Milestones

I was always most struck by his work with James Newton, particularly on The African Flower. R.I.P.

That's some nice stuff. Here's hoping more Haden and Methney (live or studio) receives official release.

Really...Haden and Jim Hall? I had never heard of Hall being involved at the Montreal shows. Metheny, yes, and yet that one never was released. A little more Haden and Metheny would be cool. Not that I'd mind Haden and Hall. The only previous collaboration was one track (maybe two) on Jim Hall and Basses (his last Telarc).

I first hear Muhammed on several Randy Weston albums. You know if Weston is using him, you've got a drummer supreme. I very much agree about his fine work on Soul Manifesto. He also spent some time with Joe Lovano, and in fact I saw him live when he was with Lovano's nonet (he was not on the records). Man, he sounded great, and Joe and Idris locked in at times with a Trane/Elvin force.

I like Jasmine and possibly I like Last Dance a bit more. Very elegant and unrushed. On Last Dance it would have been cool to have had one more uptempo number, along with "Dance of the Infidels." It's individual preference to go with other duos. I think the first one with Hank Jones was great. But for anyone who likes Haden and Jarrett even a bit, these two newer albums will satisfy.

You must be kidding.

AllMusic.com is my go-to place for information on records. Anyone else finding it a bit difficult to navigate? Maybe a poor mouse and crappy Windows 8 are factors. But these days it's slow and I'm always besieged by ads.

That comment about both Silver and Ornette having tunes named "Peace" and "Lonely Woman" hits home even more with the passing of Charlie Haden. I can almost hear in my mind Charlie playing on the Silver tunes. Not that this meeting ever occurred in reality, but you know that Charlie could have played with anybody.

Bad news. I had been hearing stuff for awhile about him being in bad shape, but still one hates to hear such news. I was a fan from the Ornette days, then was so pleased to see him find success as solo artist. The Quartet West stuff was often exquisite. The duo album with Metheny...I wish there had been at least one more. The amazing trio of Charlie-Bill Frisell-Ginger Baker. Also, the two Jarrett albums that came out recently--the second very recently--although actually recorded a few years back. So many great appearances on so many projects and such a diversity of artists. I feel lucky to have seen charlie Haden once in person--and not very long ago. It was Quartet West and curiously Joe Lovano was subbing in for Ernie Watts. It was a great concert. R.I.P.

NIce list, Starthrower. I'm also partial to "The Mama Suite" (all 3 parts) from Silver's last record: Jazz has a Sense of Humor.

I don't think I've ever heard "No Smokin." I've been reading Silver's autobiography. He knew and respected Ornette and enjoyed his work--at least in the live environment.

1. Moon Rays 2. Peace 3. Song for My Father 4. Cherry Blossom 5. Lonely Woman 6. Senor Blues 7. Que Pasa 8. Nutville 9. Nica’s Dream 10. The Jody Grind At least that's my list for this week.

Not that there's anything too new in the sound, but for me a recent discovery is You Gotta Take a Little Love. This is pretty much my last Silver record (chronologically) in my collection until It's Got to be Funky. It dates from 1969, and the band is Randy Brecker, Bennie Maupin, and Billy Cobham (forget the bassist). Still very much in the Blue Note sound mode, and you'd never guess that Maupin and Cobham would soon be contributors to Miles' fusion sound. Randy Brecker was quite a contributor to Silver's music (over a long period), and he sounds great here; and he and Maupin sound so tight. The tunes are very happy and infectious.

It's kind of strange, as there has been some rather fruitful work between Holland and Kevin Eubanks in the past. On the record, I'd say my favorite track (interestingly, the shortest one) is "Choir."

Our concert this year at Tri-C JazzFest was Dave Holland’s group Prism. Holland is of legendary status, so I figured I’d better not miss this chance. However, I’ve not been a big fan of the record, and as it turned out the group stuck to only pieces from their one CD. I remember reading about the excitement of this group (among themselves) and how they were composing more and getting ready to record a second CD. Holland has had serious connections to two of these musicians: Kevin Eubanks and Eric Harland. I thought Eubanks made a fine contribution to Extensions, a record from more than 20 years ago. However, while admiring his facility, I just couldn’t get that much into some of the most-heavily distorted guitar I’ve ever heard. Harland has got some chops, but he did strike me as overly busy and bombastic. Craig Taborn seemed the odd man out, though when he did get the spotlight he went into show-off mode. In fact, this was very much my impression of the players, other than Holland himself. Yes, Holland played on Bitches Brew, but this type of fusion sound was never (or so I thought) really his kind of thing. I never did catch Holland’s quintet in concert. They put out several CDs and were his main group for many years. Even the bigger ensembles usually had key members of the quintet. It would have been cool to see Robin Eubanks and Steve Nelson. I don’t hear players on these instruments enough, and Holland certainly fashioned them into (along with Chris Potter on reeds) into a distinctive sound. Well, I don’t want to lament too much over what (or who) was not on stage. But as a jazz show goes, I just was not that impressed by this current group.

So one has to be fully American? Hasn't Holland lived in America pretty much since he joined Miles? McLaughlin...I don't know, but certainly he's played with a lot of American musicians and his work has usually been issued on American labels.

Yeah, it looks like you need to be pretty old, which is perhaps not a problem since we don't have too many jazz guys dying young anymore. Am I missing something? Have Dave Holland and/or John McLaughlin never won?

I agree about Lloyd. Twenty or so years go he started releasing some fine albums with the likes of John Abercrombie, Brad Mehdlau, and Billy Higgins. He plays fine tenor sax (owing something to Trane, but so what?), and a ton of somewhat exotic instruments. He's got some memorable compositions. Rabo de Nube, the live record with Jason Moran, is a killer. I also saw Lloyd live in 2005 or 2006 (with Geri Allen in the band), and it was a great show.

It would be interesting to see a list of all winners, since offhand I have little idea. I get the impression that you don't win until you are ancient. I mean, everyone in the new class was born in the 1930s. Have relative youngsters like Joe Lovano and Pat Metheny gotten it, or on the verge?

Wow, I would really like to hear those tracks by the Tentet. I second "In Pursuit of the 27th Man." To me it has a bit of the sound of Tyner and Hutcherson from 60s/70s. There can't be much of Silver's work featuring guitar. The only stuff I've heard is an early Kenny Burrell session. As far as I know, not even Grant Green (ubiquitous on Blue Note).

I think that short piece from Silver 'n Strings is the only Silver solo piano I have ever heard.

In contrast to what I said earlier about enjoying his trio work, I also wish he'd more often used bigger groups. There were some cases of this, such as It's Got to Be Funky and The Hardbop Grandpop. I'd like to hear his essential sound using 4-6 horns. His arrangements employ some big band elements, and I think he could have worked this style really well in mid-size combos.

I too wished there had been more trio work. I did make up a 14-song playlist of trios--some from trio sessions very early in his career, but most from the quintet records, where he often had a trio feature (sometimes even two). I also included the very late "Brother John and Brother Gene" from Prescription for the Blues.

It's odd that so many are complaining about his guitar "sound." I'm sure he had many detractors early on. How could this be jazz music in any respect when the guitar is played LIKE THAT? And now his (often former) fans feel he's adopted some kind of horrible sound(s)--as if, in this exceptionally long career, McLaughlin is not free to explores many sounds, tones, and approaches.

He had several connections to Basie over a long period of time, but never an actual member of the orchestra.