mikeweil

I have been following the reports on this catastrophe from the first day, and these were my thoughts exactly. We had devastating floods here in Germany over the last few years, and the government was critized, but It seems to me it wasn't that bad on both sides - the damage and the organization of help. My thoughts and prayers are with the people down there, but I am almost more astonished at the helplessless of the government - they knew this could happen, no emergency plans at all? How was this handled in Florida and other places?

Haven't read all of it, but this is wrong, methinks: Willie Bobo never played with Shearing, to my knowledge, Bill Clark was the drummer Cal Tjader was in Shearing's band. Al Mc Kibbon was on bass, and was in Tjader's band when Mongo and Bobo joined. Shearing was recording for MGM at the time, and the liner credits are a mess. But AFAIK they never mention Bobo. Those Capitol LPs are not that bad, after all, there is a reasonably priced two-CD reissue by British EMI - no credits on them - I could type up the personnel if anybody's insterested.

Crawford doesn't solo on the Great Ray Charles disc, it is all Fathead. Jimmy Forrest is on the "Soul sessions", as are Pettiford, Burrell, Skeeter Best (who rarely takes a solo on other albums!), Percy Heath, Connie Kay, and Arthur Taylor. I bought these CDs right away when they were released and spin them quite often.

Don't have the time to check all of this right now - Calloway is not among them, but perhaps the song. The discography as such could shed a light on which Cuban percussionists were active in New York at the time.

I had one Buddy Bolden cylinder a long time ago but it broke when I tried to play it in the wrong machine I'll skip the Complete Mosaic box if and when it finally appears but may give a try to the Definitive Buddy Bolden set from the Disconforme people which will follow ←

No, that was a Toshiba owned label - Blue Note or Mosaic could easily get access to these, who are nice, but they are only a handful IIRC. I have a Barry Harris with Charles Greenlee as "The Detroit Four". There was a Paul Jackson funk LP which was reissued on CD - a friend of mine has it.

Oh how I envy you - great stories! How about a CD series of that music "Christiern Jazz"?

IIRC the latest version of the OJC reissue CD includes both takes. ← It's not there at emusic, which is the limited edition OJC. At least that's what the pic's of... ← You're right - I should have looked it up first. Is this take listed in the Prestige discography? It is not included in the Miles Davis Chronicle!

Same here! Others I never heard are the Eddie Gales, the Kenny Coxes, the Reuben Wilsons, some of the Three Sounds albums - not too many, it seems.

I love it. It is very sincere, Griffin's playing is as heartfelt as can be - judging from his solos here, he must have adored Lady Day - the arrangements are sensitive and played with love and care - one of the best tribute albums I have. It is strings and brass, some nice short Clark Terry, Nat Adderley, and Jimmy Cleveland solos thrown in for good measure. The strings do not dominate but are integrated into the brass and rhythm in a very peculiar way. And note is is mostly only cellos, making for a very nice low-tinged and mellow sound - the violas are only on three tracks. All of the few Riverside albums with strings and/or orchestra are special!

I saw Don Ellis live with his very last big band, shortly before he died, and whatever it was that the believed in, he appeared as a man who believed in what he did and threw in everything that he had to make it come alive. The band was mostly rather young players, I recognized only Glenn Stuart and Chino Valdes from the earlier lineups, and it took a visionary dervish like Ellis to get them to playing the shit out of these charts. I was also very fortunate to hear an hour-long interview with him on AFN radio around the time the "Goes Underground" LP was released - he listed Stan Kenton, Harry James, Dizzy Gillespie and some others I cannot recall as his influences - I should have taken notes ..... but it was a list revealing that showmanship was as important to him as musical chops and dedication, and that he had one foot rooted deeply in the big band tradition, Ray McKinley, Harry James, Maynard Ferguson, and those people. What ever he did was sincere, and I love and respect him for that and for the self-effacing dedication to the music. I was interested in oriental music already when I first encountered his music at age 16, and it was counting through and analyzing the charts on "Autumn" that laid the basis for my abilty to play any type of meter. It certainly is a lot easier for us to point out his weak spots than it was for him to put his vision on stage. I had the impression that Columbia had a big hand in the way "Goes Underground" turned out to be - they tried to sell Ellis on the wave of the "Underground" music Columbia (and Clive Davis) were making huge money with, I remember tracks from "Shock Treatment" and "Goes Underground" appearing on samplers along with Big Brother & the Holding Company, Moby Grape, The Flock, The United States of America, Electric Flag, whoever Columbia had signed back then, and especially Blood, Sweat & Tears - if Ellis would have turned out to be the big band equivalent to them, the label would have been happy, and they sure tried hard. Having Al Kooper produce Ellis is more evidence in that direction. I think he loved the small group avant-garde stuff just as much, but when you try to lead a big band, you can't do both on that same high level. (edited for typo)

It seems I like the Duke .... 110 and counting.

Wasn't that Milford Graves playing timbales on some early 1960's Prestige record by Montego Joe? He and Andrew Cyrille really know their Latin stuff, both are very heavy cats.

..... not to mention Jerry Gonzales and Dizzy Gillespie .....

Something's telling me I'd certainly feel more comfortable as "regular folk" .....

IIRC the latest version of the OJC reissue CD includes both takes.

Never participated at AAJ, although I found it a great idea. How about one of the musicians on the board stepping in for starters?

Mongo Santamaria's Skins twofer has an edited version of Congo Blue. Cal Tjader's Here and There has Gary's Theme missing. Tjader's Descargas has the final theme from the Live at Funky Quarters album missing.

That "other" Candid album - wasn't that released as Out of Nowhere? Paul Bley and Steve Swallow are his partners here - this makes great comparison to the Jimmy Giuffre sesssions of the time. Ellis was a highly original trumpeter - that heavies like Mingus and Russell hired him speaks for itself. I can recommend them both - the other one which was released at the time has Jaki Byard, Ron Carter and Charli Persip.

I get Jim's point of view - I buy him more for the sidemen .....

Ca. 70 if I count all discs in box sets. If I had the money for all I'd like to have, it would be more than 100 ...

Spin - perfect, 'cause that's what we all do with 'em!