Brad

Weizen, I get the impression that's not the case at all. I was trying to find the Mosaic booklet that mentioned it but it must be at work. Anyway, I am looking forward to the Mulligan and, espcially, the Eldridge Mosaics as well as the Patton Select. There's also the Brookmeyer Select somewhere down the road. Plus isn't there a Basie 4 cd set coming out soon? That's something to look forward to.

This came up a few days ago on a Jackie Mac Ad lib cd that was on ebay and the last bid was for around $2000 (had a reserve so it didn't sell). I got a little criticized by J Larson for the same reasons Soul Stream brought up. SeeAd Lib Discussion. We all are into collecting I believe although I like to believe I'm buying it for the music, not just to add another cd to my collection. I'm into Dexter but I'm not going to buy a piece of music because it stinks. I suppose if you're collecting Blue Note LPs and you have to have a $500 lp I suppose that's your business. I know that I can something else with that money. $500, if I strictly kept it to jazz, probably would have helped me buy one of the Mosaic Commodores I saw a few years ago in NYC. There's always better ways that money can be spent to more profitable uses. But there are people willing to spend money out there in profligate ways so what you can say. What I may see as ludicrous, people may see as wise and vice versa.

Do I get anything if I said I did, or you're sure you don't have Dan's copy?

Simon (and Mike), thank you very much. In his review Don Rose says it's far from a fine book but an otherwise welcome addition. I'm attaching an article that was appended to the review, that I thought might be of interest. In Search of Tad(d) Dameron by Ian MacDonald The following material is based on the author's research into Dameron's life and music, which culminated in the recent publication of "Tadd—the life and legacy of Tadley Ewing Dameron." A review of his book will appear here shortly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In October, a compilation CD titled "The Lost Sessions" will hit the stores which will include previously unreleased material from the Blue Note vaults. Featured will be various bands led by Charlie Rouse, Ike Quebec, Duke Pearson and...Tadd Dameron. The Dameron session dates from December 1961, a few months after his release from the Lexington Federal Narcotics Hospital and four years before his death. It will provide the only available record of his piano playing since the 1956 "Mating Call" session with John Coltrane. The band features Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller, Julius Watkins, Sam Rivers, Cecil Payne, Tadd, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. Produced by Michael Cuscuna, it includes material originally listed as "rejected." A couple of years back, when I was researching my biography of Dameron, I asked Cuscuna about this unreleased session. He said that, "The ensembles were a mess. There had been trouble with the copyist." He added that he hoped "to revisit the tapes at some stage to see if they could be released—for historic importance." Happily, that has now happened, although Cuscuna stresses that the issue will include a caveat about the flaws. This is not likely to bother true Dameron followers, who will be keen to know if Dameron's piano playing changed during his three year stay in Lexington, where he not only led the "house band' but also practised piano most days. [see George Ziskind's essay about the post-Lexington Tadd Dameron.] Until now, only a few people have heard the post Lexington piano of Dameron. A few lucky souls heard a tape of his solos made privately for Chris Albertson, in December 1961, which went missing after being loaned to Lil Harding. Another private tape that year, made at Ray Bryant's apartment, was stolen. In 1947, a numerologist had advised Tadd, "To be lucky, you need to add an extra letter to your name." Thus Tad become Tadd. He must have wondered about the wisdom of that change. His run of bad fortune continued in early 1962 when master tapes from a studio session featuring Dameron directing a band led by Milt Jackson and Kenny Dorham were destroyed in a fire. The "Lost Sessions" from Blue Note will include Dameron tunes Aloof Spoof, The Elder Speaks, Bevan Beeps and Lament For The Living. The first two have not been recorded, but Beeps and Lament were recorded by Chet Baker. Many Dameron stories have entered into jazz folklore—an Oberlin pre-med doctor story; a Sir Thomas Beecham connection; I Love Lucy theme rumors; Dimitri Tiomkin and the Love Theme from the film Giant; a Mexican ballet; and more. As I researched my book, I naturally sought the truth. Interviews with people who knew Tadd going back to the 1930s (including someone who saw Tadd make his public debut playing Stardust with the Snake White band in 1936), research at the Oberlin alumni archives, talks with Beecham's road manager, and with Tadd's widow Mia, brought us most of the answers. You'll have to read the book. For now—the Mexican ballet story is untrue. I wanted to build up as complete a picture as possible of Dameron's compositions and recorded output. I started with a core of about 100 known Dameron tunes and was greatly aided by Dameron buffs such as Andrew Homzy, Brooks Kerr, Bob Sunenblick and Don Sickler in finding more. The tune and song list is now at 190, with the probability of more to come. Along the way I found "Sermon On The Mount," a nine part religious suite written by Tadd, Irving Reid and Ira Kosloff (co-writer of Elvis Presley's early hit "I Want You I Need You I Love You"). Some of the songs were collaborations with Carl Sigman, Irving Reid, Bernie Hanighen, Maely Daniele, Shirley Jones, Jack Reynolds, Charles White, Albert Carlo, Darwin Jones, Ira Kosloff, and Ann Greer. Boxes of manuscripts, some without chord symbols, are still to be sorted and catalogued. Many of these are likely to be Dameron compositions. Putting together a Dameron discography proved a lot easier, which ran to almost 300 recordings as player, arranger or conductor. Many have been issued under Tadd's leadership, but others sessions were under the names of Harlan Leonard, Jimmy Lunceford, Sabby Lewis, Billy Eckstine, Georgie Auld, Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, Dickie Wells, Earle Warren, Dizzy Gillespie, Don Redman, Illinois Jacquet, Louie Bellson, Pearl Bailey, Babs Gonzales, Fats Navarro, Dexter Gordon Coleman Hawkins, Anita O'Day, Kay Penton, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, Miles Davis, Tony Proteau, Ted Heath, Bull Moose Jackson, Billy Paul, Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Carmen McRae, Blue Mitchell, Milt Jackson, Sonny Stitt and Chet Baker. Scores in Tadd's hand were unearthed for Duke Ellington, Boyd Raeburn and Stan Kenton, none of which was ever recorded. Tadd collaborated early on with Billy Strayhorn—they regularly compared notes and ideas at the home of Billy Taylor—but apparently they did not write anything down. Scores written for Gil Evans exist but are missing. Detailed searches by Bob Sunenblick and Gil's son, Miles, have failed so far to unearth them. I listened to many Dameron tribute albums. Not just the well known material by the Philly Joe Jones Dameronia repertory band, but also albums by Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Muriel Winston, Barry Harris, the Japanese big band The Blue Coats, Per Husby, Andy LaVerne, Warren Rand, Dave Cliff and Geoff Simkins. This led me to the beautiful voices of Dameron admirers Vanessa Rubin and Jeri Brown. I found professionally-recorded versions of Dameron tunes for which I possessed sheet music or lead sheets, but had never heard. These included I'm Never Happy Anymore (three different versions), Lovely One In The Window, Love Took The 7.10 Tonight, Never Been In Love, Take A Chance On Spring, That's The Way It Goes and Weekend. I owned two versions of Dizzy Gillespie's band playing A Study In Soulphony In Three Hearts but also unearthed a piano solo based on one portion of the longer orchestral piece. Pianist Clifton Smalls told me that Tadd had given him a copy of that piece. He said that Tadd was writing a whole stage act for singer Brook Benton, much in the style of his stage act writing for the 1953 Atlantic City Harlem Revue. Research into the 1953 Atlantic City period unearthed an agonizing "might have been." I located a tape of Tadd's band which included Clifford Brown which was made privately by cab driver, and occasional baritone saxist, Kellice Swaggerty. He sometimes sat in with the band and taped not just the jazz proceedings, but the whole revue—comics, dancers, singers et al. Unfortunately Swaggerty's tape machine sounds as if it was placed too near to a bandstand air-conditioning unit. The sound is so distorted that it is unlikely that this could ever be packaged for a wider audience—not even for historical purposes The search for more tunes and missing tapes goes on. In the meantime Dameron fans have those 1961-vintage "Lost Sessions" to look forward to.

I have heard of this book and in the reissues thread regarding the reissued Walton-Mobley release, Mike Fitzgerald mentions this book, hoping that the Mobley book he's working on will be a good one. Has anyone read the Dameron book. Any views, reviews? I'd like to pick it up, if it's worthwhile.

I've got a few of these and echo what's been said. Clear sounding and worth the pickup. Nice packaging also. Very nice looking.

I'm not the seller of this. This Bird and Fats cd, which includes Bird, Fats Navarro, Bud, and Art Blakey on one set and Bird, Fats, Walter Bishop, Tommy Potter and Roy Haynes on another gets discussed from time to time and is a worthy pickup.

I'm sure many of you are aware of this but Tower (both retail and on line) are having a sale through Monday starting today . Please don't kill the messenger

That's true. That's a pretty good deal.

Those prices are pretty steep. You might do better on ebay. The Jacquet is 80 Euros. That's almost 87 bucks. The Hamilton is around 160 Euros. That's almost 180 Dollars! At those prices, I'll pass.

Did you ever listens to Idle Moments through the headphone. It may be me but for some reasons guitars sound really good through headphones.

You may want to check out his Straight Ahead record on Xanadu. No pedestrian rhythm section there: Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Garrison and Pete La Roca. You're right about the ballads. He really plays those. There is deep emotion and feeling there. I Remember Clifford is as fine a version as I've heard (close to Lee's).

I don't think you can limit its use to that. It has historical significance. As a former would be historian, this is something that I'd want to examine if I'm writing a book about 9/11, terrorism, etc. It is a very valuable source, albeit painful for surviving family members especially.

From all that read, I'd heard he was underrecorded, especially as mentioned in Gitler's book. He's also mentioned somewhat in Gitler's other book, The Masters of Bebop in which he said that he recorded some solos with Lucky Millinder's band (How About That Mess and Savoy) and Earl Hines' band (Yellow Fire and Windy City Jive). His best known work is on Sarah Vaughan's You're Not the Kind and If You Could See Me Now. Dizzy apparently called his sound "the best I ever heard". He was, according to Gitler, harmonically and in spirit one of the early players in modern jazz. He was only around 30 when he died. BTW, if you have a chance to pick up any of the Xanadu Bebop Revisited series, don't miss the chance. They're fabulous records. As far as I know they have not been reissued on CD, although there was one on cd involving Bird, which I got outbid on unfortunately.

You need to keep things broad. Narrowing of interests also lead to narrowings of the mind. I suppose it's good to be a completist but not at the expense of other parts of your listening spectrum. I go on binges where I only want to listen to one particular artist. What happens is that after awhile you then lose interest in that person so you have to mix it up. Since this for me is paritally learning and broadening the horizons, to narrow your interests is to cut yourself off from learning about other things. Over specialization (unless you're a professional in a field, where specialization may be necessary) will not you allow to gain knowledge and increase awareness.

That's what you call greed. Glad it didn't sell. There are better ways to spend, both on yourself and for society, almost $2000 stinking bucks.

Bobby Timmons to me. That guy was drenched in the blues. Epitome of the hard bop sound.

I know I've seen the cd version of this on ebay not that long ago, both a fresh sounds and I think a japanese reissue. I think it went in the $30s or so, a lot cheaper obviously. But I either passed on it or forgot to bid on it. I didn't see it currently listed on the www.freshsoundrecords.com site.

Skeith, thanks very much. I should have done so. Based upon what I read here, JT may be right. They said that they didn't think anybody would love it but that people would like it a lot or hate it.

Has anybody picked this up. According to what I read in JT, it's by the same nonet that did 52nd Street Themes and arranged by the same person, whose name escapes me right now. Tower's having a sale starting tomorrow so I may pick this one up if it's the right price.

I, too never, made the move on this one. Sort of wanted to but for some reason never did. Somebody once compared it to Grant's I Want to Hold Your Hand, I suppose because they were both pop standards. Any validity in that?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

When I go to sleep, I like to take a headset and cd player with me. That usually does the trick. I don't have it on to loud so that it doesn't disturb my wife. Right now, I'm listening to Stan Getz West Coast sessions, the 3 cd set. Now, there are some times when I'm just so wired that I can't go to sleep and I have to go to another room just to settle down. Usually, some reading helps to do the trick.

Chuck, I'm repeating others but thanks for the reminisences. I just ordered it.

I've said this enough time that it gets monotonous but get rid of the political forums. It has no place here. I could go through the arguments pro and con but we know what they are. I rarely look at them (if at all) and can't remember posting in them here. It's not that much of a stretch to say that they were probably a contributing cause to the downfall of the BNBB. Out, out, darn political forums!!