mikeweil

I bought Ron Horton's Genius Envy 'cause Jane Ira Bloom was on it, but was pleasantly surprised how good he was. Experienced the same with his work with Andrew Hill. I, too, will add that to my wish list.

I sure can relate to that!

So some didn't pick this up back then 'cause they expected something esle - why didn't they have a listen? The down beat review made me take a listen in the shop - all of these were great players I knew, and with Grolnick, whom I knew nothing about except that he was busy as a producer and had been on the first Brecker Brothers record ...... This guy has nothing to loose, I thought - and he did what he wanted, in a personal way, although I hear quite a bit of Mingus and many others in this album. Too bad he passed away so soon, before he could really explore all of his jazz ideas. And his choice of sidemen was exquisite!

These were about my thoughts after I had taken the LP home and listened to it. Duke Ellington is the only other musician I can think of that embraced the whole range of styles from traditional to freedom in such a natural way. I feel ashamed I didn't recognize this; I only parted with the LP as the CD had so many alternates - great alternates showing her skills as an improviser - but I'll never part with the CD.

Sorry I missed the discussion of this - I love Coles' playing, and always thought it was a shame he did only four albums as a leader, plus the co-led for Uptown in his latter days. Any discussion about his chops aside, he was a stylist - and that's what counts, from my perspective. He was in great form when he recorded this, and clearly in charge. Are there any recollections of how he was as a person?

http://www.emilrichards.com/

He immortalized that one when he recorded a piece called "Hagnes" in Sweden with Sahib Shihab.

Wish I could be there ....

The problem is, you have but ten choices available for a poll - I dig all of these just as well. I would have liked to list all of them .....

What Tjader have you heard? There are some that are real good, but some of the best Verve LPs - e.g. the Live at the Blackhawk - are oop. Tjader dug in as deep, but not with as many embellishments as others. But to play a melody as distinctively as he did - that's hard to do. With Bags I think sometimes the melody is almost obscured by his embellishments.

Free For All Birthdays!!!

Joe Henderson Renee Rosnes Kim Clarke Sylvia Cuenca

Roy Haynes is the epitome of being hip!

Looks like I will be the only one to not pin it down ...

I caught this band in a nearby town - Joe's all girl quartet - except for himself, of course. Renee was the best "girl" in the band. Her albums are very good, but I enjoy her the most on her husband Billy Drummond's records.

Why can't this happen with Tyrone Washington's famed session?

Received the Ayers today. Never heard the LP, but the CD sounds good. Not to speak of the music .....

Geoffrey Keezer - Here And Now

Thanks to y'all and Jim A. in particular for my first place to go whenever I turn on the internet! Happy Birthday! Live long and prosper!

Yeah, they're terrific! I timed my back journey from a Hamburg gig lat year to catch them in Frankfurt, and was not disappointed!

Is that available somewhere?

I have one of McNeil's SteepleChase LPs - remember it was pretty good. With Matt Wilson on hand, this sounds very interesting ..... Isn't Allan Chase married to singer Dominique Eade?

A look at my copy of the Fresh Sound vinyl confirms that Stardust is included. Sorry but neither LP cover nor label do list track timings, and I don't have the time to check them ...

On a general note: This hype about the RVG remasterings reminds me of Orrin Keepnews' attempts at remedeing production errors that occured at the sessions when he prepared reissues himself. Perhaps an engineer with a more neutral - I mean, less emotionally involved - approach to the tapes would yield better sounding results. The exitement when listening to this for the very first time cannot be relived, anyway.

..... and he's properly credited for engineering this on the CD inlay.