Joe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS8Cr0V0E28

Hi Larry -- no harm, no foul. I wish I knew more about Carl Brown as well. IIRC, he is not the bassist on the lost Atlantic date by the Cherry - Lacy quartet... or is he? I also mentioned John Rapson's Water and Blood on Nine Winds, a fine (if, IMO, somewhat flawed) release that does show off some of Higgins' most "free" later work. http://www.onefinalnote.com/reviews/r/rapson-john/water-and-blood.asp http://www.bagatellen.com/?p=277

More of my favorite Higgins... Love that album. And whatever happened to bassist Carl Brown? Oops. I meant to reply to Joe's post, not to delete the passage I did in adding my comment. Please post again, Joe -- sorry.

More of Billy's guitar work, IIRC, can be heard on this date...

The "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band" quote attributed to Brian Eno about the first VU album has been wheeled out a few times today Velvet Undreground Live 1969 was the album that did it for me....thanks Lou LIVE 1969 for me too. Important local connection to that music, and, whether you know anything about the history of live music in Dallas or not, the story behind those tapes is pretty interesting... the gig having been put together by local fans and the venue established, more or less, for the express purpose of establishing a brief residency for the VU... http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/03/for_your_weekend_listening_ple_85.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969:_The_Velvet_Underground_Live

You'd probably enjoy these as well, and find them good entry points for artists with extensive discographies to explore: Finally, never enough Ellington solos or trios to my tastes; this one I find most indispensable:

Previn's early dates for Sunset are not 100% enjoyable or convincing (he seems at time to be playing in a jazz-like way rather than improvising in a swinging fashion... and he does want badly to swing), but they are enlightening and show off his his two main influences: Tatum and Cole. Available on Black Lion. His three solo songbook releases for Contemporary are, I think, very good, and very worth hearing. The absence of a rhythm section actually frees Previn to play without trying too hard or for too much. And the songs themselves are sturdy enough to withstand the occasional forays in, as Larry says, "cleverness." The Arlen LP is especially good in this respect.

Special mention, too, for Shelly Manne's more self-consciously "experimental" sessions... Art Pepper's SMACK UP was also an important purchase, as it served as my introduction to Pepper's work (thanks to a mention in John Litweiler's FREEDOM PRINCIPLE) as well as to the work of several other West Coast-based composers, notably Jack Montrose, Buddy Collette and Duane Tatro, whose "Maybe Next Year" is given a gorgeous reading by Art and co.

Yep, thanks to you turning me onto that record it will now be accompanying me to my desert island. My pleasure! The more I think about and listen to this record, the production (by David Axelrod) is a huge part of its success. The leader's horns are actually somewhat recessed in the mix, and there's a somewhat exaggerated sense of spaciousness around all the instruments. This distant quality makes everything here sound even more lonely / pensive / "blue." I don't know how accidental or deliberate this was -- though Axelrod's other productions form this period (Land's THE FOX, e.g.) aren't quite as aestheticized as this -- or if Horn is more to credit (witness his later career "inside" various mythically resonant structures) but it is a bit part of the record's appeal... for me, anyway. Its a sound that replicates the sunshine-y melancholy peculiar to Los Angeles, if that makes any sense. This is another one that helped me get into the "cool" LA scene... Another word of appreciation for Gordon's JAZZ: WEST COAST, which was the book of record before Gioia's fine volume.

Not quite. The four tracks from the April 26, 1955 session are on "Showcase" (JASCD 616) but the four tracks from the April 23, 1956 session are on "Opus De Funk" (JASCD 621), and only two of the 4 tracks from the 1956 session (i.e. 6 out of the total of 8 beer-related titles) were included on the "Pub Crawling" LP on Contemporary. Thanks for the correction and clarification... more Deuchar to collect!

Of all the fine modern jazzmen Britain produced, a special word here for Scottish trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. Wonderful player, sort of Dorham-like... can be heard alongside Tubby Hayes on a number of recordings, including the live DOWN IN THE VILLAGE. But his leader dates are worth tracking down as well. Jasmine collected many of these in the early 2000s for CD reissue. SHOWCASE collects the beer-themed tracks that were available briefly here in the States via Contemporary as PUB CRAWLING.

Oh, and still on the Swedish / Dragon tip... Nils Lindberg, SAX APPEAL & TRISECTION... featuring Lars Gullin and Eje Thelin, among others

So... I entered the 70s. Still great stuff. Within the time-frame originally specified, there's also Joki Freund's YOGI JAZZ, Rolf Ericsson's Swedish recordings (all compiled by the good folks at Dragon Records... MILES AWAY, & THE AMERICAN STARS 1956), Italian drummer Gil Cuppini (WHAT'S NEW with Dusko Goykovich, George Gruntz and Barney Wilen is quite good), and Nick Ayoub's THE MONTREAL SCENE (OK, Canada, but its Quebec, and Ayoub is Lebanese).

Jan Garbarek's early ECM dates (w/ Rypdal, Arild Andersen, Bobo Stenson, Jon Christensen et al.) are much less atmospheric and more meaty (if still lean) that his later discography might suggest. You can't go wrong with AFRIC PEPPERBIRD, SART, TRIPTYKON and WITCHI-TAI-TO. Sardinian bassist Marcello Melis recorded three LPs for Black Saint, all worth hearing: NEW VILLAGE ON THE LEFT, FREE TO DANCE, and ANGEDRAS. Alll do feature the participation of some Americans (Roswell Rudd, Don Moye, Jeanne Lee), but part of Melis' genius is his ability to integrate a diverse array of musical "material" into coherent, even somewhat conceptual, statements. I actually think the least well-known of these records -- ANGEDRAS, featuring some really intense sax playing from Sandro Satta -- is one of the best. It also features Don Pullen. South Africa... check out Harry Miller's recordings for his own Ogun label: http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/labels/ogun/ogunhm.html

I feel like I mention this record all the time, but she can also be heard to excellent effect on Frank Lowe's EXOTIC HEARTBREAK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HSUZeFH7A8 (There are also some live recordings from this group, made at Soundstage, were issued by DIW in the 90's. Worth hunting down, if you don't mind the more "documentary"-like sound quality.)

Another big fan here. She's no slouch as a Hammond B3 player as well. I wonder if recordings from her early 00's tour with Von Freeman ever surface?

You might also find something to like in Gary Bartz and Sonny Fortune's 70s work... almost all of Bartz's ealry 70s Milestone dates are available on CD in one form or another (LIBRA, ANOTHER EARTH, I'VE KNOWN RIVERS, etc.), and vinyl copies of Fortune's LONG BEFORE OUR MOTHERS CRIED are relatively plentiful. You will, of course, have to make peace with electric instrumentation and African / Afro-Brazilian percussion... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQCQRczN6sI

also

He better receive a moment of silence, at least.

Thanks, all, for the birthday wishes. Helped to make it a good one!

Robin Thicke may be in the legal right, but there's still something distinctly odious about him. (Further support for the notion that justice needs to be blind.)

Delicious!

The two Rites Quartet albums with Marty Ehrlich, Things Have Got to Change (2009) and Frog Leg Logic (2011), feature excellent playing from Zollar. Jeremy Pelt was mentioned earlier in the thread. I'd never heard him before but picked up The Talented Mr Pelt from a bargain bin today on a whim. Really enjoyable unashamedly straight ahead type stuff. Might even end up getting another album from this quintet (features JD Allen and Gerald Cleaver, among others). Ah yes; I'd forgotten about those Ehrlich dates. They are both quite fine. And Pelt can play.

What's James Zollar up to these days? Always struck me as a player who really understood -- and loved -- the complete history of his instrument.