Joe

There's a set of Joe Diorio / Ira Sullivan duets on the Ram label that's worth hunting down. THE BREEZE AND I. Sullivan sticks to reeds throughout. Very fine, relaxed but still inventive. How about early bopper Bill DeArango?

Oscar Moore, perhaps. Certainly, his leader dates for Skylark and Tampa, happily now available ona single VSOP disc, seem to receive little attention. Harmonic sophistication and, on these recordings, real intensity.

Another Canadian altoist of interest... Maury Coles. Apparently a legendary "free improv" figure in Toronto, he passed away in 2001, but it looks like Cadence still stocks a couple of his recordings for the AMI label -- ABSTRACT and MUSIC FROM THE GALLERY. I own the latter and though I have not listened to it in a loooooong time, I can vouch for its quality.

What little I've heard of this date is quite good...

One thing I really love about the MEMOIRS recordings... not only was Lion a hell of a pianist, he had a great voice as well as a really unique way with narrative.

My other favorite Willie "The Lion" Smith set... http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1742403

Another strong recommendation for the Jimmy Yancey recordings, though I have the softest spot for the late Atlantics (first sides I heard by him). This is also a worthy purchase (and then some):

Sad news. Great artist, brilliant story-teller, innovater, important thinker.

I think that this does apply to some of the later Zoot on tenor I've heard, but I do think his soprano playing is -- pardoning the unpardonable reference -- another kettle of fish altogether. The more I listen, the more it seems to me Sims excelled most in that mid-50's Mulligan Sextet (alongside Brookmeyer and Don Ferrara or Jon Eardley).

Thanks Larry and Garth for the correction and the quote. Now if I can just recall where I read this recently... maybe the liner notes to Attila Zoller's GYPSY CRY? Will let you all know.

Maybe it was even mentioned on this very thread, but I failed to find it here... I could have sworn that Williams once wrote something to the effect that a good deal of Eastern European "folk music" contained more of a jazz feel than most blues music. Does this sound familair to any of the Williams readers here? if so, pointers to the exact passage would be most welcome. Thanks.

Another very strong recommendation for this set.

A critic critiques the critical character: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/02/movies/02scot.html

In my mind, good criticism isn't a heavy gate which requires a good deal of force to open and whose posts run deep and sturdy into a bedrock of accumulated "facts" and knowledge. Criticism is much more dynamic that that, a place that could be an entry but may not be, and, at its best, criticism takes on some of the untrustworthy and "useless" qualities of artistic work. To me an excellent and honest "critique" expresses one individual's experience of interacting with a work -- listening, reading, viewing -- and any explication it offers grows from this remaining true to the individual's experience. If I did not think "critical writing" offered those freedoms -- one of which is the freedom to be who you are, whether that is an amateur, a simple fan, a practicing musician, a scholar, someone with an axe to grind, whatever -- I wouldn't even bother with it.

No, you heard somebody say Noel Coward, but the one time he blew an alto is a story that doesn't belong in this thread http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/isntitaw.htm

It would only be a problem if there were a whole bunch of vocalists named Naamah.

Did I hear somebody say Noah Howard?

NOTES AND TONES is an extremely valuable (the Johnny Griffin interview comes to mind) document but, you have to admit, contains a few too many softball questions. For my $$, not that there's a lot of it, John Litweiler is the most "literary" of our critics, and thus receives special honors.

I recall from the notes to THE IMPROVISOR that Von's European tour dates with Amina Claudine Myers ('00, '01?) were recorded. Wonder if they will ever see "official" release. Dig, too, Von's contributions to a couple of Steve Coleman releases...

Well, I was lucky enough to receive a Borders gift card as a Christmas gift this year, and I put it towards a purchase of JAZZ IN SEARCH OF ITSELF. Finally. And I just have to say: those "critics" (budding and otherwise) among us should be so lucky as to aspire to writing of this quality. An extremely happy addition to my bookshelf of essential jazz titles, slotting nicely alongside THE FREEDOM PRINCIPLE, A JAZZ RETROSPECT (Max Harrison), HEAR ME TALKIN' TO YOU, WHERE'S THE MEOLDY? and a few others.

Didn't Endgame also release that Percy France trio session? http://www.worldsrecords.com/pages/artists...ance_29537.html

Hilton Jefferson!

Yes, this is available for purchase on DVD. Worth picking up, too, as the little silver disc comes with some extra footage.

Another vote for WOWEE ZOWEE, which is profoundly stoned -- but, if Matador are going to issue it in expanded form in '05, you might care to hold off. I like BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS quite a bit; I think its Pavement's FOREVER CHANGES. But TERROR TWILIGHT... no thanks.