Spontooneous

It did my Kansas City heart some good to hear Gene name-check Jay McShann. There was a DJ in town who used to play that "Closer Walk With Thee" once a month or so.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond fully. My work schedule has been upended this month and every day is a new set of readjustments. So glad to finally hear a "Little George Benson" side! The kid really had it, taste and swing, from the beginning. I was afraid this side was by somebody who came to a tragic end, like Frankie Lymon. I've interviewed George Benson twice, and both times I tried to get him to talk about the "Little George" session. He really, really doesn't want to talk about it.

Don't be glum. At least two players on this BFT, Hot Ptah and me, were present at Ashby's last performance.

5 is the best appropriation of Ben I've ever heard, and had me fooled for a minute until a bebop run sneaked in there. Is that Harold Ashby? (Didn't mean to fixate on 5. More later.)

Fell for the personality test scam for a minute, when I was about 16. I got out of there before I bought the book. Really, the only reason they got me was because they were next door to a record store.

DL, please and thanks.

Late to the game, but at least this month for a change I had time to play! 1 The tune's seesaw chordal motion doesn't do much for me, but the guitar solo is a winner. I like the way this player voices everything. Eager to learn the identity. 2 It's neo-something, maybe a Nagel-Heyer record, 1990s or later. Is Randy Sandke involved? The highlight here is the trumpet solo, something like a cross between Ruby Braff and Fats Navarro. Clarinet is almost as good. Nice arrangement too. 3 St. Thomas of course. Some kind of studio pairing where the horns are supposed to sound like a jam session but not play more than a couple of choruses. In the first tenor solo, the tone is wan but the time and ideas are lovely. Second solo lets the Hawkins influence show a little. Nobody gets to play long enough. 4 I love the piano intro so much. On first listen, I thought it was the head and was actually disappointed when the horns came in with Sonnymoon for Two. I want to transcribe that intro and use it as a head. First tenor: Somebody letting the Rollins influence show, but also pushing a little too hard to get it all in the alotted space. Second tenor: I hear some ideas borrowed from Clifford Jordan. It's not him, but someone with good taste in sources. Third tenor: Love the rexlaxed delivery. Piano: Too short. Nobody let the vibist play. 5 Should I recognize the tune itself? I don't. Tenor learned some worldview from Getz and maybe glosses over some things that should be dug into more deeply, but that first bridge is really nice. I wish the snare drum was mixed lower and maybe tuned lower too. 6 More multiple-choice tenors on a blues in 5/4. Where did those timpani come from? I'm almost worn out on guessing tenors. Doesn't George Coleman have a blues head in 5/4, and is he involved, maybe the first solo? Is that James Williams on piano? 7 I like everything about this one. Everybody brings a little spark to it. This one's gonna cost me some money. 8 A bopped version of Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, a tune that works really well this way. I suspect a West Coast connection and the presence of Pete Christlieb. 9 An interesting waltz on altered blues changes. But the tenor solo doesn't do much for me. 10 Is this neo-soulful tenor or the real thing? Does a good job of sounding like the real thing. 11 OK, but ultimately it glides right past me. Some nice moments in the piano solo. The curveball coda is a good idea. This is fun, Tom! Thank you.

A real simple tag editor that won't take up a lot of space on your PC's HD: http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

DL, please please.

Trombonist looks more Jimmy Cleveland-ish than Rehak-ish, no? Big admirer of Ferdinand Slonimsky here.

Where do we stand on this? I don't even have a link.

DL, please. I'm looking forward to having more BFT time this month.

Sorry I haven't had more time to listen and respond this month, Alex! (I'm cleaning 45 years worth of stuff out of my parents' house to get it ready to sell.) Nice curveball on #8. I'm surprised nobody guessed the very famous clarinetist earlier. And I'm surprised it took so long for somebody to get #11. Did I miss it earlier in the thread, or is it true that nobody's guessed the very, very famous #10 yet?

This month's flyer for the Dakota jazz club calls Chris a "Post Bob Jazz Saxophonist." I want to know more about post-Bob jazz, please. And neo-Bob.

Download for me, please and thanks!

I remain a fan despite the sameness that Larry points out. Great fondness for this disc of the 14th, worth seeking because the recording on CPO doesn't get it:

I've had several CDs and gotten rid of just about all, except "The Rite of Spring," which I play now and then because I still can't believe how bad the performance is.

Not much time to respond in detail this week, but enjoying this one very much. Is #20 perhaps a King Sunny Ade remix?

Is there room for a latecomer? DL, please!

If it's conceptual art, I find the concept flawed because they didn't do the alternate take.

Found a well-worn copy of the first album by the group Dreams with "P. Metheny" rubber-stamped on the cover. PIcked it up in a junk shop not many miles from the town where Pat grew up.

Chuck's right about Hogwood's Martinu series. Also, his Stravinsky "Pulcinella" disc is top-shelf.

There was an infamous Everest Records issue of Beethoven's 9th Symphony conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler. To get the whole symphony on one LP, they sped up the tape.