mhatta

I'm too young for being there in person, but I guess Dex was popular in Japan in the 70s since he was a spearhead of "Hardbop Revival". His fame was revived with the "'Round Midnight" movie and his last visit to Japan was 1988. The capacity of the Youbin Chokin Hall is 1600 people or such, so I guess Dex was still quite popular at the time. And his playing is still quite good (well, a bit feeble on uptempo tunes, I should say).

What I find interesting about recent trends is that people (especially young people) seem to be actively avoiding "exciting" music. I listen to jazz because there is an exciting, adventurous, challenging musicality somewhere in there that is a slap in the face, and that is what makes it appealing for me, but lately (or has it always been?) it seems to me that there is a need for music that is smooth and as resistless as possible. Snarky Puppy is a good music I think, but not really "exciting" for me.

I think one of Sonny Stitt's problems was that he couldn't record a single (or several) masterpiece(s) that could be used as a business card. Dexter Gordon was able to make "Go", "Our Man In Paris", etc. Everybody knows them. Of course Sonny made so many (or possibly too many) great records like "Tune Up!", but almost all of them don't get iconic status and are on small labels like Muse... Art Pepper may not have had one, but he had many enthusiastic fans in Japan. After his comeback, he was no more "white washed-up" (I think it is his own words) and an artist. He got a standing ovation almost every time he played in Japan. I think it had a big impact on stabilizing his unstable ego. I think Art Pepper was happy in the last five years of his life.

I always think it's a shame that Art Taylor didn't live a few more years longer, because the last band he led, the revived Wailers, was a very good young development band. Like the Messengers, I think there is always a need for a band like that to pass the torch. In that sense, Tony Williams also died too early.

Third Stream'ish With Strings music is "'Way 'Way Out" only. Other tunes in "The Complete United Artists Sessions" are more straight ahead jazz, but still very good.

I firmly believe Miles Davis was most creative between 1973-1975. His quintets in the 50s or 60s are of course great, but the music (w/ Pete Cosey) from this period are something else. (I think) Charles Lloyd once described some kind of music performances as "Other". I didn't understand what he really meant at that time, but now I think what Miles done this period is the prime examples of "Other". Even Miles (or Cosey) himself couldn't reproduce this level of intensity after that. I think these are essential recordings to understand Miles. Unfortunately all of them are not issued properly except some bootlegs (the sound quality of most of them are pretty good). I hope Sony releases them as a part of The Bootleg Series someday... June 19, 1973, in Tokyo (AKA "Black Satin" or "Unreachable Station") May 28, 1974, in Sao Paulo January 22, 1975, in Tokyo (AKA "Another Unity", even better than Agharta/Pangaea)

My honest opinion is, I think McCoy Tyner made some good records in the 80s while he made some great records in the 60/70s. I should also mention that he was really great when I saw him in person in Tokyo in the late 90/early 00s. BTW, McCoy's 80s albums produced by Japanese labels tend to be overlooked. Love & Peace (1982) is one of them, which records McCoy's reunion with Elvin & Richard Davis (and Pharoah Sanders & Jean-Paul Bourelly). Double Trios (1986) is also an interesting outing -- one trio is Avery Sharpe & Louis Hayes, another is Marcus Miller & Jeff "Tain" Watts. Might sound a bit dated, but it is worth listening to "Sudan".

Melvin Jackson is a possibility, but Louis Satterfield or Phil Upchurch is more likely?

I hear some congas, so Master Henry Gibson might be involved. Also some female vocals.

I found his own explanation: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/james-spaulding-60s-sideman-extraordinaire-james-spaulding-by-clifford-allen AAJ: You made so many appearances as a sideman on Blue Note. Did they ever ask you to do a record as a leader during that time? JS: Well, Alfred Lion took me out to dinner and he asked me if I would like to record for Blue Note, if I would like a contract. I said sure, and he said [Spaulding does his best German accent] "well, you know you have a family (I had just had my first daughter) and you want to write some music for the jukebox!" He said "you want to write some 'Watermelon Man.'?" At the time he wanted something like Lou Donaldson's "Alligator Boogaloo," and as I was eating I said "okay Alfred, I'll be talking to you later." I never got back with him; I had all this stuff I'd written up, and that just killed all of that.

As I mentioned before, I heard that it was originally supposed to be released on Sue Mingus' label (or CBS?) but somehow scrapped, so it may not be so strange to call it The Lost Album. Generally speaking, I respect the artist's decision, but on the other hand, sometimes I think that artists cannot do justice to their own work. I understand the feeling, but I feel that in most live jazz recordings, if you tweak it afterwards, it becomes somewhat strange. On dropouts, etc. -- for example, in my source of Mind Reader's Convention in Milano, John Faddis's solo phrase is dubbed in at about the 10-minute mark (connected the tapes?). Also, there is a dropout of a few seconds at about the 20-minute mark. I hope it's fixed in this official release! Regarding the "two endings", you probably mean Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress. Some bootlegs have so-called "Alternate Ending". It doesn't seem to have been re-recording in the studio (has applause), more likely the last 3min of another live take, but I honestly don't know why Mingus decided to redo it, as both sounds like a normal ending, not train wreck.

I love this album too. Tom Thumb is a killer. Why Blue Note didn't sign the contract with James Spaulding is a mystery for me too. He was on so many great BN dates as a sideman...and after all, BN gave an opportunity to record leader album to even John Jenkins, J.R. Monterose, Fred Jackson, Tyrone Washington, etc. Yeah they are great (my favorite players!), but... Also, I'm interested in Wayne's "Game" themed pieces. I'm pretty sure the 2nd tune "Go" is not "let's Go", it means the game of Go. He also composed Mahjong, Ping Pong, Chess (Players). Backgammon was by Walter Davis Jr. I guess Wayne didn't compose Checkers, Reversi, etc.? I'm also sorry that he didn't write a song based on Shogi, Japanese chess.

As I said previously somewhere in this forum, Mingus' Ronnie Scott's gig in 1972 is generally good. Maybe a bit verbose...some tunes are over 30min and it was originally planned to release from Sue Mingus' Revenge Records as 3 CDs. I hope they could fix some audio dropouts the bootleg releases (and maybe the original tapes) suffer from. I am glad that finally Mingus' interesting tune "Mind-readers’ Convention in Milano" will be released officially (and hope they could explain what's the heck it means -- also alternate title "My Music Emission"). Also, I think Zev Feldman made a correct decision to ask Fran Lebowitz about Mingus. Her story about being chased by Mingus was hilarious in her Netflix documentary.

I really love it! It's interesting that Osby included a tune written by Masabumi Kikuchi.

Wow. I downloaded and heard it now. This is something else, powerful stuff, possibly the best historical release of 2022 (yeah, we are still in Feb...).

I'm not sure how to define Third Stream (I know Schuller's "What Third Stream Is Not"), so I'll just say that it's kind of "classical" austere feeling. Andrew Hill's with strings session is good, and Eric Dolphy's Out There sounds like it too. How about Ken NcIntyre? It's almost forgotten, but I like his output on United Artists.

Dizzy Gillespie recorded 2 tunes, "Dynamo A" and "Dynamo B", for Dial in Feb. 5, 1946. Actually, both are 2 takes of what we know now as "Dizzy Atmosphere". On a radio broadcast from Band Box in Mar. 30, 1953, asked by Leonard Feather, Charlie Parker explained like "It(Dynamo A) wasn't 'Dizzy Atmosphere'. It's not the same record at all. This is a thing they recorded in Los Angeles quite a few years ago, it's a satire of the tune 'Lover'..." and played what we know now as "Diggin' Diz" as an example of "Dynamo A" (unfortunately he didn't play "Dynamo B"!). So I guess Bird thought "Diggin' Diz" was the real "Dynamo A". Then, I wonder what was the real "Dynamo B". The Feb. 5, 1946 session produced 8 tunes -- "Confirmation", "Diggin' Diz", "Dynamo A & B" (2 takes of "Dizzy Atmosphere"), 2 takes of "When I grow Too Old To Dream" and 2 takes of "'Round Midnight". So my best guess is "Dynamo B" was actually the working title of "Confirmation". How do you think? Is there any other recording of "Dynamo B"?

"Another Story" was reissued as CD in Japan some years ago and I immediately loved it. The half of "Easy Walker" also comes from the same period (McCoy Tyner on piano) and very good too.

I sometimes find Don Byers after the 60's uncomfortable in terms of harmony and rhythmic groove (I don't think he was a "modern" jazz player after all), but Anthropology and a show at Nalen unearthed a few years ago were pretty good.

I noticed that Albert Stinson (1944-1969) was only 22 years old when he appeared in Oblique. And he's going to die in two years. A precocious genius.

I guess Billie's Bounce was played quite often during this period, and tenor/trumpet quintets were also quite common, so I have no clue. If the information about the venue is correct, it might be from WABC "Portraits In Jazz" radio broadcasts hosted by Alan Grant. I have also no clue the whereabout of his acetates he made during this period.

RIP. Mark Levine played trombone on Houston Person's debut "Underground Soul!". The organ is played by a mysterious organist "Charles Boston". I suspect that this is actually the nom de plume of Levine (he attended Boston University, there is Charles River...) and organ or trombone might have been overdubbed (since trombone and organ sometimes sounds simultaneously). I'm not sure such was technically possible in 1966.

I believe Mr. Griffin implied that double meaning. He had acute senses of linguistics and humor. I love one of his tunes "The JAMFs are coming" and when someone asked what JAMF is , JG replied "Oh, that means Just A Mere Friend". Obviously, it really is Jive Ass Mother F...

Hmm, there was a nice obit but now seems gone.

I didn't know "Omicron" is a Donald Byrd tune. For some reason Bud Powell played it with Barney Wilen (sans Byrd).