Daniel A

I think his solo on Morning Star is really good: I dig the part when he activates the Octavider. Yesterday, Laws said that he first played that tune with "Mongo Santamaria's Organization", like it was an enterprise rather than an orchestra, but maybe I misheard. Not that it matters, or is even plausible, but was he the first one to play flute with an Octavider on record?

No thread for Hubert Laws yet? Laws was brought out of what seems to be semi-retirement for a concert in Stockholm yesterday in a packed Konserthuset (apparently his first time in Sweden!). And he still has his technique and that wonderful tone. They did a big band version of one of my favorite tunes by anyone, "Morning Star", which was a respectful update own Laws' own first recording of the tune. Laws himself came out as a true gentleman, very humble and appreciative of both the audience and the other musicians and also shared personal reminiscenses in an honest fashion. He made many great recordings, but I can't help thinking that some really great soloing is not getting the appreciation it deserves simply because it was on CTI. Any thoughts on Hubert?

Dick Hyman?

My favourite tune title is probably "Will Success Spoil Rock 'n Roll" (apparently a play of words of the title of a movie I had never heard of).

Yes, it's a bit strange in that these odd titles are in disconnect with the more straightforward nature of the compositions and arrangements. The "classical" themes are jazzed up in a very west coast-ish manner. BTW, I had no idea that Niehaus scored all the movies that Clint Eastwood directed for a couple of decades.

Thanks, James!

Thanks for your reply, Jim. It sounds more like a late 50s recording than 1968. A few of the compositions are by John Graas who died a few years before 1968, if that means anything.

No, I would not think it was library music, but rather recordings of arrangements that were sold by Highland Music to facilitate the learning process for amateur orchestras. I'm just spinning the album for the first time, and these are very professionally played cuts with 3-4 minutes playing time, and some 1/2 to 1 chorus solos to balance off the tracks. Everything fits together like a "real" LP album. I am not able to identify any single musician; everything is very elegant and professional, but also somewhat faceless.

I recently found this LP featuring Lennie Niehaus octet arrangements. It is released by Highland Music Company as catalog no HM-1/HM-2. Since Highland Music released some of Lennie Niehaus scores, I assume this record was intended as a supplement to those. It is professionally recorded and pressed, but I can find no information about the players or year of recording (the back of the cover is plain white). Is anybody familiar with this?

Happy birthday, Mike!

Happy birthday, Hans!

The same seller has a Coltrane lead sheet at a much more attractive price: https://m.ebay.com/itm/JOHN-COLTRANE-THE-JEEP-IS-JUMPING-INSANELY-RARE-ORIG-MANUSCRIPT-WITH-DRAWING/173130960491?hash=item284f68ce6b:g:dDMAAOSwMORW7X-3

Not that it has much to do with the thread topic, but I've always found Kenny Cox' playing and compositions to have a melancholy streak far away from the stereotypical Blue Note sound. Maybe it could even be perceived as sounding "white"? Anyway, I love those two Blue Notes.

I have a quad Impulse title from about the same time (Ahmad Jamal 'Tranquility', AS-9238), a four-channel "remastered" release of the original ABC album. FWIW it plays back fine in stereo.

'Our Kinda Strauss' had previously unreleased tracks, I believe.

Is this a case where posts have been lost due to the server switch? Just a few days ago I saw a post by Claude Schlouch in this thread that the three KPM albums are now available as downloads at Amazon. For that matter they are also on Spotify and sound quality is good. So, what was recently a 1000 Euro record can now be streamed for free (if you already have a subscription). I am saving my 1000 Euro and will be enjoying the stream.

Piano trio from 1969 with Joe Sample: I think you'd like that one.

Or why not press LP:s of everything? They have a documented lifetime of at least 70 years...

While I applaud this concept and the suggested execution of the idea, a lot more care must go into controlling the listening choices. Bill Evans was known to rush; how swinging is that? Don Friedman's recordings with Attila Zoller; don't they display a poisonous tendency towards free and markedly un-swinging playing? Early Steve Kuhn is certainly dangerous, but he seems to stay on the right track since he started recording for Venus.

I'm so sad to hear this. His last post here was three weeks ago, in a thread regarding the passing of another forum member. Mark, you were a great guy. I miss you.

Still haven't seen this film, but it will apparently soon appear on TV over here. Not sure if this is really good news, but according to an interview with Casper Collin (in Swedish only; at least I haven't found any translation of that interview) Morgan's life will now be the subject of a full-fledged "Hollywood" biopic. He will apparently not be the director but wasn't allowed to elaborate.

Happy birthday!

Congrats, Jim!

I am not sure you followed this thread, but after reading it one is left with some doubts that Belden was 100 percent correct:

Different shots of Lee?