John L

Just a sound recording, I believe. I had never heard this before. I am particularly blown away by the versions here of Dogon A.D and The Hard Blues. Amazing!

Hemphill fans - DO NOT MISS THIS!

That about sums it up for me too. When I draw a blank with a major jazz artist, I have this continual idea in the back of my head that I must be missing something. That turned out to be true for a few artists that I have learned to appreciate over the years, including Chet Baker. So every now and then I will force myself to listen to some of Oscar Peterson's solo and trio records. But that hasn't helped my appreciation yet, and it has been some years now. Of course, I do hear him all the time when I listen to Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Lionel Hampton, etc. Usually, I am not bothered by him much in those contexts, but often not too thrilled either. When I compare the Verve recordings of Lester Young and Oscar Peterson with the Verve recordings made around the same time of Lester Young and Teddy Wilson or John Lewis, the difference is huge and not in OP's favor.

That is one of my favorite parts of your liner notes to the Art Ensemble box. RIP Ramsey Lewis. He was one of the first jazz artists I saw live.

I just had a chance to hear this. It is actually from the same session as The Giant is Awakened. My complaint about that great album was that it was much too short. I am extremely happy to have this additional music that fills it out. That said, it is not difficult to understand why these tracks might have been rejected for the Giant is Awakened album. While the somewhat out of tune piano does not bother me, the bass playing of (I assume) Walter Savage Jr. is a bit of a problem. It would appear that his instrument is not tuned up well for these tracks, which is particularly audible on the bowed parts. Or it could be that sometimes he is in tune but clashing with the slightly out of tune piano. Despite all of this, if you can take it a bit rough, the music is quite good. Horace Tapscott and Everett Brown Jr. drive the band with the same fervor as on Giant is Awakened. Arthur Blythe is solid although his best playing of the date is on the originally released tracks (IMO). In sum, it is not another Giant is Awakened but still quite worthwhile. There just isn't enough Horace Tapscott from the 60s and this is quite welcome.

The Crescendo recordings are quite enjoyable. That said, there was a time in the history of the Basie band when there would never be any question about which tenor was playing.

I didn't become a real jazz fan until shortly after I graduated high school. But I did buy two albums in high school that got me started: Stanley Turrentine - Don't Mess With Mr. T Grover Washington - Mr. Magic I still love those two albums.

When I lived in Paris in 1995-2002, there used to be about 8 great used CD stores within a half mile radius of Paris Jazz Corner. Paris Jazz Corner was still always the best place for jazz, a real Paris institution. John

Nice to hear that Paris Jazz Corner is still open.

Indeed. Moon was the only source I knew for a long time for hearing John Coltrane's "Creation" from the Half Note in 65.

Very sad, much too young. . I was planning to go see him last week. He played a birthday celebration for Todd Barkan at Keystone Korner in Baltimore. I ended up not going and now really regret it.

Sorry, that was a typo. Yes, he died on Dec. 18, 1987. This recording was made on Dec. 15, 1987.

Actually, Warne Marsh died on December 18, 1957. So it was recorded 3 days before his death, most likely the last Warne on record.

It is apparently the last thing that Warne Marsh ever recorded in a studio. Personal Statement : Warne Marsh (ts) Van Nuys, CA, December 15, 1987 Introduction Jazzbank/Archives (Jap)MTCJ-1050 [CD] Statement 1 - Statement 2 - Statement 3 - Statement 4 - Statement 5 -

Amazon now lists the price for the MP3 version (released on September 2) as $3.87 in contrast to the CD price of 32.98.

This may be due in part to the fact that people like Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Miles Davis began covering Monk's compositions almost immediately, and often smoothed them out into more typical bop vehicles. So more recent covers of Monk are often covers of these covers rather than covers of Monk proper.

The Lord Discography also includes his recorded dates as a sideman. But it is too long to paste here. If there is a specific question that you have in that regard, perhaps it can be answered.

There is a Birdland broadcast shortly after the Little Pony session in April, 1951. Basie is still using an octet. Perhaps Hefti just filled out the octet for that one session. The big band that next recorded in February, 1952 for Clef had completely different reed players except for Marshal Royal and Charlie Fowlkes.

Those are some classic albums with the possible exception of A Blowing Session. For Johnny Griffin, I would have been more inclined to choose his first album (Introducing Johnny Griffin). Of course, we can think of many other classics, beginning with Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Herbie Nichols, Sonny Clark, Sonny Rollins, etc.

Very sad news. Gaslini was a living musical giant. RIP

Thank God for both Max Roach and Art Blakey. They both led some of the greatest jazz bands. Their approaches and bands were very different. So the question here is very hard to answer.

A number of excellent newer releases have been on Dark Tree Records. I have been particularly enjoying "Robert Miranda's Home Ensemble: Live at Bing Theater." It features not only Horace Tapscott but John Carter & Bobby Bradford.

ditto. D)