Gheorghe

Maybe also "The Milestone Allstars" Rollins-Tyner-Carter-Foster. I have only the record, but they toured the States in the late 70´s. And again Rollins with George Duke, Stanley Clark and Al Foster live in Japan, and there is also a live album and a studio album.

I have it on CD, but it doesn´t have the typical BN cover, somehow I picked it up at a little record store in a subway station, just by browsing thru the few jazz records. But I know much better McLean albums. From the "traditional side" maybe "Swing Swang Swining", but then above all "Let´s Freedom Ring", "One Step Beyond", "New and Old Gospel" and one more with Woody Shaw on it, it´s titled something like "Devil Dance" or "Dance of Death" with a strange woman face on the cover, but fantastic music. "Sharp Stuff". Well this is sure a question of taste. It´s what I love so much about Jackie McLean, his sound. He seems to be the alto sound I love to hear.

I must try to get the book since I had only the Kindle Book when it appeared. I had to buy a Kindle equipment exclusivly to read this book, but I have to read a paper book, I don´t feel well reading it like I read it. I must try to get the paper version if there still is any. As much as I remember, well I had to cut out some of it, mostly the psychiatric raports and so, since I´m a musician, not a medic . And I would have liked more about his music than about all the funky side of his life. I have some Bud books: 1) The Francis Paudras "La Danse Des Infidéles" in french: Paudras mostly stresses the fact that he is the only one who understood Bud and rescued him and all that Buttercup-bashing. In my eyes, he just exagerated the importance of his relation with Bud, and was too naive to see the reality, especially about Bud´s return to the State. 2) Alan Shipton "The Glass Enclosure", well it has some reviews of some records. 3) Carl Smith "All Recordings", which is quite interesting, though I´m not a real collector who must have everything. 4) Guthrey Ramsey "Black Genius", I can´t say much about it´s a bit too hard reading for me to understand..., don´t forget I learned English from reading liner notes and from talkin about music with musicians....

The best super band I ever saw was: Jackie McLean Bobby Hutcherson Herbie Lewis Billy Higgins. That´s something where you say that dreams came true.

I must say, that my critical comments are also self critical, because that´s how I sounded when I had my first gigs at the age from 18-21 years. I listened to the tapes back and was not satisfied, I found it has that "edge" in it, it does´t sound like that fantastic lines Bird or Bud would produce. I played let´s say "Bouncing with Bud" with a name saxophonist plus bass and drums, a great honour to be on stage with him, and after some gigs he told me: I generally like your playing, you got good ideas but you should work a little more on the phrasing. "Bouncin´with Bud".....I mean you know what "Bouncin´ " means ? And he was damn right.....

I listened to them on one of my USB sticks I have in the car. The Art Pepper album is very fine, I think I got it as soon as it came out. Especially that they have such a great rhythm section helps very much and Art Pepper seems to be inspired. There is only one strange thing: His long solo intro to "Over the Rainbow". Somehow it´s strange with that pentatonic lines, not really fitting to the mood of the song if you ask me, and maybe it would be better as a solo cadenza at the end of the song, not at the start. The Jazz Messengers "Lerner & Lowe" is very fine, some of the tunes are rarely played in jazz context. The musician that exites me most is of course Johnny Griffin. Sam Dockery seems to be Bud Powell influenced, but wait a minute......it´s more Elmo Hope thing in it. Bill Hardman is a very nice and articulate player, very easy to regocnize , but maybe after much listening I miss some more dramatic effect in his trumpet playing. It just "flows" with not many tensions as leaving space here or there or gettin different sound or phrasing approach into it. Thats only my impression after very very intense listening.

Yeah, it´s a shame I didn´t meet personally the two Vienese members, but maybe they´ll come to a gig so I´d meet them. So if you get there , we can go to one of the jazzclubs where there is live music.....

It´s strange but I have never been in the Blue Tomato, though this was not far from my place. It was in the 15th district. I´m not sure if it was a jazz-only club, but maybe they didn´t have a piano so I might not have been there. There was another club called "Miles Smiles" where I never was, I think it was maximal for duo, or anyway they didn´t have a piano or you couldn´t play drums or so. Besides the now existing venues , in the 80´s there was also "Jazz Gitti" in the 1th district, Jazz Freddie in the 6th district, "Opus One" in the 1st district, that´s joints where I played until they closed. Now somebody had told me there is another jazz club in the "Gürtel" Area (Stadtbahnbögen) which is called 1019 or so. But as I saw there is not only jazz and I didn´t see a piano on the stage photos, and it seems it is only "door money" so it might be hard to get professional musicians who would play for that. But nice you have been in my hometown.

It´s a wonderful album, I love it. Like all great tenor saxophonists, Pharoah was a great ballad player. When I heard him for the first time live in the early 80´s he also featured a ballad. If I remember right, on this one is also "I want to talk about you", the Billy Eckstine tune that Trane also recorded . Much later my wife bought me the Max Bollemann-Book (the sound engeneer form Timeless records) and I was surprised what horrible story was about the surroundings when this record was made......

I think I would have read that kind of books when I was young and tragical stories of self destructive fascinated me. All that "stories" about Bird, all those details about Bud as written by Francis Paudras with all the funky side of it. The last one I read was Laurie Peppers book, but I can´t say I enjoyed it. Tragic story, I scrolled up, and this thing of destroyed brain cells due to alcoolism that´s a drama. About the difficulties of players from the older generation if they try to play modal stuff, this was very often: As for Al Haig, you can hear it on that not very good album of Dex somewhere in Paris, where they play a modal tune I think...., anyway on that album Al Haig really sounds great only on the trio track "Round Midnite". Maybe because due to his destroyed brain cells he just played better what was part of his musical past. But as "wife" .......from all what I "hear" I doubt Al Haig was made for family live.

Thank you @AllenLowe for sharing this one. If I remember right, this was the first tune, where Don Byas plays the first solo (possibly because Bird was late on the band stand). Okay, yeah, I don´t doubt that Al had a brilliant touch and technique, but I like his solos more on the 1948 broadcasts with Bird from the Royal Roost. In those two years he learned more about bebop phrasing, at least that´s my impression. In the earlier examples from Town Hall and Billy Berg´s , he plays fine, but has to many "stops" from one A section to the other or from the second A to the bridge. It´s what you play there, that makes the thing into a natural "flow", like Bird always did, like Diz and Fats did and Bud Powell did. I just try to say that it is fascinating to hear how Haig at the beginning still had a bit of classical approach and obviously learned naturally played bebop playing every night with the bop leaders, so after maybe 2 years he got it. I´ll never say else, that the Al Haig of 1948/49 was fully developed. I have not heard much Haig after that. I regret he never came to Austria during his lifetime, I have heard that he had played in Hamburg, and in Londra and at some bop reunions with Diz and on one occasion with Dex in the late 70´s (not the best record, but a wonderful Haig solo on Round Midnight). Another piano player who really could play bop very fine was Lou Levy, he was underrated I think. P.S.: I love to play the tune "Be Bop". Usually we choose one up tempo number for each set, it may be "Be bop" "Salt Peanuts", "Dizzy Atmosphere" "52nd Street Theme" or a standard tune like "Get Happy" "Cherokee" , that kind of stuff.....

20 years ago.....time flies, but I hope that I´ll not feel old for the next decades , that´s what I hope. I have met only one member , it is @bichos, who did post very much but rarely posts now. He came to visit Vienna with his familily, got some hours off and I invited him for coffee in my place. Since at that time gigs were scarce I didn´t have the opportunity to offer him an evening at a club, so I just played some tunes just for him on piano. Now, maybe I´ll meet the one or other member in person, if they live in or near Viena or visit the town, when we play a gig at one of the about 3 jazz venues here in town.

Hello friends. I heard that tune live and re-listened to it on Blue Mitchell´s album with Chick. Well, the chords is easy cheesy for me, it´s just "You stepped out of a dream", but I´d like to see the lead sheet to check all them breaks and that pedal point section. I had googled and found only transcriptions of the solos which is not helpful for me. In Realbook or Sheetmusic it seems I couldn´t find it.

This is a quartet of some of the very best musicians of that time early 80´s her in Europe. Allan Praskin (as) lives in Europe. John Thomas (g) stayed in Europe for a shorter period, Adelhard Roiding (b) is one of our best bass players, and Lala Kovatchev was a fantastic drummer from Yugoslavia. All tunes are originals by the band members. The title tune is a wonderful bop line based on the chords of "Cheek to Cheek". "Love Song" from the drummer is deeply influenced by old Serbian folk music, The last tune "It´s No One" of course is based on "It´s You or No One" and they really cook, but I would have wished it lasted longer, it´s only 2 minutes.

Great !

Oh, David Williams on bass ? I didn´t know he played with Pepper too, I mostly associated him with Cedar Walton (did you see Cedar Walton at "Reigen" . Reigen was cool for us, only 3 stations with linia 60. You really have the names of sideman from the festivals of that period ?

James Moody, one of the most significant tenor players with Diz in the bebop-years, occasionally returned to his former boss on several occasions, mostly in the 80´s. I remember a reunion of Diz with Moody and Milt Jackson in 1981. And I think on his 70 year´s birthday-big band of All Stars it was also Moody on sax and flute. He even had a solo spot doing his vocal on "Moody´s Mood for Love"....

Only the pianist ? Maybe, I don´t remember who was on bass and drums. But George Cables ? I believe the scheduled pianist would have been Milcho Leviev, and I had heard that there was a big verbal fight between Art and him and it is very possible that Leviev decided to quit and did let Art "stranded" without a pianist. George Cables leads me to Dexter, who also played in Velden in 1981. Cables had been a long time pianist for Dex, but during that time was replaced by Kirk Leightsey. That´s the two quartets I saw then: Art Pepper with Lou Levy, and Dex with Kirk Leightsey...... About Art Pepper: I´m always astonished how articulated he was on stage, greeting the audience, thanking for applause, announcing the tunes etc, and I think backstage he was really nasty.....

You are right, an "Albany Memorial" will not bring in the crowds, they might think it´s a funeral or some of that stuff 😄 I did only two memorials in my live: In 1990 a "Charlie Parker Memorial" and in 2017 a "Dizzy Gillespie Memorial" (100 Years Dizzy). But I must admit I´m lucky that in Viena you have audience, there are at least three schools that teach jazz so you have young budding artists and among the audience you may have jazz students.... Maybe around here some jazz buffs at least might know who Joe Albany was.

Yeah, "Functional" is nice and to play it "stride" is very nice. But what I like most from solo Monk playing is other songs, especially to hear how he re-harmonizes the song. You know, there is a special inner logic in the way Monk voices a chord, and there is a special thing that let´s a very old song even sound like if it´s played on an old slightly out of tune piano. Take "I love you Sweethearts of my Dreams". Sometimes if I play a little "private solo set" for my wife I close that "set" with this tune. Never saw that: those four musicians......seems to be a "dream team" . I like each of them very much.

Maybe I´m oldfashioned I prefer to buy CDs. Just saw the hp with a lot of photos of Art Pepper, some nice, some not, but I also saw the "Stuttgart 1981" which I have, and there is nice liner notes by Laurie , and it´s about the same time when there was the only time I heard him live in Austria. Ask Laurie if she remembers Austria - Velden 1981 where Art´s rhythm section didn´t arrive and he had to play with Stan Getz´ rhythm section (Lou Levy was on piano). That´s were Art played "You´s my heart only" and since I was curios if some recording evidence of it exists, someone her pulled my coat to the Stuttgart album.

Yeah that is true. And with Wolfgang he did a nice little record "Just Friends-Just Jazz" recorded live. The drummer was Ernst Bier, don´t remember the trumpetist and the bassist. Shortly after that (1978), I was barely 19 I had the luck to get the possibility to play with Allan. He is such a wonderful musician and a great composer !

Jeanne Lee was singing with the Gunther Hampel Galaxy of Dreams band, I think she went to Europe with him. Another great musician who came to Europe with Gunther, is Allan Praskin (alto sax), whom I admire very much and love everything he does and I have played with him and have gigs with him fixed for next year......

I love it and as much as I love Monks quartet and quintet performances , sometimes I like to listen to a bit of solo Monk also. I don´t want to BE a Monk copycat but somehow it happens, if I play a solo piece it might have some of Monk´s style, I mean the voicings. There is such a musical logical thing in it that you just fell you can´t do otherwise. My wife sometimes makes a little joke and want´s I do some personal "mini concerto" for her at home and she starts calling things I never had played or that are not my music. So once she said "do some classical stuff". I said "what ? I don´t know any classical music" but she insisted and somehow I had a little Chopin waltz in Ab in my head that I once heard and liked. And there I went, it sounded like if Monk plays Chopin. But since my wife also is no classic music conoisseur (she is primary a dancer) she dug it and said "you should get a tuxedo and play in such a concert hall only you" and didn´t understand that this is not my stuff. Then she asked me to play a Hildegard Knef waltz, and I did, since I like it, and again it sounded like Monk playing Knef 😄

During the late 70´s I think I remember that a local club had booked Eddie Chamblee for a one nighter with local rhythm section. I didn´t know his name then and don´t think I have heard anything after that, but during that time it was that club owner´s "gimmick" to hire some more unknown players from the states and would "sell" them as big stars to get the house full. Another one was Earle Warren, on alto I think, quite drunk as I remember...... Sure they sounded solid, mainstream swing easy to listen to, but nothing "exiting" . Another one, really an unpleasant person was Joe Newman, nobody wanted to play with him anymore since he lectured the other musicians how to do this, how to do that, in front of the audience..... So there was a whole string of sure good enough musicians from that mainstream swing section, sure they could play if they didn´t fool around because they thought that Viena is not a good enough audience, but I must admit the the only from that generation (late swing into shades of bop) was Jaws, who always amazed me. You can learn a lot from him. There was also "Jaws and Sweets" but I think I liked it most when Jaws came alone......