Nate Dorward

I should add a mention of Rhodri Davies--not jazz, mostly very far-out-there improv, though he's also a fine "straight" harp player too. The solo disc Trem is remarkable stuff, most of it not sounding like harp at all.

Carol Emanuel's work with John Zorn was always really cool -- snippets on the first Filmworks, Cobra (with Zeena Parkins--yes, two harpists on the same album) & especially Spillane (she is also responsible for the woman's scream at the start). She also had a solo album on Koch though I haven't heard it. No idea what she's up to nowadays. I remember Dorothy Ashby's Savoy recordings as being pretty good. You can hear one of the harpists on Cobra quote from one of Ashby's tunes at one point.

I have the Blake, not the Gayle. It's a pretty "typical" Blake disc--no big surprises in terms of mood or repertoire--which is also to say: it's excellent. Good recording too, which hasn't always been the case with Blake discs. There are (very positive) reviews of both discs by Dan Warburton in the new Paris Transatlantic (www.paristransatlantic.com).

Just tossed you my address--hope that arrived!

I don't know the disc in question but basically anything by George Wallington is worth hearing. He was a fine composer & sparkling bebop pianist.

Hey brownie--I sent a message, but I see I'm not on the list so far--did it go astray?

I have this one, & it doesn't have Chapin on it. It does have Sonny Sharrock & John Stubblefield, though, & is well worth a listen.

Yes... except I dunno about "It's Magic". But "Tenderly" is one of the greatest things Dolphy ever recorded.

"dumb down"? You mean you hate that stuff, of course, but I don't see why the blanket smear is needed against the honesty & intelligence of those trying to experiment a bit.

Yeah I saw this band live doing this material--first time I'd heard Potter & actually got something out of it (I'd seen the quartet with Hays a few years earlier & been bored). I think the slightly mechanical, button-pushing feeling I get from Potter's playing works better with the grinding Tim Berneish grooves of the bassless quartet with Taborn.

Happy birthday, Mike.

When I look at a credit like that, the question that occurs to me is, "OK, so who REALLY wrote it, & who just stuck his name on?"

Why not? I've rarely heard anything less than excellent from him. Was listening to Contours earlier today, & the recent stack here also has the RCA Victor big-bands, Crystals & Fuschia Swing Song.

Yeah, Menza Lines is excellent. Haven't heard the one Jim's talking about, yet. John Bacon's the drummer on those weird Roswell Rudd CIMP discs; haven't come across him elsewhere.

Anyone heard her work with Mark Helias? That's an association I wouldn't have expected, & I was curious if that album was worth checking out. All I've heard are the duos with Kenny Barron--booorring. But what's she been doing in the years since then anyway? Speaking o' Burnham, just got the new Odyssey disc on Pi in the mail & am looking forward to a spin later this morning. Yeah, he's a terrific player.

Actually I think Balliett's comment on Roach was that Roach has a lousy sound on the drums. I can look it up later. -- His comments on Miles Davis tended to resolve around accusing him of making music out of self-pity (the collabs with Gil Evans in particular). I must confess I have mixed feelings about Byard too, though this is in part just from seeing a couple of unfortunate concerts late in his life which were genuinely depressing.

Not too hard to, I'd think--they seem to pop up everywhere.

David--the blips are on the master tape, it's not just your CD. Impulse could have been a little more honest & acknowledged the dropouts in the liners. -- They're fortunately not irritating enough to detract from the music itself. I doubt anyone likes Ascension at first listen. You have to live with it a while.

Yeah, they were great on Don Byron's Romance..., even though I didn't like Byron's work on there much. A duo? Sounds very promising. Ted Poor, eh? Loved his work with the Respect Sextet (Respect in You's one of the best discs of 2005, or late 2004 anyway), & didn't know he was working with C. Vu & Frisell.

That session with Carl Perkins is some of Pepper's greatest music, though I doubt that Mosaic could do much with the sound -- it always had some distortion on the louder bits ("Webb City" e.g.).

There's a (fairly lukewarm, if I'm reading it rightly) review of it on Bagatellen by Derek Taylor: http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001149.html

Yeah, a great pianist: thanks for doing this show. The new solo album on Clean Feed is typically excellent (& comes with some nifty liner notes from John Medeski).

I'd imagine the list of "the top jazz minds" would be more entertaining & revealing than the supposed list of the 50 greatest pianists.

As far as I'm concerned a musician is "innovative" when he/she makes music that's interesting to listen to & heartfelt. Which Douglas certainly has, even if I've found recent work a little less interesting (haven't heard the Keystone disc, just Bow River Falls which is all right but not that exciting).

I should direct people to Ron's list of Breau's best discs in a comment on my site -- http://www.ndorward.com/blog/?p=70#comment-400 A pity that some of those discs seem to be really hard to find right now...