thomastreichler

Ernie Caceres plays on all (or almost all) of Eddie Condon's Town Hall Concerts. His solos and ensemble work are uniformly excellent. Caceres is and was an unsung master of the instrument!

Additions.

I completely agree, a superb album!

Sad news. Hefti in my opinion did his best (jazz) work for Basie. I like the following albums with Hefti arrangements best: Basie Plays Hefti (Roulette) The Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette) Frank Capp did a great album with his big band in 1995 (ex-Juggernaut after Nat Pierce's death) playing charts by Neal Hefti, the title is "In A Hefti Bag" and it was issued on Concord.

I have the following cd's for sale: United States Air Force Airmen Of Note, Airmen Of Note (Altissimo) $9 NEW Monty Alexander, Live! At The Montreux Jazz Festival, MPS, $6 Louis Armstrong, You're Driving Me Crazy!, Columbia, $9 (Big Band recordings 1930/31) Charlie Barnet, Swing Street Strut (4 CD), Quadromania, $10 Count Basie, The Complete Atomic Mr. Basie, Roulette, $8 Count Basie, Septet & Octet, Sagajazz, $6 Count Basie, His Best Recordings 1936-1944, Best Of Jazz, $5 Count Basie, Definitive Columbia Best Recordings, Definitive, $7 Clifford Brown, Study In Brown, Emarcy, $8 Les Brown, Digital Swing, Fantasy, $8 Dave Brubeck, N.Y.C. Carnegie Hall 1963, Giants Of Jazz, $8 Benny Carter, Further Definitions, Impulse, $9SOLD Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Heart And Soul, Capri, $9 Duke Ellington, Ellington '56, Charly, $9 Tal Farlow, The Fastest Guitar Player Of His Era (4 CD), Quadromania, $10 Erroll Garner, Dreamstreet & One World Concert, Telarc, $8 Erroll Garner, Plays Gershwin & Kern, Emarcy, $9 Stan Getz, The Song Is You (4 CD), Quadromania, $10 Benny Golson, The Modern Touch, Riverside, $7 Benny Goodman, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert (2 CD), Columbia Legacy, $12 Johnny Griffin, Johnny Griffin Sextet, Riverside, $9 NEW Bobby Hackett, Bobby Hackett (4 CD), Quadromania, $10 Woody Herman, The Woody Herman Story (4 CD), Proper, $15 Woody Herman, Jazz Masters 54, Verve, $7 Woody Herman, Compact Jazz, Verve, $6 Woody Herman, In A Misty Mood, Vogue, $10 Woody Herman, Presents Vol. 1 … A Concord Jam, Concord, $7 Woody Herman, Woody's Winners, Columbia, $9 Woody Herman, Road Band!, Membran $9 (this is an exact replica of the original Capitol album "Road Band!") Woody Herman, 1963 - Swingin'est Big band Ever, $12 (paper sleeve ed.) Woody Herman, Crazy Rhythm, Garland, $9 (1958 sessions) Johnny Hodges, Hodge Podge, Columbia Legacy, $9SOLD Billie Holiday, The Billie Holiday Story 4 CD, Proper, $15 Billie Holiday, Songs For Distingué Lovers, Verve, $8 Billie Holiday, Blue Billie, Columbia, $8 Billie Holiday, The Silver Collection, Verve, $7 Milt Jackson, The Jazz Skyline, Savoy, $8 Quincy Jones, Go West, Man!, Chessmates, $10 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Sing A Song Of Basie, Impulse, $9 Syd Lawrence, Big Band Swing, Philips, $8 Abbey Lincoln, Golden Lady (feat. Archie Shepp), Inner City, $10 James Moody, Just Moody (4 CD), Quadromania, $10 Jelly Roll Morton, Birth Of The Hot, RCA, $8SOLD Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band, Compact Jazz, Verve, $6 Charlie Parker, Compact Jazz, Verve, $6 Art Pepper, The Return Of Art Pepper - The Complete Art Pepper Aladdin Recordings Vol. 1, $10 Oscar Peterson, Bursting Out, Verve, $8 Oscar Peterson, The Sound Of The Trio, Verve (Japan), $10 Oscar Peterson, History Of An Artist Vol. 2, Pablo, $7 Oscar Peterson, Live At The Northsea Jazz Festival, 1980, Pablo, $8 Oscar Peterson, My Favorite Instrument, MPS, $10 Oscar Peterson, En Concert Avec Europe 1 - 1961/63/64/65/66/69, Trema, $8 Oscar Peterson, Olympia 1961/1963, Delta, Hybrid SACD, $10 Zoot Sims, That Old Feeling (4 CD), Quadromania, $10 Zoot Sims, Live At The Half Note Again!, Lonehill, $7 Art Tatum, The Best Of The Complete Solo Masterpieces, Pablo 6$ Jack Teagarden, Basin Street Blues (4 CD), Quadromania, $10 Toots Thielemans, 1955-1978, Columbia, $8 Fats Waller, The Best Of Fats Waller - RCA Original Masters (3 CD), Sony/BMG, $12 Fats Waller, Ain't Misbehavin' (4 CD), Quadromania, $10SOLD Chick Webb, Stompin' At The Savoy (4 CD), Proper, $15 Prices include postage (to European and Overseas destinations). The CD's are being shipped without jewel case (with the exception of 2- and 4-CD-sets) but with complete front cover, inlet and booklet. All items are in "like new" condition or new where indicated. Payment via PayPal. If interested please send me a PM.

Thanks, Chris, for the information. This is bad news. I did not know that Dave is suffering from lung cancer. I just did notice that he has not performed anymore for several years now (or so it seemed to me). I will definitely send him a card and wish him all the best for a quick recovery.

Recently I have been listening to a lot of Dave McKenna. An all time favourite of mine, he is one of a handful of pianists who sound best playing solo (others in this category that come to mind are Art Tatum, Earl Hines, Michel Petrucciani). He is all over the piano, producing a thick carpet of sound in taking advantage of the unique possibility of this most orchestral of all instruments to play ten notes at once. He has a very special, instantly recognizable touch. Sometimes one gets the impression that he is playing with three hands: on the bottom there is this rollicking, forward pushing bass line, in the middle register he is throwing in occasional chords and in the upper register there are these sparkling single note lines. By way of contrast his left hand occasionally is strumming à la Garner (but with a entirely different rhythmic feel) or striding. And abve all he is swinging like mad. McKenna is specializing in medleys combining tunes with a common theme: For example songs with the word "shadow" or "dream" or "star" in their titles. There is also an album where on half of the disc he is playing tunes associated with streets (like "Broadway", "Basin Street Blues", "On Green Dolphin Street", "Street Of Dreams" and so on). I have almost every solo album of Dave McKenna and there is not one that is less than very good, most are excellent. Any further comments and / or favourite recordings?

There is no need to buy them all at once... I have five volumes so far (but planning to get the remaining sets too).

Thanks very much Chuck!

The Condon Mosaic combines all the CBS Condon All Stars recordings from 1953 to 1962 on five cd's. So the Collectables cover just a part of the Moasaic set. All of the sessions coverd by Collectables are on the Moasic set, with the exception of half of "Jam Session Coast To Coast" (because only half of this album is by Condon). As for the missing sessions, I cannot give exact details, because I do not have the discography at hand. As for the Town Hall Concerts, go for them, they are great. With the exception of the very first concert, the sound is decent, and there is superb playing by the likes of Bobby Hackett, Billy Butterfield, Muggsy Spanier, Max Kaminsky, Jonah Jones, Hot Lips Page, Miff Mole, Jack Teagarden, Benny Morton, Sidney Bechet, Pee Wee Russell, Edmond Hall, Joe Marsala, Ernie Caceres, Gene Schroeder, Willie 'The Lion' Smith, James P. Johnson, Jess Stacy, Bob Haggart, Johnny Williams, George Wettling, Gene Krupa.

On Ben Webster's Black Lion album "The Jeep Is Jumping", he is accompanied by an excellent Danish band led by trumpeter Arnved Meyer. The inlet of the cd lists the following personnel (apart from Webster and Meyer): John Darville (tb) Niels Jorgen Steen (p) Henrik Hartmann or Hugo Rasmussen (b) Hans Nymand (dms). But there is a fine second tenor player present. Does anyone know who this tenor player is?

Mine, too! I hadn't seen a copy for decades and so was very pleased to find one a few years ago in the now defunct Reckless Records in London's Soho. As far as I'm aware, this one's never made it onto CD, though I may be wrong, of course! This one needs a cd reissue. Coupled with 7xWilder (which seems to be more obscure)would make an excellent set. What about it Verve? It wont be long before Lonehill or Avid pick these up! Seems Fresh Sounds already have issued the material:

Harold Mabern: Philadelphia Bound (Sackville) (recorded by Ted O'Reilly)

I am listening to "Don Ewell Solo Piano 1969 - 1973", a Chiaroscuro twofer, combining three previously released lp's ("Jazz On A Sunday Afternoon", "Take It In Stride" and "A Jazz Portrait Of The Artist" as well as three previously unissued tracks from 1967). This is pure stride piano, strongly influenced by Fats Waller, James P. Johnson and Willie 'The Lion' Smith, superbly executed. Highly enjoyable!

I took advantage of the sale and ordered the Teagarden set. Admittedly I was a bit sceptical, but now, having listened to the first three discs so far, I have to say that this is a truly great set. This is first rate Dixieland Jazz. The band works as a unit in a way only working bands can achieve. Although there are - apart from Teagarden - no so called big names, it is a joy to listen to the nicely arranged ensembles as well as to the generally very good solos. Don Goldie, blessed with a beautiful tone and great technique, allows himself only a few moments of bad taste, but that does not affect the quality of the performances overall; Henry Cuesta plays competently and flawlessly; Don Ewell is superb as an accompanist as welll as in his solos; Stan Puls and Ronnie Greb / Barrett Deems provide effortless and swinging support (this is actually a swing rhythm section, not the heavy thumping two beat kind of rhythm one often hears with traditional bands); and Big T's playing (and occasional singing) is nothing short of sensational, one of the best trombone players ever. I am very happy with this set.

I purchased this one too, just recently. It is a very valuable set that compiles all of Parker's studio recordings from 1940 to 1948 (including the ones with Jay McShann and his orchestra), sound quality is mostly good. The set has minimal liner notes but full discography (with some minor errors). I am very happy with this set; bought it from Caiman for $32 (shipping included).

His solo on a 15 minute plus "Body and Soul" (also featuring Herb Pomeroy, John Lewis, Jim Hall, George Duvivier and Connie Kay) is superb!

Art Taylor: A.T.'s Delight (Blue Note) Oliver Jones:Secod Time Around (Justin Time) Wycliffe Gordon: Boss Bones (Criss Cross) Art Pepper: Live At Donte's 1968 (Fresh Sound) John Lewis: The Wonderful World Of Jazz / Evolution (Collectables)

I very much like his 1956/57 quartet recordings with Lou Levy, Leroy Vinnegar and either Shelly Manne or Stan Levey (on "The Steamer" and "Award Winner") as well as "At The Opera House" with J.J. Johnson.

I received mine a few days ago and have listened to discs 1 and 2 and half of disc 3 so far. Music and sound is great, I am enjoying this set very much (and the price is unbeatable).

J.J. Johnson: The Complete Columbia Small Group Sessions (discs 1 and 2) This is beautiful music: superbly arranged by J.J. (he is one of the masters of small group arranging, his charts for two horns and rhythm are nothing short of perfect), flawlessly executed and always swinging. This is music you can lsiten to again and again.

Dan, Yesterday when I was coming home from work your parcel with the J.J. Johnson Mosaic set awaited me at my doorstep, perfectly packed. I thank you very much, Dan, and am hoping that the money helps you to recover from your financial problems. Good luck!

Ordered the Teagarden set ($57 + $6 shipping), based on the enthusiastic praise by some members in another thread.

You mentioned the one thing that is even more annoying than the scanty covers, namely the sound. Most of the Pablos have very poor sound - all this great performers would have deserved better recording / sound engineering. There are a lot of 50's records with way higher audio quality than a great part of the Pablo albums (e.g. Contemporary, Riverside, Prestige). Which ones? I routinely come across thick vinyl, excellent sounding Pablo lps (Gillespie, Milt Jackson, etc.) I have to check my collection for details, but the following albums immediately come to mind: Milt Jackson + Count Basie Big Band, poor balance, kind of muffled sound "Prime Time" by the Count Basie Big Band IMHO has particularly poor audio quality (artistically it is a fine record, benefitting from Sammy Nestico's arrangements). Admittedly there are Pablo albums with satisfying sound quality, but IMO the Pablo records in general are not on a par with the audio standards of the time.

"Super Standard" on the Japanese Venus label is highly recommended.