Milestones

Definitely some mixed reactions. I get that.

What's up with Jan Garbarek in recent years? Limited research shows he has not really been recording for about a decade. Admittedly, I have not collected much of his work. I liked him in the trio with Haden and Gismonti, as well as with Jarrett's European quartet. Some of his own early solo worked sounded good--pretty different from the later low-key stuff. He has had one of the longest runs ever on ECM, and it is a highly diverse output. I have sampled rather than explored. I do like several tracks on the live album Dresden. Whether one is a fan or not, it has been a major career. He appears to be one of the most important European jazz musicians...ever. I am just wondering what he has been up to lately, and who here has been keeping up with his work.

Escoffery is pretty good. I've heard him on some Tom Harrell records, and I believe he's been valued in big band settings--Mingus, Ron Carter.

Yes, Jack was great for his amazing skills and his unique style--that's why he is up there with Max, Tony, Elvin, Art, and those true greats. There are some fine drummers our there, like Joey Baron and Bill Stewart. But I think they are a level or two down from Jack.

Another one I have is Coltrane and Art Taylor. It should be remembered that Taylor was the drummer of choice on Trane's Prestige dates. It's hard to compete with the legendary pairing of Coltrane and Elvin, but there is a lot of fine stuff on these early records.

Plenty of good pairings...my thanks to everyone. I'm thinking more along the lines of players who were not in actual working groups for considerable (or decent) amount of time. Thus I would not choose Ron Carter and Tony Williams since they served so long with Miles (and you could count VSOP as well). Or Haden and Blackwell, since they were key players in the Ornette quartet and in Old and New Dreams. But then again it might be cool to spotlight Carter/Williams outside of Miles /VSOP, or Holland and DeJohnette outside of Gateway

Special Edition and Album Album, in particular, are excellent records.

Mingus/Richmond...one of those that is a given!

I endlessly make playlists on my computer, and of course there are many featuring the great drummers in our history. I have also created some playlists that showcase how a particular drummer connects with another player, which could be a sax player, pianist, guitarist. In some cases, I don't need to document it separately--there is simply such a large amount of Coltrane with Elvin and Miles with Tony Williams. Spotlights so far: John Abercrombie with Jack DeJohnette Sonny Rollins with Max Roach Monk with Art Blakey Chick Corea with Roy Haynes I should do some more.

Now playing "After the Rain" with just Jack (on piano) and Bill Frisell. It's great to hear some of those piano performances, especially on this beautiful tune. Jack is really front and center, with Frisell providing very soft and subtle background.

I thought he would live forever. Jack was on so many great records with so many great artists. I liked a lot of his leader work, especially in the 70s and 80s. A giant and legend. R.I.P.

I have heard some Garzone and really enjoyed his playing. He is someone who should be much better known. Damn, that's Jarrett and Haden on "Prayer." Lovely tune and a highlight from Jarrett's early career, when he played with Haden a lot (usually in trio and quartet).

For sheer musical pleasure, this is a superb BFT. Good/great tracks all the way through. You don't often hear Mingus on one of these. And I need to get that Elvin Jones record. Isn't that Max on #7? I didn't see a confirmation, but it absolutely has to be him. Love Max Roach. So track #8 is the big mystery of far. Can't say I've heard much (if any) electric bass in tenor/bass/drums trio. If the tenor player is obscure, he/she deserves greater recognition. Oddly, except for Art Pepper, you don't hear many jazz musicians playing "Over the Rainbow." This is a lovely reading by Paul Gonsalves and Earl Hines. Track 12 is certainly Charlie Haden from one of the many duet records with a pianist. Not sure which this would be. Maybe Tokyo Adagio with Gonzalo. Charlie has a lot of tracks where you can hear a pin drop. This is one of them. I love virtually all of Haden's work, and no exception here. Just a marvelous BFT. . .thanks!

I like Pat Metheny a lot, but have yet to come around much on Brad Mehldau. I saw Metheny a couple of years back with a "Side-Eye" trio, and it was definitely one of the finest concerts I have ever seen. Metheny and Brecker had a great musical partnership.

Coming back to the original strange statement about Brecker not playing real jazz, those who know and love real jazz just need to listen him on those records on Impulse and Verve. And then, too, maybe someone should ask why Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, etc. were out there playing "not real" jazz with schlocky pop-jazz player Michael Brecker.