Mark Stryker

Pace Soulpope and Peter Friedman above, McPherson's "Today's Man" is tremendous -- definitely the best of his Mainstream LPs and "Stranger in Paradise" is one of his best single performances on record -- astounding three choruses of flowing melody with Barry Harris, Lawrence Evans and Billy Higgins right on his tail.

With so much sadness to deal with recently, I thought the board could use a smile. This Sheila Jordan Facebook post today worked for me. ---- "Just got off the phone with my buddy from the 50's Sonny Rollins. Our calls last over an hour because we talk about the old days and the new days. ... He's doing fine. He has such a positive attitude about everything. We always sing songs together. Love singing with him and he knows all the lyrics to the tunes. Like Bird did. I like to test him. I will sing a very obscure tune and he always joins in knowing the melody and the lyrics too. What a great human being Sonny is. Love to all...Sheila"

Here's a 2009 piece I wrote about George for the Detroit Free Press. Unfortunately, he suffered a stroke recently and his health isn't good at the moment. But he is still with us. Nice man too. LOCAL MUSIC SPOTLIGHT: GEORGE BENSON BYLINE: MARK STRYKER SECTION: FTR; PLAY; Pg. 15 LENGTH: 641 words THE LOWDOWN: One of the great unsung heroes of Detroit jazz, saxophonist George Benson, 80, is being honored Saturday by the Southeastern Michigan Jazz Association with its Ron Brooks Award for his contributions to jazz in Detroit. THE SOUND: Classic bebop. Benson is a traditionalist who swings joyously through standards, croons ballads with breathy passion and digs deeply into the blues with a soulful wail. On both tenor and alto, he plays with a tone as thick and juicy as 2-inch sirloin, and his improvisations arrive in clearly enunciated phrases that reflect his high-level craftsmanship. "I've never believed in glossing over things and not trying to do everything correctly," says Benson. "Playing the correct chord changes, playing the melody the right way." Benson's early influences included alto saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. Benson later plugged into bebop, the emerging modern style spearheaded by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. He developed a particular fondness for Sonny Stitt, who like Benson played both alto and tenor and channeled Parker's ideas into a chin-first strut and lickety-split attack. "Sonny and I had a battle at the Blue Bird one time," says Benson. "He won, but I loved him. He was such an articulate player." THE BEGINNINGS: Born in Detroit, Benson was 11 when he discovered his late uncle's C-melody saxophone in the attic. He started studying at school and soon acquired his own alto. He began playing in a school dance band in seventh grade and was working around town while in high school. THE GIG: Unlike so many of his peers, Benson remained anchored in Detroit rather than move to New York. With a wife and children to support, he felt Detroit was his best option. He always worked a day gig - a decade on an assembly line with Massey Ferguson building tractors, before working as a mail carrier from 1967-1993. At the same time, he was working clubs five or six nights a week. "It was hard," he says. "My wife had to wake me up and tell me which job I had to get dressed for because I didn't get much sleep." THE BREAKS: In Detroit, Benson made a record of "The Nearness of You" and "Begin the Beguine" that was released in 1951 on Regent, which was owned by Herman Lubinsky, who also owned the more famous Savoy label. The record sold well enough that Lubinsky asked Benson to come to New York for a follow-up, but by then Benson was in the Army and opportunity slipped away. THE PROFESSIONAL: Benson developed a reputation as one of the most reliable musicians on the Detroit scene. He shows up on time and takes care of business on and off the bandstand. "I've always been one to play what the people wanted to hear," he says. "That's why I worked all the time. People come out to hear you play and pay their hard-earned money, and you should give them what they want." THE DOPPELGANGER: The saxophonist Benson is forever being mistaken for the other George Benson, the famous jazz guitarist. They usually say, "I've got all your records." The funniest incident, however, came when the city of Detroit once sent the deed to Benson's home to the guitarist in New York. THE TRUTH: "I felt proud of the guys that went to New York and did well and knowing that I had played with them here. I was proud of them, but I thought that if I had gone to New York I would have made it too."

I offered this on Facebook: I'm heartbroken over the tragic death from cancer of Detroit native Geri Allen, a profound and influential pianist, composer and conceptualist. She was only 60. Her passing is awful news not only for her family, friends and the wider jazz community, but also for Detroit, where she was revered as a contemporary embodiment of the city's rich jazz legacy and a musician who took extraordinary pride in her local roots. A graduate of Cass Tech — the same high school that produced Gerald Wilson, Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, Ron Carter and others — she was one of the first and most important young musicians to come up under the wing of the late trumpeter and legendary mentor Marcus Belgrave. When she began to get famous, she championed Detroit in interviews, talked up Belgrave's influence and used Detroit musicians on some of her early recordings. Geri drew strength and inspiration from her hometown during her entire career, and just last year took on the role of artistic director of the Carr Center, a downtown Detroit arts organization that primarily champions African-American culture and has a strong arts education program. Geri saw her appointment as coming full circle, a way she could give back to the community that had nurtured her. It gave Detroiters one more reason to love her — not that anyone here needed another reason. The physical body dies, but the music and spirit do not. This poem by the late Michael Harper -- an African-American poet whose work I bet Geri knew -- gives comfort. "The Essential Tree" Greatness in life is in spending it for something that will outlast life, and be life renewed in other lives: the death of death is illusory; the death of life an enigma. -- Michael Harper

Thanks guys. Yeah, I noticed the price on the Ebay set -- excellent value, especially considering the remarkably quality of the music. Anyone who doesn't have this music should jump at that price.

Gang: How many LPs were in the Treasury Shows series as originally released on D.E.T.S. in the plain white sleeves? And does anyone know when these LPs were released? I just acquired nearly the whole series at a fantastic price. A few gaps in the set that I'll have to fill in, but not that many ...

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/12/532634238/2018-nea-jazz-masters-class-honorees-include-dianne-reeves-pat-metheny

What I'm most interested in are additional tracks from the sessions that led to "The Standard Sonny Rollins," which as I have gotten older has become pretty much my favorite "official record company" Sonny after "LIve at the Village Vanguard." I also would LOVE to hear the session reels to see if whole takes remain of the stuff that got heavily edited such as "Three Little Words." Tom Lord Discography lists these tunes as unissued from June and July 1964. "LIttle Girl Blue," "Nothing ever changes my love for you," "Look for the silver lining," "Love look away," "Deep in a Dream," "Love Walked In," "Masquerade," "I Like the Likes of You," "When I Fall in Love," Has anybody ever heard any of those tracks?

If folks haven't seen Iverson's interview with George Walker from several years ago, it's here: https://ethaniverson.com/interview-with-george-walker/

Goes deep ... https://ethaniverson.com/interview-with-james-newton/

Have never seen any evidence of this. From Michelle Mercer's bio of Wayne, it appears he wasn't on Blakey's radar until July 1959 in Toronto, when Lee Morgan facilitated him coming into the band.(Wayne's first gig with Blakey was Aug. 1 in French Lick, Ind. Mercer says Hank's unreliability had become a problem and he had not shown up for the gig at the festival in Toronto where the Messengers were part of the bill with Maynard's big band in which Wayne was playing. Judging from the dates of recordings, Golson was with the band at least until late December 1958 for European gigs, Hank joined sometime before March '59 , because the Messengers recorded a rejected date for BN on 3/18. The live Birdland recordings were made on 4/15 and Hank there's an airshot of the band's July 4 appearance at Newport with Mobley still on board. That's at least a five month stay (perhaps as much as seven) including studio and live recordings -- also arguments against a placeholder status.

Yes, of course. Thanks for the reminder. I forgot that Hank snuck back in their briefly, before Wayne came aboard.

Dan -- what year was that that Eddie was offered the job?

Once the band got established, the personal was among the most stable in jazz for any band of more than three people. From 1959-61, the only real change was Timmons leaving and then returning. From 1961-64, once Freddie replaced Lee, Cedar replaced Timmons and Curtis came aboard, there were no changes except for Workman replacing Merritt. In fact, going back to '58, the band was intact, save Golson for Shorter. Now, as to what kind of crazy shit was happening between 1956-58, that was certainly an environment in a lot of flux. Coda: Are we sure Shorter took over as musical director for Golson? Wayne was definitely in charge of the music for the sextet with Freddie and Curtis, but I wonder if Morgan succeeded Golson at first. Too lazy to look it up. Someone please get on that. Thanks in advance.

I heard him conduct the Detroit Symphony maybe a decade ago and recall a warm and rustic-sounding New World Symphony -- less driven and bold than you often hear and more what I'd consider Old World/Czech in character. I don't know his recordings, however.

Thanks for the overview guys. Appreciate it.

Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

Question: What are generally recognized as the first attempts at fusing jazz and hip hop/rap? Not looking to start a long discussion on the topic but am interested in dating the attempts to bring the genres together and I'm frankly not exactly sure where ground zero actually is..

Coda: 2: As to Jim's question above, I can't think of any Wynton Kelly appearance on Blue Note after 1961, but Paul Chambers did appear post-61 (and as late as '66) with Hancock, Mobley and Morgan. It is true thought that Chambers' appearances slow dramatically after '61, but his overall recording slowed down too and not just with BN. That's reasonable -- as I said, it's slippery and it's not binary. Volume, texture, density, color, interaction are all independent variables and it's cumulative effect that creates the degree of what registers as aggression. My larger point is that I don't think Cobb's aggressiveness on its own would be the factor that would get him kicked off the Blue Note Island.

I understood what Larry was saying, but I would disagree that there was significant enough difference in aggressiveness to be determinative as it related to Lion preferring all of the other drummers in his stable. On the broadly defined "scale of aggression," I would say that of the Blue Note drummers, Blakey, Philly Joe and Elvin were generally more aggressive than Cobb, but that Cobb and Hayes were about equal and Cobb was more aggressive than Higgins and Harewood. Of course, these are slippery generalities. Still, I would also note that Cobb could bash the shit out of the drums when he was wanted to. Miles at Newport in '58 is exhibit A for the defense. Granted, Cobb did not play like this all the time, but holy shit ... Coda: What would be the unit of measure on the "scale-of-aggression." Would we say that Philly Joe is "two Elvins" more aggressive than Cobb?

How is it possible that Jimmy Cobb, among the most recorded drummers of the hard bop era in the 1950s and '60s only appears on only one Blue Note LP? Two tracks on Detroiter Sonny Red's "Out of the Blue" that were taped on Jan. 23, 1960. Totally weird. Could he and Alfred Lion have gotten off on the wrong foot?

"... hundreds of recordings from Mr. Rollins' rehearsals and practice sessions ..."

Did the circle get closed on this for everyone?

I spoke at length yesterday with Jerry Dodgion to try and get some clarity about some issues regarding "Big Band Modern" that have come up in research for my book. Reporting what he said here because I know that if I care about these details then so will you guys. Jerry was just 21 when he appeared on the record. He'll be 85 in August (on Bird's birthday, the 29th) and wasn't as sharp as when I've spoken with him in the past. But he seemed sure on a number of points, some of which contradict the discographies, including Lord and what's on some of the CDs. 1. The flute soloist on "Lotus Land" is Bill Green. Jerry himself is the flute soloist on "Algerian Fantasy." 2. The trumpet soloist on "Bull Fighter" is likely Allen Smith. 3. The sessions took place in Los Angeles over the course of a couple of days while the band was playing a full week somewhere -- he couldn't remember the club. 4. Contrary to discographies: (a) Clark Terry is not on the record; Jerry says he didn't meet Clark until later, (b) The baritone saxophonist is Harold Wylie (whose only recorded appearance according to Lord is with Brew Moore in 1957. (c) Bill Green played second alto; Jerry played lead alto. (d) The presence of Paul Gonsalves remains a bit of a mystery. It's obviously Paul playing the tenor solo on "Romance," but Jerry said he was not actually in the band and doesn't even remember him in the studio or meeting him at the time. On another front, if folks don't know, three of the compositions on "Big Band Modern" are on borrowed themes. "Lotus Land" is by English composer Cyril Scott, "Romance" is an adaptation of the third movement of Khachaturian's "Masquerade Suite." and "Bull Fighter" adapts the fanfare melody known as "La Virgen De La Macarena." Exit question: Does anybody recognize the gorgeous saxophone melody of the piece called "Theme" as from another source? It may well be Wilson's original composition, but something about it, the title and the fact that other material was adapted from other sources has me wondering.

Best for the coming year. Happy birthday.