brownie

Everything back to normal here.

Steeplechase just released a new Ted Brown session. His first album as a leader in 15 years. Ted Brown appeared on a Lee Konitz 1999 Steeplechase session 'Dig It' which went largely unnoticed. He also showed up on a couple of other Konitz albums where the alto/tenor voices produced inspired improvisations. The new album is 'Preservation' (Steeplechase SCCD31539) and is a beautiful quartet date (Harold Danko on piano, Dennis Irwin on bass and Jeff Hirshfield on drums). Ted Brown who turned 75 is a unique voice whose record dates are far and few. He is in top form in the new session which is all popular songs except for the title tune 'Preservation' where he shows what he learned from Lester Young and Lennie Tristano. I listened to that date last night and loved it. This CD will keep playing.

Rooster, would not want to disappoint you but I think that an Andrew Hill book/biography would be a very risky business enterprise. As much as I would like to find one, I doubt that there are enough people around waiting to read such a book to make it happen. Trust you know this site: http://www.andrewhilljazz.com/ If not, happy reading.

She was supposed to be waiting for marriage to lose her virginity. Now comes this:

Very aware of that. I was speaking about his visibility beyond the jazz circles.

Don't want to turn this into a political thread, but wasn't Joe Henderson's visibility on the US jazz scene boosted when he was invited at Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration in Washington? Photos of Clinton and Henderson getting into a tenor duel were widely circulated at the time. This surely helped his career and made his name known beyond the jazz circles. Doubt that any jazz was played at W. Bush's inaugural.

I'm old enough to remember these two boxes. But not wealthy enough to have bought them.

The Larry Young Mosaic set was a 7,500 copies job. It sold at $90 (6 CDs or 9 LPs same price for the two formats). I passed on this one when it came out since I had the original LPs.

'State of the Tenor', volume 1 and 2, recorded at the Village Vanguard are Blue Note records. Some of the best post-Lion/Wolff BN as a matter of fact. Indispensable is the right word for these

This may turn out to be interesting:

Joe Henderson's Contemporary album 'Relaxin' at Camarillo' has not been mentioned yet. It's one of his best. Chick Corea and Tony Williams are among the musicians playing on that one. Henderson's version of 'My One and Only Love' is a gem.

There should be more. Two I can think of were: - Roy Brooks 'The Free Slave', a 1970 date with Woody Shaw and George Coleman that came out on a Muse LP, - Coleman Hawkins 'Supreme', a 1966 date with Barry Harris, Gene Taylor and Roy Brooks that was issued by Enja. The Baltimore Left Bank Jazz Society was reminisced on this thread: http://www.citypaper.com/2000-10-04/feature.html The story mentions that some 350 tapes were made from 1965 to 1980!

A Les Paul interview in the magazine section of Sunday's New York Times.

While you're enjoying the TCM celebration of 1939 (yes, a great Hollywood year), in France the cable film channels are currently having a festival of Anthony Mann films. They started last night with 'The Glenn Miller Story'. Hadn't seen that one since its initial release back in the '50s. I remembered this as a corny film not worth of Mann's great films noirs and westerns. Well, I must say I enjoyed this second viewing. James Stewart who obviously liked working with Mann had a very creditable performance as Glenn Miller. And it was a joy to view the 1953 Louis Armstrong All Stars play 'Basin Street Blues' in a cabaret scene. The All Stars (Trummy Young, Barney Bigard, Marty Napoleon, Arvell Shaw, Cozy Cole) are being joined by musicians like Gene Krupa (who duels with Cole) and Babe Russin. Armstrong was in top form.

32 Jazz mostly reissued material from Muse. That's fine and it made some good albums available again. But I had already invested in the original LPs that I found interesting when they came out. Wish that 32 Jazz had released more unissued recordings like the Zoot Sims 'Live in Philly' or the Roland Kirk 'Dog Years in the 4th Ring' set. Those were superb.

Thanks for the tip. I see the discography still lists the alto saxophonist who plays on the Tony Fruscella apartment session that came out on Royal Jazz as Charlie Parker. No way this was Bird. I am satisfied with the current Davey Schildkraut identification,

Norman O'Connor's obituary:

Pepper Adams/Zoot Sims Encounter Larry Young Testifyin' Lester Young in Paris Duke Ellington DETreasurySeries volume 7

Another recommendation for the Getz/Dailey 'Poetry' session. Dailey is an underrated pianist. Getz was very particular about his pianists. He and Dailey inspired each other. This was one of the best albums from the Elektra catalogue.

There are quite a number of excellent Erroll Garner albums. More interesting than the Savoy sides (not that they are bad) are the albums he recorded for Columbia and Mercury/EmArcy. In the early days of CDs, Columbia had started to reissue some of his records but this seems to have been abandoned. Wish Mosaic would release an Erroll Garner/Columbia box! Mercury/EmArcy are doing a better job. Recommended Garner albums from them are 'Afternoon of an Elf', 'Solitaire' and 'Plays Misty'. They have also released unissued albums which are excellent. The three first volumes ('Easy to Love', 'Dancing on the Ceiling' and 'Too Marvellous for Words' are all worth investigating. TelArc has also reissued Garner albums from a later era. The man was swinging all the way through the sides. Check 'Camps Concert', 'One World Concert' or 'That's my Kick'. These TelArc CDs reunit two Garner LPs each. And don't forget to listen to Erroll Garner when he was playing alongside Charlie Parker on 'Cool Blues' and 'Dark Shadows' and Wardell Gray on 'Blue Lou'.

Another must-get set (if it's still available) is the Complete Lester Young on Keystone CD. The two Keystone sessions (1943-1944) are among Lester Young's best recorded work.

Very interesting thread. Makes me want to dig out the Faulkner books. I have not read them in years. Speaking of southern writers, surprised that Carson McCullers has not been mentioned yet. Another great writer from down there.

Which Masters of Jazz compilation are you referring to? The Duke Ellington Masters of Jazz series came to a dead halt at volume 12 (1932). Was hoping that MofJ would survive until they would deal with the 1940 Duke to check what they would be able to remaster since they worked from original 78s mostly. But MofJ is a thing of the past, alas...

I have a soft spot for the Elvin Jones album 'Very Rare' where his quartet includes Art Pepper. Elvin and Pepper went together just like Coltrane and Elvin. More proof of the special interaction was evidenced in the Art Pepper at the Village Vanguard box.

This is the Herbie Mann obituary in Thursday's The New York Times. As far as I am concerned, Mann did his best strictly jazz contributions early in his career. His albums with the New York Jazz Quartet (with Mat Mathews, Joe Puma and Whitey Mitchell) should be reissued. His two Riverside albums and the duets with Bobby Jaspar for Prestige are really worth a hearing. And there are many more from this era. He obviously gained financial success when he started recording for Atlantic but those albums were less satisfying for their jazz content. Even the Mann-Bill Evans album never reached the Nirvana its title implied. But he gave playing opportunities to quite a number of very worthy players. Jazz considerations apart, he seemed to have led an interesting and generous life.