Peter Friedman

Buy "A Sure Thing". You will be glad to have it.

Add me to the list of those who said you made a bigtime mistake. It's a very good set.

MG, I envy you the opportunity to hear for the first time the many delightful Milt Jackson recordings you don't have. Here are quite a few under his leadership that I suspect you will find right up your alley. Bag's Opus - Blue Note The Harem - Musicmasters Brother Jim - Pablo It Don't Mean A Thing If You Can't Tap Your Foot To It - Pablo London Bridge - Pablo Memories Of Thelonious Sphere Monk - Pablo Mostly Duke - Pablo None of these have O.P. on them.

Dave Turner is a good Canadian alto player. Another Canadian Phil Dwyer usually plays tenor and also piano, but has also recorded on alto. BTW, Dwyer is a really fine tenor player. Still another Canadian alto player is Campbell Ryga. It is possible that Gary Pribek might just be the best, or one of the best real BEBOP alto players around. Of course, Charles McPherson and Frank Morgan ( both not white), might vie for that allocade? Unfortunately, there is not a huge amount of recorded music available with Pribek. He was a sideman with Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, and the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. The best place to hear him is on a number of Danny D'Imperio's recordings. I attended the D'Imperio recording session on the Sackville label titled THE OUTLAW, where I had a chance to hear Pribek live over two days. He is a marvelous alto player.

I keep waiting for Black & Blue to re-issue the Illinois Jacquet recording with Hank Jones titled GOD BLESS THE CHILD. My favorite recordings by Illinois Jacquet as leader include: Bottoms Up - Prestige The Blues, That's Me - Prestige and the Mosaic set.

Some of the "recent" large group jazz CDs I have especially enjoyed include these: Bennie Wallace Nonet - Disorder At the Border:The Music Of Coleman hawkins - Enja/Justin Time Rob McConnell Tentet - Music Of The Twenties - Justin Time Bill Holman Band - Live - Jazzed Media Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra - Live At MCG - MCG Jimmy Heath Big Band - Turn Up The Heath - Planet Arts Bob Florence Limited Edition - Eternal Licks & Grooves - MAMA Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band (Directed By Slide Hampton) - Dizzy's Business - MCG

Most of the big bands I like best were not on the list. My current favorite is the Clayton/Hamilton Big Band. Other favorites include The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Bob Florence Big Band, The Bill Holman Big Band, Frankie Capp Juggernaut, Dave McMurdo Big Band, John Fedschock Big Band.

I don't have the problem that a number have mentioned of negative attitudes to someone who gets a tone similar to Sonny Rollins of the 1950's. In fact that is probably a positive quality for me! With the countless players who played in the style and/or with the tone of Louis, Prez, Bird, and Trane, a few who prefer a Rollins-ish tone is fine with me. It is far more a matter of what they play using that tone or style. The same sort of thing is true (though somewhat different) with piano players. The very strong influence of McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans can be strongly heard in a huge number of pianists. Once again, if all they are doing is copying note for note the recordings of their influences I find that to be a problem. However, if they take that tonal and/or stylistic influence and say something on their instruments that is creative and interesting I have no problem. To be fair, I should also mention that Sonny Rollins playing of the 1950's is music I particularly like. So as Sonny no longer plays that way with that tone, I am highly pleased to find a few musicians out there who have decided to continue that direction though with their own personal approach. For my taste the playing of Grant Stewart is vastly more enjoyable than the many players around today who use Michael Brecker or Joe Lovano as their primary influence.

George Cables is one of my favorite living jazz pianists. He played beautifully with Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper and Frank Morgan. He also has recorded a fine series of nine CDs for the Steeplechase label. Cables also has some terrific trio CDs out on the Japanese D.I.W, Meldac and M & I labels. Perhaps his most recent CD is an outstanding trio session called A LETTER TO DEXTER on the Kind of Blue label. I wish him a speedy recovery.

After all the discussion of LEEWAY, I thought I would pull my copy off the shelf and listen to it again. Haven't heard it in quite some time. Not sure why some people found this one boring. I like it a lot. There are many other Hard Bop recordings I would rate far lower than this one.

I have had a pair of these for a number of years and like them a lot. They are not the speakers in my main listening room, but nonetheless I listen to them frequently, and have nothing but good things to say about them.

There are many good recordings by Clifford Jordan. Aside from the ones already mentioned, here are some others I especially like under his leadership. Royal Ballads - Criss Cross Two Tenor Winner - Criss Cross Four Play - D.I.W. Live At Ethell's - Mapleshade/ Jazz Heritage Repitition - Soul Note

My copy of LORD indicates that there are 102 recorded versions of Stolen Moments. I suspect that there have been quite a few more in the past few years since my version of LORD was published.

Here are a few other good CDs by Frank Rosolino as leader. There are many more things with him as a sideman. Frank Talks - Storyville 8284 Fond Memories Of ... - Double-Time 113 Free For All - Speciality OJC 1763-2

I have the following CD that has three tracks by John Park. Saxophone Glory Vol.1 - Jazz Mark 112 There are also tracks on this CD by Vicho Vicencio, Don Lanphere, Paul Guerreo with Marchel Ivery & James Clay, and Frank Strazzeri with Bill Perkins and Bob Cooper

My Miles Davis is on a Philips CD: Miles Davis - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - Nouvelle Vague on CD - Philips 822-566-2 This CD includes the following soundtrack music. 8 tracks by Miles from "Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud" 5 tracks by Blakey and the Messengers from "Des Femmes Disparaissent" 4 tracks by Blakey and the Messengers plus Barney Wilen & Duke Jordan from "Les Liasons Dangeruses" Can anyone inform me if there are other CD issues that have music from these films by Miles or Blakey not on the Philips CD indicated above?

I picked up an inexpensive copy of the Urbie Green quite a few months ago. I found it very dull and boring and disposed of it. The Dexter Gordon session is very nice. I have had it forever -originally on LP and now on CD. It is, in my opinion, one you should purchase.

While I would not call "Smooth As The Wind" my favorite Blue Mitchell recording, It is one that I do like very much.It has a fine selection of tunes, good arrangements by Tadd Dameron and Benny Golson, and high quality playing by Blue.

At one time I had a few on 10 inch LPs. Then picked up the Japanese 12 inch LPs that combined many of them. Now have the complete CD series. I very much enjoy all of them. I don't recall mention of the Wynton Kelly Trio session that was out as a 10 inch Lp. That material was later issued on a Blue Note CD which I am pleased to have in my collection.

I have the 2 on Mobile Fidelity. They are from the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival, while the new one volume CD just released is from the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival. Also compared the tune titles and times. A completely different session.

The Prestige Swingville series is filled with wonderful swinging jazz. Thankfully I have the vast majority of them.

I can't speak to the more "out" players discussed in this thread as that is not my thing. However, I have heard a lot of music by James Spaulding, Sonny Fortune, Bunky Green, Frank Strozier, Ernie Henry, John Jenkins, C. Sharpe,Bennie Maupin, and Tyrone Washington, Gary Bartz and Bud Shank. To my ears only Shank, Bartz and Henry have impressed me as having something particularly interesting to say on their horns. The others are at best mediocre and often dull. Ernie Henry died much too young, so it is more difficult to compare him with those players who have had lengthy careers. But on the few recordings he left behind, I hear a deep, intense, and interesting emotional richness not found in the playing of most of those listed above. As Clem said, the evolution of Bud Shank's playing has been quite fascinating to observe. At present, I find Shank to be among my favorite living alto players. My views of Gary Bartz have gone through some serious changes over time. When he first came on the scene I found his playing quite enjoyable. Either Bartz moved into a different direction, or my taste changed a bit, or both took place, but for a number of years I didn't care much for the playing of Bartz. However in recent years I have rediscovered just how good a player Bartz is, or has become. It was when he joined the group Sphere and played with such fine musicians as Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, and Ben Riley that (for my taste) Bartz playing reached it's highest levels.

I don't see how anyone could claim that the "All Night Session" were more accessible in any way than Hawes' other Contemporary dates of the time. Stylistically, they were all pretty much in the same bag. The problem with "All Night Session" (for those who have a problem with it) is that there's something about those four players on that night that didn't click rhythmically. My guess is that the rather four-square time feel of Jim Hall of that period (and I like Jim Hall of that period) was something that seemed to infect Hawes' own normally fluid playing -- on this night, for some reason. On the other hand -- and go figure -- that same quality in early Hall certainly didn't inhibit Carl Perkins on Hall's own Pacific Jazz album of about the same time; in fact, that's some of best Carl Perkins on record. As always, YMMV. ******************************************************************************** *********** I remember buying Hampton Hawes very first trio LP on Contemporary when it was initially released back in the mid-50's. I liked it a lot and from that point on tried to get all of Hawes recordings. So naturally, I got the "All Night Sessions" LPs when they came out. For a reason I could never quite grasp, I shared Larry Kart's view that there was something just not right about this session. After reading Larry's comments in this thread I believe he has nailed it. The time feeling of Hawes and Jim Hall are not in sync. I also agree with Chuck that Bruz Freeman's drum work may also be part of the problem. There are a lot of very good Hampton Hawes recordings available, and while "All Night Sessions" is not absolutely horrible, it would be down very low on the list of Hawes recordings I enjoy.

Bennie Wallace has made a number of very good CDs. Most of the ones I have enjoyed have featured Bennie with top level piano players in quartet or trio sessions. This one is quite different and to my ears a winning recording. The arrangements are interesting versions of Bean's tunes, and the solos are first rate. Bennie Wallace has a very unique tenor style that blends the unusual combination of Ben Webster's sound and feeling with Eric Dolphy's large interval jumps.

I think that Larry Kart's comments have hit the bulls-eye on this topic. Though I enjoy Mobley's playing with Miles, it is certainly not his best work. On the other hand, in my opinion George Coleman sounded terrific with Miles. I have always thought that the Miles Davis Quintet with George Coleman was not given it's proper due. That particular group has long had a strong appeal to me.