mikeweil

... and that includes me, for sure!

I don't have the time right now to type out all the Stitt/Patterson sessions, and the layout is ruined if I copy and paste it from my Don Patterson discography, which is a .doc file in its current state - anybody wanting this pretty much complete Patterson disco may send me an e-mail to miguelito54@gmx.net and I will send the file. I find Sangrey's remarks very fitting about the Varitone in this context - I like Stitt as much with it as I do without - like on his Impulse sessions. But let's - PLEASE !!! - give some credit to Patterson - he was real BAAAD!!! Take his solo on Starry Nights on this CD, all chords, with a registration any other organist would use only for one chorus - it's pure passion and so expressive, it has me calling out YEAH! YEAH! all the time when I listen to this - absolutely grand! I will trade any five Jimmy Smiths for one Patterson. (You can ban me from the board for this ) Patterson was one of the greatest, period. And Billy James! Usually I hate it when a drummer plays simple eighth notes on rock or bossa beats, but Billy's sound great. Five stars - no: five thousand stars for this!!

If you buy the Prestige Monk Box, you get the complete session on one disc, although not in recording order (wonder why they missed out on this), and other splendid Monk - If you want to buy these, I would seriously consider the box, which has excellent sound. I always wondered who thought up this lineup - that Bags was familiar with Monk's comping is no wonder after their previous recording sessions together (Blue Note). But I think Miles should have been a bit more flexible and let Monk comp - a challenge for his ego, though. Not simple support, but strong contrast. Too bad they were on totally different paths at the time of this session. That famous silence in Monk's solo in The Man I Love sounds to me like he was thinking about his solo and/or was dissatisfied - the next take he knew where he wanted to go.

No, the blow was towards ubu - some fun exchange. "darstardly" is too harsh a word to use. But each to his own taste.

Most of the baroque music releases on period instruments are very good. If you like lute music, Robert Barto's attempted complete recording of the lute pieces of Sylvius Leopold Weiss (Bach transcribed one of his cello suites for him when he visited Leipzig) is a reference recording. Maria Kliegel's cello recordings are world class. There are good and bad, as with any other label. For a low price recording of orchestral works by Beethoven or Strauss I'd rather recommend David Zinman's CDs on Arte Nova, BMG's cheapo label - they followed Naxos closely and have some great people, too.

Who's calling me postings "dastardly"?! Let's go out and fight, you dastard!

Connection is Don Ellis' take on pop tunes - Jesus Christ Superstar in 7/4 and the like, but the originals by Ellis, Hank Levy or Dick Halligan are the best. Imagine Ellis go Blood, Sweat & Tears, and you get an idea. It was basically the same band that had recorded Tears of Joy - He had developped a new section concept: Brass (trumpet, trombones, french horn and tuba), woodwinds, strings (amplified) and rhythms (piano, guitar, bass and expanded percussion). The band is lively and experimental on this, I would recommend it - they were a great live band. Milcho Leviev plays a Blues in Elf (eleven) qoting the Moonlight Sonata - great fun. Hopefully they will do Don Ellis at Fillmore later.

Sorry, but this goes beyond what a critic or author of liner notes is allowed to say, IMHO. It was the artists' decision, not the producers', to use the varitone. 40 years after the electric revolution in jazz, some still haven't learned a thing.

I never heard Stitt play the Varitone (or else) in person, but I did see Eddie Harris, who used a number of self-designed attachments besides the Varitone to enhance and diversify his sound - in no way did it obscure his musical personality. I can understand what these people say: If you would record the sax only with a direct input from the varitone, it would be true, but so the recorded sound is a mix of the natural sound and the Varitone. I always thought it fitted Stitt's swing and smooth phrasing very nicely. The personality of a sax player is partly his sound, but also his choice of notes, his phrasing and rhythmic conceptiopn, and this is not affected by the Varitone - that is why you still recognize them in spite of the Varitone. Harris appreciated another aspect of it: Due to the slight amplification he did not have to exert himself as much. If these players wouldn't have liked it, they wouldn't have used it - even Coltrane tried it. Perhaps it is different today, where sax miking is vastly improved. I found it very hip - for guitarists it is "natural" to use pickups and stuff - why not for saxophonists. I saw Wolfgang Puschnig use effects like wah-wah, echo and phasers to great effect, Steve Hall did the same on a Kevin Hays Blue Note CD. If one dislikes it, okay, but there's no reason for a generalized putdown.

C'mon, it's not that bad! His swing and phrasing come very nicely with the Varitone. So let's discuss Stitt/Patterson in general, as I suggested. I will post a list of all sessions and CDs later today. (My Patterson disco is too large to attach the file here.)

Somehow Metheny never really got me. I have kept only the disc with Holland and Haynes, have it spinning as I write this, but although I can appreciate his competence, his playing leaves me a bit cold. But I can see that it is very interesting from a guitar player's view. I was anxious to hear the trio with Grenadier and Stewart, but I find the latter plays much more daringly with Goldings or others. I wish his tone would be a little more personal, like Peter Bernstein's or Jim hall's. Just me, of course - I'm not that much of a guitar freak, in spite of the fact that I often wound up playing with them, and some very good ones, too.

I'm looking to this thread closely and carefully, and will post answers right on mikeweil signal. I'd say it depends on two aspects: 1) how many of the US emergency disc receivers still want to post their comments? (please, tell us!) 2) with Christmas approaching, will participants find enough time to listen to and comment on Big Al's discs - they surely deserve it! I'm afraid all will be pretty busy for the rest of the week. Whaddya think, fellow BFTers?

As wonderful as this is - shouldn't these instruments be played to stay in shape? I know that classical violins deteriorate pretty fast when they are just lying around. And didn't Dexter Gordon inherit Ben Webster's main horn?

I bought LP copies of both Nessa albums back then - and I still love them! A perfect introduction to one of the most original tenors around.

Excellent selection! Stitt and Patterson were a great team - Patterson always coaxed out the best in Stitt. Grant Green fits in fine here, too, and Billy James could accompany Patterson like no other drummer. I'd recommend all Stitt/Patterson discs - perhaps we could expand this to a general Stitt/Patterson discussion?

I suspect several US participants are still waiting for their disc and should have a chance to post their comments.

Some of the CDs I saw had tracks by the same artists previously issued on Xanadu anthologies, or single tracks from sideman dates.

Look here for a bigger reproduction ...

... and, of course, a big thanks to everybody for the input - makes the decision process a bit easier.

I think I will try something like this next year as soon as funds allow. Of course I'd like to join the tube league, and have a great dealer in a nearby town, but .....

Bebop piano lives! Long live Barry Harris!!!!

That was the 1979 edition of the Headhunters: Herbie, Webster Lewis, Paul Jackson, Alphonze Mouzon, Ray Obiedo, Bennie Maupin & Bill Summers - they recorded a direct-cutting LP in Tokyo at the same time, Direct Step, that was a Japan-only release, as were the 1994 SONY CD's. I have only part of the session with the Japanese vocalist - Herbie sings with her aided by the vocoders he endorsed at the time. Her voice is a acquired taste - some modern soul kitsch. Al Mouzon spoils both albums with monotonous disco bass drum thumping. If there was a mix without the voices and drums, I'd go for it ...

Horace Silver - because his sessions always featured a working band, not just a studio lineup - and he composed all of the stuff, too. With this in mind, Blakey comes in 2nd - but he was with other labels in between and was not a composer. Being with one label for such a long time span, and being such a great bandleader and composer at the same time, makes Horace unique.

I should add: Only now that some see a threat to that enormous catalog, the eyes of many a jazz fan pop open and see what they have missed due to the Blue Note bias. OTOH - if so many of you start buying these CDs all of a sudden, the increased sales could help to keep them in print.