MartyJazz

I'll second that as I talked myself out of it being O.P. because I thought there was more happening in this piece than I'm used to hearing from him. Somebody else had guessed Phineas Newborn which I thought was pretty good because Phineas in the short time he was in his prime had all the facility of O.P. but had a lot more going on, IMO. I guess I have to give credit where it's due however, 'cause it is O.P.

OK, an enjoyable BFT. Unfortunately, I recognized more tunes than personnel, but here goes my observations: 1) “Manteca”. Always good to hear this Afro-Cuban jazz classic but unable to discern whose version this is. 2) “Have You Met Miss Jones”. A great tune that Tete Montoliu recorded more than once, however this is certainly not him. Older school, but can’t even hazard a guess. 3) Ah, a real gimmehere. One of the top quintets to appear in the mid ‘50s. I recognized the tenor first, then of course the hall of fame trumpeter. This piece is Track #2 on this. 4) “Poinciana”. Made famous by Jamal but this is not him. Love this version however. Who is it? 5) This piece is driving me nuts because I feel that I almost certainly own it. Sounds late ‘60s or thereabouts. Clean trumpet evocative of Donald Byrd. Embarrassed to admit that the pianist reminds me of early McCoy Tyner at points, Herbie Hancock at others and I never confuse these two. However, never say never. Maybe (hopefully) it’s someone influenced by both. 6) “This Could be the Start of Something Big”. At first, I thought it was Oscar Peterson because of the fleetness and facility. Then with the change of tempo, I thought it’s probably someone else because O.P., not one of my favorites, usually stays in one gear. So, I don’t know who it is. 7) Enjoyable piece. Charles Lloyd on tenor? Don’t at all recognize the trombone or trumpet. 8) “Maiden Voyage”. Don’t know who this pianist is. 9) Trumpet, soprano front line. Enjoyable. Don’t know who this is. 10) Flute, electric piano, orchestra. HAFC 11) At first, I thought it was Joe Farrell on soprano, however as I listened I was transported back to a couple of early ‘70s occasions at the Village Vanguard where I saw this drummer led group with a similar sounding saxophonist playing this piece. I have the LP in which this bright piece appears. It is Track #3 on this. 12) “I Cover the Waterfront”. Sounds like a rock vocalist trying to stretch out on something alien to her typical fare. Heavily orchestrated. Didn’t much care for this one. 13) Don’t recognize the tenor, the trumpet player nor the piano player. Nice piece. 14) “Here’s That Rainy Day”. Arrangement is too “busy” for this ballad. Alto player reminds me of Sadao Watanabe. 15) Brief jam rehearsal of “Dark Eyes”. No clue. Thanks. Had a good time with this.

I was at the Museum of Modern Art back in July '85 when Sonny performed this session that was recorded by Milestone. Lots of musicians were present in the audience, Charles McPherson for one stood on line right next to me and we had a great conversation going in. Yeah, I missed a rhythm section that evening, but Sonny's power and creativity did come through and the audience was highly appreciative. I think Sonny, whom I revere (check out my avatar) has made worse recordings for Milestone, e.g., "The Way I Feel". He must have felt like shit that day

PM sent. Looking forward to the two discs.

Received mine today. Listened to it. Good assortment. Ready to discuss.

Yeah, he did record much too much and a little of his "singing" goes a long way. But I would highly recommend the 3 Prestige CDs of his 1965 quintet (LONELY STAR, STAIRWAY TO THE STARS, and ON A MISTY NIGHT) which featured a hard bop group that included George Coleman and Kirk Lightsey. Baker comes off very well and the music is uniformly excellent. Easily my favorite Chet with possibly the addition of BABY BREEZE, a '64 session on Limelight which included Frank Strozier.

A few versions of jazz standards come to mind: 1) "Airegin" (Rollins). While the composer is my favorite tenor of the '50s & '60s, his only recorded version was done as a sideman with Miles back in '54. As such, it sounds very tame compared to the one done by Tubby Hayes: NEW YORK SESSIONS (Columbia). 2) "Gingerbread Boy" (Jimmy Heath). Love the version done by Miles-Wayne et al on MILES SMILES (Columbia) over the composer's which was done on an old Riverside session whose album title I can't recall. 3) "Stablemates" (Benny Golson). Prefer the Jackie McLean version from SWING, SWANG, SWINGIN' (Blue Note) over any done by the composer. 4) "No Smokin'" (Horace Silver). Believe it or not, Archie Shepp did a version back in '79 on A TRAY OF SILVER (Denon) that really cooks. 5) "Blue Bossa" (Kenny Dorham). Prefer the live smoking 1971 version done by Joe Henderson with a Japanese rhythm section (Milestone) over the original which Joe did with KD on the 1963 PAGE ONE session, Joe's debut for Blue Note. 6) "Moon Ray" (Artie Shaw). While I think Shaw was the greatest clarinetist ever, his mild version featured an undistinguished vocal by Helen Forrest. I prefer listening to the Roy Haynes Quartet featuring Roland Kirk version which can be found on OUT OF THE AFTERNOON (Impulse).

Kenny Dorham is not only a sorely underrated trumpet player but jazz composer as well. Very expressive and identifiable and the hero of many a young trumpet player that I've met throughout the years. Check out these compositions on a variety of Blue Note and other label CDs: Tahitian Suite La Villa Sao Paulo Lotus Blossom Sunrise in Mexico El Matador Escapade Speculate The Prophet Short Story Minor's Holiday Horn Salute Great stuff.

Was it the same Taft Jordan that played with Chick Webb big band... Whoa...

I once had the inexplicable and unforgivable nerve to put down Clark Terry (I have since re-evaluated my assessment in a much more positive direction) to Taft Jordan when I met the latter at the West End Cafe in NYC some 30 years ago. Mr. Jordan justifiably took me to task, stating "Clark Terry is terrrrrrrible" (meaning, of course that he's great). Don't know how and why I had the temerity to do it but chiefly regret that I was so wrong at that time. I guess, if you're not stupid at least some of the time, you haven't really experienced anything.

Well, it appears to me that the original poster to this thread meant to use the word "obscure" rather than "underrated". I can't think of any obscure ones who should be better known other than perhaps John Marshall whom I saw perform in a club some 15 years ago. Not aware of any CDs by him. As for underrated trumpet players, I nominate the following: Benny Bailey: BIG BRASS (Candid), a really fiery player in a 1960 session Bobby Bradford: I'm thinking of the two Flying Dutchman collaborations with John Carter (FLIGHT FOR FOUR and SELF DETERMINATION MUSIC), circa 1969 Valery Ponomarev: PROFILE (Reservoir), a '91 date with Joe Henderson Claudio Roditi: TWO OF SWORDS (Candid), a '90 date with a terrific version of the standard "Secret Love"

IMO, the best Jackie on Prestige is a date wherein he is a sideman, a true desert island disc: LIVE AT THE CAFE BOHEMIA, led by George Wallington. The charts are first rate and with McLean and Donald Byrd in the front line and P.C. and Art Taylor anchoring the rhythm section, it's a joy to listen to from start to finish.

There is always at least one track where you say to yourself, in view of the fact that one's turn to do a BFT comes up every 3+ years (if one looks at the master list), how could anyone include such a dull piece of music as this? (If I offended anyone, tell your friends).

My memory attributes that quote to Artie Shaw, but I could be wrong. Shaw could be sarcastic (especially when talking about B.G. and the clarinet) but he didn't say that about Miller. I found the reference. It was indeed Al Klink. Bill Crow in his JAZZ ANECDOTES (page ix in the Preface): "Al Klink was being interviewed by a radio disk jockey who was interested in Al's tenure on the Glenn Miller band. "'That band was never really considered one of the swing bands, was it?"' asked the interviewer. "'We were all too scared to swing,"' Al replied. After years of hearing Miller's hits revived ad nauseum, Al commented, "'Glenn should have lived, and the music should have died.'"

As someone who has subscribed to the New Yorker for years and who also has read and enjoyed GG's articles for over 30 years, I was pleasantly surprised to see Giddens' name and column in this favored magazine. However, I too couldn't fathom the link between the two men that GG labored to provide. Waller has always been a source of joy combined with impressive virtuosity while Miller.........well, what was it that Al Klink said years later when asked about the Miller sound? Something like, "Glenn should have lived and the music should have died". (Note: I think it was Klink, it may have been another saxophonist who worked with Miller).

I don't own the vinyl of this either but my CD copy is Japanese and consequently, the original cover is reproduced as are the liner notes which, of course, require a magnifying glass to read. B) Thanks for posting that Japanese site. I'll enjoy going there, I'm sure.

Thanks for posting that, Jim R. An American original LP is worth quite a bit, I would say. Looks like you have a British release or did you cop that jpg on a website?

Little known point of fact. I believe the reason that the CD is listed under McGhee's name rather than Freddie Redd is due to contractual matters that may have existed then. While the album cover does say "composed by Freddie Redd", Redd himself is listed as "I. Ching" in the personnel listing and in the original liner notes when discussing the pianist on the date.

This of course correlates with the fact that there are two complete recordings of Freddie Redd's score for "The Connection", the more famous Blue Note quartet session featuring Jackie McLean, and the lesser known Felsted quintet session that has Howard McGhee and Tina Brooks in the front line. Both highly enjoyable.

Here in southeast Florida I'm listening this evening to WLRN (91.3 FM) coming out of Miami with a wonderful birthday salute to Miles. DJ is concentrating on the two "great quintets", i.e., the mid '50s group with Trane-Red-PC-Philly Joe and the mid '60s outfit with Wayne-Herbie-Ron-Tony. Have had and enjoyed this music for years and years, but it's nice to listen to someone else do the programming besides me.

A friend of mine, Vladimir Simosko, has written a comprehensive bio-discography on Shaw and he did so with the latter's cooperation. The book is a bit pricey however ($70) - fortunately, I obtained a reviewer's copy - but done with much love for the artist and insight into his work. It can be found on the following website with an Amazon link: http://www.crimsonbird.com/cgi-bin/a.cgi?j=0810833972 Vladimir has also written a book on Eric Dolphy and is the author of several monographs on Serge Chaloff (he also wrote the booklet for the Mosaic box on Chaloff), John Gilmore and others.

Another must, must have. I love the '44-45 band with Eldridge, Marmarosa, Kessel, etc. Of all of Shaw's bands, I like this one the best even though it was nowhere near as commercially successful as the '38-39 ("Begin the Beguine") band nor the '40 with strings outfit ("Stardust"). Band is very forward looking and the arrangements are solid. I picked up this Hep 3 CD set at Artie Shaw's website. Wherever you can obtain it, do so.

These are the last recordings of who I believe was the greatest jazz clarinetist ever. As such, they are very much of the same quality as the initial Last Recordings 2 CD set and therefore worth having. Hard to believe that at the relatively young age of 44, Shaw stopped playing for good. A terrible waste as these recordings indicate that, unlike Benny to whom he was always compared, Shaw was ever the modernist and was not content to simply recapitulate an earlier style. Pick this 2-fer up!

Great, great record. Sonny's sound in the '60s is just what jazz is all about to me. Taut ferocity is the best way I can describe it - absolutely no fat content. With Don Cherry on board, Sonny stretches the boundaries as much as he ever has, and that's saying quite alot. You have to experience it for yourself. But do yourself a favor, when you play the 25 minute version of "Oleo", make sure there are empathetic souls in your household (or car) if you cannot be by yourself, and turn up the volume. It will knock you out.

Can this be obtained anywhere?