Joe

The Blue Potato on Milestone, late 60s, never on CD as far as I know. All solo, 12 or so tracks, short, sharp, to the point and wonderful. Does anyone else know this one? No.. have long wanted to hear it, though. His ESP date from the mid-60s has apparently been "suppressed," i.e., it too has not been reissued (and this despite the number of times the ESP catalog has been reissued), for whatever reason. To all the recommendations above, I;ll also add plugs for RAPPORT (Novus, late 70's... hunt the vinyl bins; duets with Ricky Ford, Braxton and Chris Connor, among others), his duets his Jaki Byard (IMPROVISATIONS; SOul Note), the 2 volumes of PAINTED RHYTHMS, and UNMARKED VAN (a Sarah Vaughn songbook sessions with assistance from the fine Italian drummer Tiziana Tononi).

Ah, I seem to recall much the same now that you mention it. A swerve into pure mathematics... fascinating! Thanks for that info. Some interesting ensembles there.

Is this the only documentation of Ameen's playing outside of his work with Cecil Taylor? If so (and probably still so even if not), a major contribution to the discography.

Last I heard (several years now), Charles was still living in Los Angeles, but had stopped playing. He and Billy Higgins were apparently very close, and had continued to play together (privately only?) over the years, but Billy's passing was rather devastating to him. Seems like some or all of this was summarized in a SIGNAL TO NOISE article some years back focusing on Dennis Gonzalez's attempts to reconnect with Brackeen. Don;t sleep on BANNAR or any of the Silkhearts, for that matter.

Sunny Murray: a true original; a master. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

BW is given producer credit. According to the (well-balanced, overall, IMO) ALLMUSIC review... "It includes frequently gorgeous charts from Wilson and just a little sweetening to the songs (musically with help from Wilson's regular band and arranger Paul Mertens, lyrically with help from Joe Thomas and Jim Peterik)"...

Listening to this now... "classic" in sound without being irrevocably nostalgic, IMO... and, while its not just a Brian Wilson solo album with different branding, it sure is something of a curiosity. Any other members here interested in this?

Limelight also gave us the Mecki Mark Men and this rather fine release... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Parker_10th_Memorial_Concert

The model here is Ruth Lion, correct?

I believe this was said of Chet Baker.

Jack & Ben Wright. Have Anthony and Tyondai Braxton ever recorded together?

IMO, Ehrlich's recordings are, without fail, always worth an audition. This one is especially strong.

Blues singer (though he could shout, too) Al Smith recorded 2 LPs for Prestige / Bluesville, one with backing from the Lockjaw / Shirley Scott group, but neither seems to have received much recognition. But there's much to like about both recordings. Perhaps because its never been all that easy to find, THE RETURN OF HOWARD MCGHEE (Bethlehem, 1955), strikes me as being a relatively overlooked date. In fact, just about all of McGhee's Bethlehem dates (DUSTY BLUE, LIFE IS A JUST A BOWL OF CHERRIES) are worth more attention. Finally, (acoustic) guitarist James Emery, a founding member of the String Trio of NY, but a fine composer and band-leader himself. Both of his late-90s Enja dates -- STANDING ON A WHALE FISHING FOR MINNOWS and SPECTRAL DOMAINS -- while rather different from one another, are superb.

http://namelesssound.org/

Live music? Monday nights at the Amsterdam Bar in Exposition Park (across the street from the State Fair grounds) = rather good jam session. Shelley Carrol is usually there, and sometimes Andrew Griffith (he used to play with Marchel Ivery and was once a member of this board, I believe) mans the skins. http://amsterdambar.blogspot.com/ There's also Sandaga Jazz, recently relocated and re-opened, also in Exposition Park... http://uptownjazzdallas.com/profile/SandagaJazz

Was quite an enjoyable performance... nice band, sound was a bit rough, a little bit too much grand-standing for my tastes (I liked trumpeter Mike Rodriguez's relative restraint; the rest of the audience, less so), but, what a killer rhythm section! SOme pretty entertaining dancing in the aisles.

Michael Howell's records are definitely worth hearing. A bit beyond "straight-ahead," but... Linc Chamberland! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I35l6A83A7c

Also, he recorded fairly often, especially in his later years, but there's a wonderful set of duets between Ira Sullivan and Joe Dioro -- THE BREEZE AND I -- worth tracking down. Rory Stuart is another fine guitarist whose work seems to have gone relatively unnoticed. There's HURRICANE on Sunnyside, a few sideman appearances... Thar Joe Cinderella date was released in 2001, and is now well OOP, but, thanks to Youtube, you can get a sense of what the man's eight-string work sounds like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umrB-VJV-jI

A. Spencer Barefield (he can play in a straight-ahead context, and very well) Les Spann's GEMINI, while featuring more than just his guitar playing, is a good one. Al Casey: Yes. His BUCK JUMPIN' is worth tracking down as well. And there's a Joe Cinderella leader date floating around out there somewhere...

Norman Mapp... any relationship to bassist Gary Mapp?

He also gave work to farm animals. I was fortunate to see him perform in Leningrad about 22 years ago. The pig was wearing military garb. Kuryokhin was an amazing talent. Have all of his original Leo recordings been fully restored to that label's catalog?