Free For All

Recorded Feb. 19, 1958 Actually a studio date w/dubbed "applause" and "stage announcements". Thanks to the geniuses at Columbia for THAT little brainstorm. EDIT: ..and FYI, it's Adderley.

Very nice new Zora pics, Jim!

I doubt whether anyone here will say it's not good. Whether it's to your taste, well, have you listened to the samples? One thing that sometimes decides for me is the track times- most of these are in the three minute range, so that's an indication that there's not a lot of solo "stretching". Whether that's a plus or minus is up to you. I guess one might consider this set fairly conservative musically, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't swing heartily. How could these guys NOT swing?? Myself, I don't think of it as a must-have, but I'm sure there are those here who do. Then again, I might order it tonight!

Unearthed a couple more of these for you, Jim. Summer of '42 arr. by Alan Broadbent It's Too Late arr. by Bill Stapleton And Ghost, I think that the Jolson side ("The Jazz Swinger") is very much worth finding. Sure, there are a few corny moments, as there are on most Woody sides, but the recklessly swinging Herd as always makes up for any silliness. BTW, Woody was still doing the Sonny Boy chart in the 80s. An excellent swinging chart! And it had a bone solo!

Just looked through my Evans CDS. Here are a few later ones that I like..... The Tokyo Concert (1973)....w/Gomez/Morell, great set Affinity (1978) w/Toots Thielmans..some very nice tunes including Phil Markowitz's Sno' Peas We Will Meet Again (1979).....w/Larry Schneider and Tom Harrell, includes Bill's composition Five which he foreshadowed (IMHO) on his solo on Oleo on Miles' Jazz at the Plaza Both Tony Bennett/Bill Evans recordings (1975-77) ......and another enthusiastic vote for the Turn Out The Stars box!

BTW, I think this is fairly common knowledge, but this title is an anagram of "Orrin Keepnews". Your insignificant fact for the day. Edited for spelling clams.

......and so it begins..........

Are you a secret agent? B-)

Good thoughts to you too, Ed. Nice to have you around here. Hope things improve for you ASAP!

IMHO Tony is the MVP on this VSOP............

Which reminds me.....anyone ever heard THIS?

Wow- thanks for the tip, 'Toon! Must plan to make that one! Rooster? Eric? Bueller?

Ray Brown, for those who were wondering.

Hey lookie eveyone! It's Dr. Kevorkian! Wonder what he's up to? "Pull my finger..............."

I noticed it's also in the Sher Music "New Real Book" in G, so I expect you guys are right and that is the original key. I still like to play the first chord as minor, though!

OK, then I have one further question- In what way does the head to Oleo imply ANY type of seventh on the tonic chord? The notes in the tune are Bb, G and C (no 7ths) so based on that info alone any type of tonic chord could be used. Now what Sonny plays over that bar will determine the chord quality as far as I'm concerned. And he might not play it the same way on subsequent choruses. One interesting thing, however, about using this particular progression in the first two bars....... BbMAJ7 G7(b9) / C-7 F7(b9) ......is that it implies a nice guide tone* line (A,Ab,G,F#) that is the type of motive that Sonny likes to exploit. One could also use the guide tones C,B, Bb and A, and even combine those two sets (A-C, Ab-Cb, G-Bb and F#-A). You could then add a third guide tone set (E,Eb,D,C#) to create a chromatic sequence of triads to play over those two bars: A-C-E, Ab-Cb-Eb, G-Bb-D, F#-A-C#. Sonny plays the shit out of sequences like these! I hope that made sense. It's one of those things that makes sense aurally but is a little more complicated to explain. *guide tones- chord tones that create a melodic (often chromatic) outline of the changes when played in succession. I figure you know what I'm talking about already, but some people used a different term than "guide tones".

I think you're right Joe. That certainly changes the tone of that sentence. My bad if I misunderstood! EDIT: See what I meant about being misunderstood?

This is exactly what I was going to say. A definite Zen approach. Inner Game of Tennis is a great book for learning this kind of attitude, even if you're not a tennis player! For me, this attitude applies to the ups and downs of playing an instrument as well as life in general.

Bruce- To respond to several of your points- First, regarding the issue of people being "overly sensitive"- understand that it is often easy to be misunderstood when communicating in this manner (on an internet bb). Often remarks intended to be humorous or a little sarcastic can be misinterpreted. Fortunately the use of the "smilies" help clarify intent. As one of the "others" you were responding to regarding the Bb chord quality issue- I think that the first thing you must realize, and the point I was trying to communicate, is that there is a lot of room for interpretation regarding jazz harmony nomenclature. It's hard to classify some of these guidelines as "always" or "never". I do agree with you that "Bb" alone as a chord symbol is most likely to imply the use of a maj. 6th or 7th. Technically it indicates a major triad only, with no 6th or 7th at all, but to make it more appropriate to jazz harmony we tend to automatically add extensions like 7ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. BTW, Bb and Bb7 are both major tonalities- the term "major tonality" refers to the triad type (which in both cases is major) and not the seventh. That's just from my experience. Also, I would hate to have to resort to avoiding the seventh as a soloist- IMHO, it would be like having to talk with using the letter "s" or something like that. Sure, it's of such short duration that it's not a big deal, but I don't feel the solution is to avoid it altogether. And regarding your comment about "risking ridicule", that's exactly what many of the great innovators in jazz did!!!. My feeling is if you do something harmonically adventuresome in an appropriate melodic or rhythmic context (and do it with conviction) you can often go against the grain regarding the accepted "rules of engagement". I'm also curious- you said the "original" key for Rainy Day is G concert. I never realized that- what's your source for that? I agree with most of what you say. You seem, however, to be a little inflexible at times though when you make declamatory statements like "BUT THAT IS NOW WHAT Bb by itself means". We all learn to interpret these things through our own varied experience so there is bound to be some variation in interpretation. For my part, I don't consider all of what I know about jazz harmony to be "carved in stone" or anything. And finally I'm not at all bored by this! I'm always up for talking a little theory, especially since it's such a subjective issue.

Plus there are skid marks in front of the frog. Don't mess with me regarding trombone jokes, MF!