Alexander Hawkins

I think Jimmy Smith might have done 'Gloomy Sunday' on 'Monster' (Verve).

I think Howard Mandel talks about the Anthony Davis piece for a few pages in his 'Future Jazz' book (Oxford University Press: New York).

One album? Too hard. One track? One of the takes of 'Saturday Night Function' - the first anything I can remember hearing.

I think this one is beautiful. Almost certainly my favourite Green, and I like Herbie on this one too. I agree, these quotes are nice! The other one I also like is on the last track (name escapes me) where that other great storyteller, Scheherezade, gets a look in!

Thanks for this - if I see any going at a good price, I'll be sure to have a listen, but perhaps the thing to do would be to get to know the Arkestra stuff a little better!

I wondered if anyone could please recommend any of Sun Ra's solo piano albums? I'm just getting into Ra, and am really curious about these! Thanks as always!

Gordon Bennett - BBC 1??? p.s. that's not a complaint!

Listening to this again. Lewis is so inventive; just as the liners say, it's great how original he can be within a form which is often very dull in the hands of lesser players!

I sometimes feel after listening to Art Tatum or Bird that they've just had the final say on whatever they chose to play! I guess one example to add to the list above would be Clifford Brown and Max Roach doing Duke Jordan's 'Jordu'?

I really would if you're wavering. The one caveat would be the sound quality - it sounds like it's transferred from some not always clean vinyl; there are a few pops on it. But I'm not fussy at all about sound quality, and where the reward is music like this, then..! BTW, the Lewis and Ammons duets are fun! Put me in a good mood, a bit like Fats Waller.

Oh my. I've just heard 'The First Day' album for the first time, and this is breathtaking. Meade Lux Lewis playing the blues is absolutely priceless. This is how I felt hearing 'The Sermon' the first time, except magnified by 100. Is there any other Meade Lux stuff readily available that I should think about getting? Or indeed anything similar to this? Thanks!

Thanks for all these suggestions!

I wonder if anyone could tell me anything about Willie Pickens? I heard him in Chicago in Friday - he was depping for Hank Jones at the Symphony Center gig. Anyway, I really enjoyed his playing, and would love to hear more of it! Thanks in advance for any information! Red p.s. Denis Mackrel, the drummer that night, was also someone unknown to me, but fantastic.

Apologies for the delay in thanking you for that help – I wasn’t able to get to a computer before actually travelling to Chicago. In the end, I managed to catch the Clark Terry gig (and completely by chance bumped into him in the street the next morning as well!), which was fantastic, but due to time constraints didn’t get along to anything else. Joe Lovano was awesome as well, although Ernestine Anderson was a little disappointing (she stopped 'Falling in Love with Love' after a single chorus because she could find her notes...) Anyway, I can’t wait to get back to Chicago to hear some music - I've never been before, and it's an absolutely fabulous city!

Agree. I really enjoy the electric played well, but there's something about the upright! And I ABSOLUTELY agree here

I'm afraid I don't know much about him, other than that I heard him in concert once with George Haslam, but I really enjoyed hearing the Hungarian (I think) pianist Laszlo Gardony (sp?). Is he a 'name' player? Definitely a good'un, at any rate!

Come to think of it, I don't know any of those names listed in the avant-garde vein: are there any you would recommend in particular? Also, I think I saw that there's a jam session led by Ari Brown at a place called 'Green Dolphin Street' on Thursdays: does anyone know if this is the case, and whether it might be worth going along to? Thanks!

HERE is a brief piece I found concerning the subject matter of this discussion! Seems interesting, if short!

Thank you very much for taking the time to write that out – I’ll try to check some of it out!

Not that it's of any real consequence, but I picked up a paperback copy of this book here in a bricks-and-mortar store in the UK about a year ago... I wonder if it was maybe just an import?

I thought I'd seen a thread on this in the past, but on doing a search, I couldn't turn anything up - so apologies if I'm duplicating anything. I just wondered whether anyone knew of any good gigs in Chicago towards the end of this month? I'll be there from around the 25th-31st, and was curious! p.s. I did see that at the Chicago Symphony they have Hank Jones trio + Clark Terry + Joe Lovano + Ernestine Anderson that week!

Introducing Carl Perkins (Boplicity). This is great stuff - I don't really know much Perkins, but it's good!

Thanks for the tip Rooster!

I was curious - and found this thread - has anyone seen the DVD 'A Joyful Noise'? It seems to be some kind of documentary about Ra. If they have, would they recommend this over 'Space is the Place'? Thanks in advance for any comments!

Wasn't there talk about 'Where is Brooklyn?' at one stage? I'm not fussy though: any music I haven't heard before has to be welcome, and I don't know any of these.