´t have the best sound quality, it´s worse than the Miles-Dameron stuff from the same festival, but sure something that Bird-freaks will like. Anyway, I welcome each live recording with Bird where you also hear a bit of the stuff that his sidemen are doing, like KD and Al Haig, and a rare and nice Tommy Potter solo, and Max of course. About Bird in Sweden: I still have the Spotlite double LP, I like especially the first half, Rolf Ericson is really nice. The long jam on Body and Soul IMHO is so-so, somehow I allways had the impression that the participants were not sure where to go, to keep it as a ballad or double timing.....well anyway those are really nice collectors items, but ...... if I could keep only two live recordings with Bird, it would be "One Night at Birdland" with Fats and Bud, and "Summit Meeting at Birdland" with Diz and Bud.....

Bird in Sweden from 1950 would be nice. Maybe also Bird in Paris 1949.

A book about the life and music of Max Roach would be fine...

Thank you. I ordered it yesterday. Though I already have a lot of the material from that box (all that was on separate CDs ) , I think it´s worth buying. The "Favourite Quintet" always has been mistery to me. As I remember, it must have been on the French "America" Label, which I called "the Mingus label" because most of Mingus´ recordings where on that label (The Great Concert, Right Now, Mingus at Monterey, and "My Favourite Quintet" from the Mid-60´s, and some stuff from the 50´s also (the 2 live at Cafe Bohemia LPs) and even the 70´s (also from Paris , Blue Bird and Piticantropus Erectus). We youngsters in Europe called the America Label "the Mingus Label" because without that label it would have been hard to get acquainted with all that great music. During that time I had all those "America" records besides "My Favourite Quintet". I don´t remember why, maybe it was OOP, or I was short of money, something natural for a youngster in the 1970´s .....

yes, I see it´s just a must have for me being the Mingus fan I am. Also the unissued tracks from the early april 64 Town Hall concert just before they went on tour.....

Thank you , Hans, for the discography link. I didn´t know about it, only saw a vaque description of what it is about. Didn´t know about the other thread. Right now, I tried to check it out, but I´m glad I didn´t post my question on the older thread, cause it´s too much runnin out of topic....sure, with interesting opinions about Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, no question, I dig them , but I don´t find so much it would have in common with Mingus, with one exception: Mingus is the one who kinda opened my ears for the more far out stuff, so I got to Ornette and the whole New Thing through Mingus, when I started to listen to jazz when I was still almost a kid.....

Please, can you tell me, if that Mosaic box set (7 CD) includes the quintet date from Mai 13th 1965, Minneapolis ? If I´m right, the tunes from that date might be "So long Eric" , a ballad medley including "She´s funny that way, Embraceable You, Old Portraits", and "Cocktails for Two" ? Once it might have been an LP titled "My Favourite Quintet" on the french "America Label", but it seems it never was reissued on CD. I´d purchase that box only for that Minneapolis date, since I think I got the other material (the dates with Dolphy, the great "Right Now at San Francisco Jazz Workshop", the "Mingus at Monterey" and the "UCLA 1965"......

24.12.14, Woody would be 70. Will there be a DVD. Haven´t visited the Woody Shaw hp lately

As much as I remember, there was also another album from around 1970/71 titled "The Quota", with Jimmy Heath, Peck Morrison and if I remember right, Lenni McBrown on drums. A friend of mine had that album, nice little album with nice tunes...... Yes, I also would have liked to purchase some of those Galaxy albums. Remember there was also a thing called "Galaxy All Stars" recorded in Japan if I remember right. I think they had some very good stuff. I only got my "Return of the Griffin" on CD and it costed me a fortune

Charles Tolliver, I would have liked to see him, same about Charles McPherson...... I must admit I didn´t go to many shows this year. Pharoah Sanders was great, I loved it, and later that year........ Lou Donaldson.....as usual, but that girl on organ was great.

Well, How Hight the Moon and Ornithology is the same thing, Ornithology is Benny Harris´line on How High The Moon. Bud starts the theme of "How High the Moon" and the horns play the line of Ornithology. I also had the impression that the back cover picture looks almost like Jackie McLean. But I didn´t see many pictures of Phil Woods in my live, only later with beard and even later only with moustache. The question whether this was a Bud-led session is a reasonable one. Well, not "Bud-led", but I think he was the featured artist and they wanted to showcase Bud, playing stuff that he might feel comfortable. Reminds me of "Our Man in Paris", where Dexter also would have used "new" originals, but finally relented to play bop standards since Bud at a later stage of his career wasn´t wild about learning new stuff. And let´s say Art Taylor is really great on that. And I really love the brushwork he does while Chambers plays his fanstastic arco solo on "Ornithology".