kh1958

Ditto. And thanks for starting this thread. I don't think Riverside gets its due because it put out some outstanding releases. Most of what I know about it comes from Keepnews' book, which sounds like it should be taken with a large grain of salt. A great label, even if the only artists it had recorded were Monk and Wes Montgomery. As for getting its due, what a relief that there is not a large cadre of Riverside obsessives/exaggerators as in the case of Blue Note.

Have enjoyed the Mingus Candids for years. I have the mono originals. Like most of the first generation Candids, the sessions were engineered by the great Bob d'Orleans. The music speaks for itself. The sound is superb in all its analog glory. No print-through echo on those Candid LPs. Thanks. Those are probably pretty hard to get one's hands one, but I'm going to try.

Has anyone ever come across a version of the Mingus Candids that do not have the annoying print-through echo? I gather this is from poorly stored tapes. Are original pressings free of this defect?

I saw him at Jazz Standard last fall, leading a Wes Montgomery Tribute band (Gary Bartz, Larry Willis, Peter Bernstein).

He's rather slight of physique; it's his musical mind that's gigantic.

His live performances have been pretty rare since the 1960s. New recordings have become rather scarce as well. You are lucky, as I haven't seen him since 1986.

Bobby Previte's Counterclockwise is one of the most outstanding recent releases I've heard.

That one is tempting me also. In addition, does anyone know the quality of the recording on this one? Lee Morgan -- Unforgettable Lee Live At Birdland . . . CD . . . $18.99 (Item: 351999) Fresh Sound (Spain), 1960 (2CD) Condition: New Copy View Cart A fitting title for this scorching set tracks led by the incomparable Lee Morgan -- captured over several dates throughout 1960 at the legendary Birdland club -- and backed up by Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers! Nothing but legends on the stage here -- with Morgan's trumpet out front of Blakey on the kit, Bobby Timmons on piano, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Jymie Merrit on bass. The tracks on the first disc were recorded on three dates in the spring and summer of '60, and they include "The Chess Players", "This Here", "The Midget", "Nlly Bly", "Dat Dere", "Justice", Night In Tunisia" and more. Disc two features numbers recorded in the summer and fall of the same year, and it includes "Lester Left Town" with Lester Young sitting in on piano, "It's Only A Paper Moon", "This Here", Sakeena's Vision", "Koko's Waltz" and more.

The only time I recollect running across Lou Blackburn is on Mingus at Monterey.

That's one of my favorite jazz records. Actually, Wonderland is another (and I wish the record company had preserved the rest of the concert). Handy also makes a dynamic appearance on Mingus' live Right Now, on a sidelong Fables of Faubus, where he and Cliford Jordan play at an incredible level of inspiration. And Handy plays on Mingus at Carnegie Hall.

He played Skies with Prime Time and the Fort Worth Symphony in 1983, but I wasn't able to attend. It was recorded, but never released.

1973 or so, when I bought the first two jazz LPs that I connected with--Basic Miles and The Best of Cannonball Adderley.

I highly recommend the Storyville Jazz Festival Volume 2 DVD, which features the Duke Ellington Orchestra. This DVD of Ellington from 1962 is visually and musically fantastic. This is a beautiful 35 mm film of the orchestra, shot by a talented director, with very nice sound, and inexpensive. http://www.dvdempire.com/exec/v4_item.asp?...&item_id=587240

What's a good source online for ordering Uptown releases?

Very interesting thought! I think I can agree, 'cause that's the music he plays with all his heart and spirit, and playing modern he is more the intellectual type. I find Freddie Hubbard somewhat overrated, playing superficial stuff at times and too self-indulgent. Randy Brecker. Very good studio man, but not very original as a soloist. I think Booker Little is not overrated - he was still very young when he passed, and who knows what wisdom would have made out of his great tone? Kenny Dorham - couldn't disagree more - probably not to everyone's taste, but one of the greatest. Agree on Sandoval - too much flash. Mike - glad you said that about Freddie Hubbard - I agree. I also agree wholeheartedly about Booker Little. The album of the same name, with Tommy Flanagan, is near the top of my desert island disks. He had a technique that was incredible and he used it to the full which is sometimes a path to pyrotechnics for their own sake but not in his case. He stuck to the straight and narrow on that album at least. Freddie Hubbard's playing in the 1980s, before he ruined his lip, is underrated. Having seen him live on numerous occasions in that era, he was in awesome form.

Hugh Masekela played an engagement at the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth in 1989, with a band of mostly African musuicians, that was one of the great concerts I've seen in my life. I was fortunate to see four awesome sets. He's not a trumpeter at the level of Freddie Hubbard or Woody Shaw, but he's a great musician.

Out of the list above, Coltrane Live at Birdland and Crescent are the two most beloved in my case. Ole, Africa Brass, and Live at the Village Vanguard are also essential. While I enjoy all of Coltrane's periods, my personal preference is from about 1960 to 1965.

Thanks. Great interview and a great CD. I really like the Uptown approach to this type of material. I recently acquired the Allen Eager CD and have long had Charlie Parker in Canada. What other CDs reflecting this high degree of historical interest and care has Uptown issued?

I said this already, but the three Michael Musiallami CDs with Thomas Chapin (Archives, Mars Bars and Groove Teacher) are truly excellent. Here they are on sale. http://www.playscape-recordings.com/cdsets.html#1

Here is a link to a Tina Brooks discography. http://members.tripod.com/~hardbop/tbsessions.html

True Blue and Back to the Tracks are classics. The other two sessions are okay, but not on the same level, in my opinion.

I was fortunate to see the Thomas Chapin Trio live twice, as well as a quartet with piano on another occasion, and that first time I saw him, in Vancouver in the early 1990s, was so great--one of the most thrilling performances by a saxophonist I've witnessed. My favorites with the trio are Night Bird Song and Sky Piece. I've also been trying to collect all his sideman appearances, and there are some great ones--I love the two Ned Rothenberg Double Band recordings on Moers, and the recordings with guitarist Michael Musillami on Playscape are also pretty special.

That was reissued on CD a few years back, as I have a copy.

I love Jaki in all his many guises, but his performance on the Great Concert of Charles Mingus (coupled with Eric Dolphy and Clifford Jordan) is astounding in so many ways...

Definitely, ever since I purchased the Mosaic LP set. You also need the session with Jackie McLean (Jackie's Bag) and the Jimmy Smith jam session (Cool Blues).