Gheorghe

Too often played at jam sessions. Everybody knows it, but it´s one of the tunes I don´t have on my playlist since I had to play it too often with guys who would sit in on jam sessions. The strange thing is that the first time I heard that tune was a Big Band recording featuring Dusko Gojkovic on trumpet. Then as a boy I fell in love with the tune and on the festivities of the end of a high school year I played it with 3 school buddies , ts, p, b, dr., it was a kind of potpourrie of stage performance by kids who played an instrument, so it was a mixture of classical, pop, and in my case of course jazz....., so that´s a nice memory 47,48 years ago.....

Great album title from a great band !

Same here with "The Thespian". Just beautiful the slow version at the beginning and than the boppish romp on those changes......wonderful to play Here Cool Struttin´the title melody. Just the perfect groove, and maybe the best BN cover photo I ever saw.

Wonderful "There´s No Business like Show Business". That´s a thing, to improvise on that form up tempo.....fine study Oh nice association with your first wife. I got this record together with the first CD "Monk in Action" from my wife and she always said that the cover of "Misterioso" reminds her of Hamlet.... Great music and great Johnny Griffin.

One of my favourites and I purchased it when I heard Art Farmer for the first time in 1978. He lived in Vienna (at least when taking a break from touring), and performed here regularly. I have the album signed by Art Farmer with a dedication for me. Wonderful music ! And wonderful group !

I never got that album, it must have been very very rare. From the same date I think was a also a whole set of Bird (with Rodney, Haig, Tommy Potter and Roy Haynes) with incredible solos of Koko, Ornithology and so on, but I had this on Side B of a Musidisc LP "Parker Broadcasts". Later it was on an extremly rare (at least here in Europe) "1949 Concert", but I already had it on Musidisc. The others with Bud and Miles I never saw in the record shops. A friend made me a copy , it´s exiting, but I like later versions of "All God´s Chillun" more, especially one live from Switzerland and an incredible solo version in Europe 1956 with a stride section, I think it also was in Switzerland, maybe in Zurich.

Everything Mingus did was great. But it´s interesting to compare different approaches to Mingus. In my case the Mingus 3 LP set of a Paris Concert in 1964 with Dolphy was my first Mingus listening and actually the second record I owned as a boy. And then those Atlantic Albums with George Adams - Don Pullen came out. And shortly after that hearing Mingus live with the 1976-77 touring band. So in my case, purchasing "Tjuana Moods" sounded quite "tame", since then I didn´t really know the historical thing and associated Mingus with bursts into atonality, very very much tension and emotion. I remember when I first heard some of the Tijuana Mood (it must have been after Mingus´ death) it sounded like an early forerunner of "Cumbia and Jazz Fusion", but shorter and more quiet. That´s how I think I remember it. But that must have been shortly after Mingus´ death....

Same here. Then in the old days "Old Man Frosty" instead of "Santa Claus" 😄

Sure, I was not born then, but I found out that London still has great musicians who play perfect bop. Last summer I had the honour to play with a Londonese guy Sam Knight who knew and played all those tunes. He is great !

Oh yeah, this must be the reason. And I agree to you that it seems than many folks learn from Real Book more than from listening. I´m sure all those guys who have Del Sasser in their repertory never had heard the original. About transcribing. I think I remember when I was a young boy I tried to transcribe the tunes that others of my age hadn´t learned. I had that old little casetofon from my grandma who just had died in 1975 and it had a button for low speed, so the tune was an octave lower, that´s how I "transcribed" stuff like "Ornithology", "Little Willie Leaps", "Moose the Mooche", and so on. But it was very hard work since my knowledge of written music is more than limited. But it was better than just reading sheet of a tune I never had heard. Later I didn´t need to transcribe, some listening and I had it in my head. Oh this explains why one group I played with in the 80´s had all those Cannonball Adderley related tunes. Since I´m not really an Adderly fan in special (I always was the "Jackie McLean-Boy") I just had to play them, they also had Horace Silver tunes. I doubt the "leader", an alto saxophonist had ever heard the original records.

I thought I might hear him with George Coleman since I think he was the bassist on "Amsterdam at Dark" and shortly after that record he toured with the same quartet playing the recently recorded tunes, but if I remember right, Sam Jones was replaced by Ray Drummond. On the other hand, I would like to know why Sam Jones composition "Del Sasser" is so popular among jazz students here in Europe. They may not even heard of Sam Jones but it seems to be common material. As a musician sometimes you wonder why all know the same tunes, and some tunes that seem very common to me remain unknown .....or they are not in the obligatory repertoire for learning tunes ?

I must admit I don´t know who is Martin Milgrim, but I love audiences like that you just described.

I can´t really help. The only a bit churchy based music I heard was stuff like Mingus´"Wendsday Night Prayer Meeting" or Horace Silver´s "The Preacher" or Hank Mobley´s "Baptist Beat". They groove, that´s all I can say. Not more, maybe because religion never was a topic with my parents or friends or women..... and I´m no member of a religious group and don´t intend to have a religious funeral after my last beat.....

I had a friend (has died) who was fond about that album back then in the 70´s and taped it for me, but I must admit it never really touched me like the Prestige and BN albums from the same period (Work, Tenor Madness, Saxophone Colossus, live at Village Vanguard and all of them). And the clip-clop accomaniment never was my thing. Nor was the album cover which just doesn´t fit to Rollins. So I understand you very well. It seems that that kind of music never was my thing. I think I didn´t spin Grant Green´s BN album with Western/Country themes more then 2 times, it´s just not my kind of music.....

What a great schedule ! Best luck for it. I love what you play !

Maybe I would have to take a taste of some of those Jaws with Organ tunes. I must admit that my disc "collection" of stuff with organ is outright meager. I think I have preferred almost all horn players on albums with p,b,dr etc. . But I remember the all time favourite horns-organ combination was the "Date with Jimmy Smith" with Byrd, Hank, Lou and Art Blakey.

It´s one of my favourite latin albums from BN, together with KD´s "Afro Cuban" for example. I spinned it a lot about 20 years ago and even non jazz listeners liked it and on other occasions asked me to spin it again. Of course they didn´t know who was Charlie Rouse, but it appealed to them . I love Charlie Rouse´s tenor sound and phrasing very very much. I think this was his only BN album under his own name.

They would have been scheduled here in Vienna at Porgy&Bess in early spring 2020 but due to the Pandemia that just had begun during that period, it was chancelled. What a pity since I had convinced my wife to go with me to that event, to introduce her to that fantastic musician who was one of my first live impressions back then in my teenage years. One of my key experiences then was "Lookout Farm" and "Drum Ode" just when Dave still was with Miles (great concert here in 1973 or 74). And the records got me acquainted to the piano- and keyboard work of Richie Beirach. I remember one of his main features was his fantastic piano work on the old standard "I´m a fool to want you". He has a special kind of voicings, very very individual.

I never had this album but heard it at someone´s place. If I remember right there was John Gilmore on ts, and Philly J.J. on drums, and there is a very funny vocal version of Groovin High on it, really cool. The sound quality is terrible, but is that stuff really recorded in jail ? I heard that Elmo Hope and Philly J.J. both were incarcerated in Riker´s Island in the early 60´s. Too sad that his wife Bertha who had a long live couldn´t keep Elmo a bit more under control so he would have lived longer.....

My wife always says she doesn´t like jazz, but she knows more than she admits and maybe she is just "overfed" with the stuff. If I hum or scat a tune while cookin´together with her , she might join and if I say "but you know my music" she would say "Do I have another chance ? I can´t escape from it. But she really knows if a player is good or not, she attended many concerts and above all, she told me a lot about stage appearance. Before I finally got back to play with really great professional jazz artists, and on my slight attempt to get back but playing with amateurs she would listen very closly and than after the gig tell me "what is this guy playing ? Get rid of him". "how does this guy dare puttin his beer bottle on the piano while YOU are playing, tell him to not do it ever again.....and so that helped me a lot.

I have all those tracks of two shows of Barry Ulanovs "friendly battle" Bands for Bonds. The first is on Spotlite and that´s where the bop men play them old tunes. Tiger Rag actually has the outing of "Dizzy Atmosphere" on it, since the solos are in A flat. On "Sunny Side of the street" in the out chorus they do the bridge of 52nd Street Theme and the outing of that theme. The second show where Ulanovs tells about "the great battle we won" has the personnel a bit changed. Diz is replaced by Fats, Allan Eager is added for "Groovin´ High" and Sarah sings "I I have is your´s " , and I think it´s Tommy Potter on bass instead of Ray Brown, and Buddy Rich on drums instead of Max Roach, if I´m right. The second show I don´t have on Spotlite, but on "Musidisc" where the first side is the Barry Ulanov stuff, and the side B is the Parker Set of the Carnegie 1949 I think.

Yes. But there were few people over here, who could understand that and just listening to it with that knowledge. And the worst were those who thought they can start from that without even knowing what it is. If I have to audition drummers, it´s natural they have the best time, but about the touch I´d say, I love those who play a bit louder (I want the HEAR them) and just have the ability to fascinate me, to amaze me. But I must not really do auditioning I know who are the hottest guys in town and if that one who fascinates me most of all of them and he is available, then I´m the happiest man .

I saw this band one year later at Kongresshaus, if you remember that place (now there is a Billa Market) on Mariahilfer Gurtel. It was a fantastic concert. I liked that formation with Bridgwater, Harper , Reggie Workman much more than the later replacements Odean Pope and Calvin Hill.

I don´t know this edition but the most common listening to Bird over here was that striped cover design series from UK. I don´t remember the name of the label, could it have been Saga ? And later there was one of the best bop labels in general also from UK "Spotlite". That was much unissued Bird on broadcast or live, and the Dial recordings. Not everything was apt for listening, like all those short excerpts on "The Band that Never Was" or too many alternate takes of the otherwise wonderful session with Earl Coleman and Erroll Garner..... but I remember the first "must" for a Bird-Lover then was those "striped" series. Who had it was "into it"......

That´s really fine ! So you got big ears. I´d love to play for you.