Gheorghe

I love those Edenville recordings, even if the piano is not the best one. It´s an exiting session. I love the Mythic Sounds Collection also very much. Also got some unissued material, on which the french (relativly unknown) drummer is replaced with Al "Big" Jones, who plays better drums then the somewhat metronomic beat by Jaques Gervais, who I think was not a professional musician, more a music lover. I also like very much the better recordings from september/october the same year at Birdland. Some of the best Bud I heard from the European period are the to CDs from Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland.

Thank you for exchanging that experience with me! On thing I noticed about Ornette on BN (as well as Don Cherry and Cecil Taylor): They became BN-Artists when they already were „established masters“, so their music was easier to understand. It seems that the label didn´t take „risks“ like during the beginnings when they recorded Monk when nobody else did. So, Ornette´s albums in general where much more accessible for the public. This is especially the case for „Love Call“ and „New York is Now“ from 1968. I´d say it´s something like free jazz „light“, much easier to listen to than let´s say some New Thing stuff on Impluse! or E.S.P. On the other hand, it seems that during the late sixties things started to slow down, jazz records where not selling like they did 10 years before. This might explain why it was so difficult for me as a kid to purchase most of the classic BN albums, most of them where OOP, some stuff was reissued on that double LP packages (BN-LA Series), but no Ornette was re-issued, so I discovered that „Empty Foxhole“ just by chance when I browsed through the records at my record dealer.

I´d vote for "Empty Foxhole" that album has a special meaning to me. It was my first Ornette Album, maybe because I purchased it during the 70´s when a lot of the BN albums where OOP. It happened that this was the only album my record dealer had for sale. I had listend a lot to Dolphy with Mingus and thought I might be "ready" for more stuff beyond bebop or hardbop. That album had the perfect balance. The first tune "Good Old Days" still had something I could "hold on", since it´s more a blues line and swings. It made it easier for me to "swallow" the more far out stuff with violin and trumpet, and there still is that beautiful ballad on it. Sure, late I purchased all the other albums, but "Foxhole" has a special meaning to me.

That´s a wonderful foto and it´s great you knew Francis Paudras. How much would I have liked to get to know this man. I often listen to the recordings he made of Bud at home (in France) and at Birdland. That´s where I head that tune "Margarete" I mentioned. Also got one of the first editions of his book "Dance of the Infidels" in one of the first french versions in 1986 when it came out, and years before "To Bird with Love" which he published together with Chan Parker. You are the piano player who worked often with Johnny Griffin, right? Johnny Griffin was the very first musician I saw live in a club, and ironically also one of the last, shortly before he died.

Apologies! Margareta? She and Bud met in New York in 1964. She was working at Atlantic Records. They fell in love. She brought some happiness to him in his final months. Bud composed a tune for her "Margareta". I got a recording of it, done at Birdland in october 1964 shortly after he composed it when he spent a few days at Fire Island with some friends including Margarete. The tune has on the A section the same chord changes like "I keep loving you", only the channel is more simple. It´s a medium tempo thing in E flat (while I keep loving you is in B flat). I´m such a fan of Bud,in my leisure time I play all his tunes on piano and improvise on it. Since I can play only by ear (got big ears I think), when I first saw Bud´s handwritten music of the tune, I couldnt do nothing with it, but after hearing it once, it´s easy to play. Bud wrote to other tunes during that short holiday: "Oh Boy" which is on Bud´s last album "Up´s n Downs", which I also play, and "Marshall´s Tower, which I saw (the music) but can´t play it since I don´t read music. The only thing I can say about it is that it seems to be also a B flat tune AABA.

This sure is from Paris, BlueNote Club maybe. Around 1960. The golden time, when God himself (Bud Powell) was in town. Lucky Thompson performed with him. Got a tune on which they appear both, with Pierre Michelot and Klook, and Jimmy Gourley on guitar if I´m rite.

Well even if all the books say that Monk´s last apearance in public was sometimes after the last carnegie hall gig 1976 (at Bradley´s where he sat down to play a few tunes), it´s more than possible that the Baroness managed to persuade him to go along with her, when she visited the nite clubs where the great cats that were still alive, had their gigs. Monk sure didn´t decide things himself then, maybe some day he felt a little better and Nica persuaded him to go along with her and maybe he really sat in with Blakey. But as I said, something had hurt Monk too much to continue as a performer. I still want to say that I´d gladly exchange my impressions about the mentioned last recordings with some fans, as I mentioned two days ago.

I own that 2 CD set of Monk´s Last Recordings and mentioned it on another topic about Monk, I think it was about Monk´s horn players, where I described my impressions about Paul Jeffrey. If anyone has questions about that music, ask me since I´ve been listening to it over and over again. In general, the Lincoln Center set is worse recorded than the 1972 Vanguard set, and I guess the group is more in action on the Vanguard stuff. Of course Monk is also beautiful on the Giants of Jazz stuff and it´s a rare occasion to hear him play on Dizzy´s tunes like "Tour de Force" and "Woody´n You". Revealing is also a DVD about the Giants from 1971. Monk really plays his stuff, but if you look at him you think something has hurt that man very much, it´s like he got that vacant look, though he really "blows" on Tour de Force, is beautiful on Round Midnite and does great comping for all the other musicians involved.

Archie Shepp-Chet Baker shortly before Chet´s death. Miles Davis and Dixieland trumpetist Max Kaminsky both on stage sharing solos on a broadcast I got with Charlie Parker

James Moody means so much to me. I remember the first time I heard him on record was on that “Miles Davis-Tadd Dameron” album from the Paris Jazz Festival 1949. With all due respect to Miles, I payed the same attention to Moody´s solos, which are surprising modern for that time. Of course I became very aware of what he´s doing, enjoyed everything, his stuff with Dizzy, his own recordings, everything. The first time I saw him live was at a club in my hometown Vienna, that was in 1998 I think. Art Farmer was in the audience and there was a moving encounter of them two old friends during intermission. I was there with my wife, Moody was playing fantastic. At the end of the set he shook hands with us and said something like “thanks for not smoking”. Of course we said we must thank him for his music, for his contribution in general to the music. One year later we spent our holiday in Florida, Miami. And believe it or not. Moody was in town, he played at “Van Dike´s” and needless to say we were in the audience. Before the first set, James Moody came in and went towards to the stage with his instrument bags. When he passed by our table, he stopped, looked at us , and said, I remember you, you from Vienna, I remember that gig, Art Farmer was there. Incredible! Here was that big star, who travels around the whole world and has millions of fans, and he remembered us!

Hi! I just got that double CD yesterday. I don´t care so much for the sound quality, I´ve been through so many Parker&Co live material, which I have enjoyed for the wealth of music, that a mediocre sound quality is a small price for me. About the music: It´s sure among the last occasions when Miles played material like "Walkin´", "No Blues", "Gingerbread Boy" along with some material from recent albums like "Miles in the Sky" etc. The most "far out" musician of the group is Chick Corea, playing through all the stuff on Fender Rhodes. At one moment he starts his solo with a phrase that sounds like if a phone is ringing. He repeats that phrase, it´s really fun. Another point: Dave Holland. The difference between him and Ron Carter is, that Ron played more "the bottom" of the stuff, while Holland frequently uses the higher register and leaves out the bottom. I´m quite sure that was some of Miles´directions, like "play what´s not here". Really really interesting. And don´t forget Wayne and Jack DeJohnette, they really exciting.

Dear Mr. Victor Christensen! I suppose you are one of the most lucky persons around, since you had the chance to see and hear Bud live. Why not write more about your impressions about those nights, I just can´t wait reading some more. I think Bud´s playing in Copenhagen was somehow better than the 5 albums from Golden Circle/Sweden (and a 3-CD set of more material „Budism“). The album „Bouncing with Bud“ is really a highlight of Bud´s recorded career. I also have more tracks of Bud from the Montmatre, even with Don Byas and Brew Moore sittin´in. Yes, I know the stories about Buttercup, it´s written in Francis Paudras´ book. Maybe that´s the reason why Bud chose to play „Someone To Watch Over Me“. Bud didn´t play that tune often, he used to play it when he was in a more depressed mood, like in 1955 or on his last studio album for Roulette. I also like the videos of Bud from Montmatre. His version of „Anthropology“ is just fantastic, and above all „Round Midnight“. Bud maybe was quite in his own world, but it´s strange to watch him during Round Midnight as he keeps turning his face to maybe someone in the audience, just smiling like if he had a little flirt with a female fan. I learned much about the secret of Bud´s sound just from looking at the way how he sat at the piano, the position of his head and the way he moves his fingers. Being a piano player myself I had tried for a very long time to „sound like Bud“, and though I had all the music in my head, it didn´t come of with exactly his sound or his phrases, even if I knew his vocabulary. After having seen how he moves (or doesn´t move) at the piano things changed and it started to flow how maybe it´s supposed to be. I got the greatest praise from my wife, who one day said „sounds like some unissued alternate take of him, that´s you playing?“. I think the problem during his later years was that his performances where not persistent. If everything was write, he might do fantastic things, even adding fresh material and deeper and more daring harmonies to the songs. If you kept him on the wrong night or even the wrong set, he seemed to have lost all interest in what he was doing. This manner became even more drastic during his weeks in september/october 1964 at Birdland. On some nights he´s very inspired, but even the next set could have been a quite sad experience, like one occasion where he starts Monk´s „Off Minor“ , plays one chorus and stops playing for 11 minutes of quite boring bass- and drum solo…..

Let´s face it. This is Hank Mobley at the very end of his life and he´s got my deepest respect for trying to make music. Maybe the surroundings where not good, maybe its a cheap saxophone "I remember he once stated he´s looking for a decent saxophone" and "that the doctor warned him if he´d play he might blow one of his lungs out". I don´t think it´s hip to compare the late work of a very sick artist with his early achivements just repeating how good he was on his early recordings. Same thing with Bud. I wrote that on the topic "Up´s ´n Downs, Bud´s last recording. Again I had the impression many people didn´t even hear it and just keep mentioning his earlier recordings. Anyway, what else should he have done than playing. I don´t think Hank could have made a living as a happy elder statesman just counting his roaylities. Maybe he had to play just to cover hospital expenses.

A few days ago I purchased the CD, since until then I only had the original LP. The CD has two additional tracks: "unknown tune": Why is this titled "unknown" as everybody might recognize it as Horace Silver´s "No Smoking"? Even if Bud is not on his peak, he manages two play the theme much better then on his first attempt during his 1964 Birdland tenure. His solo, though sometimes hesitant is quite interesting. No one should seek out the "mistakes", this is not a lesson for students of classical piano, it´s a genius who is having troubles and is sick and he has my deepest respect for just being Bud Powell even when it became hard times for him. Considering the fact that this was just a few months before he died, he must be admired for managing to do this session and trying a tune which is quite a finger buster. I also think, the bass solo of Scotty Holt is great, and I wouldn´t say Rashied Ali´s solo is weak. It´s interesting to hear two players of the New Thing together with a bebop legend. The last tune "I´m always Chasing Rainbows" is also full of surprises. It´s got a good part of humour in it. And it was the first time Bud played that tune. The whole records shows us, that Bud, even at the very end of his career still was seeking new ways of expression and still was composing and adding new material to his repertoire (Trane´s "Moment´s Notice", the Horace Silver influenced "Up´s N Downs", the almost Monkish deliberateness on all tracks etc. The CD has a cover foto which doesn´t fit to the CD, because it´s much earlier , from a french club with Chuck Israel on bass. But on the inner sleeve you got a lot of studio photos from the session, done by Raymond Ross. Dizzy Gillespie was there, young Bernard Stollman is there. Bud having conversation with them. And I love that photo of Bud sitting astride and his head in that odd position with closed eyes. It was used for the painting on the cover of the 4 ESP albums of Bud at Birdland 1953 (Winter -, Spring - , Summer - and Autumnsessions".

Never adressed the audience while playing? I can´t say so, saw him perform quite a few times and he announced the musicians, the tunes, and everything... linguistic? Yes, because he made his announcements in german

I got those 4 CDs as single CDs. The "Sounding off" stucks out. It starts quite unusual for BN with a Ballad "Ghost of a Chance". And Walter Bishop plays some very very fine piano on that album.

Yeah, recently I purchased "Bird in Paris", also a double CD like the late Monk performances 1975, 1972. Back to Monk: I also like the "Giants of Jazz". Even if that´s not so strictly Monk he fits astonishingly well into the surroundings, and it´s a rare occasion to hear him play stuff like "Woody´n You" at a crisp tempo, or "Tour de Force". I also got a DVD of them from Copenhagen. Monk has a kind of vacant look,but plays very well and is quite busy comping.

Is this release easily found? I'd like to get it. Yeah, me too. Could you give label info? Thx. The label, something quite obscure: "Rare Live Recordings" RLR. I purchased it from amazon. Right now I listened again to it. It´s quite interesting how Paul Jeffrey plays in a more laid back manner. On some of the tunes (Hackensack) he seems to repeat his ideas, but he plays well and seems to thrill the aging Monk. The whole group sounds inspired. Dave Holland is just marvelous, fantastic what he´s doing here. And young Tootie really thrills me. The whole stuff is quite more complex than the way we are used to listen to the typical Monk Quartet. I´d never say else than Charlie Rouse was the best thing that ever happened to Monk, since he knew Monk´s music from top to bottom. But as I said, the whole thing is more dense, less abstract. Monk doesn´t lay out, he´s comping all the time and plays a lot of really fine stuff. The sound quality is not bad. But you know I´m a stone bebopper so I´m used to poor sound, Parker live recordings etc. But even if the sound isn´t hi fidelity, it really captures the live atmosphere of a club. The way the stuff sounded when I used to go to clubs and listen to music.

got a Monk double CD recently I didn´t know about. With Paul Jeffrey from Newport 1975 and the other half is from the Village Vanguard from 1972. I like them very much. At first I was a bit disappointed by the way Jeffrey plays, was too used to Rouse who always seemed hand in glove with Monk, but after a few listenings I started to find his more aggresive treatment of the music quite exiting and it seemed to thrill Monk also, who plays quite fresh things. Oh ....and imagine: Dave Holland is on bass on the Vanguard sets. And Monk junior on drums really does some great stuff. I wonder why there are not more recordings with Monk father and son.

When I was still a starter and wanted to purchase some Dolphy, I got a strange album from the obscure label "Trip Records". It had Jitterbug Waltz, Music Matador, Alone Together on it and was very short, and quite an ugly cover, bad pressing etc. Obviously a bootleg. Since I liked the music, I later purchased a CD with those tunes.

John Ore can be heard as a soloist on many of Bud´s (mostly not commercially released) live tapes from Birdland 1964. He plays quite technically, using quite daring double grips or how you call it.

Well, Howard McGhee was a very important influence for Fats. I read in the book about Fats Navarro, that in later years, McGhee was a bit yealous on the publicity Fats got. Anyway, there´s some great playing of them both. Originally it was planned that Tadd Dameron would play piano on that session, but during that time (october 1948), the collaboration betweend Tadd and Fats came to it´s end. Another trivia about that session comes from an interview Howard McGhee did for Valerie Wilmer, where he said "we made 1,200 dollars each and by the end of the day Fats didn´t have 10 cents left. He kept asking me for money and I just couldn´t believe it..."

I don´t know nothing about iTunes since I´m a more old fashioned guy and got to have CDs (and before that LPs). I saw that "Themes from a Movie" on a Mingus discography many many years ago and always wondered what it might be. Since 1976 was the year when Mingus did "Music for Todo Modo" (which was supposed to be a movie score like Cumbia from 1977), maybe it´s some piano sketches from Todo Modo? Like the bonus tracks on Cumbia (Wedding March on piano, two tracks made after the group recording of Cumbia, which is the same little waltz that appears shortly on "three or four shades of blues"

I didn´t know Alice Coltrane was married to Kenny Hagood. Though I got quite a few recorded items where he sings, I don´t know nothing about his live. He worked quite much at the Royal Roost in the late 40´s and his ballad features with bop greats like Tadd Dameron, Dizzy, Bird are well known. also with Miles on Birth of Cool, and with Monk on Blue Note. I got the film "Jivin´in Bebop" with Dizzy and you got Kenny Hagood singing "I´m Waiting For You" to a nice young lady who just looks at him. Maybe she´s young Alice?

exists also a recording of Bud with Don Byas and Brew Moore (3 tracks: Rifftide, I Remember Clifford, Anthropology) from Denmark 1962. Brew is out on I Remember Clifford. But as I think, Byas loved that tune as much as Bud loved it. On all 3 recorded meetings between those two giants, they recorded that ballad (Tribute to Cannonball, Americans in Europe, and the un-issued stuff I got.