Peter Friedman

Way back in the early to mid-1950's I went to a JATP concert in Detroit. One set featured a trumpet battle between Roy Eldridge and Charlie Shavers. Though this was when I was just in the early stages of becoming a jazz fan, my preference , by a slight margin was for Roy. Shavers demonstrated a lot of technical skill and played very well, but Roy had the special jazz feeling that moved him into the winners circle for me.

Though not a piano trio session, Sonny Stitt recorded an album (a quartet) with Sadik Hakim on piano. It is on Progressive and was reissued on CD. My opinion of that one is similar to my viewpoint regarding Sadik's trio date on Steeplechase.

A great jazz musician. Hearing his trumpet at it's best can raise goosebumps on the back of your neck. Though I have to disagree with Milestones post on Roy's vocals. I love them. He recorded a vocal album on Pablo after he was told by his doctors not to play the trumpet any more. It is a session that never fails to bring a wide smile to my face.

My opinion is exactly the same as Ubu. Am away from home on vacation so can 't play my copy, but my recollection is just as he said, "good not great".

Yes, a definite winner in my book. Not sure if I remember correctly, but seem to recall some less than enthusiastic reviews when it was first released. Most of Dexter's recordings are loose swinging sessions. "Sophisticated Giant" allows us to hear him in a rather different setting. I have very much enjoyed Slide Hampton's arrangements in a broad variety of big bands and smaller groups.

"Bag's Opus" has long been a session I dug a lot. This thread gives me a good reason to pull the CD off the shelf and listen to it again.

I believe that Will Davis is the pianist on the very good Kenny Burrell album on Prestige titled "Soul Call".

It was John Maher who was the pianist with Coltrane on the Roulette session. Another rather obscure pianist is Billy Gardner.I always enjoyed his playing with Charlie Rouse on his recording on Epic.

Frank Patchen played with an early version of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars.

Both Morgan and Pepper played frequently with pianist George Cables.

I recall seeing him play one evening about 17 or 18 years ago. The piano player was Steve Kuhn with whom Morgan had never played before. Frank was extremely complimentary to Kuhn,telling the audience that Steve was a great player and it was a treat to play with him. Morgan played very well that evening. Personally I like Frank's recordings on Contemporary, Telarc and Antilles. His last group of recordings on High Note seemed to me to lack something and were just so so

Back To The Land by the Lester Young Trio

Funny to me that it was Fred Hersch putting down Corea and Oscar. My opinions on Corea are mixed as they are on Hersch. Most recordings by both Hersch and Corea are not to my taste, though there are a small number with each of them that I do like. The playing of both Fred and Chick has in general become less and less interesting to me over the years. Some of their early work is what I prefer by them. It may be "politically correct" in some circles to be negative and even hostile toward the playing of Oscar Peterson. But for me, his playing is most enjoyable. I am pleased to say that I have a large number of CDs by Oscar. He would not be one of my very favorite jazz piano players, but his playing has given me a great amount of pleasure over many many decades.

Contrary to Mike, I consider Buster's playing on the various recordings by Sphere to be marvelous. One of my very favorite sessions by Buster is on the session titled - We Three - on DIW with Stanley Cowell and Freddie Waits. Williams also does an excellent job on Charles McPherson - McPherson's Mood on Prestige, and on Bobby Hutcherson - In The Vanguard on Landmark. Buster Williams plays on a very large number of other recordings in my collection, and it would be difficult to find one where he did not play very well.

I had the Al Belleto Lps at one time. They didn't do much for me and I disposed of them many decades go. I also had the Patti Bown LP and my reqction was the same, and I had no difficulty also disposing of it.

Yes, but all this does not change the fact that, as with most things, we all have our personal favorites. And there is nothing wrong with that. Rollins playing during the 1954-1958 period is the music by him that I find most meaningful and enjoyable. That does not mean that iI do not dig many things I have heard by Sonny from other time periods.

Soulpope, listened this morning to the La Fiesta CD to familiarize myself with it again before responding to your question. Musically it is a good one. The tune selection includes one tune by 6 different jazz players. I especially like Williamson's version of Hampton Hawes - Black Forest. The rhythm section of Sam Jones and Roy Haynes is 1st class. Roy's excellent drum work in particular adds a great deal to the success of this album. Williamson plays well throughout this fine session. Hope this is helpful.

I have this one on Venus. On the CD label it says "Licensed from Interplay Records. Inc. ". The audio quality is very good. Venus also licensed this one from Interplay - Claude Williamson - The Way We Were (solo piano). There are at least 4 other Claude Williamson Trio CDs on Venus. They were all produced by Tetsuo Hara for Venus and recorded in the 1990's.

It looks as though there are a variety of different opinions on identifying the peak of Sonny Rollins playing ( at least on record). Personally, I found most of Rollins 60's recordings a fairly big let-down after his magnificent playing in the 50's. It is the period from 1954 through 1958 that I consider the definite peak for Rollins. One record after another on Prestige, Blue Note, and Contemporary with Sonny as leader or sideman that are all essential for me.

It is difficult to go wrong with pretty much any of Frank Strazzeri's recordings. Along with "Funk & Esoteric" on Fresh Sound that has just been deservedly praised, I very much like "I Remember You" and "Little Giant" that are also on Fresh Sound. On these last 2 Frank plays with a Spanish rhythm section. It was these last 2 that made me a very serious fan of Frank's playing quite a few years ago. "Kat Dancin"" on Discovery with John Patitucci and Ralph Penland is also a trio session that I find highly appealing. I have Strazzeri's CD "Somebody Loves Me" with his Woodwinds West group currently in my car CD player. There are others I like on the Jazz Mark, and Night Life labels as well as others I did not mention on both the Discovery and Fresh Sound labels.

It seems that the fact that jazz pianist, composer and arranger Frank Strazzeri passed away very recently was missed here. Though Strazzeri never became a well known name in jazz, he was a damn fine player who also wrote a number of interesting tunes. Frank was originally from western New York state in the Rochester/Buffalo area. However he spent the majority of his career on the West Coast in the L.A. region. He recorded as leader quite a few times and many more as a sideman. His trio sessions on Discovery and Fresh Sound are particular favorites of mine. In fact, along with Carl Perkins, and Hampton Hawes, I consider Frank Strazzeri to be one of my 3 favorite jazz pianists on the West Coast.

I recently read this book. It was a really good read. Leitch does not hold back, and shares his persective very clearly.

Joe Wilder was not only a wonderful trumpet player, but a ground breaker in opening up the theatre and radio to African Americn musicians. I very much like the 2 recordings he did on the Evening Star label. He will be missed.

I highly recommend this recording that has some fine playing by Sahib. Art Farmer Quintet - Manhattan - Soul Note With Sahib Shihab, Kenny Drew, Mads Vinding, Ed Thigpen

I am having trouble locating CD versions of "Texas Moaners" and "Santa Claus Blues" referred to by Larry in posts # 24 and #26. Any suggestions?