Joe

Yep, it was the only really good image of the *great* Ernie Caceres I was able to find online. It would only have been improved if he were holding a baritone sax instead of a clarinet... but why quibble?

Lon comes through.

The archetypal Dex photo. Mnytime -- I can't find the Hodges photo online anywhere, but I could swear its been reprinted in one of the Mosaic booklets, maybe the COMPLETE 1956-1961 VERVE SESSIONS box. And, you know, Illinois needed all this room... you'd best stand back... Finally, a fresh-faced and clean-cut Tony Scott:

Neil Young, Burned

Warne was almost always in a zone, you know. Indeed there is something to be said for the many live tapes of Marsh in circulation, some legit -- from Peter Ind's Wave label, or the Tristano family's Jazz label -- and some not-so legit. But if you are just getting into Warne or wonder what the fiss may be all about, bear me through a couple of studio recommendations... "Tristano school" for beginners... The rhythm section just looks on paper like a classy, comfortable one, but, with Marsh as the primary voice, they become something else entirely. Also, one of the best "sounding" Warne recordings out there. Out of nowhere...

Ko-ko or koko may indeed by a shortened form of Kokomo which had at least a couple of colloquial meanings in the first half of the 20th Century: 1. cocaine 2. any fictional "hick" town, i.e., Dogpatch "Koko" may also refer to one's coconut or one's head. Or, like konk or Hadacol, it could refer to a popular product of the time...

J.A.W. -- Iread in the latest ICE Newsletter that Rhino is bringing out the Mayfield material in their Handmade series. 2500... make that 2498 ... copies. WOW! That is great news! Didn't get that newsletter or the July 2003 issue of ICE yet - did they say when Rhino Handmade will release it? No, I've seen no release date yet. I check the Handmade website periodically, and I've also singed up for their newsletter. No word yet. Hopefully August. http://www.rhinohandmade.com/

J.A.W. -- Iread in the latest ICE Newsletter that Rhino is bringing out the Mayfield material in their Handmade series. 2500... make that 2498 ... copies.

THE COMPLETE ROULETTE RECORDINGS OF JOHN HANDY THE COMPLETE ROULETTE / ROOST RECORDSING OF EDDIE "LOCKJAW" DAVIS THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS OF PAUL KNOPF

The famous image of Johnny Hodges signaling for his waiter to keep filling his glass is certainly one of those "picture worth a thousand words" images. I also like these... Miles and Fats Donald Byrd Pres Yusef Lateef Newport Rebels Dorham, Coleman and Mingus

Very nice, 24-bit, mid-price facsimile reissue of the (largely) Detroit-based tenor saxophonist's 1962 session for the Mercury Smash subsidiary. Featuring a young Bobby Hutcherson, Sleepy Anderson, Herman Wright, Candy Finch, Billy Wallace, and Dave Burns, one of my favorite, little-documented trumpet players. A friend had been kind enough to provide me with a CD-R vinyl transfer of this record, but I have to admit I had not paid much attention to it until I heard the opening track, "J & B", by chance in a record store. I could have sworn I was hearing a Joe Henderson ballad performance. Now I really intrigued by whatever relationship may have existed between Henderson and Mitchell. Then again, maybe I'm just hearing things... However you hear it, it's a very nice record, not a barn-burner by any means -- lots of slow and mid-tempos -- but it all swings.

Oh yeah... Miles was into this young lady.

The lovely and talented... Geri Allen Amina Claudine Myers Cindy Blackman Michele Rosewoman Susie Ibarra Unfortunately, I could not locate a picture of Barbara Donald.

An album cover easy on the eyes, an album easy on the ears...

Who else mentioned Stereolab? I am definitely a Stereolab fan... Also been digging Sigur Rós, Califone, and Queens of the Stone Age recently.

Terry Reid, RIVER (Atlantic, 1972; Water 2002) From the "California period" of this British vocalist / guitarist / songwriter, RIVER features superb contributions from David Lindley on his standard variety of stringed instruments. Reid was the guy who turned down Jimmy Page's offer to sing in The New Yardbirds, later to become Led Zeppelin (of course!). This particular album has a really strong Van Morrison / Tim Buckley vibe to it, though I have to say Reid reminds me most of the late, great Steve Marriott, albeit Marriott with a greater sense of flexibility and interest in risk-taking. The final three tracks, which are acoustic song-improvisations (I don't know what else to call them? reveries?) that may at first sound rather formless, become more and more engrossing the more you hear them. Not "jazz" per se, rather one of those quintessentially unclassifiable 70's fusions of jazz, folk, blues, country, rock and even funk (the tracks with Lindely and a full electric band really groove in their laid-back way) that wins wheelbarrows full of Grammies these days. A subtly distinctive record, maybe not timeless, but definitely original, and certainly honest.

Thanks for that post Lawrence.

Yes. Very nice date. You had better like bass solos, however (I myself do, especially if they are by Red Mitchell)...

One of my favorite players ever on his instrument. Think I'll sping EAST COASTING tonight in his honor: "Celia"... Knepper also made a great contribution to jazz history by clearing up for us who Dean Benedetti really was, and what the man's relationship with Bird was really like. RIP...

I'm really gald Chuck mentioned Persip's work on this album. This record single-handedly started me on a Persip kick. I first read about this session in David Rosenthal's HARD BOP book, which was published about the time Fantasy reissued it in the OJC series. Good timing. I still think Booker Ervin's solo on the opening cut "Status Seeking" is one of the strongest solos he ever laid down in a studio, but the tracks that stand out after all these years for me are the 2 ballads -- "Duquility", which has an odd, aching-but-placid quality, and, of course, "Warm Canto". The last not just for Dolphy's beautiful B-flat clarinet solo, but also for Mal's, which makes locked-hands funk totally work in this context. One of my desert island discs.

Long live Julius Watkins!!!

Found the reference to Dolphy & Brown / Roach: Kirk Silsbee, 10 / 1999 -- liner notes to the Verve Master Edition reissue of CLIFFORD BROWN AND MAX ROACH

Poor as the sound is, the playing on the New Sound releases -- they are rehearsal tapes -- is really, really interesting. And while we're on the subject of those Chet Baker Paris recordings, which is where I really noticed Twardzik, dos anyone have any more info on Bob Zieff, the composer of the majority of those tunes? Really fascinating work. Finally, there's an interesting Twardzik "songbook" on the market: BVHAAST 9912 Frank Van Bommel Quartet A CRUTCH FOR THE CRAB Sonata '98 Nº1, part 1 (F. van Bommel), The Girl from Greenland (R. Twardzik), Sa Lutte (F. van Bommel), Yellow Tango (R. Twardzik), Sonata '98 Nº1, part 2 'Nighthawks' (F. van Bommel), A Crutch for the Crab (R. Twardzik), Albuquerque Social Swim (R. Twardzik), Sonata '98 Nº2, part 2 'Vierhoogachter' (F. van Bommel), The Fable of Mabel (R. Twardzik), Requiem (F. van Bommel), Met Titel (F. van Bommel), Sonata '98 Nº3, part 2 'Solace' (F. van Bommel) Frank van Bommel (p), Tobias Delius (ts, cl), Arjen Gorter (bass), Martin van Duynhoven (d)

Has anyone ever confirmed whether its Dolphy taking the solos on those late 40's Roy Porter Big Band sides (see Savoy's BLACK CALIFORNIA compilation)? And I thought I read somewhere recently that Dolphy auditioned for the Clifford Brown / Max Roach Quintet and barely missed making the gig instead of Harold Land (who was filling in for Teddy Edwards, in so many words...)

Three essential purchases, IMHO: