sidewinder

A pleasure !

Pressing quality is usually pretty good though and they have that nice Vertigo 'swirl' on one side..

Betty Carter Jimmy Carter Charles Mingus

Clifford - like many of the Vertigos its quite a tough one to find. Took me ages to find one but this copy appeared yesterday at £8 ( ). Sleeve not the greatest but vinyl not bad at all after the VPI treatment.

Only after Caiman have listed the Euro-box

I think Living is on LJCO "Ode" as well (as are most players of the period, it seems); haven't heard much of his soloing, though. What's he like in a stripped-down context? ← Quite fiery - very similar to his work of this vintage with Mike Westbrook. He's also featured on flute and Harry Beckett takes a couple of trumpet solos.

Yes, there are several inaccuracies in this obituary. Freddie Redd appears as 'Freddy Redd' as well. At least they tried..

From my copy of the Daily Telegraph 'Book of Obituaries' ('Eccentric Lives' edition): Pannonica de Koenigswarter, who has died in New York aged 74, was the daughter of a British Rothschild and the wife of a French diplomat, but rejected her native milieu to become a notable patron of jazz. She was known as the 'Bebop Baroness', as her friends and beneficiaries were leading exponents of the Bebop school which revolutionised the American jazz scene in the 1940s and 1950s. They included Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Charlie 'Bird' Parker - who spent his last hours in 'Nica' Koenigswarter's Manhattan apartment. Themedical report on Parker indicated that his death was due to an excess of drugs and alcohol; that he was a jazzman and she a baroness provided a heady mixture for the press. The headlines included 'BOP KING DIES IN HEIRESS'S FLAT' and 'THE BIRD IN THE BARONESS'S BOUDOIR'. She featured in all the books on Parker and is portrayed by Diana Salinger in the Clint Eastwood film 'Bird'. She is also seen in 'Straight, No Chaser', a documentary about Thelonious Monk - in which she comes across as a lively and beautiful woman, her cut-glass accent, without a trace of Transatlantic overtones, contrasting starkly with Monk's unintelligible mumblings. The Baroness was witty, sardonic and outspoken. She painted abtruse canvases, using a mixture of acrylic, milk, scotch whiskey and scent; she was fascinated by African sculpture, Afro-American music and negritude generally. She dressed casually in highly expensive clothes. Her Rolls-Royce (which she described as her 'Silver Sparrow'), her furs and gold pocket-flask were familiar to the habitues of the jazz clubs in Greenwich Village and Harlem. The eccentric Monk was her closest associate, and he recorded 'Pannonica' as a dedication to his benefactress; other dedications were 'Nica Steps Out' by pianist Freddie Redd and 'Nica's Dream' by alto-saxophonist Gigi Gryce. It was Monk who introduced her to Parker, who was much impressed by this unexpected vision of haute Bohemia, by the Baroness's politeness in dealing with servants and her casual handling of complaints by her outraged landlords. He was amused too, to find in the Fifth Avenue salon of this eccentric aristocrat a haven from the pressures of poverty, the hostility of the critics and the attentions of the Narcotics Squad. Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild was born in 1913, the youngest daughter of the banker Nathaniel Charles Rothschild - and a sister of the late Lord Rothschild, another notable jazz enthusiast, and of the naturalist Miriam Rothschild. Pannonica had a conventional upper-class childhood, attending a finishing school in Paris and a coming-out ball in London but she showed early signs of atypical behaviour by becoming an aviatrix. She met her husband-to-be, Col Baron Jules de Koenigswarter, Minister Plenipotentiary at the French Embassy in New York, at Le Touquet Airport. They were married in 1935 and had five cildren; the marriage was dissolved in 1956. During the Second World War the Baroness was variously a decoder with Gen. de Gaulle's intelligence service, a private in the Free French Army, a broadcaster from a propaganda station in Brazzaville, Equatorial French Africa and later a driver for the War Graves Commission. In 1951, bored with life as a diplomat's wife at the French Embassy in Mexico City, she left her husband and took up residence in a luxuriously-furnished suite at the Hotel Stanhope on New York's Fifth Avenue, which soon became a 'crash pad' for a number of black jazz musicians. Thelonious Monk was often to be seen in the hotel lobby wearing a red shirt, deer-stalker hat, dark glasses and carrying a white cane, much to the disgust of the other excessively respectable residents who complained to the management, adding to the many complaints about jam sessions going on until the early hours of the morning. An annoyed but respectful management doubled her rent - a matter of little import to a Rothschild. It was Monk who persuaded her to abandon hotel life, with its tiresome constraints on the playing of Bebop jazz throughout the night, and together they moved to an apartment overlooking the Hudson River. Since Monk's death in 1982 she had been virtually a recluse, living with an assortment of cats. December 10th 1988 Incredible !

Just dusting off the Teddy Wilson LP set for the afternoon..

Thanks for your thoughts on this one. I'll snag it next time I see it.

I suspect that this might well have been taped at 'Dingwalls', which had regular jazz dance sessions at the time, mainly featuring the classic Blue Note grooves of Blakey, Silver etc.

Michael - I have a VHS of that show which was broadcast many years ago by BBC2 on one of their 'Jazz Weeks' (possibly late 1980s/early 1990s). I think it was called 'Art Blakey - Jazz Messenger' over here. Members of the (then very young and up and coming) Jazz Warriors such as Courtney Pine, Philip Bent and Orphy Robinson were extensively featured, including the London live performance (at Camden I assume?). From my memory there is also good interview footage with Bobby Watson (they play an arrangement of one of his tunes), Curtis Fuller, Walter Davis Jr and Oscar Brown Jr ('Dat Dere' is sung whilst Blakey plays with his kids in the park - can't recall seeing Big Black). There's also footage of a London drum clinnic featuring Blakey and an interview with Wayne Shorter. Also a short and very grainy B&W clip of Lee Morgan, Shorter and Blakey playing 'Night In Tunisia' in a Paris concert (I wonder if Brownie was there? ) A good show !

Good old Anglo-Saxon founding principle of common law, goes back over 1500 years.

The Nolan Sisters ( ) Sister Sledge Percy Sledge

Sidney MOR = 'Middle of the Road' by the way

Bud Johnson Jack Johnson Wynton Marsalis ( )

The Don Rendell 'Playtime' comes from the late 50s I believe and has Ronnie Ross on it so I suspect it should be a must-buy on the basis of these two artists alone. I may take a punt on this one myself. Maybe Tooter might have a few thoughts on the music therein?

I have the Keane 'Dig It' on an original LP. It's very MOR, typical late 60s fare with sprinklings of harpsichords, Austin Powers like touches and tune selection. Don't expect great jazz - but it's a nice period piece. Arrangements are by 'Ivor Raymonde', who apparently arranged quite a few of these MOR sessions for Decca Phase 2. If you do a search on AAJ you will see that we have already been discussing the life and times of Ivor ( ). To my mind the guitar player who is quite noticeable on 'Chain of Fools' sounds suspiciously like a young Johnny McLaughlin. Worth a punt, if you are into Shake ! Harriott/Keane Quintet it aint though..

You can order them direct from Dutton Vocalion Site

Heard a couple of tracks of this in Borders yesterday. Sounds excellent and very 'tight' - one to add to the list !

'Dutton' is Mick Dutton, the owner of Dutton Laboratories Ltd of Watford UK who put out the 'Dutton Vocalion' reissues. Vocalion name taken from the old label of that name (of which they have released many titles, sort of 50s Brit MOR stuff ). This sort of thing: 'CDLK 4205 Vera Lynn: Singles compilation - Come back to me CDLK 4204 Edmundo Ros: Ros on Broadway & Ros on Broadway again' They have been licensed to issue a whole batch of rare 60s/70s jazz Derams and Argos, which originally came under the 'Decca' umbrella (ie. Universal). Glad my order of the 'Forum' came through OK

William of Orange Prince William Prince

I'd no idea that it was a TOCJ ! At present I survive with my French Pathe Macaroni LP version of this session but must head to shop tomorrow to grab this beut.. It's £5

Orville The Duck Donald 'Duck' Harrison George Harrison