Peter Friedman

Ira Gitler

Bobby Hutcherson - The Kicker - Blue Note Duke Pearson - Wahoo - Blue Note Lee Morgan - The Rumproller - Blue Note Bobby Hutcherson - Stick Up - Blue Note Duke Pearson - Sweet Honey Bee - Blue Note Paris Reunion Band - For Klook - Sonet/Gazell Frank Morgan - Reflections - Contemporary Arnett Cobb - Tenor Tribute - Soul Note Arnett Cobb - Tenor Tribute 2 - Soul Note Mulgrew Miller - The Countdown - Landmark Bebop & Beyond - Plays Thelonious Monk - Blue Moon McCoy Tyner - New York Reunion - Chesky Valery Ponomarev - Profile - Reservoir Walter Norris - Sunburst - Concord Jazz James Williams Meets The saxophone Masters - DIW Roy Hargrove - Tenors Of The Time - Verve

Roland Hanna Harold McKinney Alex Kellao (sp?) Pat Flowers Will Davis

Tiny Kahn Harry "The Hipster" Gibson Red Rodney Dollar Brand Abe Lincoln Brew Moore Derek Humble Coleridge Goode

So much of this, as Jim said, is projection. For me it comes down to a matter of personal taste. I find Harold Land's playing far more satisfying prior to the strong Coltrane influence. His work on the Curtis Counce albums on Contemporary is among the very best examples of his playing in my opinion. On the other hand, the early playing of Frank Morgan was for me nothing special. His later playing had fire and passion that moved me. I happened to see Morgan at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago with Willie Pickins, Dan Shapara, and Wilbur Campbell and thought it was really good. Also saw him one evening in Telluride, Colorado in a quartet setting with Steve Kuhn on piano. They had never played together before and Morgan was knocked out by how great Kuhn was playing and said so to the audience. The music that evening was marvelous .

I have the same view of McCoy Tyner. The" banging and unneeded sound and fury" was not to my liking. I especially enjoyed his playing as a sideman in the 1960's with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, Lee Morgan, Stanley Turrentine, Donald Byrd, Bobby Hutcherson and Hank Mobley.

Alvin Queen sounds marvelous on this CD that I listened to today. Johnny Griffn / Steve Grossman Quintet - Dreyfus With Michael Weiss, Pierre Michelot and Alvin Queen

John and Gerald Clayton Ornette and Dennard Coleman

Music does NOT have to swing to be good. Do you really think that Eicher is telling Kuhn, a musician for over 50 years, to cut an album that is ethereal, and not what Kuhn intended? As a matter of fact, I'm almost positive that the Venuses that you so love are the ones where the artists are being told what to play. Avant doesn't swing. Energy music doesn't swing. Hell, most Nessas don't swing. And yet, a lot of you guys are ALL OVER those. More misplaced ECM bias. Your comments have little to do with what I said. I suggest you read what I did say again. I did not say that Eicher told Kuhn what to play. What I did say was a reflection of my personal taste. Of course I realize that the taste of others may be very different. But I do not appreciate having you put words in my mouth that I did not say. With only very limited exceptions, the music put out by ECM does not appeal to me. Whether Venus requests that Kuhn play standard tunes or not is to me, unimportant. it is the musicians interpretation of those tunes that matters to me. I also happen to like standards, and music that swings. How did I misinterpret? How could "This is what to me is the typical ECM approach" be read any differently than "Eicher persuaded Kuhn to play a certain way"? C'mon. Why not just say that Kuhn simply recorded an album which you do not enjoy? You took the opportunity to rag on a label which has given us the opportunity to hear many artists which would've otherwise not been heard. To me, that's what it's all about. If you wanna restrict yourself, that's cool with me. ECM has a catalogue which exceeds 2000 in number at this point. I might go as far as to say that it's been more important in the overall development of music than even our beloved Blue Note. Saying I don't care for most ECM recordings is not close to the same thing as saying that Eicher PERSUADED Kuhn to play a certain way. Actually I doubt very much that Kuhn was persuaded at all. My guess is that he enjoys playing music of varying styles, and that is fine. I was not "ragging" on ECM, just expressing an opinion that the music on that label rarely is to my taste.

I am also a big fan. Here are a few other CDs that I don't think have been mentioned well worth seeking out. Fire: Live at The Village Vanguard - Atlantic Blue Head with Clifford Jordan - Candid Blue Greens & Beans with Marchel Ivery - Timeless

Music does NOT have to swing to be good. Do you really think that Eicher is telling Kuhn, a musician for over 50 years, to cut an album that is ethereal, and not what Kuhn intended? As a matter of fact, I'm almost positive that the Venuses that you so love are the ones where the artists are being told what to play. Avant doesn't swing. Energy music doesn't swing. Hell, most Nessas don't swing. And yet, a lot of you guys are ALL OVER those. More misplaced ECM bias. Your comments have little to do with what I said. I suggest you read what I did say again. I did not say that Eicher told Kuhn what to play. What I did say was a reflection of my personal taste. Of course I realize that the taste of others may be very different. But I do not appreciate having you put words in my mouth that I did not say. With only very limited exceptions, the music put out by ECM does not appeal to me. Whether Venus requests that Kuhn play standard tunes or not is to me, unimportant. it is the musicians interpretation of those tunes that matters to me. I also happen to like standards, and music that swings.

Yes, I also very much like the McLean / Hardman Jazz Messengers band. Though a bit rough around the edges, it had great intensity and swung like mad.

I am a big fan of Steve Kuhn, but the parts of this CD I have heard are not my cup of Tea. This is what to me is the typical ECM approach. Doesn't swing and too ethereal for my taste. I am particularly fond of the many Steve Kuhn CDs on Concord, Reservoir, and Venus. Also very much like Kuhn's - Live At Birdland - session on Blue Note.

The Sonny Red with Teef is on the recently issued Sonny Red 2 CD set on Fresh Sound.

Mark, a most interesting article. It clarified for me the many diverse responsibilities of a concertmaster.

"Stratusphunk" from the CD - Hal McKusick - Now's The Time on Decca.

My copy arrived yesterday.

I second Reg Schwager. A new guy on the scene is the excellent Graham Dechter Also Elek Becsik should be mentioned.

Mary Osborne

Another important jazz man is gone. R.I.P.

As long as Sonny Red's recordings are being discussed here I would also like to see a CD reissue of Red's Mainstream album Even better were the Charles McPherson albums on Mainstream that deserve to be on CD. He had 3 albums on Mainstream. I have a CD copy of McPherson's - Siku Ya Bibi - album on Mainstream which is the only one of his on that label, to the best of my knowledge, that has been reissued on CD.

I think that's very true. When I first listened to Charlie Parker (c. 1978) it was no different to listening to Beethoven. Music that was not by a living (or even recently dead) musician, being forged in the moment. I had to get past a film of 'oldness' before I could start to experience it as living music. Whereas, I suspect to you and Peter, this was thrilling, 'in the now' music from the off. Yes, it was "in the now" music. Parker had only been dead for three years when I started listening to him and I was in time to hear as new musicians on the scene Cannonball, Timmons, Roland Kirk, Oliver Nelson, Bill Evans, Coltrane, Ornette, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, etc as well as being around for the release of much of the Blue Note and Riverside catalogues as new albums. My comment on Ted Gioia's blog about listening to Parker today is also relevant here: http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2008/7/24/bird-dead-two Charlie Parker was still around when I was in my early jazz listener period. I had one opportunity to hear/see him live but didn't get there. He died soon after that. I feel fortunate though to have seen a number of jazz greats that left us long ago. Among those I saw in person who died long ago are Lester Young, Bud Powell, Clifford Brown, Kenny Dorham, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Lennie Tristano, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Oscar Pettiford, Philly Joe Jones, Doug Watkins, Johnny Hodges,Louis Armstrong,Thelonious Monk, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Illinois Jacquet, and many others.

My serious interest in jazz began about 1952 /53. Most of what initially appealed to me I still like very much. Over the many years a few favorites have come and gone in my taste, but the main core has remained consistent. I did stick my toes in the water briefly with both Rock and also Free Jazz. It wasn't long though when I realized that neither did much for me. They no longer have any appeal for me. One thing that did change is that while my first musical interests were focused heavily on Bebop, Hard Bop,and West Coast Jazz, I eventually began to appreciate and enjoy earlier styles including Traditional New Orleans, the Chicago style, Swing, and Mainstream.

Rossano Sportiello is a pianist who can play in a great variety of styles.

Closing the circle: Far from comprehensive Amazon search yields two other contemporary covers of "The Outlaw," neither of which I've heard. Joe Chambers: http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Joe-Chambers/dp/B000E40Q6K/ref=sr_1_9?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1333543717&sr=1-9 Danny D'Imperio: http://www.amazon.com/The-Outlaw-Danny-Group-DImperio/dp/B00000JFRP/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1333544183&sr=1-1 "The Outlaw" is the title of the Sackville CD by Danny D'Imperio. That group does , in my opinion, a wonderful job with the title tune.