Free For All

Me three!

Thanks for that info, Lazaro. I need to get that one- I do have some of the other Woofy recordings w/Carl. As I said before, his general disdain of the music business resulted in a dearth of recordings, so it's great that he managed to get some things out over the last 10 years or so. His memorial service is today. I regret that I couldn't attend, but I'm with him in spirit. Thanks again, Carl, for sharing your great gift. You will be fondly remembered by many, and your legacy will live on.

Hi John- hope you're enjoying your b-day. All the best! Carl's memorial service is today- throw a good thought his way.

In addition to the aforementioned Miles and Eldridge sets, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Woody Herman boxes- the Complete Phillips and the Complete Columbia First and Second Herds Mosaic (2004). Also the Feb./March RVGs (some good titles there-Newk's Time, Cape Verdean Blues, Byrd at the Half Note et al)and the Brookmeyer Select.

Seize the bidet!

BTW, for anyone who might be interested, Carl's memorial service will be on Tuesday, October 14th at 3 pm at Palm Mortuary, 7400 West Cheyenne, Las Vegas. You might have heard it was going to be on Sunday, but that was incorrect. I wish I could attend, I'm still trying to work it out. My heart goes out to Carl's family and friends.

Chubby Jackson, Carl Fontana and Don Lanphere. Looks like Woody's getting some company. I hope this ends the "bad news in threes" for now.

How about you, Barak? You seem to be a trombone fan. Do you have some favorite Carl recordings? Soul Stream? I'd like to keep this thread alive for a while.

Paging Chuck Nessa! You recently posted that you were in possession of some Carl and Frank recordings. Elaborate, please. I have some tapes that have been floating around of these two doing some gigs together. I wish they'd have done something that was released. They really played off each other well. Man, I think about my three favorite trombonists- JJ, Carl and Frank and realize they all had a sad demise. Not that that's unique in the history of jazz, just sad.

I'd like to do just that. Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but are these available? I noticed at CDUniverse they've been on backorder for a loooooooong time. I need to get this set. Give me yours please.

Those are some great recommendations, John. The Bobby Knight recording is one of my personal favorites, but I'd have to recommend it only to Frank/Carl fanatics because you have to wade through some fairly cheesy trombone ensemble charts to get to the good stuff, but the good stuff is certainly plentiful. The CD release of this session has two excellent extra quartet cuts- one featuring Frank on Lover Man and one featuring Carl on Stardust. My first exposure to Carl was on the Supersax "Salt Peanuts" album. Carl blew on Yardbird, Confirmation and Salt Peanuts. When I heard those solos, I knew this was it- THIS was the way trombone should be played. I figured at that point I could either quit or I could start working. I'm glad I chose the latter. There's an old Impulse Louie Bellson side from 1963 called "Thunderbird" with Carl playing some nice solos. Also a Pacific Bill Perkins Octet side from 1956. Kenton's Cuban Fire Suite (plus a classic Carl solo on Intermission Riff). Some assorted Woody Herman dates. Another classic- the Concord Hanna-Fontana Band. For some reason Carl never liked this side, but for me any many others he sounded magnificent. This Is The End Of A Beautiful Friendship is a lesson in swing and solo development. I got to know Carl through being on the Herman band. For Woody's 5oth Anniversary there was a concert at the Hollywood Bowl- the current Herd played alongside an alumni Herd- Fontana, Jake Hanna, the Candoli brothers et al. Stan Getz was there. Afterward there was a a big party at Woody's house-the one he eventually lost to the IRS. John Fedchock and I hung with Carl all night, and he drank us under the table. Through fate and manipulation I got to hang with Carl many times after that, and he played on my CD for next to nothing (I tried to pay him more, but he refused). I never thought I'd actually get to play with someone I held in such high esteem as Carl. He kicked my ass, BTW. He had a general mistrust of the music business, and the consequence is that his too-small discography is littered over many labels. He wasn't particularly a hustler, but if you could get him to a gig, he'd always steal the show. I attended a clinic of his once- someone asked about his warm-up routine. He said "Oh, this is what I usually do to warm up" and launched into a doodle-tongue frenzy that left all the kids slack-jawed. Carl's warm-up. Right. Plus he always chewed gum WHILE PLAYING. Any horn player knows how odd this seems. I kept waiting for a giant bubble to come out his bell. OK, any of you guys with Carl stories, please speak up.

I just heard about this myself. Carl was my friend and my favorite trombonist. He was an under-appreciated master of the instrument and a hell of a nice guy. Fortunately there are recordings to document his greatness, not a lot, but some great ones. He made it sound easy, which of course it isn't, and had a gift for melody. Plus he swung his ass off. He has been battling Alzheimer's, and had gone downhill pretty quick, just over the last several years. A friend and I visited him out in Vegas a year and 1/2 back, and while he did remember us at that point, he obviously was deteriorating. I knew this was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier. At some point let's talk about recordings of Carl to check out. Thank you, Carl, for your musical genius, your great spirit and most of all thanks for inspiring me to play. God Bless.

Trane/Larry Young/Elvin Jones. Sigh.............if only...............

Wow! Must have been some honeymoon!

Congratulations, David. You clean up pretty good! And the car is KILLIN'! How about a caption contest for the photo of you and your wife? "Honey, now that we're married, do you really need ALL those jazz CDs?"

I really enjoy this band. The "little big band" instrumentation makes it light on its feet, and I find little to fault with soloists like Clark Terry, Bob Brookmeyer, Gene Quill, Willie Dennis and Mulligan. Shrdlu, much as I share your love of Freddie, Wayne and Lee, I'm not sure they would have been a good fit for this band, which seems to have a more understated vibe to the solos in general. Some of the lesser-known players are not as refined, I'll agree to that, but to me the star of these recordings is the arranging/composing. I think there are some really forward-looking charts, and if you get the Mosaic, Shrdlu, you'll get to hear (among others)All About Rosie, a very interesting George Russell chart. Regarding Bill Crow, he's an example of someone who was at the right place at the right time. He was in New York at a great time- among his gigs he did a lot of playing with Marion McPartland's trio, most famously her Hickory House trio. He wasn't known as a soloist, but he just laid down a good time feel. He is well known for having written a book worth checking out called "Jazz Anecdotes". A quick but entertaining read.

Wow, that's a drag. I've ordered probably a dozen times from them and have never had any problem. Of course, I've never PREordered anything from them, so maybe I was lucky. I just bought a 920 CD holder from their furniture section that came through OK and looks nice. Go figure. Sometimes they're cheaper than CDUniverse, sometimes not.

That like jazz? About 12.

You are such a thug.

Rooster, your self-discipline is admirable. If it was me, I would've had that sucker playing before the mailman was off the property. Every man for himself, you know. So go ahead and listen with my blessings. Knowing your anticipation of this release, I'd advise you to just make sure you have a towel handy. BTW, our new house has an awesome "tune room" for me! It's a finished basement that's FAR from where my wife will be sleeping, so I can continue to enjoy my nocturnal habits. My favorite late-night activity is reading the board while listening to sides. The marriage is saved!

Damn. Cubs lost.

One of my all-time favorite Lee ballad performances is his version of "Since I Fell For You" from Candy. Soulful and greazy. B)

Looks like Wrigleyville is THE hang! I used to live two blocks from Wrigley field. I could walk outside and hear Harry over the PA singing at the 7th inning stretch. Felt like I was really in Chicago. Went to many parties on top of the buildings across the street. A couple times saw Bill Murray hanging at Murphy's (also Jim Belushi). I have vivid memories of my first Cubs game. It was such an incredible rush, walking inside the park for the first time. The lights got put up just after I moved there. It would be so great to see Wrigley as part of the World Series. Of course, after the games the wasted fans often horked in my yard. Very nice. Good Mexican restaurant on Clark Street- actually I think that's where these guys ate before they came by. Man, I miss Chicago.

Damn you and your big city get-the-CDs-out-on-the-release-date record stores!

Well, Rooster, even if we didn't achieve reissue nirvana today, we had a nice hang. All will be well soon, for sure. We were going to have a first-listen-hang, something I hadn't done since college days. Of course this would have been w/o the drugs.