JSngry

But godawful smooth-jazz goes perfectly with those godawful "wine coolers"!

Sorry to hear this. Joe Lee Wilson was always an up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__cI-uX72VM RIP.

That's the best of the three!

I like the Thigpen side too. Short & polished cuts are no problem for me when they're this good. I mean, yeah, there's "presentation" involved, no doubt. But look what's being presented!

Helen Forrest Helen Wheels Helen Keller

William Frawley Fred Mertz Bub

How'd that HD crash work out, anyway? Was your stylus truly gone, or were you able to recover something/anything/somehow?

Adolphe Sax Doug Flutie Clara Nutter

They're talking about it like it doesn't exist any more...

Tough Guy Cy Touff Tuff Hedeman

Seeing the Nicholas Brothers' performance in that film made me finally appreciate dance as an art form. No Maps On My Taps, definitely gotta see it. Chuck Green especially. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_OtQDMyfAI

Hack Wilson Dennis Wilson Woodrow Wilson

Carl Wilson Earl Wilson Mr. Wilson

Max Roach Head Coach Linda Lovelace

and get Live At The Whitney too!

The Love Bug People with herpes Hermes

In Europe shows as being recorded 1/24-25/79 in Milan, The Awakening 1/29 in Paris. Liner notes give the same band for both - Harper, Hollins, Hersch, Spears, & Arnold. No doubt a group on tour, so the odds of Mickey Tucker, Greg Maker, & Malcolm Pinson all showing up at once in Paris for a record date four days one in Milan, are kinda remote. Also, Maker's on Billy's other two Denon sides, which were both recorded in NYC in Dec.1977 and Dec.1978. Louis Spears would work with Billy for quite a while, but I don't have any evidence of his recording with him before that 1979 run. Billy's music is always right, but I'd wager good money that his website is wrong.

What can I say? I quoted that info straight off the back of my LP.

Also, not a Billy Harper alum per se, but close enough as to make no nevermind, there's another Polish thing recorded in 1996 & released on the Polish "Power Bros" label under trumpeter Piotr Wojtasik's name as Piotr Wojtasik & Special Guests, the special guests being Harper, Leslaw Mozdzer on piano, Buster Williams, & Ben Riley. The lead tune is by the leader, the other four are Harper's (I Do Believe, Soran Bushi, If One Could Only See, & Quest). I make no claim at discovering these, btw. A good friend (not a board memeber) & Billy Harper fanatic did. But it stands to reason that a guy like Billy, who's had no real domestic support & has had to travel the globe to make a living (those three live Steeplechase sides were recorded in some "atypical" places) would avail himself of whatever recording opportunities presented themselves along the way.

Some auxiliary selections: Paris Blues. Not a great movie, but a fine score by Ellington & a fantastic cameo by Pops. Sharky's Machine. Neither a great film nor a great soundtrack on their own, but together, they work. Eddie Harris playing over the closing credits is damn near ideal. The opening portion of They Stole Hitler's Brain, the part that was recorded in the 1960s, years after the rest of it. No credit for who the players are, but it's a nifty, Paul Bley-esque electric piano trio. Two Shirley Clarke films - The Connection & The Cool World. I think the acting in the former is hideous (or worse!), but I've heard others defend it rather aggressively. Whatever. Freddie Redd & Jackie Mac play live, so..good enough. The latter film is not nearly as bad, & the actual soundtrack is not what was released on the Phillips LP. On the OST, you get Yusef Lateef! Might have seen Sweet Love Bitter once...don't remember...but check this out - Chick Corea & Dave Burns onscreen, Charles McPherson off... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR3Ebs-8gy4

Hey Felser - do you have the 1980 Polish LP Billy Harper Quintet (Poljazz PSJ-99)? Harper, Chris Alberts (tp), Armen Donelian, Wayne Docker(!), & Newman Baker. Two sidelong cuts, "Soran Bushi B.H." & "Call Of The Wild & Peaceful Heart", recorded live at the Jazz Jamboree Festival. That's another one that I went years w/o ever knowing about...but then again, Poland seems to have had a whole bunch of things that only came out there...There's a Gil Evans album I've only seen once, and that was 30-35 years ago...

Don't think so. The Awakening (released on the French Marge label) shows as being recorded in Paris on 1/21/79, produced by Jean-Louis Rizet. It also has Fred Hersch on piano.

Released in Japan on Denon, but not, I guess, as part of the (very) early digitally recorded albums, which might be why it never showed up over here, or at least not like the other two did.