Peter Friedman

What's your opinion of this session? Is is something very special or just an ok date?

I don't understand the argument against playing some of the good tunes by jazz musicians from the 50's and 60's. It strikes me as equally valid to play a good jazz tune from that period as compared to one of the Great American Songbook tunes by Berlin, Kern, Porter, Gershwin and Arlen. In fact it seems a shame for some very fine jazz tunes to be ignored when other tunes are played over and over and over. The other point is that in my view, many jazz tunes being written today are not very interesting. A friend refers to something he calls "the writer gene". Some musicians have it and many others don't. I would personally rather hear musicans play many of the fine jazz tunes by Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Gigi Gryce, Benny Golson, Horace Silver, Jimmy Heath, Hank Mobley and others rather than some of the dull uninteresting tunes I hear much too often. In fact, I tend to be suspicious when a newly recorded CD has all originals on it. This does not mean I want to hear "Round Midnight", Straight No Chaser" and "So What" which are played frequently. Rather I enjoy it when the many forgotten gems by musicians are "rediscovered" and played.

Al Cohn Quartet - Standards Of Excellence - Concord Jazz Ruby Braff - The Canadian Sessions - Sackville Frank Rosolino - Thinking About You - Sackville Dexter Gordon - Something Different - Steeplechase Ralph Lalama - Circle Line - Criss Cross Stan Getz - In Paris - Gitanes Paul Desmond Quartet - many recordings on a number of labels

IMHO, Parlan's SteepleChase recordings are much better than his BN's. At least the trio sessions. I share the view that while the Parlan Blue Note recordings are damn good, the many sessions he did for Steeplechase are even better.

Chuck, you have expressed my exact viewpoint. Philly Joe Jones and Art Blakey are both drummers that emotionally move me in a way that Max Roach does not.

I don't believe that this Barry Harris CD has been mentioned on this thread. BARRY HARRIS - SOLO - SEPTEMBER 5111 It is one of my very favorite solo piano CDs. It is a European import that I got from the Cadence list some time ago. Not sure if it is still available. But if you are a fan of Barry Harris and/or solo jazz piano this is one you need!

I have close to a complete collection of CDs/SACDs by the Great Jazz Trio. They all have Hank Jones on piano, but the rhythm sections vary and some have guests. The labels that that they are on include Alfa Jazz, Baybridge, Denon, East Wind, East World, Eighty Eights, Somethin' Else, TDK

Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus Sonny Rollins - Worktime Max Roach Plus 4 Max Roach - Jazz In 3/4 Time

Art Pepper - Complete Atlas Years - Dan (Japanese)

Bud Shank - 1926

Here's a few more: Tal Farlow - 1921 Hal McKusick - 1924 Snooky Young - 1919 Med Flory - 1926 Claude Williamson - 1926 Charlie Mariano - 1923 Carmen Leggio - 1927 Bill Crow - 1927 Frank Strazzeri - 1930

Duke Jordan was a wonderful jazz piano player. His many Steeplechase recordings are all very good. It says something significant that 3 especially fine piano players - Duke Jordan / Kenny Drew / Horace Parlan - had to move to Europe to end their careers.

I have these 3. Danny Moss at Bob Barnard's Jazz Party 1999 Danny Moss returns To Bob Barnard's Jazz party 2000 Danny Moss Swings Again at Bob Barnard's Jazz Party 2003 I enjoy all 3. Most of the other musicians on all 3 CDs are Australians who are not well known here in the USA. On the 1999 date Ralph Sutton and Marty Grosz play on some tracks. Pianist John Sheridan plays on some of the tunes on the 2003 session. If you like Danny Moss, you will most likely enjoy all of these CDs.

To be honest, I never thought Herman Foster was anything more than mediocre as a jazz piano player. I much prefer Lou Donaldson's recordings with pianists such as Horace Silver, Elmo Hope, Sonny Clark, and Horace Parlan. They all provide far stronger solo's than Herman Foster.

I have this one: Charles Davis / Barry Harris - Reflections - Red 123247-2 It's a quartet with Peter Washington and Ben Riley. Charles Davis plays tenor on this one. His playing is ok, but it is the playing of Barry Harris that makes this a good session. I find Charles baritone playing much much more interesting than his tenor work.

I find Randy Weston to be a "mixed bag". Some of his recordings I like very much, but others don't do much for me. "Little Niles" is one I do like quite a bit.

Yes, some of it is on TOMMY POTTER'S HARD FUNK on Lonehill A few tracks are also on the box set called JAZZ IN SWEDEN : THE LEGENDARY YEARS ON WEA / METRONONE.

That RCA small group set is terrific. It definitely contains my favorite recordings by Benny Goodman.

The article by Mark was excellent. It brought back many memories of the times I have seen Tommy Flanagan. I grew up in Detroit and had the great fortune to develop an interest in jazz in the 1950's when so many great players were living in The Motor City. Tommy was one of them and I quickly became a major fan of his playing. From about 1953 till he left for NYC in 1956 I saw him play numerous times. In later years I have seen him play at a small private concert in Toronto, at Bradley's in NYC among other venues. I even recall seeing him play with the Oscar Pettiford Big Band in NYC at (what I think was) Town Hall in about 1956. My collection of Tommy Flanagan's recordings as both leader and sideman is close to complete. On my shelf there are also a large number of private recordings by Tommy that I have acquired over the years. One of the great things about Tommy's playing is how well it fits with such a diverse range of musicians. He sounds great with Sonny Rollins, Pee Wee Russell,Gerry Mulligan,Budd Johnson, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Benny Wallace, Kenny Dorham, Milt Jackson, Joe Newman,Johnny Griffin, Zoot Sims, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Gene Ammons, Illinois Jacquet, Phil Woods,Buck Clayton, JJ Johnson, Pepper Adams,Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Heath, Booker Little, Scott Hamilton, Art Pepper, Thad Jones, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, J.R. Monterose and many many others.

Louie Bellson shows how tasty he can play on these two lovely sessions. The Count Basie Trio - For The First Time - Pablo Count Basie:Kansas City 3 - For The Second Time - Pablo

I lived in Rochester,NY for many years and saw Gerry Niewood perform there numerous times with Chuck Mangione and in other contexts. A sad loss.

Many people are highly positive about the Captain Marvel album, but I am not one of them. The electric piano is a big turn off for me. Also many of the tunes on this recording such as"La Fiesta", "Five Hundred Miles High" and the title tune "Captain Marvel" are not to my taste. This is among my least favorite Stan Getz albums. I much prefer the wonderful Getz recordings that came later with Lou Levy or Kenny Barron playing acoustic piano.

Dana, I agree with your comments. For some reason this one gets overlooked.

A very good though brief session. Just about everything by Art Pepper from this period is well worth hearing.

The Complete Capitol & Atlantic Recordings Of Jimmy Giuffre