Late

(Sound of Horseshack laughing.)

This was the one I had: When the gutters used to ice over, I used the poor thing as a bowling ball. It could slide about a third of a block. My brother had a Roadrunner box, but never subjected his to such lunacy. Bev — The Complete Buddy DeFranco Verve Sessions ... brought to you by The Human Torch, The Thing, Mr. Fantastic ... you get the picture. All Verve would have to do is slap some instruments onto their torsos. The question is — who would Sonny Clark be? And how would the thermos be used? Maybe the liners would be rolled up and stuffed there — the ancient Ira Gitler Scrolls!

Me too. I never tire of this session.

Yeah, I'd love to see Rudy remaster sessions from the first half of this page. Goodness!

Involution is a great Andrew Hill session. In fact, when there was a poll (one of the zillion, ) on "What is your favorite Andrew Hill session?" I think I was the only one who voted for this recording. Both Hill and Rivers are in top form, but it's the rhythm section that really makes it for me. Walter Booker sounds unusually serpentine, and J.C. Moses mixes it up unlike any other drummers did when working with/for Hill. Something in me is also attracted to the tune titles — simple, yet poignant. Hell, Mike Weil has already created cover art for this one ... let's see its reissue as a single disc! (Standard note: It was part of the Mosaic, blah blah blah.)

Wondering if anyone has this one, and what they think. On paper, the session looks great. Any opportunity to hear more Harold Vick seems a good opportunity.

Man, that is a mess! Here's how Mundo is listing the current Japanese edition on compact disc (sadly without track times): Jazz Guitar brand-new CD (Pacific Jazz TOCJ-9318) recorded on January 10 & 24, 1957 limited LP style paper sleeve edition 24bit remaster +1 bonus track 1. Stomping At The Savoy 2. Things Ain't What They Used To Be 3. Thanks For The Memory 4. Tangerine 5. Stella By Starlight 6. 9:20 Special 7. Deep In A Dream 8. Look For The Silver Lining 9. Seven Come Eleven 10. Too Close For Comfort (bonus track)

TOCJ 66011 Call it what you want — "prebop," "trad," "really the blues," "beans 'n checkers" — it doesn't get much better than this. This classic Blue Note side, reissued in Japan on compact disc (1998) with seven additional tracks and now out-of-print, might just be the record to convince a person how astonishing this brand of improvised music truly is. Not only that, for the sonically finicky it offers incredible (for a wax transfer) sound. Recorded 1943-44, the disc presents three "Blue Note Jazzmen" congregations: Edmond Hall's Blue Note Jazzmen 1. High Society 4:00 2. Blues at Blue Note 4:11 3. Night Shift Blues 4:07 4. Royal Garden Blues 4:06 5. Blue Note Boogie 3:54 Sidney de Paris' Blue Note Jazzmen 6. Everybody Loves My Baby 3:31 7. Ballin' the Jack 4:44 8. Who's Sorry Now 4:14 9. The Call of the Blues 4:18 James P. Johnson's Blue Note Jazzmen 10. Tishomingo Blues 4:32 11. Walkin' the Dog 4:30 12. Easy River 4:33 13. At the Ball 4:08 I'm guessing that most, if not all, of the above tracks have seen compact disc reissue elsewhere (deleted domestic Blue Note, Classics, ASV, etc.), but, with this particular track order and without repeated tunes, there seems to be something special about this particular disc. Maybe it's just me being giddy over these particular recordings, but hopefully I'm not alone. And ... it looks like a new copy of the above is available here.

Up for some refreshing reading. Here is the cover of the Columbia session in question: And Jaspar's RCA date with René Thomas: Can either of these be found on disc nowadays? The Jaspar Vogue sides reissued by BMG Japan back in 1998 (original cover art, no bonus tracks, very short running time) are some of best sounding Jaspar recordings I have — but, truth be told, I don't have many. I love Jaspar's playing with the trombonist Nat Peck, particularly on Andre Hodeir's "Paradox" — and there aren't even any "solos" on this track! His session with Henri Renaud recording Gigi Gryce tunes is also priceless.

Unless I haven't been reading carefully enough, I think we forgot about Charlie Ventura! I dig his sides on Verve, where, in addition to the bari (and tenor), he plays some wild bass saxophone. A fun player.

I used to buy "Sultana Bran" when I lived for a short while in England. Looked similar to the stateside "Raisin Bran" — purple box and all. In fact:

I'll second the recommendation of the Ken McIntyre UA session. If you can find that puppy, pick it up! My favorite "with strings" album.

I yen for yen to spen(d).

... and speaking of "West Coast" baritone saxophonists, how about Vinny Golia? Though he's essentially (or strictly) a multi-instrumentalist, for some reason I always hear his "main" horn as being the baritone saxophone. I haven't spun his stuff in a long time, but remember quite liking Against the Grain and Nation of Laws.

Brownie, Boston Blow-Up! has made it to compact disc: While certainly not the best price, it's available as a Japanese import here. I almost forgot about Jack Nimitz and Ronnie Lang. Nimitz is actually on Charles Mingus' Mingus at Monterey (though he doesn't solo), and Lang was an important voice in some of Dave Pell's octet configurations. Another baritone player that Pell used was one Marty Berman, who I know nothing about. But — the true unsung "West Coast" hero of the baritone saxophone is surely Bob Gordon. What a talent.

Weizen, maybe these Bethlehem reissues will contain bonus tracks — I'm really not sure. I only copy-and-pasted the track listing from the original vinyl editions (from the site linked above). Perhaps these new cd versions will have extras. Now that Japanese Blue Note discs contain bonus tracks, you never know!

What if the missing "horn" was a guitar? Kenny Burrell? That would have been some nice spice.

Male Exotic Dancers' Digest?

Here are some details for some of the Bethlehems. Please point out any errors! (Information from this site.) • Stu Williamson Stu Williamson (tp) Charlie Mariano (as: 1,2,4-7) Claude Williamson (p) Max Bennett (b Stan Levey (d) Los Angeles, CA, January 18, 1955 1. Slugger 2. There Will Never Be Another You 3. Autumn in New York 4. Sunday 5. Sapphire 6. Don't Get Around Much Anymore 7. Strike Up the Band • Herbie Harper Herbie Harper (tb) Paul Saramento (tu) Charlie Mariano (as) Jimmy Giuffre (ts, bars) Corky Hale (harp) Jimmie Rowles (p) Harry Babasin (b Irv Cottler (d) Los Angeles, CA, January 25, 1955 1. Anything Goes 2. I'm Old Fashioned 3. I'll Take Romance 4. Topsy 5. How Deep Is the Ocean? 6. Now You Know 7. Angus • Max Bennett Quintet Frank Rosolino (tb) Charlie Mariano (as) Claude Williamson (p) Max Bennett (b Stan Levey (d) Helen Carr (vo -7,8) Los Angeles, CA, January 27, 1955 1. Rubberneck 2. Just Max 3. Jeepers Creepers 4. T.K. 5. I'll Never Smile Again 6. Sweet Georgia Brown 7. They Say 8. Do You Know Why? •Red Mitchell Sextet Conte Candoli (tp -1/4) Bob Brookmeyer (vtb -1/4) Zoot Sims (ts -1/4) Claude Williamson (p) Red Mitchell (b Stan Levey (d) Los Angeles, CA, February 1, 1955 1. Happy Minor 2. Scrapple from the Apple 3. Long Ago and Far Away 4. Gone with the Wind 5. Kelly Green 6. Bluesology 7. Once in a While

Ravi Coltrane's bathroom, or the bathroom of John's second cousin — Melvin "Sparky" Coltrane? Mustn't tease us with such ideas ... a 4-cd set? I want it to be true. Is it true? It isn't true. Is it true? It isn't true. Is it?

Up for fun. These guys are busting my wallet out, as I'm just for the first time checking out the Groove Merchant label. But what I really want to hear is ... more Dusty Groove mock reviews! (Just read some of the Hadley Caliman reviews to get jump-started. Jesus.)

I almost forgot about Pat Patrick. Sun Ra's band wouldn't be the same without him. Fine command of the horn. What albums did Patrick record on outside of the Arkestra? And did he have any leader sessions? (And did he have any solos on the work he did with Andrew Hill?) Please let me know!

David, I always list this recording as my "favorite" Coltrane session — and for the same reasons you describe. I think it was the last studio recording of the original quartet, and it has that wonderful tension between where Coltrane was going (with Pharaoh Sanders and Rashied Ali) and where he'd been (a la My Favorite Things and A Love Supreme), which, for me, makes this Coltrane's most rewardingly intense recording. I've always thought that later studio recordings actually had less intensity to them, though I'm sure others would certainly disagree. The band was on the verge of disbanding here, and their playing all seems, even if only on an unconscious level, to reach once more to whatever it was Coltrane always heard just out of his aural grasp. I don't think Elvin quite played on any other session the way he does here. The amount of space he leaves — whereas, to me, his playing is usually a rolling type of thunder — is not only attractive, but I think uncommon for him. It lets McCoy open up more, instead of bashing away his fourthy chords. This date wasn't recorded by Rudy, and I think it's shame, because I've always had some problems with how it came out, namely that the sheer volume of the playing seems to — I don't know what you call it — distort the reception of the tenor at times. I have two vinyl (not-first-pressing) copies of this album, an 80's Japanese reissue on compact disc, and the standard 20-bit American reissue. Strangely, the best sounding version I've heard, but was never able to acquire, was on an 80's German MCA reissue on compact disc. Alas, that one seems long gone. Did Universal Japan ever reissue this one recently?

Cecil Payne has an oddly wonderful one-pitch-only solo (literally) on Coleman Hawkins' recording of "The Big Head." Just that one note, repeated, hammering everyone's bones. Then Hawk takes it up and out with the same riff. I also dig Payne's playing on the original recording of "Little Niles."

Listening to Lars Gullin right now, I'm thinking all things baritone. Here are some questions to start a discussion: • When you reach for a recording with a baritone saxophonist on it, what album, or artist, do you find yourself most commonly reaching for? • What baritone saxophonist do you wish had recorded more? In what type of setting? • Are there any great baritone saxophonists out there that you think are under-recognized, or not recognized at all? • Are there any baritone saxophone-led recordings that you would personally consider a "hidden gem" in the vast sea of improvised recordings?