jeffcrom

Toots Maytal Toots Mondello Tootie Heath

I'm surprised - I wouldn't have thought any Buescher horns from that period were any good. Glad it's working for you. My baritone is a mid-forties Buescher, and it does have intonation issues, but it has such a great sound that I deal with it. I'm mostly an alto player, and I alternate between a mid-sixties Mark VI and and mid-forties Conn 6M, depending on what kind of group I'm playing with. I love them both, but Shrdlu is right about the superb keywork of the Mark VI. Of all my horns (altos, bari, clarinet), it's the only one that feels like an extension of me - it's just effortless to play. And I've never heard a C-melody that I like.

Not Woody Shaw either - way less well known. It's not quite time for more hints yet, but it will be soon....

Happy Birthday 2010 to Hardbopjazz!

Will the concert be recorded by any chance ? Probably only in very casual fashion - a little digital recorder set up in front of the stage. I thought about hiring one of my recording engineer friends, but I figured that I'll be losing enough money on this concert without that.

I know this one well. We're playing "Jazz Waltz For a Friend" at the concert. I was unable to find a chart for it, so I transcribed it from the record. It took three days and gave me nightmares, literally - I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the chord progression. The melody, structure and harmonies seem bizarre, but are ultimately logical. The tune is in the key of B flat, but the first four notes of the melody are B natural, A flat, F, and F sharp. (The musicians out there will see how strange that is). Then I had to teach the tune to a blind piano player, which presented another interesting set of challenges. It took about a month for it to start sounding like music. Thanks to all for the good wishes.

The Art Ensemble 1967/68 - the Numbers on Disc C

Not Hubbard. The trumpeter/leader is nobody that well-known. Now that Joe Henderson has been identified, that may help someone figure this one out. Or maybe it's even more obscure than I realized.

I love it when these old threads that I wasn't aware of get bumped. I've really enjoyed reading this. Even though I live in a cultural backwater, I am lucky enough to have heard the AEOC in their prime four or five times. At the Atlanta Jazz Fest one year, my little band was on the bill before them. Experiencing their set from the side of the stage was positively spiritual.

No mistakes - just a difference of opinion. But you said "this band at its best could cut pretty deep". Not sure if this is what you mean, but your statement ""This stuff is still in the margins of music" I took to mean that you consider the Crosby orchestra's music to be pretty lightweight and disposable stuff. If that's what you meant, then my mileage varies. In my opinion, their best material, such as the two pieces I cited, was more profound than country club dance/dinner music. No biggie.

No mistakes - just a difference of opinion.

With all due respect to Chuck, this band at its best could cut pretty deep. Like most big bands of the time, Crosby's band was a very mixed bag. I can see how much of their stuff might be considered "jazz lite" or "Dixieland lite." But tracks like "Dogtown Blues" and I'm Praying Humble" had a feel different from anything else at the time, and should be heard. And hell, the great Irving Fazola played clarinet with them for awhile, and anything with Fazola is worth hearing.

I wanted to follow up on this, since folks were so nice to put in some time and effort on this. I compared "Blues at Dawn" to two other 78s I have on which Eddie Taylor is the tenor soloist: "S.K. Blues" by Sauders King on Rhythm and "Christmas Time Blues/Oh Babe!" by Roy Milton on Specialty. All I can say is that it might very well be the same player. Personally, I think MG is probably right, although it may not be possible to know for sure. I'm intrigued by Chuck's mention of Brother William Woodman, whom I've never heard. It looks like he recorded a lot with Joe Liggins around 1951-53. I'll keep my eye out for some of those recordings. Thanks again to all for your input.

(Edited because I got the tracks of my own BFT mixed up and responded about the wrong track.

OTB: Live at Mt. Fuji (Blue Note). I'd never paid any attention to this band, but this thread made me want to check out this album. The band is good, but Kenny Garrett is on another level. I don't want to overstate my case, but the contrast between the rest of the band and Garrett illustrates the difference between professionalism and inspiration. Then: Evan Parker: Live at the Finger Palace (The Beak Doctor)

Sorry to hear this. I'm with Chuck - Jazz Street is the most beautiful book of jazz photographs out there.

Not to pick a nit, but, since the article was originally published in 1960, I'm guessing it was an LP. D'oh! Didn't notice the date. I hate the article less in the context of its time.

Mike Vax Arnold Bax Adolphe Sax

Agreed. I love Champion Jack, and not just that album.

I read this three times, and all I get out of it is that Mr. Jackson chose a roundabout and dickish way of saying that he didn't like a CD.

I have mixed feelings about Moondoc, but that's one of the great album titles of all time.

This bit in this somber thread made my day.

I read it as "New York culture," too. Didn't occur to me that it could mean anything else.

Thanks, King Ubu! That's exactly the information I was looking for - it makes perfect sense now. And of course, I left Willie Smith out of the personnel listing.

This weekend I found a three-record 12" 78 album on the Asch label. It's called Jazz at the Philharmonic, Volume Number One. That's the first thing that confused me, because it's not the lineup of what I thought was the earliest JATP concert issued on record - J.J. Johnson, Nat Cole, Les Paul, etc. It's Joe Guy & Howard McGhee on trumpet, Illinois Jacquet and Charlie Ventura on tenor, Garland Finney on piano, Ulysses Livingston on guitar, and Red Callender on bass. There's no drummer listed, but according to the Lord discography, it's Gene Krupa. Lord says the tunes (How High the Moon and Lady Be Good) were recorded in LA on Feb. 12, 1945. But what really surprised me is that the only issues listed are the original Asch 78 album and a subsequent Stinson LP. It's obviously a legit issue - Norman Granz wrote the liner notes. So my questions are: Was this issued before the famous July 2, 1944 JATP concert? Was it the first issue of a JATP concert? And was it ever issued on Verve? If not, why not? What's the deal? Musically, it's typical JATP fare of the time. The highlight for me is Joe Guy - I've always thought he was an interesting player, even if he was inconsistent. I know that these are geeky, unimportant questions. But if I can't ask you guys, who can I ask?