MartyJazz

Dexter's solo on "The Maze" is my favorite Dex of all time! Great, great cut.

Must be. No wonder the tenor sounded familiar. I'm usually able to pick out the distinctive J.R., but evidently not this time.

It's one of the two you named! Between yours and JSngry's guess, it can be narrowed down to the right guy. Nice responses - glad you liked the set. #4, 9, & 12 remain unidentified. Still waiting to hear from some of you! Wow, so it was Strozier and off a CD that I own no less and am obviously unfamiliar with, the COOL CALM AND COLLECTED VeeJay session of which two takes of "Day In..." appear. And it appears you chose the alternate take 2 no less. Must give a listen to this neglected CD this weekend. I should have been able to pick out Dakota. I have a few LPs of hers. And Jesse Belvin (!!!!) of all people on the "It's All Right With Me" track. I only know him from my teenage days and then it was his only hit I believe, "Goodnight, My Love". And somehow I heard Sammy Davis Jr. when others were hearing Mathis! That's what makes these BFTs fun and strange at the same time, especially when there is some overlap between the tastes of the compiler and the listener.

OK, haven’t participated in one of these in quite a while, but was looking forward to your disc, SJ. Enjoyed quite a few of the tracks, the exceptions being a couple of the “down home”/gutbucket-type blues tracks. 1) Most obviously Hawk on tenor. Much more modern trumpet than I associate on Hawk tracks. Made me pull out an old budget LP I have on the United label of Hawk with Thad Jones, but this track isn’t on it. Could be Thad but then again, perhaps not. 2) Big band track, exciting piece. Certain unmistakable calls by the tenor convince me it’s Dexter. I’m reasonably sure it’s Phil Woods on alto. Can’t at all identify the soprano. Is the baritone, Sahib Shihab? 3) Interesting vocal on this Cole Porter tune. Phrasing reminds me very much of Sammy Davis, Jr.. But if it’s him, it would be a very controlled mellow sound for him. 4) This is one of those lengthy down home tracks that doesn’t do a thing for me. No idea of who the alto is. 5) Very enjoyable “Falling in Love with Love’ version. The Pres-influenced deeper sounding tenor evokes Al Cohn for me but I’m not confident on this. Is the gruff trombonist Bill Harris? Whatever, real nice track. 6) Two tenors. Wild stab here: Illinois Jacquet and Buddy Tate? 7) Love this Freddie Redd tune that was originally on the SHADE OF REDD session that featured J Mac and Tina B. This is a very good later version of it of which I can only positively identify the very unique sound of Clifford Jordan on tenor. No idea of the alto or trumpet. Probably Redd himself on piano. 8) Unmistakably Charlie Rouse opening up on tenor. Sounds very much like a Blue Note date. Tune is very familiar. Wait a sec, is this from Sonny Clark’s LEAPIN’ AND LOPIN’ date? Very hip. 9) Tadd’s “If You Could See Me Now”.. Afraid I’m in the dark on the trumpet and piano. And while the tenor sounds somewhat familiar, I can’t pull a name right now. 10) Big band track. Definitely Warne Marsh there on tenor. Is this a Clare Fischer date, possibly an old Atlantic side I have in my archives somewhere? 11) One of those lengthy tenor basic blues tracks that again is not my thing. 12) Is that tune the old chestnut, “Peg O’ My Heart”. Very smooth trumpet or is it a cornet? I’m guessing it’s one of those Capitol ‘50s sides that feature Bobby Hackett with Jack Teagarden. 13) No idea of who the vocalist is on this blues piece. Tenor is evocative of Yusef somewhat. Definitely NMCOT though. 14) Wonderful version of “Day In, Day Out”. The only alto I associate with such fabulous facility (post-Bird) is Stitt, perhaps Strozier but I don't think it's him. If it’s not either, I really want to know who it is. Great track! 15) No idea of who this pianist is but somehow think I should know. All in all very enjoyable as I would have expected. Great job, Jack!

Back around 1990 or thereabouts, I had the good fortune to meet Sue Mingus at Fat Tuesday's where the Mingus Dynasty band was performing. To make a long story short, I had the temerity to reveal to her that I had collected various bootleg performances of Mingus on audio and video tape. She was very gracious about it and even invited me to her apartment one evening where I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the musicologist Andrew Homzy also present. I gave her copies of material she was interested in and she in turn gave me an unopened Japanese videotape edition of the Mingus Orchestra performance of "Epitaph" as well as various Mingus memorabilia that I treasure. I tell you, it was quite a trip to step into that apartment and see Mingus's bass standing against the wall. So, she's always had a certain ambivalence about this subject, her ire mostly directed at those who would illegally profit, rather than simply collect as I do.

For those who live in the southeastern part of Florida, it's still not too late to pick up tix (first come, first serve seating) at $30 per for non-members and $25 per for South Florida Jazz members (like yours truly) for what should be an excellent concert. Nova University is in the Plantation-Davie area (where the Dolphins train - like a lot of good it did them). Concert starts at 8 PM, with a Q&A session with the musicians beginning one half hour earlier. Anyway, here's the link: http://southfloridajazz.org/ BTW, if you follow the above link, it indicates that Harold Mabern is to be the pianist, but a late e-mail from the president of SFJ indicates that Hazeltine has replaced him.

All this talk about how old we were when this album was recorded. Let's be happy that Hank Jones himself is still around and doing gigs, no less!

PM sent just now. Looking forward to your BFT.

Miles Davis: Seven Steps - Complete Columbia Recordings 1963-64. I'm listening to the previously unissued version of "Bye Bye Blackbird" that the quintet (George Coleman on tenor) performed at the Antibes concert. My two favorite dates from this period remain the Tokyo concert with Rivers on tenor, followed by the Berlin concert a couple of months later in which Shorter makes his (recorded) debut with the quintet.

People in my sect, including myself, are not enamored with Mel Gibson lately, but giving credit where it's due, I thought "Apocalypto" was tremendous! Fabulous action sequences.

Thank you. This one is in my high priority list. I think I have nearly all the Hank BN sessions as a leader on King reissues except that one. Glad it is a good one as I have read mixed reviews about it. I have the Rainbow LP. Wouldn't mind parting with it at whatever a reasonable price for this LP is. By coincidence I just listened to the wonderful "There's a Lull in my Life" off the CD today.

Many thanks, Jim. That was a f***ing riot. Especially enjoyable if you've already seen the wonderful Bruno Ganz play Hitler in the film "Downfall". Very, very funny!

My father instilled in me a love for the Yanks and the Knicks as I was growing up in the '50s in Manhattan. Remain a passionate Yankee fan but can't get too excited about pro basketball anymore even if the Knicks should somehow improve. The last two decades or so I've only watched the Knicks whenever they've been able to reach the playoffs, no regular season interest whatsoever. Naturally hated the Boston Celtics growing up as they were the basketball counterpart of my beloved Yanks. Consequently, I thoroughly understand the hatred most baseball fans feel for the Yanks. Now I should have been a NY Giant fan since I was old enough to appreciate them before the AFL was even in existence, however I didn't begin to like football until I was 18 or so. At that time, a neighborhood buddy who was fanatically into football convinced me to accompany him on Saturday nights in the fall to attend AFL games at Shea Stadium. The fledgling AFL would schedule some games on Saturday night to avoid competing directly with the NFL who would only play on Sunday afternoons then. Thus my regrettable love for the Jets was born as I was there before even Joe Namath arrived. By January '69 when their only Supe appearance and tremendous upset win over the established NFL Colts occurred, I was already a season ticket holder which I am to this day even though I now live in Florida. I usually root fervently against the Cowboys ("America's team" - ugh!) and against the Giants since I received so much grief from their fans over the years growing up in NYC. Of course I hated the rival Dolphins for so many years but in the last few years I find that I can actually pull for them particularly when they are on the road and generally facing far stronger teams. However I now find that the Pats have replaced the Dolphins and any other NFL team as the one I absolutely cannot root for. This is only since the advent of the Belichick era as he jilted the Jets only to make the Pats a powerhouse. I used to root for any original AFL team to beat any original NFL team but that war ended a long time ago. As a result while I pulled for the Pats to beat the Packers in the Jan '97 Supe, I would have enthusiastically rooted for the Pack to beat the Pats this coming Supe had Favre et al been able to beat the Jints.

I never heard Tubby play better than on his New York Sessions with Clark Terry. IMHO, American rhythm sections gave him what he needed. There is one wonderful exception to what you say. In May '62, Hayes fronted a British quintet including Jimmy Deuchar on trumpet, for a live date at Ronnie Scott's in London. The material recorded is spread over two CDs, "Late Spot at Scott's" and "Down in the Village" on the ReDial label. Truly fabulous music with great arrangements - the version of "Johnny One Note" is truly hair raising (what I have left of it) - the best Hayes ever recorded IMO, and the rhythm section totally cooks. I've played this music for very knowledgeable friends and no one picks up on the fact that it's a non-American rhythm section.

I've had a bootleg video of that "Jazz 625" show for quite a few years which I recently converted to DVD. It's a 35 minute show in which the orchestra performs 6 titles including Golson's own "I Remember Clifford" and Evans' "Waltz for Debbie". My copy is of lesser video quality than the You tube clip. Anyone know a source for getting any of those "Jazz 625" shows on commercial DVD?

Yeah, I found that in a 2nd hand CD store in Portland, OR on my visit to the Northwest a couple of years ago. Had never seen the CD issue previously or since, although I still own the 2-LP set purchased oh so many years ago when I was a teenager. Shaw was such a fabulous clarinetist, all of his various bands and small group ensembles have their very great moments.

I may be rooting for the Giants (ugh!) but realistically I don't see how an 18-0 team can get to this final game before a huge national (and international) audience, with no major injuries, weather presumably not a factor whatsoever, facing a team that did lose 6 times in the regular season including one to the Pats, and somehow blow this opportunity at immortality. Give the Jints their props, be happy that Eli Manning has evolved into a bona fide NFL QB, but realistically......I can't foresee an upset. Still the game has to be played and bigger upsets have occurred (the '80 U.S. amateur hockey team over the Russian pros, for example).

My worst pro football nightmare has now come true. I'm a lifelong Jets fan who grew up in New York City where most of my relatives and friends that I still have root for the Giants. And I now have to root for the underdog Giants because there's no way I want to see Bill Belichick - "I hereby resign as HC of the NYJ" - and the Patriots win a 4th Supe with an undefeated season no less. I would root for the Taliban over the Pats.

Love reading your posts, BM. The "signature" photos are very easy on the eyes.

Actually, I found this used in a local shop for about $8 just a couple of weeks ago. Had no idea it was so OOP (though according to Amazon it isn't hard to score an import for $12 or so). It is nice, though I also wish they could find a way to release the unissued tracks. This must be the year of let's sell our copy of Sweet Rain because I just landed the cd in a local shop today for $8 and its like mint! I really like this date especially the first track 'Litha' which I believe is a Corea tune off Tones for Jones Bones/Inner Space. I've never heard Stan stretch out so much and let loose a little. "Litha" is indeed the same tune as on Chick's "...Joan's Bones" session. FWIW, the latter version with very intense solos by Woody Shaw and Joe Farrell is IMO the preferred take of this piece, but Stan's version is also excellent. Of course, it helps that the composer is contributing mightily on both versions. Great track, either date!

Two great recordings from the late '60s that I'm not sure have been released in their totality are the two that John Carter and Bobby Bradford made together for Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman Label. The first "Flight for Four" had most, but not all, of its tracks reissued on a Novus CD titled "West Coast Hot" that also contained material by Horace Tapscott. The second, "Self Determination Music" has not been reissued in the US to my knowledge. Very exciting music!

Again on LP, I have this by Hyman Bress, Rohan/Prague Symphony Orch; Supraphon label. Thumbs up.

Thanks one and all for your enthusiastic recommendations which I will pursue. While I hadn't mentioned all I had in my initial post, I do have the John Adams 1993 VC (Gidon Kremer, Kent Nagano/LSO, Nonesuch) as well as the Barber among those that were recommended. The Berg I have on an old clean Columbia LP (guess all LPs are "old" at this point) that features Krasner with Rodzinski & the Cleveland Orch - will unbuckle the turntable in view of the rapturous recommendation posted. Will then also listen to the Schoenberg which I also have on another bequeathed Columbia LP (Krasner again with Mitropoulos/PSONY), to see whether my opinion of this work has changed.

I've always dug practically all the 19th Century Romantic Violin VCs. I have a few of the early 20th C VCs, e.g., Stravinsky, Bartok, Elgar, Prokofiev, Britten, Walton. Recently, I picked up Philip Glass' VC, after having heard it featured, and (surprisingly for me) liked it, on the soundtrack of a French film I Netflixed, "La Moustache". Anyway, I would appreciate some recommendations for VCs composed within the last 40-50 or so years, preferably not those that reflect a Schoenberg or Shostakovich influence . Incidentally, the Glass version used in the film was a Naxos recording, a budget label that features many of the lesser known classical composers as well as performers and orchestras.

Glad I finally got to see him when I visited the Pacific Northwest back in the summer of '04. He and Cyrus Chestnut duetted at the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival one Sunday afternoon. Extremely enjoyable set. Aside from the music, I recall Morgan having a few very praiseworthy words about Abbey Lincoln who had preceded him on stage. A real gentleman as well as a fine saxophonist.