Milestones

I need to check that out. I made a quick search tonight for the record (vinyl twofer) and didn't find it. I will look again tomorrow.

The notes for Blue Note/UA Little Niles may have been the best writing on Randy Weston prior to Weston's autobiography.

I was just shy of 21-years-old and started my collection with Bitches Brew, and followed the branches. Then it was Kind of Blue and following those players. This gave me two ways to go: post-bop/modal and fusion. I was able to explore all kinds of major figures: Coltrane, Evans, McLaughlin, Hancock, Shorter, etc. Reading helped too. A big one for me was the 101 Best Jazz Records by Len Lyons. That gave me a sense of history from the beginning through most of the 1970s. Like most of us, I was able to find plenty of good stuff in the bargain bins, and of course the "twofers" were a great bargain. Libraries, for sure. In fact, libraries remain a major way to hear new and old jazz.

I thought the twofers were quite cool--a nice way to start building up a collection when one is fairly new to jazz. I guess that the sequel, in a way, is the box set: 6 or 8 or 12 jammed CDS. I just find those overwhelming.

In the Cleveland area a couple of malls have gone down entirely. Another seems pretty notorious for the crime. Just before the turn of the century malls were a still a hot thing. I personally lost interest quite some time ago. The last visit was over two years back, and only because I needed a pair of glasses in a hurry. But I do have a bit of fondness for the old days. And they do make sense in the northern part of the country. You park once and then you can stay in one big warm space for hour upon hour.

#15--Sonny Sharrock? Just a wild guess #16--Interesting. Different. It it jazz? #17--That has to be an opera singer. Not appealing to my ears. #18--Would not expect Wayne to perform this piece. Should we say it's Wayne before Wayne?

Must be some obscure stuff, and there's not much Jarrett as a sideman other than Miles and Charles Lloyd.

So #5 is likely Chares Lloyd? I think I heard some flute in there.

Yes...Miles, Monk, and Milt--that's an all-time jazz classic! I have to say, I can't think of Milt doing Monk tunes on his own records or with MJQ (other than "Round Midnight").

ONE: Old time stuff...sounds like “St. Louis Blues.” It shifts into more of a swing approach. It might be relatively modern, maybe by Marsalis or one of his disciples. TWO: This is like acoustic funk; it has a sort of R & B sound. Tenor is like someone you might hear with Ray Charles. Fun enough, if a little long. THREE: This track certainly has the elements of West Coast style. It bounces along nicely. Good solos on tenor and vibes. I think it’s another player doing the second tenor solo, and I like his a bit better. Guitar only so-so. I would rather hear someone more fluid, like Herb Ellis or Tal Farlow. Everything is done well, but it's likely the work of lesser-known musicians. FOUR: This has more of pop jazz sound, a little like Pat Metheny group or maybe The Yellowjackets. I don’t hear Pat (or any guitar), but I would not be surprised if it were Lyle Mays on the keys. But I’m doing nothing but speculating. I very rarely listen to stuff like this, though it is pleasant enough. FIVE: A short piece that is a bit too much "easy listening" for my taste. But could this actually be early Keith Jarrett? Some of his numbers have that pop song quality. SIX: I know....it's a Pat Martino piece. I believe it's from “Stone Blue,” and the song if "Mac Tough." This is a bit less intense than some other versions of the tune. The cheesy synthesizers (or whatever they are) don’t sound very good. Pat Martino has a really smoking trio version on "Live at Yoshi's," which I prefer by a large margin. SEVEN: Cool piece. I think I know this, although not this version. Sounds like someone with really solid chops—could be Pat Martino, could be Larry Coryell. Just tossing out guesses. EIGHT: “Stolen Moments”…interesting approach. I’ve never heard an organ-guitar-drums version. It has a moody quality…and fairly appealing. Very brief…even too brief. NINE: I never know who to guess on these sorts of things. Pleasant, though a bit repetitious. TEN: Charlie Byrd certainly comes to mind. ELEVEN: “Shaw Nuff,” but no idea who is performing. Guitar sounds like Joe Pass; he’s got chops galore. Not sure about the electric piano. So far, I’m finding that there are some quite well-known pieces here, but I’m not feeling confident at all in trying to identify performers.

Some made a living by joining the Tonight Show Band or doing extensive session work. Otherwise, it's usually a b----!

I do recall buying a lot of Prestige "twofers" and Milestone "twofers" in my early days of jazz--early to mid-80s. I stocked up pretty well on Miles, Wes, Bill Evans, MJQ, Sonny, and others. They were pretty cool and tended to have fine, detailed album notes. You could find some of these in most record stores in the Cleveland area, and a few stores downtown and in the eastern suburbs had plenty of them. Impulse and Blue Note (to a lesser extent) were into the twofer as well. It shows that jazz does have a long life, even if the sales are not huge. This was music from 2-3 decades earlier being repackaged and sold to a small but loyal fan base.

I can't speak to any of this personally, since these were mostly before my birth--not to mention long before my interest in jazz. It's sad to think that some artists would sell 1,000 or 2,000. But some artists had just tons of records on Prestige and Riverside, like Coltrane, Cannonball, and Wes. I would like to see a sales comparison of The New Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige, 1956) vs. E.S.P. (Columbia,1965). Now I just looked at the thread on Monk's first two Riverside records. I am curious to know how well his last records for the label were selling; obviously it was impressive enough to be lured by Columbia.

Pretty cool piece indeed. I found out there that two soundtrack albums from the show were released. I never would have guessed.

It has been going nearly 2 decades! McCallum had a significant (though still supporting) role in the early years. Nowadays, he just pops in every now and then.

I was incredibly young when The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was on TV, but everyone thought Ilya was just THE coolest character. You'd think a nostalgia channel like MeTV would be showing reruns. Of course, McCallum's career has been long, versatile, and distinguished. How about Dr. Mallard on NCIS?

R.I.P., George. You made some fine contributions, including Art Pepper's Village Vanguard records from the late 70s, many discs with Tommy Flanagan, and at least four Joe Lovano records.

There may be some issues these past 2-3 years, but again 10 years have passed by.

I am curious to know what happened to Roy Haynes as recording artist. He had a really nice stretch of records starting in 1998 and running to 2011. I've just picked up the last of those , Roy-alty, which is a pretty impressive date (check out the two piece with Chick Corea). That was 10 years ago and the only new recording in the past 15 years. I'm pretty sure he's still out there playing; it was about 10 years ago that I saw him live--outstanding show! If not studio recordings, how about official live recordings?

That seems odd, as I recall hearing and reading that Mingus was not very fond of what Ornette was doing in jazz. Nevertheless, Mingus did use Dolphy, who to my ears usually sounds more "out" than Ornette (though I guess he isn't in the technical sense). The Mingus group with Dolphy, Curson, Richmond, and himself (no piano) certainly has affinities with the contemporary work of Ornette, or at least I hear it that way.

Not familiar at all with Sullivan. It seems that he has indeed recorded very little.

Eight: After a nice bass opening, this one gets rather wild. The pianist sounds a bit like Don Pullen, but I’m not really drawn into his (or her) work...seems too mechanical. Nine: Pretty interesting, but very long. I think it has elements of Coltrane and Lateef, though I believe you said the personnel is mostly non-American. No idea. Ten: Decent piece with the soprano reminding me of Trane. Actually there may be two soprano sax players here. Even the drums sound like Elvin, in one of his styles. No idea. Eleven: I want to say this is Regina Carter, which I believe I guessed somewhere before. Twelve: Exotic stuff, and there are certainly Dave Douglas records with this instrumentation (or something similar). I don’t hear a trumpet, so no idea. Thirteen: Kenny Garret playing “What is this Thing” (Standard of Language). I enjoy his impassioned work. Fourteen: Nice inside/outside track. The approach reminds me of David Murray, though the tenor is certainly not him and not as distinctive. Overall, this is a consistently interesting BFT....and a tough one!

I have enjoyed Clifford Brown from almost the start of my passion for jazz, which began in 1981. In contrast, I have hardly checked out Fats Narrvaro at all. But I will be rectifying that.

I should listen more often to Clifford Brown. He is probably my third favorite trumpeter of all time, following Miles and Dizzy. His early death is one of jazz's greatest tragedies of all time. He had it all as a trumpeter, and was developing nicely as a composer. He formed two of the greatest collaborations--with Max (it's too bad Max hadn't really begun to work as a composer with Brown/Roach) and Sonny Rollins. Yes, basically four records by Brown & Roach, unless one includes the "strings" record (which has some real high spots and overall is pretty good for this sort of thing). There is more of Clifford Brown to enjoy--quite a bit given that he was just 25 when the accident took his life. Ah, but what might have been.

I found this discussion late--about a decade late! As to the post that started it all, I guess you would regard Monk as one of the worst jazz artists of all time--given all those puns in the titles (or simple uses of his name). And Lee Konitz must be really bad too.