John L

Hey, any 250 pound woman who can do the splits like that is OK with me. Seriously, I agree. I have never been offended by Velma Middleton the way that some people are.

Prima is OK with me too. The first time I heard the recordings with Keely Smith and Butera, I was....well....alarmed. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. But it sure did sound different, even though every element was very familiar.

I generally like Giddins. But that is just plain weird. Miller and Waller strike me much more as opposites than similar. The perception of Miller as a "humorless purveyor of diluted swing" strikes me as rather close to the truth. Now Waller was most certainly not a "humorless purveyor of diluted swing." On the contrary. Turn that around 180 degrees and you get Fats Waller. Happy birthday, Fats! You are worth a countless number of Glenn Millers to me.

While I understand your aversion to alternate takes in general, you might consider making an exception for Bird. A major part of his art was spontaneously composing (improvizing) something completely new on a limited set of basic changes. Sometimes, these tracks were given completely new names and released. Sometimes they were not released and kept as "alternates." There were also times, of course, when tracks were rejected as inferior. But I would certainly not want to be without the alternates in the case of Bird. That said, it may not be as essential to obtain the alternates for the Verve sessions as for the Dial and Savoy sessions. For the latter, I would HIGHLY recommend picking up the whole ball of wax. For the Verve sessions, the masters might do, particular since (as I understand) they have been remastered in a manner superior to the larger 10-disc "complete" set.

John Lewis is absolutely correct! How did you know? How did you both get there and get back to him from only 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon without 6 parts? But you still could be wrong. You didn't specify if he was live or studio. leader or sideman.

You mean to say that non-Blue Note recordings can be underrated too?

Well, I will attempt a serious stupid answer to a stupid question: The flugelhorn sounds very nice in some contexts, but I generally like the trumpet better. I also think that too many good trumpet players have become sidetracked with the flugelhorn.

Lester Young

007 is a big deal. 0016 just doesn't have the same ring to it.

I am REALLY surprised at how many people are listing Benny Carter's Cosmopollite as among the few most essential small group swing albums. Maybe I shouldn't have sold my copy after all?

I heard the rumor earlier today, and didn't want to believe it. RIP

Hey, that's the way it is. I know a number of jazz lovers with very good ears who just don't go for Louis Armstrong and the Hot 5s, period. I guess that it might have something to do with the time and technology that separate those recordings from now. But falling in love with this music is a great thing to do if you can. For me, it was something close to love at first hear. I had heard "Hello Dolly" and some other 60s Pops when growing up, and never thought much of it. Shortly after he died, I picked up an RCA 2-fer that was released in his memory. The first album was from the mid-30s. The second was from the 40s, including tracks from Town Hall. A few times through and I became an Armstrong fanatic for life. By the time I got to the Hot 5s, the effect was immediate. And now I can even enjoy "Hello Dolly" quite a bit.

Come to think of it, that Sunset concert must have been in 2001, if not 2000. At any rate, it was tremendous, and Teddy Edwards continued to play very strong until the end. So I am grabbing anything new from his later years right away. He certainly did play "Sunset Eyes." He introduced it as "something that he wrote and played with Clifford Brown."

Great post, Wesbed. As much great jazz as came after the "foundation," none has exceeded it. It always makes me happy to hear when this music finally clicks for somebody. Once it gets inside of you, that's it. It becomes a part of you for life.

I caught Teddy Edwards in a quartet at the Sunset in Paris on that 2002 tour. He was in tremendous shape, and played for a full hour and a half. I was astounded. That was one of the best concerts I have attended in recent years.

Maybe Sam Rivers should try passing for Snoop for a while instead? That would finance a nice jazz loft, the "real" Velvet Lounge.

For starters, I would also suggest Lester Young: The Kansas City Sessions Lester Young: The Keynote Sessions Lester Young: The Aladdin Sessions (Semi-bop flavor) Charlie Christian: Anything, preferably one of those cheap box sets that were released in recent years. Vic Dickenson's small group recordings on Vanguard (available on various discs) Duke Ellington's Small Group Sessions of RCA (1940s), Columbia (1930s), and most of the 50s and 60s small group sessions. James P. Johnson and the Blue Note Jazzmen Henry Red Allen and Coleman Hawkins: I Got the World on a String. and the list goes on and on.

...as did Roy Clark. (at least on those occasions when he let his fingers do the talking.)

I broke down and bought this one too. I have been through it once so far Yes, this is high class jazz: intelligent, executed extremely well, and driven by a high performance engine of either Elvin Jones, Max Roach, or Tootie Heath. Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan both live up to their reputations as studies in good taste. Flanagan, in particular, gets off some brilliant solos. Bobby Jasper's playing is fine indeed, as is Nat Adderley's. The other great feature of this set is that, other than the fine J.J. Incorporated, all the music is new to me. Why did I wait so long? I had a worry in the back of my head that it might all sound a bit too prim and proper, perfectly executed and sophisticated, but maybe lacking in that hard drive and loose bluesy swagger that made so much other hard bop of the period so memorable. Now I think that my fears were largely misplaced. This music mines roughly the same territory as Brown-Roach, but with a bit of added structure and discipline. There is a time and place for different types of music, and I expect to be finding a lot of time and place for this set. Thanks to all who recommended it so highly.

You are probably thinking of Gatemouth Brown who, fortunately, is still with us Gatemouth Moore was a really fine singer. RIP

Hey, there is plenty of love for Freddie in my house! (Of course, I don't live on Elm Street.) I think that Double Take is a fine album, the better of the two collaborations between Hubbard and Shaw. If you find it, I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up, but maybe not for $140. Hell, I might even consider selling you my 2-fer for only $100

R.I.P. This is the end of an era in jazz drumming. That story about Ginger Baker is pretty incredible. It amazes me that ANYONE would have the nerve to summon Elvin Jones to his home turf for a drum battle, let alone Ginger Baker. Those who judged it to be a draw were probably also suffereing from the ass-lost-in-space syndrome.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take pity on those of us who had to live through the horror of it. Just when funk was hitting the hardest grooves...BANG! Static synthetic beats take over the dance floor.

That sounds about right (if I gave it the right interpretation). In some ways, I think that BB King and Art Pepper are opposites. BB King is always calm and collected, completely in control of the situation, as much impressionistic as expressionistic. Art Pepper is like a ball of fire in a staightjacket, always pushing hard to increase the intensity, reaching deep within himself, aiming to go out of control but somehow never getting all the way there.

Happy birthday, Larry! Thanks for sharing so many insights and valuable information with us here.