Sundog

Has anyone heard the single "Blueside"? Very impressive! They sound Beach Boy inspired except with a harded edge. I don't get too excited about pop/rock music very often however there's something very charming about this song. I'm hoping that the rest of this album is on par with this single. Anyone know anything about this band?

Hah, I knew it, Driver B was Mobley!

If your looking for vocal collections of standards, may I suggest the Ella Fitzgerald Song Books. This may be as good a place as any to get familiar with the standards of Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer... If your not vocally inclined check out the "Oscar Peterson Plays..." series. These are fairly instructional if not great performances. Also two very big thumbs up for the Earl Hines Plays Ellington series. These performances tend to stray a little from the originals, however this is such great music, played so wonderfully that I have to recommend it. Also Monk Plays Ellington and Chico Hamilton With Eric Dolphy playing the Ellington Suite. Of course there's always Ellington! Also, be sure to buy some late period Lester Young on Verve! Lot's of nice balads and standards. The Johnny Hodges Small Group Sessions from 56-61 currently available from Mosaic, are also outstanding! Hope this helps.

David Beckham of jazz huh? Is he by any chance dating "sporty" spice?

"Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes With French Horns" is nice laid back swinging album. I would characterize the sound as "west coast". I mean that in the best possible way. Enjoy this one a lot. Personnel include Sahib Shihab on alto which is always a treat.

In a word no. I guess it's a bit of a naive question, I was just wondering if there was some well known "classic" material that for whatever reason hasn't seen the light of day. Kudos to you Kevin for having the persistence to do all that research. Thanks for the tip about the "Lost Sessions" cd.

I'm wondering how many unreleased sessions there are in the Blue Note vaults at this point? Anyone have any information on this point? If full sessions by a given artist aren't available it might be kind of cool if Blue Note would consider a compilation album(s). Or maybe a new series, Blue Note Basement Tapes, or something like that. I know, don't hold my breath.

They've also done a good job with Dave Brubeck.

Jimmy Smith/The Sermon- Contains a lot of my favorite players playing in my favorite context. This one always feels comfortable. John Coltrane/Coltrane- The first album to feature his classic quartet. One of the first 4 or 5 jazz albums I ever bought. This album certainly helped form my opinion of what jazz should sound like. Of course no one else can sound like these guys!

I'm thinking it's hard to go wrong buying a Mosaic set. If I don't like the sound quality, or if I decide to further upgrade to originals I can always sell the Mosaic. Additionally, the Mosaic set is a pretty economical buy. Still not sure what I'm going to do. Wonder how much those original Miles pressings go for? Thanks for the input.

hmmm?

The powers that be ought to go down to the Field Museum and confiscate the bat that Sammy used to hit number 500. I believe it's on display there now. It would interesting to see what that baby is made of!

"A La Modal" is "So What" in disguise.

Wondering about the quality of these Mosaic LP pressings. I own the CD set and would eventually like convert all of my Miles to LP. Is this set the way to go?

Now I've seen everything, Jesse Jackson is making the rounds on local TV stations defending Sammy.

Yet another reason why I've given up on following MLB. For Sammy to say that he inadvertantely used a corked bat, that was only intended to be used during pregame batting practice is preposterous. "All" ball players know their bats like the back of their hands. Knucklebean!

Incidentally, this phenomenon of basing a song on the chord changes of another is called "contrafact" A few other songs fairly widely used as contrafacts are, What Is This Thing Called Love, How High The Moon, Honeysuckle Rose, and Tiger Rag. Getting back to the point of the original post... Miles Davis' "Serpents Tooth" Is a good contrafact based on I Got Rhythm.

Ah, Sweet Soul Music... Anybody ever hear "Rainy Night In Georgia"? How about a little love for Brook Benton! If for no other reason ya' gotta give Eddie Floyd "props" for "Knock On Wood" How about Clarence Carter, Joe Tex, Arthur Conley, Lou Rawls, Archie Bell & The Drells?

Buy this one without remorse. Top Notch!

I think that was one of his many improvisional strategies. Next time your bored write out all the notes in a 13th chord, include all the upper extensions 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths. Sit back and take a good look at all those notes. There are lot's of other wonderful sounds available in the upper extensions. If your really bored write out all the inversions of that same 13th chord. Look for all the other chords/scales that are buried in that 13th chord. That might start to give you some insight into what Bird was doing.

Imagine that, I'm listening to Dexter Gordon playing "Misty" sipping an Anchor Steam and I run across a beer thread. Coincidence? No offense guys, I've never been able to develop a taste for Canadien beers. Besides the aformentioned Anchor I rather spend my money on German and Czech varieties such as Spaten, Dortmunder Union or Pilsner Urquell. I've also been known to settle for an English variety occassionally, perhaps a Samuel Smith brand or Bass Ale. Occasionally, time permitting I'll even whip up a batch of my own Cherry Stout. With fresh Michigan cherries of course! Unfortunately, I can't drink Sierra Nevada Pale Ale anymore (allergies). That one used to be a favorite. Cheers!

I would just like to add that Joe's tribute to the music of Billy Strayhorn "Lush Life" is a master work. His ability to mix some of his more "out" tendencies with these beautiful songs is quite impressive. The album's first cut "Isfahan" is a thing of rare beauty.

Where do you all think Charlie Christian fits into the equation? He certainly is regarded in some circles as one of the first bebop musicians. Also wondering if anyone thinks "western swing" musicians had any influence on bebop? I hear western swing elements in Charlie's playing. I imagine that Charlie must have been exposed to a lot of good W.S. growing up. To bring it back full circle, I've always found it interesting that Bird really enjoyed western swing music. But then again, what's not to like? Good music is good music. P.S. "Bob Wills is Still The King"

Bird did spend his formative years prowling the streets of Kansas City soaking up the the Blues and Jazz traditions. It's pretty well documented that Bird worshiped Lester and saw him play live many times. Even going so far as to play "air sax"along with him as he performed. Some of that, had to of rubbed off and been incorporated into his style. There was a guitarist that Bird hung around with in Kansas City that intoduced him to the use of upper extensions of chords. Can't remember his name at the moment. They sat around for hours, day in day out and worked out all the different ways to solo using these "new" chord scales. This as much as anything else may have been the spark that started bebop. IMHO Bird's phrasing (at least on ballads) and blues sensibilities come directly from Lester. Lester may just the grandpop of "BOP"