fasstrack

Wow. One of a kind. So long, Maude Frickert, et. al.

I was at that gig at Greene Street in 1980 the recordings were made from. I thought they sounded great. I remember they played Gil's arrangement of Summertime for Miles's Porgy and Bess, and it didn't make it to the CD. Guess they recorded a couple of nights.

I agree with Dan.

Why? Was it pulled? It's eerie to see topics get het up then suddenly disappear w/o a word of explanation.

According to IMBD there was a 2005 episode of House about a star jazz trumpet player diagnosed w/ALS. He signs a DNR but House believes the diagnosis is wrong and resusitates him.

Treme would be the first thing that comes to mind, but that whole series IIRC was based on jazz characters rather than one episode. I've never seen it. There was a pretty awful TV movie starring Burt Young as a flugelhorn player. Also a failed sitcom starring Julia Louise Dreyfuss-Watching Ellie-as a jazz singer. Best I can thing of for now and I know I didn't answer the question. I'll give it more thought.

A good read. Thanks for posting.

An NPR broadcast of an hour-long set of Tom's group Colors of a Dream. Village Vanguard, last week of March: http://www.npr.org/event/music/174986548/tom-harrells-colors-of-a-dream-live-at-the-village-vanguard

Speaking of melodrama does anyone here know anything about the trilogy I mentioned earlier or any other Shepp plays? I wonder if they were performed anywhere else. Or were they merely another product of the militant-expressionistic late '60s-early '70s?

I did have the chance, Chuck, and did thank him. I was a young, naive kid in 1972 and approached Mr. Lateef with questions and for advice as he was getting ready to go to work at the Vanguard. He took the time to address my queries seriously and spend a few minutes passing on his wisdom. I never forgot it and at the 2004 IAJE conference I ran into him again and was able to thank him. He was so gracious he just about glowed. As I said he's a special artist and human being.

Yes, amazing human being. Hope he stays around for many more years.

You got me beat by a couple of months---two old Yids

Has anyone here heard his jazz projects? Can he play? Seems like a nice guy anyway.

FWIW, probably little indeed, I may be one the few people that can claim having seen an Archie Shepp dramatic play. In fact it was a trilogy of plays by Shepp performed around 1971 at Brooklyn College. The themes were in keeping with the then-boiling cauldron of Black Nationalism and the only line I recall is (we're) ' a SIMPLE people'-repeated with dripping irony at critical points. The other thing that springs to mind re. Mr. Shepp, sadly, was though hip enough to have two people dear to me-Clarence 'C' Sharpe and his wife China (Lynn Perrault, a singer) on his recording For Losers, he torpedoed C.'s solo on I Got it Bad by playing an overbearing and unnecessary obligotto throughout it. Should've laid out. Other than the latter story I hold no truck with the talents or vision of Archie Shepp. If anyone knows something about those plays please speak up!

Beautiful tributes in Time Out NY. Thanks MJZee for posting the link.

Thanks!

Does anyone know about recordings of Webster with a Dutch pianist named Cees Slinger? I believe he's still alive and living near The Hague. I heard something on a Ben Webster special on WKCR. It was a live concert, not sure where or when, but I'm guessing it was in Holland. Anyone?

I watched an Art Ford broadcast from '58 featuring Pres yesterday. Playing Mean to Me he didn't sound bad, just uninspired and kind of spent. He looked way worse than he sounded. But he was together enough to take the horn out of his mouth in mid-solo, turn to the drummer and say 'Just some titty-boom, please.'

The Wikipedia entry on Bill Potts says: in 1956 he was the house pianist at Olivia Davis's Patio Lounge. Lester Young was booked there and Potts convinced him to record on two evenings. The result was released as the acclaimed Lester Young in Washington, D.C. 1956.

Thanks, guys. When I remembered the name Potts I was wondering if it was Bill Potts of the Jazz Soul of Porgy and Bess. Great writer. Thanks for jogging my addled memory.

I think Lester Young in Washington 1956 was the one I had. But I remember 2 LPs, and a bassist named Potts in the local band who recorded it at the Patio Lounge. Or am I confused? The 5 disc thing is throwing me off. Prezaholics straighten me out please. (Oh the joys of CRS...).

As the old joke went: you got VD-Vinyl Disease..

I couldn't open the link, but if these are the recordings from the Patio Lounge-made by the group's bassist and IIRC originally released on a twofer-then it's nice late Pres. If not, as you were...

Speaking of musicians playing with Clifford Jordan and not making it: in the mid '80s there was a predecessor to the big band he reconvened a few years later to gig and record with. This one afternoon there was a rehearsal at the Jazz Cultural Theater. Jack Wilson wrote the charts-which were polyphonic and interesting as hell-and conducted. Vernell Fournier was on drums. Since Hal Dotson never showed I either volunteered or was drafted to play some bass lines and fill out the bottom of the rhythm section a bit. Clifford pointed at me for a solo too. I think I'd worked w/Vernell already by then. Anyway the young horn players, to a person, could not keep time. I remember Jack admonishing them to listen to the drums! Smoke was coming out of Vernell's ears! Clifford was silent and I remember feeling bad for him, that one of his stature had to play with amateurs even at a rehearsal. Afterwards I said to Fournier 'a little scuffling, huh?' He replied 'a LITTLE?!!' He was pissed. No wonder that was it for that band

Weird not b/c Chuck couldn't play banjo, he could---and very well. I meant weird b/c he wasn't really a blues-type player. (Just one of the greatest guitarists to ever pick one up). In this case---with Atlantic Records---I doubt Jordan had choice over all the players. Wayne was not a weird choice for banjo but a logical one. His Wikipedia entry notes: "Wayne was born Charles Jagelka in New York City on 27 February 1923 to a Czechoslovakian family. In his youth, he became an expert on the banjo, mandolin, and balalaika." Apparently he kept up his chops. Mirage (a gem): http://www.allmusic.com/album/mirage-mw0000187988 Yes, Blame it on my Youth. James Williams, not Fred Hersch. Rufus Reid and Victor Lewis. And the Pauer tune was Fairy Tale Countryside. Excuse my advanced case of CRS. The version of Summer Serenade is a gem on this. Perfect tempo for this tune. "Blame It On My Youth" http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=art+farmer+blame+it+on+my+youth