Fer Urbina

Presage? Pre-siege? Anyway, I'm too busy listening to the Lester Young's 45º-angled sax recordings. And I look forward to the Dizzy Unbent and the Acrylic Bird compilations. Watch out for Moustached Wynton, a selection of unshaven music. Also from Columbia, Crossed-legged Sonatas, by Glenn Gould. I'll shut up now. F

I very much like Al Cohn too. And Tiny Kahn too, but for some reason Ernie Wilkins stays too much in his confort zone for my taste. Anyway, here's a nice picture of Sauter, Finckel, George Handy, Johnny Richards, Neal Hefti and Ralph Burns. Taken by Gottlieb in 1947 at the MoMA. F

Eddie Sauter - his Smoke Rings for Red Norvo are something else. Apparently he tried to make it hard for Mildred Bailey to sing (he was mad at her for some reason) but she sails through it. About Ralph Burns's youth, in Allen Lowe's Devilin' Tune there's an arrangement recorded in 1942 (Sam Donahue), he was 20. Also, he worked for Charlie Barnet in 1943 (he did a Cotton Tail with some elements that would resurface in Herman's Apple Honey). Hefti was also very young... and I think Shorty Rogers first ever recorded arrangement was Back Talk for Woody Herman (from 1946, based on I Found A New Baby - he was 22). Carisi did some commercial work in the fifties. I have him in an album by singer Larry Kert and another by Millard Thomas. Did anyone mention George Handy? Love his work for Boyd Raeburn (Ed Finckel is also very good) Mulligan and Brookmeyer, mostly the latter, did a great job with the Concert Jazz Band. Any love for Al Cohn? Manny Albam? Ernie Wilkins? F

About the cover art, it seems to be "recycled": a few years back LRC released a compilation of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis material with the same cover - "Sonny Lester Collection" I think it was called. Tracks: 1. Groove Merchant 2. Big Dipper 3. Central Park North 4. Tow Away Zone 5. Quietude 6. Jive Samba 7. Dedication 8. It Only Happens Every Time 9. Tiptoe 10. Child Is Born Nice track selection (whole of Central Park North and half of Consummation), sound not as good as the recent Blue Notes. F

This is anecdotal, but Bee Palmer recorded a vocalese version of "Singin' The Blues" on January 10, 1929 (unreleased at the time) and Marion Harris did the same tune on August 2, 1934 (singing first the Bix solo, then the Tram). F

Link

Yes, that's kind of what I meant. In any case jazz guitar is a tricky subject. I think guitarists are judged by a different set of standards (re: melodic invention) than other musicians (I have the impression that technique and especially gadgetry get more attention than it is the case for other instruments). I think one of the problems is that guitarists tend to be very "guitaristic", that they play things that fall naturally under their fingers... case in point is Sal Salvador, who in spite of his immaculate technique at fast tempos, IMHO he repeated himself a lot, especially on the Capitol and Bethlehems with Eddie Costa, where he plays a very "confortable" minor third lick ad nauseam. F

Regarding this, I love how Burrell plays *very* bluesy without bending the strings (some players overdo that). Personally, I agree that he's not the most imaginative player, but regarding his tone, I wouldn't want to change it if I were him. One thing I wasn't aware of is the amount of session work he did in the fifties. Not in the Hank Jones/Milt Hinton/Barry Galbraith league, but much more than I had expected. F

Since those details were put in a neatly formatted state, wouldn't it be logical to publish them in the sonybmg website? Oh, well...

I like Jimmy Rowles with Giuffre in "Deep Purple" (Atlantic). The good thing of boogie played on celeste (Meade Lux Lewis with Charlie Christian Blue Note session) is that there's better "separation" between Lewis' both hands. Ideal to appreciate the left-hand bass. More than vibes, the instrument sounds like glockenspiel to me (vibes without big pipes and rotating disks). Telegraphically, F

Thanks for the hint: Have tried it before - same here It should work if you put the word between inverted commas: "pathé". No results, though. F

Not sure, but I think the masters are owned by Cayre Industries (?). FWIW, current legit reissues of Bethlehem seem to be happening only in Japan (by Toshiba-EMI). In any case, those masters are probably devalued due to EU laws. Anyone can reissue much (or most) of that stuff in the EU... could it be that the owners ask so much dough from a prospective American reissuer because there's no point in trying to retrieve any money from the Europeans? (after-lunch speculation, I guess). F

Put together by Goode from his stash of tapes. Stream or download. SHAPES (1997) EMPATHY (1999) MIDWESTERN BOP SET (2003, feat. Ira Sullivan.) FOR BARBARA & CHARLES (2004) OHIO DINING ROOM (2004, pianoless trio.) Enjoy! F

The Ellington seems to be part of a new series of reissues... Or not so new: The Waller 3-CD set has the same tunes as the "If You've Got To Ask..." set except one ("Ain't Nothing To It") in the same order. I guess it's the same remastering... but for a far lower price. There's also a 4-CD set of Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Sevens and a 4-CD set of Billie Holiday's Columbias... F

Morning Mist is not Wayne's finest effort. I prefer what's in a Savoy reissue called Tasty Pudding. As for the comparison with Farlow... Wayne replaced Billy Bauer in Woody Herman's First Herd, and suddenly the tunes started having guitar solos (try to find a Bauer solo with the First Herd, studio or live). Then Wayne showed a lot of influence from Charlie Christian (listen to the preview of this 1946 track here) but it'd be interesting to see how influential he was, bearing in mind that Jimmy Raney would come up later (in the Second Herd incidentally) and Farlow even later on. F

Thanks, David, everything got here OK. PM sent for more assorted stuff F

PM sent on Tony Scott At Last 2 CDs Woody Shaw "Two more Pieces of The Puzzle" THe Woody Shaw Concert Ensemble/The Iron Man 2 CDs Al Cohn "Cohn's Tones" Sealed The Curtis Fuller Jazztet with Benny Golson Sealed Erroll Garner and Billy Taylor "Separate Keyboards" Kenny Clarke Meets The Detroit Jazzmen Duke Jordan "Trio and Quintet" Sealed The Individualism of Pee Wee Russell Sealed Art Pepper The Discovery Sessions (One CD) $5 F

About his birthday celebrations in London, England http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=42384 F

From www.northwaybooks.com

By no means I would call this jazz-flamenco, but you can see flamenco singer El Cigala doing "Inolvidable", a tune from his album Lágrimas Negras which for my money is "You'd be so nice to come home to" by other name (although the melody is closer on the album version). The pianist is Bebo Valdés, Chucho's father, and the bass player is Javier Colina. F

I have a soft spot for his arrangement of "It Never Entered My Mind" in Hal McKusick's Cross-section Saxes album. Will play that tonight, as well as his duet with Jimmy Rowles (celeste) on "Deep Purple" which is another all-time favourite (from The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet). What a musician! F

Harris will be at Pizza Express London, May 21-25. See here for details F

PM sent on Brookmeyer ,Bob – Small Band (DCC) $3 Freeman ,Von – The Great Divide (Premonition) $6 Hines ,Earl – Plays Classics (Jazz Life) good 1977 solo set $3 Mingus ,Charles – Paris 1964 (Le Jazz) a few scuffs, plays fine $2 Ross ,Annie – Sings a Handful of Songs (Everest/Fresh Sound) $6 F

Oops, hadn't seen that one. F

Just saw this in the freejazz site A long awaited piece of news by many, I think. F