Gheorghe

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......

Sure we shouldn´t try to write Joe Albany off for his weak and unsure playing at the Finale with Bird and Miles. He was not alone. With the exception of Bud and sure Hank Jones and some others, many many piano players at the beginning may have been fascinated with bop and what they heard Bird ´n Diz play but couldn´t transpond it to piano, that´s why they sounded "stiff" . Al Haig at Town Hall and at Billy Berg´s in 1945 is no exception , Sadik Hakim or his original name Argonne Thornton sounds strange on the Savoy sides with Bird, melodically and rhytmically "stiff", Duke Jordan also had his problems in the early days. Lou Levy was good ! I wish you succes for what you want to get from some of Joe Albany´s style, and if you know records from him from the 60´s where he swings hard, this will be the best way to get into his stuff. And hope you got guys to play with who also dig that stuff. Maybe after some repetitions you can do a gig of a kind of "Albany Memorial" or so, if you find an audience who has heard about him, I wish you luck since I assume you a musician, as this is the musician´s forum . I didn´t know the record you mention and must apologize: In my case there is so little time to listen to records, I got to play and the few times I listen to records it´s mostly to check out a tune if I don´t know it exactly so I have the line and the chords in my memory . That´s why I listened to a Blue Mitchell album 2 days ago which has "Chick´s tune". It´s based on the chords of "You Stepped out of a dream" . Anyway I know the chords, it´s easy cheesy , but you got to know Chick´s line on it, that pedal point section and so..... , so you have to know the stuff to support the horns properly and be "hand in glove" with the drummer and bassist..... I hesitated to buy the book since I´m quite thru with books about musician tragedies. I saw too many fellow musicians die to bear that kind of stuff. Musicians, great musicians I played with and whom I miss. But eventually I bought that DVD, since my wife once watched with me "Round Midnite" for several times, and Eastwood´s "Bird" (not as good), and I thought the story daughter and difficult father might go, but first I looked at it alone to be sure how it is, and for me it was bull....., maybe that´s why I also didn´t buy the film about the life of Miles, since I heard it´s also more about the drug stuff........, I´m not a moralist and if someone does that stuff it´s his business, but I don´t want to read about a musician for anything else than his music .......

I became aware of Chet Baker as late as 1978 when there was a long interview with him at "Jazz Podium". It seems that his name was not quite mentioned until then by the kind of gang or fellow musicians I had, or the a bit older mentors. It is possible, that his early stuff was better known by listeners of a kind of softer way of jazz. The strange thing he stated in that interview was that "he came to Europe with Methadone and took it , then less and less until he didn´t need it anymore". But this cannot be true, because Chet was a bad junkie until the end. But one thing: He started to appear at festivals and us, who hadn´t heard about him before, liked it very much. Anyway what he did in his last 10 years was what we wanted to hear and it had very little in common with what was recorded in the 50´s . I like it very much. And Charlie Rouse here, fantastic, and it could be anything, it still sounded "Monkish", wonderful. Once I spinned it and a young girl said she likes it very much, which was astonishing since otherwise she didn´t dig jazz. Yeah, it has something, but it seemed it didn´t sell well when it came out, since I didn´t see another BN record with Rouse as a leader.

Wasn´t Ben Webster seen and heard on "Quiet Days in Clichy" ? I remember well when that film was in cinema here, and an elder couple were watching it and she always had to ask him, what´s happenin which he explained. At one point she asked him "what´s that now ?" And he answerd "She pissed into the bathtub" and she just said "oh yes.... I see" 😄

I can´t offer educational resources since I´m mostly self taught , but what I observed from the few listening experiences is that at the session with Bird , Joe Albany still couldn´t swing and tried somehow to copy what he thought is bebop, Later he got a more chromatic or "atonal" or "12 tone" thing into it. Maybe like Dick Twardzik from Boston did, at least from the few stuff I heard from him. So the best thing would be to listen to some of his works and if it is what you like, get a bit "into that thing" and with those impressions you got from it, to bring it into your own playing. Big Ears is always the best start to get into a style, and most of all, find fellow musicians who would dig that thing also.....

I almost "grew up listening to him" since he was a Viena-Resident and lived here (or better said: stopped here for rest between tours all over the world) . Naturally, at least 2 , 3 times each year he played some days of gig at Jazzland. The first time I heard him, long long ago the first tune he played was Parker´s "Red Cross", that rhythm changes tune in Bb. I remember two "stories" in context with Farmer: Since he was famous, fellow musicians from the States, who did a concert in Viena, would like to meet him, and so Max Roach came into the club to see Art Farmer playing, it was in 1978. We all hoped that Roach would sit in, but he did not (maybe contractual reasons). The next day Roach played a big concert and Art was there and Roach greated him from the stage. Shortly before Art died, I don´t know if he still could play, he came to see James Moody who was sheduled. I think this was 20 years later. Art was happy and they talked very much together, but Art looked very old and sick, though James Moody who was even some years older, looked much younger, Art Farmer died a few weeks after that I think. And one year later my wife and me met James Moody in Miami and we talked about Art Farmer.....

It didn´t happen often this year that I posted what I listened to, since the most listening was live, but since some of my best music colleages and I dare to say almost friends played "Chick´s Tune" I must say I loved that line and anyway the song structure and form is easy since it´s based on "You Stepped Out of a Dream". I had asked them during intermission what it was and they told me the name of the tune, so I googled and found it on that Blue Mitchell album. I somehow reminded I had bought this once with some batch of RVG´s without paying much attention, so I revisited it and oh yeah, wonderful: The first tune is some party mood, very danceable stuff on rhythm changes in F . There also is a slow blues composed by Joe Henderson, who didn´t play on that session. The musicians just great. I don´t remember I had heard Blue Mitchell else than in the context with Horace Silver. Junior Cook sure was underrated, he really can play and never disappointed me. The bass player is a bit subdued..... Chick Corea is superb here. Sometimes he got shades of Monk in his solos, sometimes you hear a bit of Bud, but you also hear lines that later developed to what he started with Miles . Such a great musician. And my all time favourite Al Foster, I love him, I love everything he did. A fanstastic drummer. And then "Chick´s Tune" the reason why I listened to this record. I have it in my head all the time, anyway I love to improvise on "You Stepped out of a Dream" it´s tricky changes but it flows so easily....

Peter King was a great player and I´m sure I would have preferred to listen to him than to a Tony Scott leaping on stage and damaging the show to make his own show..... About not recognising him: I first read his name and saw his picture in a book of interviews "Jazz Podium" , interviews with let´s say Rollins, Dexter, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Ornette Coleman and so on and one "Tony Scott" I never had heard about before. He had a bald head and an enormous beard, I don´t remember what he said or what he was asked. See, my knowledge of jazz and jazzmusicians mostly came from fellow musicians who were a bit older than me and pulled my coat to the artists I should listen to and learn from, let´s say Rollins , Roach, Mingus, Bird of course, Ornette, Herbie Hancock etc. ..... just to become a good musician, and I doubt someone said "get some Tony Scott records to learn about jazz...." so I didn´t have records with him, and of course not from the 50´s . I may have had one clarinet record and this maybe was the Goodman Carnegie Hall since they said "look, that´s the swing style, dig some stuff from that, it´s the style before bebop started.....". That´s how I collected records....

It seems that Ljubljana during that time had good festivals. Well 1957 was two years before I was born, but even in the 70´s it was a nice place with still some kind of former Austrian K&K flair, that´s how I remember it. A lot of US-Stars played there.

I would have liked to read the complete review of the Ronny Scott gig, but for this I might "log in or subscribe". It would have been interesting for me because I heard Dexter quite often in that period. I also remember the over long Eddie Gladden solos. Though I am a drums fan and love to listen to or to play with top drummers, 20 Minute drum solos especially by Gladden is not really constructive for a set of music. It usually was on the last tune "Backstairs" a simple blues in Bb at fast tempo. And yeah, Dexter would disappear, but I think this was due to his ever increasing consumption of booze. I doubt he went backstairs to have "a bite to eat", he might have emptied a bottle. And yeah, I think it is not fine to leave the stage when fellow musicians play their solo. I love to hear every bit of the drum solo, if I have a gig. Maybe someone can post the whole review ?

Very interesting to read. I must admit two things: The clarinet never was my dream instrument, somehow it does not really appeal to me, well I heard some Buddy de Franco I really liked, I think it was "Deep Night" with Art Tatum. The few clarinet solos on some bop-broadcasts with John LaPorta are funny, but again I think the sound of the clarinet is not really "my thing". About the attitude of Tony Scott: Well I have read more about what he said about let´s say Bird or Lady Day (in the Robert Reisner book, and about in the Billy Holiday book), than I would have heard . I think his clarinet can be heard on some of those Bird discoveries that appeared on some CDs in the 90´s or early 2000´s, but I am not so aware of it now. The kind of persons who jump on the stage on jam sessions more for egotism than for sharing is not a seldom thing. Also the story telling thing of lesser prominent musicians or would like to be musicians, who brag that they "sat on the same table with Ornette Coleman or with Elvin Jones, they will appear anywere. Here in Vienna we call those sort of guys "Adabei" (the Viennese dialect word for "auch dabei"). I can´t say nothing about an Asia Period and asian meditation music, because this never was my bag. I get something of world music influences in some of Don Cherry´s "Codona I-III" and so on, of course in some Trane and even more by his followers, even by Miles in his 1972 bands with sitar and tablas and so on, but this is not really meditation music so I can dig some of it.

Yeah that´s the one. Interesting that it is also titled "Memorial Album". I think I bought the Prestige mostly for the Side B with the Dameron organisation, the legendary "Atlantic City Band". I think those tunes were lesser known, at least from the musicians point of view. We would do quite a few Dameron compositions like Hot House, Good Bait, Our Delight, If you could see me know and so on, I mean the tunes that are performed in general until knowadays, but the tunes from the here mentioned sessions I think I only had heard by Philly J.J.´ "Dameronia"-Band.

From all the more traditional recordings McLean made before "One Step Beyond" this is my favourite. Nowadays I rarely listen to the dozens of Prestige sessions he did but this one is my idea of a perfectly done Standardtunes-Album with a perfect rhythm-section. And dig "Let´s face the music and dance", that´s a very very old tune I think from the late 20´s or early 30´s but very interesting chords. It´s interesting that Walter Bishop, who was quite obscure after the time with Bird, did some sessions around 1960 as a sideman for BN, the others I think was the "Cappuccino-Swing" that @BillF mentioned, and the wonderful Dizzy Reece album. And Jimmy Garrison on bass was also was a quite rare guest on BN. If I remember right, there was also a Clifford Brown "Memorial Album" on Prestige. This one is very fine and I think it was done before Brownie became really famous. Is this the one with Lou Donaldson on as ? The lineup for the Blakey live date at Birdland ? Anyway, I have it somewhere, I think it is one of Brownies earlier records before the Roach-Brown Unit. Oh yeah. It is interesting, that all sidemen of Miles Davis´ so called "Second Quintet" recorded for BN. This one is astonishing for a just 18 year old boy. He must have been very very adult for his age to make such a highly intellectual album. Wonderful music. It shows another side of Tony , the composer side. Anyway, Tony always has been one of my favourite drummers. oh fine, a lot of old BN stuff around here now. Maybe this one was the best showcase for Mr.Chambers, though maybe lesser known than "Whims of Chambers". I had "Whims" mostly for Trane and Philly J.J. and I think I saw this "Quintet" only as a BN-Conn. The third album without horns is the most obscure one. I don´t think it sold that well.