Gheorghe

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.

Few weeks ago I purchased the new Fats Navarro bio written by Leif Bo Petersen & Theo Rehak. I´d say this is a dream that came true. I always have admired Fats and never thought there would be a comprehensive book about his live, his times and above all his music. This book has great reviews of about everything Fats recorded, rare fotos, solo transcriptions and everything.

I was lucky I saw "Lock the Fox" quite often when he was alive. Always liked his phrasings, he had a special kind of humour in his playing. One of the most unusual encounters from Lockjaws discography is his set with Miles Davis from Birdland 1951

I know that photo from Francis Paudras´book about Bud. Well, Bud did at least two recordings with Paul Chambers. Not with Getz, but at least he recorded with two "Lestorian" tenorists: With Zoot Sims, and witz Brew Moore. The encounter with Zoot is better known. It´s from the BlueNote Café in Paris.

hi Valerie: Thanks for your answer. Well...off topic....sure Zawinul was an exceptional musician and did fantastic things, period. But to say that I´m a f a n of him would be to much. I´m a f a n of Bird, Diz, Fats, Bud, Monk, Mingus, Miles, Trane, Ornette, that´s it. Concerning Bud, I´d like to think of myself as being one of his most loyal fans. From the first note on, his approach to music, to the piano and everything......it was just that I fell in love with his music.

hi ValerieB! Bud died in the summer of 1966 /July 31th I think. So this might have been his very last 2 years when he was alive. Though this has nothing to do with "early Bud", I always said I really found all his work at any period of his short live really astonishing. It is true Bud lived in Brooklyn right after his return to Birdland in september/october 1964. He worked only sporadically (a Carnegie Hall performance in march 1965 at a Charlie Parker Memorial Concert, and on May 1th at Town Hall on bill with some Avant Garde musicians like Albert Ayler and Milford Graves). Maybe a few club performances. The only recorded document of that period is the strange album "Ups´N Downs" with some studio solo and trio work and one track "Round Midnight" from the Carnegie Hall performance. It´s too bad the tape of the Town Hall Concert was distroyed, since it is reported Bud had performed a new composition "Caket in the Sea". We´ll never know how it sounded. Anyway, the "Ups ´N Downs" album has a strange, moving quality. Some say it is better than his last official studio recording from october 1964 (The Return of Bud Powell). Can you remember how Bud sounded when he practiced? I always said Bud, during his very last year of playing music seemed to have discovered some other means to express his genius: Gone are the flashy runs and long improvised lines, and something else came into his music, especially on ballads he used darker voicings and a more ad lib tempo. I have many many hours of privatly recorded material from Birdland, september and october 1964 (2 of them from the Francis Paudras Mythic Sound records: "Return to Birdland" and "Award at Birdland", where he received the "Schaeffer Award", and 17 more CDs of unissued material). This together with "Ups ´N Downs" led me to some inside knowledge of how Bud played during this very last and very unhappy period. Video tapes of later Bud show a strange picture of him. He seems to be really involved physically in what he does on the piano.

Of course I have all the Francis Paudras CDs (Mythic Sound). The tracks with Cootie Williams are very interesting because Bud already got his style while improvising, but still got other influences too. On Vol. II (Burnin´in USA) I really like the track "Tiny´s Blues" with Bud at his best. Maybe the most exiting Bud from the earlier period is on the mentioned 1950 gig with Bird and Fats. I think it is much superior to the Verve trio session from about the same time (July 1950) with Buddy Rich. Those two tunes are just a bit too much. At a slightly slower pace it would have been more boppish. Though "Little Willie Leaps" and "Dizzy Athmosphere" on "One Night At Birdland" are ultra rapid, it´s not so hurried like those two trio tracks and leaves enough space to develope out all the phrases in a manner that it "blows" and produces quick and hip stuff. I always have kind of difficulties if a pianist becomes too pianistic. Maybe that´s why I prefer later Bud, where speed slows down a little. P.S.: I also got that Allen Eager CD with the rare Bud Powell feature. It´s a nice private session. The only downer is the guy who tries to play the drums on the slow blues.

time flies.....remember when I saw Diz and he was about 60, still in his prime and with good chops and all. And now he would be 92. anyway, I often think with love about him, such a genius musician.....

Sure! I agree you 100 %! Charlie Rouse was the best musical partner for Monk as a saxophonist. With all due respect to Trane, Rollins, Griffin who did fantastic things with Monk, Charlie Rouse was the man. His sound and his phrasing would fit perfectly to Monk´s musical conception and style. Nobody knew Monk´s music better than Rouse, period. It went so far that Rouse sounded like Monk´s music even if he played with other people or let´s say on his only BN album "Bossa Nova Baccanal". That sound´s like if Monk went "latin". Griffin, who also loved Monk and had played a lot with him, once said it´s hard for most saxophone players to work with Monk, because of his way of comping. It´s apt to throw a horn player, so they were glad when at some point he laid out when they stretched out on their solos, which he would do anyway. But with Charlie Rouse, it was just "hands in gloves".

I didn´t have the occasion to see him life, but saw quite a lot of video-material with him. that kind of little dance was just part of his music. If you watch him rite, it´s like the way he plays. I love everything he did.

Count me in as one of Bud´s most loyal fans. I love everything he did. and, that´s why I chose one of Bud´s pictures as my avatar.