Jim R

I remember him from his appearances on the Carson show... but I don't remember the broom. B-)

Yeah, I went back and read what FFA posted while I was posting my (dumb) question, and the additional posts about Thad, etc. My bad. I must say, it all came rushing back, but I was drawing a blank at the time. I guess that seemed like the type of example (like "shave and a haircut") that would be too universal to associate with one particular artist or recording... but you remembered your history better than I.

"Along Came Betty", with "Whisper Not" and "Are You Real" not far behind. I remember meaning to vote on this in July, 2003. I guess I needed a little extra time.

That's the problem I seem to have. It's true of all my boxed sets, which is crazy and stupid because my favorite artists and favorite recordings are the ones that I tend to collect in boxed sets. I don't know if it's "laziness" or "forgetfulness", BTW. I just don't seem to think about the boxes as much, perhaps because of the way things are stored around here. GOT to do something about that, at any rate, so maybe your idea will help. Thanks. B-)

The first version of "Tenderly" that ever got my attention (and it did, in a big way) was Barney Kessel's recording on Contemporary (Vol. 1 / Easy Like). Sarah Vaughan has also done some nice versions, showing off that incredible range...

Two different songs, I believe. The Van Heusen / Cahn tune is on Sinatra's "Come Dance With Me" album, BTW.

You want flies- er, fries with that, sir?

Seriously, I don't know about "most", but I think a lot sail by me too, and I strive to be somewhat of a tune cat (the above admissions regarding "Louise" and "April In Portugal" (?) notwithstanding). I don't like the idea of that somehow. I don't want people to have to explain clever quotes to me... but I guess it's inevitable to some extent (seeing as you can't turn on the radio these days and hear all the stuff Bird and Paul Desmond were listening to, go to the same movies, etc). At any rate, it's still a fun game, IMO.

Hey, Alex Trebeck (or Art Fleming, for that matter) wouldn't have thrown you a fish if you didn't form your answer as a question; Gary Moore wouldn't have thrown you a fish if you took your blindfold off to look at Betsy Palmer ; Allen Ludden wouldn't have thrown you a fish if... oh, never mind. We're closed for the evening. You'll get your whale back tomorrow.

Holy SHIT! I just realized, you were very (VERY) close, but strictly speaking, I'm afraid you barely missed it. Gimme back the blue whale.

I used to have a pretty (damned) good arm... but maybe I'll mail it to you... wait- with the postal service being what it is down there, I'll just post a little something... Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if I have any recordings of "Louise"... ... argh... there's too many frigging songs to learn...

Hard to disagree, except I might change that to "a great unheralded quoter". There are so many great players who do it a lot... and well. That IS classic. That's the kind of thing that separates the quoting men from the quoting boys, IMO. You've got to have a LOT of music: A) in your head, and B) at your fingertips when the moment strikes.

Basie? I don't follow you... Another real obvious one that's pretty tired is "shave and a haircut". An obvious "angle" in terms of quote motivation and selection is when a melody is substituted because the chord structure is identical (or very similar). Of course, there are many opportunities for quoting bebop themes that match a particular standard (such as "ornithology" during "how high the moon"), and vice versa. There are also standards that share similar chord structures, an example of which would be Dexter quoting "Nancy" while he's playing "body and soul". These kinds of quotes are generally "easier" to pull off, which is why it's nice when creativity (making alterations harmonically, or whatever) comes into play. Still waiting for any answers to my trivia question...

Dave, as Bill mentioned in his first post, Red Garland's ALONE WITH THE BLUES (MV 10) should be on the list of non-CD titles. Bill, those two tracks from MISTY (MV 30) that didn't make it onto Lockjaw's GOIN' TO THE MEETIN' CD were "misty" and "uh oh". Davis layed out on both tracks. ======= edit: Actually, those two tracks were from an earlier Scott session without Davis.

That's an important point. I'm another one who plays everything I buy pretty much immediately, but playing something just once and then filing it away for another day/week/month/year... that can amount to almost the same situation as never having played it at all. Sometimes when I play something once and then don't find time to get back to it, I later realize that I didn't "really listen" the first time. Anyway, my buying has been drastically reduced over the past year or so, and it feels good, for a variety of reasons (more time to catch up, less storage issues, and more $ in the bank).

I've never been too impressed with Marcus Roberts, either. Just personal taste, I guess. Some of my favorites: Ray Bryant- Plays Ballads And Blues- Jazz Connaisseur Tommy Flanagan- Alone Too Long- Denon Roland Hanna- Everything I Love- IPO Hampton Hawes- The Challenge- RCA Victor Eddie Higgins- Time On My Hands- Arbors Eddie Higgins- You Don't Know What Love Is- Venus Hank Jones- Have You Met Hank Jones- Savoy Lou Levy- Solo Scene- RCA Victor Lou Levy- By Myself- Verve Gitanes Thelonious Monk- The Complete Black Lion And Vogue Recordings Of Thelonious Monk- Mosaic Thelonious Monk- Monk Alone (The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings, 1962 to 1968) (Solo Monk)- Columbia Horace Parlan- Alone (The Maestro / Musically Yours)- Steeplechase Art Tatum- The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces- Pablo Various Pianists- The Complete Master Jazz Piano Series- Mosaic (Master Jazz)

Well, Lon may have been (at least partially) responding to my expressed sentiments. At least I hope so. I haven't gotten too much of a response yet on the subject... BTW, Watts does have a very pleasing sound. I think my "problem" with him is his occasional venture into the kind of phrases that I associate with smooth jazz. But as I say, maybe Watts was doing it BEFORE the smooth revolution occurred. I don't know... that's what I'm trying to figure out...

Reminds me of the George Shearing trio CD I recently bought ("Like Fine Wine") that says it was recorded on "October 27th and 28th, 2004."

Is there an echo in here? So, it's on Stunt, and not Steeplechase? Sounds like one to get, at any rate. One of my most recent Parlan purchases was the 2 CD set on Steeplechase, titled ALONE, which brings together two solo albums- THE MAESTRO and MUSICALLY YOURS: The Maestro 1 Ruby My Dear (Monk, Thelonious) 5,35 2 Spring Is Here (Rodgers, Richard) 6,28 3 A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn, Billy) 5,55 4 Peace (Silver, Horace) 5,10 5 The Maestro (Walton, Cedar) 8,15 6 Nardis (Evans, Bill) 5,10 7 Alone Together (Dietz/Schwartz) 6,15 8 Ill Wind (Arlen, Harry) 6,40 Musically Yours 1 Alone Together (Dietz/Schwartz) 6,10 2 Memories Of You (Blake, Eubie) 6,13 3 Musically Yours (Parlan, Horace) 5,35 4 Ill Wind (Arlen, Harry) 7,03 5 Lullaby Of The Leaves (Petkere) 5,20 6 Ruby My Dear (Monk, Thelonious) 5,43 7 Jitterbug Waltz (Waller, Fats) 6,25 8 Nardis (Evans, Bill) 5,45 Highly recommended.

That's the way it always occurs for me when I'm playing. The idea of coming up with a quote (especially a strategically placed quote) spontaneously that has some relevance to a situation during a live performance or even topically with the tune being played (like Dan's example)... if it's really happening spontaneously... that's pretty advanced stuff. eric, GO FOR IT! B-)

I love it.... I agree with Jim about the fun part. One of the problems of jazz lovers is the fact we tend to take the music too seriously. I agree that I do not enjoy performers who seem to go from one quote to the next with little thought in between. But a well placed quote can bring a smile to my face anytime. Most listeners never want an artist to "phone in" a performance. We want the artist to express his/her emotion. Fortunately for all of us, many jazz artist are not sad all the time. Some even like to laugh and poke fun at themselves. Lighten up. Of course it can be fun (even if obvious or banal). Of course it can be funny. Quoting makes me laugh quite frequently. On the other hand, the sophisticated/advanced aspect of this (as I've tried to describe) can also be a lot of fun (and can also bring a smile, even if there's nothing overtly humorous going on). I just happen to be fascinated by this topic, which is why I've gotten somewhat analytical about it. There's a lot of mystery involved, even for the most advanced musical scholar (think about what Doug Ramsey said about that Desmond track). There's often a lot in music that's under the surface...under the radar of the average listener. Trying to grasp as much of that as possible is very appealing, IMO. As I said, a lot can go right over your (and my) head, which is kind of a shame if you're not trying to dig what's going on (IMO). eric, do you have the Desmond Mosaic set?

OK, then what's the verdict on quoting "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in the middle of "Two Bass Hit"? Kind of obvious. "Down For Double" would be more impressive. Guess I'm kinda simple minded then, cuz it brings a smile to my face. Nah, Dan, I'm with you (although I have heard "Take me out..." a lot... probably from Griff, who seems to favor it). I should have added a smiley of some sort to my post (I was just trying to be clever... in a Monday morning quarterback kind of way ). Which reminds me- I don't think that quoting spontaneously with relatively obscure ideas is as easy as the greats make it appear sometimes.

OK, then what's the verdict on quoting "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in the middle of "Two Bass Hit"? Kind of obvious. "Down For Double" would be more impressive.

From Doug Ramsey's notes in the Desmond/Hall Mosaic set: There will be no effort here to identify all of Desmond's quotes. We don't have that much space. Besides, a good part of the fun of listening to Paul is being amazed and entertained by the craftiness with which he works into his solos all kinds of paraphrases, references, allusions and assorted musical metaphors. The play-by-play liner note approach could dilute the joy. But there is so much going on in I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU that perhaps mention of some of it will be forgiven. Near the end of the first chorus, Desmond covers what sounds like an unfortunate choice of notes with a little falling-away sequence that fully redeems the mistake. This must be the sort of mental sonar the poet Richard Wilbur was thinking of when he wrote: "in the very happiest intellection, a graceful error may correct the cave." By repeating phrases an octave apart, Paul plays duets with himself, or comes as close as a single-note instrument will allow (unless you consider John Coltrane, and we don't have space for that, either). He quotes APRIL IN PORTUGAL, of all things. At the beginning of the third chorus, he offers proof by way of two ferocious sixteenth-note phrases that he is a formidable technician of the saxophone, a fact often overlooked because he rarely emphasized it so boldly. He quotes a difficult passage of Lee Konitz's solo from the alternate take of LADY BE GOOD with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. He quotes HERSHEY BAR, a tune featured by Stan Getz in the early fifties when Getz had a quartet with guitarist Jimmy Raney. Those elements constitute a fraction, possibly only the most obvious fraction, of Desmond's inventiveness in just one long, fascinating solo. So, right there, a good example of what I meant by the need for knowing a lot of tunes. "April In Portugal"? Somebody hum a few bars...

Thanks for that Bird link. I only wish that piece had been longer! Here's something I just stumbled upon online... part of somebody's jazz primer: A technique used often in the bebop era and since is quoting, or using a recognizable phrase from another composition or well-known recorded improvisation as part of one's own improvisation. This is also some- times called interpolation. You may have noticed this taking place in solos you have heard. There is usually some humor value in quoting, particularly if the interpolated work is something silly like "Pop Goes The Weasel". Now there's a guy who doesn't completely get it.