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I didn´t know the 1968 version, but "Green Dolphin Street" was part of the repertory during the european tour abut 1963, the most outstanding group Sonny with Don Cherry, Henry Grimes and Billy Higgins. They mostly did very long versions of Dolphin Street and Sonnymoon for Two. Great Sonny, shades of Ornette Coleman, since he used players who came out of that style.

I love those sessions! Miles shows plays great bop trumpet on it and is almost as good as Diz or Fats. James Moody plays astonishing "modern" for the period. And I like Tadd´s solos on Dont Blame and Embraceable You. It´s strange, but the Bird album "bird in Paris" doesn´t exite me the same way the Miles-Dameron album does. The jam session at the end is nice. Rare occasion to hear Sidney Bechet and Bird sharing stage, or Miles and HotLips Page. I got some of the Paris Fotos in a rear book "To Bird with Love", a photo collection, done by Francis Paudras and Chan Parker.

Now that you say it, I remember there was a collection of some late Bud, reissued by Bud´s daughter Celia. I didn´t purchase it, since I got all the material, it´s more like a sampler from stuff I got on the Mythic Sound. I think, the title of the album was „Eternity“. I know, that „Eternity“ was a poem Bud wrote a few days before he died. I only saw the french text in Pauras´ book. Since my french is not good enough, I didn´t really understand the text, it´s something about „when you left me, I lost the joy of life....“ Was it dedicated to Francis Paudras? I´d like to read the english version of the poem, it´s told it´s on that sampler, but I wouldn´t buy the sampler if I got all the stuff, no „cherry picking“. Great to have someone who likes Bud. I couldn´t meet persons who really dig his music. Most of them are piano players, who „do“ Bud as kind of an exercise, to cover that kind of period. I heard them play Bud´s tunes, but in that „laid back manner“ obviously from some scores they had to study. One time I didn´t have the patience, asked the kid to stop a bit, jumped at the piano bench and played it myself. Well, I do that only for myself, my wife says if I „play Bud“ it sounds like some unknown, unissued alternate takes, same style, same „snarling alone the lines“, same way of sitting and holding the fingers.....

Well, I didn´t know, that Pablo released material from those very private sessions. Maybe, I´m not up to date to record labels, but during „my time“, Pablo was Norman Granz´ stuff, mostly live jams from Montreux from the 70´s, Dizzy Gillespie Jam, Oscar Peterson Jam etc. About the discographies: Well maybe they are a mess, anyway I think those who did make the records (Mythic Sound) didn´t know exactly when it was made. On my Mythic version of „Hot House“, there is an introduction where Bud greets Johnny, but I believe that took place much earlier, in february 1964 at Francis´home, where Bud stayed when he was released on weekends from the sanatorium where he was recovering from TB. On the other hand, on one of my CDs from the private collection there is an extended version of „All the Things you are“, but it´s another piano player, not Bud. That piano player sounds like someone who likes jazz but doesn´t really know how to swing, it got that typical european „edge“ in it. Anyway I think, those Edenville recordings are historical important documents. Imagine, that was a time when you could spend a holiday on the beach and each evening listen to Bud Powell…..incredible. How much would I have liked to be there. On one of the tapes, Bud plays „If I loved you“. This tune was not in his repertory until then. He announces it as „dedicated to Rini, …and my name is Bud“. „Rini“ was a young girl who was on the beach and was one of the few persons Bud would talk with. It is interesting that he kept „If I loved you“ in his repertory, he played it frequently at Birdland and it´s also on the studio recording „The Return of Bud Powell“.

I´m sure it´s a tenor axe. But anyway, the Edenville stuff, especially the tracks with Griff are too sharp, about a half note. I got perfect pitch and noticed, that Wee, a B-flat tune sounds almost like B natural. Same with the "Wee Dot" from an italian bootleg, titled only as "Blues", it sound´s like B natural. And Straight No Chaser and Body and Soul suffer from the same problem. I got the full version of Hot House, it´s about 18 minutes. On the record it´s only 5 minutes and starts with Griff in the background while the bass player is walking on a kind of a "bass solo", you can hear Griff saying "that´s Guy" (Guy Hayat). Got three tracks from another day from the Edenville tapes, it´s with Al "Big" Jones on drums and sounds better on drums.

I just noticed, that my CD also has those 3 bonus tracks from Edenville. The only "fault" is, that the bass player and the drummer are not professional musicians, but they try to do their best. Can´t see nothing "erratic" in Bud´s playing. He does his best to keep the stuff together, dig his block chords on Star Eyes, who else could play that way, really deep...

Someone on this board once noted Jackie's debt to Dexter as a player - that was a major epiphany to me as a listener. Dexter was one of Jackie´s main inspirations when Jackie was a youngster. I think, the Savoy recordings from "Dexter Rides Again" inspired him very much. It is told, that Jackie, then an established master himself, was very exited by the possibility to play and record with his youth idol Dexter.

My Kenny Drew moment came in the Dexter Montmartre recordings. That´s it. See, when I started to dig jazz, and of course Jackie McLean, it was a very rough period for record-buyers in my country. Most of the Blue Note albums where OOP and hard to purchase. The best way to listen to Jackie Mc Lean and of course Dexter was buying those Steeplechase records. That´s what I did. Great records are : live at the Montmatre 1972 with the long version of "Parker´s Mood", then "A Ghetto Lullaby", and of course the two albums with Dexter and Jackie together, all of them with Kenny Drew on piano. I especially liked what Jackie plays on "Rue de la Harp" and "Another HairDo" (where he also quotes 52nd Street Theme). It was much later during the CD era, that I could purchase all the BlueNote albums, and many of the Prestige albums.

Nicely put Jim. Indeed. I had the opportunity of seeing him once with Grachan, Hutcherson, Rene and I forget who was playing bass and drums. It was a nice gig. Jackie was cool as they come, too - intense, but very cool and a neat guy to interview. Great! Must have been a great evening! I also had the opportunity to see Jackie with Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis and Billy Higgins, one of the greatest experiences I ever had. Imagine, a combination of the musicians who played on "Let Freedom Ring" and "One Step Beyond"....

hi Pete C! Ok, that means you got a CD with some bonus tracks from the Edenville live sessions. I got the whole Edenville Material, the first release was the album "Hot House", now titled "Salt Peanuts", and many stuff from those happy holidays at Edenville just before Bud returned to USA. I dont think it is weak, well the piano is a club piano, the bass and drummer are just amateurs, not professional musicians. If someone tells me that´s weak Bud, I´d ask him how he would play with this, and a sad piano. Anyway the best moments are with Griffin, the extended tracks "Straight No Chaser, Wee, HotHouse (on the original LP is just a short version, I got the 18 minute version, and one long title mistiteld "Happy Blues at Edenville" which actually is "Wee Dot", with "Disorder at the Border" on the out chorus. I don´t care if the sound quality is weak, my ears are be-bop trained, heard worse recordings. If I have enough time, I listen to the whole Edenville stuff, some hours of music. Hope, I could give you some infos on those last days of Bud in Paris. Actually, the former "Fontana" label, later "Black Lion" issued about four albums of Bud: "Hawk in Germany" (1960 Essen Festival: Bud, O.P., Klook, Hawk), "Strictly Confidential" (late 1963/early 1964 Bud p-solo with Francis Paudras on brushes on newspaper), "Blues for Bouffémont" aka "The Invisible Cage" which you know, and "Hot House" aka "Salt Peanuts". Plus the stuff on "Mythic Sounds" Vol. 8 "Holydays at Edenville", plus some rare material that I´m glad I have.....

Jackie McLean is one of my favourite musicians. I love everything he did. But I think it was the typical „Prestige problem“. They wanted to do all those recordings without time for rehearsal, and very little possibilities for own originals or arrangements. Anyway, it is great music. Jackie McLeans plays more standards on the Prestige albums, stuff like „Sentimental Journey“ etc. I think, he got more possibilities from Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff to develope his own style. He couldn´t have done records like „One Step Beyond“ for Prestige. With all due respect to all the great musicians I heard live, I´ll never forget the two occasions when I had the luck to see Jackie McLean on stage. And I love his sound.

I agree with you about the Blue Note sessions from 1957,58. Especially on „The Scene Changes“, Bud sounds very much like Sonny Clark on that album. It seems that Bud wanted to add something to the hard bop boom of the late fifties, even the compositions „Cleopatras Dream“ and „Duid Deed“ sound very much like hard bop. It´s like Dexter Gordon, who was some influence for John Coltrane, and later got some of Trane´s stuff in his playing. It´s true, that Bud later returned to his early style. Some of the best recordings are from 1959, when he sat in with Blakey´s Jazz Messengers. Those two versions of „Bouncing with Bud“ and „Dance with the Infidels“ are as great as the 1949 recordings, even more interesting, because Bud plays more chorusses, each of them brilliant. I didn´t understand, why „Blues for Bouffemont“ should be weak. And I havent heard about two sessions. This album was recorded on July 31 1964 in the studio. I like the bop tunes „Moose The Mooche“, „Relaxin at Camerillo“, „Little Willie Leaps“ and the new originals „Una Noche Con Francis“ and „In the Mood for a Classic“ (dedicated to Randy Hultin). There was no other studio date. But I got the Mythic Sound CD with some rehearsals one day before the recording date. Only Bud and the french bass player doing the two mentioned originals as a rehearsal. Bud is great on that also. Maybe you think it is more relaxed as a studio album. Later , back in New York, if you got him right, he still had much to say. I got 15 hours of Bud ad Birdland, much of it is great, Bud got a more Monkish touch and still is very strong. Only on the studio recording „The Return of Bud Powell“ it seems that he had some cups before the session started, anyway how inspired can you be if the only reason to make a recording is to get some tickets back to France? (where he anyway didn´t return).

I decided to listen again to those two Victors. The second one „Swinging with Bud“ is somewhat better, more vintage Bud Powell. His „Shaw Nuff“ is nice, but not as good as later versions like from Essen-Germany 1960. His Salt Peanuts is very short, like the version on the 1955 „The Lonely One“. One thing that disturbs me on those mid fifties recordings is that there is no real interaction between the musicians. On the early 1955 recordings which are weak anyway, Art Blakey is on drums but you don´t hear him. Another album from the 1957/1958 period is Roulette´s „Bud plays Bird“. It´s similar to „Swining with Bud“, has longer solos, but to little interaction with the bass and the drummer. Art Taylor was such a great drummer, he could do much better that that metronomic beat all over „Bud Plays Bird“. Anyway it seems that from the late 50´s on, Bud somehow returned to his „act“. In 1956 (Strictly Bud Powell) it seems like he didn´t want to take no risks, playing mostly medium tempos and good sections of block chords. Again, bass and drums do not contribute much to the music. To be inspired, Bud needed musicians who would respond to his phrases, to interact with him. I know it was recorded in the studio, but it´s so strange, „Striclty Powell“ sounds like if the bass and the drums would have been recorded before and Bud would have played over it later. Even the sound is somewhat blurred. I´m not an audiophile, I dig most club dates and even bad tuned pianos, but it´s got to be music played in an inspired mode.

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…..