Tom in RI

I think Chuck Nessa mentioned Buddy Tate above. He takes a very convincing rnb break on Jimmy Rushing's Hey Miss Bessie (I have it on Onyx 220, Big Little Bands, its also available on disc on Classics). The Onyx lp also has a Russell Jacquet jump blues date with Dexter Gordon on board. Good stuff.

Hi Chris, according to the notes from Bloodshot Eyes on Rhino the two tenor players on Quiet WHiskey were Red Prysock and David Van Dyke and that both solo in a tenor battle.

Try William Cepeda, My Roots and Beyond. Also, check out JP Torres.

Another couple of compilations to watch for are on the West Side label from England: Groove Station, Saxblasters vol1, and Ttitanic and 23 Other Unsinkable Saxblasters. Each comp has 24 cuts with Sil Austin, Al Sears, Paul Williams,Preston Love, Jesse Powell and many more. Decent notes although short on discographical info. Hey Clem, thanks for the link to the Bear Family discs. And Harold, thanks for the feedback on The Thinman Returns. I picked up a Jimmy Forrest 45 on the Triumph label a long time ago. Anybody recommend any cd issues for Jimmy Forrest in the RnB vein? Also, have a King Curtis 45 of Wicky Wacky Parts 1 & 2 (features a great guitar solo in addtion to King Curtis). Anybody know if that's been on cd?

Another fabulous source for tenor sax dominated rockin good tunes is the Buddy Johnson Orch. I was lucky to pick up the Bear Family Buddy & Ella Johnson box set which covers from 1953-1962. Featured tenors include David Van Dyke, Purvis Henson and Johnny Burdine.

A nice recent big sax date is the Tri Saxual Soul Champs on Black Top from 1989 featuring Sil Austin, Grady Fats Jackson, and Kaz Kazanoff (also Snooks Eaglin contributing on some tracks). Half.com has this for cheap (less than $5.00). Sam Taylor's Cloudburst, cited by Stereo Jack, was released on the 1999 release that was part of Verve's Swingsation series. Sadly (personal rant coming), most of the tracks are marred by overdubs of Alan Freed providing vocal exhortations and percussion (he rings a bell). Ok, so maybe its not tantamount to drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa but I can't listen to it. Fortunately I have a vinyl that's in ok shape. Has anyone heard The Return of the Thin Man, by Noble Watts?

I have a real fondeness of Red Prysock and Willis Jackson. A guy to look for also is Paul "Bad" Bascomb. I picked up a Delmark title by him many years ago that I still reach for. I don't know if he recorded as a leader but one of the featured tenors with Tiny Bradshaw, in addition to Red Prysock (see Soft) was Rufus "Nose" Gore. Of course anything, pretty much, by Tiny Bradshaw will provide some honking, booting tenor. Through the years I've grabbed most of Prysock's work on Mercury lp and some 45's. Saxophonograph did a nice Willis Jackson 50's RnB lp in the '80's. I think some of that material may now by out on Delmark as are several fine Tab Smith releases with Tab doubling alto and tenor. A great release in this vein is the Red Prysock/Sil Austin lp Battle Royal. I heard a story that Prysock took Austin out the night before the session and got him loaded. Side A features an uptempo sax battle with lots of 4's at teh end and each player rolling out his favorite licks. That's followed on side a by a slow blues that I think would make a great Blind Fold test item since each player steps out of the honkin persona somewhat (he doesn't solo but Kenny Burrell is on this session). Side B is a side long Take The A Train. It's one of those records that I always lsiten to side A.

I posted about cheap Arabeseques in January. You can do a search by label at Amazon. Can you search by label at Half.com? A search at Amazon showa 26 titles for Arabesque under $1 maybe 10-12 at .01, essentially available for shipping.

I would imagine the moderators at easytree took it down after reading our own relyles' post that the artist didn't wish the session to be spread.

I am curious, was the Onyx release of the Omegatape material unauthorized?

This appeared in today's Providence Journal with a little more info on this date: Magic moment in Rhode Island jazz history surfaces on CD 01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 20, 2005 BY KEN FRANCKLING Special to The Journal Back in the winter of 1963-'64, jazz singer Joe Williams and his trio were playing a weeklong engagement at a North Providence lounge called Pio's. There was a sparse crowd one particular night because a blizzard had hit town. Unbeknownst to Williams, tenor saxophone great Ben Webster happened to be in town for a few days. Webster was waiting inside Pio's when Williams and the other musicians arrived at the club that night. Without any sort of rehearsal or planning, Webster sat in with Williams -- and perhaps for a night or two after that. Williams' trio at the time featured pianist Junior Mance, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Mickey Roker. "We just walked in; there he was," Mance, now 76, recalled in a recent phone interview from his home in New York City. "That's when I met Ben, and got to know him well over the next few days and nights. It was a ball. It was evident we were having a great time." The music they made that first night -- 41 years ago -- has surfaced on one of this year's surprise jazz CD releases. Williams' Havin' a Good Time, on veteran New York jazz producer Joel Dorn's newest label, Hyena, is startling not only for its superb quality, but for the fact that it exists at all. The Webster-Williams crossing of paths in Rhode Island came three years after Williams had left the swinging Count Basie Orchestra to go out on his own. And it came just a few months before Webster would move to Europe in search of a more comfortable climate in the twilight of his career. Webster was one of the giants among the first generation of jazz saxophonists, along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. From the 1930s on, he worked in the Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington bands, and after 1943 he fronted his own small groups and worked as a freelance soloist. By the mid-'60s, many major jazz figures were finding Europe more appealing, as the rock music revolution put jazz on the ropes in the United States. Webster died in 1973 and Pio's, the club on Woonasquatucket Avenue that in the mid-1960s hosted many nationally known jazz headliners, including saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and singer Chris Connor, closed, like so many Rhode Island jazz venues. After Williams died in 1999, his widow, Jillean Williams, donated much of his memorabilia to the Jazz Archive at Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y. That trove included some 90 tapes that Williams had been given, often of his own performances. As he reviewed the many tapes, Hamilton's jazz archive director, Monk Rowe, said the Pio's tape stood out. "I knew this was a specialty item, and people ought to hear this," Rowe said. "You can feel like what it felt like to be in that club that night." Rowe took several of the tapes to New York City for Dorn to hear. Dorn said he selected this particular recording for release because he was a huge fan of both Webster and Williams. "When you get world-class musicians together, they are capable of making magic on the spot," Dorn said. "That's what appealed to me about this tape. It's the magic of jazz. "Ben had performed with Joe at Newport in an all-star group, and took some isolated solos on a few Joe Williams recordings. But they never had toured or appeared together in this sort of setting, before or since. Joe was at the top of his game and had that great band. He was out there making his initial statement." "I have in storage thousands of types like this," Dorn added. "But there are so many roadblocks to get to this point. Most of them will never see the light of day. It is just uneconomical to do it." So what was Ben Webster doing in Rhode Island that week in 1964? That part of the puzzle was solved by Thomas V. di Pietro, a Providence native who is a retired sound engineer and producer. He ran a New York rehearsal and recording studio called Upsurge from the early 1960s through about 1974; he said he has now lived abroad for more than 25 years, primarily in Europe. "Ben was staying at my house in Providence for a few days when I came up to visit my sister," di Pietro, 81, said by telephone. "We went to hear Joe -- and Ben brought his horn. He sat in for a couple of nights. He wasn't paid for it. "I had a cheap tape recorder and some mikes with me. The tape was a thing for us, for the guys. "I gave a copy to Ben and to Joe. I must have given my own copy away to a friend. I don't have it anymore." Joe Williams featuring Ben Webster Havin' a Good Time (Hyena) This CD is wonderful for the mere fact that it exists, but it is extraordinary because it captures the warmth and energy only found in the intimacy of a live club performance -- on those rare dates when all of the musicians and the audience are truly in sync. Webster sat in with the band on 10 of the 12 tunes that night, most of which were popular standards out of Williams' touring repertoire. They include "Just a Sittin' and a Rockin,' " "Alone Together," "I'm Through With Love," "A Hundred Years From Today," Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin' " and "Honeysuckle Rose" (the latter gets a rousing arrangement), and the Williams staple "All Right, OK, You Win." With a blizzard going on outside, it was a wonder anyone showed up at all, let alone Webster and Williams' band. At one point during the evening, someone asked Williams to sing the classic Bob Haymes-Alan Brandt pop standard "That's All." Williams was reluctant, saying he couldn't remember one verse, but added: "If anybody comes out on a night like this, and wants to hear something this pretty, we must try it." He got it right, nailing the problem lyric. Webster added a horn solo that showed why he was considered one of greatest tenor sax balladeers. As the night ended, Williams thanked the audience and said: "You may go outside and hitch up your dogsleds now."

Maybe I have screwed myself but I have used these discs on both my computer and my son's computer. My son's would not read at all until receiving the treatment. Haven't subsequently noticed any ill affects.

Thank you.

I am not 100% sure but I believe Mosaic used to have a list of tiltles no longer available on their werbsite. Can't find it now. Can anyone point me to this info?

Picked up Ease On through Scottb (thank you) as a result of the feedback on the Audioquest Punchout thread. Very glad to have grabbed it. Good stuff.

Well, I gonna show my ignorance now, but, aren't bagpipes more usually associated with Scotland?

Karin Krog did a slendid vocal with bass duet of Round Midnight that was from a festival in Europe and released on Enja. I have the record but I can't lay hands on it at the moment. Can't quite remember the bassist's name (Arild Anderson?).

Con Brio, a 1983 project by Jerry Bergonzi, Bruce Gertz, Mick Goodrick and Jeff Williams.

Was the Oliver Nelson date licensed to Inner City?

All time favorite live side, Americans in Europe Vol 2, the side with Bud Powell and Don Byas playing All the Things You Are and I Remember Clifford. Also, Mingus at Carnegie Hall, Newport in New York, The Jam Sessions (particularly the side long take on So What), and Wes Montgomery Live at Tsubo.

Don't know the deal with this, sure I will want to hear it. I remember that former RI resident Mike Renzi claimed to be the pianist on the Live at Pio's date highlighted in Joe's post.

This material is now up on easytree.org. Seems to be the more complete version discussed here. Hey MartyJazz, are the copies you have in noticably better sound than the issues on Session, Alto ect.?

My favorite record shop in Providence (Round Again Records) sells a little unit that clamps over the record label with a waterproof gasket along the edge to keep the record label dry while cleaning in the fashion described here.

I think someone is confusing a Mingus work with Rahsaan Roland Kirk's The Case of the Three Sided Dream in Audio Color. As to new release from Revenge, I have given up going the Mingus site to check. I remember there being mention over the past several years of dates that might be issued but isn't there only one Revenge release? Frankly, I've given up hope.

While I've been into jazz for 30 years I haven't gotten out to see much live which makes it a little easier to pick a best. I can't remember the exact year (probably 85 or 86) but I saw the George Adams Don Pullen 4tet at the 1369 Jazz Club in Inman Square in Boston (actually Cambridge I think). The place was not very big but packed with fans. The group was just incredible. During the evening Adams sang one or two songs and Dannie Richmond contributed a vocal also, maybe more of a chant. This was a working group at the top of their game. I haven't seen a show since that was as spectacular.