Hot Ptah

I need to ask for a disc. I am really looking forward to the free jazz stuff!

For fun, I typed in Sun Ra's poem "Cosmic Equation". It said that the passage was like Dan Brown. I posted several of my passages of writing. Different names popped up (including Leo Tolstoy once--I should have quit there). The name which comes up repeatedly is Cory Doctorow.

His best recordings are extremely good indeed, such as "Nothing", one of my favorites. In the early days of ebay, I purchased a multi-cassette set of Harvard student radio station shows on the Fugs. It turned out that the seller was Tuli Kupferberg. He was efficient and friendly in the transaction, a model ebay seller. I left him high praise in my ebay feedback as a highly recommended ebay participant.

My first John Patitucci album--Imprint. Personnel: John Patitucci (bass, kalimba, percussion); Chris Potter (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Mark Turner (tenor saxophone); Danilo Perez, John Beasley (piano); Horacio "El Negro" Hernández (drums, percussion); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Giovanni Hidalgo (congas, percussion); Sachi Patitucci (kalimba).

This two LP set was my first Count Basie album:

My first Art Blakey album: Free For All, with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Reggie Workman, Art Blakey.

That was my first Charlie Parker, too! It was quite a publicized reissue at the time. My first Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 Musicians: FATS NAVARRO, trumpet; SONNY ROLLINS, tenor sax; BUD POWELL, piano; TOMMY POTTER, bass; ROY HAYNES, drums (#1-11). BUD POWELL, piano; CURLY RUSSELL, bass; MAX ROACH, drums (#12-20).

My first Dizzy Gillespie album was the Prestige two-fer of the Massey Hall concert, entitled "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever." The musicians are Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach.

My first Jimmy Rowles: The Peacocks--Stan Getz and Jimmy Rowles Stan Getz (tenor sax), Jimmy Rowles (piano), Elvin Jones (drums), and Buster Williams (bass). On the "The Chess Players", the quartet is augmented by the vocals of Jon Hendricks, Judith Hendricks, Michelle Hendricks, Beverly Getz.

My first Elvin Jones--Heavy Sounds, with Richard Davis, Frank Foster, William Green.

A very nice, and perceptive, write-up, Allen.

My first Miles Davis album was Kind of Blue. Miles, Coltrane, Cannonball, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, James Cobb (did I need to type out those names?)

My first Cannonball Adderley album: Somethin' Else. In fact, this was in the first batch of acoustic jazz albums I ever bought. Cannonball, with Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones and Art Blakey.

My first Sam Jones--The Chant. SAM JONES-bass (#1-3, 8); cello (other selections) NAT ADDERLEY-cornet BLUE MITCHELL-trumpet MELBA LISTON-trombone JULIAN "CANNONBALL ADDERLEY- alto saxophone JIMMY HEATH-tenor saxophone TATE HOUSTON-baritone saxophone WYNTON KELLY-piano (#4, 6, 7) VICTOR FELDMAN-piano (#1-3, 5, 8); vibes (#4-7) LES SPANN-guitar (#1, 2, 3, 8) KETER BETTS-bass (#4-7) LOUIS HAYES-drums

My first Bill Lee album: with Bill Lee, Lisle Atkinson, Micheal Fleming, Milt Hinton, Richard Davis, Ron Carter, Sam Jones, Harold Mabern, Sonny Brown, and on two cuts, George Coleman. The album cover states that the album was "Directed by Bill Lee" and that the group is "Performing excerpts from 'Baby Sweets', a narrative folk jazz opera written by Bill Lee and Sonny Brown."

My first Richard Davis album, "Epistrophy and Now's The Time", with Clifford Jordan, Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson, Joe Bonner, Richard Davis, Freddie Waits.

My first Joe Chambers album, which features two musicians, Joe Chambers and Larry Young.

It just goes to show that different listeners respond quite differently. That album has always blown me away. Our differences make it interesting, in my opinion.

"Yeah Man" and "King Porter Stomp" on the "Unity" album (Horo)get the original sound and feel, and work really well. Until one has heard "Unity", one has not heard Sun Ra at his best with this type of material. Of my hundreds of Sun Ra albums, the swing music on "Unity" is among my very favorite Ra. From hearing many versions of this material by Sun Ra both live at the time, and on different recordings, I think that the problem was that the band members did not always play all the parts cleanly, or the recording balance was off, or both. On some of the recordings of this swing band material by Sun Ra, sometimes a large horn section sounds unsteady, and then a trumpet player will come blazing across the sky playing a frantic note for note recreation of the original trumpet parts and solo, but it does not always hang together perfectly. Also, sometimes part of the band will be frustratingly way, way back in the mix, so that you strain to make out their parts, while other parts will boom out at you. It happened other times besides "Unity." I have a tape recorded from the radio, of Sun Ra at the Ann Arbor Jazz Festival 1978, in which the swing era music was performed and recorded cleanly, with cohesion, precision and excitement. At Merlin's in Madison, Wisconsin in December, 1980, during the second set, the Arkestra played a series of swing era standards, with buoyant swing feeling, precision and great excitement. A member of our group at that concert liked only swing music generally, and this set was totally satisfying to her. I remember "Deep Purple" as a particular highlight of that set. One interesting thing, to me, about "Sunrise in Different Dimensions." It contains a recording of something John Gilmore used to often do live at that time, take a solo into very high pitches with great intensity, going steadily upward until I always imagined that dogs were hearing more of his playing than we were. It always brought the house down. That is on "Sunrise in Different Dimensions".

Sun Ra's renditions of the swing era songs on "Unity" (Horo) are much better than the versions on "Sunrise in Different Dimensions." The versions on "Unity" are more cohesive, together, swing more, and feature focused soloing. I find the "Sunrise in Different Dimensions" versions disappointing by comparison. I heard some very exciting live versions of the swing era material by Sun Ra and Arkestra in the 1978--82 period. I recall a bouncy, swinging, tight version of "Satin Doll" at the Detroit art museum close to Halloween, 1980.

Here is an article from the new issue of OffBeat magazine, about the Jazz Nerd phenomenon: http://www.offbeat.com/2010/07/01/the-definition-of-a-jazz-nerd/ Hopefully the author's last name will not cause the article to be dismissed without some consideration of the points he is making.

My first Ralph Moore: Furthermore, with Roy Hargrove, Benny Green, Peter Washington, Kenny Washington, Victor Lewis

My first recording by Clifford Jordan was Down Through the Years. Personnel: Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone); Jerome Richardson, Sue Terry (alto saxophone); Lou Orensteen, Willie Williams (tenor saxophone); Charles Davis (baritone saxophone); Dizzy Reece, Don Sickler, Stephen Furtado, Dean Pratt (trumpet); Brad Shigeta (trombone); Kiane Zawadi (euphonium); Ronnie Mathews (piano); David Williams (bass); Vernell Fournier (drums).

This Blindfold Test really stumped me, but I enjoyed it a lot. I am looking forward to the Reveal. Track #6 is my favorite, especially with the growling trumpeter. I will be checking out the work of several of these artists in the future. Thank you, Bill, for putting this test together.