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Spontooneous

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Everything posted by Spontooneous

  1. Forgot about Dizzy Gillespie Meets the Phil Woods Quintet on Timeless. Dizzy past his prime, Tom Harrell not having the best chops day, but still somehow it works.
  2. Don't tell Tom... But we've arranged for Andrew Hill to jump out of his birthday cake.
  3. That all-Brownie date with Hubbard and Shaw is "Time Speaks," under Benny Golson's leadership, on Timeless. What's this you say about Louis and King Tolliver?
  4. I've always loved the Howard McGhee/Fats Navarro date for Blue Note. It was reissued in the double set of Tadd Dameron and Navarro a few years back, but I think that's OP. In addition to the Farmer/Byrd on Prestige, there's a "Three Trumpets" date, where they added Idrees Sulieman. I like this one a bunch.
  5. Ya gotta dig hanging out in a place where the owner gives a thumbs-up to Frank Martin. I love this bar. Recently heard Vaughan Williams' "Dona Nobis Pacem." Unsettling and beautiful, and perfect for this moment in history. Second the recommendations for Szymanowski.
  6. At the flea market the other day: Joe Daley Trio -- At Newport 1963 Blue Mitchell -- Boss Horn A buck apiece. The Mitchell's cover is shot, but the vinyl on both is in surprisingly good shape.
  7. Got mine, $13.86, with a nice note from our hyperconservative state attorney general. It's the first thing he's ever done that I've appreciated.
  8. Guy, Like you, I started with the last sonatas. It was one of the most overwhelming musical experiences of my life. That was 25 years ago. I still think about at least one of those last four sonatas every day! Frankly, it took me too many years to appreciate the sonatas that came earlier. I hope you never have the same problem. Don't let anything (not even the brilliance of Op. 53 and Op. 57) distract you from the great things happening in the early and middle sonatas. Right now I'm especially fond of the Op. 10 set, and the easily overlooked Op. 78. If you want to hear more of the Bach influence, you're ready for the Diabelli Variations.
  9. One for Tadd here. I'd divide this into two different questions, who's the better arranger and who's the better composer. Gil was probably a better arranger -- nobody but Stravinsky ever wrote better for wind instruments -- but Tadd is the one whose tunes get stuck in my head all day, and it's a good day when that happens! And he was no slouch as an arranger, the man who moved swing arranging style forward into bebop and beyond. I'm loving Duke P. more the more I know of his music, and I've always loved Oliver and Gil. But Tadd is a special musical hero of mine.
  10. Saw him once, at the Bop Shop in Chicago, October '96. He looked frail, but his playing came across as very strong, even better than on record. The link to early-'50s-style Rollins was apparent. Between sets, he didn't leave the stage. He just sat the piano and methodically pecked out Rollins heads, "Question" and "Airegin," seemingly in his own world. A pleasant memory. Thanks for bringing it back.
  11. Would love to hear this disc! Anderson has two other leader dates I know of: -- "Love Locked Out," on Mapleshade, in the '90s. Get it! -- A trio session on Riverside in the '60s. Can't remember the title. I keep hoping the OJC series will get to this one. I hope there are others I don't know about yet. The Mapleshade disc made a believer out of me.
  12. Let's see, Bird to Dylan in 4 ... Bird > Miles > Harvey Brooks > Dylan. Is that the connection you were thinking of? You realize, of course, that this means Bird to "Dueling Banjos" in 5. But back to Satchel business. Using that certain Mr. Coleman who vocalizes on the Flying Dutchman album, any number of links are possible. You said Pops to Pharoah in 4; how 'bout in 3? Pops > Ornette > Pharoah. ("Chappaqua Suite" never gets its propers.) Also, Pops > Ornette > Elvin > Art Pepper. This is fun. But the Ornette connection makes it too easy. How many have heard the airchecks of Dexter Gordon in Pops' band? "Take it, brother Dexter..." OK, a new one: Quickest route from Pops to David Murray, anyone?
  13. So cool he required two nicknames: Sonny Red. On the other hand, Sylvester Kyner might be one of the uncoolest names.
  14. Hey, Dmitry, Did you make it to the show? Give us a report! I heard that Paul Motian had open-heart surgery not long ago. Is he looking and playing OK?
  15. Tom, Condolences from the bottom of my heart. Peace to you in this difficult time. (If there's anything I can do on the KC end, you know where to call.)
  16. Actually, there'll be two CDs, Conrad says. The first one is centered on the "Kind of Blue" music (I loved hearing "Flamenco Sketches" recast as a guaguanco). The second is centered on "Sketches of Spain."
  17. I'll second everything he said. It was Ruben Rodriguez on bass and Pedro Martinez on congas. (The program book had the personnel wrong; the local paper got it right -- wink wink nudge nudge.) You meet the nicest people in the lobby at these shows.
  18. SOLID is the word for Duke. Incredible consistency, and consistent beauty. If he ever made a lousy record as leader, I sure haven't heard it. A recommendation: Hunt down some of his Steeplechase recordings. The solo sessions, the "Duke's Artistry" date with Art Farmer, the "Duke's Delight" date with Charlie Rouse -- ahh, heck, just about anything. Treat yourself. That white tray on your "Flight to Jordan" means it's from the Collector's Choice series, about 1994 or '95. They're straight reissues of CDs that BN had already yanked from the catalog.
  19. The Great Pumpkin and the Sinner Lady So Long, Shermy (anybody remember Shermy?)
  20. All the dates with Dolphy, of course. (Beware the out-of-tune piano on the Five spot recordings.) Let me reiterate the recommendation for "Booker Little and Friend," which gets overlooked because it doesn't have Dolphy. Some of his richest music and best writing is here. Look also for the "Booker Little" date on the Time label, the one with Scott LaFaro. It was on CD for a while; shows up in cutouts now and then. Some of his most relaxed playing is here. What a difference Booker would have made had he been able to hang around even a few more years! Still, he made a big difference in just 23.
  21. The NYT piece is disappointing if you approach it as a portrait of McShann. And it's disappointing from a Chamber of Commerce angle too. But the writer does give you an idea of how factionalized the scene is -- the stylistic conflicts between musicians, and the conflicts between the conservative and open-minded audience groups. And because we're so factionalized, we don't work together to publicize ourselves as a jazz city, we don't work together to build audiences, we don't work together to keep a jazz festival alive. Sad to say, the NYT got it right. (They may have erred on the side of politeness. But so have some other media outlets I can think of.)
  22. Oh, yeah, "One-Upmanship" was a good one. I confess that the Soul Note "Seagulls" and "Git-Go" aren't favorites of mine either. And I had high expectations for them, being a fan of EVERYBODY on them. Sometimes Mal's repetitiveness seems purposeful, even magical. But his playing on this date doesn't take off very well. I understand that much of the time, the trumpeter in Mal's quintet was Benny Bailey, not Woody. I wonder if things might have fit together more comfortably with him aboard. (Remind me to start a Benny Bailey thread one of these days.)
  23. What a story, Chris! Now back to work on my script casting Charlie Parker as a key scientist on the Manhattan Project.
  24. These are the best new Christmas jazz tracks to reach my ears in quite a few years, guys. "O Christmas Tree" is an absolute knockout. Keep it up! And thanks, as always.
  25. Hey, Eric, I'm in Johnson County and also suffer from lousy AM reception. I tried a bigger antenna and things got better. Take a look at this site for a cheap solution: http://members.cox.net/rwagoner/columns/am_antenna.html I'd agree that the better your equipment, the more it reveals how lousy AM sound really is.
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