John Tapscott

Charles Tolliver Select

Could really have picked several from Shelly Manne and His Men, Complete Live at the Black Hawk, but I'll go with "Cabu" by Roland Alexander from Disc 4 - wonderful solos from Richie Kamuca and Joe Gordon. On this and so many of the tracks Manne gets the tempo just right for the soloists to really tell their story. Rhythm section has a great feel. Outstanding stuff all around. P.S. Ira Gitler is mildly critical of Richie Kamuca's playing in his review of Vol 1. (reprinted here). May I say that I think Ira was wrong. Richie was really at the top of his game on this session.

Shelly Manne and his Men - Complete Live at the Black Hawk

Detroit is a really fine CD which I've listened to quite a bit over the past few months. Typical strong Wilson themes, those fat and satisfying Wilsonian voicings, lots of hard swing. Great stuff. One question - on the long track "Everywhere" (not part of the actual Detroit suite), there is a long but uncredited trombone soloist - it's either Dennis Wilson or Luis Bonilla. My guess is Wilson. Anyone know for sure? Since trombonists get too little appreciation anyway, I'd like to set the record straight. Mack Avenue is a bit careless when it comes to listing soloists - they kind of screwed up the listing on Monterey Moods too, but I don't think they left anyone out.

Quincy Jones

Happy B'day, Dan!

Dexter Gordon - "I Want More" from the Jazz Icons Series 2 Bonus DVD. Dex really digs in on this relatively short (for Dexter) track plus there's a great swinging piano solo by Tete Montoliu.

The Lions can't catch a break! That was a touchdown. Receiver catches the ball, keeps control with both feet down as his bum hits the ground. Ball still in his hand. What more do you want? By any reasonable measure that's a catch.

I don't know about "left field apesh*t", but definitely his ability to take it out and come right back in is most indicative of quite a few of his great solos. I'm running over in my head now a couple of pieces of his that have always killed me, "Jinrikisha" from his very first Blue Note-led session, PAGE ONE, and the version of "Blue Bossa" from LIVE IN JAPAN. He was great, and I think despite all the recognition he received during his later Verve period, still somewhat under-rated. While it may be true that Joe is somewhat under-rated, I think he is quite influential among young up and coming tenor players. I consider his Verve CD's for all their popularity, to be rather over-rated and among his least interesting. Right now I'm listening to Discs 5-8 of the Milestone box, and while I find the music on these discs less than totally satisfying, Joe's playing is EXCELLENT, some of his strongest (and best recorded) I think, and much better than on the later Verve sides.

I guess I'm naive, but I still find it a bit of a shock when someone I thought was clean turns out to be a user. In my really innocent days (30+ years ago), I still remember the let-down I felt when I found out that Bill Evans was one of the biggest users of all. Now it doesn't affect my enjoyment and appreciation of their music, but I wish that somewhere, sometime, we could read of someone who has risen above it and not succumbed to the temptation (there are a few, I know). Look, I'm not judging and most of these guys hide it pretty well, but when they start blowing gigs and leaving Japan before the tour begins, then I'm sorry, but that really crosses the line. If I had paid good money to see musician X one night, and he was out scoring while he should have been playing the gig, I would be a little ticked off (really ticked off I was the the club owner or the promoter).

Wow, I never thought that Joe Henderson was that way inclined. It's kinda upsetting. Yep, I agree. It's new to me, too and gives an insight into the title of "Junk Blues" on "Joe Henderson in Japan" which I happen to listening to right now from the Milestone box set.

Yes, it was a good episode, though not IMO quite as good as last week's. I thought Don's celebration over his award was drawn out a little too much. I mean, spending a drunken, debauched weekend celebrating an award for what - a floor polish ad? Of course, (now it hits me) that's one of the points of the program isn't it - the extremes to which people go over such trivial things, and the utter pointlessness and foolishness of it all in the end. I keep wondering when one of these guys (Roger perhaps?) is going to be diagnosed with a terminal disease. It wouldn't surprise me if the Lucky Strike guy is found to have lung cancer. Wasn't it around '64 or '65 that the U.S. government officially linked smoking and cancer? (though the link had been known long before that). So it all fits the time line of the program. The excessive drinking and smoking has got to catch up with at least one of these guys soon.

Joe Henderson - The Milestone Years

Sterling's hatred for the Japanese seemed to be rooted in some specific incident from the war involving a friend or fellow service-man that I couldn't quite pick up on.

I thought this was great episode. Watched it at 10 PM, then again at 11. Bets sure is a piece of work. Yes, I think Sterling was really hateful against the Honda guys. I laughed at Don's devious plan to get the Honda account and how it worked in spite of Roger. Only Draper could have pulled that off. I fear for Roger. I think something quite nasty is about to befall him. He seems to be getting a little more unhinged with each episode.

Charlie Parker, Art Pepper, Phil Woods & early Lee Konitz

Well, Ellington wasn't the first jazz I heard, but I do remember the first Ellington I heard. It was on the late Phil MacKellar's "All That Jazz" Toronto radio program which aired on Sunday nights (10 PM - 6AM). One night Phil played the opening track from the Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Chinoiserie) and I thought it sounded great. This would have been around 1975. Shortly afterward I bought "The Great Paris Concert" 2 LP set on Atlantic. To this day, it remains my favorite Ellington record.

Checking in from a distance. I've always liked George's work. Saw him live once in Toronto. Good stuff. Also the Big George Octet LP is a favorite. The CD Brownie mentions I have here with me on vacation. Just listened to it the other day. George's playing on this CD is as good or better than anything I've ever heard from him; in fact, to be honest, even among this heavyweight band, he may be the "star" of the set.

Right, Charles Ellsworth Russell appeared with Monk in '63, the earlier date is a Miles Davis Sextet appearance. I'm very fond of this official release. It came out at one of the lowest points of my life and still cut through my haze and dazzled me. Yes!! Get this one. IMHO it is a wonderful Monk recording, one of my favorites.

A solid set, worth getting. Not quite the Curtis of old, but very respectable nonethless. On first listen, I marginally prefer the studio tracks to the live tracks, but it's all good stuff.

Good for Frank. Hope it works. I wish him all the best.

I must name 2 1) Lee Morgan playing "I Remember Clifford" from the Art Blakey Live in '58 Jazz Icons DVD 2) Scott Hamilton - "Castle Rock" from Organic Duke (Concord) w Mike LeDonne, Dennis Irwin and Chuck Riggs

A sad story, for sure. He seemed like quite a pro with those smokes. Nut-case parents. Did I catch the end of it right - that he's now in the custody of the child care authorities? But hey, you know how it goes. Smoking this year - next year he'll be drinking booze and having sex. Just a few years ahead of the curve.

Happy B'day Robert, belatedly. Hope you had a good day!

Tommy Flanagan - "Goodbye Mr. Evans" from Nights at the Vanguard (Uptown)