sidewinder

I have that one as two UK Stateside LPs, 60s issue. Very nice and an old favourite !

Sorry to hear this - RIP. Got the chance to meet him years ago and ask him about the Lee Morgan Lighthouse gig, very approachable guy.

Been reminiscing today about the many times over the years I've seen John Taylor play live. The first occasion might well have been at Ronnies in the 1983 Gil Evans British Orchestra lineup but it might also have been even earlier than that at Ronnies as he was in the house band for a while. One of the most memorable times in recent years was at Bath when he was due to duet with Kenny Wheeler - Kenny was ill and had to retire last minute but JT fulfilled the gig and played tribute to Kenny with a lovely performance. A great guy by all accounts. His is various collaborations with John Surman were a standout as well.

This sad news has rendered me speechless. I will really miss him out there on the live scene. What a great player he was - thankful I got to see him quite a few times, from back in the 1980s with Azimuth, then more recently with Wheeler's big band and his own trios as well. The last performance I saw was an intimate solo recital at a festival in Dorset a few years ago at a rural church location in Plush. That one was magical.. The LP of 'Pause and Think Again' will be coming out later today. I think it has just been reissued on CD as well. RIP Mr Taylor and thanks for all the good music. Huge loss for Britiash jazz.

I can only assume that it was Thigpen that Horace was thinking of and maybe his comment was mistaken.

Horace Parlan !

I wonder who the 'retired US expat drummer' is who Horace mentioned in his interview as being the only other of that wave of Danish expats still with us? The only possibility I could think of was Ed Thigpen and he passed away in 2010 I think.

That show has an impromptu appearance in the front row from Mrs Morgan..

Just broadcast on BBC World Service by the same Danish producer is this sensitive portrait of Horace Parlan, recorded in his nursing home in Denmark and at Cafe Montmatre. Archie has a cameo role via the telephone ! Horace comes across as a great survivor and bright spirit. Bizarre dream story about getting served on a jumbo jet by Eddie Lockjaw Davis as a steward ! I-Player link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02whftg

I remember originally buying the Fresh Sound set thinking that this was a reissue of the Blue Note 'Live at the Lighthouse' and being initially disappointed with the sonics. Can't argue with the quality of the music though - it's up to the standard of the Blue Note set. I subscribe to the 'Both/And' gig being the origin of this one, although that is an interesting comment above about the piano sonics - radio airshot?

Complete Horace Parlan Blue Note set - LP7 ('Happy Frame of Mind' session). I'd forgotten just how good the sonics were on this set, helped by the 180g pressing weight. Lovely !

Just put my order in for the Sam Rivers and topped it off with a Charles Tolliver Select and Harold Land's 'Take Aim'. Cutting it fine again !

Washout..

Bill - I caught Robert Fowler's gig with Karen Sharpe earlier on today - good stuff, tribute to Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. Also caught the Gilad Atzmon Orient House Ensemble, the Barnes/Atzmon encounter (great !) and the Chris Biscoe Mingus Tribute. The latter had a very fine band with Henry Lowther, Pete Hurt and Kate Williams in it. The only downer today - poured it down !

He was in the lineup last night for the Tracey Octet tribute led by Clark, which included Don Weller in the saxes - still one of our most distinctive saxophone stylists, good to see him here again. Hilarity on stage as they all fumbled on the stands with the mammoth 'concertina' scores put together by Stan. Incendiary first set and a real dillema as to whether to stay or to check out Keith Nichols Blue Devils with vocalist Joan Viskant in the other marquee. I chose to switch and thoroughly enjoyed their performance of authentic early jazz, impeccably played. Nichols and co. have become a Swanage institution - they've done this Sat night slot for at least 3 years consecutive now. Gilad/Barnes Fest and shootout reunion coming up later on...

Including a copy of the behemoth Maynard Ferguson LP set !

Yep, Gilad & co are on my itinerary on Sunday afternoon.

Just back from the night in Swanage - Barnes is on deck tomorrow, having departed from Wigan with his bucket and spade. Nice to see Jean Toussaint's Blakey Project ('Roots and Herbs') with Byron Wallen and Denis Rollins and an excellent Afro-Cuban band headed up by Andy Hague and a group of Bristol musicians including Ben Waghorn.

Happy Birthday !

Saw him on keyboards with the Gil Evans Orchestra at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester in February 1978. It was about 1982/83 I saw Gil's band - I actually had a ticket for the 1978 tour at Colston Hall, Bristol but the biggest dump of snow for many a year early 1978 meant we were all holed up in my neck of the woods. So bad that the villages all had to be supplied by helicopter. I guess it wasn't meant to be. If it was Elvin's group I saw him with, that would have been about 1980. The lineup with Pat LaBarbera.

Sad news - RIP. Pretty sure I got to see him but not sure whether it was with Elvin Jones or Gil Evans. Elvin's Jazz Machine, I think. Just read the 'Do The Math' interview. Very interesting, he was a witness to the Tokyo B29 raids.

But how likely is Ray's to sell them SOON at that price? Not very, I think..