Dan Gould

I say without shame or embarrassment that when I got in the car I put in a comp I had put together and listened to "We're Gonna Make It" (from a concert in the 90s) and started bawling. And next on the comp. was Maria Muldauer's "He Don't Have the Blues Anymore" and I started bawling again. Words can't express how I feel about B.B. King, the man or the music.

Did you tell the Times that the story was crap? Because there is a quote in that article of you praising Latifah's musical performance. Pretty lame of the Times, yet par for the course, if you gave them an earful but they only mention your approval of the music performance.

"I see one more flash bulb go off, I am NOT blowing out these candles and I'm going to walk out of here."

Anyone who gets the chance should see Kevin on stage. Marvelous singer and entertainer.

Well if he's packing away all the hot dogs, then of course he's playing baseball.

One other thought - if Babe Ruth played today there isn't a chance in hell he swings a 48oz bat. He's forced to learn what Barry did, that what is lost in mass is made up in bat speed, and F=M X A and the Babe still hits 'em out at a prodigious rate. What he probably doesn't do though (and this is the true big difference between eras) is hit as many late-inning homers since he faces deadly lefty-specialists on a nightly basis. I've often wondered how many of Ruth's homers came from the 7th inning on, when in today's game he'd likely face a tough lefty reliever, especially if it was an RBI situation.

Well, I respectfully disagree. I said what I did because the sporting media is just full of A-Rod news. That's all they seem to talk or write about every time the guy picks up a bat. Just pointing out the inequities is all. As to Babe Ruth, he never saw the best pitchers in that time period because they were all in the Negro Leagues. Satchel Page, as an example, would have had him for lunch. No Latino players ever pitched to him, either. In those days, the only truly good players played for a handful of teams. Most were on the Yankees. With his alcoholism and obesity, he wouldn't hold a candle to modern day players of equal or greater talent. Just my opinion of the matter is all. And the media was full of Barry news when he was over-taking Ruth, and when he was over-taking Aaron too. Maybe your problem is that he is leaving another famous Giant in the dust but there just isn't enough mention of his use of PEDs? And as to Ruth what you are really saying is that every single legendary player of the era - who hardly only played for the Yankees, BTW - are in fact all frauds because they didn't face black pitchers. Utterly ludicrous and appallingly ignorant.

It's kind of funny that he claimed to never have a set list, because I think every live show I've ever heard of the Gene Harris Quartet included "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Summertime," or both.

1. Ruth did face wicked forkballs and legal spitballs. To say he would ride the pines today is outrageously ignorant. 2. Barry's accomplishments are just fine because it wasn't 'against the rules', Tim? You really want to go there? Performance Enhancing Drugs: A-Rod used them, Barry used them. A pox on all of them. 3. A-Rod will never sniff the Hall of Fame. Ever. And why you would think there is even a question is completely beyond me.

I'm glad you enjoyed the music and I wish I had posted what I thought about - a suggestion that anyone who hasn't yet posted guesses can still do so even after the reveal is up.

Tony, not Elvin. D'OH! IIRC, Mays composed all but two tracks but I'd say this one stands out as fairly unique.

When the news comes this is going to depress the living hell out of me.

And here's Disc 2: Track 001 CORY WEEDS, “A BAPTIST BEAT” (MOBLEY) UP A STEP, The Music of Hank Mobley (Cellar Live) Weeds, tenor saxophone Mike Ledonne, organ Oliver Gannon, guitar Jesse Cahil, drums As Thom said, about damn time someone did a tribute to Hank Mobley the composer, so I hope a few people will grab this fine recording. Track 002 GENE LUDWIG, “MOANIN” (TIMMONS) THE HOT ORGAN (TIME) Ludwig, organ Randy Gilespie, drums Jerry Byrd, guitar MG got this, and it was designed that way. Track 003 LUCKY PETERSON, 'WELL YOU NEEDN'T” (MONK) ORGAN SOUL SESSIONS (Universal) Lucky Peterson, C-3 organ Cindy Blackman, drums Rodney Jones, guitar Danny Sadownick, congas BFT Goomba HP got this, and it was most definitely not designed that way. He even knew the individual CD it was on, I have it as part of a three disc set. An interesting set, by the way, with Houston Person guesting on a number of tracks, and there were quite a few other jazz tunes to consider but I liked this one best. Track 004 Ian Hendrickson-Smith, “Jacob's New Crib” (Hendrickson-Smith) Blues in the Basement (Cellar Live) Hendrickson-Smith, composer, tenor sax Dave Guy, trumpet Rick Germanson, piano Neal Miner, bass Brian Floody, drums For those who dug this, there's much more on the rest of the CD so ... and if you don't mind downloads, it's available cheaply from Amazon, or was when I got it last December. Track 005 BILL MAYS, “GOODBYE CALIFORNIA” (MAYS) THA'S DELIGHTS (TREND) Mays, piano Tom Harrell, trumpet Ralph Moore, saxophone Andy Simpkins, bass Shelly Manne, drums I tracked this one as an explicit 'stop' against the funk/soul/hardbop run. And Jim R. questioned if I was still in charge of my own BFT. And Jim S. thought Elvin was on drums. And no one mentioned Tom Harrell, who I thought was a fairly recognizable voice. Track 006 Paul Humphrey Sextet, “Roundabout” Paul Humphrey Sextet (Trend) Humphrey, drums Oscar Brashear, trumpet, Herman Riley sax John Williams, bass Lew Mathews, piano, composer I programmed this track to get some recognition for Oscar Brashear, who I feel is criminally under-recognized. Every time I hear him I enjoy him a lot. Track 007 Gene Harris, Interview – Japan 1996 (youtube) Words of wisdom, I like the way he calls himself a blues player with chops and a fine way to introduce the Gene/Not Gene section, which most people disregarded anyway. Edit to add: Track 5, Gene's long-running band-mate in the Sounds on bass. Track 6, Gene's last drummer, Paul Humphrey. Track 7, Gene. How about a hand for my meta-programming? Track 008 ROBERT TURNER, “Summertime” Robert Turner, Blues for Gene Turner, piano So, this performance of a tune associated with Gene Harris is in fact by the same guy doing the solo piano improv on disc 1. :wacko: Let me back up a number of years. Five years ago I stumbled across a youtube video called "Blues for Gene" by Robert Turner. It featured a very Gene Harris-like piano and said it was the title track from his new album. And I thought, woh, if I can't have any more new Gene Harris, this will do nicely because this cat has the style down. Problem was, he'd only tracked a few tunes at that point and didn't have the money to finish the album. It took him almost five full years to do it and ultimately only put the recording out as a download but it does show the full breath of his talent. I'm a fan, obviously, and I hope some of you will go to CD Baby (where you can get it as FLAC files) or I-Tunes and support this guy. There aren't any other solo improv tracks but there are a couple more tunes that show his non-Gene stylings, as well as some excellent tracks in a Gene-inspired way. By the way, I do think you can distinguish Gene from Robert by the power of his left hand. Gene's, that is. Track 009 GENE HARRIS TRIO, “Ballin' The Jack – I Love You” Stereo Gems 45 123A-B Gene Harris, piano This is another one of those obscure 45s, is it 'the' Gene or isn't it. I posted a long clip when I found this copy and no one said a thing. Oh well. To me it's more like a young Gene Harris than any track off of the Jubilee LPs. Track 010 Ray Bryant, “Smack Dab In The Middle” Double RB – Ray Bryant Meets Ray Brown +1 (Verve Japan) Bryant, piano Brown, bass Lewis Nash, drums I thought this was a perfect faux-Gene track because of the presence of Ray Brown, whose bass to me is absolutely unmistakeable and yet no one mentioned him. I figured someone would say something like, 'that's Ray, so it's probably Gene, but on what album?" Nope. Track 011 20th Concord Festival All-Stars, “Just a Closer Walk With Thee” (Concord) Gene Harris, piano Red Holloway, tenor sax Harry “Sweets” Edison, trumpet Ray Brown, bass Jeff Hamilton, drums Thanks again to everyone. Maybe for my next go-round I'll remember not to try to guess or predict what reaction tracks should get.

Thanks to everybody for participating. Track 001 MICKEY TUCKER, “DUSSELDORF DANCE” Sojourn (Xanadu) Tucker, piano, composer Bill Hardman, trumpet Junior Cook, tenor sax Ronnie Cuber, baritone sax Cecil McBee, bass Eddie Gladden, drums Track 002 ED BICKERT , “WALK IT OFF” Ed Bickert 5 (Concord) Bickert, guitar Steve Wallace, bass Jake Hanna, drums This was the single most entertaining comment ever posted on any of my BFTs. Thanks Jim, haven't laughed that hard in a long time! Track 003 ROBERT TURNER, 'IMROV FOR MULGREW' Blues for Gene (CDBaby) Turner, piano, composer Robert appears elsewhere on the BFT and I'll have more to say there but let me just note that this performance can be seen on youtube https://youtu.be/ZnpseQp6-5M As the scroll at the start describes, this tune was spontaneously created in the studio after hearing that Mulgrew Miller's condition was terminal. Track 004 ARNETT COBB, “JUMPIN AT THE WOODSIDE” Funky Butt (Progressive) Cobb, tenor, composer Derek Smith, piano Ray Drummond, bass Ronnie Bedford, drums Track 005 Harold Ashby, “Pleadin'” Presenting Harold Ashby (Progressive) Ashby, tenor sax, composer Don Friedman, piano Ronnie Bedford, drums George Mraz, bass The Ashby LP and two Arnett Cobb Progressive LPs have been reissued and are available here, with extra tracks: Ashby: http://www.jazzology.com/item_detail.php?id=PCD-7040 Cobb:http://www.jazzology.com/search.php?search=cobb&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 The following two tracks were chosen mostly as a way to lead in to tracks 8 & 9, but I'm glad they were so well received. Track 006 Plas Johnson, Dungaree Hop Bop Me Daddy (Tampa) Johnson, tenor sax Ray Johnson, piano Duke Harris, bass Sharky Hall, drums Track 007 Phil Upchurch, “You Can't Sit Down (Part 1)” Upchurch, guitar, composer David “Bubba” Brooks, tenor sax Track 008 Redd Foxx, “Real Pretty Mama” (Dootone) Stompin', Volume 34 Track 009 Little George Benson, “It Shoulda Been Me” (RCE Groove) Benson, vocals Stompin' Volume 25 We didn't need Jeff to get the obscurities, we had Page for that. Actually a few other people got them before Page. Anyway wasn't it fascinating to hear the funnyman sing, and a ten year old future star? According to the liners the record producers wanted a teeny-bopper hit and commissioned new lyrics with kid topics instead of having a ten year sing Brother Ray's original lyrics. If you don't know them, those Stompin volumes, of which there were 34 out as CDs, are pretty cool if you can find them, if you think as I do that there is quality music to be found among the obscure non-charting hits. Track 010 THE DIAMOND 5, “Sister Sadie” Montmartre Blues, Unreleased Hardbop Tracks 1960-63 (Sonorama Records) Cees Slinger, piano Cees Smal, trumpet Harry Verbeke, tenor sax Jacques Schols, bass John Engels, drums I really wanted to track this as the start of disc 2 but space forced it here where it ended up as a real orphan, separated from the rest of the hardbop tracks that followed. If you listened to Disc 2 right away it was OK but I imagine most took a break with the end of disc 1 and that really ruined the flow. Taking a break after the kiddie R&B and resuming with a set of hardbop would have been much better. Oh well. Anyway - an interesting track from a group from the Dutch jazz scene. I was interested to see if there would be comments about not quite 'getting' the vernacular but a lot of people thought it was Horace so I guess they did pretty good.

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10 is Smack Dab in the Middle. Here are lyrics I found for a Ray Charles rendition (he wasn't the first to record it): Thanks for getting your thoughts in before the "deadline" Page. Glad you liked disc 2 just as much!

No. Also no to your Land - Mapenzi question for the next track.

I wanted to say I am always interested in musician's takes on younger players recreating a vibe from an older time. This track has been quite popular with those who have participated. And, aside from the Eddie Harris thing, Thom seemed to like it a good deal. But Jim picked it apart every which way. Not often I program a track that sends a man back to drinking. Or nearly does.

It's less Gene Harris than most people are guessing. But no credit if you don't identify the tracks!

Maybe the can still do that.

I'd hope we're all better than we were at age 10.

Saul Good as they say ... I may add a few comments later when I'm home and can consult my cheat-sheet. Some of your thoughts get me confused on just which track you're referencing.

Larry Kart, he ain't. And maybe Larry couldn't do justice to the gumbo they serve but he probably wouldn't try either. If you're curious about the food part of the review: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/dining/restaurant-review-mintons-in-harlem.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region