mikeweil

Same here - very sad news.

Lastly, thanks for all the kind words - I couldn't invest as much time in preparing the selections as I had wanted, thus all the hassle with the files, but it seems it wasn't all that badly done. Last night I spent the first half typing the answers, and the second with nightmares of tracks mixed up, song sequences turned upside down, roasted chestnuts and hilarious scenes that would have made a cartoon director proud .... to add up to a not quite satisfactory new year's eve I still fight my cough and headache and it turns out I grabbed the wrong bottle at the local biofood store, so we both had a dose of alcoholic champagne although we had wanted to avoid it this time. My wife is slightly mad as she feels dizzy - she never, never drinks alcohol. This whole year was busy and crazy and that's the way it rounds up, it seems. Have a good time and take my best wishes for the coming year!

Listening to the Bley while the kiddies outside are starting their premature explosions ... This album definitely is more boppish than cool, much more modern than the MJQ ever was, everybody gets his spots and is integrated in the development of things. I'd recommend it. The Pike LP, which was recorded as "The Jazz Couriers" is even more MJQish. Don't be mislead by Bley's title track; "Solemn Meditation" was written by bassist Sam Gill for a Riverside session with Randy Weston. Great tune selections on that LP.

Richie Flores is the # 1 fasthand conga player on the salsa scene for many years now. He started out with straightahead Latin music, paid dues with Eddie Palmieri and the like, but expanded his musical horizons systematically. I'll re-listen to the Bley to answer your question. The Pike quartet added on the Fresh Sound reissue is a bit more straightahead. I bought the Mainieri as an amazon download, so i have no liner notes or engineerig credits .... No idea about the Ruggieros. Joe Porcaro is a great drummer. Did tons of studio work in L.A. - I learned to appreciate him with Emil Richards' Microtonal Blues Band where he handled those sophisticated meters with admirable ease. If I get the December 2014 BFT I'll see to that!

So here's the remaining tracks: 10 - George Shearing with Cal Tjader: Mood For Milt (Tjader), first on an MGM 78, later on 12" LP A Shearing Caravan, but never on CD except for a French box set reissue pictured below. Cal Tjader (vib) George Shearing (p) Toots Thielemans (g) Al McKibbon (b) Bill Clark (d) - Los Angeles, March 13, 1953 Tjader early in his career with Shearing, writing and playing a tribute to Bags. Tjader was a great writer and arranger early in his career. His vibes sound in 1953 actually was much better and more beautiful than Bags' ... Shearing was for vibists what Blakey and Silver were for horns. The list of vibists in Shearings quintet is very long. 11 - Cal Tjader: Love Me Or Leave Me, from Savoy EP and 10" LP, several CD reissues Cal Tjader (vib) Hank Jones (p) Al McKibbon (b) Kenny Clarke (d) - New York, October 21, 1953 More Tjader, in a MJQ bag - he definitely had listend to their recordings. Savoy and Fantasy both wanted him after the MJQ signed with Prestige. He chose Fantasy as it was located in California. Another example of Tjader's arranging talents. 12 - Milt Jackson: Tenderly, from CD The Modern Jazz Quartet, Lost tapes, Germany 1956-1958 (Jazz Haus) AFAIK this is Bags' only unaccompanired vibes solo recording. It was made on the spot after Joachim Berendt requested a solo, because he liked Coleman Hawkins' "Picasso" recording and asked if Bags could do something like it. 13 - Cal Tjader: If You Could See Me Now (Tadd Dameron), from CD The Best of Cal Tjader Live At The Monterey Jazz Festival Cal Tjader (vib) John Lewis (p) Richard Davis (b) Roy Burns (d) - September 17, 1977 This was an impromptu all star Tjader quartet at the Monterey Jazz Festival. After recording the Warm Wave LP with strings for Verve, there was an interview in down beat in 1966, where Tjader expressed his wish to do an all ballad LP with hank Jones, Richard Davis, and Grady Tate. It's a pity this was never realized. This was as close as he would get, besides the 1977 Galaxy LP Breathe Easy. Tjader was a melodic player, confessed he didn't have the technique for flashy improvisations, and loved melodic beauty. 14 - Bill O'Connell with Dave Samuels: Cobblestones (O'Connell), from CD Triple Play Plus Three, ZOHO Bill O'Connell (p) Dave Samuels (vib) Richie Flores (cga) - April 25, 2010 I first heard O'Connell with Mongo Santamaria's band 1975-76, where he was a good but unspectacular pianist, but he has grown into one of the most profound Latin Jazz musicians around and writes lots of nice tunes. He leads a regular trio, Triple Play, with Flores and flutist Dave Valentin. Samuels is the only Burton disciple in this BFT. He made a Tjader tribute CD for Verve, but it didn't really touch me. His affinity for latin ryhthms is very good, though. 15 - Buster Williams (b) with Roy Ayers (vib): My Funny Valentine, from Muse LP/CD Crystal Reflections New York, August 30, 1976 IMHO Roy Ayers has the most beautiful vibes sound ever. I cherish this album. Besides that, he is an excellent rhythm player. His jazz chops are intact, but rarely displayed .... Tjader and Hamp were his first inspirations to pick up the vibes, BTW. 16 - Jim Alfredson's Dirty Fingers: Ding Dong (John Patton), unreleased bonus track for Kickstarter subscribers of the CD. Jim Cooper (vib) Jim Alfredson (org) Ralph Tope (g) Randy Gelispie (d) - August, 2013 I hope Jim reads your comments on this track ..... it's nice you heard the Larry Young kick he was on when recording this track. Jim referred me to these bonusses when I asked him if he had any useable outtake with vibes for the BFT. 17 - George Shearing Quintet: Ding Dong! Merrily on High (Trad. French, 16th century), from CD Christmas with the George Shearing Quintet, Telarc Don Thompson (vib) George Shearing (p) Reg Schwager (g) Neil Swainson (b) Dennis Mackrel (d) - April 7-9, 1998 A previous BFT hipped me to this CD which was my favouríte jazz Christmas album this season. It was a must to round up the disc with such a tune ..... Don Thompson's many talents include great vibes playing. Well, that's it. I'm curious for your new insights ..... Thanks again, and happy new year!

The main theme of this BFT was, easily detected, the vibes in jazz, modern, that is. Originally I had pretty ambitious plans, like having some rare Cal Tjader on every other track, or compiling a bonus disc with all Tjader rarities, but lack of time and a feeling that this might be a little over-ambitious made me change my mind. I also had to drop a lot of tracks off my list, otherwise it would have been a double disc, but who knows what I will do when it's my next turn ... Two sub-themes linger among the tracks I selected: 1) the influence of the Modern Jazz Quartet with its peculiar balance of arrangement and improvisation, and 2) the influence of Milt Jackson. Do we think of the MJQ just because it's vibes/piano/bass/drums or because of the way the music is presented? What I found very nice was that your guesses brought other possible influences between vibists - you will understand as you read the answers. Thanks a lot for taking your time and your inspiration! 1 - Fats Sadi - Sadisme (Boland), from Fats Sadi's Combo : Vogue 10-inch LP, licensed to Blue Note Roger Guerin (tp,tu) Nat Peck (tb) Jean Aldegon (b-cl) Bobby Jaspar (ts) Fats Sadi (vib) Maurice Vander (p) Jean-Marie Ingrand (b) Jean-Louis Viale (d) Francy Boland (arr) - Paris, France, May 8, 1954 One of you suggested Hamp - Sadi may have been exposed to him more than to Bags. Maybe the heavy rhythmic focus of the piece adds to this impression: Boland always had astrong rhythmic component in his writing. I, for one, love this style. The Boland/Sadi connection goes back to 1949. Because many of the board are serious Blue Note collectors I thought this would be an easy one ... Sadi uses rather hard mallets, no vibrato, is a less lyrical but rather hard swinging, rhythmic vibist. 2 - Don Ellis with Al Francis: Four And Three (Ellis), from New Ideas, New Jazz LP, CD reissue on Original Jazz Classics Don Ellis (tp) Al Francis (vib) Jaki Byard (p) Ron Carter (b) Charlie Persip (d) - Englewood Cliffs, N.J., May 11, 1961 This is Al Francis's only recording besides an extremely rare trio session from 1986. A great talent ... I love the open, spacy feel of this, the 7/4 time, and I love Don Ellis - I think his early combo albums are all fantastic. He was an exciting trumpet player. 3 - Mike Mainieri - Blues On The Other Side, from Argo LP Blues on the other side Mike Mainieri (vib) Bruce Martin (p) Julius Ruggiero (b) Joe Porcaro (d) - New York, September 5, 1962 Now this is one of the tracks that clearly show the Bags/MJQ influence. Mainieri was and is an accomplished jazz soloist. This was his first own album after a long stint with Buddy Rich, among others. 4 - Geoff Keezer with Steve Nelson: Headed Off At The Pass (Keezer), from Here And Now, Blue Note CD Geoffrey Keezer (p) Steve Nelson (vib) Peter Washington (b) Billy Higgins (d) - New York, October 3-4, 1990 Kezzer absorbed many influences, McCoy Tyner is only one of them. I love the close vibes/piano interaction here, both are soloing more or less at the same time. This is rarely done and takes good ears. It's rather busy, of course, but I think they do it well. I admire Keezer a lot, who has a special thing with vibes players - after Nelson it was and is Joe Locke (no room for him on this BFT disc.) This may be one of the 1990's Blue Note discs many of you passed on ... 5 - Buddy Montgomery w. Melvin Rhyne: Beautiful Love, from Impulse LP This Rather Than That Buddy Montgomery (vib) Melvin Rhyne (org) Jimmy Rowser (b) George Brown (d) - Chicago, September 10-11, 1969 Buddy was a real good vibist besides being a seriously Bud Powell inspired piano player. I had several Mastersounds tracks in mind but stuck with this one as there are so few vibes tracks with organ, it's a very rare LP, and Rhyne is another favourite. 6 - Flip Philipp / Ed Partyka Octet: Out Of Work (Philipp), from CD Offtime, ATS Records Flip Philipp (vib, arr) Ed Partyka (b-tb) Jure Pukl (ts) Daniel Nösig (tp) Heinrich Bruckner (frh) Adrian Mears (tb) Milan Nikolic (b) Christian Saalfellner (d) - Stockerau, Austria, February 14-16, 2011 Seeing this band live a few years ago in Vienna during a day off on a tour was probably the most fun live jazz gig I ever witnessed. I've been a fan of this band ever since. They can't make a living from it, just meet every (or every other) year, storm brains about their tunes and who they want to play them with, write the stuff, rehearse it, play a gig or two and record it. This is from their latest. I love their deep sense of humour, the way they draw inspiration from many combos of that size in jazz history (Mingus and Teddy Charles have been mentioned) etc. Highly recommended. You can get the CDs from Flip Philipp directly: http://www.flip-philipp.at 7 - Christopher Dell: The World We Knew (Over And Over) (Bert Kaempfert), from CD The World We Knew, Act Christopher Dell (vib) Carsten Daerr (p) Oliver Potratz (b) Eric Schaefer (d) This CD made quite a stir when it was issued - tribute albums were (and still are) en vogue, and doing all Kaempfert tunes (he was really big over here) was an offbeat idea. Dell even got Kaempfert's old guitarist Ladi Geisler to participate. I was surprised that a Canadian board member knew Dell! 8 - Walt Dickerson: Elizabeth (Dickerson), from LP This Is Walt Dickerson! (New Jazz/OJC) Walt Dickerson (vib) Austin Crowe (p) Bob Lewis (b) Andrew Cyrille (d) - Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 7, 1961 This is a great ballad, making one think it is an old, beautiful standard tune. No need to say much about Dickerson. 9 - Paul Bley with Dave Pike: O Plus One (Carla Borg i.e. Bley), from LP Solemn Meditation, GNP Crescendo (Fresh Sound reissue) Paul Bley (p) Dave Pike (vib) Charlie Haden (vib) Lennie McBrowne (d) - Hollywood, August 21, 1957 Bley early in his career, clearly MJQ inspired, but on his own way already. Would you have thought this is Pike? I find it very interesting what players like Pike and Mainieri did early in their careers.

Nope.

By now nearly all of the vibists I had to exclude have been mentioned - otherwise it would have been a double disc.

I'm down with a sore throat but will post the answers on December 30 - some surprises are still left.

These two would be likely candidates for me as well. Lester Young is desert Island stuff, but as I was rather late into Pres in my listening career, his recordings are not old slippers for me.

I first heard Lateef's Prestige and Savoy albums which were availabke cheaply as twofers back then, although I hated their sometimes scattered compilations over several sessions. Liked his playing on the spot. But what made me love him was his intense flute on The Gentle Giant ....

Some nostalgic emotions are simply too strong to get over. When he cites “Sitting in a room, alone, listening to a CD is to be lonely. Sitting in a room alone with an LP crackling away … is enjoying the sublime state of solitude.", that says it all.

I missed this nice thread the first time around, too .... My one old pair probably is the Modern Jazz Quartet's European Concert.

Indeed! I love Lambert, and Hendricks .... any idea who all the singers were?

Sorry, no ....

It is Nelson, but not Miller.

Brother Yusef is gone .........

DL, please, and the alternate of Mutton Leg ...

The last of the many great Americans in Europe are leaving us ... R.I.P.

Yes, a heartily welcome - great first take. It's so hard identifying vibists - you will see when the answers are posted. For me these blindfold tests are not just abot guessing who plays, but how one thinks about the music, which is very, very interesting with this compilation. Really. Kudos to JSngry for recognizing # 15, and # 2. # 10 is early Shearing, but it's not Denzil Best - Jim R identified this one. The last track is Shearing, too. .... but you're all mislead about the rest .... Seems the two sub-concepts I had in mind seem to work. I will wait until December 30 with the answers.

Since the guessing seems to have gone to rest: Do you want the answers before or after Christmas?

AFAIK Alzheimer patients are not aware of the totality of their desease, so he could be irritated but still lead a good life, subjectively.

Another great one gone ..... too many this year, especially pianists. I bought his autobiography only a few weeks ago, didn't find the time to read it so far. There was a time when I listened to some of his Blue Note sides every day and hummed along. His tunes were jazz in the truest sense of the word. I even love his later Blue Notes with electric piano, vocals, and larger bands - have them all. He left us so much music with a truly positive message - who's gonna do this now? R.I.P. in the eternal nitty gritty, while we grind on in the earthly domains. Thanks for everything. p.s. just a rumor? Wouldn't be the first time - even Haydn was announced dead in his later years. Hope he's well and enjoying his days.

You're right - that band was better than many think. The tracks are short, but always substantial. The list of vibists that paid dues with this bandleader is about as long as that of trumpet and sax players with Blakey or Silver.

Thanks for linking that long list - too long. What really made me sad was the passing of Steve Berrios, which was news to me - He was one of the first to play trap drums and timbales equally well.