david weiss

Evidence owns this material. This is where it was licensed from. We tried to do more research on the original owners of the label to see if the original multi track tapes still existed or if they still had all the live recordings they did (they recorded at at least 4 venues for the Live recording for example) but we got nowhere.

The pride of Denton, Texas. Jim, did you know Sly was born in Denton. I don't know how long he lived there before his family moved to the West Coast though.....

Yes it is and it sounds like the other versions of Taurus Woman on the Garnett album "Black Love" and the Blakey Newport 1969. However, the track in question is not Taurus Woman but it is the same tune as the unknown tune on the Rutgers concert. I like the Rutgers version a little better, they play the tune better as if they've played it a few times by then....

Hold the phone folks. I don't think this is Taurus Woman at least not how I heard it on the Garnett album "Black Love" or the Blakey Newport 1969. Tyrone and Woody were certainly Newark buddies....

How many albums total do you think this is?

I apparently have a bootleg copy of this that I actually purchased a while back. My copy says Tyrone Washington as well. I'd have to listen to this. little more closely to see if I think it's him. I was also intrigued by the unknown tune. It's a nice tune though perhaps a little underdeveloped.

The last recording date is September 1987. That album "A Prayer Before Dawn" was probably not released until 1988 at the earliest yet there are discographies and a listing in discogs that says this was originally released in 1987. There is no copyright date on the original LP. There is also evidence that this was released in 1989. Theresa records was sold to Evidence in the early '90s. They have no records of recording dates or session logs or anything like that. Most of the people associated with Theresa Records are gone. All this to say that a photo from 1988 is not really not that out of place, especially if it's the best cover photo option we had (and I think it's a pretty cool photo) Ironically, the photographer who shot the cover to "A Prayer Before Dawn" told me that the Theresa people had Pharoah tuck in his beard to try to make it appear less prominent. A few years later they probably would have pushed him to make it more prominent for a photo shoot.... So far, our work is finishing up stuff Michael started and will be for a while. There is really not that many moments of this being "out there" music and the last couple of albums on the label were essentially finding different settings to feature his beautiful, pure Coltranesque saxophone sound.

It was taken at Yoshi's in Oakland, CA in June 1988.

I actually played with Denis quite a bit when I first moved back to New York after college. At first, we both played in a band that played in the subway pretty much every day. The leader was a trombone player from Italy who called a slow blues and blasted blues licks as loud as possible for as long as he could and then recharged while I took a solo and then did it again. All day, every day. The guy was hugely popular and drew huge crowds and we made decent money but I can safely say that Denis wasn't loving it. I did some other gigs with him as well. A few years after that, I ran into him on the street (we both lived in the East Village) and he had been thrown out of the house by his wife so I put him up for a while (a couple of months if I remember correctly) until he patched things up with his wife. They did have a young child at the time. Denis was a sweetheart. However, I don't recall him ever talking about playing with Kenny Dorham of anyone of that ilk My Kenny Dorham roots were clearly showing at that point in my life (or so I thought) and he never said anything like I hear all the Kenny Dorham stuff you are trying to play. I played with him etc etc. I did call a mutual friend of ours to see if Denis ever talked to him about it or if he knows anything about his brothers.

There are different situations but if there are royalties involved with the deal, the leader gets the royalties. With live tapes, no one was ever paid so you would have to pay all the band members or their estates to legitimately release the live tape. So technically, Huss Charles or his family is entitled to compensation for his appearance on this record. I'm told that when Denis died, his obituary in the NY Times stated he was survived by his two brothers. That was a while ago though of course....

Belden kept a tight lid on the tapes he had for the longest time. He would play them for you but would not make anyone a copy of anything but at some point, as his disgruntlement with record companies grew, he began sharing his tapes. He gave me a bunch of stuff. As far as I know, he never had the McLean tape. He never played it for me or gave me a copy. He had very specific personal interests. He wanted every record that Herbie Hancock (which is probably why he had the Tyrone Washington session) was ever on and also had a thing for Grant Green.

Cuscuna did not give those tapes back to Wayne. The only tapes that I'm aware of that ever were given back to an artist were to Horace Silver. At this point, I don't think I'm out of line to tell this story. Michael invited Horace to Capitol Studios to listen to all unreleased Horace material in the vaults to see if any of it was suitable for release. Horace chose a number of tunes that became the album "Sterling Silver" that was released in the 1979. Horace did not want any of the other material to ever see the light of day so he made a deal with United Artists and took all tapes of the material he never wanted released home with him where they still sit in the closet of his former home today (well, as of two years ago at least). I've heard the Tentet session and the Live at Pep's material and it is mostly not worthy of release. Michael was correct in saying that Carmel Jones was having a bad day or a bad week and it's mostly unusable. I talked to Horace about the Tentet session years ago and he talked about how the ensemble sections were not executed as well as he would have liked and he said he regretted not taking Alfred's advice to use some of his session guys for the date. A while back, I was talking to Michael about the Shorter date and I said in the context of Wayne's output up to 1972, perhaps this session was not up to snuff but in the context of the past 20 years of Wayne's current band, perhaps one could look at this date as a precursor to his current quartet. Michael asked me to send him a copy so he could have it handy and check it out and I think he bought it up to Don at some point but that part of it, I can't talk about.

I really couldn't tell you about the albums they have made but Joel Ross and Immanuel Wilkins are excellent musicians and certainly have the potential to make compelling music. Artemis is a really good band and if you like Branford Marsalis....

Part of the issue here is that we are not in the CD era anymore. I discovered this for sure when we did the Just Coolin' release. I listened to all the alternate takes and picked 4 worthy of inclusion in the set but were nixed because the vinyl release took precedent over the CD release and they wanted a single LP so no bonus tracks were included (they were pretty good, maybe even on par with the master takes on one or two occasions). The Tyrone Washington material was pitched as bonus material to a Natural Essence reissue but again, the LP rules so the bonus material route doesn't exist anymore. I guess they could put them up on streaming sites if they chose to. The fate of the Wayne Shorter date is a mystery. Wayne listened to tons of live material of his current band to find material to release over the next few years (up to 5 albums worth I've heard) but no mention of this date. The Jackie McLean session with Norman Conners is nowhere to be found anymore.....

I liked that for the Van Gelder series, they went back to the original master tapes for the early 1500 (1500-1511) series releases so there was no added reverb like all the subsequent releases of this material after the original issue. The problem was I didn't like Van Gelder's remastering of the material but still listened because it still sounded so superior to the versions with added reverb. I assume some of these releases have been remastered from the original analog tapes for vinyl in the last couple of years. Absolutely!

Tell him there are alternate takes or newly discovered music and he'll be all over it!

Yes, he plays in Kassa's band. Kassa got his start with Wallace Roney's band and was in Geri Allen's band Timeline (with a tap dancer) for years. I guested with that band a couple of times and really enjoyed it. Anyways, the point is that Kassa has proper Jazz training....

I guess Don Was is the boss so the buck stops with him but the actual work on the two releases you mentioned was done by others. Zev Feldman pushed for Just Coolin'. I was given the music to vet and I gave it a 7 and when pushed, I said OK, 7.5. When I told Michael I had listened to it and it wasn't that bad, he replied "aw, you're just a fucking trumpet player" meaning he knew Lee was excellent on this music but he found it was lacking in other places (as did I). From what I remember, there was some more vetting and decision making involved but Don gave it the green light in the end and felt vindicated by the response to the release. I assume Don gave the go ahead on the Burrell as well but this time it was Joe Harley, who I don't know at all, who did the work. I will say that I find none of these guys have the skills and diligence to do this on the level Michael did it in every aspect of getting something like this out. Some things are certainly falling by the wayside as time goes on especially the discography stuff and perhaps the standards of the music. The Live at the Five Spot was never a favorite of mine and with that really out of tune piano, it's kind of surprising that Blue Note released this at all but I wouldn't think this would be a ripe source for newly discovered material. I suspect Michael probably got it right when he released this on CD. I heard the same tapes that Joe Harley did for this release and nothing jumped out at me as something that really needed to be heard. The other thing I'm wary of is all these pronouncements that say my good friend or my dear friend Michael Cuscuna as this might justify their work. Frankly, it makes me cringe a little.... In these terms, as far as pecking order or position, Don = Bruce Lundvall and Michael = Joe Harley or Zev.

I believe that these tapes were licensed to Resonance Records with the full cooperation of the Dorham and Hubbard Estates. He has other tapes but I'm not sure I can discuss that except that one could judge from these releases and the era they were recorded in that there are some other interesting things. These releases might be the cream of the crop though..... He provided the tapes for John Coltrane's Olatunji Concert previously.

I think I'm still worried about crossing lines with my former employers/collaborators but I'm working on that..... It's public knowledge by now that these tapes came from a guy names Bernard Drayton. Bernie was in advertising in the '60s and would hire the guys to write jingles (like Herbie Hancock) and play on the sessions. At some point, he put on a jazz series in a club in the Bronx and recorded them. As far as I know, the master tapes have always been in his possession. I know he has shopped them from time to time over the years (Belden played them for me in 1997. He was approached about these when he was A & R at Blue Note). Some of the tapes have certainly made the rounds (or as discussed, parts of them) but I think the masters have been with the original owner and theses releases were mastered from the original master tapes. I thought the sound quality in general was decent and there was some stereo separation. I have the three Joe Lee Wilson tracks of course and they sound fine. I really enjoy KD's solos here, especially on Four. As I mentioned earlier, I find Sonny Redd's playing here to be revelatory. I couldn't believe it was him when first hear this (at this point, probably 30 years ago) I can't imagine why there would be anything that sounds like needle drops. I don't know if there are edits on this release but I went back to the tape I have and listened again and I hear nothing that sounds like a spice in there. The overall time of The Theme on the recording I have is 8:21 I have no idea how Denis Charles got in the picture here past being Huss' brother. The announcement I have (and it's at the beginning of the concert) clearly says Huss Charles but apparently, it's not on this release. I can't be the only owner of this tape that has an announcement that says Huss Charles on drums so I don't know what to say about that.

I thought this as well at first but I think he is saying Paul. I can only say it so many times but I have a copy of the tape and there is an announcement by the DJ Ed Williams and he clearly says Huss Charles. To me, that is the end of the conversation..... Where do you think these discographers got the name from (even if mispronounced or misinterpreted) in the first place?

I haven't heard the CD yet but on the original tape I have, the piano solo is about 1:08 in length on The Theme.

Sounds like a manufacturing issue or an issue with the actual CD master (which is usually a DDP file) but most likely a pressing defect. I guess we see if more people weigh in.....

Can you please elaborate or provide a link to the discussion of this on the SH board please? Thanks

Dead on in this case.... I was tasked with listening to a series of these a while back (from one source). The sound quality is not great, I believe this was a couple of mics in the room situation and not an each individual instrument being miced thing. I believe they recorded one night for a radio broadcast. The usual stuff was great of course but as always, there are clearance issues or the labels in question were not enticed. There is more Lee Morgan (not much) then what has been on the various bootlegs but after the huge Lighthouse set, I don't think Blue Note was interested in releasing what is essentially the same material again. It would probably be Atlantic Records for the Hubbard and Concord for the Henderson and who even knows where to begin.... There were other recordings as well but I'm not sure I should get into that except to say there was nothing else exceptional or mind-blowing....