Alexander Hawkins

Dou you know anywhere those are available? I haven't really seen them around! p.s. Michael Ray - nice player I think that ebay is your best bet for the Horo albums. The Horo quartet albums are great, and the Horo big band album contains some of Sun Ra's best swing-style recordings, on Fletcher Henderson songs. I have not been able to find the Horos anywhere except after long waits on ebay, putting them on my watch list there. Thanks - I'll take a look. No luck at DMG.

Dou you know anywhere those are available? I haven't really seen them around! p.s. Michael Ray - nice player

I know what you mean about the vocals. There's a wonderful bit about 1'20" or so into Astro Black from 'Kohoutek' where Gilmore just blows it apart after one of those vocals: the effect is magic.

Just listening to 'Concert for the Comet Kohoutek'. Ra plays some EXTRAORDINARY stuff on this.

Not altogether unlikely, I woudln't think - the UK price has recently gone up from £4.99 to £5.99, I believe.

FWIW, the passage of a week hasn't mellowed me on Muhal's piano playing on this one. Awesome stuff.

Katee Sackhoff The Sad Sack Saddam Hussein Hoisin Duck Duck Baker Shorty Baker

Over the Rainbow has a decent verse IMHO

Sun Ra (Atlantis, anyone???)

Looking forwards to this one. Simon who, for the liner notes? Stan's finest moment is quite a claim...

I remember flicking through this at a store the other day. Am I right in thinking that Cecil Taylor doesn't make the top hundred? I could be imagining it, but it wouldn't surprise me given the list as it stands... I'm not sure I understand the mentality of such lists in any case.

1. Great track! Very interesting head. Nice instrumentation, and the rhythm section has a beautiful feel. The piano player is ALL OVER IT. Wow, who is it? Don't recognise the tenor or trumpet, but they both have nice nice tones. The latter's is LARGE. Nice bari as well - not obvious playing. I feel like I'd certainly know him if I were to hear him again. Damn, this piano player...He's heard his Bud Powell. He's got that extraordinary intensity - almost scary in places. And the left hand! No bullshit here - it's rhythm, and thick, deliberate voicing. Nothing tentative or impressionistic here. Beautiful player. I'm all over this once I discover what to buy! 2. Not exactly hit between the eyes by the drum intro...I take it it's the piano player's date? He's got those Coltrane diminished runs down...Don't like the tune. The tempo change are a little facile to my ears. Don't know the trumpet player. Might it be Woody Shaw? Don't like that soprano tone, although in fairness, I don't think it's that wonderfully recorded. Don't like the bass sound either. Sorry to be a bit negative on this track (I'm still reeling from the opener ). 3. Interesting head! Sort of Mingus'y, but more convntional BN-ish hard bop thrown in. There's something slightly crazy about proceedings, which is nice. I like the melodic approach of the trumpeter. Blimey, what is that instrument? Alto? Individual, for sure. If the alto were a bowed instrument [sic] it would sound like this. 4. [Don't like the recorded sound at all, incidentally.] Interesting frontline sound - that bari cuts through just right. And the baritone solo is nice too! I don't know what to make of the piano player...I'm not that sympathetic to his concept, although there's some nice stuff for sure. 5. Some impressive drumming here, and a nice solo entrance by the trumpeter. I enjoy this track for sure, but it doesn't really get me. 6. The tune sounds like one which should be very familiar. I don't go for the group sound...some solid drumming though. And the transition into swing - well - one of the oldest tricks in the book I guess, but that's because it's so damn good! The flautist's solo is nice, actually. I wish they could have bolted on a more interesting head! There's a very dilute Dolphy influence, I think. 7. How many takes did it take to get this head??? Nice playing. Tristano school is a definite influence, I'd have said, but there are 'harder' touches there... Don't necessarily go for the altoist's tone, but his ideas are together, and (s)he's got a really interesting rhythmic conception. He's soloing on the tune, rather than simply the changes, and I like that! I like the piano player's touch. Very even - a la Tristano or Hampton Hawes. And it's a damn good solo too. I'm certainly keen to find out what this is. 8. More multiphonics here on the trombone. As per disc 1 - I assume it's the same player/date - it's technically extremely accomplished. Aesthetically? I don't know. Don't like the piano solo here...at all...That solo cadenza by the trombonist is actually excruciating. Sorry! Maybe I'm not in the mood - I'll listen to this one again later 9. Nice sound to the clave - although I don't like the way the kit is tuned. Trumpet player leave me a bit cold. I'm not terribly keen on the highly-amplified bass sound, either. Cool cowbell playing, though. Seriously! 10. A saxophonist with serious chops. More chops than ideas? That might be a bit cruel, but it's not really doing it for me. Sounds to me like he needs to be stretched more. He's far more interesting at (what sound like) his limits. Nice touch having the tuba in there - works well for me. Both trumpet and piano are efficient, but neither really gets me going. 11. A slightly nuts vamp! It's a bit hectic, but quite cool all the same. Not overly keen on the tune which is overlayed. Alto is great - reminds me of Sonny Red, but the sound of the rest of the ensemble makes me doubt if it actually is him. Interesting. Piano - yeah, I'm warming to it, actually! Mirrors the tune nicely in his breaks. 12. Drumming is a bit heavy handed, and again, sounds like it could have been recorded in the bath! Nice horn sound. Not a subtle arrangement. Soloists are reasonably interesting, but couldn't put a name on them! I like the short solo as a concept - players are often so much more interesting where they aren't self-indulgent. Tune is somehow slightly reminiscent of the Alligator Bogaloo. No idea what it might be, though. 13. Technically pretty awesome drumming (listen to that cymbal go). Don't know about the feel on this one...gets more appealing as it goes on actually! I really like this, in fact. No idea what it might be, but I'd be curious to hear more. Thanks again. Track one was revelatory. THAT PIANO PLAYER!!!!!!! DAMN!!!!!!! Edit: Aha - Muhal! It's plain WRONG that a guy can be such an awesome free player, and play bop like that. Really shows the kinship between the 'styles', if there even is a valid divide.

Sorry to be slow with these responses! I've had a listen several times, although been short on time to scribble some ideas. 1. Very enjoyable, but a little generic-sounding to my ears. A Horace Silver composition, I'd agree (I unfortunately spotted the name before realising that I should post without reading previous answers) - although I'm not sure that I'd necessarily have picked him from his solo here (LH seems not to be doing the usual Silver thing)? The comping remains very 'Horace', though. And, not damning with faint praise in the slightest, the two horn soloists are exceedingly competent around the changes. Couldn't begin to identify them, though. 2. Fascinating! I'm not sure I could identify any players, but like a lot of what goes on here. The modulating tune could be a little annoying, but actually for me contributes nicely to the slightly off-the-wall goings on. Don't know about the trumpeter, although I like his stuff. Alto is very interesting: bits of Cannonball (the swing); bits of Jackie McLean (the headlong intensity; the tart, slightly sharp tone); bits of Trane; and bits of Sonny Red (the 'rawness'). Pianist is wonderful. His soloing is more interesting than his comping, for me. His identity isn't fully formed, I don't think, in his comping, where he flits between hard-boppish figurations, and more modern, quartal-sounding voicings. These two seem a little incongruent to me. But the soloing is great. The end of the solo where he makes the hints at freedom is really nice. I'd like to hear more, for sure. 3. Oscar Pettiford's 'Bohemia after Dark'. Not a bad performance, but not an instant favourite. I think it's a little fast to swing really hard like this tune feels it wants to do. A few of the organist's registrations seemed a little cumbersome to me. I'm not sure what I think about organ with a bass player. It CAN work, for sure, but I don't know here... 4. Got quite a nice groove - reminiscent of some of the very late Grant Green. Don't know about those trombone multiphonics, although the player is technically highly accomplished, for sure. But the piece doesn't really do it for me. Too much of a vehicle for the 'bone player. Is it Claude Bartee on tenor? Don't think so, but he's heard him. Not sure about the kicks in the solos, either - they're a bit fusion-y for me. The whole thing would have been much more idiomatic if they'd let it groove straight, IMHO. 5. Interesting to compare with track 1. A more interesting latin feel than track 1, although still fairly generic hard bop. Is it Joe Henderson? I don't really know...It's an interesting solo, actually! I don't know my trumpet players from this time-period well enough. It's Hubbard-influenced...could it be FH? Has a few of the licks. Not especially keen on the piano player, who's playing patterns to my ears. 6. Don't know. Is it possibly Grant Green? Sounds very much like him - tone, phrasing. BUT, there's something which tells me perhaps I'm looking a little early. Not to inspired with the tenor. It's OK, but fairly conventional (Henderson-influenced, I'd say). 7. Three Little Words is the tune. Some nice drumming - shame it sounds like it was recorded in the bath. A few too many obvious quotes in the horn playing, perhaps, but I like it all the same. I don't immediately recognise the player. Again, without damning with faint praise, I suspect I'd rather hear this type of thing live than on record. Anxiety of influence must be enormous, BTW, to play one of the tunes so associated with Sonny in a context such as this, in which he'd have torn the tune apart for sure. 8. Not for me. The piano player is risking RSI, and the groove isn't worth it (IMHO, as ever! ). 9. My guess, although I don't know much of the stuff, would be the George Coleman/Cedar Walton 'Eastern Rebellion' band. Composition is very Shorter-influenced to my ears - could have featured, say, on 'Night Dreamer'. Consistently with this, Walton (if it is him) has a very McCoy-tinged thing going on at the start. I take it the drummer is Billy Higgins? I enjoy this, but no more than that (although Coleman fairly eats the tune!) 10. Not a sound I like, from the band or the soloist. The voicings are a little too studied to my ears. Of course I'll have embarassed myself if it is Gil Evans, but it sounds very sub-Gil Evans to me. The sax solo...NO! I can't stand the tone, the ideas don't interest me. Oh well! Piano player doesn't do much more for me, either. Very generic - he's learned his chords and scales by the book. Great - now play some music rather than run them. Edited because I forgot the last track! 11. This is growing on me. A nice organ sound, definitely. Very warm, coherent registration. Don't know the trombone player offhand. Is the guitarist Melvin Sparks? I'm not so good with guitarists, but have just been listening to Lonnie Smith's 'Think', and they're coming from the same place! Nice comping behind the guitar solo from all involved. Tenor I'm ambivalent about - he's running his scales a little bit, but is also really melodic in places. Don't know the tone, though. Organ solo - very familiar - is it John Patton? A few quartal touches in there as well which I'd associate with later Patton or most Larry Young, but it's not Larry Young, I don't think. A nice test, thank you! I especially like track 2. I'm eager to hear the answers, of course, and to hazard some more (doubtless similarly wide-of-the-mark) guesses to disc two.

Great band! Art Themen is a player to check out, definitely. He's been one of the most interesting horn players in the country since the 60s, IMHO. And he's a brain surgeon by day, which is pretty cool. He's actually an orthopaedic surgeon. But he's a b****y good tenor player too! Same difference , although on reflection, maybe brain surgeon sounds cooler! [Thanks for the correction, BTW - I had no idea]

Mongezi and Harry Beckett - right there you've got two HEAVY trumpet players. Massive sounds, both. Travellin' Somewhere is the only Brotherhood record I have, but here in the UK on the free scene, these guys are all idols. Shame that one by one, they're not around anymore.

Am currently enjoying mine (received Saturday). Some guesses to follow!

I'm certainly not an expert, but English law simply does not appear to take property crime very seriously. Once again, there's a certain... Never mind. I have a fair amount of expertise (before I binned it to start playing music, but ) - suffice it to say that English law does take property VERY seriously indeed. Far too seriously. 'An Englishman's Home is His Castle' is a workable, and generalisable, precept, in many ways!

I should add - from the discography at the end of the book - that this information (about the Wilson recording) was provided to Simosko by Dolphy's parents. They also mention a session, 'Los Angeles, c. 1956-57' (1996: 104), with the 'Eddie Beal Combo'.

A couple of quotes from the Simosko (1996): Gerald Wilson seems to have been one of Eric's most vital musical associates throughout the earlier years of his development [...] Eric definitely recorded with Gerald Wilson at some point during the mid-1950s, but no information is available. Wilson himself has stated that he has moved around so much that he can't find anything. Existing discographies fail to clarify the situation, as details on Wilson's record dates are quite hazy for that period of his career. However it is known with reasonable certainty that Eric's first featured recorded work was with Roy Porter's superb big-band of 1948-50, which included such eventual notables as Art and Addison Farmer, Jimmy Knepper, Joe Maini, and Russ Freeman (1996: 31). For Eric Dolphy, however, Ornette Coleman's was a new direction full of exciting potential [...] That Dolphy did not share Coleman's problems of acceptance with other musicians is evident from the associations he held at the time. Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Harold Land, and Richie Powell were among those who used to go over to his house to play whenever they were in town; and Eric and Harold Land did a lot of woodshedding, as did Eric and Buddy Collette (1996: 36).

Cecil Taylor and Mary Lou Williams - Embraced Amina Claudine Myers and Muhal Richard Abrams - Duet ...are nice ones!

His solo on 'Confirmation' from that LD album...

Joe McPhee's 'Nation Time' might be an idea.

I contacted Mosaic a couple years ago suggesting a cross-label Hutcherson/Land set, with the Hutcherson Blue Notes and the Land Cadet and Mainstream albums. They told me at the time they were actually working on the licensing for just such a set, but I've never heard any more on it. Since then the major labels have become much more proprietry. From now on you can only look for packages from one source. If this wasn't true, the Oliver Nelson UA material would be on the Nelson set. Onward to another Mosaic possibility: Now that Sony and BMG are "connected" MC should have little problem doing a Braxton/Arista set if he really wants to do it. I'd have that Braxton in a shot. I remember asking about whether I should buy the vinyl here. The answer was yes, since there was no telling when this would be on CD...on my return to the store, of course, it was all gone

By coincidence, I'm listening to some of my first Lateef as I read, and he's a mofo on tenor as well!