Mark Stryker

NYT obit. Was not aware of his interesting family background. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/arts/music/david-axelrod-dead-music-producer-composer.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

Good lord. Amazing. And big thumbs up to the TV station for taking the time to lavish such loving care on this story.

Thanks ...

Question for anyone who has Bag's "Vibrations" recordedin 1960 and '61 for Atlantic. Do the notes detail who did the arrangements? I only know it via streaming sources and I'm not sure since both Jimmy Heath (who usually wrote for Bags) and Tom McIntosh (who also writes) are on it. And who did the choir arrangements recorded at the '61 date? Milt Jackson Octet Henry Boozier (trumpet) Tom McIntosh (trombone) Jimmy Heath (tenor sax) Tate Houston (baritone sax) Milt Jackson (vibes) Tommy Flanagan (piano) Alvin Jackson (bass) Connie Kay (drums) NYC, February 23, 1960 4262 Blue Jubilee Atlantic LP 1417 4263 Mallets Towards None - 4264 Bells And Horns unissued * Atlantic LP 1417, SD 1417 Milt Jackson - Vibrations Milt Jackson Octet Henry Boozier (trumpet -1/4) Tom McIntosh (trombone -1/4) Jimmy Heath (tenor sax) Tate Houston (baritone sax -1/4) Milt Jackson (vibes) Tommy Flanagan (piano) Alvin Jackson (bass) Connie Kay (drums) NYC, February 24, 1960 1. 4265 Algo Bueno (aka Woody'n You) Atlantic LP 1417 2. 4266 Little Girl Blue unissued 3. 4267 Darbin The Redd Fox Atlantic LP 1417 4. 4268 Sweet Georgia Brown - 5. 4269 Let Me Hear The Blues - * Atlantic LP 1417, SD 1417 Milt Jackson - Vibrations 1961 Milt Jackson Quintet Milt Jackson (vibes) Tommy Flanagan (piano) Kenny Burrell (guitar) George Duvivier (bass) Connie Kay (drums) 5 vocals NYC, March 14, 1961 5408 Vibrations Atlantic LP 1417, SD 2-319 5409 Untitled Original unissued 5410 Melancholy Blues Atlantic LP 1417 * Atlantic LP 1417, SD 1417 Milt Jackson - Vibrations * Atlantic SD 2-319 The Art Of Milt Jackson - The Atlantic Years

That's some fantastic Hank Mobley in that clip.

Happy birthday today to Langston Hughes, born on this date in 1902. This remarkable poem was written in 1935. "Let America be America again" Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.") Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed! I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years. Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free." The free? Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today. O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again. Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America! O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

Seems appropriate to point out here that this was recorded 51 years ago today:

I would never presume to argue with the first sentence. But the second sentence? Name one. I don't know anyone who else who can or would choose to play this way.. Now, if you mean to say that lots of other tenors would play a piece of material similar to this one in ways you would prefer to the way Sonny does, then I'd also have no argument.

For the record. I agree with Jim that 4 is the most consistent, best overall and filled with wtf moments. But "all-time great Sonny Rollins record" is a high bar, and I'm not ready to go there; but I don't discount Jim's personal truth when it comes to Sonny.

I think the single best track on all four CDs is actually the literal opener: Cut one on Vol. 1, "Best Wishes." Sonny plays his ass off -- very uninhibited -- and so does Al Foster. I'd like to hear the rest of this particular concert!

Taking orders for the bakery -- and getting paid for the misshapen cakes because you can't really tell the difference and you assume the customers can't either.

Speaking of Kenny Dorham, "Whistle Stop" was recorded 56 years ago today on 1/15/61. As you were ...

I've got that Hanna/Tucker on LP -- agree with Jim's assessment. Great blindfold test record.

A correction to my previous correction (now deleted): The exact date of the session remains a mystery. Sometime in 1968 is probably the best I'm going to be able to do. The March 25, 1969 date I thought might be correct is unlikely. I have, however, now heard some some of the solo piano material recorded at the date.

I have this and it's fantastic. All of Roland's meticulous structured compositions and he mostly alternates a solo piano "classical" track followed by a piano-bass "jazz" duet.

Gang -- anybody got this: "The Roland Hanna Trio," recorded in 1975 for Salvation (CTI subsidiary)? Ron Carter and Ben Riley, presumably made at the time of the first New York Jazz Quartet record. Looks like this trio side came out on vinyl, distributed by King, but was never issued on CD. Would be grateful if anybody that does have it could make me a copy somehow. Failing that, tell me how good it is and whether I need to go to the end of the earth to hear it. Trying to put to bed my Roland Hanna chapter for my book and it's bugging me that I haven't been able to hear this one ... https://www.discogs.com/Roland-Hanna-Trio-Roland-Hanna-Trio/release/6179102 Coda: was Salvation an American or Japanese label. The wrapping in the LP pictured is Japanese but references I've seen say it's American -- or maybe Salvation records was the Japanese imprint of a U.S. label? Help, quicksand!

Hey, question for board members who have been on the scene for a while: What were the set times at the Village Vanguard in the old days -- 1960s-early 70s?.Were three sets, starting at 10, midnight and 2 the standard or was it something else? Thanks

Thanks. I've got some info on that. The friend was Bill Sorin, the guy who eventually founded IPO Records, and there was in fact a session, though it was earlier than '69 and Turney was not involved. I've talked to Bill and I've got more details; but I'm still sorting through it all and chasing some angles, so I don't want to say much more at this point, other than that for various reasons there was, unfortunately, nothing usable with Hawk that came out of the session.

One more Roland Hanna related question for folks: Are there any live recordings floating around of Roland with Coleman Hawkins, besides the appearance on the Art Ford Jazz Party television show that you can find on YouTube. It's clear there are no commercial recordings of them together, but are there bootlegs?

First edition of James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son." Fine condition with dust jacket. Got it at a great antiquarian bookstore I visit every year in Hallowell, Maine.

Thanks much for this info. Appreciate it. What exactly was "The Navy Swings"? I gather these were used for recruitment, but how?

Tripped over this today while trying to nail down exactly how much time Roland Hanna spent working with Sarah Vaughan: "Soft and Sassy," a CD that appears to have come out in the early 90s and features material apparently recorded in Los Angeles in 1961.Roland Hanna, Richard Davis, Percy Brice. http://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/40535/sarah-vaughan/soft-and-sassy-1961 Anybody know any specifics about this -- an unreleased session made for Roulette, the label Sarah was recording for at the time? The only other recorded document I can find with Roland and Sarah is her 1982 LP on Pablo, "Crazy and Mixed Up." Anything else out there that I don't know about? Any other hard evidence about how much time he spent in her trio back in the early '60s?

Not at amazon.de yet, unfortunately. And that half-price offer via Superbooksdeals is no longer on amazon.de either. (BTW, @Dan Gould, did they confirm your order?) But as a paperback copy from amazon.com would have been almost the same price (including shipping from the US) as a hardcover copy bought here, I pre-ordered the book anyway and will be keeping my fingers crossed they will get it in stock before long. Thanks. I met Porter maybe five or six years ago when he came to the Detroit Jazz Festival to give a presentation. I ended up sharing a table with him and his wife at a media brunch and found him really genuine and open. I grilled him about Gene Ammons (one of my heroes), who he knew really well, and the kinds of things he told me were rooted in the invaluable perspective you describe from the book -- things like Jug had a different repertoire and approach depending on whether he was playing on the "north" or "south" sides of town, which meant the largely white, more formal clubs (north) and largely black, neighborhood joints (south). I came away thinking the only way to really understanding the totality of that music was to have heard in live as a part of those social scenes. I mean, you can transcribe it, analyze it, copy it, assimilate it, but musicology only takes you so far. Of course, if you can't transcribe it, analyze it, etc, then sociology will only take you so far too. Two sides of a coin.

I'll be getting this (of course). Quick question: Is there any discussion about Detroit specifically?