Peter Friedman

There are two Budd Johnson recordings I highly recommend. Budd Johnson and The Four Brass Giants - Riverside The Budd Johnson Quintet - Let's Swing - Prestige/Swingville

I agree that "Cliff Craft', "The Adventurer", "Repetition" and "Live At Ethell's" are among the best recordings under Clifford Jordan's name. Here are some other good ones that I don't recall seeing mentioned. Cliff Jordan - Blue Note (with good Ray Bryant,John Jenkins and Lee Morgan) Royal Ballads - Criss Cross Two Tenor Winner - Criss Cross (with Junior Cook & Kirk Lightsey) Four Play - D.I.W (with James Williams)

I also have had this one on CD for a long time. Haven't listened to it in quite some time so I just pulled it off the shelf. Plan to play it in my car tomorrow morning.

A recording I like very much is TEDDY EDWARDS-HOWARD MCGHEE - TOGETHER AGAIN - CONTEMPORARY. This one has a fine rhythm section of Phineas Newborn,Jr, Ray Brown, and Ed Thigpen.

I in in the camp that prefers the alternate takes at the end of the CD. However, if it's a box set where there are a large number of alternate takes, my preference would be for a separate CD or two for all the alternates.

Second Installment Lester Young - The Complete Lester Young On Keynote - Mercury Elmo Hope - Hope Meets Foster - Prestige Lee Konitz - Konitz - Black Lion Phil Woods - Here's To My Lady - Chesky Charles McPherson - Live At The Cellar - Cellar Live Frank Morgan - Lament - Contemporary Hampton Hawes - For Real - Contemporary Ben Webster - Soulville - Verve Benny Golson - The Modern Touch - Riverside Pee Wee Russell - Jazz Original - Commodore Teddy Wilson - Fine & Dandy - Hep Phineas Newborn,Jr. - A world Of Piano - Contemporary Gerry mulligan - Midas Touch - Concord Jazz Harold Land - In The Land Of Jazz - Contemporary John Lewis - Grand Encounter - Pacific Jazz Jo Jones - Special - Vanguard Shorty Rogers and His Giants - RCA Barney Kessel - Let's Cook - Contemporary Steve Kuhn - Waltz:Red Side - Venus Curtis Counce Group - Landslide - Contemporary Shelly Manne & His Men - At The Black Hawk, Vol.2 - Contemporary George Cables - Skylark - Steeplechase Benny Goodman - Complete RCA Small Group Recordings - RCA Bill Perkins - On Stage - Pacific Jazz Horace Parlan - Hi Fly - Steeplechase Tommy Flanagan - Beyond The Bluebird - Timeless Charlie Rouse - Soul mates - Uptown Donald Brown - Piano Short Stories - Space Time Herb Geller - You're Looking At me - Fresh Sound Tardo Hammer - Hammer Time - Sharp Nine Jimmy Knepper - Cunningbird - Steeplechase Ted Brown - Free Wheeling - Vanguard Bud Shank - After You, Jeru - Fresh Sound Frank Strazzeri - I Remember You - Fresh Sound Ray Brown - Live At Starbucks - Telarc Charlie Mariano Quartet - Fresh Sound (Bethlehem) Carl Perkins - Introducing - Fresh Sound Carl Fontana - The Great - Uptown

I have a lot of picks so will post them in installments. First Installment Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor - Prestige Abdullah Ibrahim - Water From An Ancient Well - Blackhawk Ray Bryant Trio - Prestige Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin" - Blue Note Al Cohn - Nonpareil - Concord Jazz John Coltrane - Blue Trane - Blue Note Sonny Criss - Saturday Morning - Xanadu Nick Brignola - The Flight Of The Eagle - Reservoir Kenny Burrell - Blue Lights - Blue Note Benny Carter - Further Definitions - Impulse Ruby Braff - You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me - Arbors Chet Baker & Crew - Pacific Jazz Kenny Barron - Live At Bradley's - Emarcy Gitanes Cannonball Adderley - In New York - Riverside Pepper Adams - The Master - Muse Louis Armstrong - The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens - JSP Ed Bickert & Don Thompson - At The Garden Party - Sackville Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers - At The Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 - Blue Note Tina Brooks - True Blue - Blue Note Paul Desmond - Live - Verve Kenny Dorham - Quiet Kenny - Prestige Roy Eldridge - Heckler's Hop - Hep Duke Ellington - Live At The Blue Note - Roulette Kenny Drew - If You Could See me Now - Steeplechase Teddy Edwards & Howard McGhee - Together Again - Contemporary Bill Evans - Moonbeams - Riverside Art Farmer - Art - Argo Stan Getz- At the Shrine - Verve Dizzy Gillespie - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings - RCA Victor

Ray Bryant's fine piano playing on this recording has not been mentioned. He fits perfectly with the three horns. Rollin's tenor work on the tune "Wheatleigh Hall" from the DUETS release features him playing marvelously.

Arne Domnerus Not sure if he actually played with Bird, but was with him in Sweden.

Apart from the Arvanitas recordings already mentioned, the following are some other CDs in my collection under his leadership. My Favorite Piano Solos - Black & Blue Bird Of Paradise - Carrere Recontre - Columbia In Concert - Futura

I had the Strozier Steeplechase recordings at one time but disposed of them. Never considered them very good. Strozier's playing as a sideman on a variety of recordings is much better, in my opinion.

I have a copy of : Larry Fuller Trio - Easy Walker - Pony Boy 50133-2 with Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton. This is clearly the same as the one listed above by Mike except it is NOT an SACD recording.

Don't miss Kenny Dorham's wonderful playing on the Prestige/New Jazz recording titled: "Meet Oliver Nelson".

I haven't heard - YET - the recent Mike LeDonne CD "Smokin" Out Loud" on Savant where he plays the B-3. I do have a large collection of his piano CDs. LeDonne is a very good hard bop style piano player. Mike has 5 CDs on Criss Cross and 3 more on Double-Time. One of his most recent CDs is a very nice tribute to Milt Jackson titled "Bag's Groove".

I also have the two limited edition box sets. One is titled HISTORICALLY SPEAKING, and the second one is called BLOWING THE COBWEBS OUT. Each one is a 2 CD set. They are both on the Emanon label.

Mike, This looks like one I will want to get. Now that Bags is no longer with us, undiscovered recordings like this take on a special interest.

Kenny Dorham has been one of my favorite trumpet players for a long time. His solos usually tell a story in a way that is very special. A recording where Dorham's fine playing is overlooked : THE BARRY HARRIS SEXTET - BULLS-EYE - PRESTIGE OJC

To each his own. I don't care for the Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul recordings where the electric piano is used (with only a few rare exceptions). All of these guys are fine musicians, and i very much like their acoustic playing. If you enjoy those things that's fine with me, but they are just not to my personal taste.

I greatly dislike the electic piano. Many Many recordings from the 70's were , in my opinion, seriously spoiled by the electric piano. This is especially true when played by masters of the acoustic piano such as Cedar Walton, and Kenny Barron to name just a few. The more recent electric pianos do though have a much better sound than those from the 70's. It seems as if there have been efforts to try to make them sound closer to the sound of an acoustic instrument. I can understand using an electric piano on a gig when there is no acoustic piano available. But whenever an acoutic piano (in decent condition) is available I would strongly opt for that instrument being played. I also don't care for the electric bass, saxophone or trumpet For some reason, I make an exception for the guitar.

Jack, Marcello, Jodigrind, Thanks for the input. I appreciate your responses.

I am missing a couple of Oliver Nelson CDs and am looking for comments about these two OJC's. What are peoples thoughts about: Main Stem Taking Care Of Business

Quite a number of the East West recordings have been available for some time. I have 26 East West CDs though a large percentage of them are Japanese releases.

175 CDs plus one DVD and one VHS Video.

Some of my favorite playing by Booker Ervin is when he recorded with Mingus.

I have 93 CDs with Miles Davis as leader. There are others I haven't counted where he appears as a sideman.