HutchFan

Williamson made three trio records with Sam Jones and Roy Haynes for Interplay Records. Quite the rhythm team! I know and can recommend one of them: La Fiesta (1979). This LP was also reissued on Discovery. I haven't heard the others -- New Departure (1978) and Blues in Front (1978) -- but I bet they're good too. I plan to get 'round to them eventually.

Dan, I've heard of people heating records in an oven to flatten them out. But it's always struck me as a bit of a black art -- with lots of potential for things to go wrong. I've never tried it, but I bet there's info out there about it. By the way, John's probably right about it being warped from the factory. I recently purchased a new reissue of Roy Brooks' The Free Slave. It was warped. It's still playable, so I didn't bother returning it. But it still sorta bugs me.

"Lennie - Bird" from this:

Such a great LP!!!

I've never heard Anderson's music. I've only heard of him. He's someone that I've always wanted to check out. Let us know what you think of it, fasstrack. The write-up on the Fresh Sounds site mentions that Anderson had some sort of brittle bone disease. I wasn't aware. Was it the same thing that afflicted Michel Petrucciani?

Happy Birthday!

I agree with you, John.

Yep. Same record. Are you familiar with it, soulpope?

Sorry to hear this news. RIP

I've been thinking about getting that record, Dan. When you've had an opportunity to give it a listen, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

I like it. Here's another Monk tribute that I really enjoy: Roland Hanna / George Mraz - Play for Monk (Artists House; reissued on MHS)

Hmm. I guess I should track that one down too. Will do. I'm sure I'll get 'round to it eventually.

I've read that too. But I still like those records Vitous & Surman made together -- at least the first two: First Meeting and Mirslav Vitous Group. (I've never heard the third.) On First Meeting, Surman plays mostly soprano (and a bit of bass clarinet; no bari sax); it's that record that's always made me think, "This is Vitous' attempt at re-doing Weather Report." And I've gotta say that it really works for me in an alternate universe-ish sort of way. I should say that Vitous never comes out and says, "This is what we could have sounded like." It's just my own conjecture, imaginings. I haven't heard the new ECM, by the way.

Good to know -- especially from a "trusted advisor"!

I've seen it a few times for $25 -- but I've never gone for it. I guess I should have. I wonder who owns the rights to Musica Records now? I wish some of their catalog would be reissued. Along with that Solal Ellington LP, I've always wanted to hear the Solal & Joachim Kühn duo LP, as well as others by Mal Waldron, Jimmy Rowles, Al Haig, Michel Graillier. . . None of them are easy to find over on this side of the pond. Oh well. Don't mean to digress from the topic of the thread.

I want that!!!

Thanks for sharing that story, jeff.

Eugene Ormandy conducts 20th Century Classics (RCA Red Seal) Disc 1 - Debussy: La Mer; Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé; Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel orch.)

On the way into work this morning: Leopold Stokowski - The Magician (RCA Red Seal) This is a 2-disc compilation of favorites and bon-bons from Stoki's RCA catalog. The "Feuerzauber" from Die Walküre is magical indeed. I need to investigate more of Stoki's "bleeding chunks" from Wagner's operas.

Another fan of this one! With Sir Roland. Thanks for posting this, alankin. I didn't even know that it existed. . .

Oh yes!!! Forgot this one. Fantastic!!! duaneiac, I'm not familiar with that ^ Sloane record dedicated to Duke. But I do like this one very much:

Stealing Milestones' idea for tribute thread. But instead of Monk, this one's for Ellington and/or Strayhorn. I think these three are exceptional: Most of my favorite Monk tributes are by musicians who aren't pianists. With Duke, the opposite is true. No idea why.

I think you're right. In fact, excellent Ellington tribute recordings would make another good thread. Has it already been done? Here's a NM LP on discogs for $7.20 + shipping. And I bet you could get it for less than that -- since the seller has included a "Make Offer" option. (BTW: No connection to the seller or to discogs. Just one addict looking to help another. )

Traditionally, the repertoire of orchestras is symphonies. There are exceptions, of course. Suites from ballets and operas come to mind. "Bleeding chunks" from Wagner. The occasional non-symphonic work composed specifically for a symphony orchestra. OTOH, opera music is usually performed by opera companies -- as opposed to symphony orchestras. Staging an opera is MUCH more expensive and difficult than performing a symphony -- just because of the greater number of variables. Think about staging, set design, acting, etc., etc. Add all of that on top of the rehearsal that you'd put into performing a symphony, and you've got a LOT more work to stage an opera. (The same is true with ballet -- although traditionally ballet has been more scalable than opera -- which is usually "grand.") I'm not sure whether that answers the question that you were posing. . . Hopefully so.

Generally speaking, I think American orchestras are more conservative -- particularly in terms of repertoire -- than their European counterparts. About a decade ago, I did a bit of research on this when I was building my Charles Ives site. It was amazing how rarely Ives' works were performed by US-based orchestras. That said -- other than perhaps Copland -- Ives' works were among the most frequently performed compositions by American composers. We need another Stokowski, another Bernstein... someone who can build audiences for these works. But those sorts of "celebrity conductors" don't really exist anymore -- at least in the United States. The phrase "well-known artist" is an oxymoron in American cultural life.