Jim R

Paul, great list there @ post 17. Very close to what I would have listed, if I hadn't been too lazy.

Aw mannn, now it's like homework! Okay, first impressions... 1. Right off the bat, that nice loping beat, and drum rolls… sounds like Blakey. Nice minor key feel, like the tune (though I don't recognize it), like the transition to blues changes for the solos. At some point, I found that I had so much Blakey stuff that was getting too little attention, I kind of stopped pursuing his later recordings. I don't know when this is from, but I'd guess 80's? Couldn't tell you who's in the band here, although I could of course summon some guesses based on it being Blakey (unless that's wrong). At any rate, I like this. Nothing's wasted here, and the length is perfect, to my ears. 2. Like the multi-horn unison theme, and the way it's arranged. This is an LP rip, which is always scary (probably something relatively obscure, which will be tough to identify). Solos… don't care too much for the alto tone, or phrasing. Pretty rough and sloppy sounding. I'd have to say the same about the trumpet. The tenor sounds more together sonically and conceptually. The piano solo doesn't do a lot for me, but I like what the drummer was doing at that point (not sure the pianist did). All in all, not bad, but if this was a first take, I would have tried it again. 3. Rollins-esque opening. Then again, I've heard Joe H sound like this. Now they go into "Impressions"… and now it's over. Don't think I've ever heard a tune that began that way end that way. Or that quickly. 4. Back to the blues (wow, never would have expected that ). In The Closet. Swingin! The trumpet phrasing sounds like an older veteran player. Pianist has some of Oscar P in him, but I don't think it's Oscar. Nice Basie-like comping behind the bass solo. Drummer has skills, and a nice light and crisp sound. This whole thing has a very polished and practiced sound to it, not loose like track two. I like this one. 5. I think I like the arrangement and the harmonies more than the melody. Not sure I've ever heard this tune. Sounds like there's a Hodges influence in this alto, and possibly some Duke/Strays influence in the composition. Really nice stuff. The trumpet has more of a hard bop phrasing, almost like Lee Morgan to my ears. Tasty. I wish this track had been longer. From about the trumpet solo on, this begins to feel more familiar, like something I would probably have in my collection. Must play this a few more times. 6. Oh, what is this tune called… sh!t… this is what I love about BFT's, and- this is what I hate about BFT's! Love this tune, though. Muted trumpet again. Love the pianist's imagination… he almost steals the show here for me. Tasty trumpet solo. Great tone and control. Tenor has a big sound. Doesn't sound quite breathy enough for Ben, but doesn't sound rough enough around the edges for Hawk… crap, I'm blanking. Great recording which I probably own, and I wish this had been longer too. 7. First of all, I've never heard this one- I'm sure of that. A guitarist playing "Rockin' In Rhythm" in front of a big band. Tonally, this reminds me of Herb Ellis circa '60's/70's (that's not a good thing to me, btw). I'm not guessing it's Herb, though, despite the bluesy interjections throughout. The blues licks he's playing are more straight-ahead blues sounding, and I'm thinking this is probably a younger player than Herb. I don't really care for the way he tries to squeeze in the blues licks between the melody notes at times, where there's not enough space for it. His technical ability is fine in that respect, it just doesn't sound good at all, musically speaking. Will have to mull this over (and no, that's not a subtle guess that it's Martin Mull). 8. Wow, so far this assemblage of blues tunes is more enjoyable to me than any BFT you've put together in the past, Dan. This is nice and greasy gospelly (?), and nice and tasty. Great sound on this. Punchy and crisp. Sounds like it was recorded loud, but not too loud. The guitarist really values each note, a la Grant. Nice tone, too. No guesses at this point... 9. Am I detecting a 70's vibe here? Cool how the synth (?) makes it sound like there's a choir in the studio. Funky guitarist. No real clue, other than thinking about guys like Cornell Dupree, David T. Walker… Eric Gale… how many guesses do I get? Interesting fade-out and fade-back-in there in the middle of the track. Hmm. Anyway, nothing too exciting here for me, but enjoyable. 10. Dan, you're really mixing it up nicely. Exhilarating track. I have no real clue, in fact I'm listening to background handclaps and exclamations as possible clues to who this might be. 11. More surface noise here than the battle of Midway , but no matter. In terms of the piano, I feel like I'm hearing some Erroll Garner influence. 12. I'm beginning to see… that I suck at this game. Wait- Gene Harris. Did he grunt like that? Whoa- very abrupt ending. 13. Old Devil Moon, which I've been meaning to learn for awhile (only about 30 years). Very nice treatment, love the flourish at the end there. 14. Jada. Great late-night mood on this one. And right when I think it's going to be laid back all the way, the pianist plays some dazzling runs. Beautiful command of the 88's. That said, this one dragged on a bit for me. Not a favorite tune of mine. 15, I recognize this tune, haven't heard it in ages, and don't remember the title. Something about the tenor's tone is really striking to me. In fact, it's partly the recording quality, I think. Just a great sound. This track is too short! 16. At first I was thinking Sonny (either Stitt or Criss ), but I'm not confident about it being either of them upon further listening. Chops galore, but I'm not getting quite enough soul... or something. Kind of an odd arrangement too, to my ears. As far as the pianists on 11 thru 14, that will require a LOT more examination for me to know whether Harris was involved, and if so, where. Anyway, some excellent listening on this batch of tunes! Much more to think about, so I'll listen again tomorrow. Thanks Dan.

T-Bone Walker would be a good place to start, imo.

Is it me or is Sir John anxious to fend off that hand job? I've looked long and hard at this cover, and I agree, he's not really looking forward to his birthday present. You know what's weird? This cover image was photo-shopped. If you google for different cover images, you can see that her abdomen isn't actually disappearing (as if Scotty is beaming her up to the Enterprise) as it is in this image. I guess they thought the original was too sexy:

I discovered Dexter right around the same time, and in a similar setting, but not live. It was "Jazz At The Maintenance Shop" (Iowa State U.), which I saw on PBS tv. As I was wont to do back then in such situations, I grabbed my parents' portable audio cassette recorder, and taped most of the show using an external mic. I still remember when my dad came home that evening, and the sound of him opening the garage door and pulling the car in became part of the recording I would be listening to for years.

Very nice- thanks for posting that. Identified by the uploader as dating to 1962 (Dexter left for Europe in late August of that year). This may be the earliest video of Dexter I've ever seen. Happy Birthday Dexter.

Dogs all the way, preferably a german shepherd or a lab. Always have loved dogs, never even met a cat that I liked. Now that we're dogless though, our neighbor's cat (who won't let anyone- including his owners- get near him) inhabits our back yard. I like that, because he'll help control and deter the local rodents, and I don't even have to acknowledge him, let alone feed him.

I don't know, but it was more jungly than the Kent jungle.

I haven't heard the Pablo album, but the sample at the above link is pretty interesting (and a little surprising- in a good way). Not sure I would buy it, but that's some pretty tasteful and skillful singing, if only for the language chops!

Tastes in vocals are a very subjective thing, as we all know. I feel differently about KB's vocals, and would rank him above some of the other artists you just mentioned as a vocalist, not only in terms of my personal preference for his voice, but for my impression of his skills as a vocalist. Dexter, for example, pales in comparison, to my ears. I might add that the aforementioned 1993 vocal really hit me as highly skillful and polished when I listened to it today. He sounded like a full fledged singer on that, not just a guitarist who sings occasionally.

Not sure I get the "in the 50's" part, but yeah, KB sang, and sings. Got "Weaver Of Dreams"? Very solid, to my ears. Maybe it wasn't in the 50s when he made that largely vocal LP(early 60s?), but he sang in a straight, Billy E. style back then, and his more recent vocal things are much looser, with some "beboppin' and scattin'"like the one I posted. Yeah, that's an interesting subject. I don't know if he's really changed that much, or if it's more a matter of settings. In other words, what the producer at Columbia (or Kenny himself) wanted for the Weaver Of Dreams session in 1961 may have precluded a more loose approach (or a tune or two with a loose approach) from happening at that time. Despite the complete vocal album, I get the impression that he's never sung a lot at his gigs. Maybe his singing has evolved, but it's hard to really know. He sang one tune ("I'm Just A Lucky So And So") on the interview session for Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland in 1993, but in the converstation, they didn't get into any detail about his past vocal exploits.

Almost forgot... no KB thread would be complete without this recommendation, not only because it's great, but because it's off the beaten Prestige/Blue Note/Verve/Muse/Concord track:

Not sure I get the "in the 50's" part, but yeah, KB sang, and sings. Got "Weaver Of Dreams"? Very solid, to my ears.

I've posted here (and elsewhere) about Night Song many times, and about KB's guitars. The '56 D'A New Yorker that he was using in that period sounded like heaven in his hands. I'd say the same about his L5 with the CC pickup that he used a few years earlier, but it's a different heavenly sound. To my ears, Burrell with those two guitars was the pinnacle of guitar tone in jazz. He sounded great on Super 400's too, but the 18" D'A produced a more tight and balanced sound overall. It's weird that you had a white label copy of Night Song. I did too, although I sold it when I got the recording on CD. It was issued on a Japanese ("55 Records") mini-LP in 2004.

Here's one (among many) that's older, but actually got off the ground a bit more: Can we still get to the one where Moms hates on Kenny, or has that been disappeared like a south american dissadent? It's here. He/She ;) "lives on", but only because people quoted him/her. ;)

Here's one (among many) that's older, but actually got off the ground a bit more:

Don Knotts Chuck Berry Art Farmer

I see what you did there. Brought the thread "up for air". Sorry.

I mentioned Deschutes earlier. Just wanted to add that it's tricky to generalize about "distribution". My brother in Oregon has been recommending various Deschutes brews to me for years, but I've come across them pretty rarely in terms of casual observation (checking restaurant menus, shopping at big retailers like BevMo, etc). When I do turn up out-of-state products, they tend to be just the most popular beers from a given brewery (Widmer hef always being available at Safeway being the obvious example). Finding specific products- particularly seasonal offerings- is another matter. I did find a couple of Deshutes brews (Inversion IPA, Twilight Summer Ale) in a supermarket in Kailua-Kona last Summer, which was a bit of a surprise. Inversion and Twilight are not too hard to find in SF (I don't care for Twilight at all though - the only Deschutes brew I don't like). It helps to shop at small retailers for craft beer. While the likes of Total Wine and Bevmo cover a lot of ground, you'll do best filling in the gaps with stores that are specifically devoting themselves to beer. In SF the main ones are probably Healthy Spirits on Castro, City Beer Store on Folsom, and maybe New Star-Ell on Divisadero for some of the Belgians. I admit I have more patience than most though when it comes to poking around and rarely go in seeking a specific brew. You're on the Peninsula, right? I know the south bay/Peninsula a lot less well but here might be some threads to get started: http://beeradvocate....r-stores.50894/ http://chowhound.cho...m/topics/763431 Hey Big Wheel, belated thanks. Sorry I lost track of this thread. I'm not on the peninsula... the beeradvocate thread should come in nice and handy, though.

I've been a Reg Schwager fan since the 1980's, when word started to get around about him. He's one of the most versatile and gifted players in the world. Ted, I thought most of Ed's recordings on Concord had made it to CD at some point. This was my introduction to Bickert, and probably my favorite CTI recording:

It was only one track, but you heard him some time ago (my 2003 blindfold test) doing "Sometime Ago", from his duet recording with pianist Bill Mays.

Bickert is one of those players that truly strikes me as a great musician who happens to play the guitar. When I listen to him play, it's easy to close my eyes and forget what instrument he's using. Also, he's got that rare gift of maximizing the power of dynamics, and making a strong statement without "shouting".

I would have thought there was already a thread dedicated to him, but apparently not. Good- he deserves one. Understated mastery, complete command of his instrument, warmth, beauty, imagination, humor, never a wasted note or phrase... pure taste. Bickert is among the elite, and should not be missed. His recordings with Paul Desmond are probably my personal favorites.

Yeah, that was my impression too (at least one of them). I'm actually surprised that this is a famous player. Gotta work on this. It almost sounds like a 7-string guitar when he hits the lower notes, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions. The tone (in that respect) might suggest someone like Bucky Pizzarelli (one of the first to use a 7-string), but the style and phrasing aren't saying Bucky to me. Hmm... Why don't you say Bucky? For the reasons I gave. The tone reminds me of Bucky, but not the style and phrasing. I have a few recordings by him, but not sure any of them are live, and they're fairly dated now. I don't know when this was recorded, but I suspect it's relatively recent, so maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the evolution of his playing... ... but if it IS Bucky, then that would mean you're giving it to us... so now I'm confused. Yes it is Bucky. Well, I guess I didn't trust myself enough. The tone is definitely Bucky, and like I said, it sounds like an "oldtimer"- particularly the rhythmic feel toward the end of the solo (almost like a banjo attack, and Bucky played banjo before guitar). I think I was thrown by those single-line trills and what I perceived to be a little trouble with finding the swing pocket. I still would say that this isn't the best of Bucky.