HutchFan

Page - I wish I had some advice to offer, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about ukeleles. OTOH, my son is a guitarist, and occasionally he messes around with ukeleles. I think he has a couple. I'll ask him what he thinks.

Ah, I see. That makes sense.

Today, I ordered these 9 LPs from a retailer on Discogs: Kenny Burrell - Live at the Village Vanguard (Muse) I already have this wonderful music as MP3s. Looking forward to hearing the improved fidelity on vinyl! The Super Jazz Trio - S/T (Jazz Line, French import) with Tommy Flanagan, Reggie Workman & Joe Chambers. Flanagan's response to Hank Jones' Great Jazz Trio? Jay McShann - The Last of the Blue Devils (Atlantic) with Buddy Tate, Joe Newman, and a young John Scofield. George Coleman/Tete Montoliu Duo - Meditation (Timeless Muse) I think Big George was at his peak in the 70s. Louis Smith Quintet - Prancin' (SteepleChase) with SIr Roland Hanna. Randy Weston - Blues To Africa (Arista-Freedom) Another MP3 to LP upgrade. Superb music! Milcho Leviev Quartet - Blues For The Fisherman (Mole Jazz, UK import) Art Pepper's band. Not sure why it was released in Leviev's name. Presumably contracts? Count Basie - Basie Jam #3 (Pablo) Lately, I've been enjoying #2 so much that I decided to spring for #3. Marian McPartland - A Delicate Balance (Halcyon) I don't think Concord ever got around to reissuing this LP that McPartland released on her own label. All 9 LPs VG+ / VG+ (or better). Most were $2 or $3. Who says great deals can't still be found on vinyl?!?!?

Branford's Romare Bearden Revealed comes to mind. . .

PM sent re: these 3: -- Kuhn ,Steve – Oceans in the Sky (Owl) $7 -- Montoliu, Tete – Songs For Love (ENJA) $7 -- Sims ,Zoot – Suddenly It’s Spring (Pablo/OJC) Rowles, Mraz $6

SteepleChase is a great label! A few of my favorites: Kenny Drew Trio - Dark Beauty Jackie McLean & the Cosmic Brotherhood - New York Calling Onaje Allan Gumbs - Onaje Jim McNeely Quintet - Rain's Dance Johnny Dyani Quartet - Song for Biko Dexter Gordon - Something Different Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra - Very Hot: Even the Moon Is Dancing Clifford Jordan - The Highest Mountain Lee Konitz - Yes, Yes, Nonet Lee Konitz & Red Mitchell - I Concentrate on You Mary Lou Williams - Free Spirits

Right on.

Same with me.

Three?!?!?! Impossible! O.K. I'll give it a shot: How about Piano in the Foreground, Far East Suite, and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse. . . . Or Ellington Uptown, Anatomy of a Murder, and The Great Paris Concert. . . . Or Piano Reflections, The All-Star Road Band, Vol. 1, and Blues in Orbit.

What do you think of that one, paul? I've eyed it a few times, but never pulled the trigger.

On Saturday night, I'm going to see Pat Martino at the Velvet Note, a local club. I'm really looking forward to it. I've never him live before.

Some new(-ish) releases that I've been enjoying lately: - Steve Kuhn - At This Time. . . - Joey Calderazzo - Going Home - Edward Simon - Latin American Songbook Plus loads of 1970s jazz that was new to me. A few of that I've especially enjoyed: - Buddy Tate - Buddy Tate & His Buddies - Albert Mangelsdorff - Never Let It End - Al Grey - Struttin' & Shoutin' - Michael Garrick - Troppo - Michael Garrick Trio - Cold Mountain - Michael Garrick/Norma Winstone - The Heart is a Lotus - Jordi Sabatés - Solos de piano, Duets amb Santi Arisa - Clare Fischer - Jazz Song - Clare Fischer - Head, Heart & Hands - Karin Krog/Red Mitchell - ...but Three's a Crowd - Walter Norris/Aladár Pege - Synchronicity - Enrico Pieranunzi - The Day After the Silence - Art Pepper - So In Love

Here are five of my all-time favorites: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (Columbia) It might be a cliche, but this record blew my mind on so many levels. Plus, on a list this short, you need to cover a lot of names with each record. This one covers Trane, Cannonball, Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans. Duke Ellington - The Best of Duke Ellington: 1932-1939 (Sony, 4 CDs) This pick is a bit of a cheat; it's a four-disc set -- but if I'm going to cheat to get MORE of anyone, it's going to be for Ellington. On most days, I prefer the 30's band to the more popular 40's Blanton-Webster band. This compilation does a great job of rounding up many of the gems. Cootie. Rex. Hodges. Bigard. Carney. Enough said! Bobby Hutcherson - Happenings (Blue Note) I could have chosen Medina/Spiral with Harold Land & Stanley Cowell. But I went with Happenings because Bobby composed all of the tracks but one. Plus, the telepathy between Hutch & Herbie is something special. Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach - Forgotten Fantasies (A&M Horizon) An unrecognized masterpiece by two underappreciated masters. I've loved it from the first moment I heard it. Charles Mingus - Live at Antibes (Atlantic) So much vitality! Mingus is an impossible force. With Booker and Dolphy (and Bud -- tho' he's not at his best). Don't forget Curson. He plays his ass off.

Wow. My first record wasn't nearly as hip as most of these. Also, I didn't begin listening to jazz until the 1980s, right around the time that I graduated from high school. So my first purchases were CDs, not LPs. The first jazz that I recall buying was Four Corners by the Yellowjackets. My best friend and I were both Genesis fanatics. Somehow, we discovered that David Hentschel was producing the Yellowjackets. (Earlier, Hentschel had produced both Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering, and those two particular albums were our favorite Genesis records.) A couple years later while I was a college student, I joined the Columbia House CD Club. Remember how you got a bunch of "free" CDs up front? My first order included Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, Concert by the Sea, and Ellington at Newport. Shortly thereafter, I bought and was blown away by Mingus at Antibes. That particular recording REALLY flung the door open. At that point, I was off and running. I still have that Yellowjackets CD. I bet I haven't played it in 20 years! I should pull it out and give it a spin.

I've been listening to lots of Robert Schumann's music for solo piano over the last few days. Mostly as performed by Claudio Arrau -- but also Argerich, Kissin, Alexeev, Perahia, et al. I've also ordered a Geza Anda box that includes 2 CDs of Schumann's music. Looking forward to hearing it. (The box is "The Art of Geza Anda" on Brilliant Classics, a reissue of his solo piano recordings originally on DG.)

Back to the original post: I hear you fasstrack. For me, the music after the dissolution of the classic quartet is very much a "just occasionally" thing. But the Impulse stuff with the classic quartet is more "everyday-type" music -- even though it's still HIGH-intensity music. I guess that's where I make the distinction.

Bruno Walter's version of Brahms' Second Symphony -- from this same cycle -- was one of the key recordings that drew me into classical music. I LOVE Walter's way with Brahms -- and his conducting in general! No one gets at that Gemütlichkeit feeling like Walter.

Brahms: Lieder / Margaret Price, James Lockhart (Orfeo, 1984) Lately, I've been listening to this again and again.

Absolutely.

Yes, Ya Yo Me Curé is a strong record. But I will confess that I like their later records more -- Moliendo Cafe, Earth Dance, Crossroads, Fire Dance, Pensativa. I think they're more focused on these compared to the earlier records like Ya Yo Me Curé, The River Is Deep, and Obatalá. I think they sound tighter, more "locked in" (in the positive sense) on the later records -- more like a band. (I guess this is the aspect of their music that I'm most drawn to.) Strange that I've never got round to their Monk tribute -- or their Blakey tribute. I think these are the only two that I haven't heard.

Sometimes you don't need to be a "world-class soloist" to make terrific music. The Fort Apache Band is very much a band, and much of the appeal -- for me, at least -- is their ensemble sound. So I'm probably not tuned into the individual soloists like I would be with other groups -- or other soloists -- in other contexts. For example, if I'm listening to a guy like, say, Lee Konitz, it's all about the solo. With the Fort Apache Band, that's not where my ear goes. It's more of a total ensemble, percolating thing. Not that the soloing isn't important with the Fort Apache Band. It's just not the center of it, the focal point -- like it is with some other artists and bands. My 2 cents.

Well, no one is going to confuse Gonzalez's trumpet-playing with Freddie's or Miles'. Then again, I don't think that it's a waste of time. Gonzalez's trumpet brings another element, another color to the band. I like that.

I love this band, but I'm not familiar with this record. Based on the "samplers" above and soulpope's recommendation, I obviously need to check it out!

Lovely. Earlier this AM: Schubert: Wanderer-Fantasie / Schumann: Fantasie, Op.17 / Maurizio Pollini (DG)

Rudolf Serkin Plays Beethoven (Sony) CD 6 - Piano Sonatas Nos. 21 "Waldstein," 23 "Appasionata," 24, and 26 "Les Adieux" A few years ago, I spent an entire afternoon listening to different recordings of "The Appasionata." There was Moravec, Horowitz, Ashkenazy, Kempff, and several others. It was good fun. . . .And I discovered that I liked Serkin's version best.