clifford_thornton

Raymond Boni & Claude Bernard - Pot-pourri Pour Parce Que - (Hat Hut)

I'll bet it was fantastic... Though his records haven't always done it for me, Byard Lancaster is a hell of a great live performer. I saw him with J.R. Mitchell and two bassists (unknown to me) and it was really, really fantastic. Rufus Harley even sat in!

I like that one. My LP copy is a little mangy though.

That is a good deal! I think I got one of his dress shirts for about that much... discounted.

Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue is excellent! Kudos to Atavistic and John Corbett for reissuing this one. I believe it's one of Ra's absolute rarest titles. I sure have never seen the vinyl offered...

Tasha Baron, pianist, is a good friend of mine. She's also in a group called Black Blondie - very hip.

I'll also pimp my All About Jazz interviews. -_- Most of them are with "free" players, and as my parents and some friends have said, the interviews really have helped them appreciate the music a lot more. All About (free) Jazz

Yeah, it either works for you or it doesn't. For me, it is often the type of thing I go for first. I cannot explain why. There is a significant amount of "thought" and "direction" given in many "free" recordings, and "free" doesn't necessarily mean free of structure, melody, harmony or rhythm. Another way to look at it is that, in many cases, it's the opposite of what bop aspires to - i.e., the structure comes from the improvisations themselves, rather than the other way around. J's point is good, too, that inside/outside artists might work well for you in getting your feet wet: Trane, Ornette, Don Cherry, early Cecil, Archie Shepp, Paul Bley, Steve Lacy, mid- to late AEC, a fair amount of Ra's work all fit into this bag. I started listening to jazz with a handful of Blue Notes, late Trane and Ayler's Bells, so you can see where I come from.

Wow!!!

What, Jim A has never pissed anyone on the board off? We all piss one another off on occasion, but I assume that we're all also adults here and can handle it. (exceptions noted) Can we talk about Arthur Doyle now?

Grateful Dead - Anthem of the Sun - (WB green label, I assume this is the 1st)

The best thing I heard Gravatt on was the Byron Morris/Gerald Wise/Byard Lancaster LP on EPI. He was really something there. Seeing him with McCoy, I thought he played too bombastically for the music - but whatever, it was still a fine performance. Cheers, C

In a Liberty pressing I think ! My copy has the Bluenote label with Division of United Artist in the spot where Liberty is usually seen. I'd never noticed this before because I friend had given it to me years ago and I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I don't think I have other examples of this old style Bluenote label with United Artist on it. The cover btw, has the 43 West 61st St. address on it. Maybe somebody could help out more with this, but as I understand it this switch occurred shortly after Transamerica/UA bought out Liberty. This was an interim label design between the blue/white Liberty label and the black/cerulean UA label. I've had the Cecil in this version, as well as a plain ol' blue/white Liberty, before settling on a NY Mono. (no, I didn't keep all three!)

Don't recall them being asked, but... It's funny - and this may be pointless now - I haven't listened to Oscar Peterson very much of my own accord, but have had his music played for me many, many times. A lot of this was early on in my jazz-listening career, where I'd already picked out the things I knew I liked - Bud, Monk, Cecil, Trane, Ayler, Ornette - and then sought out extensions of those things. That's pretty much how it has stayed. Anyway, there were many occasions where people would either play OP's records for me because I say I'm into jazz ("oh, well have you heard ____?") or they ask me/assume I'm into his music. I've heard him and he doesn't do enough for me to feel like I need to investigate further. I, personally, just don't care. It's just a matter of taste, and others are allowed theirs, so whatever. I do think that he had a respectable career, it's just not based on what I tend to enjoy the most, musically. Same goes for Pavarotti. Some people feel called out when their tastes are not to those of an opinionated few. That is an entirely different issue. Sangrey is right to say that, unless it's personal, one should feel proud enough of one's tastes to let that dissent be just what it is - dissent. Personally, I don't care if Chuck and Jim don't dig Arthur Doyle, or if Clem smack talks James Spaulding till the cows come home. I like those particular players' music a lot, they've brought countless hours of beauty and joy to me, and that's how it should be. If that's what OP has done for you, Matthew (or anybody else weighing in here), that's great - keep on keepin' on. But it shouldn't make you feel bad yourself that OP has never done that for me.

You need someone like Andrea Parkins or Pauline Oliveros. It'd be bliss!

Hope it's a good one!

Allen: I have this Smiley Winters CD that Bert Wilson put out, with Warren Gale on trumpet. There's a Gale solo on the first track that is quite fantastic from a technical standpoint, playing all these scales and fast runs that have their own internal logic as phrases, returning back in on themselves and so forth, and extremely "flashy." It used to bother me a bit - or, rather, I found it kind of boring - but enjoy the solo more now. Whether purely technical or not, he was obviously into his own thing there, and found a way that he and the structure of the tune could create something together that's pretty unique. But the thing is, it is unique and not just a mashing together of "licks," which is probably what Arturo does and certainly what you're implying OP does. And maybe that's my problem with a lot of contemporary pianists I hear. Strange that that approach bothers me less in the contexts of free jazz or bop.

Yes, one of those Liberty jacket, NY USA label mongrels. Edit to add: spinning it now!

Some thoughts: I think the appeal with Oscar applies to a lot of less-flashy but entirely "technical" pianists, in both the mainstream and avant-garde circles. But then again, figures looming as large as Cecil have been derided for being purely "technical" players, and I wonder whether they are hearing the same player that I am. What is it about OP that differentiates him from, say, Jaki Byard? I'd like to say it's something so nebulous as "soul," but how can someone with a stylistic grab-bag use that bag and "merely" use it? (note that I've listened to a helluva lot more Jaki than OP, so I could be reaching with the comparison here) Is it that, as Misha M. told me, "Monk was an architect, but Herbie Nichols was a painter..." ,implying less a disdain for Monk (architects build things that require use - like Lacy's adage that Monk created an impulse to "get to the other side") than an overarching importance of expression, gesture, quantifiable feeling that frequently is empty from a significant amount of piano-trio mood music? I was driving around with my dad this weekend, and he's a fan of piano trios - contemporary stuff, mostly - and it all has this similar and indescribably "decent" ring to it. As derided as they might be by some, at least one can pick out McCoy or Bill Evans from this stuff. Putting Nichols up next to it is a true "apples & oranges" situation, indeed. I would assume that OP probably has a bit more "soul" than somebody like Lynn Arriale, but to be honest, her trio version of "Aiko Aiko" was really getting to me in a positive way - moreso than the last OP track I can remember hearing, actually.

Alacra LPs go for about $10 a pop on eBay. I'll let you know if I see one.

Here's a point that may or may not have already been made: OP's death has obviously brought out a lot of people to weigh in on their feelings about his music, which might not have occurred to the same degree were he still alive (even on this board).

Unit Structures was a little late - 1966 - so its first edition was with New York USA labels.

Cute little gal, ain't she?

Just one left of each... Hell, I had to pay for mine!

Don't know that one, but I have his first on Alacra, called The Bell of the Heart. A relative of mine played on that date, as well as Mario Pavone's Shodo (also on Alacra - it was Pavone's label).