Late

Though I shouldn't trouble the waters with any K2 speak, let me just say that the Japanese K2 (as there never was a domestic edition) of In Action is awesome, both musically (of course) and sonically. I got mine from Hiroshi (1800¥) and don't regret it for a moment. It's a great record — with great cover art, incidentally. The Messengers date with Monk is also a good recommendation. I don't play that one enough. The Penguin Guide gives it a crown, and it's well deserving of one. I think Johnny Griffin understood/gelled with Monk just as well as, if not sometimes better than, Charlie Rouse.

If you can still find it, I'd pick up the Complete Prestige Recordings box set. It's small (2, 3 discs?) and digestible, and contains some of my favorite Monk. It also has some recordings Monk made with Coleman Hawkins. A big .

Has anyone here heard Carlos Ward's work on the PeullMusic label? (I've never even heard of that label.) Cadence lists two leader dates: "Faces" and "Live at The Bug."

Farrell's Outback kicks my gluteus maximus. That last track — thazwh'mtokkinbowg. And Chick Corea's comping is perfect on this one. Mr. Farrell, I didn't know you were on this board, but I really like that record.

Thanks for the photographs, Mark. Is that the bass (in its down parka) that William Parker gave Grimes?

Damn, I think this is a great record. I've never really liked Harold Land's playing, but this side made me revise my opinion. If you like Land with Hutcherson, my guess is that you'll like this one a lot. I actually like the harmonica feature a lot — it doesn't even sound like harmonica on the album, but rather a melodica. I swear you can hear keys being depressed. At any rate, I wanted to give this one a vote of confidence. I think it fits comfortably with a recording like Medina/Spiral. (And I personally find it more enjoyable than Total Eclipse.)

Clifford -- why, all this time, did I think you were from Minnesota?

Yet another saxophonist under-represented in my collection. I have Fortune only as a sideman. Time to check out some of the leader dates. Recommendations in addition to what's already been posted?

Does Spillers allow patrons who browse and eat cereal at the same time? That might be heaven, kind of.

I haven't heard a lot of Garnett, but it seems to me he's somewhat of a victim of context, or rather not the best timing. Imagine if he'd been given the opportunity, as Tyrone Washington did, to record an album for Blue Note in the late 60's. He'd now have a sort of legendary cache. (And I think Garnett's chops were more together in the late 60's than Washington's.) Instead, his work appears to have been wrapped up in the time, and some times are less forgiving historically than others.

I'm slow to the party here, but now I'm looking for a copy of Lito. Checked the usual suspects: Amazon Half.com Jazzloft Squidco Drimala (didn't know they'd folded) Cadence Hotbabespossessingrarejazz.com ... and came up empty. Any leads?

"Unnervingly fluffy?" Gotcha. (OK, I'll stop.)

You mean Unity, the "new" Wright release? (That can be pre-ordered at CDUniverse?)

Black Love — that's the one. The Bards had it for $4.99 a while ago. I passed it by, and now it's not on the site. The Andrew Hill session with Garnett is Lift Every Voice. I'm not sure if you'd like it aka, but it's one of my favorite Hill recordings.

Thanks for those two links, guys. Just cruised through Japan Free — uh oh. $ $ And to think all along that we could have had: Shoji Hanno & Derek Bailey: FISH ... as a long-running thread. Then, instead of humorous rodents, we'd have fish-heads.

I have Ward on Ibrahim's The Invitation, and he is indeed good on that one. (Haven't heard the Enja sessions.) Since I only have him on sideman dates, looks like I better pick up Lito. I only have Garnett on sideman dates as well (— love his playing on Lift Every Voice), and probably will end up purchasing Fire if I can find it.

Best if, as a preamble, one sings "HEART TO HEART" — a la Wesley Willis — before enjoying.

Clifford — I don't have that one, but Hiroshi does. Heck, what's 2100¥? Fo-shizzle.

Dude, why not?

OK, did some homework. Yanow recommends Ward's Lito (with Woody Shaw) on Leo. He also gives the nod to Garnett's Fire on Muse. Agree? Disagree? Other recommendations? It looks like Ward didn't make a leader date until 1985, while Garnett's first leader date was a full decade earlier. Ward, according to AMG, was also part of an "unrecorded" Coltrane octet. Geez, sounds good.

Thanks for directing me to that post of Mike's. That was the first time I'd read it!

OK, found the details about the recording itself: Frank Wright & Muhammad Ali: Adieu, Little Man Center of the World 004 F - recorded in Paris, April 1974 Frank Wright: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet Muhammad Ali: drums Anyone have this session? I'd love to hear it.

Has the duo recording with Frank Wright and Muhammad Ali ever been issued on disc? (I don't even know the title of the album.)

I admit that I often confuse these two guys for each other. I probably shouldn't, because their playing isn't all that similar ... at least what I've heard of it. My question — outside of sideman dates, what would you recommend? Have The Two Horns of Carlos recorded that much as leaders?

I like this album, but I guess I feel the same way about it that Guy feels about Sama Layuca. Still, I'll keep it in rotation. Note to Guy — I'm guessing you also have Azar Lawrence's Bridge Into the New Age? That one's a burner (esp. the track where Lawrence trades solos with Arthur Blythe). Whenever I play the Maupin, I also get that Lawrence album out.