Peter Friedman

There's an even weirder Reece album than that called The Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh. It is definitely NOT worth seeking out. On the definitely worth seeking out side of the fence, check out an album called This Is Jazz Music of the 40's and 50's on iTunes. In addition to Dizzy Reece, this one features Tony Crombie, Don Rendell, Howard Roberts, Ronnie Ross and Eddie Thompson playing both separately and together. There was also a 50s LP titled 'Changing The Jazz at Buckingham Palace', one side of which featured Tubby Hayes and the other Dizzy Reece. Lavish colour photo of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace on the cover. Weird concept -presumably aimed at tourists. The Dizzy Reece material from the " ....Buckingham Palace" issue was reissued as part of the Jasmine CD titled Dizzy Reece - A New Star.

Just pulled out my two favorite CDs by Abby Lincoln. "You Gotta Pay The Band" with Stan Getz, Hank Jones, Charlie Haden, Mark Johnson & Maxine Roach "The World Is Falling Down" with Clark Terry, Jackie Mclean, Alain Jean-Marie, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins Plan to play them soon. R.I.P.

I don't recall any mention of Herb Geller? I have seen him live a number of times in the past decade and he was, in my view, excellent. Another overlooked terrific alto player is Canadian P.J. Perry. These are alto players I have seen play live, and have likely forgotten many others. McLean, Stitt, Woods, Quill, Shank, Hodges, Frank Morgan, Herb Geller, Charlie Mariano, Lennie Niehaus, Sonny Red, Lee Konitz, Paul Desmond, Ernie Watts, Bobby Watson, Cannonball, Charles McPherson, Frank Strozier, Benny Carter, Joseph Jarman, Med Flory, Gary Pribek, Greg Abate, James Moody, Marshall Royal, Russell Procope, Gary Foster, Willie Smith, Steve Wilson, Don Shelton, Jerry Dodgion, James Spaulding, Ornette, Donald Harrison, Kim Richmond, Dick Oatts, P.J. Perry I had one opportunity to see Bird just before he died, but didn't make it - a major disappointment. Also missed seeing Art Pepper live.

Charlie Parker is clearly my favorite. After Bird there is a long list including Jackie Mclean, Charles McPherson, early Lee Konitz Phil Woods, Art Pepper, Frank Morgan, Paul Desmond, Benny Carter, Johnny Hodges, Cannonball Adderley, Bud Shank, Ernie Henry,Gary Pribek, and many others.

After doing a bit of research I discovered 15 additional composers who were contemporaries of Beethoven who have written string quartets that have been issued on compact disc. I have not heard string quartets by all of these composers, though do have cd's of string quartets by roughly half of those listed below. Boccherini Cherubini Donizetti Gehot Hummel Kuhlau Paisiello Ries Sacchini Spohr Vanhal Viotti Vorisek Vranicky Wranitzky

I also have it on the Mosaic set. It's a very good session. In fact just about everything on the JJ Johnson Mosiac set is prime music.

A couple of other recordings of George Coleman as sideman that I like a lot are these below. Louis Smith - Just Friends - Steeplechase Ahmad Jamal - Olympia 2000 - Dreyfus

I really like George Coleman's playing on the Chet Baker series on Prestige, as well as on the recordings he did with Miles. Talk about being in the minority - I actually prefer the Miles recording with Coleman to those with Wayne Shorter. I am a big fan of Wayne Shorter's playing on his Blue Note dates such as SPEAK NO EVIL and NIGHT DREAMER and others as well as his sideman sessions with Lee Morgan. But for me, with Miles, Rollins, and Coltrane and (though not at the level of the two just mentioned) Coleman were more musically satisfying than was Shorter. I recognize that the odds are high that I may be all alone with this opinion.

Having a very large collection of recordings is what prevents the boredom that can happen when listening to the same few things frequently. Though I have no interest in pop or rock or most so-called avante-garde jazz , I do like both classical music and blues. I find that by listening to a couple of classical things each day it makes for great variety from the jazz I usually play the vast majority of the time. I also enjoy a wide variety of styles within jazz. So for example right now a Sidney Bechet is playing, and next I plan to play a cd by Freddie Redd. I find alternating listening between a variety of jazz styles does a great job of keeping things fresh for me.

I received these 4 Analogue productions SACD's in the mail a couple of days ago. Dexter Gordon - Go Jackie Mclean - Jackie's Bag Joe Henderson - Page One Hank Mobley - A caddy For Daddy Listened yesterday to Page One and the audio quality was outstanding! Plan to get some more.

Thanks for the response. Perhaps the phrase "playing at a high quality level" was not the best choice of words. It sounds a bit too "factual" However, I hope you feel comfortable sharing your own personal subjective opinions about music that you like or don't like. It is that sort of thing that makes Organissimo a more interesting site - at last for me.

You mentioned the good sound , but what about the music? Is the playing at a high quality level? Do you recommend this CD?

Sal Nistico on "Groovin' Sal" (Cherokee changes). From Sal Nistico & Tony Scott - Swiss Radio Days 1977 - TCB Sal was having a great day and really wails on this tune and also on "The Song Is You".

Brad, Listened to this new Barry Harris CD this morning. Barry has long been one of my very favorite piano players. This is a live concert cd which has its positives and negatives. On the negative side is that Barry talks to the audience quite a bit. That is fine the first time you hear it, but is not something I like to have to hear each time I play the cd. So in the future when I play this cd i will program it to just hear the music. The rhythm section seems to be local musicians. They do ok but nothing memorable. The cd times out at 49:05, and if you deduct the time Barry is talking, the actual amount of music on the cd is somewhere in the range of 39 minutes. On the positive side, Barry plays very well. The audio quality is also quite good. If you are a fan of Barry Harris as I am, you will want to have this cd. However, there are a number of other cd's available by Barry that , in my view, one should have before acquiring this one.

I have 3 of the recently issued cd's on the Small's Live label. Though I enjoy the Jim Rotondi session I prefer Rotondi's recent cd on Criss Cross titled THE MOVE. The Peter Bernstein cd is one I would easily recommend. Planet Jazz at Smalls is also a nice date with Joe Magnarelli and Jerry Weldon.

I very recently acquired a cd with Kamuca that just became available for the first time. Richie Kamuca & Lee Konitz - Live At Donte's (1974) - Cellar Door

My copy of Barry Harris - Live In Rennes - arrived in the mail on Thursday. Looking forward to hearing it. This brings back memories as I spent a month in Rennes back in 1973. Don't recall finding much , if any, jazz there at that time.

Will the Dreyfus label continue to operate now that Francis Dreyfus has died?

Ted, The Nat Pierce material on Keynote has also been reissued as part of a 2 CD set on Fresh Sound. The Swingin" Nat Pierce Band - Kansas City Memories - Fresh Sound 2232 Aside from the Keynote material, the 2 cd set also has Nat Pierce sessions from these labels - Fantasy / Vanguard / Coral.

I was fortunate to get a copy of this Freddie Redd CD back when it first came out. Freddie has so few recordings out under his name it makes this one that much more important. I haven't listened to it in a few years so will pull it off the shelf and play it in the next day or so.

"Yazoo City Blues" from Rickey Woodard's recent cd titled Pineapple Delight. This tune gets a beautiful swinging groove that makes me tap my toes and snap my fingers nonestop.

Pianist Donald Vega. Vega is from Latin America and lived in California for a while but is now in NYC. I heard him live a number of times over two days last month at the Paradise Valley Jazz Party.

"You Must Believe In Spring" by Mike Murley and David Occhipinti Duo from Duologue on Cornerstone Records Mike Murley is an outstanding tenor saxophone player. He lives in Toronto and is not well known outside Canada.

This is a truly interesting thread. It demonstrates how even among experienced jazz listeners there is such a wide range of tastes. I personally agree with some of the comments regarding artists people don't like. But on the other hand, I am a bit surprised that some of of the names mentioned are among strong favorites of mine. It was rather shocking to see names like Zoot Sims, Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean Tommy Flanagan and Hank Jones listed. Contrary to what Larry said, I believe Zoot's Pablo recordings are his best work, though I do agree with him on what he said about Al Cohn. I was not surprised to see negative comments about Scott Hamilton and Phil Woods though I don't share those opinions. One name I thought would be mentioned often - but was not - is Oscar Peterson, though I happen to enjoy his playing.