Larry Kart

The one that seemed topnotch to me was "Weaver of Dreams."

Dick Wellstood's notes for the James P. set are topnotch too.

I should add that I'm the idiot who reviewed "Natural Essence" for Down Beat way back when (April 3, 1969), in conjunction with the Steve Miller Band's "Sailor." I gave "Sailor" ****, "Natural Essence" ***1/2.

Well, there's Washington's own playing, which is unique IMO -- soulful and in some ways quite "hip" but at times veering toward the Ayler-esque; nobody else had those things going AFAIK. Then there's his writing, which also is special and different. Everybody else on the date plays great, especially Woody Shaw and Joe Chambers. And, finally, the feel of the album is special, too -- kind of "within bounds" in terms of the shared/received musical language but with a sense that things are just about to explode, as they often do, especially during Washington's solos. Also, I'm sure that sound-wise there's a whole lot more to be gotten out of those tapes than made it on to the original LP, which is what I have.

If you get a chance to listen to Levitt's "Vera Cruz," take note of John Beal's bass playing, especially the "pinging" cleanness of the harmonics he hits. When this track was played for Miles in a Blindfold Test, he singled out Beal for praise.

She'll meet you in the manger.

Uncle Chris ... I love it. And they let you use Fred Nurdley?

Me too.

I wrote an article about numerology for a high school literature textbook I was editing, using the name Conrad King (chosen by me). It seemed just right.

Everyone knows about Von Freeman now, but he was under the radar for a LONG time. Nessa's two superb Freeman recordings from 1975 (when Von was already 53 years old) were a big step in changing that -- all that preceded them, I believe, was the Atlantic Freeman LP from about five years before.

Bad typing. The bassist on Schweizer's "Pure Reason" is Hans Glawischnig, admittedly not the easiest thing to type.

King Ubu -- I knew Schweizer from his American released or distributed stuff; the first one was "Normal Garden" on Mons, rec. 1994. At one point I wrote a lengthy, detailed e-mail to Schweizer about how much I dug his work, and he responded at length himself. At one point, I recall, he was going to ask me to modify what I'd said so he could use it as a recommendation for an academic musical position he was going to apply for, but then I didn't hear from him again. It was in the course of that e-mail exchange that he sent me a copy of "Pure Reason," that fantastic disc with Dave Binney et al. It's similar in feel to "Portas" (MGB), with Eric Rasmussen on alto, and both discs include the excellent pianist Jacob Sacks, but the bass-drum team on "Pure Reason" is remarkably locked in and inventive.

The trumpet player was Henry Boozier, I think.

I'm a big fan of Schweizer. He's really on to something -- as a player, composer, and bandleader. He's got one still in the can I believe -- "Pure Reason," with Dave Binney, Jacob Sacks, Hans Glawishnig, and Dan Weiss -- that's a killer. Of his available work, I'd suggest "Physique" (Omnitone) over the Full Circle Rainbow disc.

Oh my god, Paul Gonsalves is sleeping throughout the entire tune!! "Sleeping" is one word for it.

The "WTF" moment is Lee is in the midst of his familar "Everybody hum this note and I'll play something on top it" routine. He's listening for us to sing the note he just gave us. The routine went quite well this time because Preston Bradley Hall in the Cultural Center is a very echo-y, domed ceiling room; also, there were a fair number of musicians and otherwise musically alert people in the audience. Thus Lee's note was reproduced accurately and proceeded to hang in the air with little further effort from us, while Lee played on "Alone Together." In fact, Lee seemed a bit taken aback at first by the cloud of sound we'd created for him. It not unlike Morton Feldman's "Rothko Chapel." Thanks for the pictures, Mark. My wife couldn't be there and got a kick out of them.

Ernie Henry is in good form too. He's on the quintet tracks. It's Frank Foster on tenor, not Griffin, on the septet tracks. Only slight drawback is pianist Joe Knight, who can be a bit obvious as a comper, but again that's slight. The lively rawness of this date is rather un-Riverside-ish, but I see that it was produced by Keepnews AND Bill Grauer, which may account for that. Also, there's a nice, of the period, chart on Gee's original "Gee!" -- airy voicings reminisicent of Quincy Jones when he was still alert and relatively honest musically.

Trobonist Matthew Gee's "Jazz By Gee" turns out to be a very earthy, groovy album, though the leader is not the most subtle or creative soloist imaginable. One of the septet tracks, "Kingston Lounge," has a genuine club session feel to it (listening to it, you begin to feel a bit loaded), and this is among the better early Art Taylor dates I know (when he was still deep into a neo-Blakey bag). To clinch the deal, Wilbur Ware is in fine form on the quintet tracks (John Simmons is on the rest), taking a gorgeous two-chorus solo on "Lover Man."

Think about Stanley or about Duke? And whichever it is (or both), how so?

One of his best, which made good use of his equivocal nature. was the very noir Western "The Violent Men" (1955), with Barbara Stanwyck at her most terrifying (a virtual Lady MacBeth), Edward G. Robinson as her crippled cattle-baron husband (you won't believe what Babs has in store for him), and Brian Keith as Babs' covert sweetie, though he really prefers the younger (and understandably pissed off at Babs) Lita Milan. Dark complex doings here, directed in a masterly manner by Rudolph Mate.

Isn't one of these the same as the Pettiford Vogue release? I only have the other of the Birdlanders discs, but I'm not quite sure if the Vogue covers the second one. These are all Henri Renaud produced NY 1954 sessions, right? Don't know the details about other releases of this material, though I think there have been a few over the years. These are the Renaud produced '54 sessions.

A wonderful homegrown player. Don't know the two newer discs. I agree about the alleged Ornette resemblance being deceiving -- I think McGann esssentially made himself, though bits of Rollins and Jackie McLean must have been present at or near the conception. He feels his way note to note, a la latter-day Konitz.

He sure is.

I like what I've listened from "The Birdlanders Vol 1 and 2." What a joy it is to heard a rhythm section with Oscar Pettiford in it. Jay and Kai both in good form, as are Al Cohn and Tal Farlow. I believe someone already has mentioned Taft Jordan's lovely "Mood Indigo." What a sound he had, not unlike Joe Wilder's but definitely his own. I like the part in the notes where he mentions that Charlie Shaver's nickname for him is "Slick."

Jim -- I only know Riddle's arrangments for Sinatra et al. Is that what you have in mind, or are there albums of his own that you're thinking of? BTW, I listened to "Jazz for Moderns" on my way in to the Chicago Jazz Fest yesterday. Fascinates/delights me as much as ever.