Milestones

Yeah, I remember seeing that one with Ellis on Spotify.

Here's a good one from later career--Moments like This, the ultimate meeting with Peplowski.

There's also an early record named Blues for Night People, which is rather good. But I agree that the track of the same name (on the Village Gate record, yet not on the earlier studio LP) is really superb.

I liked Gary Giddins' collections of articles, such as Visions of Jazz.

Calling on Charlie Byrd fans. This was a guy that I seriously under-valued. I mainly knew him for bossa nova and the Stan Getz connection. I think I actually took more notice of his fine contributions to Ken Peplowski's It's a Lonesome Old Town. And now I have done a little more investigation, and overall I really like what I hear. True, he did have an attraction to pop material, but his huge discography shows what range he had. He was not so soft as I had presumed, and indeed there's plenty of blues quality in his work. He was a well-trained musician and excelled in all kinds of settings. I do wish, however, he'd recorded more often with jazz heavyweights--as he did with Clark Terry on a live record. While not a player who really produced masterpieces, Charlie Byrd offers much that can be thoroughly enjoyed.

He is indeed a subtle player, but this is a man who was certainly committed in everything he did.

Yes, influence can be measured in several ways; and one can make the case for Les Paul. All the same, I don't have a single Les Paul recording in my collection.

It's intriguing to me that so many guitarists with rock in their backgrounds (and not afraid to display it) have been directed influenced by Hall. That's everyone I named in my first post.

He was not in my top 5 favorites either, but the appreciation has certainly been growing over the years. I think now he would be in my top 10.

To me, it seems like he is. You of course have to put Charlie Christian, Django, and Wes at the top. After that? I'd have no trouble placing Hall in the 4th spot. The man made his mark early--legendary meetings with Giuffre, Rollins, Evans. As a leader, he perhaps lagged for awhile, but I think few musicians can claim such a fine run of music near the end: the Telarc records, Something Special, These Rooms, Magic Meeting. The likes of Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Mike Stern, John Abercrombie, and many more have expressed tremendous admiration and cited direct influence. He taught and mentored all of them--and many more. Even Nels Cline is showing the strong debt to Hall on Lovers. He was a special and important man and musician.

Quite a few names I've never heard. I do also like Michael Moore. I have one of his Dylan records, on which he probably plays more alto sax than clarinet--but he sounds very good on both.

Recently I caught Eddie Daniels at Oberlin College, and I really liked the show. I'd never been much into Daniels. I had just one of his albums on vinyl, with nothing on CD or digital download. Maybe it was the GRP thing in the 80s. The tune selection at the concert was generally not imaginative, though there was a lovely piece from Sweeney Todd. The man can play (and has a very pleasant stage presence), and it's hard to believe he is nearly 75. Otherwise, I have one record by Don Byron (though also some prominent sideman appearances), one by Anat Cohen, and a handful by Ken Peplowski. They are all fine players, and I'm feeling I need to explore all of them--plus, I am sure, several more. Despite some attempts to revitalize it, the clarinet still has very low visibility in jazz. I suppose that's not likely to change. But it's worthwhile to seek out the players (most of whom, I've noticed, double or triple on other instruments).

I love Bob Dylan, but 36 discs of live music from one year???

Are there likely to be several of these?

That is a cool photo!

More stuff here than I had expected!

By small I generally mean a string quartet. It's a more feasible thing, since most jazz artists don't have a lot of money to lay out. But I sometimes feel overwhelmed by a string orchestra, or that it leads to an "easy listening" quality. Plus a string quartet is more likely to have the flexibility to improvise. Here are some that come to mind: Max Roach Double Quartet (many sessions) Rhyme & Reason--Ted Nash Paradise--Tom Harrell Andrew Hill--some tracks from Mosaic box Symbols of Light--Greg Osby I'm sure there are more.

Randy Weston: African Rhythms

Definitely some cool stuff from Bill Stewart on several of these records. He is certainly one of the top guys on drums, and has been for more than two decades now. Of course, there have been other fine drummers--DeJohnette on Time on My Hands, Al Foster on Oh! Grace Under Pressure has also been mentioned in this golden period of Sco's in the early 90's. Who was drummer on that one? Joey Baron?

This has to be considered a very notable partnership. I find the first album, Time on My Hands, to still be the best. Two others followed pretty quickly, then later there was Oh!, which is unusual for the entire band contributing compositions. I have been pleased by the recent Past Present, especially the opening track: "Slinky." Scofield and Lovano also appear together on albums by Peter Erskine and Marc Johnson. It's some of my favorite Scofield, and it's pretty remarkable how much he has written for this quartet.

Not to mention that we have here yet another magical meeting between Hutcherson and McCoy Tyner.

That scared the hell out of me!

I'm sampling tracks from Solo & Quartet; it sounds like a fine record.

R.I.P., Mister Hutcherson. Lots of great music from this man. Without his contributions, the Blue Note 1960s period would be so different. He provided much brilliant work as a leader and sideman. Of course, there is much to value in the decades after that. I like the recent Enjoy the View and Acoustic Masters II--among many others.

Not familiar with this artist.