Peter Friedman

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.

No mention of the Ike Quebec / John Hardee box set on Mosaic? I have that version of What Is This Thing Called Love on the Mosaic set.

The Oregon Coast Jazz Party just ended. There was a lot of good music over the 3 days of this event. The highlight of the weekend for me was the Benny Green Trio. I have seen Benny a few times before over the years, but his playing, in my opinion, has matured to such an extent that he has become a true jazz master. His chops, phrasing, ideas and overall conception came together to form a marvelous listening experience. His trio consisted of David Wong on bass, and Rodney Green on drums. I had never heard Rodney Green before. His playing was powerful, yet very tasty. He was in perfect synch with Benny. Rodney is , in my opinion, clearly the best "young" drummer I have heard in a number of years. After listening to this trio play a set Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, both Benny and Rodney are now each among my current favorites on their respective instruments.

Just arrived a few hours ago in Newport, Oregon to attend the Oregon Coast Jazz Party. Over the weekend I will be hearing Benny Green, Mike Wofford, Darrell Grant, Byron Stripling, Harry Allen, Ken Peplowski, Nicki Parrott, David Wong, Mimi Fox, Tom Wakeling, Randy Porter, Todd Strait, Rodney Green, Dee Daniels, Rebecca Kilgore and others. Chuck Redd was given a copy of the Terry Gibbs Dream Band arrangements, and he will be leading a big band playing them.

I had the original LP, and now have it on CD. Haven't heard it in quite some time and need to listen to it again soon. To be honest, I don't recall how Zoot sounds here compared to Booker. Another session where both Zoot and Al Cohn play with hard bop tenor players (Coltrane and Mobley) is Tenor Conclave on Prestige. On that one Both Zoot and Al played ok, but seemed a bit "outgunned" by the 2 hard boppers.

I have a number of Peter Zak's CDs on Steeplechase. He is an impressive jazz player. His CDs generally feature standards and tunes by various jazz musicians, but with just enough of an edge to make them a bit different from other versions of those tunes.

Ubu, Zoot Sims does not play on those tracks. As you suggested, they were recorded at the Basie and Zoot session, but without Zoot. In fact, all the tunes on the "Basie & Friends" CD were recorded at various sessions that resulted in albums. But the tracks here were not included on those albums.

The "Basie And Friends" album on Pablo has these 3 tracks with both Basie and Oscar Peterson as follows. Easy Does It (12/2/74) -Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Freddie Green, Ray Brown, Louis Bellson She's Funny That Way (12/2/74) - Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown Royal Garden Blues (12/2/74) - Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, Freddie Green, Ray brown, Louis Bellson The remaining 5 tracks on this album feature Basie with Louis Bellson on drums, and either John Heard, Ray Brown, or N.H.O.P on bass

There are so very many favorites. Here are some of them. Hampton Hawes solo on "Diablo's Dance" from Shorty Rogers and His Giants - RCA This has a strong place in my jazz memory, as it was something that really grabbed me back in the early to mid-50's when I first became interested in jazz. Bud Powell's solo on "Dance of the Infidels" from the Paris Jam Session album by Art Blakey and the Messengers. This 1959 session was after Powell had supposedly reached his peak and was in decline. However I really enjoy Bud's very swinging and creative extended solo here. Horace Silver's solo on "Base On Balls" from The Hank Mobley Quintet on Blue Note. It was a difficult choice as I almost selected Silver's solo on "Soft Winds" with the Messengers, or the one on "Walkin'" from the Miles Davis All Stars Album also called Walkin'. Barry Harris ' solo on "Luminescence" from the album of the same title by The Barry Harris Sextet on Prestige. Kenny Barron's solo on "Voyage" from the Stan Getz Quartet album also titled Voyage. Ray Bryant's solo on "Blues Changes" from Ray's Trio album on Prestige.

Those two are the only choices? I pick Dickie Wells. No there are many choices, but I was comparing two living trombone players. The other trombone player currently on the scene that is one of my favorites is Andy Martin. He plays in a very different style than Wycliffe.

I have heard Wycliffe Gordon live many times, including just over a week ago. He has a very large tone. at times he does play, what some might describe as "crudely". He has marvelous facility on his horn, and uses a variety of sounds and technical approaches to , in my opinion, enhance his solos. Wycliffe plays many different instruments including piano, bass, trumpet, and saxophone too. I recently heard him play the slide trumpet a few times. Gordon is also a master of using mutes and plungers. He also is a highly entertaining vocalist. To my ears, Wycliffe is one of the most interesting and enjoyable jazz trombonist currently on the scene. Gordon is stylistically highly versatile, and fits well playing swing, traditional jazz, bebop, hard bop, and down home blues and gospel. I have vivid recollectiions of seeing/ hearing Bill Watrous a few times. There are people who consider Watrous to be one of the very best jazz trombone players. Though he has great facility on his horn, his tone is so soft he needs to have a mic right in the bell of his trombone. In many ways, Watrous is the opposite of Wycliffe as a trombone player. Though I respect the talent of Bill Watrous, I would pick Wycliffe Gordon over Watrous every time.

Contrary to some earlier posts, I have little if any interest in most of the 20th Century concertos. My clear interest is in the Classical and Romantic concertos. Though I like many violin concertos very much, especially the Brahms and Beethoven, my preference would have to be the piano concertos. As has been mentioned, there are far more concertos for piano than for violin. Those by Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann and Rachmaninoff are all favorites.

If you like big toned trombone players, Wycliffe Gordon fits into that category. He has a huge tone.

Many of those I would select have already been mentioned. There are an awful lot of Prestige records I like a lot that have rarely been given much recognition. Here are at least some of them. Barry Harris Trio - Magnificent Barry Harris Sextet - Bulls Eye Barry Harris Sextet - Luminescence Art Farmer - When Farmer Met Gryce Art Farmer - Farmer's Market Chet Baker - his 3 Prestige Sessions CD's - Lonely Star, On A Misty Night, Stairway To The Stars Stan Getz - Prezervation Illinois Jacquet - Bottoms Up Illinois Jacquet - The Blues That's Me Carmel Jones - Jay Hawk Talk Budd Johnson - Let's Swing Lee Konitz Jackie McLean - Lights Out Jackie McLean / Bill Hardman - Jackie's Pal Elmo Hope - Hope Meets Foster Charles McPherson - Bebop Revisited Charles McPherson - Con Alma Charles McPherson - Live At The Five Spot Charles McPherson - McPherson's Mood Hank Mobley - Messages Sonny Stitt / Bud Powell / JJ Johnson Art Taylor - Taylor's Wailers Art Taylor - Taylor's Tenors Bobby Timmons - The Soul Man Cedar Walton Trio, Quartet, Quintet - Cedar Jimmy Raney - A Phil Woods Septet - Pairing Off Art Farmer - Early Art Benny Golson - Gettin' With It Roy Haynes / Phineas Newborn / Paul Chambers - We Three Yusef Lateef - Into Something The Dual Role Of Bob Brookmeyer Kenny Burrell Gene Ammons - The Happy Blues George Wallington - The New York Scene Lem Winchester & Benny Golson - Winchester Special Coleman Hawkins - Night Hawk Coleman Hawkins - On Broadway Coleman Hawkins - Hawk Eyes Coleman Hawkins - Soul Paul Quinchette - For Basie Joe Newman with Frank Foster - Good 'N' ' Groovy Ray Bryant Trio Milt Jackson Quartet with Horace Silver Kenny Dorham Quartet - Quiet Kenny Phil Woods / Donald Byrd - The Young Bloods Tommy Flanagan Trio - Overseas

If you are a fan of Dexter Gordon, this is one to get. As Felser said, this along with the Prestige and Steeplechase recordings are well worth having. Of course, the Blue Note's are a must too.

I especially like the numerous Dexter Gordon covers on Steeplechase.