Lazaro Vega

Yes yes, sorry I confused obscure trumpeters. But, 12 to 15 hours a day on technical exersizes. Shabang!

Bolton shows up in a Gene Ammons big band under Jerome Richardson, too, on Late Hour Special. He's not soloing (that falls to Clark Terry) but his lead playing is evident. The mystery of his musicianship, though, especially as regards the trumpet, is solved when he talks about his time in Soledad, which as around 1956 or so? "The average guy, even a black guy, who went there and was like they wanted him to be, would do maybe 18 months. I had to do 51 months. I made it, but it was a drag being in the joint that long. So I started doing everything I could trying to get loaded, and there was something there damn near all the time to get loaded on. I started hustling inside Soledad.� The saving grace of the period was the penitentiary�s music program. �I got a job that didn�t restrict me and I was able to practice every day. I would play tunes, but my main objective was to get down with the mechanics of the instrument. That meant scales and exercises. I would play them sometimes for 12 to 14 hours a day.�" And, viola: a bitch. I recall reading Nat Hentoff asking Dizzy where he came up with his technique, to which Dizzy said, "It's all in Arban's." Creativity not so much, but the trumpet makes demands that can only be met with this type of dedication to the technical. Ted should have known, though, that Bolton needed a shedding period before they could record again. It's not like a guitar or piano or something where you can just sit down and get a pretty good sound. From 12 to 14 hours a day to homeless on a borrowed horn, what could you expect?

Nice Lester, and some swinging Mulligan now....

Poignant reflections, Aloc. What, are you the Nelson Algren of Mansfield?

Brown was featured on Morning Edition today: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/22/132237584/music-we-missed-this-year-maurice-brown

Sure. Here's a facebook link to the music: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rick-Holland-Evan-Dobbins-Little-Big-Band/124678107556762?v=app_178091127385 And here are the dates from today of commercial availability: 2 weeks-- Itunes 1 week--CdBaby.com 2 days--digstation.com

If you scroll down the page you'll see my liner notes for this forthcoming CD: http://www.rickhollandproductions.com/content/little-big-band

Hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. Tonight on Jazz From Blue Lake the music of organist Jimmy Smith, especially his Blue Note recordings from 1956 to 1963; holiday music by a variety of musicians; and some of the high quality jazz recordings issued in 2010. 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. eastern tonight -- WBLV FM 90.3 along the Lake Michigan shoreline / WBLU FM 88.9 in Grand Rapids, MI; and streaming live from Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp via www.bluelake.org/radio

Tuesday, December 21 · 7:00pm - 10:30pm Location Red Kiva (across the street from Harpo Studio/street parking available) Maurice "Mobetta" Brown, Corey Wilkes They're back! Chi-town stand up! Double Trouble will be performing LIVE this Tuesday Dec 21 at Red Kiva. The last time Corey and Maurice performed a Double Trouble club show was in 2007. It was rated the concert of the year two times in a row by Jazzchicago.net. They also performed at the 2009 Hyde Park Jazz Fest. This will be a special holiday show with lots of special guest. 2 Shows 7:00 & 9:00pm Musicians: Maurice Brown -Trumpet & Vocals Corey Wilkes -Trumpet Junius Paul - Bass Greg Spero - Keys Makaya McCraven - Drums

Those photos look like the place where I went to Grad School....

I think that's Blue Mitchell soloing on the Ray Charles Big Band version of The Sidewinder (Bobby Bryant is the other trumpeter on the recording session)......

Michigan State vs. Alabama. Looking forward to it.

Interpretations Presents: Muhal Richard Abrams 80th Birthday Celebration Thursday, December 2, 2010 8PM at Roulette 20 Greene Street (between Canal and Grand) Two ensembles performing contrasting musics from AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams. World-renowned pianist and composer Muhal Richard Abrams has been in the forefront of the contemporary music scene for half a century. A co-founder of The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Abrams celebrates his 80th birthday this year. This concert will feature Abrams splitting the evening into two ensembles operating in two separate sonic spaces: The first realized in a trio with the percussion of Adam Rudolph and electronics of Tom Hamilton and Abrams on synthesizer, and the other half with Abrams in a quartet with vocalist Jay Clayton, bass clarinetist Marty Ehrlich, and bassist Brad Jones. For more information: www.aacm-newyork.org/Muhal_Richard_Abrams.html www.interpretations.info For more information on Roulette: 20 Greene Street (between Canal and Grand) General admission: $15 ($10 students, seniors, Harvestworks & DTW members) Free for Roulette and Location One members For reservations, call 212-219-8242 or visit www.roulette.org

For what it is worth, last year's Monk biography painted a brief but important picture of the Brooklyn musicians who Monk encountered, including Weston.

Very good, though it was the 1984 concert I attended.

Yes, Fats Navarro is a knock out for a top ten -- great lead trumpeter and beautiful improvisor. Don Cherry's deep. After him came another diverse, broad ranged trumpeter, Lester Bowie. Lester was uncanny in his ability to play low, and his sound was completely personal. For what it's worth, though he wasn't as spectacular, which is almost a pre-requisite for trumpeters in jazz, Buck Clayton was a solid melodic trumpeter. He probably won't rate in a list of movers, shakers and bakers but he had a beautiful sound. Joe Oliver, Bubber Miley or Cootie Williams deserve a spot in the top on that instrument for the variety of colors they brought to the music through it.

Light Henry Huff?

The 1994 (?) Chicago Jazz Festival performance was broadcast live by WBEZ, I believe.

Anyone checking this out? On "The Shrine" they establishes the kind of mesmerizing groove that could never end. Good to hear another version of "African Sunrise" which the Jazz Institute of Chicago commissioned from Weston for the Chicago Jazz Festival. Originally played by a quintet with Weston, Richard Davis (?), Art Blakey, Johnny Griffin, Dizzy Gillespie and the Machito Orchestra, this version makes allusion to several of Dizzy's themes before stretching out. The Storyteller is a live hit released simultaneously with an autobiography -- a must read. http://www.motema.com/artist/randy-weston

For what's it's worth, I didn't want to see that trio in a house party with a bunch of people I knew wouldn't like it (and didn't). They would have all been looking at me like it was my fault or something. So, only the records. Would pony up for a concert ticket should the day come.

I avoided the band live and am basing my reaction from the records. Having listened to Air Above Mountains before checking into Galper's trio records and was missing that breadth of dynamic range and ebb and flow of tension and release. Hal's music seemed to me to be on a constant boil.

Yes, that one! I heard it live and have the recording in my stash!

pm sent on the Mr. Smith

That's a beautiful looking bass clarinet -- would love to hear this band!