sidewinder

This lot were bad enough..😂😂

Moe Koffman was (on flute) a already a Toronto jazz institution - his appearance at that Festival was at George's Spaghetti House, almost his second home. Loose Tubes were a young UK big band of that era, appearing in Toronto as part of a North American tour. Key artists were Django Bates, Ian Ballamy, drummer Martin France and guitarist John Paricelli. I'd already seen them a year or two before at the Bath Festival. The John Lewis recital on solo piano was amazing - at Cafe Des Copains. Due to lack of seating I ended up standing right next to John at his keyboard for a close-up view. He was enjoying every minute of it. Joe Henderson performed with a Canadian trio at 'Top O' The Senator'. Such a distinctive sound, like no-one else. 'Hollow-bored' is how I would describe it. Didn't see the Herbie Mann with Jackie and Roy but I could hear it from outside the club when I walked past. Wish I'd seen it now ! Tony Williams Quintet (Wallace Roney, Charnett Moffett, Mulgrew Miller, Bill Pierce) were amazing - and loud. Tried to have a brief chat with Tony after the performance side-stage when he was sat having a cigarette and looking knackered but he was distinctly unfriendly ! Most unusual in my experience with talking to jazz musicians - caught him at the wrong time I guess. Sun Ra in his performance at Roy Thompson Hall played an astonishing 4 or 5 sets - started around 8 with the procession onto the stage with June Tyson and holding some sort of 'holy orb' and went on until way after midnight with breaks for the band to sell LPs ! Separate sets of Walt Disney and Fletcher Henderson tributes. I was left gobsmacked and very impressed after this one.

Tootie's playing on those two Herbie albums sprung to mind for me too - outstanding and a highlight in both cases.

Back in 1989 they had free concerts by Tony Williams Quintet, Loose Tubes in Nathan Philips Square and concert/club performances by Sun Ra, Herbie Mann, Jackie and Roy, Mo Kofmann, Phil Woods Quintet, Red Rodney, John Lewis plus many others that I have now forgotten. Might have included Joe Henderson too but maybe that was 1990 (unforgettable, nevertheless). Those were the days! Feels like a very different world now. It's a fair while since I have seen Herbie but he usually plays his electronic keyboards I think. I would put money on it that he slips in a performance of 'Butterfly'.

Horace Silver 'Retrospective' CDs 3 and 4.

Have been spinning that set myself over the last week or so. Great set ! Currently spinning Jimmy Heath Orchestra 'Really Big !' (OJC CD). BillF's old disk lives on, lovely stuff. On drums - Albert Heath (RIP).

I saw him with McCoy Tyner back in the 80s, excellent drummer. RIP. Got the feeling I might also have seen him with Jimmy Heath in the 90s but not totally sure.

Mel Brown 'Chicken Fat' (Impulse UMG reissue).

It would have been broadcast on BBC2, which was a 'new' channel that year. 'Jazz 625' was their jazz flagship show in 1964/65 (funding and support didn't last, familiar tale).

Looks like Bob Efford on tenor and Johnny Scott on alto and flute also in the sax lineup. Bob Burns from the 'Directions In Jazz Unit' on alto. Beats me why the BBC don't regularly re-broadcast this stuff instead of hiding it away ! Just this weekend they re-broadcast a 1965 Ella Fitzgerald special with the Johnnie Spence Orchestra also featuring Tubby in his prime. Efford and Scott were in that one too. There was about 5 and 1/2 hours of live Ella broadcast, much of it with the Tommy Flanagan Trio.

Same here !

Not a reissue but I see that coming up here in the UK is a tribute concert in memory of the late Bobby Wellins, to be held at University of Chichester on 12 April, I think. The first half will be a viewing of the film 'Dreams Are Free' starring Bobby and second half a live performance of the Wellins Quartet lineup featuring Mornington Lockett in place of Wellins. A bit of a drive but - very tempting !

Cheers 👍

Yes, those are the two I think. Thanks for that- I'll earmark them for the next visit.

Looked like a nice copy, an unexpected sighting of what is a beautiful LP. I ended up consoling myself with a nice Japanese pressing of Chris Connor 'At The Village Gate'. At £8 it fitted my retiree budget ! The shop also had a couple of Ann Burton Japanese Sony LPs. I seem to recall that you are an Ann Burton fan @Soulpope - recommended?

I didn't buy it but perusing a local shop today, they had an original copy of the Rendell/Carr Quintet 'Dusk Fire' for sale. Only £850 !

Hopefully this series will be completed and ready for shipping this year ! It is beginning to drag on now.

The only time I ever witnessed totality was at the Stonehenge circle in 1999/2000. Actually wasn't quite totality in clouded conditions but the sky went dark, resident crows stopped their bird noise and the atmosphere over Salisbury Plain was incredible !

For me, hard to argue against the masterpiece which is the Booker Little album. First acquainted with it as 'The Legendary Quartet Album' on Island Records.

From memory, Bill witnessed what seemed to be just about everything that was in Bill Birch's Manchester Jazz book covering approx 1960-1975 and a fair bit locally that wasn't mentioned in the book plus forays across the Pennines to stuff such as JATP tour dates at Leeds and Bradford.

Thanks for that - sounds good ! I have all of the Dexters on LP but these days I am getting lazy and spinning more CDs.

Sadly, the BBC these days isn't so adventurous with its musical documentary output, BBC4 mainly doing repeats of old stuff. Endless reruns of Queen, Johnny Cash etc. On the plus side, they have recently unearthed some really good art repeats e.g. Anita Bookner from 1981 talking about great artworks. Stuff like that I missed the first time round.

Sounds logical ! Just listened again to that 6CD set again recently. Very enjoyable and the sound is not bad at all. I'm tempted to get the similar Dexter Gordon set.

Just checked the 6CD Herbie Complete Blue Note box and all of those alternates seem to be included.

A nice set which I need to play more often. Recommended !