Peter Friedman

In general I much prefer one piano to two. Piano duos are frequently too dense with players stepping on each other. However, given that above comment, here are some I do enjoy. Pete Jolly & Jan Lundgren - Collaboration - Fresh Sound Tommy Flanagan & Hank Jones - Our Delights - Galaxy Andre Previn & Russ Freeman - Double Play - Contemporary Bill Evans & Bob Brookmeyer - The Ivory Hunters - Liberty David Newton & Brian Lemon - Play Hoagy Carmichael - Zephyr Kenny Drew & Hank Jones - New York Stories - Alfa John Lewis & Hank Jones - An Evening With Two Grand Pianos - Atlantic John Lewis & Hank Jones - Django - All Art (They play as a duo on 3 tracks) Barry Harris & Kenny Barron - Confirmation - Candid Rein De Graaf - Nostalgia - Timeless (2 tracks feature Rein De Graaf playing a piano duo with Barry Harris)

Personally, before getting J.G., I would suggest picking up these 3 Riverside CDs. The Little Giant (with Blue Mitchell, Julian Priester, Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, Tootie Heath) Johnny Griffin Sextet (with Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams, Kenny Drew, Wilbur Ware, Philly Joe Jones) Way Out (with Kenny Drew, Wilbur Ware, Philly Joe Jones)

What a treat to see and hear that Kenny Dorham video. It sure brightened up my day!

Here Are some unmentioned John Hicks Trio sessions that I like. Cry Me A River - Venus Gentle Rain - Sound Hills Lover Man - Red Baron I'll Give You Something To Remember Me By - Limetree On The Wings Of An Eagle - Chesky

There are many fine jazz piano players not yet mentioned. Here are some that quickly come to mind. Peter Beets , Rein de Graaf and Cees Slinger from The Netherlands John Pearce, Victor Feldman, Keith Ingham, Brian Dee, John Horler, Terry Shannon and Mick Pyne from the British Isles Lars Sjosten, Nils Lindberg and Ake Johansson from Sweden Mark Eisenman, Don Thompson, David Restivo, Wray Downes and Bernie Senensky from Canada

Just now placed my order for both volumes.

I have been a huge fan of Barry Harris for about 50 years. I have all of his recordings as leader and probably almost all as a sideman. With rare exceptions, all of his recordings are great favorites of mine. You won't go wrong grabbing any you are able to find.

I don't suppose that they were tenor "battles", but the many sessions with Zoot Sims and Al Cohn together are damn good. More recent recordings of Teddy Edwards and Houston Person together are also highly enjoyable.

I have all the ones Chuck mentioned and they are all very good. They would be my first choices to purchase. Some other CDs with Buddy Tate as leader that I like include. Buddy Tate with Humphrey Lyttelton - Swinging Scorpio - Black Lion Buddy Tate and His Buddies - Chiaroscuro Buddy Tate - Swinging Like Tate - London Buddy Tate/Nat Simpkins/Houston Person - Just Friends - Muse Buddy Tate/Paul Quinichette/Jay McShann - Kansas City Joys - Sonet Buddy Tate All Stars - Jive At Five - Storyville

Two of the early ones that Chuck mentioned are among my favorites. Pairing Off The Young Bloods Some others I like that have not already been mentioned include: Integrity - Red Woodlore - Prestige & Space Jazz Trio - Phil's Mood - Philology Here's To My Lady - Chesky Birds Of A Feather - Antilles

They forgot to mention an unidentified vocal group on Take The A Train - sounds much like the Gordons. The folks in Barcelona are the only ones who care for stuff like this, it seems. I'm glad they do. I have had the CD indicated below for a number of years. It has 10 tracks from this session. Lionel Hampton - My Man - Excelsior EXL-2-5318

Just about everything by Jug is worth having. My favorite Prestige session is probably - THE HAPPY BLUES. The group includes along with Ammons - Art Farmer, Jackie Mclean, Duke Jordan, Addison Farmer, Art Taylor, and Candido. One thing that makes this session a favorite is that Duke Jordan is the pianist. I prefer his playing to that of Mal Waldron who appears on a very large number of Prestige recording sessions.

I have mixed feelings about Gary Burton's recordings. As a vibes player I much prefer the more swinging, bluesy, style of playing by people such as Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Lem Winchester, Dave Pike, Steve Nelson, and a number of others. Nonetheless, I do enjoy SOME of Burton's recordings. Here are my favorite CDs by Gary Burton as leader. & Makoto Ozone -Face To Face - GRP & Keith Jarrett / Throb - Rhino Atlantic (2 LPs on one cd) & Stephane Grappelli - Paris Encounter - Atlantic Duster -Koch Jazz Country Roads & other Places - Koch Jazz Departure - Concord Jazz

These are the Bennie Wallace CD that I have. They are all good ones. Bennie Wallace - Audioquest (with Tommy Flanagan) The Old Songs - Audioquest (with Lou Levy) Someone To Watch Over Me - Enja (with Mulgrew Miller) In Berlin - Enja (with George Cables) The Nearness Of You - Enja/Justin Time (with Kenny Barron) Disorder At The Border: The Music Of Coleman Hawkins - Enja/Justin Time (a nonet session) Moodsville - Groove Note SACD (with Mulgrew Miller) I find it interesting that Bennie Wallace selected such an excellent number of piano players for these CDs.

Here are two quite recent Steeplechase releases that I like very much. Harold Danko Quintet - Oatts & Perry Rich Perry (Quartet) - At The Kitano 1

Adam, There are a many many good things on Steeplechase. Here are just a few that I would recommend. George Cables - Bluesology Junior Cook - On A misty night Stanley Cowell - Sienna Walter Davis,Jr. - Scorpio Rising Kenny Drew - Black Beauty Jimmy Knepper (with Al Cohn) - Cunningbird Horace Parlan - Glad I Met Pat

These would be my top choices too.

My take on Junior Mance is that he is a solid journeyman jazz piano player, but not one of my true favorites. Where I differ from Chuck is that I see him at his best as a blues player. His blues sound very "natural" to me. In fact Junior does his best to bring the blues or a blues feeling into most of what he plays. I attended one of his recording sessions for the Sackville label, and the blues feeling permeated the entire afternoon. On non-blues jazz tunes and standards, Junior's solos don't raise to the level I hear in many other piano players. He is definitely a very nice guy.

Yep, I agree with Chuck on this, the earlier recordings are a little better. I don't know if they are available on cd. Yes, this is a very good set. I have it on a 4 CD set as follows - Sony Classical SM4K 46738

I am especially partial to the JVC XRCD remasterings. Among my XRCD favorites are: The Poll Winners Sarah Vaughan - Crazy and Mixed Up Miles Davis All-Stars - Walkin' Miles Davis - Bag's Groove

Some other good small group sessions with Idrees Sulieman: Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Flies High - Riverside/Milestone Horace Parlan Quintet - Arrival - Steeplechase Red Mitchell Quintet - Chocolate Cadillac - Steeplechase

I hear this entire issue rather differently than Larry. Perhaps it is in part because the number of players who had a strong Coltrane influence seemed to number in the hundreds or maybe even thousands. For a while I got very tired of hearing countless tenor players doing their Trane thing. It was hard to get a sense of much, if any, individuality from many of them. It almost seemed as if they had been produced by a cookie cutter method and the goal was to make them all as much alike as possible. Of course, as time went on some players did emerge from the group and did begin to develop a bit of individuality. I have made this point before, and there are those who clearly disagree, but I believe the Coltrane influence had a negative influence on many players. My best example is Harold Land. Land's playing with Clifford Brown, with the Curtis Counce Group, and on his own albums on Contemporary showed his own individual sound and phrasing. I considered it wonderful tenor work. Once the Trane influence hit him, Land no longer sounded the same. He lost that special Harold Land style, and became just one more tenor man who was overwhelmed by Coltrane.The recordings Land made with Bobby Hutcherson for Blue Note and a few other labels are examples of what I mean. Younger listeners who came to jazz via Coltrane or later will likely hear things differently. But I was listening to Harold Land before the huge Trane influence spread across the jazz horizon. Land is just one of many established players who, to my ears, lost a part of their individuality as a result of the impact Coltrane made on the jazz scene. Don't misunderstand, I love and respect a significant portion of John Coltrane's music. My concern was not with Coltrane's music, but rather with the way his music , in some ways, became a force throughout the jazz world. With Rollins, the number of people who seem strongly influenced by him( in the sense that they sound a bit like him at times) is rather small. The players who I find to be very influenced by Sonny are Tabackin and Grant Stewart. Some of Steve Grossman's recordings also fall into that category. As an aside, I didn't at all care for Grossman's playing when he was one of the Trane disciples, but once he moved into a Rollins approach I found his playing highly enjoyable. Ralph Lalama strikes me as less directly influenced by Rollins compared to the others i just named. Ralph to my ears shows influence from Dexter, Rollins, and a smaller amount from Trane. Early Frank Foster on the Prestige sessions also has a bit of Rollins influence in his playing. In later years a Trane influence became evident in Foster's tenor work. It is, of course a personal preference, but I find the players such as Tabackin, Grant Stewart and Steve Grossman to be among my favorite living tenor men. That early period Rollins style is one that grabs me deeply. Each of them brings their own personal essence to the music. I have heard Lew Tabackin live a few times recently and while the Rollins influence is definitely there, Lew also has a lot of Coleman Hawkins in his style, and even gets into a "free jazz' thing at times. Watching Lew Tabackin play is a special treat in itself. He gets extremely physical when he plays. Lew moves around constantly and his feet are never still for more than a brief second or two. Tabackin's entire physical and mental self seem to be strongly engaged when he is playing, and this seems to be very authentic, and by no means some sort of act for the audience.

Add my support for "There Goes The Neighborhood" on Candid. An interesting duo CD that has not been mentioned is "Gary Bartz & Peter Leitch - The Montreal Concert - DSM 3037". Bartz can also be heard on these two CDs under Peter Leitch's leadership: "Another Perspective - Concord 4535" "Colours & Dimensions - Reservoir 140" Don't miss "Sphere - Verve 314 557 796-2" with Bartz, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams and Ben Riley. That same group, with Ray Drummond in place of Buster Williams, can be found on: "The Jet All Star Quartet - Live at Jazz En Tete - Space Time BG9704"

There is so much great recorded music by Dizzy that it is hard to know what to say. But a great starting point would be the 2 cd set called "Dizzy Gillespie - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings". I don't think anyone mentioned the very good 3 cd volumes on the CAP label of Dizzy's big band called "Dizzy in South America". "Sonny Side Of The Street" on Verve is a strong favorite of mine. I also very much like the "Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie" date on Verve. Have been listening of late to the recently released Dizzy Gillespie set on Mosiac which has reacquainted me with a lot of lovely music. Don't pass this one by!