Eloe Omoe

Strozier appears also on Louis Hayes' "Variety Is the Spice" on Gryphon (a very good record which should be reissued, imho, w/Mabern, McBee, Portinho and Titos Sompa) and on "Stafford James Ensemble" on Red Records (w/Mabern, James and Hayes). The Red session has been scheduled for CD release for a long time (I have a pre-release copy), but Red's owner, Sergio Veschi, is such a peculiar character...

Found this on Sun Ra : "An article in the Roosevelt Torch by Joe Segal (December 11, 1953), describes the university's Jazz Club concert of December 8, in which guest artist Charlie Parker alternated sets with “some of the top local artists,” including John Jenkins on alto sax, Harold Ousley and “Johnny” Gilmore on tenor sax, Andrew Hill, piano, and Hal Russell, drums."

He's also on the Hines Prestige LP "Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues", recorded in 1969 but issued only in 1982. luca

Live in Bologna, 1974. I was there! My first jazz concert (I was 12 then). That's where it all started for me. I'll never forget that evening. luca

Right. Ever heard Criss behind Esther Phillips on her Atlantic Confessin' the Blues? luca

There are some nice records in their catalogue, I think. The George Cables is very good, for instance, and so is the Pablo Ziegler CD (w/Stefon Harris). To tell the truth, the Ziegler CD is more than good. The Tony Scott record is his last one, made here in Italy with the group Kneebody (who has an interesting CD on Dave Douglas' label). Another good one is the Eddie Henderson set. luca

Just received a couple of new releases on Kind of Blue. One is, I think, the first CD Bobby Hutcherson has recorded as a leader after his Verve date from 1999 ("Skyline", w/Kenny Garrett and Geri Allen). This is called "For Sentimental Reasons" and is a standard album (apart from Harold Land's "Ode to Angela"). Band is Hutch, Renee Rosnes, Dwayne Burno, Al Foster. The other CD is a Mark Soskin quintet session ("One Hopeful Day") w/ Chris Potter, Abercrombie, Patitucci and Bill Stewart. luca

Tom Harrell has just recorded two CDs here in Italy. The first is a trumpet-piano duo with Dado Moroni; the second is a sextet session with Moroni (piano), Andrea Dulbecco (marimba and vibraphone), Riccardo Fioravanti (bass) and two drummers (Stefano Bagnoli and Enzo Zirilli). This group is called Psychodrum. Both CDs will be issued in the next months by Abeat Records. luca

thanks! luca

Could anyone provide me with a good quality scan of the cover of Anita O'Day's autobiography, High Times, Hard Times? We at Musica Jazz magazine are working on a 20-page special on Anita's career, and we'd like to show our readers what the book cover looks like, since it has never been translated into Italian. Many thanks. luca

Prato, Italy, February 2004. Goodbye, Andrew.

Least interesting? I don't know. If you have an aversion to strings, then you may want to skip this one. Personally, I like it. Zoot's in a mellow mood, for sure, but he plays beautifully, as always. That's a record I have always enjoyed. Very good arrangements by Gary McFarland (who really could write for strings, in my opinion), and a wonderful, full-bodied British string section. Zoot plays great, as always. The closest thing I know to a "Lester Young with strings". luca

I might be wrong, but I seem to remember a sequence from the 1960 Robert Mulligan movie "The Rat Race" where Gerry appears on screen playing tenor (and Sam Butera is on baritone). luca

There's also a great 1974 Paris performance of the three trios by Istomin, Stern and Rose, on an EMI DVD: link luca

There is a very good version by Michel Portal w/the Melos Quartet on a cheap Harmonia Mundi CD. Portal has also recorded the two Sonatas for clarinet and piano with Georges Pledermacher on another budget Harmonia Mundi CD. luca

Who's on Philips? Beaux Arts Trio? A good version, indeed, but the greatest one, to me, is the Starker-Katchen-Suk on Decca (which is readily available in a budget twofer, I think). A masterful performance. luca

John Kessel, who's mostly a short story writer, and a very interesting one. luca

I met him more than once. Very nice guy. Maybe he was only having a bad day... luca

I've received an advance copy some weeks ago. Very enjoyable, strange as it might sound Excellent performance from everyone. I liked particularly the strings, and Anders Svanoe on alto and baritone is definitely a name to watch (never heard of him before). It's extremely long (79:12), but it flows quite nicely. I found it quite similar to the recent Evan Parker PSI recording, Crossing the River, which shares some musicians (Mattos, Wachsmann, Metcalfe, Rangecroft). Wonderful solo by Corey Wilkes on track #6 (a cross between Bill Dixon and Baikida Carroll). luca

There's also a version of Porgy and Bess recorded by Paolo Fresu with Gunther Schuller, who transcribed the original Gil Evans score and conducted the orchestra. luca

If there's Spain on that record, it can't be from 1969 (it was written in 1971 or 1972), and it can't be Cowell (who played with Getz only in 1969, I think). luca

Me too. I have the LP version, made in UK (it did not have a Rare Groove sticker, anyway). If I remember well, it came out together with Duke Pearson's "How Insensitive", a Candido Blue note LP (the one with the Richie Havens piece) and a couple of other BN titles. All made in UK. luca

I think the lineup is Frank Foster, tenor sax; Ted Dunbar, guitar; Mickey Tucker, piano; Earl May, bass; Billy Hart, drums. N'Hita Jazz Club, Belgium, February 24th,1979. luca

The Webster LP we issued then (in 1989) had been compiled by Raffaele Borretti, a well-known collector who also owned the FDC label. As far as I know, he had the three tracks from the Karlsruhe radio broadcast, but the other two were too long for inclusion on the Musica Jazz LP. luca

There's yet another disc with Ben Webster and Tete Montoliu playing side by side: it's a Musica Jazz LP called just "Ben Webster" (2MJP 1068). This LP includes three tracks from a gig in Karlsruhe which was broadcast on SWF Jazz Session program, probably from the night before the "Ben Webster meets Don Byas" was cut in Villingen, with that same line-up (Webster, Byas, Montoliu, Trunk, Heath). These three tracks are a fifteen-minutes "Perdido", "Stardust" (omit Don Byas) and "Darn that dream" (omit Ben Webster). Unfortunately, our Musica Jazz LP included only one track from the Karlsruhe gig, the quartet version of "Stardust". The other unissued track from that LP was"Cotton Tail" (London, February 28, 1965, w/ Stan Tracey, Rick Laird and Jackie Dougan). If your're interested, EKE, I have a spare copy in our archives. Luca