Peter Friedman

With just rare exceptions, I don't care for the sound of the soprano sax in jazz from the bebop period on. I am able to enjoy Zoot and Lucky Thompson on soprano, but much prefer to hear them on tenor. For some reason I find the use of soprano sax in traditional jazz to be far more acceptable to my ears.

My favorites include a few that were probably released in 2013. Listed in alphabetical order. Frank Basile Sextet - Modern Inventions - FBM Peter Bernstein with the Tilden Webb Trio - Cellar Live The Miles Black Trio with Grant Stewart - Cellar Live George Cables - Icons & Influences - High Note Harold Danko Quintet - Oatts & Perry III - Steeplechase Phil Dwyer & Don Thompson - Look For The Silver Lining - Triplet Steve Fishwick / Osian Roberts / Frank Basile / Albert Sanz / Dave Whitford / Matt Fishwick - When Night Falls - Hard Bop Benny Green Trio - Magic Beans - Sunntside Dexter Gordon - Candlelight Lady - Steeplechase Scott Hamilton - Live At Smalls - Smalls Live Tardo Hammer Trio - Simple Pleasure - Cellar Live David Hazeltine Quartet with Seamus Blake - For All We Know - Smoke Sessions Joe Magnarelli Quartet with Mulgrew Miller - Live At Smalls - Smalls Live Eric Reed - The Adventurous Monk - Savant Rossano Sportiello / Harry Allen / Joel Forbes - I Walk With Music : The Hoagy Carmichael Songbook - Harry Allen Lester Young - Boston 1950 - Uptown Peter Zak Trio - The Eternal Triangle - Steeplechase

Reading all the selections mentioned demonstrates that my taste is extremely different from a large number of those here. I purchase a significant number of jazz CDs, yet with the exception of a Duke Ellington recording mentioned by one person, I do not own nor have heard any of the others from any of the lists. As a lover of bebop, mainstream, and some traditional jazz, and some blues, it is highly doubtful that I would have much, if any, interest in the recordings listed thus far.

I had the Bert Dahlander LP at one time. It was not bad, but nothing exceptional either.

I tend to share this opinion about Coltrane's contributions on this recording. While somewhat interesting to hear him in this context, they just don"t fit well with the tunes and group. On the other hand I love Trane's playing with Miles on the various Columbia recordings.

I read an article in Jazz Journal a couple of days ago by Steve Voce that referred to the Miles Davis 4 CD set of broadcasts from the Paris - Olympia. The first 2 CDs were from March 21,1960 with Coltrane on tenor. The other 2 CDs are from October 11,1960 and have Sonny Stitt in place of Trane. What I found of particular interest is that the article stated that" today Sonny's work sounds much fresher and more vibrant than Trane's of the same period." That evaluation stuck me very much in opposition to the generally accepted viewpoint. So I located the set ( that I have not listed to in quite a few years) on my shelf , and played 1 CD with Coltrane and 1 CD with Stitt. I was surprised to find that I was in full agreement with the point made in the article.

But sometimes the quest continues in a different direction. Art Pepper comes to mind. I get the sense that the Coltrane influence , in particular, was responsible for his strong search ( or quest) in his later years. Some of what Larry described as meaningful hesitations compared to a more seamless solo seems more a part of Pepper's later playing. In some ways the same thing can be said about Lee Konitz. What I personally find interesting from this discussion is that I much prefer the earlier long flowing seamless lines of early Konitz to his heistating searching in his later playing. With Art pepper it is a bit more complicated for me. Overall I prefer Art's more seamless early solos, but every once in a while his more searching later solos grab me too.

"Kawa Power ' by Grant Stewart Quintet on CD titled - Shadow Of Your Smile - on Birds (Japanese)

Larry has done a nice job by showing Jackie's sessions by the year they were recorded. It makes it very clear that the albums i like the most are from 1959, 1960, and 1961.

This is just the kind of set for Mosaic. Often Mosaic sets include things that have already been reissued on CD. But the Bee Hive material has not, to my knowledge, shown up on CD anywhere. Another similar concept would be for Mosaic to put together a set of the many Xanadu sessions that have not made it to CD. Some Xanadu things were reissued on CD, but a large number have not.

My opinion regarding the Steeplechase albums is at odds with many of the others who posted here. I did not care much at all for the duet with Michael Carvin, New York Calling, Cosmic Brotherhood, Dr. Jackle, or Tune Up. Had them all at one time and disposed of them. The Steeplechase albums I do enjoy are - Live At Montmartre, A Ghetto Lullaby, Ode To Super and the two sessions with Dexter Gordon - The Meeting - The Source.

I was a relatively young jazz listener when I recall finding a copy of the original Ad Lib Jackie McLean LP in a small shop in Detroit. It had just been released. I liked it a lot then, and still do today though I now have a CD copy. Not long after I acquired the original McLean Prestige LPs as each one was issued. The intensity of Jackie's playing was something that thrilled me. My three favorite Prestige sessions by Jackie are - Lights Out - Jackie McLean & Co. - Jackie's Pal. I do also enjoy the other Prestige recordings by Jackie McLean as both leader and sideman. McLean was one of the first jazz musicians for whom I wanted to acquire every single album on which he appeared. I prefer the Prestige albums to those on Steeplechase, and I get as much pleasure from them as i do with most of the Blue Note sessions.

I saw this film at the Vail Jazz Party over this past Labor Day Weekend. It was terrific, and there was not a dry eye in the house.

Lady Be Good - Lester Young and Parker's Mood - Charlie Parker

Sounds like a terrific evening of music. Your comments on the venue reminds me a bit of the place where the chamber music series is held here in Tucson. A small concert hall with about 400 seats. The very best string quartets , piano trios, etc. come in every year from all over the world. When I moved to Tucson 16 years ago I would never have expected a small city to have such a world class chamber music series.

Back in the 60's when I was living in Detroit I saw the Bill Evans trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motion. Didn't care for LaFaro much at all. I do though very much like the Vanguard and other early Evans recordings, but would have preferred another bass player. It is Bill's playing that makes those early sessions so very very enjoyable to me. I also spent two evenings in a row at the Roundtowner Motel Lounge in Rochester, New York listening to Bill Evans with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell. Gomez bored me to tears with his very lengthy unswinging solos. Morrell was an ok timekeeper, but not the most interesting of drummers. I share the opinion expressed by John Tapscott regarding Philly Joe Jones. He was definitely my favorite drummer with Evans. The Quintessence session where Bill Evans plays with Harold Land, Kenny Burrell, Ray Brown and Philly Joe shows Bill in a different light as compared with his trio recordings. Wish he had recorded more often in that sort of context. But the bottom line for me is that Bill Evans recordings throughout his entire career continue to give me much wonderful listening.

Jim, how does what you said above relate to your comments about the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra in it's various periods?

Both. Albums are damn good !

Jim has summed up my opinion very well. I enjoyed all 3 periods of the Orchestra, but each was a bit different and the first was my favorite.

Back many many decades ago when I began my jazz collection of LPs, the name Rudy van Gelder was like the "Good House Keeping seal of approval". He is an extremely important person in the history of recorded jazz. I greatly respect his highly significant contributions to the music I love. Happy Birthday!

Her father was the first violinist of the Cleveland Quartet. That string quartet was in Residence at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York for many years. I had the good fortune to see/hear that quartet numerous times when I was living in the Rochester area.

I happen to like a number of different recordings of the Mozart Piano Concertos. Most recently I have been particularly positive about Rudolf Buchbinder's performances of many of the Mozart Concertos . One of the things I find interesting is to listen to a variety of interpretations of music I especially like, such as the Mozart Piano Concertos. I have recordings of one or more Mozart piano concertos by each of these pianists - Casadesus, Perahia, de Larrocha, Curzon Rubinstein, Moravec, Zacharias, Kovacevich, Gulda, Han, Brendel, Argerich, Fleischer, Kempff, Haskil, Istomin, Sudbin, Ashkenazy, Schnabel and Gilels. Mom's highly arrogant "I am the only one who knows the truth" attitude quickly gets annoying. He is entitled to his opinion, but that is just what it is, his opinion. His approach at times reminds me of a person trying to convince others that his religious views are the TRUTH ,and those with a different position are heretics. That gets old very quickly.

George Joyner's bass solos on the Red Garland Quintet sessions on Prestige bored me a lot. And with limited exceptions, I am not a big fan of very lengthy bass solos. As my preference is for bass players like George Tucker and Doug Watkins with a big woody swinging sound, I am not a big fan of Scott LaFaro. In some ways Scott moved bass playing (by some, thankfully not all) in a direction less appealing to me. A number of bass players want to turn their instruments into guitars which I generally find annoying. i like those low notes on the bass! For my taste, I liked Bill Evans best when playing with people like Sam Jones who could provide a solid bottom and swing the trio. By the same token, I much prefer Philly Jo Jones as the drummer with Bill Evans, though Joe LaBarbera also fit well with Evans.

Two Danish bass players have impressed me on a number of recordings - Mads Vinding and Jesper Lundgaard. I have seen Chuck Berghofer live many times, and he has always played beautifully.

Larry beat me to the punch mentioning George Tucker. I also very much enjoyed Leroy Vinnegar's big walking style bass playing. Among living bass players George Mraz is definitely one of my favorites.