Milestones

You can't make claim to know American music without bringing in Johnny Cash...in a big way. Some jewels from his late career: "Spiritual" and "Rusty Cage" from Unchained. "God's Gonna Cut You Down" from American V.

Cheadle seems to have Miles' voice down pretty well.

I have to second DeJohnette on the record 80/81--amazing and very exciting.

"Greatest living" anything is presumptuous--that is true. But I'm going by what I've seen/heard in concert and what I have heard on record, which is pretty narrow next to your experience.

I would say he is likely in the top 5 drummers ever, and probably the best living drummer. However, to some extent I do factor in his skills as composer and band leader. I'm never disappointed in DeJohnette. So much good stuff, but two records that quickly come to mind are Special Edition (with Blythe and Murray) and Parallel Realities (with Metheny and Hancock).

At first that sounds astonishing. But then...not really. Mr. Carter has been everywhere, and he always adds something to a session. If he only did the stint with Miles and a few trios (like those with Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan), he would be an immortal. But there is, of course, so much more.

R.I.P., Mr Bley, a fine contributor to the music.

I like Tony's playing relatively late playing in trios with Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan. Some of the other stuff (like the quintet), I'm still not so sure.

Miles' fierce reactions are interesting, in that it is known that both Ornette and Eric Dolphy cited Bird as a major influence.

Hard to say. Ornette did not play trumpet on his early recordings, including (I believe) the entirety of the great Atlantic sessions. Miles was already pronouncing his opinions on free jazz.

One that doesn't get mentioned much is the record with Ornette, New and Old Gospel. I think it's a pretty remarkable piece, especially the track "Old Gospel." Ornette sticks to trumpet throughout, which is probably why some are not fans.

I would also like to hear Bill Frisell do Christmas songs.

One can question the wisdom of jazz artists releasing Christmas product, but most musicians do play Christmas music--and there have been some good records over the years. But my question is this: Which artists would you most like to see release full Christmas records? Here are my choices: John McLaughlin Chick Corea Keith Jarrett I've never heard Jarrett do even one Christmas song. Some probably believe he's too much of a Scrooge!

I know there have been too many this past year (past few years really), but what can you do? At least nowadays most jazz musicians die at a ripe old age, and at one time we were losing a lot of them at ridiculously young ages (think Bird, Trane, Brownie, Dolphy, Booker Little, Booker Ervin--and that's just a start). I'm a big fan of a lot of guys who are up around 85 to 90+, so you know they don't have much longer for this earth.

Nothing wrong with electric bass if you're Jaco, Steve Swallow, or Stanley Clarke. Otherwise.....

I'm coming to this discussion late, so maybe it''s been discussed already--but I find Billy Highstreet Samba highly underrated. I recall this one sat in the can for quite some time...for no apparent reason. Getz worked with some fusion guys like Chuck Loeb, quite some time after the electric period with Chick. Anyway, it's a first-rate record all the way through.

Are these possibly the tunes from Lester's first recordings session, which I think was technically under the leadership of trumpeter Carl Smith? The year, I believe was, 1936. If so, it is certainly essential Pres and essential jazz.

Here's somebody that, it seems to me, is a bit forgotten. I was reading up a bit on Charles Lloyd, and so I got some info on Michel--and realized I have some stuff in my collection, but not a lot. I always really enjoyed Power of Three, Lovano's From the Soul, and Manhattan Project. But here was a man who played with plenty of greats--Wayne Shorter, Jim Hall, Lee Konitz, Charles Lloyd, Tony Williams, Eddy Louiss, and god know who else; and, to say the least, there is ample evidence of his great ability in duo and solo settings. Anyway, Michel Petrucciani...a jazz artist taken from us too soon, perhaps not remembered enough, who needs to have a larger place in jazz collections, starting with mine.

So what is most revealing in the book?

I'm also an Indians fan, but I really like the Cubs this year. Plus I have relatives in Chicago.

Count me as among those surprised and saddened. In the long run, Phil seemed to have been under-rated, But certainly he proved what a great player he was. His recorded output wss huge, and there's not all that much of it in my collection. I need to add more. Now playing Upswing, a Tom Harrell record with Phil and Joe Lovano.

Prez: one of the greatest and most influential jazz men ever...goes without saying.

I had no clue there was such a thing, but I can see jazz guys taking a crack at it.

I don't know how legit it is. I found it on a download site some would find dubious. Some tracks are from the most renowned trio album (the one with "The Train and the River," "Crawdad Suite") etc. I'm guessing nothing is in the newly-discovered area, or even exceptionally rare--though, again, a lot of tracks are unfamiliar to me.

Not sure if this is a true recommendation, but I sampled some stuff from a lengthy CD collecting various performances of Jim Hall with Jimmy Giuffre. I'm sure most would agree that they put together a fair amount of classic stuff. Most of the tunes on this compilation are unfamiliar to me. The things with a latin feel don't do much for me, but others sound really good. Your thoughts?