ValerieB

whoa!! thank you so much for sharing, allen. absolutely fascinating to read your piece, on so many levels! i have the book but haven't read it yet.

absolutely! bravo to peter!

Kurt is a really nice guy and works hard at his version of the "art form". Not my "cup of tea" as he found out 15 years ago when I said something like "I don't do vocalists". Then he signed with BN - says something about my "commercial" vision. Jazz vocal fans should check him out. Point of reference - I think Mark Murphy is silly. he used to not be my "cup of tea" but i have warmed to him considerably since he changed his style in recent times. he really does seem like a nice guy even when under a lot of pressure as he was last year when i observed him at the monterey jazz festival over the entire weekend. he definitely kept his cool and his chops!

saw him last year and he didn't look well but he was always a favorite of mine. he also looked like he was a very sweet person. you'll be missed, tom. rest well. you had a magnificent run.

amen to that, marcello. as far as i know, she is teaching and still studying. working on yet another degree! (Ph.D. Candidate, History (African Diaspora), New York University Senior Interviewer and Jazz Researcher, Bronx African American History Project, Fordham University) i believe her son, woody, is also working on a second masters degree. she continues to be an amazing woman.

and do you really think that he didn't give her plenty of reasons to be stomping around?!?! i cannot imagine living with someone like him, from everything i've heard anyway. and, believe me, i am a total fan of his talent.

One night when I was there the next table was occupied by Sue and Charles Mingus. They were eating dinner. On another night I was with Michael Cuscuna, Maxine Gregg, Shirley Seltser (sp?) and Dexter Gordon. I'm sure all the conversations messed with the music. as in maxine gregg/maxine shaw/maxine gordon!!

whether freddie is up to it or not is almost a non-issue. this is a tribute to him by some fabulous musicians who know and love him. i'm sure it will be a great evening and i just wish i could be there!

you'll never guess where i used to hear him play: tony roma's rib joint in palm springs. it was decades ago though.

He lives in Lake Mary, Florida. thanks, soul stream!

i may have missed this info but does anyone know where he is these days?

i used to go to hear a guy by that name sing and play piano in palm springs decades ago!

the following was part of an e-mail to me from herbie hancock on tour in australia. posted with his permission: A great loss and a huge source of encouragement to me in Chicago when I was coming up on that scene. He'll live on in me and in others as that continued source. I last saw Andrew when he and I were among the judges at the piano competition for the Monk Institute last Sept. He was as sharp as ever even though there wasn't much sound coming from his voice. He also looked great, not at all like 75 years old. Herbie

i was fortunate to have heard him live on many occasions in the '60s - mostly in ny but one night in sf as well. he actually was on a double bill with cannonball in sf. my strongest memory of that evening was at one point standing at the back of the room listening to cannonball and coltrane standing next to me. i didn't think i would be able to breathe, my heart was pounding so. i have never felt a stronger "vibe" emanating from anyone in my entire life! i remember his music being very well received that evening and my disbelief at the performances, especially his and elvin's. they were other-worldly to me and i was absolutely incredulous.

Hi Valerie, No, I was. a thousand pardons for the faux pas. Duh!! I remember Bish's poem's quite well! i'm glad to say that i have a bunch of them which i treasure!

was walter bishop on that european tour, michael? he is remembered by many as a chronic pun-master as well. some good examples of that are his jazz poems about those bugs like max the roach!

you've named some of my favorites!

what an incredible life she lived! i actually saw her last year at her one-woman show. marvelous life force! http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/theater/...amp;oref=slogin

KJZZ announced this morning that services will be held for Herman on Wed., 4/25 at the Crenshaw Christian Center at 12 noon. i believe the address is 7901 South Vermont.

FROM L.A. WEEKLY WRITER, BRICK WAHL Saxophonist Herman Riley died this weekend. My favorite ever piece of writing I ever did in the Weekly was about Herman Riley. Thought I'd repeat it here. It was the result of an incredible half hour interview, Herman just spinning out his life story. It was so hard to boil down to its very essence. But then I thought about how he did that in his playing, and the words just rolled out. When he read it he told me that it was one of the first times he had ever seen anything in print about him. Just about him. I couldn't believe that this man, this extraordinary saxophonist, had been ignored by the jazz media who really ought to know better. This man deservred reams of coverage. But getting 200 words and a picture made him happy. He left a phone message I still treasure afterward. I don't think a writer knows what to do then. You dash off a few words about a man, a man's artistry, a man's life and more people read that than have probably ever heard this man front a quartet. A couple hundred words are absolutely nothing. Not a damn thing. They didn't even draw a crowd....Charlie O's was sparse that night. I didn't even show. This town never did realize just how extraordinary Herman Riley was. How he could move you. How you could get utterly lost in his ballad playing. His notes fade away into memory. And when we go, the memories go. God damn I am bummed. I once I asked him when he was going to record again. He only had a single album released sometime in the '80's and impossibly to find. He said he was thinking about it, but wanted to wait until he was ready. Oh well. Rest in peace, Mr. Riley. I can hear you now in my head, stretching out the notes of a ballad, till nothing remained but air and a room stilled, listening, feeling your feelings in their bones . Brick LA Weekly HERMAN RILEY Lockjaw and Prez made him pick up the saxophone. This was New Orleans. There was a teenaged "Iko, IKo", the very first. By '63 he's in L.A., playing Marty's every night, and players-Sonny Rollins, everybody-dropping by, sitting in. Steady work with Basie and the Juggernaut and Blue Mitchell. Twenty years with Jimmy Smith. A million sessions for Motown and Stax, and first call for a slew of singers-that's where you refine those ballad skills, with singers. Live he slips into "In A Sentimental Mood" and everything around you dissolves. There's just his sound, rich, big, full of history, a little bitter, maybe, blowing Crescent City air. He gets inside the very essence of that tune, those melancholy ascending notes, till it fades, pads closing, in a long, drawn out sigh. You swear it's the most beautiful thing you've ever heard, that song, that sound, and you tell him so. He shrugs. "It's a lifetime of experience" he says, then calls out some Monk and is gone. -Brick Wahl

Tenorman, Herman Riley's passing yesterday was an enormous loss for the entire jazz community but to Los Angeles even more so. He was/is one of our very favorite musicians as he excelled, beyond par, on his instruments and was a warm, loving, sweet, generous human being. And no one was a more soulful musician. Herman was only 73 and had been battling various medical problems for quite awhile, but even within the last month was still playing his butt off!! I will post the obit when it is available.

just looking at some of the pictures in the book show that she was pretty damn attractive with great taste (in other than jazz as well)! mention of the west end cafe certainly brings back lots of very pleasant memories for me. i worked for the college board in the '60s at 475 riverside drive and then at 113th and broadway. wonderful times!

Done -_- lorraine and i thank you!

can you change to subject line to read "Lorraine" instead of "Elaine"? i enjoyed the book very much although it's not any literary masterpiece. it's just like her -- very forthright, honest and down-to-earth. since i lived in ny during the '60s, i remember max very well. in fact, he autographed his autobiography to me.

that picture of mr. robinson in today's l.a. times crying while the national anthem played at his last game a few years back is incredibly poignant. a special man, for sure!