Peter Friedman

Milt Jackson is definitely my favorite vibes player of all time. He is a great blues player, is masterful on ballads and swings like mad. His recordings as leader and sideman with a variety of musicians have consistently given me great pleasure. The Modern Jazz Quartet provides a quite different context for Milt. The typically well considered and organized writing of John Lewis results in a very different listening experience that I have grown increasingly fond of over the years. I wouldn't want to be without either Milt Jackson as a vital part of the MJQ, or in the role of leader and sideman in other settings. As for John Lewis, I am a great fan of his sparse and, for me, highly interesting piano work. His solo and trio albums are , in my view, emotionally rich. I also like his sessions as leader of groups outside the MJQ context. Lewis brings an individual approach to the music in both his writing and playing.

I have the two that Art Salt just mentioned, as well as some others. What Art said is also my opinion. Beautiful music with truly outstanding sound.

Sippin' At Bells from the 3 CD set Stan Getz & Chet Baker - The Stockholm Concerts - Verve. There are versions from 2 concerts. Both are very very good. I especially thought the solo by Getz on Disc 3 from the second concert was simply fantastic.

I am in a much different camp here than Jim. The CTI stuff holds little if any interest for me. It is his jazz albums as both leader and sideman that speak to me? His various albums with Horace Parlan, the Duke Jordan, the Kenny Burrell, and a variety of other Sessions on Blue Note are things I like. Also don't forget the two albums on Time, reissued on Bainbridge. One under Stanley's name, and the other with his brother Tommy as leader.

I have a number of Saunders albums too and have seen him live a number of times as well. My view is basically the same as what Larry said. I enjoy Carl's playing but at times feel his solos lack the depth necessary to have them rise to the very top level.

Can't recall the specific words, but in Miles Autobiography he said far more nasty things about Jackie McLean than anything Herb Geller said about Art Pepper. Miles also putdown the playing of pianist Duke Jordan which amazed me. Personally I find Duke Jordan's playing to be vastly more interesting than that of Red Garland who Miles clearly must have liked.

Not sure if it's the "best track", but I certainly dug it a lot! Twelfth & Pingree on the CD Pepper by the Pepper Adams Quartet on Enja. It has a wonderful blues feeling that brought a big smile to my face.

I grew up in Detroit and fortunately had the opportunity to see Yusef Lateef live countless times. He was usually the leader of groups featuring musicians such as Curtis Fuller, Kenny Burrell, Ernie Farrow, Hugh Lawson, Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, and various other good players. He led groups in a variety of venues and I probably visited them all to hear Yusef at one time or another. Loved his tenor playing. He reached me deep down emotionally very often. His recordings on Savoy, Verve, Charlie Parker and as a sideman with Cannonball and Mingus are all special to me. After that he seemed to move in a different direction, and I lost touch with his playing. But those early records - wow! I never believed he got the recognition he deserved as one of the giants of the tenor saxophone. R.I.P.

Herb Geller was one of the last living musicians of those who were active in the West Coast jazz scene of the 1950's. It was just pointed out to me that Jack Sheldon is still with us. Who else is still around? Had a chance to hear Herb Geller play at one of Ken Poston's events in L.A. Can't recall what year it was, but I estimate it was about 9 or 10 years ago? I do remember that herb played beautifully, and was perhaps my favorite among the many musicians who performed that weekend.

The Coltrane Box on Prestige is the one I have had for a long time. it includes everything he recorded on Prestige except for the material with Miles. I don't recall seeing anyone mentioning the Chamber's Music album from 1956 with Coltrane as a sideman. It is on Blue Note, but originally was on a Jazz West LP that I owned at one time. some of the material was on A Transition LP. I always liked the hard swing feel on the first of the two dates.

My views will be somewhat different than what others have said. Perhaps my favorite Trane on Prestige are the albums with Miles. There seemed to me to be a bit more organization and structure than on many of the other Prestige dates. Though I do like most of that material too. As has been said, some of the tunes on Prestige go on too long for my taste. But on the whole, I find Trane's playing on the various Prestige recording much my satisfying ( to me) than his work on the Impulse label. I have never been able to get excited about Mal Waldron's piano playing which most who post here seem to consider extremely good. I much prefer to hear Coltrane with piano players such as Wynton Kelly, Sonny Clark, Kenny Drew, and Tommy Flanagan. To my ears they all swing more ( or at least differently) than Waldron, and Kelly, Clark and Drew have a much more blues oriented approach than Mal which I find blends extremely well with Trane.

Another one of my all time favorites is gone. Back in the 50's when I first became interested in jazz, the Cafe Bohemia records with Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Hank Mobley, Kenny Dorham and Doug Watkins grabbed me hard and I still love those sessions. If Horace Silver is on a recording I will undoubtably like it. My major recollection of seeing the Horace Silver Quintet dates back to 1957. I had been doing my Army basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas.when the initial training period ended I was entitled to a leave and headed home to Detroit by train. It was necessary to change trains in Chicago and A friend and I decided to spend a night in Chicago before continuing to Detroit. We learned that the Horace Silver Quintet was playing at the Sutherland Lounge. A cab took us there and we spent a glorious evening listening to Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Horace Silver, Gene Taylor, and Louis Hayes. It was a special experience that has stayed with me all these years later.

There are quite a few Xanadu albums that have never been reissued on CD. The Beehive label albums also would be very welcomed on CD reissues.

My strongest memory of seeing Jim Hall was a number of decades ago. I was in New York for a long weekend and discovered that the Jim Hall - Ron Carter Duo was playing at a club called The Guitar. My wife and I along with another couple went that evening and stayed for two marvelous sets. The atmosphere in the club was extremely quiet and it seemed as if pretty much everyone was there to listen carefully to these two wonderful musicians. It was a night to remember.

British alto player Geoff Simkins impressed me very much on these two CDs on the Spotlite label The Dave Cliff / Geoff Simkins 5 Play The Music Of Tadd Dameron Dave Cliff Duo & Quartet - Sipping At Bells And by the way, Dave Cliff is a damn fine guitar player.

I agree with Jazzbo that Pee Wee Russell 's best work was much earlier that the quartet with Brown. My favorite playing by Russell in his later years was on the Jazz Reunion album on Candid.

I agree with the two Larry just mentioned, and also like Kempff.

I thought this thread was focused on LIVING female jazz singers. Here are a few more that I like. Claire Martin Madeline Eastman

Among living female jazz singers try Mary Stallings.

There are some musicians that I can listen to straight for long periods of time. I can play 3 or 4 of that persons CDs one after another. With Sonny Stitt I find it much more satisfying to play one CD and then switch to listening to someone else. I like Stitt's playing very much, but he is not the kind of player I want to listen to for an entire afternoon or evening.

Only $3.99?? What a bargain! I've had this for years and like it a lot. Glad to see someone who enjoyed this session,. Never claimed in my initial post this session could be compared to some of Johnny's better known releases. Just that if you happened to already be a fan, not to overlook this release. Just my thoughts. I also enjoy this session and agree with your comments.

don't think I need that much Haydn as for non-HIP though, I'll add the Szell, repackaged into another cheapo set: I like the Szell box. Also recently got the Jochum box of the London Symphonies plus 3 additional symphonies. Am enjoying the 5 or 6 I have heard thus far.

These 2 CDs have compositions and arrangements by Frank Wess The Frank Wess Orchestra - Entre Nous - Concord Jazz Order In The Court - Arranged and composed by Frank Wess Entre Nous - Arranged and composed by Frank Wess Shiny Stockings - Arranged by Frank Wess Lover - Arranged by Frank Wess ************************************************************************************** Frank Wess - Tryin' To Make My Blues Turn Green - Concord Jazz Composed and arranged by Frank Wess Come Back To Me Tryin" To Make My Blues Turn Green And So It Is Short Circuit Surprise! Surprise Small Talk Arranged by Frank Wess Listen To The Dawn Alfie

Terrible news. A truly fine jazz musician. The IPO label just recently released a lovely quartet CD by Frank Wess with Kenny Barron on piano. R.I.P

I lean toward Marantz. They make a very good quality product at a very fair price.