Gheorghe

I think some late friend of me had made me a tape from this record. Is it possible that there is "Alexander´s Ragtime Band" on it, and "Cheek to Cheek" ? Recently a bassplayer with whom I work next week mentioned it. My eternal answer was, yeah, the voices great, the tunes nice, but the orchestra is too polished. But Cheek to Cheek is a wonderful vehicle to play or to blow on it, and very recommanded to more advanced students, to learn to play enlarged song forms, not only the usual 32 bars

Thank you ! That Miles in Espanol might be something I might purchase. Seems to be something nice. About speed-corrected albums. I think I bought those albums in a time when no speed correction was done. I purchased the Roost sessions via LP where the first session was not speed corrected, as well as I bought the Bird-Fats-Bud "One Night at Birdland" with a speed that sounds like a semitone up. Same was with the Bud Powell - Johnny Griffin encounter on "Hot House". But during that time I didn´t know that something can be recorded with higher speed. If I taped my playing or an LP with my cassette recorder it was always the correct speed. So I frankly believed that it´s not at wrong speed recorded, but PLAYED in a unusual key, just a semitone up. I have perfect pitch and if I hear something, I know what tone , what key it is what I´m listening, so I thought "wow, he can play so fast in F-sharp" and tried it out on my own instrument, having in mind that a good musician should play in any key. What hard school of self-learning, but not in vain. About moving from one album to another to not be stucked in a mood: Your suggestion is a reasonable one, but let´s say if I play a gig, you got the instrumentation, the set list and don´t change the players or the complete style with something else. We keep the set lists as variable as possible, having medium tempos, ballads, latin tunes, up tempo tunes and takin´care they all are in different keys. If I listen to an album, I think mostly about listening to a concert. Much of the stuff that I listen to if I HAVE the time for it, is live recordings of concerts, and it´s hard for me to listen to something completly else afterwards. It´s like the festivals in the past. Too much switching from one stuff to another for me. And as a player festivals are good money but the rest can be quite a mess, not enough time to stretch out, and anyway you seldom have the time to listen to the other acts too.

I wanted to read a bit more about Tadd Dameron´s most fruitful period, those 39 weeks at Royal Roost, but in the Paul Combs - book there is not much more than basic infos. I was pleased much more by the book about Fats Navarro, where the recorded tracks (broadcasts) are very well described.

Something I want to say about Billy Eckstine from my point of view as a musician: I really learned much about playing ballads from listening to Mr. B´s versions of it. All those fantastic things "I want to talk about You". "A Cottage for Sale", "All I sing is Blues" "Love is the Thing", "You Are my Everything", "Without a Song". To hear it sung by Mr.B, to learn a bit about the lyrics so you learn what you must know about a ballad, and also very important for me as a piano player: To dig the chords of the arrangements, the intros to the ballad. As was mentioned in the thread about a composition by @AllenLowe in "Miscellanious Music" I also like to play ballads not too slow. Some play it so slow it´s almost standing time, but you get the attention of the audience much quicker if you play it at the speed it was played when it was created and performed. I also listen to some versions of Nat King Cole, not that I like him more than Mr.B and his band, but it´s also very good for learning more about ballads.

I think I have both sessions of early Bud on a double LP from the 70´s titled "Best Years 1947-1964" . I think I remember the 1947 titles were recorded a semitone too sharp, so that "April" sounds like played in Ab rather than in the regular G. What I think is that Bud´s famous ballad style still was not completely developed. On "Everything Happens to Me" there is much more arpeggio. The best ballads are found on the 1953 session, above all "My Devotion" and of course "Embraceable You". And those wonderful faster tunes like "Woody´n You" and "Bean ´n the Boys" (I play Bean ´n the Boys quite often, it´s a favourite of mine but on jam sessions with youngsters you find that there is not many guys who can play the changes of "Lover Come Back to Me" (on which "Bean ´n the Boys" is based) if they don´t have sheet. Miles Espanol: Is this a record made after Miles´ death ? Might be interesting if it has a bit more modern sound and instrumentation than the original. But I admire you guys who can switch so fast from the mood of one record to another style. If I hear a record it creates a certain mood and it´s hard for me to switch from this to something that has another mood. Like reading books. If I finish a book and it leaves a certain impression, I have to take a break to read the next book...... As for the Rollins spinning those days: The first time I saw Rollins live was exactly after this record was done: Indeed a fine record, but when I heard it first about 2000 when it came out as RVG I think it was a bit too late for me to really enjoy it. See: When I was in my early teens, everything with Philly J.J and Paul Chambers was top for me, since my first record was "Steamin´" , but this one was done in the early 60´s when other musicians and other styles became predominant, so my first choice for KD in the 60´s is "Una Mas" with the then young talents of Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams...

Sorry I never know about the provenience of a certain disc. I have some from Japan when they were in the record stores and not available as indigen editions, but I really love the music itself. I think I had that BN-LA-Double Album of Herbie Hancock which had material from all his 60´s session. They all are great. This one is a special rarity for the participation of Hank Mobley, so the personnel spans from old masters to young lions of that generation (Tony Williams) . As much as I remember, besides the great title tune (strange for me that it is lesser known than Watermelon Man), there is a lot of older styled straight ahead stuff also on it. Just when I purchased it in my teenage years, I spinned it very often, especially that very very fast version of "Walkin´" at a high volume, to fully enjoy the sound, the sound of Tony Williams and all that..... During that time I stayed at my elder sister´s place when she had called a craftman to fix something downsteps. I didn´t know there is somebody else, but later in the evenig my sister told me "you know.....that craftman..... he liked what you spinned. While working he always said "wow......great music you have here ....". Those were the days when there was a much bigger audience for our music.... One of my all time favourites. So I didn´t know anything about any religion, this music has a very moving quality for me. I cannot and could not listen to such stuff every day, since I have to study more what will be played, but if I have the time and the patience, I love to listen to it. Love the sound of it !

i saw McShann in the mid 80´s, very fine

Sorry to hear that. I haven´t hear Ricky Ford since 1977 when he was with Mingus. The funny thing is that first I was disappointed that it´s not George Adams, but as soon as I heard him, wow........, he could play all styles, from pre bop sounds to boppish and the thing one or two steps beyond......, just great ! I love that early Art Blakey Messengers edition , and some of the compositions still can be heard "Mayree" , "Quicksilver" and the one that´s based on "Lover Come Back to Me" (Mayree is based on All God´s Chillun Got Rhythm". The Miles DAvis Quartet on Prestige: My favourite "Quartet Session" is "Musings of Miles" which seems to be a pre-birth of the first classic Quintet.

Those Gaskin Papers are wonderful ! I never saw photos of Leonard Hawkins (the trumpet player on the Savoy Session of Dex with Bud), the misterious Ebenezer Paul, Clyde Hart, of the early Eddie Lockjaw Davis and all of those great musicians. Never in my life I would have thought that there is a photo of Miles Davis having fun with an acoustic guitar. I wonder what he would have played....maybe some "Spanish Keys" ?

Is it possible that the bass player and drummer are the same like on some "Bird at the Hi-Hat" from the same time ?

Yes, me too ! I saw Schnitter only with the late 70´s Art Blakey Messengers personnel . Actually, this was the band that brought Blakey back to top billing after some difficult years in the early-mid seventies. He really can play, very very soulful, I think I even heard a version of "Georgia on My Mind" where he sings the tune, and I think the coda was a slight imitation of Leon Thomas. Dave Schnitter really looks cool. Somehow very similar to my brother in law (also black curly hair). So I would have liked to know more about his ethic background ? Is he a darker type of caucasian, or is he a light coloured afroamerican like Jackie McLean was ? I mean, it´s the music that counts, but nevertheless, I´m quite interested in ethnic backgrounds too since me myself I am a mixture of 3 or 4 different backgrounds 😄

I had to look to find informations about him. Wikipedia only says that he worked with Mingus in the 70´s but I couldn´t find sources (record dates, touring dates etc. ). Being a trombonist I suppose he might have worked in a larger band format for studio recordings, like maybe "Let My Children Hear Musik" or something similar. I only saw touring bands. Then the personnel was Jack Walrath, Ricky Ford, Danny Richmond of course, and piano was on one occasion Danny Mixon and on the other occasion Bob Nelmons. The Adams-Pullen unit I also saw immediatly after Mingus had died. Then, they still performed Mingus repertory. I saw a Mingus-Ghostband only once, and they still had some Mingus musicians in there. George Adams, John Handy as much as I remember. It was conducted by no one less than Jimmy Knepper, but it was very very disappointing and even embarrassing to look at. Jimmy Knepper seemed to be completly uninterested in it and his "conducting" just was like a parody of conducting, and hot players like George Adams and John Handy just sat in their rows and didn´t have the fire they had when really playing with Mingus..... Maybe Jimmy Knepper still was mad with Mingus even posthumous and this uninspired spectacle was his way of paying back for the incident that had happened before the Town Hall Concert. When Jimmy agreed to play trombone on some of Mingus´ last compositions I had thought that they had made peace, since it was Mingus, who had phoned Knepper telling him "Jimmy, please come and help me, they are destroying my music!" So I had thought they had made piece. I don´t have no idea what had happened on that Mingus-Ghost Band. There is another possibility: After Mingus´ death there was an interview with Knepper who refused to comment the posthumous attempts of keeping Mingus´ music alive , stating that "no one could play his music than he himself" ... or something like that. Maybe they offered him a fortune to conduct the Mingus Ghost Band, but maybe money is one thing and thinking as an artist is another thing....

Very fine personnel. I saw Rodney Jones when he was very young. He was the member of the Dizzy Gillespie Quartet, later he was replaced by Ed Cherry. Both very fine guitarists. Then, Dizzy always performed with that pianoless quartet.

I never saw this. I think I have one or two of those JAPT double albums from my youth, especially meant for spinning some long track stuff when some buddies came to my place for drinkin some beer and having a nice evening. All those great musicians, but I can´t stand some of Granz´choices for the trombone chair. Bill Harris and Tommy Turk are very technical players and know their instrument, but I don´t really like their kind of style. They sound "funny" to me. But this also may be the purpose so it´s cool for all who like it.

Before I heard her, I read that very very interesting interview with her in that wonderful book "Notes and Tones" (it´s the great drummer Art Taylor who interviewed a lot of musicians) . The singers interviewed were Nina Simona, Hazel Scott, Leon Thomas, and otherwise mostly instrumentists, like Miles, Sonny, Griff, Blakey, Elvin Jones. But the most bitter interview was done with Hampton Hawes, and with very very ugly words)....

he was one of the leading surviving bop pianists. He must have had a great time in Europe, but strange to say I don´t remember I ever saw him performing in Austria. I prefer records under his name, where horns are added. His style is a bit spare for trio format, that´s my personal impression. He was a fine composer. Though it might be true that in the forties while playing with Bird and Miles his articulation was a bit stiff and his comping a bit rudimentary rhythmically, but he didn´t deserve that ugly words Miles said about him. This was unfair and made Jordan´s last years quite bitter. First you should judge a musician from how he developed himself, not only by some old stuff. I have a Jackie McLean All Star record with Duke Jordan on piano and it´s titled "Birdology". He is also nice on Cecil Payne´s "Bird Get´s the Worm".

Interesting posting. Music related: I´m glad that even in clubs the performers dress better than in the 70´s. I also combine black jeans or grey jeans with a nice shirt and sometimes a nice tie if I wear a sakko. The only thing I don´t do is being "over-dressed". I mean I like 3 piece suits too, but not in a cellar club. The only thing is, indifferent what we wear it must look "hip" and handsome. If I wear a dark three piece suit with tie, I´d combine it on street with cool shades and a pilote style carry luggage (don´t know how you say it exactly in English). But sometimes I feel like wearing let´s say blue jeans, a dark but hip styled dressed sakko but no tie. Fashion is an important aspect for me and as long as I can I do what is possible for not lookin like my grandpa. Well, at 63 you don´t have the fresh face of a 30 year old, but at least I use day and night creams and cover the signs of aged face with cool air.pilote styled shades as much as I can...... I´ve noticed that most young guys also are good dressed on the gig. I know a good bass player who always wears a tie. About Jackie McLean: When I saw him live he wear a light yellow-brown summer suit, and the other musicians (all of them stars ! (Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis, Billy Higgins) wore dark suits, white shirts and ties, very very good lookin.

Just wonderful, I LOVE IT !!!!!! The sound of the alto player reminds me a bit of the sound of Charlie Mariano on Mingus´ "Black Saint and Sinner Lady" Wonderful composition, it has a moving quality and made my day. And really beautiful video. THANK YOU, Allen.

Thanks God the clubs over here in Vienna all have good pianos. We´ll play on 09.03. at "Zwe" with Allan Praskin. They have a very fine baby grand, it was donated by a wonderful guy who is my favourite pianist over here. But for gigs in other federal countries it happens that they don´t have a piano. I manage to get thru with a stage piano with a good acoustic sound.....

Is this Barry Harris ? He was a real keeper of the flame. I think from all who were influenced by Bud , he was the one who was influenced mostly and much of his playing reminded me of the style of the later Bud of the sixties. I have heard that both have met and woodshedded in Nica´s house. The trumpet player I work with had played with Barry Harris. He is astonishing and knows all those bop tunes ! It must be quite interesting to hear the Bud influenced Harris play Tadd Damerons compositions. Bud himself usually did "Hot House" and "Lady Bird" or "If You Could See Me Now". I heard Walter Davis once playing in a manner that copied the original style of Tadd Dameron, which I also like very very much. His short solos are little pieces of art, they make you smile " I never saw a Peterson pic with him with a cigarette in the mouth. The strange thing on that foto or cover art is that on this one he looks very very similar to Bud.

I remember that the BN albums Vol 1 and 2 in the 70´s were quite mixed. I think the tunes with Fats and Sonny (my favourites) were on Vol. 1 , and on Vol. 2 it was mixed with the George Duvivier/Art Taylor tracks and the Curley Russell/Max Roach tracks or so. I was quite annoyed that I had the quintet sides twice, it was also on the Fats Navarro album. In those days when money was scarce and the need of buying records was high, something like that was a great disappointment of "lost money". It sure is interesting. My very very first jazz lp was "Steamin´" and I think I knew each note of it and could have sung along with the record......, Late I think I had a japanese pressed LP "Blue Haze" and in the inner side of the cover was a paper with little fotos of all of Miles´ Prestige recordings, even the one where he plays piano only on one track of a Sonny Rollins album. but let´s say the first version of "Walkin´ " I heard when I was a kid was the fast one with the "second quintet" and I was quite disappointed when I heard the wonderful original track, it sounded too slow and too quiet to me then, because as a kid I wanted to hear Philly J.J or most of all Tony Williams..... A wonderful live set, I have not listened to it for many many years, I remember it really swung. But is it possible that on the first track the did speed up and ended much faster than they had started ? ? .

Interesting remark. I also heard some of his playing on some 50´s Prestige albums, it´s different from the usual Prestige pianists like let´s say Red Garland or Wynton Kelly or who was playing piano. But the best early Mal I ever heard was on Max Roach´s "Speak Brother Speak". On the other hand a few days ago I was a little disappointed when I just listened to one ballad track "These Foolish Things" by Jackie McLean where I didn´t like Mal´s piano intro very much. By the way: I have read some interesting remarks from you on fashion and style, about wearing ties and so on, but couldn´t find it anymore, it must have been last week, I don´t remember on what topic....

I saw Don Menza quite often here in Europe since he worked much here in Europe. I have heard Sam Noto only on one record that came out on all those Xanadu All Star sessions, I think it was featuring Dex, and had also Al Cohn on it, and I think two trumpets, Blue Mitchell and Sam Noto. I don´t think his name was as well known as the others at that time. But it was during those days when you bought a batch of records, and I fear I have not listened to them for decades.

Sounds interesting. Well I still saw Mingus himself, and the first ghost bands still they all were musicians who had played with him. But in general there are few musicians around who play Mingus compositions. I did it when I was young and we were just a band that rehearsed for the few gigs we had. I remember having to "sing" the "Mingus rap" on "Cumbia" . It would have been supposed that the bassist does the rap, but they said that I have more that snarled voice to get the sound. Oh my god, me and "singin´" , I get hoarse as quick as making announcments ...😀

I did think that Ike Quebec was the BN A&R man in the early 60´s. He brought some of the old masters of the past back to BN, like Dexter Gordon, Leo Parker, and a try to record Tadd Dameron, so it was three key masters of the jazz era of the 40´s . I mean it was during the time when Ike Quebek himself made some albums under his own name. It is possible that all those mentioned musicians still were junkies, and with the exception of Dexter they all died soon afterwards. I think Ike Quebec died before Bud Powell returned to N.Y., if he had lived I´m sure he would have made a record with him. About the fifties.....I´m not sure who was the A&R man. Once I heard that Babs Gonzales brought some artists to BN in the 50´s, among them Jimmy Smith. The difference between BN in the 50´s and the early 60´s was that in the 50´s they recorded all the key figures of hard bop, the most modern style then. In the 60´s it was not so sure in which direction they might go. They still recorded some of the hard bop masters, also made some more "mainstream" stuff like "The Three Sounds" , "Stanley Turrentine" and "Ike Quebec" , some bossa nova dedicated albums, and then the "Boogaloo" type of thing. As the 60´s went on, they got more advanced stuff too, modal into avantgarde, they key figures of the 60´s like Wayne, Sam Rivers , Hubbard, Hancock, and already established masters of the avantgarde like Ornette, Don Cherry and Cecil Taylor....