cymbalgroove

I heard he's at Sloan-kettering as well. Hope and pray he can beat this too.

Yeah I'm not sure here on what you're not hearing in Frankie Dunlop and John Ore? Frankie was my favorite drummer with Monk hands down! The way Frankie filled some of the holes with Monk on his tom toms really gave Monk's music even more spark then he and the rest of that band had. John Ore and Frankie had a great hook-up too. For me you don't have to play a lot solowise to be great. Shadow Wilson was another one of my all time favorites and he didn't like to play drum solos. He had a great beat which is most important.

There is a fanstastic young baritone player named Frank Basile. I'm using him on my next record. This guy is my favorite living baritone player. A true bebopper!!

Moody had his galbladder removed and should be back playing soon I hear.

Oh boy.. I hope he's ok. One of the greatest and nicest people ever!! Does anyone know about Hank Jones being in Sloan Kethering in New York? I heard he's sick.

I love Minor Mishap and Tommy was such a great player.

I think this music is all about opinions. We all have our favorite players/styles ect.. I try to check it all out before I say I don't like it or like it.

The thing is, this cuts both ways. One point I was trying to make upthread is that the main reason there's so much music these days that sounds like Eric Alexander and Scott Hamilton is that there's a culture of orthodox jazz education that itself plays favorites and puts so much emphasis on bebop. I have no problem with listeners enjoying neo-traditionalists. But as a musician with an interest in seeing innovative music getting made, I'm also going to encourage peers to turn away from copying their example. What would you call innovative music these days though?

For my taste, Stewart's Rollins resemblance comes and goes. There are times when I hear very specific Rollins-esque "chortles" and the like, and this turns me off because those gestures seem to me not only to be unique to Rollins but also effusions into the music of Rollins' personality, in-passing dramatizations of his particular quirks (if that's the right word) as a human being. And to my mind that's two somewhat different things. An analogy might be Rex Stewart's half-valve techniques. That he popularized that way of playing and put his own personal, expressive stamp on it doesn't mean that he's the only one who can use half-valve effects, but if you do play that way in the coy, impish, waggish manner that Stewart did, it sounds like the musical equivalent of Frank Gorshin doing a Jimmy Cagney impression. Otherwise, though, when I hear Stewart I mostly hear a Rollins-inspired player who is making real, high-level, in-the-moment contact with the material, not someone who is dipping into an anthology of Rollins licks. I'm not saying that my judgment here is infallible, but I am wary of overt emulators in general and think I am alert to the differences. Stewart seems to me to be his own man in much the same way that the late Barney Wilen (surely Rollins-inspired to a considerable degree) finally was Barney Wilen. Man I love Barney Wilen.

I don't know if I agree that Grant has not made enough separation between his sound and Sonny Rollins. Grant is very influenced by Sonny Rollins but I can tell the difference between the two.

I need to get these as well as I'm a huge Sonny Clark fan and don't have these!!!!

Being a bebopper at heart for means it's the jazz style that hits me the most. Not to say that I don't love checking out Herbie, McCoy and later Trane but Bebop and hardbop are my favorite styles of jazz.

True Larry but to be a bebopper or hardbopper these days is rare. I was just talking style but I should've been more specific. I love anyone who plays in a earlier or later style of what I'm talking about if they are a thinking player. I've said that for years when people try to tell me Grant is a Sonny Rollins clone. So untrue!! He has a way of playing that is unique. I heard that the first time I ever played with him in 1993. He has grown a lot since then as hopefully we all do but I could hear it back then.

Big Wheel, I'm not saying anyone has to be locked into anybody in all honesty. My point is I don't hear real beboppers as much as I hear Herbie and McCoy influences these days. What you seem to be saying is if someone plays out of that bag and doesn't venture into Herbie then they aren't growing? Which for me is hogwash! I got to play with Barry Harris and that was about is good as it gets for me. That guy is more advanced musically than anyone in my opinion. I love Herbie and McCoy a ton btw! I understand why they did what they did but they are both very rooted. I guess to sum up what I mean is you don't hear many guys playing TRUE bebop anymore as much as more modern stuff. The more modern stuff for me is getting more rehashed by far than bebop these days. That's ok too. I'm just saying how great it is to play with a guy like Grant Stewart, Tardo or Neal Miner. Those guys are true beboppers and there aren't many left these days that I hear. I think it's too hard to play that music in all honesty. You can hide more in a more modern bag. In a more modern bag things open up more which you can get away with more. It's just a different way of playing is all. Both bags are great.. I'm just a bebopper at heart is all.

That's true...but it's true largely because Herbie and McCoy's styles are (generally) more harmonically advanced than Bud and Sonny's. Most people just don't play like Bud and Sonny anymore and the reason is that Herbie and McCoy opened up new vistas in terms of what you could do harmonically, and people saw those vistas as useful places to go exploring. Yes and No.. Yes harmonically Herbie and McCoy opened up new vistas but they also came from guys like Bud and Sonny. My point is that alot of these piano players nowadays sound the same to me stylistically. Outside of a few guys like Tardo Hammer, Steve Ash and Sasha Perry the majority of the piano players out there come out of Herbie and McCoy. I think you're considered a throwback and looked down on if you come out of say a Sonny Clark or Bud.

I think for me as a musician I always am curious as to what people really want to hear from us today? If you play in the tradition, it seems like people think it's the same old same old and everybody plays like that today. Sorry but I don't agree with that at all!! To hear someone hear say you're a jazz villan if you play the tradition is ridiculous IMHO! If you play more modern stuff, some people say that music has no roots. The bottomline is what hasn't been done in straight ahead jazz? The music has run it's course stylistically. There are no groundbreakers PERIOD stylistically. Why does everyone always look for new styles to judge the music as being better and going forward? I'm a bebopper and proud of it but have played many different styles of this music. Every time I get on the bandstand the music is always different. It could be the same tunes with the same guys night after night and it's always different. The style may have done before but the content is always different. How many piano players play more in the style of Herbie or McCoy vs. Bud Powell or Sonny Clark? MUCH more. No matter how hard you study a player or style you'll always be you because there are certain things in each musician that only fits you. Having said that though, I don't believe a musician should play so and so's solo in their own solo note for note. I've heard that before and it's a turn off. I've played a lot with Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart. Both of them play very different and both are great. They both are very strong in their concepts. I've worked more with Grant than Eric. He's a perfect example of a guy with that classic sound but with endless ideas that take you on a journey on each tune. I give it up for Eric though too. He's heavily influenced by George Coleman but it's still Eric Alexander. I can hear him or Grant and pick them out instantly. I don't consider them sound alikes at all!! I know all this is opinions and everyone has one. I just know how hard these guys work and to play at their level they should be applauded weather you like their style or not.

Just got word that bassist Jamil Nasser passed away.. RIP

I'm a huge fan of Steve Fishwick a great trumpeter from the UK. He has some CDs on CDbaby and a brand new CD with Cedar Walton on it. This guy is a pure bebopper who plays with great imagination and has gets a great sound. He's really one of the best out there for my money. Anyone hear of him? He has a quintet with a fanstastic tenor player named Osian Roberts.

I really enjoy this record. The Hearing is a great tune on this. I keep going back to that tune in particular but man I think the band sounds great! just my two cents.

Barry's the greatest!! Happy birthday to a true master bebopper!!

Amen to that!! Grant is the best tenor player today in his age group that I've worked with BAR NONE!! Not only does Grant cut those tempos but not a wasted note EVER! He's so creative it's scary!!

It's definitely been a little static for a while now - but it often depends who's playing with him. There was a time when I was working with him a lot in the mid-80s when he might play anything. Suffice to say he never announces the tune beforehand. Neither does he count off a tempo. He just starts and everyone falls in line. I learned a lot of tunes on the bandstand with Lou! I remember a gig in Connecticut (Jamil Nasser on bass) when after about eight bars he turned to me and said in that high pitch, "You don't know that, man?" He was playing the tune "You." After one or two choruses I did. One of the best training grounds in jazz. I was fortunate to cut my teeth with Lou, Junior Cook, George Coleman, Bill Hardman, Slide, Clifford Jordan. Young players coming up today rarely get that kind of training anymore. True Michael!!

I'm totally SHOCKED at anyone who doesn't think PC was the shit when it came to bowing solos. As far as I'm concerned he was the only cat I could listen to bowing solos. The most swingin bowed cat ever for me. As far as nowadays, Phil Flanigan is as good as it gets! This guy plays gut strings HIGH action and has nobody has better ideas on the bass as far as soloing is concerned. He gets a great sound bowing too. This guy is scary PERIOD!!!

Yup still up in Rochester! Allan I'll send Danko your best. BTW this issue I'm told should hit the stands around 11/20. Thanks for the interest.

I just wanted to say that Downbeat did a piece on me in the players section of the upcoming 12/09 issue if anyone is interested? My thanks to Eric Fine for contacting me and writing about me.