Mark Stryker

Richard Davis turned 92 on Friday.

As the original thread starter, I should jump in to say a few things. 1. It is certainly true that a sizeable percentage of all jazz recordings have been made by studio only groups, even if various players within those bands did in fact work together a lot both on record or live. A majority of the BN catalog, for example, is comprised of records like this. 2. I did try to narrow the field by stipulating "influential, landmark or special ensembles" though in retrospect "special" in particular is in the ears and eyes of beholder and so my caveat did not serve to limit the field in the way I was hoping. 3. What I should have been more insistent about stipulating was that I was MOST interested in groups that assembled MORE THAN ONCE in the studio without ever appearing in public (or only doing so on a single occasions or two). The Hot 5/Hot 7 qualify under this standard, so does Miles' Birth of the Cool band and, I think, the Ervin/Byard/Davis/Dawson quartet that was mentioned. 4. This was not aiming toward a column about producers -- though good idea, Jim -- but rather was born of my earlier query about whether the Grant Green/Larry Young/Elvin Jones trio existed outside of the four studio LPs it made for Blue Note -- Talkin' About, Into Something (with Rivers), I Want to Hold Your Hand (with Mobley), Street of Dreams (with Hutcherson). 5. I'm glad folks seem to be having fun, and I'm enjoying listening to tracks that I either haven't heard in forever or didn't know at all -- looking especially at you, Larry. 6. Ellington/Mingus/Roach and "Money Jungle" is another one-off that qualifies, though it would be better for my purposes had they made another record together. Carry on ...

"Steamin'" -- and I know the exact moment you're talking about. The Workin' and Steamin' twofer (red cover) that came out c. 1973 was among the first records I ever bought with my own money. I was 12, maybe 13. The liner note writer on that twofer goes into some detail about "Diane."

Everything you say is true, but as someone who would pay $40 for this particular reissue -- it's my favorite Miles record by this quintet -- but who is not willing to pay $100 for it, I would only add that "better sound" that makes "old music" that you love sound "better" is absolutely a reasonable justification for parting with one's money. We all have our price. Coda: I am self-aware enough to realize that while I snicker at the fools willing to pay $100 for this record, I recognize that others are currently snickering at the fool willing to pay $40.

I think the Little/Dolphy 5 Spot band is an example of a one-off gig of a week or two that got recorded but the band never played together again on record or live. Sonny's "A Night at the Village Vanguard" is another example -- the trio with Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones only existed for the Sunday night that got recorded. I think the Booker Ervin Quartet you mention may well fit my original premise; that's particularly interesting in that it the group made multiple LPs. Another example is the Grant Green, Larry Young, Elvin Jones trio, which -- despite the thread I started earlier and references to Cuscuna and Coryell that came up -- may not have played any live gigs. (I traded messages with Michael about this is and, without getting into the weeds here, he can't completely confirm that the trio played live. As it happens, I recently traded emails with the writer Mike West, who is doing research on Andrew Hill and was asking me about a gig Hill played in Ann Arbor in early 1967 that included Sam Rivers and a bassist and drummer he was still trying to confirm.

Good one, thanks. To others: Like to see other examples of groups that made multiple recordings.

What are some of the influential, landmark or special ensembles in jazz that existed solely in the recording studio, or at most played just a few gigs. Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven -- I think the Hot Five appeared in public only once, at an event for OKeh Records. Miles' Birth of the Cool nonet played, I think, only one two-week engagement at the Royal Roost. (Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.) What else comes to mind from any era, including recent decades. Particularly interested to more than one-off recordings bands (though those certainly count) but those that perhaps made multiple recordings but still didn't exist outside the studio. Opening the floor to examples ...

As a coda to my thoughts above, I want to add that I consider the December 1949/January 1950 quartet sides with Sonny Stitt in the very top rank of Bud's work with the solos and trios mentioned previously.

Respectfully, I disagree completely. Nothing is on a a higher plane of invention -- and I mean nothing -- than the 1951 solo piano tracks (The Fruit, Dusky 'N' Sandy, Oblivion, Hallucinations, etc.) and the 1949 trios on Clef/Mercury/Verve -- Celia, Tempus fugit, Strictly Confidential, Cherokee, etc, and the Blue Note trios 1949-51. I love the recordings with horns too, and it's certainly reasonable to lament that Bud didn't record more with horns, especially later. But if I want to hear Bud's genius as an improvisor and composer at its most concentrated and expressive, I'm listening to the solos and the trios every time, and I think if you asked any student of Bud's, from Barry Harris on down, they'd say the same thing.

Apropos of this topic, I heard for the first time the other day the Bill Evans/George Russell LP on Columbia, "Living Time," taped in 1972. First of all, what a wild, unexpected recording; not sure how I missed it all these years. But the reason I bring it up here is that I noticed that David Baker is listed in the trombone section. I may have been vaguely aware that at some point his jaw healed to the point where he was able to return to the trombone, but I was not aware he had recorded on the instrument that late. Unless the personnel on the jacket is listed incorrectly.

Ten to Get you Started The Printmakers Etudes Homegrown Open on All Sides Etudes (Paul Motion/Charlie Haden) The Nurturer Twenty One The Gathering Zodiac Suite Revisited Flying Toward the Sound

Thanks for this. In Larry's autobiography, he recalls in detail hearing Green, Young, and Finch in Harlem but doesn't (as I recall) say he heard the trio with Elvin. I'll recheck this ...

Thanks.

Per Bertrand's post, if anyone has the Larry Young set on Mosaic, if you could look through the notes and see if there's a reference to the trio playing live that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Gang -- does anyone know if the trio of Grant Green, Larry Young, and Elvin Jones ever played any live gigs anywhere? If yes, can you point to some specific documentation or provide any clues that might lead me to some? Thanks.

My latest Chronology column. https://jazztimes.com/features/columns/remembering-george-adams-don-pullen-quartet/?amp

Thanks for these memories, Peter. Of course, the Broadway Capital Theatre is now the Detroit Opera House, where, as it happens, I have a meeting this afternoon concerning some freelance work with Detroit Opera (formerly Michigan Opera Theatre), which in May will be producing Anthony Davis' X, the Life and Times of Malcolm X.

From The Crimson Canary.

Coleman Hawkins, Howard McGhee, Charles Thompson, Oscar Pettiford, Denzil Best

A close reading of this gig appears in DeVeaux's "The Bird of Bebop."

Reliable sources are reporting that Ron Miles has died at 58.

Well, fwiw, I think "Notes and Tones" is one of the most important books ever published about jazz.

1994 oral history interview with Art Taylor.

In my chapter about Wilson in "Jazz from Detroit," I single out "In My Time" as the best of the Mack Avenue recordings. And pace Jim in another comment, all three of the Orchestra of the 80s records are worthwhile, but for me "Lomelin" from 1981 on Discovery is the pick of the litter.

Gang -- I'm trying to help a young friend identify a tape he heard in class. He was told it was broadcast recording from the Half Note in the late '50s. (The teacher, apparently, to be a dick, would not tell the kids who it was and made a big deal about the fact that it was a private tape in his collection.) It was apparently a tenor-trumpet quintet and the tune was Billie's Bounce in G-flat -- probably because the tape was running fast, but since I haven't heard it, I really don't know any more. Does anybody know what exactly this might be or can anyone think of something in the ballpark? Thanks in advance.