Peter Friedman

I would love to see more comments about the sound quality on these Blue Note SACDs. I don't want to buy another version of a CD I already have unless the sound quality is truly superior.

Thanks for mentioning this Hines / Ellington material. It has been quite some time since I heard it and this encouraged me to pull one of the CDs off the shelf and play it.

I have this sick urge to just once file jazz by label (and then probably by recording date, though maybe release instead) just to see what it looks like. However it's a hell of a lot easier to do with a couple of mouse clicks in the database, so that will have to suffice. :rsmile: My system seems to be different than most. I file jazz cd's by label in alpha order. Within a label I file by artist in alpha order. If I have a large number of CDs by an artist on the same label I file in order of recording date. To crosscheck I keep a 3X5 card for every jazz cd filed by artist in alpha order. this allows me to go to my 3X5 card file to look up all my cd's by - for example - Zoot Sims. The cards have the label written down so it is easy for me to find any Zoot CDs I may have forgotten about. It may sound complicated, but is actually quite simple once you understand how it works. It helps that I have a pretty good memory for what I have and the labels they are on. For my classical cd's I file by composer in alpha order. My collection of CDs is well over 6,000, I haven't done a count in a long time, and this filing system works fine for me.

It's too bad that Mickey Tucker's albums on Xanadu and Muse have not, to my knowledge, ever been re-issued on CD.

Sonny Rollins He is greatly appreciated as a player, but people often don't think of him as a composer. Here are some of his better known compositions. Oleo Doxy Airegin Valse Hot Sonnymoon For Two Pent-Up House St. Thomas Tenor Madness Paul's Pal

Bertha Hope If you are unfamiliar with her playing I recommend the 4 CDs with her as leader. Elmo's Fire (Quintet) - Steeplechase In Search Of.. (Trio) - Steeplechase Between Two Kings (Trio) - Minor Music Nothin' But Love (Trio) - Reservoir Jennifer Leitham (bass player formerly known as John) Renee Rosnes Mary Lou Williams Lorraine Geller Marian McPartland Mary Osborne (guitar) Karoline Strassmayer (alto sax) Nicki Parrott (bass) Toshiko Akiyoshi Dottie Dodgion

Some more small group recordings that have good playing by Richie Kamuca. Stan Levey Sextet - Grand Stan - Bethlehem Stan Levey Quintet - Mode / VSOP Shelly Manne & His Men - Yesterdays - Pablo Jake Hanna - Kansas City Express - Concord (unfortunately not reissued on CD)

An element of this may be true, but I think there has to be some other reason too. Well, everyone plays the shorter Ellington tunes, but hardly anyone plays the suites or the pieces that are heavily orchestrated (no touring big bands left to speak of). Much of Mingus' output is pretty complex and does need a larger group to play. I don't know if there is any concern with stepping on the toes so to speak of the Mingus Big Band, which is keeping his music alive. But could we turn the question around and ask how many other composers post 1950 say have a lot of their work covered? Monk yes and a subset of Ellington. Herbie Hancock. Maybe Horace Silver and Tad Dameron. A couple of Brubeck(Desmond) tunes are frequently covered, and a handful of Coltrane's. Possibly the top ten hits of Lou Donaldson and Lee Morgan. It doesn't seem that many to me. Seems to me most people go right back to the true standards rather than covering songs from the bop era or more recently. There aren't that many jazz "hits" that musicians want to cover -- or think the audience would recognize -- and that they should stick to originals or the true standards. Maybe I am wrong in this. There are tunes by a number of other jazz musicians that are played quite a bit as well. Tunes by Benny Golson, Gigi Gryce, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker are some that quickly come to mind. The point that is true though is that there are many very interesting tunes by jazz players that have been recorded only once or maybe twice. It's (in my opinion) unfortunate that some jazz tunes such as "Round Midnight" and "All Blues" get recorded over and over and over while there are so many other very good tunes that get passed over.

Charlie Parker - The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Sessions , Disc 2 - Savoy / Atlantic Presenting The Ross Taggart Trio - Cellar Live Buddy De Franco - Gone With The Wind - Verve

I've got the original LP's. Both sound fine. Don't blame the original engineers because the hacks at Charly couldn't get it right! While I agree that these may not reside at the top of either leader's discography, they are decent sessions with plenty of worthwhile music. My copy is on a French Vogue CD. It is titled "Percussion Discussion". I agree with Stereojack that while not the very best by these two groups, there is nonetheless some good music here.

Charlie Parker - The Complete Savoy And Dial Studio Recordings 1944-1948 - Savoy / Atlantic

What a drag! Buddy was a fine piano player (and vibes player) who was not recorded as much as he deserved. I particularly like these 3 CDs by Buddy as leader. Here Again - Sharp 9 A Love Affair In Paris - Space Time Live At Maybeck - Concord Jazz

I knew Harry Abraham slightly when he and I both lived in Rochester,NY. Hung out with him a couple of times. Unfortunately, after Harry left Rochester he got into serious trouble - involved in bank robbery - and I believe spent time in prison. Harry and Will Moyle were the two major jazz voices on the radio in Rochester back then.

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.