Mark Stryker

Gang, I'm trying to identify the soloists on the 1938 version of Mary Lou Williams' "Mary's Idea" recorded by Andy Kirk and Clouds of Joy. Does anyone have an issue that these who they are? Many thanks in advance.

Roy was actually my first thought ...

Hmm. Maybe? The more I look, the more this seems like a possibility.

Can anyone identify the guy with Miles Davis is this 1966 photo by Louis Draper?. The pictures is in the archives of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Thanks ...

Excellent record.

From 1979. “Coltrane had a black following while most of the avant-garde didn’t because Elvin Jones had orchestrated the triplet blues beat into a sophisticated style that pivoted on the boody­-butt sway of black dance. In tandem, Col­trane and Jones created a saxophone and drum team that reached way back to the sax­ophone of the sanctified church shouting over the clicking of those sisters’ heels on the floor and the jingling, slapping pulsation of tambourines. The sound was lifted even higher by the antiphonal chants of the piano and bass played by McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Garrison, whose percussive phrasing helped extend Jones’s drumming into tonal areas. In fact, one could say that both Coltrane and Coleman were the most sophisticated of blues shouters. Yet Coltrane’s fascination with African music gave him an edge, for he was to discover in his own way the relationship between harmonic simplicity and rhythmic complexity held together by repeated figures played on the bass and piano. In fact, one could say that the actual time or the central pulsation was marked by the piano and bass while the complex variations were made by saxophone and drums. “What made Coltrane’s conception so significant was that it coincided with the interest in African or African-related dance rhythms and percussion that has been re­vived at the end of each decade for the last 40 years. One saxophone player even told me that the first time he heard Coltrane, around 1961, he thought that a new kind of Latin jazz was being invented. I recall, too, that during those high school years the mambo and the cha-cha were gauntlets of elegance. Norman Whitfield’s writing at Motown for the Temptations and Marvin Gaye leaned on congas and bongos, and the dance power of the drums came to the fore, sometimes light­ly and elegantly, as in the bossa nova. The very nature of most black African music, which is layers of rhythm in timbral and me­lodic counterpoint, and the exploration of the blues were the sources of the dominant aes­thetic directions in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock. For the jazz players those reinvestigations of roots called for the kinds of virtuosity developed by Elvin Jones and Tony Williams if another level of polyrhythm was to be achieved; James Brown’s big band, while alluding to Gillespie and Basie, evolved a style in which guitars became percussive to­nal instruments staggered against chanting bass lines, two drummers, and arrangements that were riffish, percussive, antiphonal; rock players began to investigate the electronic textures and contrapuntal possibilities of Point overdubbing.” https://www.villagevoice.com/2019/09/03/black-music-bringing-atlantis-up-to-the-top/?fbclid=IwAR0BDrvQ1XB7hi_T2axPJ2u0coldlF42Sd185cHmgu1ahqxlr5qg28iCHhQ

I don't, but I'm afraid the answer would likely be not very far. I think it wasn't all that long after Vol. 1 came out that he was over taken by various maladies and eventually stopped working altogether.

Sadly, there is no Vol. 2 and will not be — the Amazon listing is the result of a technological and publisher glitch dating back to the publication of Vol 1.

Yes, I was co-signing his post. Did Gilmore ever come back to Chicago as a single to play clubs etc?

Yes, should've added Hill's "Andrew!" and "Compulsion" to my short list. I also like the Freddie Hubbard record, "The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard," for hearing Gilmore with a more mainstream rhythm section. Seriously, though, does anyone know why he never recorded as a leader?

Well, the crazy think about Gilmore is that, discounting the 1957 Blue Note session that he co-led with Clifford Jordan, Gilmore never made a recording under his own name. How does that even happen, even for a self-effacing player who obviously shied away from the spotlight? Fascinating musician and a unique voice -- Trane said in an interview he was a direct influence on "Chasin' the Trane." Lots of dark mysteries in Gilmore's sound, rhythm, note choices, articulation, and texture. Two quartet records (saxophone plus rhythm) where he gets a lot of space and to which I return frequently: Pete LaRoca's "Turkish Women at the Bath" (1967). Quartet with Chick Corea on piano and Walter Book on bass Paul Bley's "Turning Point," quartet with Peacock and Motian (1964)..

Maybe! When is she coming and what will she be doing?

This is such a significant cultural news story for Detroit that I came off the bench to write it up for my former paper. https://www.freep.com/in-depth/entertainment/arts/2020/09/09/yuval-sharon-michigan-opera-theatre/5745244002/

FWIW, I created a fun Twitter thread today of 25 great live performances by Sonny. You can see it here:

With official confirmation, I've once again added R.I.P. to the thread title. I note that the obituary says the family confirmed a Friday death, which means that Jack DeJohnette's initial posting was not wrong -- but suggests he was probably out in front of the family's wishes and that is what caused the confusion.

Given the continuing uncertainty, I removed the R.I.P. designation from the thread heading ...

Jack DeJohnette is reporting on Twitter that Gary Peacock has died.

Bob Hurst’s band Black Currant Jam is exceptional. I think they play Sunday night.

Tonight through Monday. Free streaming. Not the same as usual but strikingly ambitious and way more than anyone else has been able to do. https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2020/09/04/detroit-jazz-fest-virtual-event/5704841002/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/arts/music/jazz-protest-academia.html

Re: Danny Moore. He also gets solo space with tje George Coleman's Octet on "Big George," which a tremendous record.

This is sad news. I didn't know Mark -- met him just once or twice -- but my brother Michael was close to him. Mark was really beloved by everyone on the Chicago scene.Apparently just a beautiful guy. R.I.P

Possible that the best bet for material like this going forward would be part of the fancy Blue Note subscription boxes, which I believe have sold well int heir niche.

Thanks for this. Looking forward to listening. I got to know vibraphonist Jack Brokensha from the Australian Jazz Quartet pretty well when I moved to Detroit in '95. Among other things, Jack had home movies taken on the package tours that included the AJQ, Miles Davis Quintet and many others. No sound to the movies (alas) but great shots of a relaxed Miles etc.

Well, we've all been down this road before and kicked this topic around quite a bit in other threads, so I won't try to talk anyone out of their honest and well-considered opinions, other than to say I disagree.