Fer Urbina

Two/three days before my disappointment with Glasper, I saw Craig Taborn exclusively on Rhodes with Chris Potter's Underground. Now, THAT was impressive. But it's never the instrument, is it? F

Saw Glasper at Barbican in 2010, opening for Terence Blanchard. I thought he was too laid back, almost unprepared for the gig, erratic at times. I also got the impression that he was believing the hype around him. When Blanchard and drummer Chris Dave came on stage to close his set, the difference in tension and direction in the music was quite evident. Of course, nobody seemed to agree with me: Glasper got a standing ovation and rave reviews. F PS Also, I seem to remember that there were more black people in the audience than usual. Something that also happens with Wynton Marsalis, by the way.

Have been browsing the book. At first sight it looks informative and entertaining, although it also looks that the authors haven't stuck very strictly to chronological order. Does Durium know that his blog is mentioned in the book? P. 178, when talking about the quintet with Brookmeyer, they refer to BBC footage and they give this link: http://keepswinging.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/clark-terry-bob-brookmeyer-quintet.html F

PM sent F

PM sent on the Webster and the Mainstream Tenors. F

I actually got this one last week (for 2 quid ) in a different edition (British Coral/MCA, CP2 MONO), and it's quite complete: between November 1943 and December 1944 it only misses five released studio tracks ("The Music Stopped", "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night", "Who Dat Up There", "Saturday Night", and "Please Don't Say No"). Informative liner notes by George T. Simon too. F

I was there on the second night. It was indeed special. Marsh (who stood up to play his set of percussion instruments) and Edwards are quite something on their own right. As for Café Oto, most of the gigs I've seen there have been good to great. Especially intense was Darcy James Argue's, whose big band took a lot of the tiny room and still sounded beautiful. They've started their own record label, one Brötzmann vinyl so far. F

Sorry to ask again but where do you see the results? (It's probably right in front of me on the FB page but I'm not seeing it>) The poll is here (scroll down as necessary): http://www.facebook.com/charlesmingus If you move your mouse over each option in the poll, you'll be able to see the results. F

I haven't seen it either. As I said, Pullman interviewed a witness to the session, Jack Hooke, Reig's associate in Roost Records, but he also interviewed Fred Mendelsohn, involved in De Luxe records in 1949, and both give Summer of 49 as the date of the session. There are plenty more details about this session, the music, the financial arrangements..., and Pullman also elaborates on the date issue. As it's been said before, there's a lot of fresh research in here. F

Well, maybe that's why he doesn't brag about it and I thought he might as well: I, for one, had always seen this session dated 1947, including in reissues by Cuscuna, who has all the access one can get to whatever is left of the Roost archives. IMHO the only way to go about this would be comparing whatever evidence you have, Allen, with Pullman's. I just re-read the story of the Roost session. Summer of 49, according to Pullman and his interviewee, who was present at the session. Also, although this may be less significant than it'd seem, Roost records wasn't started till early 1949. FWIW, regarding stockpiling before the 1948 ban, the Roost recordings are usually dated January 10, 1947, whereas the 1948 ban wasn't announced till nine months later, in mid-October. F

As of right now Digital Downloads: 66 4-CD set: 18 6-CD set: 84 F

Having read the book (the manuscript, which should be less polished than the book anyway), I personally don't like, and don't agree with, the euram, afram... terminology. I agree with the reasons behind it, but not with the solution (I don't think there is one). That said, I found that it didn't really interfere with my reading. However, I honestly think that the leap from that choice of terminology, political as it may be, to political bias, political correctness, whatever... is incorrect in this case. IMHO Pullman does not rewrite history and, in fact, that would probably be the unfairest criticism on this book. Leaving his writing style aside, this is one of the most factual jazz bios I've ever read. F

He doesn't boast about it, but yes, Pullman has uncovered that the Roost recordings were made in 1949, actually after the first Mercury session. F

Thanks for that, Big Beat Steve. I know there's plenty of high-sugar content in those recordings, which is probably the reason why they're so hard to get hold of (and the fact that in months Herman would go to Columbia and record a great band in great sound - check the Mosaic box for that). It'd be interesting if the Disco Order LPs are the only way to hear the complete output. I'm actually interested in that, in the whole picture (for a number of reasons, not just obsessive completism - I promise). I actually found vol. 16 very cheap, and will eventually get vol. 15. As for the Hep reissues, yes I know them (and they're highly recommended). It's also interesting, in contrast with those 1943-1944 studio recordings, that there's so much live/V-Disk/broadcast material available on CD with very little overlap. F

Thanks! The second one, the Decca/GRP CD I already have - I don't think it goes beyond 1942, before the period I'm interested in. It'd seem that these complement each other nicely, but as you said, not complete. F

Anyone here knows the best way to get Woody Herman's recordings for Decca from 1943 to the end of his contract (he signed with Columbia in early 1945)? As far as I know, the "Chronogical" Classics series didn't make it that far, and I don't know of any CD reissues that have these recordings in a complete fashion. As for vinyl, the only systematic reissue I've found is the Ajaz label, in their "In Disco Order" series. Any comments, suggestions will be most welcome. F

Yep. that's Ben Webster here. F

An all-time personal favourite, precisely for his weirdness. He was consistently interesting, even in his late 1950s recordings with the sextet. From his first sessions (Dance of the Octopus, his take on Bix's In A Mist...), the free rein he gave to Eddie Sauter in the 1930s (check out his arrangement of Smoke Dreams), his trio recordings with Tal Farlow and Charles Mingus (quite a break for both Mingus and Farlow at the time), his "swing meets bop" combo with Bird and Dizzy, his presence in the last months of Woody Herman's First Herd... there's a great session with Ben Webster and Harry Edison for RCA in the 1950s...). A very interesting figure with a lot of music to dig into. F

Oops. My bad. I trusted the Amazon UK listing. F

There's a mix of original (re)masters and proven lifts, like the Carter Family set. F

Re: Waller. Wasn't there a complete RCA series on CD? Re: JSP. Every once in a while the Wallers pop up at Fopp in London, for £9 apiece. Have also seen at that price the two Cab Calloways, the two Ellingtons, most of the Djangos, Rosemary Clooney, Louis Jordan, Bix & Tram, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives & Sevens... F

Regarding the Waller set, I'd get it for that price. The boxed set carries a very nice booklet with notes by Dan Morgenstern. I also think that the cheapo EU set was taken from the US one (it would make sense, although traditionally that's never stopped record companies from being silly). The EU set has the same titles as the US, except one (can't remember which). As for a complete Fats collection, there's already a 24-CD set by JSP (in six 4-CD boxes). F

As far as I know, colleagues in the field have read the manuscript, and FWIW Pullman has been a copy-editor or proofreader (can't remember which right now) for many years. As I said, I don't agree with many things regarding his writing, but I've certainly seen worse and, to be fair, and especially regarding Bud Powell, the quality of the information he's unearthed goes a very long way to compensate literary considerations. At least for me. F

I think it was Chris Albertson who put it best a few pages back in this thread. Whatever you read in the Bud Powell bio is >exactly< what Pullman wanted you to read. That goes for the neologisms, the punctuation, the syntax, etc. I've had a few unsolvable but friendly disagreements with Pullman regarding all those points (some of them explained in the preface of the book). Our takes on grammar, common use of language and what comes first (and how, when, and why) couldn't be more different (and I had to remind myself that 1) he's more experienced than I am, 2) English is not my first language). I also think that he's fighting too many battles in >one< book, but at the end of the day it's his baby. I guess it's not just a biography of Bud Powell, but Peter Pullman's biography of Bud Powell. A man of integrity for sure. I mean, for Pete's sake (no pun intended) he went to court to get access to Powell's medical records! F

Email sent for Howard McGhee Classics 1949-1952 $13 F