mikeweil

Blame it on my headache .... I asked B3-er to edit, but he found out he can't do it: now here's the first flaw in this brilliant board software.

I just remembered Joe is playing on this rare bird: Paramount PAS 6061, released in 1973. He fits nicely into Manu Dibango's role on the title track, energetic and wild soloing! Marvin Stamm and Eddie Bert are the other horns; the album combines Olatunji's afro-beats with some funky shadings provided by Reggie Lucas and Gordon Edwards. One thing I always admired about Joe is how well he adapted to different, especially more "exotic" contexts: This encounter with African rhythms is as satisfying as his excurisons into Cuban (Canyon Lady), funky (Black Miracle) or exotic soundscapes (The Elements). On the latter I really like his tasteful use of overdubs and electronic attachments. Saw him live in Germany with some flamenco-jazz encounter project. He has an element of Northern African music in his sound and phrasing on these occasions.

Nothing wrong about Lewis' grunts! They are far less obtrusive than Jarrett's or Powell's, imho! I hardly noticed them, they're just a sign of him having a good time - that's a soulful human being playing and swinging, not a zen monk!

He plays acoustic piano on all tracks, he overdubbed some electric piano and/or organ on some, but not all - I'd have to give it a closer listen to give the number. After a first listen I asked myself: Now where are the other keyboards? I mean, they not obtrusive in any way, used as a color more than anything else, but to very good effect.

Thanks a lot, your warning saves me EUR 70 including postage & packing, which I just invested in a sealed copy of the Duke Ellington Centennial 24 CD box at Ebay Germany. It seems all German jazz fans are on vacation, there was only one other bid, and I got it for EUR 75

Thanks for the input. - I saw an offer for a used copy for the reader, which is out of print, I think I will try and get it. Has anybody read the book by Frank Buechmann-Moeller, "You just fight for your life", which got good reviews in Europe? It is still available over here, but at around EURO 65, I'd like to hear some opinions before I invest ...

Now what would the Prez experts on this board recommend for reading about Lester Young? I have Lewis Porter's first book from 1985, but would like to have more detailed biographical information.

30 years later I still profit from my Latin courses in high school: it was the basis for so many European languages that developped as mutations of it: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Romanian ... it helps me a lot to read these languages and understand a substantial part of them even though I never learned them proper. Ignoring Latin would be like learning jazz without ever taking notice of the basics Satchmo and Hawk introduced ....

Make that an alto sax poll, I'll vote for Bird anyway ...

Very well said John!!! You don't know how hard it was for me to leave off Sam Rivers, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Hank Mobley, Illinois Jacquet ........ I was just curious. I like to put the hard questions ... I too think that without Hawk and Prez all others wouldn't be the same. I simply think that Lester is so much more enchanting and inventive than Hawk. Glad you like Lucky, he was my favourite before I really started to dig into Prez' work. Right now my very subjective top would be Lester Young, followed by Lucky Thompson, but during the last months I listened to Paul Quinichette a lot. But there were times when I listened to Coltrane, Mobley, Kirk or Henderson every day.

The beautiful Euphoria CD with Kenny Burrell's instrumental session for Columbia includes a previously unissued track, credited to Burrell, How Could You (track 13), which to me sounds like some piece of Ellingtonia, but right now I don't have the time to check it, maybe someone recognizes the tune instantly? BTW, the session credits have two minor mistakes: - Track 8 Mambo Twist was in fact on the Columbia LP Bluesin' Around; Jim Fisch's liner notes have that correct - Track 13, How Could You, has a wrong matrix number, CO68766 is correct.

Who was, in your opinion, the most influential, innovative, in short: the greatest tenor player of them all? Not necessarily your favourite, but the greatest?

Yeah, and they didn't have the ears to recognize identical solos! Shame on them. That whole Savoy reissue policy Denon displayed was ridiculous, imho, some with bonus tracks, but most without, discographical errors by the dozen ... the new reissues Keepnews compiles are a little better, at least they are discographically correct, but the cover design is as horrible as ever.

Chicago, April 2, 1950 Lester Young tenor sax Jesse Drakes trumpet (plays not on Pennies Kenny Drew piano possibly Joe Shulman bass (as remembered by Drew) Jo Jones drums Tracks: 1. Lester Warms Up (Up and Adam) 2. I Can't Get Started 3. Lester's Blues, No. 1 (Big Eyes Blues) 4. Lester's Blues, No. 2 (Neenah) 5. Body and Soul 6. Up and Atom (Lester's Mop Mop Blues) 7. How High the Moon 8. Pennies from Heaven 9. One O'Clock Jump (One O'Clock Blues) 10. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid 11. One O'Clock Jump * 12. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid * First issue was Savoy MG 12155. It was reissued with changing LP titles. * denotes the bonus tracks on Savoy/Denon SV-0180. Titles in brackets () are the correct ones according to the liner of the recent Savoy two CD reissue SVY 17122 Lester Young: The Complete Savoy Recordings, which includes the four studio sessions in toto as well as this live recording, but not the two bonus tracks.

As far as I can see there was a mix up of tune titles when the Debut 10" LPs were reassembled for the 12" issues. So maybe Pepper Adams used the falsely attributed title from the LP he had. Or he was right, if he got the lead sheet from Thad - which is not all that unlikely - and the LP has it wrong ....

I got the Complete Lester Young Savoy double CD today, it doesn't include the two bonus tracks Denon included on their CD issue (SV-0180) of the Jazz Immortal album: One o'clock Jump 6:16 and Jumpin' with Symphony Sid 3:57 (Chicago live date from April 2, 1950). What Lester plays at the beginning of these two bonus tracks is virtually identical to the originally issued takes, to my ears, so could they be identical? The bonus version of Jumpin' and edited take? Any help is greatly appreciated!

I suspect the tap was leaking when they discovered them .....

..... it will be delivered to my doorstep tomorrow. I ordered on July 22, surface mail to Germany, and it's already here. Incredibly fast service. Now I know what' gonna sweeten my deskwork .....

The latest Bruyninckx CD I have doesn't allow copy and paste either! - the one before did. As I understand it he's afraid of others copying and selling the disco at his expenses, which is okay. Sometimes I think it would be much more convenient to have the discos online and pay an annual fee for using them, password protected etc. Updates would be easier, or you could pay only for what you download, or whatever. For me this would be the third step after printed books and CDROMs.

Thanks Mike for your comments, as usual an indispensable source of information ... I compared the photos to some of Columbia's studio on other LPs, it could well have been the same room. The distortion in the cello sound may well come from the amplification Pettiford used at the time, a similar problem to that with some guitar amps. It is heard on my issue as well, and on other recordings Pettiford made around that time.

If the Candid LP was to be included in the originally planned Max Roach Verve box set, did they have to license it or does Verve or whoever owns it right now have the rights to the Candid label? Or who DOES own Candid right now?

Tonight I had the pleasure to listen to master drummer Al Foster's quartet, with Eli Degibri on soprano and tenor saxes, Kevin Hayes on piano and Doug Weiss on bass. Hayes, Weiss and Foster are a helluva rhythm section. Did anybody hear them in the US? This is at least their third European tour, and their two CDs are on European labels as well: This CD has Dave Kikowski playing piano. Seems to me like another case of an American jazz master without a record contract ... Although it's Potter's CD, it's Al's band .....

It was favorably reviewed in the July/August issue of Jazz Times. Any other opinions, please?

Ted Curson recorded a nice LP with Bill Barron, Herb Bushler and Dick Berk for Fontana, if I remember correctly. I've always the Steve Lacy LP with Don Cherry. Of course the few tracks Coltrane did with Steve Davis and Elvin on the Atlantic Plays the Blues album.

For my taste, Jackson's strongest playing besides his own two sessions on the Connoisseur CD is on Baby Face Willette's Face to face, also a Connoisseur CD. Besides, Willette is a more original organist than Van Dyke. Or perhaps I prefer his more boppish approach ...