Mark Stryker

Because Miles doesn't play on Prince's records.

Uh, what? The verbal interruptions are the whole fucking point. "Here's the CD version of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 but we've cut out the pesky scherzo because its jokey mood is inconsistent with the rest of the piece."

What did they do on the CD? I only have the LP ... Coda: I didn't realize there was so much extra music from the Golden Circle. Again, only have the LPs so never paid attention to the CDs.

Speaking of peak Jaws (and Sweets) ...

I hear what you're saying about April in Paris. It's a foundational record of the New Testament, and the band is in peak studio form. Yet I also prefer the subsequent live renditions of the key material so I find I don't return to April in Paris that often. But when I do, yeah, baby, one more time! Basie Meets Bond? With a recommendation, yeah, I believe. I'll look for it.

Yeah -- I saw your post that came about almost exactly the same time as mine, and there was significant overlap in our choices! FWIW, I talk about a bit about One More Time in this recent column on Quincy Jones. https://jazztimes.com/features/columns/chronology-quincy-jones-in-1950s/

Don't forget Thad. NEVER forget Thad.

I would not want to be without these New Testament band records. Essential in my book: Chairman of the Board Breakfast Dance and Barbecue Live at Birdland Basie One More Time Kansas City Suite Also, a slightly later record that is easy to overlook but truly fucking fantastic is Standing Ovation (Dot) -- recorded live in 1969 with Lockjaw and Sweets back on hand and playing their asses off. Band roars through New Testament classics ("Corner Pocket," "Shiny Stockings") and Old Testament staples ("Jumpin' at the Woodside," "Blue and Sentimental') arranged by Chico O'Farrill and Sammy Nestico. Harold Jones is the drummer. Seriously, this record is a total firecracker. Finally, one from 1976 that is a cut above is I Told You So -- arrangements by Bill Holman, many of them superb. Maybe the best Basie big band album of the '70s and the last great Basie album period.

This 60 Minutes piece is quite moving. It lets you see exactly what Tony can and cannot do. I would add that among the extraordinary and deeply emotional aspects of witnessing Bennett's ability to sing while otherwise barely being able to communicate due to Alzheimer's, is that at 95 his voice is still in good enough to shape physically to sing at all. So beyond the pondering the miracles of the brain and the power of music, when I see Bennett it reminds me that I don't know if any one in any idiom sang so well so late in life -- he sound so great even in his 80s -- check out the record of Jerome Kern material with the Bill Charlap Trio. He really took care of his voice. I asked him about this once, and he told me that after WWII, when he studied at the American Theatre Wing, he was taught some fairly simple bel canto warm-up vocal exercises and he continued to do them everyday of his life for about 15 minutes. They were focused on vowel sounds, and he didn't sing them full out. He basically hummed his way through them until he could feel the center of his voice. I wonder if he's still doing these daily vocal calisthenics. I bet he is. He was/is a great artist but also a PROFESSIONAL musician.

Don't have time to go through all of these at the moment, but quickly : 1) That's got to be early Jug, and with the boogie piano, I suspect this is father and son, Albert and Gene, on St. Louis Blues, c. late '40s 2) Not sure. Need more time. 3) Sounds like early Phil Woods on alto, but the tenor player is confusing me. Could be Al or Zoot but something tells me it isn't. Pres-influenced but not always supple -- some spots where his fingers and articulation aren't in sync. Maybe he was having an off day? Hungover? Might be one of those Manny Album productions as composer/arranger. Deductive reasoning suggests Eddie Costa is the vibes player. No idea who that is on guitar. 4) Hmm. First thing is I don't like it. Got a smooth '70s Latinish/fusionish vibe with the percussion and all. Was this recorded on the West Coast? Was going to guess Chuck Mangione for a minute, but then the flugelhorn played some high shit that doesn't sound like Chuck. These are jazz players -- the pianist after the 2 min mark plays some McCoyish tremolos and there's some intentional dissonance in the soprano solo. Stumped. 5) That's Airto's CTI record "Free" and Keith Jarrett's bossa "Lucky Southern." Always interesting to hear Keith as a sideman. I wish he had kept doing other folks' record dates. Ron Carter on bass -- only a few records with Jarrett and Carter together. I like the tune. Blissful D major -- but with some some harmonic bite snuck in there and enough movement to add meat to the bone. Also like the fact the performance is short, which helps keep the melody in the forefront. Did Keith ever play this with the Standards Trio? Would've made a nice encore piece in a similarly brief version.

You don't lose the skills, but they can get rusty, and I think it took a minute for Wayne;'s chops to get back up to speed in this language -- those were muscles he hadn't exercised in a while, especially compared to Freddie and Herbie. He sounds more comfortable and fluid on the subsequent albums after the black-cover double LP that was the band's coming-out party in America.

I was alerted today that there's actually video of Elvin with the Ellington! Now I want to see the rest of the concert ...

I wasn't there, but I have a bootleg tape of Frank Foster at the Blue Bird Inn in Detroit from 1950 with Tommy Flanagan, Phil Hill, and Art Mardigan.

These are amazing documents, Jim. Thanks for posting. Two quick follow-ups: Are these both from the same publication? What are the dates?

I think that's the same interview that I reference above re: Giant Steps.

OK, I won't ask Sam, but I will ask you: What did he think about modal playing? I assume you're referencing something specific e said in an interview somewhere. I do remember a Downbeat interview in which Sam made an interesting offhand comment about "Giant Steps," saying -- I'm paraphrasing -- that he wondered why people talk about "Giant Steps" as some sort of apex of difficult changes, when a song like "Con Alma" was actually harder to play over. (I assume what he meant here is that with GS, you can get away with running the changes by arpeggiating all the chords (math) and since they move every two beats you can give the impression of "melody," whereas with "Con Alma," you really can't default to change-running in that kind of highly mathematical manner.) As a coda, I would quickly add that just because you can get away with playing Giant Steps in such a vertical fashion, doesn't mean you're actually playing anything of substance or creating true melody. For more on this, see Barry Harris' fantastic youtube colloquium about "Giant Steps" where at one point he says, "I want to hear it MELODIC!" and them rips off a little more than a chorus and a half of the most sublime improvising -- carving out strikingly pure melody from the changes -- that I've ever heard on "Giant Steps." Here's just that short clip of that final moment.

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/how-john-coltranes-seattle-recording-of-a-love-supreme-was-found-thanks-to-2-local-saxophonists/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=owned_echobox_f&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR14hFjUF8HdyIUfSFjZl500F7ofsymmrqL_wDqzh1q3nSkbayXayeYTSUI#Echobox=1632154097

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Just posted in Jazz in Print ...

https://jazztimes.com/features/columns/early-bebop-education-of-howard-mcghee/

I’m writing the monthly Chronology column for them. Basically a historical focus, usually around a particular corner of someone’s career or discography, but it’s loose enough to go in any direction. I try and follow the theme of the issue — this month was “legends” so I write about Quincy Jones as an arranger for hire in the 50s. Next month was “brass” so I’ve written about McGhee in the 1940s. Following month is “drums” and I’ve gone a little broader and written about Peter Washington and Kenny Washington as a team. They’ve been posting them online ... https://jazztimes.com/author/mark-stryker/

Without disagreeing at all with the Dizzy/Miles/Fats taxonomy of creating separate schools, I would just add an adjacent footnote that Howard McGhee is the forgotten man of the bebop era -- Dizzy, Maggie, and Fats were the true first generation bebop trumpeters. (I think of Miles as a half-generation behind those three.) Maggie didn't start a school of course; he came of the Eldridge/Dizzy line -- but that motherfucker could PLAY as far back as the Andy Kirk band, where a section mate for a bit was Fats, who always said he got a lot from McGhee. My next Jazz Times column takes a close look at McGhee in the ‘40s. Carry on. Re: Clifford Short list of the greatest improvisations captured on tape. His second bridge (!!) is among my favorite eight bars in music.

I always thought that "Disco Monk" was a real low point for Sonny -- dorky, obvious pandering to the most hoary commercial style of the moment and all that -- and I couldn't figure out why the disco part of the track was connected to what otherwise was quite lovely ballad playing. But a few years ago in a multi-contributor Twitter conversation about disco tracks by jazz and jazz -adjacent musicians, Sonny's longtime publicist Terri Hinte suggested an alternate interpretation that I've come around to -- that the disco part of the tune is actually affectionate satire, a playful nod to Monk's own humor and quirkiness by parodying the au currant style, but that the ballad sections are sincere expressions of Sonny's true feelings for Monk, who of course was still alive in 1979. .

To me, this is THE Bunky Green record. Also, add to the 1979 list: Roland Hanna, "Swing Me Now Waltzes" -- also for me THE Roland Hanna record.

Please read saxophonist Tim Ries' remembrance of Charlie that was posted today, So glad NPR (presumably Nate Chinen) asked him to do this. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1033382555/charlie-watts-jazz-remembrance-rolling-stones