medjuck

Is it now generally agreed that Monk is not on any of the Mintons/Monroes session on which he is sometimes listed? (Even in a published discography I have.)

I don't know Bobby Bryant that well but it didn't sound like Sweets to me either.

The discography states that on You'll Know the First Time Sweets Edison and Ollie Mitchell replace Bud Brisbois and Bobby Bryant but the notes say that the muted trumpet solo is by Bobby Bryant. Anyone care to venture an opinion as to which is correct?

From the LA Times. Art Davis, 73; known for mastery of the bass, also was a psychologist By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Times Staff Writer August 4, 2007 Art Davis, the renowned double bassist who played with John Coltrane and other jazz greats, was blacklisted in the 1970s for speaking up about racism in the music industry, and then later in life earned a doctorate in clinical psychology and balanced performance dates with appointments to see patients, has died. He was 73. Davis, a player whom jazz critic Nat Hentoff once described as "an astonishing player" and "beyond category," died of a heart attack Sunday at his home in Long Beach, said his son Kimaili Davis. "He was adventurous with his approach to playing music," said pianist Nate Morgan, who played with the elder Davis intermittently over the last 10 years. "It takes a certain amount of integrity to step outside the box and say, 'I like it here and I'm going to hang here for a while.' " Known for his stunning and complete mastery of the instrument, Davis was able to genre-hop comfortably. He played classical music with the New York Philharmonic, was a member of the NBC, Westinghouse and CBS orchestras, and played for Broadway shows. The most intense and enriching experience of Davis' career was his collaboration with John Coltrane. Described by Hentoff as Coltrane's favorite bassist, Davis performed on the saxophonist's albums including "Ascension," Volumes 1 and 2 of "The Africa/Brass Sessions" and "Ole Coltrane." The two musicians met one night in the late 1950s at Small's Paradise, a jazz club in Harlem, where Davis was playing with drummer Max Roach. Coltrane invited Davis to play with him the following morning at one of his legendary grueling practice sessions. A few years later, when Coltrane was building his quartet, he invited Davis to join. By then he had become averse to touring and so declined, although he periodically played with the group. Davis viewed his instrument as "the backbone of the band," one that should "inspire the group by proposing harmonic information with a certain sound quality and rhythmic impulses," Davis said in an excerpt from So What magazine posted on his website. "You let the bass do the talking. A bassist cannot be satisfied with playing straight." By following his own advice, Davis' career flourished. He played with a long and varied list of artists: Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, John Denver, the trio Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan. Pianist Ahmad Jamal once dubbed Davis the "forgotten genius" because the outspoken bassist had been blacklisted for many years. Davis' decision to take a stand against racism was born of his experiences in music. Davis began studying piano at age 5 in Harrisburg, Pa., where he was born Dec. 5, 1933. By sixth grade Davis studied the tuba in school simply because it was the only instrument available, he said. By 1951 he decided to make music his career but chose the double bass, believing it would allow more opportunities to make a living. At age 17 he studied with the principal double bassist at the Philadelphia Orchestra. But when he auditioned for his hometown's symphony, the audition committee was so unduly harsh and demanding that the conductor Edwin MacArthur questioned their objectivity. "The answer was, 'Well, he's [colored]' — and there was silence," Davis recalled in a 2002 article in Double Bassist magazine. "Finally MacArthur burst out, 'If you don't want him, then you don't want me.' So they quickly got together and accepted me." After high school, Davis studied classical music on scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music. At night he played jazz in New York clubs. "It all sounded good to me — and I felt I could do a number of different fields," he told Double Bassist. "I was of one the first to switch back and forth from jazz to classical." But the switch was not always an easy one. Davis encountered situations where race was more important than performance. In the 1970s, his fortunes waned after he filed an unsuccessful discrimination lawsuit against the New York Philharmonic. Like other black musicians who challenged job hiring practices, he lost work and important industry connections. "As a person, he had enormous integrity," Hentoff said in an interview this week. "He wouldn't bend to accommodate bias or the ignorance of some of the people in the music business." With less work coming his way, Davis returned to school and in 1981 earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from New York University. Davis was for many years a practicing psychologist while also working as a musician. "I went up against the big power people and lost 10 years of my life. I feel vindicated [through his court case], and I wouldn't be a Dr. Art Davis if it hadn't happened," he told Double Bassist. As a result of his lawsuit and protest, Davis played a key role in the increased use of the so-called blind audition, in which musicians are heard but not seen by those evaluating them, Hentoff said. The accomplished musician also pioneered a fingering technique for the bass and wrote "The Arthur Davis System for Double Bass." Davis also wore the hat of university professor; for two years he taught at UC Irvine. Most recently Davis was a part-time music instructor at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. He could be regularly heard on Sundays at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel. Among musicians, Davis was highly respected for his work and his role in the Coltrane legacy. "And he always had a great attitude, no matter what kind of music we were playing or how difficult the circumstances were," said Jan Jordan, the pianist who played with Davis at the Ritz. "He always reached out to people in the audience." In addition to his son Kimaili of Oak Park, Davis is survived by son Mureithi Davis of Tustin and daughter Taisha Jack of Culver City. Davis' wife, Gladys, died in 1995. -- jocelyn.stewart@latimes.com

This business of destroying original stereo or 3 track masters to create mono issues seems to have happened often. There's an RCA George Russel cd where the originally released tracks are in mono but the alternate "bonus" tracks are in stereo. And say what you like about Phil Schaap (and I've said my share of nasty things about him) I'm forever grateful that he found a way to release a stereo version of Miles Ahead.

Wishing a Happy B'day and many, many more for you and your wife!

I've got to get this! I hope you don't want it because of Strayhorn. He he's not on it and had nothing to do with it.

This is really funny!!

If you feel that way you should get this disc just for the cover photos. She's sort of gone the Diana Krall route and she looks great.

'Meditations' was the original title. But "Meditations" is also on this disc. Anyone know the first perrformance or appearance on disc of "Eric"? Also on the Cornell release Dolphy doesn't play on it does he?

What was the original title of So Long Eric?

I've got Mysterious Mountain on a cd that also contains Hovhanesse's Lousadezak played by Kieth Jarrett! (I didn't notice that when I bought it.)

This might be my favorite film ever. I'm very glad to own the Criterion edition. I do wonder what someone who hasn't seen his other films would make of Playtime, especially on a small screen at home. I highly recommend seeing this in a theater first if at all possible. I was lucky enough to see this for the first time at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston projected in 70mm. My memory of seeing it in 70mm was that he used the verticality of the screen more than any filmmaker in history (ie he compsed shots from top to bottom as well as from side to side.)

I was disappointed to to learn that they don't use "The Madison" in the musical version of Hairspray. I loved it in the original and always like to see Jazz musicians getting some royalties.

I found his Diabeli Variations in the classical section of Border's. Didn't know anything about him so was surprised when I got to some stride piano variations. I like it.

Someone posted that The Sonny Rollins site was selling downloads of the bootleg Sonny in London cds. The Monk Zone is offering downloads of grey market European releases including the Classics series offerings. Some of them contains Bluenote material and others have the Mintons/Monroes material that is probably not even Monk.

How did they get the camera on the ground before they got out? Was it on one of the legs of the spacecraft?

There are a bunch of Maian McPartland's Piano Jazz cds that usually have some duets on them. (I've only got the one with Bill Evans and the one with Benny Carter. For obvious reasons the latter doesn't count.)

I was 25 and watching it with Zal Yanofsky. His very yong daughter was there and I remember commenting that this would be common place for her. Shows how smart I am. BTW How many men have walked on the moon?

You're right, of course, but if Mosaic gets around to do the Decca stuff as well, this is really going to rock the house. Musically, the Victor's are on a much higher level, but the Decca's are the birth of R&B. Lionel Hampton's Decca sides certainly did play a part in the birth of R&B, but don't forget Louis Jordan, whose first sides appeared in 1938, and Big Joe Turner, whose first (pre-Atlantic) recordings were also made in the 1930s. There were several others too who contributed to the rise of R&B (Buddy Johnson, Lucky Millinder, etc.) There's a pretty good Decca two disc set with about 45 cuts: includes Mingus Fingus and Flying Home IIRC.

Brownie: Where did you find this? Aren't you in France? This edition of the Independent just came out yesterday. Though my son had been over to Woodard's house the night before and Woodard had told him about the incident. When Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea announced they were Scientologists I used to joke that Kieth Jarett wasn't but he should be.

Wasn't the flips side My Blue Heaven? IIRC it also got a lot of airplay.

I'd recorded the documentary and watched it last night. Noticed that it's directed by Bruce Ricker who also directed Last of the Blue Devils and the Monk documentary Straight No Chaser.

Where he made an Lp with Stan Kenton.

Yeah, I'm so old I bought it new. Liners by Stanley Dance. I wonder if he held the record for the most liner notes written by one critic? They're good liners, but I'd bet the Mosaic will be at least as good, possibly better. It would be cool to reprint them, but that's not Mosaic's style. Nice idea for a set, though. Didn't Teddy Wilson lead a similar series (without Billie Holiday as well as with her) for the Columbia labels during a similar period? I have an old Columbia two-fer with some of those. IIRC there was a twofer Wilson set that was only released in Canada. Great idea for a box or a select (I don't know how many sides he cut). they could leave out the Holidays since probably everyone who would buy such a set would already have them.