kh1958

Even with nothing after 1956, he would still have been the tenor player in one of the best jazz small groups--Miles Davis, Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones.

I was expecting a string of jokes in reference to my comment about the "ethical attorney"!

You asked for it! Options are generally not taxed on the date of grant. However, if the option is granted with too deep a discount (for example, the stock is worth $1 but the option exercise price is 1 cent), then the option is regarded as the underlying stock and is taxable to the extent of its value on the date of grant. An incentive stock option is a special type of option that is required under the Internal Revenue Code to be granted with an exercise price equal to the fair market value of the stock subject to the option on the date of grant. The benefit of an ISO is that upon exercise of the option, the holder has no taxable income, even though the stock acquired is worth more than the exercise price on the date of exercise. A non-statutory option is not required to have an exercise price equal to value on the date of grant. However, they usually are granted with a fair market value exercise price. The point is to reward executives for increasing the stock value, not grant an immediate bonus (which is what a discounted option is). When a non-statutory option is exercised, the executive has taxable income equal to the excess of the value of the stock over the exercise price. So, if an ISO were backdated to achieve a lower exercise price, it would not be an ISO and hence would be taxable on exercise, rather than non-taxable. Stock appreciation rights are forms of deferred compensation--it is an unsecured promise to pay the executive cash equal to the appreciation in the value of the stock after the date of grant. SARs are generally not taxed until the cash is paid to the executive. Client requests to backdate documents arise from time to time. Bebe Rebozo, Richard Nixon's lawyer, was disbarred for helping President Nixon backdate a charitable donation into a prior year. Keeping that in mind, the response of an ethical attorney is that a document cannot be backdated prior to the date it is executed. It is possible to have a prior oral agreement, so a document might be prepared in appropriate cases that sets forth that it was executed on the date signed, but was effective on the prior date of the partie's oral agreement.

The Don Patterson LP has "Blue Grant" on guitar. He takes the first solo on the record, and it is obviously Grant Green.

They sound warm to me, not thin--the organs sound especially good. Mind you, I'm listening on a Revolver turntable with a Linn Basik tonearm--nice but not super high end. This is my best LP score in many years.

I picked up a number of "blue label" (I believe late 1960s) Prestige LPs last weekend--the vinyl was very dusty but once cleaned, seemed to have been played once, if at all. Don Patterson with Sonny Stitt--Donny Brook Willis Jackson--Soul Grabber Sonny Stitt--Soul Electricity Johnny Hammond Smith--the Stinger Sonny Stitt with Don Patterson--Night Crawler Shirley Scott--Hip Twist Willis Jackson with Brother Jack McDuff--Cool Grits Brother Jack McDuff--Go With It Richard Groove Holmes--The Groover. I was just wondering--what do these late Prestiges typically go for? Just about all are Van Gelder recordings with Van Gelder in the wax. They sound rather good to me. Do these simply lack the allure of Blue Notes and sell for a low price typically?l

A rabbit, not fish.

Your collection is larger than mine, in that case... I'm just only getting into it! This one is really good. http://www.amazon.com/Kar-Boubacar-Traor/d...5315837-0791254

That's one of my favorite live jazz recordings, since I first heard it 30 or so years ago. Even Mingus didn't want to follow this performance.

I picked this one up at the Tower liquidation sale--it's very nice. What a beautiful fusion of jazz and the music of Mali. Good to hear that! If you want to continue on the journey in Malian music, check out Ali Farka Toure's last album, it's magnificient - no jazz content (although Pee Wee Ellis plays a bit of sax backings on some songs), but if you like blues, you shall enjoy it! I have a small collection of music from Mali without jazz content--recordings by Salif Keita, Habib Koite, Zani Diabate, Ali Farka Toure, and Boubacar Traore. (Please correct me if I have misattributed an artist to Mali in any case.) Boubacar is my favorite, what an incredible accoustic guitarist.

I picked this one up at the Tower liquidation sale--it's very nice. What a beautiful fusion of jazz and the music of Mali.

From Jason Moran's website: February 10, 2007 Houston, TX Cullen Theatre Jason Moran and The Bandwagon present MILESTONE

Another fine album, with some nice Freddie Hubbard as sideman, was Henry Butler's Fivin' Around, on impulse, circa 1986.

I bought High Energy when issued (I liked it then and still do), but I skipped the next few Freddie Hubbard recordings (Liquid Love and Skagly). I don't think I've ever heard Skagly, except maybe on the radio at the time.

At the Tower Liquidation sale, I picked up a Joe Farrell OJC--Sonic Text, recorded for Contemporary in 1979. This is certainly a very good recording--With Freddie Hubbard, George Cables, Tony Dumas and Peter Erskine. Freddie sounds so good here, it made me wonder, what other outstanding sideman recordings did he make in the 1970s and 1980s that (like this one) I might have missed?

Warm Tenor.

He plays (and has a couple of solos on) Sun Ra's Blue Delight.

I have First Light on LP, though I haven't listened to the LP in many a year. My recollection is that the sound on this LP was very good. That is generally my recollection of CTI LPs--that the sound was among the better LPs being made at the time.

For Prime Time, there is also: Of Human Feelings Opening the Caravan of Dreams (LP only) Virgin Beauty Jazz Buhne Berlin The superior edition of Prime Time is the one with Bern Nix and Charlie Ellerbee on guitars, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Al McDowell on bass guitars. The soundtrack to Naked Lunch is another worthy Ornette recording during this underdocumented period.

How old is Donald Byrd? In his 70s?

I've never run across the Columbia LP "Summit Meeting at Birdland" on any CD.

Me too. I've heard him three times--once in the mid-70's--he could still blow the horn, but the music was really boring and insipid. Then again around '89 and '92. Pretty weak. But "the worst trumpet playing I have ever heard on stage" award goes to Freddie Hubbard about 3-4 years ago. He couldn't play more than about ten seconds at a time because his lip was so bad--eventually he sat down at the piano and finished the set at the keyboard. Now, THAT was sad to see (and hear). I will be at the gig in D.C. in March and I'll report back. I saw Freddie for the last time around 1991--he still sounded great. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

I've seen Donald Byrd twice--once in the mid-1980s and again around 1992 or 93. He was terrible both times-the worst trumpet playing I've ever heard on a stage. If you are a fan of his 50s and 60s work, you are going to be very disappointed. He really could not play well anymore when I saw him. Perhaps he has regained his chops in the last dozen years or so, I don't know, but it seems rather doubtful

The Zawinul Syndicate played at the Caravan of Dreams years ago, and I got to sit in the front row--I thought he was amazing, by far the best player on electric keyboards/synthesizers I've ever heard--"The Minister of Doom" as bassist Gerald Veasley introduced him.

Charlie Parker, the Complete Savoy Recordings (LPs).