John Tapscott

Hank Mobley's Roll Call, and not only because of the music!

I've got to say this is a fascinating discussion. I will be hearing Rollins live for the first time at the end of June, and I DO have my fingers crossed. A couple of points from a much less elevated level than Jim or Allen. 1) Not all Rollins' Milestone recordings are poor,. There's a couple of decent CD's that I kept which have Tommy Flanagan on piano, which suggests to me that the quality of the sidemen really DOES make a difference to Sonny. Playing with the best generally seems to bring out the best in Sonny (a truism throughout his career, it seems). He does himself a disservice when he surrounds himself with second-rate players. 2) So Sonny has a psychological problem with recording. So what? I'm sure he's not the only one. We wouldn't let anyone else off the hook with that excuse. Like, deal with it. People who buy your recordings deserve your best effort, with the best musicians you can get for the session. Far lesser musicians can go into the studio and make decent recordings which approximate their live performances. FWIW, my guess is that while Sonny is a great saxophonist and musician, he is a reluctant leader. (I'm guessing that if Sonny were a painist he would do little else but solo piano concerts). Actually he probably lacks leadership skills. That's OK, so do I. So do lots of us. But leadership and organizational skills CAN be developed, at least to a rudimentary degree. And you can develop a band and group concept. It seems Sonny has put little effort into any of this. And yes, that is our loss.

The Coleman is a good Cd. If you like it, don't walk, RUN to get the Miles Seven Steps box or at least the single CD's with Coleman on them. He is a greatly underrated player, IMHO. Brilliant technique and a finely honed, though not huge, sound in all registers of the horn. His influence has been felt mainly through teaching. Many of today's tenor greats have studied with George. Back around '77 Coleman made an LP with an Octet called Big George, which has been a long-time favorite of mine. Worth keeping an eye out for in used vinyl shops.

I'm going to see Sonny at Massey Hall in Toronto on June 24. Man, I hope he has a good night. My ticket cost $75. I've never seen Sonny in concert and figured I'd better take the opportunity while I still can. I must admit to being a bit worried about Sonny's reputation for inconsistent performances, though. From a paying fan's point of view, there's a certain advantage to a Sonny Stitt auto-pilot type of performance. It may not always be great, but it will always be at least decent, and you feel you've got your money's worth. I gather that with Rollins it could be either great or a real drag. I'll be happy if it's least part way in-between.

Yes, indeed, a very fine and clear review, Jim. You have a gift, for sure. Like Lon, I feel the FEVER rising.

Oh boy, I buy too much cold sober. I can't imagine what would happen with a few beers. I'd be clicking every "buy it now" icon I could find!!! In any case, I don't have the Mr. T. set, but I have at least half the set on LP. You're going to love it!!!

DIZZY GILLESPIE!!!!! Clark Terry Louis Armstrong Clifford Brown Thad Jones

I don't know for sure, but I suspect it's closer to 3,000 (or less) than 10,000. For some reason 5,000 world-wide sticks in my mind. (Don't know whether it's because it's a nice round number, or because I read it somewhere.)

In no particular order Ben Webster Lester Young John Coltrane Hank Mobley Zoot Sims (# 6 - Dexter Gordon)

Oh! That wasn't in the heading. Sorry!!

Not to mention Ben Webster and a rather obscure player named John Coltrane. B-)

Oh boy, just catching up on today's news. What a sad and shocking loss this is (and I just heard that drummer Stan Levey died today - not a good day for the jazz world.) I know a lot of people here don't dig Oscar Peterson but if you can tolerate him, you should listen to the track "On Danish Shore" from Oscar's "If You Could See Me Now" CD on Pablo from 1983. I'm listening to it right now and has truly awesome playing from everyone esp. NHOP. Clear, fast, anchored, strong. All his strengths on display on this 8 minute plus track. (The tune was written by both Peterson and Pederson). Joe Pass and Martin Drew round out the quartet. This is a good album all round. Our thoughts and prayers must be with Niels' family, but also with Oscar, as someone pointed out. How must he be feeling today? Not in the best of health himself and losing his two long-time bass players and close collaborators in the past couple of years.

Guess I couid look this up, but I'll just ask here. What's on the 7th disc in the box set that's not included on the single Cd's? A brief answer is fine. Thanks Looks like I'll have to go for "Four" and "Valentine" after all. $$$$$$

FWIW, I'm going for the single CD's. So far - Seven Steps to Heaven, In Europe, Live in Tokyo, Miles in Berlin. It's strange, but the indvidual CD's in total are cheaper than the box. Haven't decided on Funny Valentine and Four and More yet, since I already have the double CD set on Columbia from more than a decade ago.

The second Cd "Deep Cove" listed on her website is a 2003 CBC recording by the Ryga/Rosnes Quartet. (Campbell Ryga is a Canadian saxophonist). I picked it up yesterday and it is excellent in every way. Superb sound. Wonderful playing and writing by Renee (and the others), plus a couple of standards. Not to be missed.

I don't have "Crystal Comments", but I have the others you mentioned. "Yesterday, Today and Forever" would be my first choice of those two, but they are both worth getting. Also a quartet session on Concord recorded between these two called "Heritage"'. All are bop oriented blowing sessions. Bud is a player who has really grown over the course of his career. By the time of these recordings, he had become a monster hard bopper with a distinctive sound and was right up there with the best altoists of the day (and still is).

Voted for studio, but a tough call. Years ago I would definitely have said "live." But over the years I've come to see that the studio is where most jazz masterpieces come from, not all mind you, but a quick tabulation will reveal, I think, that it's true. Live recordings not only capture musicians at their best, but also at their most grandstanding (think JATP). For sure, you often lose a bit of intensity in the studio, and gain a bit of polish. But that may not be a bad thing for a permanent record of a musician's work. The studio seems to be the place where the creation of new music and the most thoughtful statements take place; again not always, but often true. "Live" recordings are often a rehash of the musicians day by day repetoire. The opportunity for studio "fixes", the opportunity to record new music, the generally more reliable sound quality, and the more concise solos, make the studio albums slightly preferable in my view. And it depends on the musicians, too. I generally prefer Bill Evans' live recordings to his studio dates; whereas I generally prefer 'Trane's studio dates to his live dates. But note the key word "generally". In any case, I would have both live and studio dates in my desert island collection.

Me too. I'm never heard Higgins play with anything other than taste and finesse, and yes, an intense, swinging drive. When I see a recording with Billy in the drum chair, I always have a good feeling about the music, even before I hear it. In fact, I will buy a recording based solely on the fact that Billy's the drummer. One of my all-time favorites.

Simply, because I love jazz music and in any one Mosaic set you get hours of great jazz! I enjoy losing myself for hours in the music and the notes of a Mosaic box set. I don't have time to do it as often as I would like, but when I do, it's wonderful. You love jazz, you gotta love Mosaic. I know it's simplistic, but that's it. I am currently listening to my recently purchased Elvin Jones Mosaic and I cannot speak highly enough about this set! I knew it would be fine, but it's GREAT! Exceeds my expectations, even though I had heard at least half of the music before. Excellent sound.

I recently received the Elvin Jones Mosaic set and there is some tremendous saxophone playing throughout this set. But the most "inside/outside" playing on this set must be the Liebman/Grossman Lighthouse sets on Discs 7 & 8. I had the double Lp years ago and enjoyed it, but now to hear the night's three sets straight through and to reflect on the fact that Liebman was 26 and Grossman 21 at the time of the recording makes it even more amazing. IMHO, this is saxophone playing for the ages. Magnificent stuff.

Jim Snidero Plays the Music of Joe Henderson (Double-Time)

Just got my set on Friday and have listened to it all the way through. Sidewinder pretty much nails it. Great compositions & good sound. Beyond essential for Hill fans. 5 stars or close for Discs 1&2; I'm a little less impressed with Disc 3 on first listen, but it has its moments too, especially Woody Shaw and Hill's crazy organ sounds! Love that. But the "Chained" session from Disc 2 is my favorite from first impressions. Ron Carter was a monster in this days (on both Discs 1&2). Dig Teddy Robinson too, and Bennie Maupin. Very strong.

Best wishes, Claude!

I don't think that's quite right. There is NO WAY Graettinger himself could have put together the orchestra necessary to play that music or get it recorded. It took Kenton's top-flight band, vision and determination to bring that music alive. Also, it never would have been recorded without Kenton's pull at Capitol records. I remember reading that the thing sold less than ten thousand copies, so it couldn't have been a huge money-maker for Capitol. Kenton was reported as saying, "I don't know whether this music is genius or garbage" but he recorded it anyway, thereby putting his own musical stature behind it. And it didn't do anything for Kenton at all, since the music actually turned off a lot of Kenton's traditional fan base. Like him or not, Kenton actually deserves a lot of credit for this music being available to us today.

I just checked the site and was surprised at how many of these PM LP's I either had or still have in my collection, at least a dozen. Perhaps it was because PM was one of the first labels outside Canada to broadly record Canadian jazz artists (and not just the "stars"). There is some great music here, folks. I highly recommend the PAT LABARBERA disc.