John L

RIP 😪 I saw him in concert a number of times. I especially loved his shows with the Chicago tentet.

Yes. You are right. I was confused because it appears that the weaker vocalists had been almost eliminated from Ellington's recordings by the time of the Mosaics. That is in contrast to the early 30s when they were abundant.

While I generally agree with the sentiments raised here, I still have mixed feelings about it. It is true that some 30s Ellington tracks have less than desirable vocals. I suspect that Ellington himself may have had limited control over who was singing on some of those records. It is also true that some of those tracks have sensational arrangements and / or instrumental passages. Most of us now probably reach for the Ellington Mosaic set when we want to hear the 30s band. That set removed almost all of the vocal tracks, which makes for more consistent and maybe enjoyable listening. But that means that we are seldom, if at all, listening to some of the great Ellington of the period. Maybe some of the tracks with removed vocals would be listened to more often? On the other hand....

Really fascinating! Thanks. That is the earliest Tapscott or Blythe that I have heard.

He used to come to town regularly with Kahil El Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. It could sometimes take him a while to get "wound up." But when he did, watch out! His playing could be mesmerizing.

I was going to say - Julius Hemphill. Buster Smith is another candidate.

Thank you!

Wow!

Nice article.

Maybe. Maybe not. Ike was an extremely talented artist and producer who arguably had a strong positive influence on Tina's early musical development. That is despite the fact that he also mistreated Tina. My favorite Tina is still what she recorded with Ike, although I do also love "What's Love Got to Do With It." (By the way, her version of Proud Mary was an Ike production)

It would seem that it was $25 an hour, not per song. Still...

It is difficult to think of Tina as dead. She was larger than life in so many ways and the personification of eternal youth. My father became a big fan in the 60s and took me several times to see the Ike and Tina Turner review. I had never experienced so much pure energy, dynamism, and charisma on a stage before, and I haven't since. Tina was a force of nature.

Rouse may not have been as interesting, in and of himself, as some of Monk's other tenors. But he played the role of a foil for Monk extremely well. There are sublime moments when Rouse is playing something rather plain and Monk is comping behind him beautifully.

Given that Duke Ellington himself made so many of his own studio recordings of his bands, I imagine that he must have spent some time in the post-war years listening to these recordings.

I'm very sorry, Kevin. 😢 My condolences to you and the family. John

What about Philly Joe playing behind Miles, or behind Kenny Dorham on Whistle Stop (in both cases with Paul Chambers)?

It hits hard for me too. I grew up in Berkeley and knew him personally. He was a very special and generous person. His contributions to documenting American roots music were also immense. RIP

Yes. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I just meant to imply that she was a less obvious choice for a large Mosaic set, particularly if there had been (as claimed) discrimination against women.

Historically, the majority of great female jazz musicians have been vocalists. Mosaic has issued box sets for Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Dinah Washington, and even Mildred Bailey. There certainly would have also been a Billy Holiday set if all her studio recordings had not already been reissued in lavish box sets by Columbia, Decca, and Verve. I don't really understand the charge of sexism.

I would think maybe 1.5-2 discs. But recordings that Mary Lou Williams made first with the Synco Jazzers and later as a leader (solo, trio, quartet) during her time with Andy Kirk would comprise another full disc. Then they could add to that a good part of her recordings for Asch from 1944-1945 - and BINGO - a great potential Mosaic.

Damn! I am visiting New York this week but will be leaving on the 3rd before the concert. I would have loved to attend.

O.V.'s best gospel sides were with the Sunset Travelers (IMO).

The online Warne Marsh discography would imply strongly that it DOES exist. I didn't even know it. 59-0217/24 LEE KONITZ-WARNE MARSH QUINTET. 'The Half Note’, NYC, February 17 & 24, 1959. Lee Konitz, as; Warne Marsh, ts; Bill Evans (*), p; Jimmy Garrison, b; Paul Motian, d. Note: The following 42 tracks were recorded by Peter Ind on the two Tuesday nights of a two week engagement when Bill Evans replaced Lennie Tristano who had commitments to teach. In the early 70's, Connie Crothers made an edited tape (with Marsh's solos only) at the request of Lennie Tristano who wanted a solo tape of Warne's playing from that date. Warne Marsh ultimately gave a copy of this tape to Bill Hardy of Revelation Records and the tracks were issued on LP's, i.e. 20 excerpts on Revelation 22 (issued 1974) and 14 on Revelation 27 (issued 1977) under the title “Warne Marsh: The Art Of Improvising”. In 1994 Verve issued 12 complete tracks on the 2 CD set "Lee Konitz Live at the Half Note" - Verve 521 659-2. However, all of the original tracks have circulated amongst collectors for some time in a condition which required editing. This has now been done. Since we have no knowledge of the dating or sequence of each track between the two sessions, we have divided all tracks into two parts (21 tracks - 3 sets? - per evening). Two titles were recorded three times. We assume one version was played as a daily sound check (listed as track 1 below). In early September 2004 my co-worker in Holland, Joop van der Leij, consulted guitarist/arranger Axel Hagen to analyse the origin of the Revelation excerpts. These results are included in the following summaries (22 and 27 indicating the two LP’s - Revelation 22 and 27). Assumed program A: 1 YOU STEPPED OUT OF A DREAM 27-track 10 7:42 2 PALO ALTO * 22-track 1 9:13 3 HOW ABOUT YOU? * 9:15 4 MY MELANCHOLY BABY * 27-track 1 6:54 5 SCRAPPLE FROM THE APPLE * 22-track 5 7:53 6 YOU STEPPED OUT OF A DREAM * 22-track 4 7:39 7 317 E. 32ND * 27-track 2 7:44 8 APRIL * 22-track 6 8:44 9 IT'S YOU OR NO ONE * 22-track 2 8:09 10 JUST FRIENDS * WM out 5:40 11 BABY, BABY ALL THE TIME * WM no solo 8:31 12 LENNIE-BIRD * (also private 2nd copy, incl false start / 9:31) 8:39 13 SUBCONSCIOUS-LEE * 22-track 3 7:41 14 BACK HOME 22-track 19 6:41 15 HALF NELSON 22-track 20 6:41 16 TANGERINE 27-track 4 6:25 17 YARDBIRD SUITE 27-track 6 7:36 18 BODY AND SOUL * 7:15 19 BACKGROUND MUSIC 27-track 11 8:26 20 WILL YOU STILL BE MINE? 27-track 7 9:02 21 PENNIES IN MINOR 27-track 14 inc. 6:34 2-13 CD Verve 521 659-2 (2CDs) Jazz Lips 760 (2 CD-set / + 8 titles of 76-0315) 14,15 PCD (A) private CD-A/ see next Revelation listings 16,17,19,20 PCD (B) private CD-B/ see next Revelation listings 1,21 PCD (C) private CD-C/ see next Revelation listings 18 PCD (D) private CD-D/ see next Revelation listings Assumed program B: 1 IT'S YOU OR NO ONE 7:50 2 HOW ABOUT YOU 22-track 10 6:29 3 SCRAPPLE FROM THE APPLE 22-track 11 5:09 4 YOU STEPPED OUT OF A DREAM 22-track 17 7:53 5 317 E. 32nd 27-track 9 8:31 6 APRIL 22-track 18 10:26 7 IT'S YOU OR NO ONE 22-track 14 (ens.) / 22-track 16 (solo) 6:57 8 YESTERDAYS WM out 5:25 9 BABY, BABY ALL THE TIME 22-track 12 7:04 10 LENNIE BIRD 22-track 8 8:33 11 SUBCONSCIOUS-LEE 27-track 8 9:51 12 TWO NOT ONE 22-track 13 inc. 7:46 13 BACK HOME * 22-track 7 7:53 14 HALF NELSON * 22-track 15 8:15 15 THE SONG IS YOU 22-track 9 10:30 16 LOVERMAN WM out 4:35 17 YARDBIRD SUITE * 27-track 12 9:32 18 WILL YOU STILL BE MINE? * WM out 6:37 19 PENNIES IN MINOR 27-track 5 6:23 20 'ROUND MIDNIGHT 5:00 21 FISHIN' AROUND * 27-track 3 7:04 4,6,8,9,10,12,15 PCD (A) private CD-A/ see next Revelation listings 1,2,3,5,11,16 PCD (B) private CD-B/ see next Revelation listings 7,19,20 PCD (C) private CD-C/ see next Revelation listings 13,14,17,18,21 PCD (D) private CD-D/ see next Revelation listings Excerpts on Revelation 22 (side one: 1-10 / side two 11-20). (with indication of track source ) 1 Palo Alto (as 'Strike Up The Band') Verve (A)-1 2:30 2 It's You Or No One Verve (B)-2 2:10 3 Subconscious-Lee Verve (B)-6 1:37 4 You Stepped Out Of A Dream (add LK) Verve (A)-5 2:22 5 Scrapple From The Apple Verve (A)-4 2:18 6 I'll Remember April Verve (B)-1 1:36 7 Indiana PCD (D)-5 1:55 8 Lunar Elevation (Lennie Bird) PCD (A)-8 2:26 9 A Song For You (The Song Is You) PCD (A)-9 2:11 10 How About You? PCD (B)-4 1:55 11 Scrapple From The Apple (add LK) PCD (B)-5 2:00 12 Baby, Baby, All The Time (as 'Blues') PCD (A)-7 1:20 13 I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me PCD (A)-1 2:21 14 It's You Or No One PCD (C)-5 1:10 15 Half Nelson (mistitled 'Indian Summer')(add LK) PCD (D)-1 2:00 16 It's You Or No One (add LK) PCD (C)-5 1:10 17 You Stepped Out Of A Dream -2 PCD (A)-6 2:05 18 April, I'll Remember (I’ll Remember April)(add LK) PCD (A)-3 2:30 19 Indiana PCD (A)-4 2:40 20 Half Nelson PCD (A)-5 2:49 Excepts on Revelation 27 (side one: 1-7 / side two 8-14). (with indication of track source) 1 Melancholy Baby (mistitled 'Sweet Georgia Brown') Verve (A)-3 2:02 2 317 E 32nd (titled Out Of Nowhere) Verve (A)-6 2:49 3 Fishin' Around PCD (D)-6 1:56 4 Tangerine PCD (B)-1 2:22 5 Pennies In Minor (mistitled ‘Lennie's Pennies’) PCD (C)-6 2:18 6 Yardbird Suite PCD (B)-6 1:50 7 Will You Still Be Mine PCD (B)-10 1:57 8 What Is This Thing Called Love PCD (B)-7 2:10 9 317 E 32nd (titled Out Of Nowhere) PCD (B)-8 1:55 10 You Stepped Out Of A Dream PCD (C)-3 2:45 11 Background Music ('?' on sleeve) PCD (B)-9 1:55 12 Yardbird Suite ('?' on sleeve) PCD (D)-3 1:58 13 It's You Or No One (mistitled ‘Lennie's Pennies’) not yet found* 2:00 14 Pennies In Minor ('?' on sleeve) PCD (C)-2 1:10 *Note: Excerpt 13 could not be related to one of the complete tracks from these two dates.

Strange. I can see it. Archie Brownlee & the Blind Boys - Certainly Lord