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Everything posted by John Tapscott
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Well, you could always say "NO!"
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AOTW Aug. 15-21: Carl Fontana, THE GREAT FONTANA
John Tapscott replied to White Lightning's topic in Album Of The Week
Absolutely, on CD. A must for all 'bone players! (Metaphor, or something like that!) :rolleyes Actually, a good CD for all jazz lovers, esp. since it has Frank and Carl together. I love the story in the liner notes about the time Carl missed the beginning of the first set because his cab was stuck in a traffic jam. Knight decided to pull Duke's trick and called an uptempo number featuring Carl as soon as Carl hit the stand. No problem for Carl, though as he'd been warming up on his mouthpiece in the cab! (This track is on the CD). -
AOTW Aug. 15-21: Carl Fontana, THE GREAT FONTANA
John Tapscott replied to White Lightning's topic in Album Of The Week
Well, since trombone was my "axe" (note the past tense) and I have this on LP, I dove right in and gave this a spin tonight. There are 6 tunes on the LP (and there could have been 1 more per side) as the LP runs 36 min. But that's my only complaint. I second everything Free for All says about this music. Fontana is not just a great technician, but has a real gift for flowing, melodic improvising. (This is something that may be undervalued in the jazz world today). In fact, I think it's that sustained flow that is the most remarkable thing about Carl's playing. He never seems to run out of ideas or breath and it all seems so natural and easy, though of course, even if you have the gift, this is tough to do. I dig his full sound too, in every register. This guy was a master, no doubt about it. The program is not overly ambitious, swing-to-bop, and bop basics, for the most part, a samba version of "It Might as Well be Spring," and Carl's ballad feature, Polka Dots..." which he had been playing for at least 30 years by that point (1985). The tempos are nicely varied, however, and there's a sense of balance to the date. We only had Al Cohn for a couple more years after this, but he sure sounds good here. Al seems quite inspired by the rhythm section (which is excellent BTW, esp. Akira Tana to my ears), and if anything, Al seems more classically "boppish" than Fontana. You have to dig Al's squeak on the head of "Showcase."' Also the improvised chorus Al and Carl play sans rhythm section on "Soon" works very well. All in all a most satisfying date, nicely recorded, with a real air of maturity about it. After, hearing this I'm ready for a good night's sleep (and it's not at all because the music is sleepy). -
Don't you wish you were at home listening?
John Tapscott replied to jazzbo's topic in Miscellaneous Music
Amen, Wesbed! I'm usually able to listen to 2 or if I'm lucky 3 Cd's a day at work. Depends on how busy it is. On a Friday PM, no problem. Sometimes I'm able to close my door and listen with headphones. That's what I like! I also do my best work that way. -
McCoy Tyner - Enlightenment - finally replacing my worn-out double Lp which I bought 30 years ago this summer.
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How many do you own?
John Tapscott replied to Bright Moments's topic in Mosaic and other box sets...
My exact count is 36 (of which only one is a Select). -
My understanding is that it wasn't Concord Records which went bankrupt, but the holding company which owned Concord (presumably the company which bought Concord from Carl Jefferson). I think it took Barros a long time to get things unravelled, but I don't know who actually 'owns" Concord these days. Concord's distribution has always been hit-and miss, so this new deal will probably help. Whether or not they'll have much that's worth distributing (at least as far as members of this board go) is another matter entirely. But I suppose there's a significant audience out there for "adult" music
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How many do you own?
John Tapscott replied to Bright Moments's topic in Mosaic and other box sets...
Comfortably more than 20. Maybe even a few more than Free for All, and my Woody isn't even on the way...yet! -
New Woody Herman Mosaic
John Tapscott replied to desertblues's topic in Mosaic and other box sets...
I was just about to post the same question as montg asked. My thoughts exactly. -
Lovano sounds great live, as well. Several years ago, I heard him in concert with a trio - Dennis Irwin and Willie Jones 111. Joe played nothing but tenor for two hours and he was incredibly HOT! Without question, it was one of the greatest live jazz performances I've ever attended. And the jazz-loving freind I attended with felt the same way. I had listened to all of Joe's Blue Notes in the weeks leading up to the concert, but they didn't prepare me for the impact of seeing him live. Sometimes (and this may happen to Lovano), musicians get so caught up in "concept" recordings that it distracts somewhat from what they do best, which is Lovano's case is stand in there and improvise brilliantly and powerfully at length. I also agree that Joe is a very warm, enthusiastic, and friendly personality. This came through after the concert. I asked him to sign my Rush Hour Cd insert, and when my marker wouldn't work on the shiny paper, HE began searching for another pen. I finally got the autograph, thanks to his efforts. He also mentioned how he remembered playing the same venue nearly 25 years earlier with Woody Herman. No doubt, Joe Lovano is a real credit to jazz and to the music scene in general.
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The liner notes to Verve's 3 CD set " Stan Getz/Chet Baker - the Stockholm Concerts" (1983) are quite enlightening. Mike Hennessey describes the problem as a conflict of addictions - Getz and booze vs. Baker and heroin. Getz was also jealous of Baker and the how warmly audiences received Baker on that tour. (You can hear the sutained applause for Chet on the CD). Getz was resentful of the fact that Baker was supplying a rhythm section for Baker and on the tunes Getz and Baker played together, Getz turned it up a notch, trying to embarass the trumpeter. But it didn't really work as Getz planned. Chet hung right in there. After several concerts, Getz said to the promoter, "Either he goes or I go," and Baker was dropped from the tour. But honestly, if you listened to the music alone, you wouldn't know any of this. The music is very good, the rhythm section, (McNeely, Mraz, Victor Lewis), excellent, but I wouldn't call this one essential, either. Very enjoyable, but not essential.
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Kansas City Suite - L.A. September 6 & 7, 1960 Personnel identical to the June 7, 1960 date posted above. From the Mosaic set discography.
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From the Mosaic Roulette Studio set for the recording on June 7, 1960 Sonny Cohn, Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Joe Newman - trumpets Henry Coker, Al Grey Benny Powell - trombones Marshall Royal (as, cl), Frank Wess (as, ts, fl), Billy Mitchell (ts, cl), Frank Foster (ts), Charlie Fowlkes (bari, bcl, fl), Basie (p), Freddie Green (g) , Eddie Jones (b), Sonny Payne (d), Joe Williams (vcl) On the previous studio date Sept. 24, 1959, the only difference is John Anderson instead of Sonny Cohn on tpt. The personnel on your recording is probably the same as the June 7, 1960 date. A great band!
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Duke: how did he keep all those great musicians
John Tapscott replied to White Lightning's topic in Miscellaneous Music
I'm sure money had something to do with it, but I'm going to be a bit cynical here and say - these guys wouldn't have lasted in any other band. Who else but Duke would have put up with the sparring (verbal and otherwise) between Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams and Ray Nance? (Eventually Duke had to send Ray back to the US after he had a terrible row with Cootie overseas). A friend of mine once saw Ray making toast on the bandstand as the curtain rose. Gonsalves sleeping on the stand every night and having to be prodded by the bassist when his solo turn came (didn't Gonsalves last 2 weeks with Tommy Dorsey's band?), Hodges making a fool of Ellington every night on stage, with his implied demands for more money as the crowd applauded. And oh yes, Hodges demanding to be paid in cash afte every night's job, Cat's tendency towards kleptomania, Lawrence Brown's aloofness, and on and on. These guys were great musicians, but where else could they have worked steadily? -
Thanks for posting this. I was on vacation and missed the earlier thread. Sad news. I like Williams and really enjoy the 4 or 5 CD's of his that I own. In fact, I had one with me on vacation which I listened to - "Talkin' Trash" with Clark Terry. That's a good one. I had no idea he was ill.
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Happy birthday Lon and thanks for all the insightful musical posts!
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Teacher Mary Letourneau freed
John Tapscott replied to brownie's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
As I said, nuts, plain and simple. Some of you guys are right - she doesn't need to be locked up in jail, but rather, confined indefintely in a psychaitric institution. -
Teacher Mary Letourneau freed
John Tapscott replied to brownie's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
Call me puritanical or whatever you want, but I'm sorry, we have really lost our moral compass when we can defend the sexual relationship of a 12 year old boy with his 34 year old teacher, or a 15 year old boy with his mother. LeTourneau is nuts, plain and simple. She wrecked her own marriage, and seems to have messed up her young lover pretty well, and brought two children into the world who will have little chance at a normal family life. I wonder if the word "NO" ever occurred to her. The jail sentence was totally deserved, and I hope she got some serious psychiatric help when she was in prison. -
Maria Schneider - forget looking in your CD shop!
John Tapscott replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in New Releases
I'm a fan of Maria's and enjoy her CD's, especially Allegresse. I would love to hear this new CD and just went to the site to order it. But besides the $16.95 cost for the CD which is OK, the price for shipping to Canada is $6.95! There is no friggin' way I'm going to pay that. The cost for mailing a single CD to Canada from the US is under $3.00 (and usually less than that, including the mailer.) I know because I've ordered a ton of single CD's from the US over the years. Usually the postage stamp says $1.40 or sometimes even less. I would like to support Maria and all, but I'm sorry, the profit should come from the CD, not the shipping of it. -
I don't know whether he's been mentioned or not, but I'm really enjoying Tardo Hammer's latest CD "Tardo's Tempo" on Sharp Nine. (He has two earlier trio recordings on Sharp Nine). Tardo's a Powell man who really digs in and lays down some powerful solos. Ably assisted on this one by Dennis Irwin on bass and some fiery drumming by Jimmy Wormsworth.
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What about the review copies? Or would they be unnumbered? You would think there would be 20 or 25 copies sent out to the various jazz "publications" (I use the term loosely) for review. I've always been curious about how Mosaic handles those.
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Which Mosaic Are You Enjoying Right Now?
John Tapscott replied to Soulstation1's topic in Mosaic and other box sets...
Maynard Ferguson - Disc 7 -
There was a fellow in the town where I grew up whose first name was "Seaman." I knew another guy a few years ago who had the same first name with the same spelling. I'm wondering, Jim, if this is the true spelling.
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All right. I'll spell it out. Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen (BASS)
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Don't know how that happened. NHOP (B)