MartyJazz

Artie Shaw, first and foremost. Recently however, I heard someone whom I don't ordinarily care for on his main instrument, alto, but who knocked me out with his gorgeous clarinet work as a guest on the Turtle Island String Quartet album, Danzón. The clarinetist: Paquito D'Rivera. Seriously.

Recently received this disc and have been enjoying it quite a bit:

Fortunately, got to see her perform on quite a few occasions from the mid '70s always in NYC until, most recently at the Mt Hood JF outside of Portland in '04. Particularly enjoyed her at a concert featuring 2 "jazz divas", i.e., she and Shirley Horn, in separate sets at Lincoln Center around '91 or so. Even got to see her perform once in a straight, non-musical, play at the Henry Street Settlement on NYC's lower east side. Always a very honest, and emotionally generous performer. Very sad to hear of her departure.

The only thing that sucked for me was that I missed most of the comeback in order to see HBO's debut of "Hard Knocks" as I'm also a rabid Jets fan. After that ended, I resume the Yankee game and it's 6-5, 8th inning so of course I get to see the 2 run 9th. Enjoyable as that was, I'm mystified as to how the Yanks continue to have the best record in all of MLB, because I see glaring weaknesses that I'm reasonably sure will be exposed come playoff time, e.g., pitching inconsistency, excessive striking out by too many of their hitters, sub-par years by future HOFers, trades that have not panned out (Granderson (!)), etc. The 2010 Yankees are not a World Series championship caliber team.

Don't know what criticism he hurled at Braxton, but now I wonder what the atmosphere on the Brubeck Atlantic date was like wherein Konitz and Braxton participated. I recall having liked their respective contributions on the take of "All the Things You Are".

In the past issue of Jazz Times, Konitz took a beating in the Letters section on account of his critical "Before and After" remarks re certain musicians the previous month. In particular, he called Benny Carter's playing on the chosen cut "schmaltzy", referred to Sonny Stitt on his cut as "a thief of the first order" and also had something negative to say about Phil Woods. I got a kick out of Kontiz's outspoken comments, not only because I myself have on occasion had similar opinions (especially re the revered Carter), but because I think that Konitz at age 83 after a lifetime of significant work, is entitled to say exactly what he wants.

Although Coleman only appears on two tracks, they are both excellent, and the album as a whole is one of my very favorite Jamal albums: Well worth picking up.

I love his version of A House Is Not A Home from this one. I fortunately got to see him perform it at an underpublicized and therefore not well attended concert in Newark, NJ back in the late '80s. Very poignant rendition. I recall Oliver Lake being one of the few present in the audience.

One of the musicians who subscribes to this forum once told me that Barry Harris stated to him that he didn't care for Tyner either.

I recently read, more accurately glossed through, a book about the founding and history of the Columbia record label in which, Miller's role there is gone over in much detail. THE LABEL by Gary Marmorstein: Also includes much of interest re Goddard Lieberson, George Avakian, John Hammond, and many more.

A hearty amen to that! BIG GEORGE is a terrific album. Having owned the LP for many years and unable to locate a CD copy, I recently transferred it to a CD-R, put it in my I-Tunes menu, etc. The arrangement of "Green Dolphin Street" is a killer. Great takes of "Frank's Tune", "Body and Soul" as well.

Ruby Braff. I would characterize my jazz listening tastes as "bop and beyond". However, while going through my pre-bop LPs recently, I discovered this gem of a record which since has been re-issued on CD. What a beautiful sound this man had!

How's the fidelity on the Vanguard '72 recordings? I don't know of any official recordings from that time. I caught Monk at the Vanguard on 2 occasions in the spring of '72 - I think Ron McClure was on bass - and I'm aware of friends (at that time) who were recording illicitly with portable cassette recorders. (Honest, it wasn't me although I do have open reel copies made from those cassettes).

You're wrong to include Rollins in that group of saxophone players between Trane and Shorter for two reasons. First, Rollins was with Miles on a few occasions but only in the '50s and his various stints as a sidemen, e.g., with Monk, Miles, Roach, etc, were over for good by the time he took a hiatus (1959-61). Second, it's absurd to say that Rollins couldn't "measure up", particularly in the 1960-64 period which spans the amount of time between Trane and Shorter. As much as I enjoy Shorter's stint with Miles, Rollins' entire '60s period is fantastic as evidenced by various recordings, e.g., OUR MAN IN JAZZ, ALFIE, etc.

Without looking into the box set that I've had for many years, that sounds about right. Certainly, the entire original recording is included in the box as well as additional material from that engagement including at least one track where Shelly Manne is the drummer in place of Billy Higgins.

The mention of Dunlop on drums calls to mind the wonderful video - don't know if it's officially released on DVD yet - of the Monk quartet in a TV Studio in Tokyo in May, '63 wherein the viewer is treated not only to wonderful Monk but the sight of him in all of his eccentricities, e.g., the wearing of an overcoat in a hot TV studio, the constant resetting of a ring on one of his fingers while he plays a marvelous solo on the opening "Evidence", his attempts at what can be generously referred to as "dancing" while various others solo, etc. And Dunlop is superb. I know the music itself, which is excellent, has often be released on various bootleg LPs, then CDs, but it's the video that's well worth pursuing.

Ditto on the Blackhawk and in particular the "Four in One" track, one of my very favorites. What's also wonderful about this live date is the presence of Billy Higgins as well.

Stephane Grappelli: FEELING + FINESSE = JAZZ (Atlantic), marvelous album recorded in '62, includes Pierre Cavalli (elec guitar), Leo Petit (guitar), Guy Pedersen (bass) and Daniel Humair (drums). Grappelli sounds quite modern in this context, a great musician. BTW, his name is spelled "Grappelly" on the cover. The "i" ending is correct, n'est ce pas?

Archie Shepp: Live in Tokyo (Denon), 1978. Album cooks.

Lover of Shaw the clarinetist as I am, I am loathe to discuss his personal pronouncements because he undoubtedly could be, and was often, quite the pedantic turnoff. Also, one should read the section on Shaw that Gunther Schuller wrote in his SWING ERA book, wherein he quite rightly, IMO, criticizes Shaw for his tendency to protest too much about the requirements that fame imposes on a successful musician while nevertheless, acceding to them all too often. As for Shaw's autobiographical "..Cincerella", it's been much too long since I read it to comment.

Can't justifiably compare the '54 G5 sessions with the earlier Victors, the latter being made for 3 minute 78 RPM sides, while the last recordings stretch out for LP release. Being a devout Shaw idolator for over half a century, I enjoy 'em all as he was the greatest jazz clarinest ever IMO. But one shouldn't simply dismiss the last recordings with a glib Shearing epithet (at least, that's how I interpret it), for the group included such greats as Hank Jones and Tal Farlow (replaced by Joe Puma for the very last session). Among many gems recorded before he put down the clarinet for good, Shaw's last version of "Star Dust" is fabulous and ranks with his more famous big band with strings '40 version, AFAIAC. Shaw was a very inventive as well as a great technical virtuoso and his last recordings are mostly very rewarding.

"Tempted"???!!!! He definitely should have been pinch-hit for. He had already given up two leads, obviously he was lacking command of his pitches and furthermore the Yanks are behind with men on 1st and 3rd, one out. JG then decides to send AJ up to simply bunt the man on 1st to 2nd, giving up a 2nd key out? Ridiculous. Aside from that, I couldn't believe how futile Derek was, 3 strikeouts with men in scoring position each time. Horrible game.

Pedroia gets the "save", Papelbon gets a win. What's up with that picture? Must be in the Colorado air.

I discovered your problem on my Impulse IMPD copy years ago. Don't recall what I did with that CD, but I discovered soon thereafter that the original CD release, i.e., the MCA/Impulse MCAD-33109 issue, has the correct 10:50 version. Sonically, it may be inferior to the later digipack corrected release, but I do hold onto this one, particularly as I also have an LP copy of long standing.

I saw Jim Hall guest with Sonny Rollins at Carnegie Hall back in '91. They played "The Bridge" among other tunes from their early '60s repertoire. It was great to see them together again back then after so many years, but I felt there definitely was a drop in intensity compared with those Victor recordings. Now, 19 years later, one hopes that this reunion will somehow spark a creative resurgence.