["Four And More: 1964, The Year In Jazz"]

I was only 5 years old in 1964 but if I could move time back, because I remember we spent the summer at the French Riviera, if I had urged my parents to drive up north to Normandie , I could have heard Bud at Edenville !!!!! 

From recordings of that time I can say it must have been a very fruitful period: 

Mingus had that great band with Eric Dolphy !!!! 
Miles had Wayne !!!!
Some of the best BN records were made, I think Dolphy, Wayne, Hubbard, Jackie McLean. 
Then all those Impulse LPs, Trane at the peak of his power.....

But it must also have been a time where many jazz venues closed: Birdland was slowly disappearing, one of the last hopes to keep it alive was the Return of Bud. 

In general, I must say I always had listened to what was new then, what took music further and further , that power which established figures like Mingus, Miles, Trane, Rollins had, and the then "young cats" Herbie Hancock, Hubbard, Shorter.....it was an extreme great year for Wayne Shorter......., Joe Henderson, Tony Williams and so on. 

Somehow I have not shared that fondness for those dozens of bossa nova albums, some sound nice, but in general it is not what really exites me. 

["Portrait of Little Jazz: Roy Eldridge"]

Recently I had listened to some Roy Eldridge where he replaces Diz on a concert of the Giants of Jazz. Great to combine Roy Eldrige with Monk, Stitt, and Blakey !!! 

And one of my favourite tracks from the past is a broadcast of How High The Moon made in the best days of bebop. And Roy was so much ahead of his time, he ends the tune with the Ornithology line , showing that he can do bop as well as swing !!!! 

[So, What Are You Listening To NOW?]

4 hours ago, soulpope said:

Thnx, actually I`m a fan of the late(r) Bud Powell ....

I´m a fan of any great Bud Powell, as well as early as well as late, with more preference for sessions with horns and of course sessions where you hear the drummer.....

My step into Bud´s music was the CBS Double Album "One Night at Birdland" from 1950 with Bird, Fats, Curley Russell and Art Blakey. 

[So, What Are You Listening To NOW?]

23 minutes ago, jazzcorner said:

I see you are a fan of Bud Powell. Have myself these:

            Powell,Bud   Jazz Giant   1949/50       Verve (japan)

CD      Powell,Bud   The Amazing Bud Powell CD 07/10      1953        

          Powell,Bud   Bud Powell:Jazz Original 1954/55       Norgran(japan)

          Powell,Bud   Interpretations by Bud Powell  1956  Verve (japan) DSM

          Powell,Bud   Bud Powell `57       1957  Verve(japan)        

For another occasion I have compiled & scanned  some Down Beat articles from the 1960s. If you are interested I can send you the material via links.

 

 

This would be very very interesting. 

You mention Down Beat articles from the 60´s , that means after his comeback and return to Birdland ? 

Now, reading Levy´s bio about Sonny Rollins, Sonny met Bud after his return to the States, but I didn´t even know that his stay at Birdland was almost 6 weeks delated due to birocratie (carbaret card, old tax depts or something like that), and was cut short after not even 2 weeks ?! 

About your Bud collection: I have 2 sampler LPs of Bud´s stuff for Verve, but miss more variation, I like the Blue Note with Sonny Rollins and Fats, and above all the 2 LP set from Birdland with Bird, Fats and Blakey. 

And the album "Return of Bud Powell" usually is written off, but it is much better than the mid fifties recorded by Verve, I think. Better drumming, or let´s say audible drumming which I miss on some older studio records......

9 hours ago, dougcrates said:

From all of Hank´s recordings after "Soul Station", I like this most ! 

15 hours ago, optatio said:

I have never heard that and didn´t know about it. Cumbia and Jazz Fusion would be very interesting, I saw it live with Mingus in 77 or 78 before the album with the same title came out. 

I am quite astonished that it´s Kenny Garrett on alto, and not Ricky Ford on tenor. 

[So, What Are You Listening To NOW?]

On 1/26/2024 at 8:28 PM, soulpope said:

Stupendous George Duvivier master class ....

Oh yeah, I know you are a big fan of Bud, we share that and I hope it will not last long that I can show you what I have learned from Bud. Allan loves to play Bud´s compositions, last year he did "Wail", "Dance of the Infidels" if I remember well. He was quite a few Bud tunes in his set lists. 

On this special record, there is some superb Bud on it, but it also has it´s faults at least for me as a musician: Some typical Bird numbers that didn´t enter in Bud´s own set lists, sound like the are played from sheet, and even more, the sheet they gave him was written for Bb instruments (tenor, trumpet) so it´s a whole tone up (typical B-flat numbers like "Big Foot" are not played in Bb but in C) . 

And.....I can´t hear the drummer !!!! 

Though I don´t know much about labels, I only knew that Bud recorded for Verve and BN, but the only Roulette Album he is on is "Return of Bud Powell" much later. 

So the two Roulettes that was published much later (this here, and another live from Birdland with Donald Byrd and Phil Woods) never were released during his life.....

Poor Bud, so much music here, and I doubt he got a penny for it....

[What vinyl are you spinning right now??]

14 hours ago, Pim said:

 

Great line up , though I don´t have that. 

But one of the greatest live performances I ever saw was a typical BN line up, which was just incredible: 

It was Jackie McLean, Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis and Billy Higgins !!!!

12 hours ago, kh1958 said:

Malombo Jazz (Strut)

Johnny Griffin, NYC Underground (Galaxy)

Red Garland, Equinox (Galaxy)

 

The only Galaxy I have is Johnny Griffin´s "Return of the Griffin", which was made in 1978. Imagine: I saw Griffin in April 1978, that means just a few months before he returned to the States, in a small but famous jazz club in Viena (Jazz Freddy). A whole evening with Griff ! From 22:00 to almost 04:00 .....incredible. 

I had seen the "Equinox" but maybe due to lack of enough pocket money I hadn´t bought it. As my first jazz LP was one of Miles´ first quintet Prestige date, Garland was the first jazz pianist I ever had heard !!!!! I still didn´t even know who Bud, Monk, McCoy, was..... ). But I had never heard how he played after he had left Miles, I mean I have him on Coltrane-Prestige albums too, but strange enough nothing from the time I was already listening to jazz and he still was alive. It seems he had not toured Austria....

And those Galaxy LPs, as much Garland as much Griffin, they were in all record shops then, but did disappear soon.

[Happy Birthday J.J. Johnson!]

I have my all time favourites of J.J. 

I think what had impressed me most during my youth was the "Yokohama Concert" and I was the first who had bought it and some of my high school colleages, even those 2,3 years younger than me taped it and hummed it, mostly the first title. 

I also like very much "Pincaccle " with a lot of stars on it. 

And needless to say his vintage bop sessions with Bud for Savoy. 

I have heard that in the 60´s he mostly wrote for movies. 

[Sonny Rollins]

On 1/26/2024 at 6:50 PM, Hardbopjazz said:

The best recording with Sonny Rollins I've ever heard is a live recording I got from the person that taped it. Since this isn't official I can share it if someone wants to hear it. I know a copy was given to Sonny's team. They loved it. The sound is fine for an audience recording, but not for commercial release. 

Sonny Rollins Quartet

The Walnut Street Theater, Philadelphia

1979-05-03

Sonny Rollins- ts, lyricon; Mark Soskin- p, e-p; Jerome Harris- b; Al Foster- d. Set 1 63:27 01. Strode Rode (Sonny Rollins) 15:04, 02. Arroz Con Pollo (Sonny Rollins) 10:46, 03. Easy Living (Ralph Rainger / Leo Robin) 11:16, 04. Isn't She Lovely (Tape Flip) (Stevie Wonder) 8:58, 05. Isn't She Lovely (Continues) (Stevie Wonder) 1:06, 06. Keep Hold of Yourself (Sonny Rollins) 14:59, Set 2 58:51 01. Title 5:28, 02. Sonny's unaccompanied solo 9:22, 03. Don't Stop the Carnaval (Sonny Rollins) 5:03, 04. The Cutting Edge (Sonny Rollins) 9:08, 05. Tai-Chi (Tape flip) (Sonny Rollins) 2:13, 06. Tai Chi (Continues) (Sonny Rollins) 8:35, 07. Alfie's Theme (Sonny Rollins) 5:48, 08. Impressions (John Coltrane) 13:08

The track list sounds very similar to what I had heard the same year. I think, his quartet with Soskin, Harris and Foster was his very best group in the late 70´s early 80´s. Each of them so great. This here must have been recorded around the time he made that great album "Don´t Ask" one of my favourites. 
On the setlist from the show I have seen it was also "Isn´t She Lovely" on schedule, and they also played the brand new "Disco Monk" , which - surprising enough for that kind of number - had a superb piano solo by Soskin. 

[Frank Morgan on Bosch]

I have never heard about Bosch, but with that taste on music he must be loved by musicians. That´s the best thing that can happen to have guys with publicity puttin jazz in their TV shows. 

I don´t really have much Frank Morgan, I think the only thing I had heard was on a Wardell Gray album, where I like Morgan´s playing very much. He did much Europe in the 80´s I have heard, but don´t remember he would have played in Austria also....

"Bag´s Groove" I can imagine it very well as music spinned in a movie....

[So, What Are You Listening To NOW?]

2 hours ago, jazzbo said:

Big John Patton “Let 'Em Roll” Blue Note Japan 85th Anniversary UHQCD

Sounding so good!

 

It has Hank Mobley´s "Turnaround" on it, huh ? Great line up with guitar, vibe and organ. 
Sometimes I let it sound in the course of a really hot summer night, in the garden with some cool drink and some hip movements to it, especially by Serena. 
We love those nights when I´m not workin and we can make some party just we two 😄

[So, What Are You Listening To NOW?]

On 1/23/2024 at 9:26 PM, Peter Friedman said:

I saw Chet Baker the last time late in 1987 and it was the most beautiful Chet I had ever heard, and I had heard him many times from 1978 on. But in reality he looked much more "spent" than on this photo, though he still had that young man´s body, slim and everything, combined with a face of a 70-80 years old . But he played so great, was on time, was very very nice to the audience. 
One tune he played very often those days was some slow bossa titled "Black and White" or something. He also played that old Miles Davis tune "Down"..... such a great musician during all those 10 years I knew about him. 

On that mentioned slow bossa I think, Nicola Stilo, his flautist  played guitar instead of the flute. I must admit, all those flute solos on all those albums, I was not always happy with that.  The flute is not my most favourite instrument. I would have preferred his wonderful trumpet sound with a warm tenor sax or only with piano and bass (he is the only musician that I accepted without a drummer , otherwise I pick up most stuff BECAUSE it has a good drummer) 

[Herbie Hancock]

9 hours ago, JSngry said:

Maybe he figures there's more money for him in touring behind the legend than there is in touring behind a record or two that might lessen it?

And/or maybe there's no money in making records today, period.

Besides, what's left for him to do and/or prove? He's old, most likely financially secure, and his legacy is secure. What better way for him to live it out than doing what he wants on his terms?

Good for him! 

That´s it ! It was the same with let´s say Dizzy 40 years ago. He was old but kept touring, much more than recording in the studio. And I think touring as a famous elder statesman is much more pleasant than all those almost inhuman itineries you had as a young man. You fly first class, you are VIP, you have the best hotels, suites, swimming pool, Spa, massage,  more time to relax and you enjoy high life.  

[Sonny Rollins]

On 1/21/2024 at 12:34 AM, JSngry said:

"most people" is an assumption that may be rooted in not paying attention to changing realities.

It was 1986-1987 before RCA began reissuing Rollins in earnest. That was a lot of time for the narrative about the 50s material to take root, even though they weren't all gems.

But the 60s were huge for Rollins creatively, and people are figuring this out. Still. 

My Milestone overview thread is still coming. I know that "most people" don't prefer that stuff. I don't either. But I still like it, listen to it often. and hear in it a continuation of the ongoing Rollins arc in terms of tenor playing. In terms of record making, maybe not so much. But in terms of tenor playing, if you don't know (or get) 60s Rollins, you really might be lost by what came later. 

Taste is indeed subjective but the realities/specifics of music are not. 

Well, I try to think about that "most people" phrase. 

In jazz, most people, who write, are music lovers. They spend more time at home listening to their favourite albums which is mighty fine. I also like much of Rollin´s old work, like the mentioned "Friday the 13th" and "Let´s Call This" and so, and the old compositions "Doxy", "Oleo", "Valse Hot" , "Airegin" "St. Thomas" "Tune Up" and whatever it is, but in my case it is more the occasion away from home, that get´s my attention, rather than listening to a whole album at home. 

 
When I was a budding player and could play let´s say "Doxy" which is easy, and "Oleo" since it is just another rhythm changes, both in B-flat, the most easy key, and saw that more experienced guys eat up the changes of "Tune Up" and "Airegin" at high speed, sure I went home and listened to those tracks on some of those Prestige samplers, to LEARN them. 
 

And for seeing Rollins live, as a 1959 born you can be sure that it was during his Milestone Years, that´s what it was and it was the sounds that I was surrounded by. Those musicians like Rollins and Roach where not "be bop preservation societies" , they were creating and developing. As @felser mentioned the ´70´s Roach Quartets with Billy Harper (and later Odean Pope) this is the same thing. This is not a veteran drummer, who kept playing Bird/Diz/Brown style, but a living and creating artist. That´s what we wanted to hear when it happens. 

Another example of "most people". "Most people" for me is "younger people" and they have a different approach to the things. Serena, my wife is much younger and would not listen to so much jazz if she had married another guy. But about music she didn´t think historically , but from personal tastes. So, when we missed a Sonny Rollins concert in the States because it took place just in the night we arrived, a few days later,  smoking a cigarrette outside the club during intermission, and talking about Sonny Rollins, a guy approached us with that angry look and without having been asked , barked:

                    "I don´t like what Sonny Rollins has done since 1975". 

Now you might have seen Serena, with all her youth and beauty, with wide eyed surprise: "Since 1975 ????? When was 1975 ?????  And what is left if you don´t like what Rollins did since a year (that in hear thinking sounded like Marco Polo´s time😄 .

She liked the more modern sounding tunes from the "Road Tracks" albums she bought me. There is a short version of "Don´t Stop The Carneval" which has the more contemporanous sound, and some thing that is titled "Nice Lady" , that´s what seems to be danceable to her ...

 

So, the definition "most people" can be seen from different points of view, the environment you have, and and and .....

[Coming in February 2024: "The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins" (NYRB)]

I´m not really sure if I should buy it. 

Now I´m reading the biography about him, and I tend to overlook the more non musical passages. 

I like to read things that are musically important . Maybe some little trivia here or there ,but not to much. I love also to read what other fellow musicians say from playing with him. 

Right now I think I had read the chapter after "The Bridge" where he is in California. 

Oh man, all those letters to Lucille, all those heavy words and thick stuff, they must have been a very very intellectual couple. On the other hand, to end a letter with "You are my woman. I am your man" sounds strange and blunt to me. Serena wouldn´t let me in the house if I rote such dumb stuff at the end of a message for her 😶

I´m more the kind of guy who says to his sweetheart how great she looks.....😍

[Hearing aid a help?]

Discussing with my fellow musicians at the studio session last weekend , when we did a break I got it confirmed from them that their hearing got worse after decades of playing, again I got it confirmed that that´s whats happening. Craftmen get their back hurting, miners get their lungs f....ed up, musicians their ears, that´s a fact. In the studio the only who I have had little problems understanding what he says is the blood young alto player, who is fantastic and got tons of talent , why I spotted him, but he seems to be a bit shy and in aw of that unit of older musicians that he doesn´t speak loud enough. But if I told him to speak into my right ear it was okay, and anyway what counts is what he blows, and that´s loud and strong and beautiful !!!!!!!

[Herbie Hancock]

18 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Was that this Herbie comp??  (Not seeing anything on Discogs with quite a ‘paper bag’ color to it, unless this is it.

https://www.discogs.com/release/5686851-Herbie-Hancock-The-Best-Of-Herbie-Hancock

Yeah, when I found The Prisoner up at JRM, I had literally never even heard of it before, had no idea of its existence. It was a brand new CD, but a cut-out, so it was already OOP.

I was SO excited to get it home to listen to, especially since it had Joe Henderson on it! — who I already knew from two of his albums being half the my very first 4 jazz albums ever.

oh my friend, now I have to laugh: "Herbe comp" .....as a musician, "to comp" means if you play chords for the other soloists in group performance. So first I had thought you mean Herbie´s style of comping for others, as a sideman or if he recorded with horns. 

17 hours ago, bresna said:

This Herbie comp:

was released with this cover in Germeny:

The second one is the one I have. 

 

11 minutes ago, felser said:

 

I especially have a soft spot "I Have a Dream"

 

if you listen to "I Have a Dream" isn´t the first 8 bars based more than loosly on "Darn That Dream" ? 

[What vinyl are you spinning right now??]

48 minutes ago, optatio said:

 

Hilton Ruiz was at the Theaterkeller in Göttingen on February 10, 1980 with the Marion Brown Quartet. Four days later the quartet recorded this LP at "Le Dreher" in Paris.

On February 8, 1980 the quartet was in St. Georgen and on February 9, 1980 at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam.

oh this one must be great. Marion Brown performed also in Vienna, but I can´t remember that date. But i remember on the George Coleman gig, Hilton Ruiz wore a very similar cap. Freddie Waits is a wonderful drummer ! 

[Herbie Hancock]

1 hour ago, Rooster_Ties said:

I was fortunate to have stumbled on a used CD copy of The Prisoner very early on in my listening around 1989 (on one of my trips to Chicago while I was in College, at Jazz Record Mart).  While it wasn’t my first Herbie leader date, it might have been my third — and it was definitely one of my very first 40 jazz purchases.

And I think(?) I picked up a copy of Speak Like a Child on that same Chicago trip (I was in college 200 miles away in western Illinois) — the second of Herbie’s two “Gil Evans”-influenced albums.

I think I’ve cited either one (or the other) as “my favorite Herbie album” ever since.  Over the years, more often than not it’s been The Prisoner — although early on Speak Like a Child was the winner for a good 10 years!

As you say it, "The Prisoner" is wonderful. 

Only when I got acquainted to Herbe thru "Headhunters" and the old Miles Davis LP from 1963, it was almost impossible to find individual Blue Note albums from the former decades (50´s, 60´s , so my only source of more pre-electric Hancock was the BN double LP with paper bag coloured cover. There were dozens of those, and some had a full albums, others where samplers (I think my Sonny Rollins BN recordings also is such a sampler from individual albums that were not in print anymore. That was the first time I heard that Sonny - Philly J.J. duo of "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" and some tracks of pianoless trio. 

[Album Covers With People On Their Knees]

10 minutes ago, soulpope said:

To me a natural beauty overall (back cover of "Playing Possum" again photographed by Norman Seeff) ......

okay, thats  much much better !  But watch out till you see the cover model on my upcoming album, but of course above all the music you´ll hear. We finished the studio recordings on Sunday , have the foto of the cover model and the foto shooting of us 6 guys done......

[Album Covers With People On Their Knees]

2 hours ago, soulpope said:

More pictures from this session taken by famos photographer Norman Seeff .... 

😉 mighty fine, maybe the face not necessarly so

[What vinyl are you spinning right now??]

On 1/21/2024 at 4:49 PM, jazzcorner said:

A real burner

Denon PCM YX-7548 ND - Hilton Ruiz  "Fantansia" - rec. 1978 - Engineer: Jim McCurdy

oh Hilton Ruiz, such a great pianist and if I remember right, he died too early. 

With whom might I have seen him live ? George Coleman ? Billy Higgins ? 

[Album Covers With People On Their Knees]

On 1/4/2024 at 9:52 AM, soulpope said:

Carly Simon "Playing Possum" (Elektra)                      1975 ....

I don´t know who is Carly Simon, but that´s the best photo in this thread, at least how I think about it. 

[Herbie Hancock]

Head Hunters was my first Hancock album, which is natural because it was that time and I was starting my live long love affair with jazz. 

I still love to listen to it. 

It took me some months to realize that Hancock before Headhunters played acoustic jazz. 

It was the "Miles Davis in Europe 1963" that got me into acoustic Hancock, such a wonderful musician ! 

And most naturally my next great love, maybe my favourite acoustic band in my youth was "VSOP". 

I also had the Blue Note LA Double LP with some of the best tracks from the BN period. That´s where I heard Watermelon Man, Blind Man Blind Man, Maiden Voyage and most of all I liked the track "The Prisoner". 

As a youngster in the 70´s Hancock was one of my main men, and sure he remained it all my live. 

[Post a pic]

16 hours ago, soulpope said:

Frank A. Tusa @ Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay California in April 1984 (Photography : Brian McMillen) ....

Oh I remember him, wasn´t he with Dave Liebman on Lookout Farm and Drum Ode ? They are the only ECM albums I have.

[What vinyl are you spinning right now??]

On 1/17/2024 at 5:51 PM, sidewinder said:

Bennie Green 'Soul Stirrin' ' (Blue Note 47W63rd DG mono)

 

Can't beat these loud and meaty Van Gelder pressings.

i think I heard some of that Benny Green on BN. I think it was very early Elvin Jones on drums. 
Benny Green may not be J.J. Johnson or Curtis Fuller, but he is wonderful. I think some of the best Benny Green I ever heard was on that live album he made with Hank Mobley....