garthsj

Chuck, is there any chance that I will get to hear those Storyville tapes before 2020? Although my hearing is fine now, who knows by then? Also are these tapes from the original Storyville session, or from a different date? Who is in this group with him? Ronnie Ball? You have me salivating .. not a good condition to be in.. Also will this be one of the Uptown "Flashback Series" like the Allan Eager and Baron Mingus? These are wonderfully informative releases. Garth.

Excellent choices. The Atlantic with Marsh was one of my very first Konitz albums, the second to be exact after a 10" Prestige given to me by a cousin who "didn't like him" .. (he was a Benny Goodman fan). Just sit back, close your eyes, and let those long, complex lines flow over you... this is NOT your basic bebop ...

No! No! No! If you really want to follow Konitz's incredible development as an artist, a very accessible introduction to this great improvisor would be the "Konitz at Storyville" album. Then follow this with the "Konitz With Gerry Mulligan" session. This would hook any real jazz fan forever! Lee's improvisation's with the Mulligan Quartet should be declared a "national treasure" .... While all the suggestions made so far are all exemplary, they would not allow a listener to hear how Konitz has extended the art of jazz improvisation, and has begun reducing it to its minimilist essence.

Would it be considered "bragging" to say that I have approximately 70 CDs by Lee Lonitz?? I have been a long time fan, since I was 12 or so ... we long-time fans had to suffer an amazing drought of Konitz recordings in the 60s and early 70s ... His output in recent years is really beyond the completist's ability to keep up ... they appear from all directions because Lee does not have an exclusive contract with any one record company, and every European musician of any consequence wants to record with him. There is, of course, controversy about his shift away from his original "swinging" Tristano-based bebop style, to his current more ethereal explorations. Konitz is a musician we could spend a year discussing on this list ... I welcome the opportunity ... For your viewing pleasure ... a great early album ...

How about: Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond Jay and Kai Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh Jimmy Giuffre and Paul Bley Phil Woods and Gene Quill Slim Galliard and Slam Stewart Bill Evans and Scott Lafaro Count Basie and Freddie Green Count Basie and Oscar Peterson etc. etc .... ... And then there are "strange" combinations (which sometimes actually work!) ... starting with: Thelonious Monk and Pee Wee Russell Dave Brubeck and Anthony Braxton or "made in Heaven .... " such as this one ....

We are straying far afield from the original subject pf this thread, but that is half the fun, right? London Records was a major part of the Decca Group, although I believe that they have been absorbed elsewhere now. They were renowned for the quality of their classical offerings, but did, indeed, make many of the Riverside, Bethlehem, and other label's albums available in England, and thoughout the then British Commonwealth. Their covers, in stark contrast to the heavy cardboard then in use in the U.S. were on very flimsy glossy stock, and always ripped! But the quality of the pressings were/are very much superior to those original U.S.pressings. Much like the Vogue reissues of Pacific Jazz and Contemporary Records, these albums still sound very good today. I looked at the internet, but was unable to turn up a list of London Records offerings at that time, but there must be one lurking somewhere. Garth ....

Brad: "Pretty Moods" was the original 10" version of one of the Sonny Clark albums (Bobby White, drums; Gene Wright, Bass). The cuts are: Tenderly Lover Man Deep Purple Yesterdays If I Should Lose You. This is a scan of the Japanese mini-LP CD of the original 10" with the superb David Stone Martin cover.

I am not exactly sure why I am announcing this, but it seems to be the custom around here... like getting engaged or something. I pulled the trigger this afternoon on the Chambers/Kelly set, and will reserve my CD dollars for the Shorter/Morgan set next month (if it is still available ... this list can cause runs on sets!). There is a favorite Vee-Jay album of mine... The Art Blakey with Buddy DeFranco on bass clarinet ... what a pity that it could not have been remastered and included somewhere, This is DeFranco's only recorded excursion on bass clarinet, and he is just incredible. Garth.

Barclay licensed from Prestige during the '5Os thru the early '60s. Riverside had a distribution deal with Fontana iFrance in the '60s. The Monk trio Barclay album came out during the early '60s. The Herman Leonard photo of Monk with a beret dates from 1953. Blue Note had a distribution deal with Vogue in the '50s. A number of BN 78s were issued in France on the Jazz Selection label which was part of Vogue. BN USA in turn issued a number of 10-inchers with sides recorded by Vogue (and Swing) in France, like the Sidney Bechet, Clifford Brown, Gigi Gryce, Lionel Hampton albums. Now that I am back at home, I agree with Brownie ... although this book, by Manek Daver, "Jazz Album Covers: The Rare and The Beautiful" published in Japan, does say that "This is a Barclay issue of 1952 recordings using a still earlier Herman Leonard photograph." Now that I can read the actual cuts on the cover, 1952-54 is the time period, so the album was released after 1954. w Heath, Blakey: Blue Monk Just a Gigilo 22 December, 1954 w Gary Mapp, Max Roach: Bemsha Swing Reflections 18 December, 1952 w Mapp. Blakey: Little Rootie Tootie Sweet and Lovely Bye-Ya Monk's Dream 15 October, 1952 w Mapp, Roach: Trinkle Tickle These Foolish Things 18 December, 1952 I trust that this puts this to rest .... more than you wanted to know Mike..

The information in the record cover graphics book indicated that the album was from 1952, and that the photograph was taken earlier than that. Now.. which trio sides would have there from 1952? I am at my office for a change, and cannot check the discography to see .. I assume it was licensed from Blue Note ... Anyone out there have a copy of the actual LP? I imagine it would fetch a pretty high price among the specialist collectors today.

Here are two more ... illustrating the two different styles....

Bill Perkins has always been one of my favorite jazz musicians, and it was always a terrific pleasure to see him working his butt off on those 4-day West Coast jazz weekends put together by Ken Poston. He appeared everywhere, small groups, big bands, and even the occasional panel discussions (he was basically a shy person) ... a great gentleman and a wonderful musician. For those not too acquainted with his history and his music, it should be noted that he made a dramatic shift in style sometime on the 1970s. He became very interested in John Coltrane, and moved toward a more "open" style, and a somewhat harsher tone .. essentially away from Lester, and toward Coltrane. This did not sit too well with many of the West Coast fans, who can be very stodgy and reluctant to accepy a change in the style they all grew up with (after all, most of us are now over 60!!). But Perk continued to make inventive music up until his death .. he is greatly missed on the scene. The seminal "Grand Encounter" album has already been mentioned, and it is one of my all-time desert island albums, even though it has less that 35 minutes of music. Here are a few others that I would highly recommend.

Leeway and John L. -- please forgive me for being presumptuous and jumping in here to provide the answer. It is a coincidence that last night, while searching for a Riverside series of covers that I had posted about in another thread, I came across this particular photograph. I, too, had enjoyed John L.'s avatar, and therefore took some delight in finding it. The photographer is Herman Leonard, who is most famous for doing most of the jazz covers for Emarcy Records (Cannonball, Brownie, Sarah Vaughan, etc). He also did many covers for the French label Barclay, which is where this picture comes from. There are several Herman Leonard sites online ... it is well worth visiting them. Try this: http://www.hermanleonard.com/

I apologize for a scanty answer, but about 2/3 of my CDs are still in boxes while I have new shelves built, and I can't lay my hands on this box set (the original release). My recomendation is to get the CD with the cut "Sax No End" on it. This particular cut, a tune written by Francie Boland, will refute ANY criticism of Oscar Peterson as being "run of the mill" ... and will, at the same time, convince you that Peterson is genuinely one of the all-time jazz giants. The London House Sessions have been neatly reissued and packaged in a 5-CD box from Verve. (Is this still available?). Try to get a used copy if necessary. (And a magnifying glass at the same time to read the typography in the booklet ... Verve sometimes becomes too creative by half ... I have a graphic designer friend who thinks that it is "fantastic!") Finally, as a teenager, Oscar's version of "Tenderly" from a 1952 JATP Concert was like a bible of jazz to me ... I still play it quite often. Such memories....

Just for clarification, Farmer does not appear on the Astor Place release. The reference to Art Farmer was in relation to an unofficial recording of a live Cedar Walton performance that circulates among traders. Thanks for the clarification .. but I was well aware that Farmer is not on this album .. too bad .. although Hargrove is a fine musician. Farmer always brought a sense of inventive, melodic improvisation to almost every session he played on. Somehow he seemed to calm the other musicians, and challenge them to make their solos really say something. Listen particularly to the Horace Silver Quintet, or Sonny Clark sessions with Farmer, in comparison to other Quintets. ...... One of these days when I have enough time (and creative energy) I will try to expound on this at greater length ... ... and Oh Yes! the vibes were right today .. earlier this morning I had posted that I was listening to Vincent Herring's album JOBIM FOR LOVERS ... he is a vastly underrated musician, and this was another reason I was so receptive to Dr. J's original recommendation.

..... As Art Farmer's greatest living fan (self-designated) I have always been an admirer of Cedar Walton, who was Art's pianist of choice on so many great albums. Somehow I had missed this one when it was first released, so growing in confidence at the discriminating taste shown on this list, I went searching for this one. I found a "new" used copy on Amazon for $8.95 .. and purchased a copy of "ROOTS" as well. BTW Mike, if you search for "Astor Place Records" on Amazon, you come up with 12 albums. I noticed that the Conrad Herwig album, THE LATIN SIDE OF JOHN COLTRANE was selling for over $55 USED!! I can highly recommend the three TRIO volumes by Walton on the Red Label, which used to be available at a very good price on the Cybermusic (Allegro cut out) site. Thanks for the recommendation Dr. J!

As a former great political leader of this country often said: "I feel your pain". In 1983, I sat through Hurricane Alicia here in Houston with my large collection of LPs wrapped in several layers of thick plastic sheeting. If the roof was going to come off, those albums were going to be the only things that were going to stay dry. 19 hours of most harrowing experience I have ever had later, the roof remained intact, and the albums were saved. In 2001 I eventually sold the entire collection. Over the years, digging into used record bins, I acquired some amazing albums with water damaged covers ... I often wondered what people did with their records, some clearly had had food served on them, or I often encountered the Harvey Pekar "cat piss" problem ... why do cats love peeing on LPs? Mine used to use the albums on the lowest shelves as a scratching post ... I worked hard to stop that! Garth.

O.K. ..... bottom line here .... I am a very big supporter of Mosaic (they have a second mortgage on my house) ... BUT... is there any reason for me to get the Dizzy Reece Select, other than the booklet, if I already have all of this material on a variety of BN issues, both JRVG and domestic, acquired over the years? Is the remastering worth upgrading, or should I upgrade my original Vee-Jays by acquiring the Mosaic sets, which have received a lot of praise on the list? Garth.

This is a subject that may never have an absolutely varifiable answer, but over the years I believe that Miles Davis's "KIND OF BLUE" has probably outsold "A LOVE SUPREME". For one thing, it is more accessible to the general jazz audience, and has a relatively wider appeal to the casual jazz listener. In the 1950's one album, Shelly Manne's "MY FAIR LADY" with Andre Previn and Leroy Vinnegar, sold a lot of copies... how many? Who knows? I also wonder how many copies of Benny Goodman's "CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT" have been sold over the years? Now .. if you consider Norah Jones to be a "jazz performer" (she doesn't), then you are into a whole new bag. Garth.

I, like all other Warne Marsh fans, welcome the opportunity to get a remastered version of this great album, although the sound on the original issue was pretty high quality to begin with. (Most of the Revelation LPs had very clear presence). What does puzzle me though is why this album is considered to be "just" a Warne Marsh album? There is another saxophonist on this album .. altoist Gary Foster .. who is not exactly chopped liver, and his contribution to the overall session is quite the equal of Marsh. (The rest of the group is Dave Parlato on bass, and John Tirabasso on drums. Recorded 25th October, 1969). .. I just thought that Gary should get his time in the Organissimo sun ... He currently has a fine new album recently released: Bill Cunliffe and Gary Foster, "IT'S ABOUT LOVE: The Music of Reed Kotler" (Torii Records - no catalog number). There are, of course, other fine albums from the now defunct Revelation catalog which deserve reissuing as well. Garth.

Clarence Gene Shaw (b. Detroit, Michigan, 6/16/26) was one of the "mystery" musicians for those of us who grew up with this music. I, like you, was blown away when I first heard him on 'TIJUANA MOODS" and made a real effort to find other music featuring his unique trumpet sound. Other than his recordings with Mingus, he did three fine albums for the Argo label between 1962 and 1964 -- "Breakthrough" 707, "Debut in Blues" 726. and "Carnival Sketches" 743. As far as I know none of these have been reissued on CD in this country. The story has been widely circulated that during the taping of the Bethlehem jazz and poetry album, "SYMPOSIUM" in 1958, Shaw became ill, and was forced to miss a session. Shaw tried to call Mingus, but Mingus has apparently taken his phone off the hook. Eventually an angry Mingus called Shaw at home to say that he was ruining the recording date, and that "I'm going to have some cats kill you!!" Shaw was so upset by this that he actually destroyed his trumpet, and never played for Mingus again, and Bill Hardman played trumpet on the remaining two cuts. It should be remembered that TIJUANA MOODS was actually recorded in 1957, and not released until 1962, at which time Clarence Shaw become an instant hit with jazz fans. However, it is not certain whether his intimidation by Mingus had an effect of his susequent career, but he never fulfilled the incredible promise he offered in with TIJUANA MOODS. I have consulted all of my many jazz directories, encyclopedias, and discographies, but I am unable to find out much about his life after the mid-1960s. I do know that he is deceased. Garth.

Linda Shank (Bud Shank's wife) just posted this letter on the West Coast Jazz list: I just received an email from their editor Jason something (wasn't there a movie about this guy?). For their 70th anniversary issue they are featuring "major" jazz players including alto saxophonists. The article will not include Phil Woods (first in their own poll this year), Lee Konitz, Bud Shank (third in their own poll this year), Ornette Coleman. I mean, who ARE they talking to? Do they know that the saxophone is that instrument that uses a reed? Degeulasse!! Linda Shank I wonder who will be given a nod in this issue? Garth.

CD Baby has been a favorite hunting ground of mine for several years now. Not everything "hits" but there is some wonderful stuff not found elsewere. The late Jan Johansson was a terrific, and eclectic pianist who would be much more internationally known if he had lived. He was moving in a very different direction at the time of his death, and would have made a significant contribution to modern music, as indicated by the records he made late in life. However, my particular favorite of his is an early series of trio albums that are a pure delight to listen to ... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/johansson4

Speaking of the MJQ 40 Years Box, I notice as I write this that there is one being sold on Ebay with a starting bid price of $24.99, with no bids yet. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...agename=rvi:1:1 On the other hand Amazon has two used copies available from their independant dealers, starting at $269.94!!!! Makes me wonder .... do I buy the Ebay box, and sell my original privately through Amazon?? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=music Hmmmmmmm.. what to do? ... What to do? Garth

This is a recent one from Konitz with drummer Matt Wilson .... interesting ... great in parts ...