Gheorghe

Can you tell me an answer he gave ? I remember Monk´s statements were very hip. When Valery Vilmer who seemed to say that she is "worried about politics" Monk answered: If you are worried about politics stop what you are doing now and become a politician". And when Valery insisted to get an answer, Monk said "it´s not my job, let them politicians do it, they get paid for it".

Shades of Redd is beautiful. I love those compositions like "The Tespian" , and there is a very catchy latin tune also on it, I think the title is "Olé". I love this and the "Connection", but didn´t like the previously rejected session, that came out on Conn I think. While the originally issued albums are top class, the third is quite erratic, a lost chance. Oh I see, that means my old LP is a different session. I might seek the "Live at Birdland 1949". Tristano had a thin discography. I have another strange album "Descent into the Maelstrom" which is just a mixture. Stuff from the early fifties is forgetable for me since it´s a lot of overdubbing. Two short ballad tracks from Paris are fine. But two trio tracks (I think one is "You Stepped out of a dream" has terrible drumming. What I love most from Tristano are his voicings on those standard ballads like "I surrender Dear" and "I can´t get started" which is very very fine on the "Bands for Bonds", also his piano solos on the tracks with Bird and Diz..... Interesting, I must admit that during my upbringing as a jazz musician I can´t remember he would have been mentioned by my mentors. On piano there was that line Bud-Horace Silver-Wynton Kelly-McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Cecil Taylor, and at least in the surroundings of the audiences I knew and know now, I can´t remember his name was mentioned. So I was quite astonished when I saw his name scheduled on a jazz festival here, where other big stars like Diz, Miles, Hancock, Mingus Dynasty and so on played and of course I listened to the Ramsey Lewis set too since I never had heard about him. Well it sounded very nice from piano, I think it was a quartet with guitar, drums and a very strange double neck electric bass, something I never had seen in my live. There was a piece with a bit of latin rhythm, but more classical approach and that double-neck-bass player played an endless solo, which for many folks was the highlight. That´s all I remember....

I got this more than one year ago and choosed it for re-listening. Fantastic music. Above all Woody Shaw´s stuff. Moontrane always was a favourite of mine. So much fire, so good drumming and all are great !

I remember there was always very fine music. A few weeks ago there was 3 hours of Levercusen on TV and I saved it on the harddisk of the TV and eventually found time to look at it, since I was looking forward to see some good stuff, but was very disappointed, since nothing of the music did say anything to me. It was Spyro Gyro which I think was a quite famous band and as I did google it it´s associated with jazz rock, but though I was very much into jazz rock when it was happening (electric Miles, Herbie Hancock Headhunters, Chick Corea RTF, Alphonse Mouzon electric band, Larry Coryell) I never was more aware of Spyro Gyro than seeing that group on posters...... I did reel it forward to see what the other music might be, but it was not more interesting to me. European musicians, but about the same bag. There are so many super hot players in NY who play hot stuff, topnotch musicians, why didn´t they bring something like that ?

Strange album cover. Looks more like some early 50´s cover art. I think I have Solid somewhere but remember it has a typical 60´s BN coverfoto of Grant Green and a blue design. But I remember very much the fine music on it. I think there is also a rare version of Ezz Thetics.

I saw Benny Golson many times here in Vienna, he seemed to like Vienna. And once with Curtis Fuller I think, but another venue. Great, that Michael Weiss is on piano !

I haven´t even heard about it. Am I wrong or do I just have the impression that the later BN recordings (I mean after the rebirth of BN maybe in the 80´s ) were not advertised properly and went OOP very fast ? I mean a band with Dave Liebman, Ricky Ford, George Cables ? We have all them reissues of old BN on BN RVG, on Conoisseur and so on, but whats about good later stuff like Woody Shaw-Freddie Hubbard, or Jackie McLean-McCoy Tyner etc...... ? Is it possibly that he was not very well known over here in Europe ? I only heard about his name once, that he was the first choice for playing with Bud at Birdland but after a few days was replaced by J.C. Moses. Since I never had heard Arnold´s drumming I cannot guess what was the reason. On the live albums there is no trace of Arnold, they are all with Moses.

I read the book and it was quite interesting to have all his musical live documented so well. I think I was less atent at the whole family stuff, who was who´s cousin or what, and I didn´t notice something political, but must admit that politics never was my strong point. I had to smile when I once did read an interview Valeria Vilmer with Monk where she want´s to urge him into some political statements and how hip is his reactions...

That´s my idea of a perfect analysis. As you write it, it´s totally clear, it´s only that I play faster than I´d name the chords, Yes, from bars three to eight. As I said, I just play it automatically how it flows, like let´s say you talk without having to look into a dictionary. Besides that, if something is composed and usually played in a certain key, if I have to play it in another key it´s practically another tune for me, like if something is red and something else is green. So I think, keys are colours for me, I can´t explain it better. And yes: "Afternoon in Paris" is a wonderful tune and really employs the same idea. Very easy to play, such a great simple tune. The idea of composing on certain changes where they run twice as fast, is a very interesting one. I recently played Eddie Lockjaw´s "Hey Lock" and it has the A section based on Body and Soul, but twice as fast (the B section is from "Lover" ).

Is this the same like an old Japan LP, which is very very short and I think is titled "I guiding light in the forties" ?

Ornithology similar to Solar ???? Ornithology is in G, and Solar is in C minor as I hear it.

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.....