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I think I am a bit too young to have been too aware of Charles Lloyd. He was a big thing going from late 60´s into early 70´s and a certain kind of generation or social group adored him. When I dig get acquainted to jazz a bit later, a bit after the popular years of Charles Llyod I doubt his name was so much mentioned . My drummer was 4 years older than me (né 1955). Like me he loved Trane, Rollins, and all of them and once mentioned that he also likes Charles Lloyd and I didn´t know who is that. Others said better listen to Trane and so on if you want to hear "the original"..... I saw Lloyd only once with that Petrucciani , scandinavian bass player and young talented drummer, but let´s say I heard Jackie McLean on the same schedule and I remember everything about McLean but nothing special about Lloyd. I had that Electra Musician album, but there are other tenorists I like better. He seems to have a certain philosophy about all it that doesn´t reach me really. Well, I think some of the guys a bit older than me, who got a tenor sax sometimes called "Forest Flower" and I had to play it. So I had to play it quite a few times.....

I´m not really an audiophile and most time I´m so focussed to listen to the music that I forget if something is mono or stereo. Strange album somehow. I always try to find out if the combination Art Pepper and the Rhythm Section is as good as it´s advertised. I got to know so called "West Coast Musicians" like Pepper, Mulligan, Baker much later, when there sound and surroundigs had changed to more modern approaches. That´s why I have Pepper´s sound from the late 70´s early 80´s in my ears. What I hear on this record is a very very smooth light alto combined with a more smoother touch of the "Rhythm Section". It´s like if they tried to adapt there sound to that light and easy listening alto sound. Not everything came off well: "Jazz me blue" sounds a bit out of fashion even for 1957, and "Waltz me blue" is a try of Art Pepper to contribute an "original" but it´s not really a qualitative composition. The story behind the session is also a strange one. It tends to dramaticize too much Art´s junkey live. Well, the music sounds so fair and smooth it´s hard to believe that a hopless junkey plays those lines and that sound..... I don´t really know what records cost since I haven´t bought any recently, but those Tina Brooks things all were reissued on BN in several editions I think "RVG Edition" "Conoisseur Series" or what they were. I had or still have "Back to Tracks" which I like most. Then another I think from the late fifties with Lee Morgan on it, but forgot the title and think it was released after his death, and I think there was still another one which was not as great as "Back to Tracks". And he is a very fine sideman on a Freddie Redd album, I forgot the title, it´s not the Connection, but it has both McLean and Brooks on it and wonderful compositions. The first starts with a rubato playing and then they get into a crisp tempo, beautiful changes on that, I think it´s titled "The Thespian" or something like that, got to play this with a quintet....

Wonderful performance and Tina Brooks is also so great on this....

The studio album Decoy was somehow a disappointment for me after the "Star People". The only "catcher" on it, that was played live also around 1985 was the keyboarders composition "Code M.D.", nice for it´s chords..... Some 1981 studio material may be interesting. I like most the more "rough" band imediatly after his comeback, the band with Mike Stern, Bill Evans, Marcus Miller, Al Foster , especially at the beginning when Miles played a lot of open horn, a bit rusty maybe, but challenging. Later that year, from late summer on he played almost only muted and barely audible. From the Japan concert I barely can hear Miles. Maybe again he had contracted pneumonia....

Sad to hear the area is in decline. As much as I imagine as an European, it must have been nice for holiday if you couldn´t afford to travel to more exotic countries with islands , palms and sand and blue sea.... And nice if there was so much entertainment for the evening. I mean if I make holiday with my wife, we like to dance or listen to music or do some shopping after a day outdoor. But the only 2 times we took the plane to the States it was goin to Miami Beach to be sure we have 2 weeks of sun, warm water, shopping in the evening and dancing...., there is to much risc of cold and rainy days in mountain areas even in summer time. But a lot Jewish People are also living or making holiday in Miami Beach, maybe for the same reason. Nice people, they often asked us where we comin from....

Love his playing and his compositions, he had it all. But really he would have deserved more recognition. I mean, if I think about that "Paris Reunion" edition somewhere around 1985/86 where he was featured and played so great.....fantastic !!!! And when the all stars were announced, he got less applause, very very embarrassing, he would have deserved it all. It was the line up Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, Leo Wright, Graham MoncurIII,.

That´s true. Well isolated yes......you might expect a tenor saxophonist. Henry Grimes with Hamid Drake and David Murray was one of the greatest things I heard.....

Maybe because my ears are mostly used to then so called "modern jazz" from bop to free-to 70´s electric, the clarinet is a rare thing. And especially those screamin´ clarinets from old time dixieland or what it is really are painful to listen to me, I don´t like that sound . Even great clarinetists like let´s say John LaPorta on those "Bands for Bonds" with Bird, Fats, Tristano .....or on that all star bopsession from late 1948 great as they play it sounds a bit out of place and could happen easily without them. I love Dolphy´s bass clarinet, and Perry Robinson´s clarinet on that 1965 Henry Grimes album for ESP.....

I read Dave Liebmans autobiography and he tells that he played a lot in the borș circuit in his youth. As an European I hadn´t known until than what the borș belt meant, but it must be a nice holidayday place.... The first time I read about it was in Ira Gitler´s book "Jazz Masters of the Forties" about Bird and Diz´ bassist Curley Russell, that in the 60´s he was seen playing in hotel bands in the borș circuit.....

I kept only "Off the Races" and the one with Pepper Adams live (I don´t remember which joint, it was in the early sixties and had Lex Humphries on drums, very fine drummer who died too early). There are too many for me. I think I have another one from 1967 but forgot the title. On the other hand I have some Donald Byrd as sideman for other players (Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley , Bud Powell)..... As for the 70´s era if I want to hear early to mid seventies electric jazz I prefer Miles Davis when he went all electric....., somehow it is possible that the electric Byrd didn´t reach Europe as much as the electric Miles........ Bill Hardman is nice and can play, but I doubt he would be "studied" much by aspiring young trumpet players. I have played with some really fine trumpet players who had studied all their stuff technically and musically but I doubt if I would ask them about Bill Hardman he or she would say "Gee, that really was a source of inspiration for me). I saw Bill Hardman once, but it was towards the end of his live I think in the 1980´d in Cehoslovacia with a fine local trio, but it was only one set consisting of 3 tunes "Walking" "My Funny Valentine" and "Night in Tunisia"....so... nothing special for more memories..... Art Farmer had lived in Viena for some time. I still have "To Duke with Love" signed by him with a dedication for me..... Too bad I was too young to see Kenny Dorham live. From all those mentioned here, he is my favourite from that era of the 50´s . From 60´s jazz I prefer the players who became famous then, but of course "Una Mas" is one of my favourite records and I love to play "Una Mas" since the audience really likes it, mostly at the end of a gig, it´s a good "crowd pleaser".....

Thank you so much for sharing this with us. But I´m glad to read here, that Mobley was not "homeless" like some press reports stated.

You are not the only one ! I think he changed very much. On some youth photos he is quite thin, then he was heavier. The most times I saw him he was a bit Mingus-like. Short and heavy, light yellowish colour, kinky hear and a short beard. And when he was into his 70´s he had his hear slicked back (a thing that some afro americans did in the fourties including Miles), When I saw Miles after his comeback in 1981 he also had his hair slicked back again, not the afro from the 70´s. But the most important thing is the music. Jackie McLean is my favourite alto saxophonist and one of my very favourite musicians in general. His sound....fantastic. Last week I played with a soprano-saxophonist and his soprano sounded a bit like Jackie on alto...... wonderful....

Jackie McLean on tenor ? Looks like Jackie when he was older. He slicked his hair back then (I don´t know why, his naturally curled hair looked better). I didn´t know who is Eric Alexander until I saw him on TV when he played with Cecil Payne, I don´t remember the rest of the group, but Ron Carter was on bass that´s sure. Cecil Payne had visibility problems then and had to sit down while playing. It was Eric Alexander who led him on stage and first I thought this red hair student of law or economies might be his guard or butler, and was astonished when I saw and heard him play tenor. Didn´t know who he was until I later saw photos and it reminded me of the guy who had led Cecil Payne on stage.

Yeah maybe. There is almost no photo of Hank without a cigarette. You can enjoy tobacco, but you should not "eat" it like peanuts....., so maybe it was lung cancer or emphysema (Dexter also had emphysema and throat cancer and almost sure liver cirrhosis due to excessive drinking).

It´s solo only ? I have admired a lot of Cecil´s work, but like it most with the Unit and above all with Jimmy Lyons..... Poland in 1968......rough times and maybe completly another world for an american artist. But it seems that quite a few american artists liked Poland: Monk was there, Miles was there (okay maybe in 1983 it was better conditions....)... But I saw some very beautiful photos of towns with fancy buildings......, would be worth a city trip.....

Really fine music listed ! John Hicks with Pharoah Sanders was really some highlights in the 80´s. Gil Evans at Sweet Basil great. I have not heard the Chick Corea. Vitous-Haynes band but it sounds like a dream team, but if I read "ECM" label I always am afraid it is.....well how can I say it.....it´s ECM-music... but maybe this great trio is an exception.

How to say: It´s almost a miracle that Hank Mobley at that stage of health (only one lung, and bad teeth) could blow a single note. I also suppose that he didn´t have the money to buy a really good instrument. I remember that once he said he would look for a "decent saxophone"....... Of course, that bad sound quality doesn´t help much and some unsure intonations ar coroborated through the fact that the tape player wavers badly. I remember when I was a teenager and we had a club gig and I asked a friend to record the stuff on tape player it also sounded bad, because you don´t hear the real groove, it often sounds like mud. And this is not only due to poor musicians. A friend managed to get a little tape recorder with integrated mike into the 1976 Mingus performance in Vienna and it also sounds that way..... But even if Mobley´s saxophone sound is weak and unsure, you hear that his musical mind was intact and with more physical ability it would have sounded great. For someone who knows the secrets of Mobley´s imagination, he will recognice that a great musical mind is working, physically in terrible shape and with a bad axe, but yet he thinks music. When I lead a series of jam session there was a really weak saxophonist sittin in on each occasion and he had a similar sound .... not due to illness but to lack of knowledge of the instrument.....but other than Mobley his lines also were weak. He played "Softly like a morning sunrise" or "Footprints" from sheet and the improvisations was only the same "hoo-bah hoo-bah doo-bah". I could have killed that guy since he also placed his beer on the piano. Once I shouted at him that if he doesn´t know to play, at least he should have respect for the instrument.... I assume that Mobley didn´t even have a health insurance, with some good medical help, a new dantura and healthy food he could have had some more years. Man, to dye that way ....not in the 1920´s but in 1986 is really a drag.... P.S.: Does somebody know why he had only one lung ? (cancer ????). Once I have heard that Curtis Fuller also was operated on lung had remained with only one lung.

Nice, this is the pre-birth of cool, wonderful thing. But I think when I mentioned a Miles-Lee Konitz collaboration also from the Roost 1948 it was a small group thing, Miles, Konitz, Lewis, Curley Russel and Max Roach playing a vintage bop set with stuff like 52nd Street Theme and maybe a ballad sung also by Kenny Hagood.... I friend of mine who died had it, the second side was a set from 1952 Miles with Jackie McLean..... 2 days ago at a jam session during intermission a trumpet player and myself talked about bop tunes to play and as we mentioned Miles (he had played the old "Milestones" (not the famous tune but the bop line from a Savoy session with Bird on Tenor, he mentioned that Miles sometimes stole compositions from others. I mentioned "Dig" which actually was an original by Jackie McLean called "Donna" and as you sure know, based on "Sweet Georgia Brown". On the other hand, when I was a teenie and first heard Miles´ "Walkin´" I was astonished that the composer was not Miles, but a Richard Carpenter (later I got to know the story behind that dubious deal", but then I thought who is this "Richard Carpenter" who wrote that tune. What does he play, with whom does he play......

Those Prestige covers with a photo and with those stripes and the text "Historical series were around there in the early 70´s and from that series "Miles Davis - Steaming" was my first jazz listening ever and I got hooked for the rest of my live. Then I purchase "Coltrane-Soultrane" from the same series, the one with "Good Bait" and "I wanna talk about you", and while browsing thru the records I also found "Tadd Dameron - John Coltrane Mating Call". They were not expensive and could be purchased with the monthy pocket money. Ah, and actually my second self bought record was "Mingus in Concert" (3 LPs with Dolphy in Paris). So Miles and Mingus where my first "heroes" Fantastic ! Vintage bop with the very best performers. Stitt on tenor is great , the tunes are great, and IMHO it is one of Bud Powell´s very best performances. This and the BN with Fats Navarro and Rollins....

Yes I remember that. Very strange, since there was no evidence of other activities. I remember I was a DB subscriber until the mid 80´s and there was a narrow rubrica on the first pages titled "Big City Beat" and there was a note that "though Hank Mobley had or has some respiratory problems which impair his ability to perform, he ocasionally plays club dates in the Philly Area......, So maybe he was not completly inactive.

The "Nocturne" really sounds very strange. I must be in a certain mood for this.

Oh that´s bad news. I saw some films with him when he was younger. He often played a bad guy. Wasnt´there a film where he was a police man who stalked a married woman ? And there was another film where a young and married businessman is seduced by a blonde woman and her friend is a quite dubious character played by Liotta ? I don´t remember the titles of the films....

I have the Lee Konitz - Miles Davis album with the same cover, but on side B there is other tunes and musicians. It has a duo Konitz-Jimmy Raney, and some more abstract tunes featuring Teddy Charles. The last tune is a very very strange sounding version of "Night in Tunisia". There was an earlier Davis-Konitz collaboration in the late 40´s I think. With John Lewis and Max Roach I think...

Yes, but in 1983 when I saw Dexter the last time "performing" it was clear that the end was in sight. No one would have thought that he might get through the few tunes he played on the film. Hank Mobley also had a drinking problem. During those last years, Max Roach once told that he wanted to invite Mobley for a drink and was a bit embarrased when Mobley insistit on a triple hard drink. I think the great Max Roach had some traumatic experiences seeing great fellow musicians killed by accidents (both Clifford Brown and Woody Shaw), or down and out like Bird, Bud, Mobley.... Max Roach also was the last person to see Woody Shaw. He had invited him to listen to a gig he had in NY and sent a limo to Newark to drive Woody to the gig...

Bought it for a lot of money when it came out, Japan import. This was the time when we boys at school would imitate Miles during intermission. Some guys laying percussion patters on the school desks and one imitating the wah wah sound, making a little pantomine as if playin a horn and wearin huge sun glasses. We all bought those kind of sunglasses. We all had Agharta , and some guys who were a bit older and more insiders said "yeah, but do you have Pangeea" I was the first in my school class to have Pangeea.