Gheorghe

I must admit I don´t know much about Pee Wee Russell, but Ben Webster - like you said it : in explosiveness of accents, abrupt whisper-to a - shout dinymic shifts,......., and maybe in his whole stage manner or sometimes bad temper......, reminds me of Charles Mingus. Anyway I´m sure Mingus dug Ben Webster...... From the later Ben Webster I like most those Black Lion sides with Kenny Drew instead of Oscar Peterson. Tony Inzalaco, long time haven´t heard of him. During the 70´s he was much in order, heard him with Griffin. Maybe he was the first really good drummer I heard and saw.....

Dan Morgenstern: I loved his liner notes on the double LP "One Night at Birdland" with Bird, Fats and Bud. That was very great reading for me when I was a youngster. Very much inside information about a period that I would have loved to witness. Ira Gitler of course. Leonard Feather. Nat Hentoff with one exception: His liner notes on Bud´s last LP "Ups ´n Downs", thats really some crap he writes there, it reads like liner notes for another album, like if he hadn´t listened to that album. How could an expert like Nat Hentoff guess that those recordings were from the "midfifties" ??? I like Bob Blumenthals "A New Look at...", because it´s really about facts. I know some have critiziced his writing but sometimes it is better than the original liner notes of some BN albums from the sixties. I don´t remember the names of the authors, but some liner notes from more obscure writers don´t get to the point.....

I liked Sonny Stitt from the first moment on. Since I was crazy about bop I was glad to hear him in the 70´s and I love his recordings from that time, for the Muse label I think. The first impression I had about Sonny Stitt was a funny one: During the 70´s we still had a good TV program, just two channels that´s all. On the second channel they had Jazz sometimes and there was a documentary about be bop once. I was just a kid, and didn´t know all the names, Bird, Bud, Diz, Fats of course, but not all of ´em. And there was Dizzy playing "Wee".....I remember that. It was with Sonny Stitt and I don´t remember the rhythm section but it was an electric bass, which upset me at that time, since I thought bop might be played with a bass fiddle..... Well, I didn´t know who it was on alto, but I saw that "old man" as I guessed. He played wonderful, all the stuff that I loved so much from Bird. Who might that old man be ? He sure knew Bird, but he might be older than Bird would be now, and he sure is older than Diz....., that was my impressions when I was a kid. He looked "old" to me, but played like a God....who might that be, that misterious old man who plays all that shit Bird played, but not copying him, playin his own. Eventually I saw him on a record cover and recognized him. Was quite astonished he´s much younger, born 1924, 7 years younger than Diz, 4 years younger than Bird......

Well I didn´t notice that AT did it also ? When and where. IMHO AT always was a great drummer, maybe not for Monk....

I have a DVD of that whole Paris concert from 1969, with the interview with Jaques Hess after the concert, and with 3 bonus tracks Monk playing solo three Ellington tunes on the Berlin Festival 1969 (celebrating Ellington´s 70th birthday).... About the unexperienced rhythm-section. The bass player is very good, but I don´t know why Monk picked up that kid who just wasn´t ready to be on stage. He even fails to keep time, pardon but if you play drums and can´t keep time you better stop what you doin´. Listen to "Straigtht no Chaser" where it gets faster and faster and faster, and finally Monk slows it done and the closing theme. The same thing happens on "Bright Missisipi". Philly J.J. should have played the whole concert, or Kenny Clarke, he was backstage, you can see him where the film starts, when Monk greets him. But Monk sounds great like always, Rouse too, even if he´s somehow off the mike. And I didn´t know about the bass player but he really plays some stuff, good musician..... The interview is also fun. I like Monk´s statement when he was asked which of his compositions he likes most and he says "I didn´t rate ´em ". Or...."I don´t know about geniuses"

anyway a good answer, I can see your point, even if tastes vary.....

From the moment on, when I started to listen to music by myself, I mean finding my own musical groove and spendin the money which my parents gave me for good schoolwork (my parents dug classical music, Beethoven and stuff) by purchasing records, it was jazz. So I never really was aware of other music. And that´s why I didn´t sell later typical rock or pop albums that youngsters usually bought. Since I didn´t have much contact to other music fans (too young for goin to clubs), and playin piano myself, first of all I dug jazz piano and since I still didn´t know who Art Tatum, Bud, Monk, Herbie , McCoy were, I only knew about Oscar Peterson because so called "some time jazz listeners" during that time dug Peterson, maybe because it meant easy listenin music, comfortable and educated, how you call it. I never did regret I sold them Oscar Peterson albums. Only two albums I had then, and sold, I could like again (if I´m lazy or tired or something): "We Get Requests" and "Night Train". Because that´s where he doesnt overdo everything like he usually did.......just bangin all them 88 keys just because they are there and because he "studied" them....., people told me he even had to "study" to play the blues.....oh no man.....

@medjuck: That´s what I´m talkin about. Those radio shows, we Europeans got them on the british Spotlite Label. This was a good label for unissued bop. Rare Bird like "Appartment Sessions", "The Band that Never Was" etc., and as I mentioned: Billy Eckstine February 1945 "Mr. B and the Band", with the stars you mentioned. With the Theme Song "Blue ´n Boogie", and everything. And that incredible MC Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman . A great review of that stuff is on the Fats Navarro Biography (Rehak?) ...... During the 80´s I read in DB that Mr. B still had a lot of unissued material of that great band. How much would I like to listen to that..... Actually , besides the few recordings we have (the 1945 Radio Shows are the best) the most we know about this band is from what told musicians who played with it and became great stars (Miles, Diz, Blakey). Each of them had fantastic memories about that Band. Same about the 1943 Earl Hines band with Diz, Bird, Sarah, Mr. B., Shadow Wilson.....

Yeah, that band with Joe Ford/John Blake was fantastic. I´ll never forget the event when I heard them in March 1980. I just had a bad kind of flu and was reluctant to go to the concert. The first number......wow......gone was the flu, I was feelin great again. it was like a healing song. I listen very closely to the music I hear, so I somehow had that first tune in my ears, 30 odd years I had it in my ears. On the "Horizon" album it was not. Later I found out the title "The Seeker". That´s the tune. It´s on that 4xQuartet, that great album that followed Horizon, with 4 quartets feat. Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, John Abercrombie and Athur Blythe. "Seeker" is one of the tunes where Bobby Hutcherson plays. Tyner and Hutcherson, great combination, got among others that BN album from the late 60s , with Herbie Lewis on bass, who often played with McCoy. Another great album on Milestones is "Supertrios", and of course a must for each McCoy Tyner fan might be the "Milestones Allstars" with Sonny Rollins, McCoy, Ron Carter, Al Foster.......just fantastic.

It´s too bad that the band wasn´t recorded properly. Well, I love those Savoy sides from 1945-1947, but the really thing where you hear the band is on that Spotlite album "Mr. B. and the Band" where you really hear what they do.

thank you, bichos. Never thought there would be a Billy Eckstine bio. I must admit I´m mostly interested in his bop years, the great days with Bird, Diz, Fats, Dex, Jug and all of em. Love his singing, though I´m not necessarly a vocal fan, but his ballads great. Only the later years from the 50´s on, that´s a bit too commercially for my tastes.....

When I was young boy and just discovered Bud Powell , I sold all the Oscar Peterson albums I had until then.

During his time in Europe, Bud sometimes sang, usually on ballads that somehow had a context with the torments he suffered: "This is no laughing matter" (on Golden Circle Vol. 5) is the only commercially released of them. "I should care", "It never entered my mind" where others. It´s reported, that Bud was made to sing to be rewarded with a drink after the set. The mentioned "Gift for my friends" if from the Mythic Sound LPs . I got most of the "Bud at Home" material on some unissued recordings with much more "singing" of Bud. Especially "Chrismas Song", then some attempts to sing "It Never Entered my Mind", some of it even with Buttercup singing....., and with Bud singing "More than You Know" along with an Art Tatum LP recording. Bud sang exactly like he talked if he talked anyway, with that plaintive voice, and on some recordings at Paudras´ home he can be heard how he will play something only if he gets something to drink, one time even repeating dozens of times "gimme a beer, gimme a beer, gimme a beer...." When I was younger, I listened much more to that "conversations" just to get hold of anything that Bud played, said, etc. ..., but what counts for me is his music, all the great things he did, even if he was less than in peak form. I can learn so much from it, the way he phrases, the way he does his chords especially on ballads, just is music......

Thank you for your answers ! Yes, the "march" idea sounds logic to me. On the other hand, Philly J.J. sometimes put some "march" into his solos, but I think it was more with a sense of humour when he did that....

One thing I would like to tell you or ask you about Max Roach: I´ve been listening to his art since I was a kid (first on records, later live of course), and what I´ve observed is his very very straight manner or workout of his ideas, both in ensemble and while soloing. With Max, I aways felt a very strict and precise manner of playing, sometimes almost metronomic (not in a negative sense of it !). His drumwork almost gave and gives me an impression that I´d compare to very organized ensemble-ballett dancing, like a line of chorus girls, sheer perfection. Other drummers that were active during the same time and maybe played with the same or similar artists, like Klook, Philly J.J., Roy Haynes, Elvin, .....how should I say it....it "flows" more, it doesn´t sound so "organized"..... Sometimes it´s almost that I could think about Max´drummin (at least on straight ahead 4/4 time) like a further developement or next step compared to something that someone like Buddy Rich may have started. It would be very very interesting for me to get your impressions about it, how you "hear" what Max plays. But I must admit I´m not a drummer, but very aware of what the drummer plays.

I´m a huge fan of Max Roach and I´ll never forget the first time I saw him live. It was that great group with Cecil Bridgewater, Billy Harper and Reggie Workman, in 1978. Still remember very well Harper´s composition "Call of Wild, Peaceful Heart" and an excellent version of Round Midnite. During that time, the only record under his own name, that I could purchase from my dealer was "Speak Brother Speak" , the one you mention in this thread. It´s a great little album. I love it. Recently I purchased some other albums from the early 80´s on the Soulnote Label I think. "In the Light" is very good, and "Pictures in a Frame", those with Odeon Pope (I saw the group in 1980 but maybe I liked the group with Harper and Workman more). Also got an LP "In Amsterdam" with that original group and very similar to what I saw life. Another good set is "In Berlin 1984". I didn´t purchase "To the Max". I think one of the last tours he did was with some chinese trio. Didn´t see it, but it got bad reviews. Recently I saw the DVD "Dizzy´s Dream Band" from the early 80´s with Max playing on some of the tracks (Hot House and Tin Tin Deo I think). Max seems to like very much what John Lewis does on piano, because you see Max with a big big smile to Mr. Lewis while he´s soloing.......

Happy Birthday, Marcello !

When I was a BN collector I got to get anything that´s round and as a hole in the middle. Now if I look back, I don´t listen to many of those numerous Organ-Guitar things from the 60´s . I bought them, listened once or twice to them and that was it..... If I want to get into that groove, I still play "Let ´em Roll", or the nice "I wanna hold your hand" with Green, Larry Young and Hank Mobley. Maybe 2 or 3 more of that kind, but that´s enough for me....

had the same problem once: First, one particular CD didn´t play, then more followed. It was the laser light from the CD player. Got another CD Player and there was no problem any more.

well amazon, often third party sellers. I really miss them groovy record shops. That was part of my youth and part of the scene. Usually, the jazz oriented record dealers had small and fancy shops where you could sit down, have a coffee and smoke (yes indeed) , listen to records, talk to other guys, make connections, check out who´s playin that particular night, who´s in town, and all that nice neighbourhood things. I must admit, the records I listen to most often even after 35 and more years, are the ones I purchased then, or at least stuff that´s built on my listening habits during that time.

Yeah, this is from august 1964 at Edenville France, with Johnny Griffin on some tracks. Bud is great on Straight No Chaser, Wee and Hot House with Griffin and on "Bean ´n the Boys" . Only the rhythm section I think they just were some music lovers, picked up on occasion. I got some sides of unissued material from that date too, with a much longer version of Hot House about 17 minutes long, and a very long versions of "Disorder at the Border" too. Actually, on Bud´s birthday I listened to recordings he made at Birdland a month later, after he had returned to the States. Here he really plays great on some fast versions of "Hallelujah", "Get Happy" and "Just One of Those Things" and there is a tape recording of his birthday celebration with some friends where he is urged to "say something about his birthday" and says "I apreciate your efforts to make my birthday glad".....

I love the album, especially the long track Healing Song, with is Side 1 The Memories of J.W. Coltrane must be shorter, about 12 minutes, and there is another shorter track I dont remember the title. But can someone recommend to me similar albums from about that time, I mean after "Karma" and maybe with the same or similar personnel like "Life at the East"?

What can I say, my idol ! Needless to say I´ll listen to a lot of his recordings this evening. Also got a tape with Happy Birthday Celebrations from 29.9.64, when he celebrated his 40th Birthday with some friends on Fire Islands during his Birdland stay in september/october 1964.

I heard him only once it 1985, so that was four years later. I loved that concert and still remember it very well, and he had a fantastic trio with George Mraz and Art Taylor.

I must admit I´m not a Taylor expert. And it seems to be the same problem in Austria. The big festivals are to much into cross-over acts and the others maybe can´t afford him, I´ll never know. But I´d like to get some opinions about his two BN-record. I first got "Unit Structures" wich I dig, but I find it´s easier to listen to this than to "Conquistador". Can it be possible, that "Unic Structures" is more accessible than "Conquistador" ?