Niko

A bit more, here's a long interview with Jackie McLean where remembers playing in the Big Band on Rikers Island alongside Ike Quebec and "Freddie Douglas, a great alto player from the Bronx" http://amhistory.si.edu/jazz/Mclean-Jackie/McLean_Jackie_Interview_Transcription.pdf

it was not recorded in prison but apparently briefly after PJJ and Hope were released from Riker's island... I just looked into this dissertation on PJJ https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/40418/ where the author claims he couldn't find definite proof that PJJ was in there but that this seemed plausible. (For Hope, the situation seems a bit clearer.) Going by Nat Hentoff's liner notes, this session was a joined project of producer Sid Frey and of Walt Dickerson who wanted to highlight these problems and give some exposure to musicians that had fallen through the cracks... from the liner notes, it is unclear whether everybody who plays on the album had been through drug problems and incarceration (Gilmore? Boykins?). A few of the musicians had not been heard of much since the late 40s so they are likely candidates: Earl Coleman, the scat vocalist Marcel Daniels (who recorded with Gene Ammons in the 40s just like Coleman), and sax player Freddie Douglas (who played with Hope and PJJ in Joe Morris band)

Happy Birthday!

glimpses of Rene Thomas, first in half of the tracks here Relaxez-vous avec Jack Dieval and son quartette and then as an unlikely "lead-guitarist" behind a spanish singer-songwriter here

that announcement is kind of cute but ECM was up for streaming in the early days of deezer, spotify etc... they must have stopped that around 2009 or 2010... so "ECM recommences streaming" would be more accurate...

just ordered it, had been on the fence since the beginning and it seemed like it's time... here is a summary of what is known and a sample track https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2014/04/25/recently-discovered-vintage-chicago-bebop-from-george-davis

Already on the trail... last session mentioned here http://jazzlab.iwarp.com/discographies.htm/shorter.htm/shorter%20discography.htm the movie "Jazz is our religion" by John Jeremy ?!

still playing, and: still playing with the very best younger musicians at 88 ... (at least, that's what I extrapolate from reading the name Lillinger in the line-up)

Rather: ECM is back on Spotify and others after a 10 year commercial break. In the early days of streaming, they were available there just like the rest of the Universal catalogue....

a lot... but it seemed outrageous to live within commuting distance from Utrecht and always missing the famous record fair The Bop Friends - Live at the Mozart (Vogel) Walt Dickerson Trio - Serendipity (Steplechase) Loek Dikker Ensemble - Summer Suite (Daybreak) Joe Diorio - Earth Moon Earth (Nocturne) Jon Eardley / Al Haig - Stablemates (Spotlite) Jon Eardley - Namely Me (Spotlite) Clare Fischer / Gary Foster - Starbright (Discovery) Dexter Gordon - Live at the Paradiso in Amsterdam Vol II (Catfish / Yes to Jazz) Al Grey / Jimmy Forrest - Out 'dere (Grayforrest) Hampton Hawes - Spanish Steps (Black Lion) Louis Hayes - Variety is the Spice (Gryphon) Gijs Hendriks - Dom Rocket (Timeless) Philly Joe Jones - Round' Midnight (Lotus) Paul v. Kemenade / Ron v. Rossum (BVHaast) Jimmy Knepper Sextet - Tell Me (Daybreak/Affinity) Keshavan Maslak Quartet - Big Time (Daybreak/Affinity) Don Menza / Frank Strazzeri - Ballads (Fresh Sound) Hod O'Brien - Bits and Pieces (Uptown) Horace Parlan Quintet - Frank-ly Speaking (Steeplechase) Ray Pizzi Quartet - Expressivo (Discovery) Frank Rosolino / Conte Candoli - Conversation (MPS) Ack van Royen - Homeward (Mood) Jordan Sandke / Jaki Byard - Rhythm is our business (Stash) Saheb Sarbib Sextet - Jancin' at Jazzmania (Jazzmania) Thomas Pelzer Limited (Vogel) Etienne Verschueren - Mr Blue (BRT) Etienne Verschueren - Early Spring (Jazz Cats) Vince Wallace Plays Vince Wallace (AMP)

Here you see his army enlistment details from 1941 when he was in his mid-twenties. He lists "4 years of high school " as his highest educational attainment and musician as occupation... sounds like a GI bill story to me...

Greg Osby on these matters: https://twitter.com/gregosby it should also be kept in mind that this was not just some random interview conducted because he has, say, a new album out. It was an interview discussing how he lost his job due to "sexual misconduct"... He denies neither of the statements - and especially for the one about his girlfriend at the time, I find it extremely hard to even imagine a context where this would be ok.

I looked a bit on familysearch.org, and the dates for Moer given on wikipedia seem plausible (i.e., there was indeed a Paul Moerschbacher with that birth year who was a musician, living in Florida in the 40s, and a Paul Moerschbacher with these dates in his death certificate)

"My artistic life is very demanding and complicated, and I have so many projects that I’m involved in. When I make a commitment to something, something else usually comes up and many things have to be delayed. But finally this year my album will be done. I’m not going to accept any other jobs, before I finish this record. I’m very proud of it. All of the preparation is done, so I just need to book the studio and record it at this point. This record will show people, what I’ve been thinking about since the previous release 9 years ago. I was in no hurry." That's what he said a few weeks ago, the interview can be found here http://gregosby.blogspot.nl/2017/09/interview-for-jazzsoulpl-sopot-jazz-2017.html

when I walk into a record store now (not your favorite little thrift store but the legit ones), first thing I see are those "18 albums on 3 discs Hank Mobley" things, and my first reaction is that 1) you guys should know better and 2) why am I even here and 3) nobody needs legit record stored anymore... independently of that, where I grew up there's no copyright on 1950s recordings anymore, and that doesn't sound unreasonable to me... I'm mostly buying used LPs these days [nobody but the seller earns] and I've found my way of rationalizing "if I'd known about the reissue that costs 3 times as much, I might have reconsidered"... then again, most of the time there actually is no reissue.. just playing an exception, Jiggs Whigham - Hope [excellent]

on the one hand, I find that very convincing and funny... on the other, Lonehill doesn't feel like the same label to me... can't possibly put this into the right words, but what I mean is that it doesn't feel plausible that the same person would invent Freshsound and then would introduce Lonehill as the clumsier sideline... you can say all you want about the ethical side of Freshsound, about vinyl rips etc, but I always get the impression that the person in charge knows at least as much about jazz as I do - I don't get that impression from Lonehill [and if you know much more than me, this test will not work for you] regarding the topic of "selling it in Spain/EU is ok, but exporting to the US is not": Has the recurring question of "Doesn't the same apply to any reissues aimed at Japan?" ever been clarified...?

it's really too good to be true: google maps on Sonny Rollinsstraat at the crossing where the Ray Connifpad changes its name into Chris Barberpad (only to change its name again into Svend Assmussenpad a corner later when it crosses John Coltranestraat)... (I come to Utrecht from time to time but just spontaneously decided not to visit this neighborhood).

Vaalbleek - Cleansing Department Orchestra - Gemeente Reinigingsorkest [from the album it's completely unclear which is the name of the band and which is the album title - but only one of them is provided in both English and Dutch - I guess it's the album's title]. I've thus moved from Utrecht [Gijs Hendriks] to the southern Netherlands [home], and this here may well be the most fun free jazz album I've ever heard... with tracks that would feel at home on an easy listening compilation... even though this clearly still is free jazz ca 1980, played by a line-up of guys [best-known: Paul van Kemenade] who (just like my self) went through their cities' brass+wind orchestras ("Harmonie"s, even though we didn't call them this), listened to their Soft Machine albums and never thought twice about carnival gigs (or at least: must have played them nevertheless).

nothing between Bach and Stravinsky made the cut but Stockhausen is in there: Strong statement (and I don't really buy it, but I haven't seen the detailed argument).

I will definitely need that CD, too... ironically, Hendriks is easy to overlook because he recorded almost exclusively as a leader (more than 20 albums) but didn't have high-profile sideman dates... so unless you stumble the records or are a completist of one of his sidemen (Siegfried Kessler, Beaver Harris, Stan Tracey, Joe Diorio, Michel Herr, Kenny Wheeler being the most likely) he stays under the radar... I already had bought one of his other albums a few months ago, but the quartet with Kessler I like a lot better... nevertheless, it's getting another try: essentially the same band as on the other albums but with Stan Tracey in place of Kessler and a large horn section which includes Sandy Mosse (his first recording since the 50s? but he doesn't solo) and Kenny Wheeler... this is a fairly ambitious affair which has some great moments but is too complex for me overall...

two of today's acquisitions Gijs Hendriks Quartet - Close to the edge with Siegfried Kessler on piano,which means it wasn't a purely intuitive buy - but nevertheless 4 Euros extremely well spent... Relaxez vous avec Jacques Dieval et son quartette I thought "Quartet could mean that someone interesting is added to Dieval's trio" and discovered the best-case scenario, Rene Thomas on half the tracks... recorded in 1966, unfortunately not in very good condition, but still a nice surprise

thanks! An obscure favorites of mine over the past few months has been Paolo Radoni - Storie Vere a very classical guitar trio album with a slightly folky/mediterranean bent (also available with a new cover)

the line-up has some intriguing names in it... Curtis Amy soprano and tenor saxophones Warren Gale, Jr. trumpet Lester Robertson trombone Horace Tapscott piano Eddie Mathias bass Mel Lee drums Onzy Matthews arranger

don't know where I picked this up but: Hank Marr Sounds from the Marr-Ket Place (King) is not only Blood Ulmer on guitar but also George Adams on tenor, right?

That Jothan Callins album (at least partly on youtube) is indeed amazing!