Gheorghe

I have a black Miles Davis sweater from the early 80´s and I still wear it. And I have a black long-arm shirt SUN RA which I often wear, but not on gigs, where I prefer casual business, but when I go to a club just to listen....

It´s written in Mr. Peter Pullman´s book "Wail-The Life of Bud Powell". As @T.D. said it, it refers to substance abuse. It´s documented in many letters that Bud´s mother Pearl wrote to Oscar Goodstein. The very last meeting between them two happened when Bud during his 1964 schedule at Birdland missed a show and went out on his own to search Elmo Hope, were he went to Elmo´s old adress in the Bronx, where he was told the new adress in Harlem and Bud managed to get there in very bad shape and was brought back to his hotel. That´s what I have read.

ESP covers somehow the zeitgeist of my youth. Sun Ra´s "Nothing Is" was one of my first LPs , like the "Ornette Coleman Townhall". And though they were on the forefront of avantgarde, they had a deep respect for Bird, Bud, Lady Day, since besides the avantgarde albums they had rare live stuff of Bop Artists. Somehow for all modernists of the late 60´s and 70´s Bird was a hero. But I might admit I´m not a real collector. Some of the stuff here I might have, interviews are not so interesting for me, and I listened to this music more for learning the tunes and how to play in that style, so I limited it to more essential commercial Savoys and Dials or some of them....

I really admire Elmo Hope, he was not only a great pianist, he was a great composer ! But maybe his live was one of the tragedies of post war jazz. And people who were near to Bud Powell said that Hope was "Bud´s worst friend" . there are also reports of an occasion where Bud wanted to visit Hope very late in both´s lives.

indeed ! Same here. I bought the DVD-documentary since my wife was interested in seeing his live, but she also stated without any statement from me "not your kind of music or piano style". Are they doing a fast version of Conception in Db ? I love that tune. Early this year a Spanish trumpet player was visiting Viena and sat in in the second set and called "Conception" and counted it of in a quite fast tempo. I was delighted to do it with him. First I was afraid of him because he had such a mad look and very strange stage behaviour, he was loaded with some harmful stuff and that scared me, but the playing was tops and he loved what I did too. This spring I had a very interesting discussion with Mr. Peter Pullman about the tune "Conception". He is sure that it was not George Shearing who composed it, but Bud Powell. Bud loved that tune too, and Mr. Pullman says that Al McKibbon who was working with him or/and Shearing at Birdland had told him that. He said that Shearing had stolen the idea from Bud. I can´t confirm it, but it´s so fitting for Bop musicians with those fine changes and you got some knowledge about improvising to master it.

I think if it is about completists or non-completists, I might be the most non-non guy on this board. In any case I don´t need more than one album from a certain period, I have from the early days a 1) "Mingus Quintet with Max Roach" (a misunderstanding by me when I bought it, since I had hoped that it has TWO drummers , I mean Willie Jones AND Max Roach together, and was quite disappointed that it is a pretty fair straight ahead thing. I have 2) Blues and Roots, 3) Black Saint and Sinner Lady, 4) The Great Paris Concert 1964, 5) Blue Bird (very very weak and disappointing), and the Atlantic recordings each of them since I have been a huge Mingus fan since the first half of the 70´s and enjoyed the times when you bought each year a new record from your idols whom you saw live. I nevertheless think I understand Mingus´ music. I heard other stuff at somebody´s places too, and saw Mingus on TV and above all saw him live, and more than that, checked out his voicings on certain tunes, playing some "Mingus" on piano, and in my youth as a part time contrabassist too, and though the bass fiddle was never my main instrument, I practiced hard on it and astonished some bass players by doing "Mingus like" solos on the bass. P.S: I had to google Taylor Swift, one positive thing: Her´s a woman who wears pantyhose , I like that.

Very fine, but I must admit, from Tadd´s two Prestige recordings I like "Mating Call" even more. But both albums are very fine late Dameron. I think he didn´t record any more album after that with the exception of the "Magic Touch" which I don´t really like. Who are the all star guests ? I think I heard that they also recorded with Mingus and Monk in the early 70´s .

Well, in my case it was 1964 with the touring band Dolphy, Jordan, Byard. And this was only my 2nd jazz LP (actualle a 3 LP-set) that I owned when I was a kid. But you are right, my second Mingus LP was something my mother bought for me "Wendesday Night Prayer Meeting" and it gave me similar fascination, maybe the Dolphy material exited me even more, but Wendesday Night Paryer Meeting still remains my favourite earlier Mingus Stuff. But don´t forget I´m from the younger generation and Mingus was top billing when I was young. That´s the two musicians I heard live in the 70´s: Miles (electric) and Mingus, every hipster here in Vienna mentioned Mingus. I´d say Mingus was a main inspiration for my musical developement.....

But the point should also be Dexter himself. Yesterday I listened again to that record and again I say it´s some of the best latterday-Dexter I ever heard, if not the best. Cables, well with the exception of his f.....ing up Dexter´s ballad featurs (mostly "More than you Know" and "As Time Goes By"), I might say he is really a grooving and swinging pianist and his solo on "Moment´s Notice" from a private recording from Vanguard that I heard, is amazing, like his own "I Told You So". The best Cables I heard myself was a Dizzy All Star Quintet" (Diz with Harold Land, George Cables, Herbie Lewis and Louis Hayes), and it started with a trio tune, "I Mean You", which he just had recorded for Timeless (the album "Four Seasons", Cables with Hutcherson, again Herbie Lewis, and Philly J.J. ). Dexter´s alcool abuse may have deteriorated after his comeback in the States (like 12 years earlier Bud Powell´s !), but he had better rhythm sections. Now Europe has fantastic bassists and drummers, but back in the 70´s it was still hard to find a bassist or drummer who could be equal to N.Y. rhythm sections. As I said, I have a special scepticism with the "eternal" Nils Hennig Osted Pederson, he had a hell of a technique, but to sound and the beat cannot equal to let´s say Buster Williams, Stafford James, John Heard, and here David Eubanks. And drummers, it was also very difficult to find good drummers in Europe. I can imagine how Americans in Europe, though enjoying a more comfortable live, were longing to return to the States because after some times it must have become boring to not have good rhythm sections..... well, Alex Riel in Danemarca, or Tony Crombie in Anglia was fine..., but Eddie Gladden is top.

Thank you ! I had thought later because from the Paul Chambers bio "Mr. P.C." (very good book) Chambers was in the trio until very short time before his death. I think the one that I have with George Coleman, also from Baltimore was after P.C.´s death. But I fear, that Wynton Kelly after his great times of success, recording mostly as sideman for great labels in the early 60´s became quite low profile, he still played fantastically, but due to other patterns in jazz it seems to have become out of fashion then.

When and where was this recorded. I have a "Clear Day" with George Coleman on and obscure LP, not well recorded. It must have been after P.C.´s departure, since it had Ron McLure on bass. Late 60´s ?

Considering the octet: The only time I saw Woody without the Herd was in 1985, when he came with an octet (Buddy Tate, Al Cohn and Scott Hamilton on ts, Warren Vaché on tp, Woody on cl. + one vocal (I got the World on a String), John Bunch on piano, an unidentified bass player (what a pity that the scheduled George Duvivier did not appear due to illness shortly before his death), and Jake Hanna on dr.

Hello friends ! I know there is a thread about that album on "New Releases" but since finally I had the time to listen to the album I thought to review it and recommend it for listening. First I was sceptic, since that period (early 1983) was the end of Dexter´s active playing career (with the exception of his film presence in 1985 and a handful of selected gigs as "Mr. Round Midnight", which were not recorded for CD. Their was a general report about his weak performances and how he had slowed down, and honestly, the set I saw in Vienna just a few days before or after the recording of this CD was one of the saddest memories I have in jazz. But, as an alcool-adicted bop veteran his situation might have been similar to the situation of the last performances of Bud Powell after his comeback to NY. All books about him describe that "depending on what day or in which set you caught him, he would sound wonderful or really sad". This is also documented in tape recordings from Birdland 1964, where he sometimes is great and daring, and others where he practically was unable to play. I think at that point of advanced alcoolism the artist may still give a great performance if he somehow could have been kept away from booze, at least before and during the concert. And.....my impression is, that this recording of Dexter in Copenhaga 1983 is just wonderful, I was just mesmerized when I heard it. It´s the most beautiful version of "More than you know" I ever heard, and his playing on the faster tracks is strong and sure and not even as much behind the beat as it was sometimes. His sound is great as ever and his inspiration the same, his talent to quote from other songs, his wonderful ability to build up the tension from the start of his solo to the end of it and so on. Dexter had lived almost 15 years in Europe, mostly in Copenhaga, Danemarca and his live and studio recordings mostly for Steeplechase are well documented. But what they miss, is a really good NY-ish rhyhtm section. Listening to NHOP on many occasions between 1964-76 can become tedious sometimes. He is ok while just walking, but his solos are just tehnical exercises with many clichés like those double grips with glissando, and even if he walks it does not have the pulsation which this wonderful bassist David Eubanks has. You don´t have to overdo it and get so much solo spot like NHOP did. I also heard on many occasions the first NY quartet with George Cables, Rufus Reid and Eddie Gladden. George Cables is a fine player, one of the finest of the post war generation, but maybe on ballads he always got into a certain schema which is not always the essence of the ballad. I like Kirk Lightsey better, especially on ballads. Eddie Gladden anyway is one of the best drummers you can think about. So, my opinion is, that 40,50 years ago American rhythm sections were much better than ours. You got to have that NY impulse in it, at least that´s how I feel it. Now in the 2020´s we have very very fine drummers and bassists here in Europe too, who really got it. A special thing is the including of "Hanky Pranky". I must admit I didn´t know it until I heard it here, since I´m not a big collector and have a few albums from each period, maybe the old Savoy and Spotlite things, 2 or 3 from the BN era and some live sets from the 60´s/70´s on Steeplechase. Listen to that "Blue March" beat , that Messengers Beat done by Eubanks. He is wonderful, he plays the bass in that more percussive way that I like so much, not that too long tone, you can´t do that if you play a soft "dooom dooom dooom dooom" on the bass, it got to be cut shorter "doop doop doop" to be a rhytmic element. So, this might have been one of the last occasions to hear Dexter in top form. Highly recommended by me !

Decades ago a regular band that visited Jazzland and played there was called "New Traditional". It was during the time was the "cortina de fier" and they came from Bratislava (CSSR). Maybe they had special permission from the system down there. Bratislave is not far from Viena, so it can be done just for a one nighter without much logistic trouble, if they were not stopped for ours when leaving or re-entering the CSSR. But musically (I didn´t go to them there shows) Mr. Melhardt, the boss of Jazzland praised them as being not only traditional, but also progressive, including "influences of rock" . Anyway, their bass player played electric bass.

Believe me, in my first years when I didn´t know other than Miles and Mingus, I didn´t and it seems that I have not even heard his name, until one classmate, who was not necessarly from our "gang" told me that I must listen to Brubeck, praising him as the top of it. He lent me one album, I don´t know if it was Take Five or Unsquare Dance or whatever, and my expectations were great since I was still naive and "trusted" everybody who would mention "jazz". In my childish way I thought if this boy says Brubeck is top, it might be at least like what I dug as a kid....let´s say Mingus with Dolphy, Miles with Wayne and Herbie, the electric Miles a la "On the Corner" or "Dark Magus", Trane, Rollins, Ornette, and when I spinned the Brubeck I couldn´t understand what´s so great, I spinned the first side, I spinned the second side, and even my mother (born 1921 ) came upstairs where I had my rooms and said "what´s that kitsch you are listening ?" (it must have been something in our family since my mother didn´t grow up with jazz but when she first heard "Meditations on Integration" from Mingus, or Ornette Coleman´s "Lonely Woman" she was deeply moved by that music). So I had a desperatly wrong start with Dave Brubeck and "Take Five".

I had the tracks "Half Nelson", "The Squirrel" "Mike´s Blues" (correctly: "Down") and "Move" on an Italian pressing which was available over here. It was very interesting for me to hear Miles Davis that way, since Miles was a key figure in my earliest interest in jazz. Until then I had only known the 50´s -70´s Miles (Prestige and Columbia) and had seen him live 1973 in Viena. I think I had purchased this one later than 1973 and bought it only after several visits in the record store. Actually it might have been after I had learned about Bop and Bird and I think this together with the CBS album "Miles-Dameron in Paris 1949" are the best examples of Miles playing vintage be bop.

That´s a damn good personnel here. I saw Flanagan with Mraz, and on that occasion Art Taylor was the drummer. But Al Foster is one of my very favourite drummers of all my life.

I remember the wild young years at high school when we was a bunch of kids crazy about jazz , but still not well informed. Somehow we didn´t really know WHAT is "Cool Jazz". We had heard about "Birth of the Cool" but hadn´t still heard it. So most of us thought, that the special harmon muted vibratoless sound of Miles´ trumpet on the early Prestige albums is "Cool Jazz" or that he had "invented Cool Jazz". Other exponents like typical west coast coolers where not so much present in our generation. Later I "discovered" Tristano and spinned it for my friends, and when there were some more atonal lines they said "no Gheoghe, this is "Free Jazz" 😄

He was a legend.

Wonderful !

Oh, I understand ! It must have been great to still see him. I saw him only when it was around the recordings of his famous "Amsterdam after Dark". By the way: About the photo I had posted I must get the information when and where it was made.....

I think I found the blue Atlantic album back in the 70´s and it was very rare. I already had BN "Empty Foxhole" "At the Golden Circle" , the Atlantic "Free Jazz" and the Impulse "Crisis" and "Ornette at 12" and found that this album is the most easy listening to. It´s just straight ahead swing. A very nice album, though nothing special, a good hard bop album. Both Bags and Trane are great.

Might be a gas, Joe Henderson and Al Foster are among my favourites on their instruments. Charlie Haden might be interesting as long as it is group playing. I love his playing with "Free" Musicians but as soon as he starts to solo at least for me it becomes quite boring. But sure others might see it opposite, it´s a question of taste.

I´m a quite old fashioned guy in that context. The stuff was around everywhere when I was a teenager, and users would get busted by police and it was a natural thing. But I never had the urge to try it. I think in context with "drugs" I was a more mundane person, smoking normal cigarettes and drinking beer was all I was intrested in. I have or had the impression that reefer-smokers had a more "spiritual thing" in it. Some where into meditation or stuff, and I think that though I have education I was more the workman-type of consuming "goodies" , I mean just cigarettes and beer or wine or „țuică” or „palinca” (prune schnapps or marille schnapps). After the stupid "drinkin contests" in the teenage and early twen years, gettin married I reduced that stupid alcool thing and eventually cut it out completly , I drink my alcool-free beer each evening. But I don´t really understand why they legalizize reefer smokin if they try to forbid cigarette smokin. Well I don´t have no idea what effect reefer has, but I couldn´t imagine having a coffee withouth enjoying a cigarrete with it. This has been so for the last 50 years. So, if everybody is smokin reefer now .....let em do what they want, but I don´t like that "half morale" where militant non smokers tell me how dangerous is my goddamn cigarette combined with coffee drinkin, or after dinner or after sex😄, while the same politic parties want to legalize reefer .

is that old bald headed gentleman also a musician or an fan ?