Joe

To my ears: its interesting to consider this question in the context of Sonny Clark's playing. Both Evans and Clark owe a lot to Tristano, whose approach to the blues was, what idiosyncratic? Oblique? But he certainly had a grasp of the form / that mode of expression / the blues as -- to borrow from poetic discourse -- "occasion." E.g., his famous "Requiem." The Tristano influence is most noticeable in Evans' and Clarlk's early work, but, as much as their later paths diverge, they still can be seen as running in parallel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFuzZ8LZtkA

Those B-Gs LPs are fine, for sure. But just cut to the chase and spin Post-psychedelic before psychedelia had even run its course.

Well, I would say there's what's out there, generally, and there's what people hear and become influenced by and then, in turn, turn into something that influences others. We can complain about Glasper's knowledge and taste all we want -- and Dilla's, too -- but if that's what musicians are hearing, and that's the raw material they are working with... what are you going to do? No argument hear about Higgins' greatness, or that Tom Rainey is a fine, fine musician, but I don't believe that necessarily what's at issue. It's sort of like the notion of "proper English". It would be great is there were universal acceptance of such a thing (though would the consequences be ideal / utopian? I somehow doubt it) and the reality is that usage rule, and it's dominion is a mess, with all the good and bad that comes with that chaos -- or ferment, depending on your point-of-view.

TRUTH!

True. One wonders at the author's sample size (pun maybe intended). Glasper, Riggins, Osby (sort of)... but how far and wide does knowledge of Dilla and Dilla's own influences reach into the community of those musicians who might classify themselves as jazz improvisors? Still, I appreciate one of the major points here: that jazz is much more than improvisation, or, perhaps better, that the focus on improvisation among both practitioners and scholars has perhaps unbalanced our understanding and appreciation of these other essential elements of the music.

An NPR article of some interest / provocation... http://www.npr.org/b...great-innovator My own opinion: now's the time, provided you believe that time could or should ever come.

The title track / composition to John Carter's FIELDS. 20 profound, joyful minutes.

Miles' "Ghetto Walk", from the COMPLETE IN A SILENT WAY box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQE7pVxPoOw

That Prestige / Status Ahmed Abdul-Malik side with Ray Nance and Seldon Powell - SPELLBOUND - is excellent. Not sure why it never made it to CD in the "classic Fantasy era" either. Also, Ran Blake's RAPPORT (Arista / Novus)... http://ranblake.com/discography/1971-1980/rapport/

Not sure how accurate this is, but... credits go to Billy Preston (tracks: A4), Clarence McDonald (tracks: A3, A5 to B2, B5), Gene Page (tracks: A1, A2), Jerry Peters (tracks: B3, B4), according to http://www.discogs.com/David-T-Walker-David-T-Walker/release/3342494

Featuring both Leon Henderson and (Dr.) Charles Moore...

Yeah, did you see this as well? http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2013/01/kkda-am_rip.php Sad... I guess we still have KNON (some hours)...

Of the 3, GROOVE STREET, by virtue of being the last recorded, is probably the most exploratory / revealing... Bill Leslie is a tenor worth hearing, the program includes an early version of "Talkin' About J.C.", and Larry Young just sounds more like Larry Young here, both in terms of ideas and the tonal qualities of his playing. The earlier two dates are fine, and -- to mix a metaphor -- probably best heard through the lens of Young-as-prodigy... he was 19 or 20 when TESTIFYING was waxed.

Run, Buddy, Run was the sitcom, iirc. You will want to hear this comedy LP, thrust me. http://blog.wfmu.org...-comedy-lp.html

In comedic terms, this seems rather ahead of its time (Hedberg-ian, at the very least [tone and delivery]). Any other documentation of Sheldon-as-pure-comedian out there? I seem to recall that a sitcom was developed for him in the 60S / 70s (?)...

Good to know HORIZON BEYOND is more readily available than I thought. And I third the recommendation for FROM A TO Z. As to the Evans connection... I wonder how much of that is attributable to the common influence / factor of Scott LaFaro. IIRC, Friedman's association with the bassist predates Evans, i.e., goes back to a time when both men were working on the West Coast. Some of the earliest Friedman on record can be heard on Buddy Collette's A NICE DAY from 1957.

Walter Norris should also be part of this conversation, I feel, not just because of the Coleman connection, and because both players started their careers on the West Coast, or for their propensity to work closely with guitarists (Hal Gaylor in Norris' case) but also / more so in how both pianists, when they do venture "outward", do so from a similar position of technical accomplishment. They aren't dissimilar in touch, either.

Kickstarter is a good idea for sure. Oh, and, for the band's book, "The Way I Feel".

Rare, rare, rare, but Zoller's HORIZON BEYOND is worth tracking down (especially for fans of METAMORPHOSIS). http://www.discogs.com/Attila-Zoller-Quartet-The-Horizon-Beyond/release/2206202 Agreed re: Friedman and Konitz. I'm particularly find on their interplay on this one: THINGIN' (Hat)