Mark Stryker

I don't think any non-musician has ever had a bigger influence on the literal sound of jazz than Rudy. When we think of "jazz," for so many of us the sound in our heads, the Platonic ideal of the art form, is a Blue Note LP engineered by RVG.

Yep -- I knew/know all of this. I still wonder if there is some theoretical "justification" specifically for the major 7th chord types (as opposed to dominant) in these Rhythm changes substitutions -- or if it just boils down to the fact that it doesn't matter what the hell you've got going at te top of the chord as long as the root movement down at the bottom makes fundamental sense. That, come to thik of it, is a pretty good metaphor for how to live your life: Don't worry about what you're doing on top of your "thing," just make sure the baselines fundamentals are cool. FWIW, those major chords in the A section sound like something George Coleman would play.

Except the harmonies in the last four of bars of "Beyond All Limits" are dominant 7th sus chords rather than major 7th chords, though the root movement does descend in minor thirds.. I'm not sure what the specific antecedents might be for that root movement and major chords over Rhythm changes; nor do I know enough theory to parse out an explanation of why it works, other than it gets you from tonic to tonic efficiently by way of movement spelling a diminished chord. I think of "Isotope" that has that turnaround moving in descending minor thirds, though those are straight up dominant chords. And I think of the "bridge" section of "Inner Urge" that alternates major chords descending in minor thirds with a half step up movement -- if I remember right it's E/C sharp/D/B/C/A/B-flat 7+11/G I'll ask Michael where those substitutions on "Little Pixie" come from.

It is impossible for me to believe that some jazz studies major or graduate student hasn't written a paper on the many variations to the bridge of Rhythm changes. On another front, I'm almost positive that David Baker in one or another of his books created a vertical bar chart that listed many substitute changes for I Got Rhythm, both the A sections and the bridge. I remember seeing a similar chart done for the 12-bar blues. Not at home at the moment, but I'll check my own books when I have a chance to see if I can located it. Coda: Many times that I've heard the Vanguard band play "Little Pixie" (rhythm in A-flat), somebody seems to use the changes that Gary Smulyan does here starting at 7:28. I checked in with Michael Weiss to double check what exactly what was going on -- major 7th chords descending by minor thirds in the first half of the A section (A-flat/F/D/B) and dominant 7ths ascending by half steps in the bridge starting with C7 (D-flat 7/D7/E-flat 7). Nice all the way around.

Two great ones (both with Ron Carter on bass, by the way).

Joe Chambers wrote a short piece about Bobby for New Music Box. One footnote: Joe says he was part of a 1963 concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music that was led by Eric Dolphy and that the band also included Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard and Richard Davis. The concert was recorded, but Joe says the tapes appear to be lost, though a bunch of folks apparently are on the hunt. I'd like to add: Would somebody please find them? Thanks in advance. http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/california-sunshine-remembering-bobby-hutcherson-1941-2016/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=newmusicbox&utm_content=California+Sunshine%3A+Remembering+Bobby+Hutcherson+

A beautiful spirit. To get that kind of nuance and depth of expression out of the harmonica was remarkable. I had only one conversation with him, but it was memorable. Backstage at the 2005 Detroit Jazz Festival, after he had a played a beautifully proportioned set of mostly ballads with Kenny Werner, Oscar Castro-Nevas and Airto Moreira. Toots told me a story about the first time he came to Detroit. It was 1957 and he was working with the George Shearing Quintet at Baker's Keyboard Lounge. J.J. Johnson had played the club the week before with a band that included Bobby Jaspar on tenor sax and flute. Jaspar, like Toots, was born in Belgium. So Toots gets to Baker's on opening night and when he goes into the bathroom he sees scribbled among the graffiti on the wall a missive in Flemish that had obviously been left by Jaspar. The exact translation: "Toots has a big dick."

MIchael Weiss alerted me to a fantastic Hutcherson bootleg from the Jazz Workshop in Boston, apparently from 1974. The rhythm section is Cecil Bernard, Ray Drummond and Larry Hancock -- same cats as on the "Live at Montreux" recordings with Woody Shaw from 1973 that came out a little while back on CD. Bobby takes no prisoners on Chick's "Tones for Joan's Bones" with the tempo way upstairs for this tune.

FWIW, I wrote a short this short requiem the other day: Heartbroken over the death of vibraphonist and composer Bobby Hutcherson at age 75. He was one of my greatest heroes and one of the most profound figures to come of age in the '60s in jazz. He's safely in the canon but still underrated. His expansive sound encompassed so much -- adventure, wide-eyed wonder, pure beauty, endless possibilities, innovation anchored by tradition, and the kind of nuanced individual expression that could never be duplicated no matter how many legions he influenced. Hutcherson was a thrilling and spontaneous improviser -- you NEVER knew what he was going to play -- and as much virtuoso technique and harmonic knowledge as he had, the emotional content of his music hit you first and hardest. He was a storyteller, who took you on a trip, brought you to a place of dreams -- and the occasional nightmare -- and then returned you home safely. He created as personal and complete a sound world as anyone ever has in jazz and you were a different and better person after spending time there -- more self-aware, more empathetic and more human.

Nefertiti Miles: "Hey, man. Why don't we make a tune with just playing the melody and don't play the solos?" All: laughter Tony (I think) "That's what we was doing! ... That shit is groovin'" Teo: That's a good idea. Miles: "That's funnier than a motherfucker." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/arts/music/new-miles-davis-boxed-set-features-his-quintet-at-its-peak.html

Here's the citation for the Mike Douglas appearance: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4772620/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Side 4 of the Columbia set was recorded in Ann Arbor in my neck of the woods. Herbie & Chick played the same hall in 2015 -- 37 years later. It was a fun night -- once or twice they really went deep and it was like "Holy Shit!" -- but mostly it was just a loose (in best and worst sense) evening of old friends doing what they do. Great spirit about it all though. If you have a chance to hear them live together, I'd take it provided it doesn't cost you next month's rent. Being at the concert is better than the records. I mean, that's often the case (though not always) but definitely with Herbie and Chick playing duos. Here's a childhood memory. I saw Herbie and Chick on the Mike Douglas Show on TV. They played "Liza," and they played "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" with Mike Douglas singing with them. There was also a brief interview with them in which Douglas prompted each of them play bits of a "hit" -- I don't remember what Chick played, but Herbie played a taste of "Maiden Voyage" as I recall and Douglas (clearly reading from a card) said something like, "Your composition 'Maiden Voyage' is regarded as a jazz standard ..." At the end of the show, Douglas said to them that because they were both such great improvisers, he wanted them to play quick little improvised character sketches of the other guests on the show that day. I don't remember who they were. I have never seen this show up on youtube, But it happened. Scout's honor. Coda: I think this is literally the first time they played a duet together: "Soundstage" -- Chicago, 1974.

If you're asking how much of David's "classical" and "third stream" compositions were recorded, the answer is a LOT. YouTube is a good way to sample. Can be hit and miss -- even within the same pieces -- but some good stuff in there. Might explore cello sonata to start. Discography here: http://indianapublicmedia.org/static/pdf/baker-discography.pdf

FYI -- the recording date of the Donald Byrd with strings LP has always been unclear; I haven't been able to nail it down definitively, but I think 1959 is more likely than '56 or '57.

Coda: This gets particularly confusing in looking up stuff online because "Allan" is so often misspelled and the Detroit Allan and the English Alan were both born in 1959.

I only spoke to saxophonist Allan Barnes once, so I didn't really know him, but I always enjoyed hearing him play. I learned a few things in putting together this obituary -- that when Barnes was in Vietnam playing in an army band, the saxophonist he replaced in the group was Henry Threadgill (!) and that Barnes once recorded a disco-samba version of "Giant Steps" (link embedded in obit). I was also not aware that his credits included co-writing songs 20 years apart for the disco group A Taste of Honey and rapper R. Kelly, and that he had recorded a funky dance record in the 70s called "Freedom Serenade" with a group known as Malone & Barnes and Spontaneous Simplicity (whose name, "Spontaneous Simplicity," was derived from a Sun Ra composition.) When I was younger I used to dismiss music like this out of hand. It's still not to my taste, but I've learned to appreciate something like this for its craftwork and the way it fulfills its function -- and some of the edgier tracks on "Freedom Serenade" are seriously killin' dance grooves. Mostly, however, I've come to understand how special the lives are of foot soldiers like Barnes, whose music I may not always gravitate too but whose lifelong commitment, passion and very survival should never be taken for granted -- particularly in a world that doesn't make it easy on anyone in it for the long haul. R.I.P. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/07/28/allan-barnes-saxophonist-obituary/87628024/

Never had success de-warping. I think it takes "Star Trek" technology. In fact, wasn't there an episode where the Enterprise ends up going back in time to the late '60s on earth and they meet some fanatic jazz record collector who turns out to be the unwitting pawn in anevil alien plot to destroy the contemporary Federation by changing history? If I recall correctly, there's a shoot-out in the collector's apartment and all of his pristine Blue Notes get warped from the heat of the phaser battle. Right after Kirk and Spock destroy the aliens' computers with double talk and before they use a slingshot effect to get back to the 23rd Century, Mr. Scott figures out a way to de-warp all the sides in the engine room using anti-matter. Or maybe I'm confusing that episode with something else. Ahead, warp factor 1, Mr. Sulu.

Trying to get definitive rulings on who wrote the charts on Sarah's Mercury LP "No Count Sarah," which was recorded with the Basie band (and Ronnell Bright/Richard Davis.) in August 1957. I'm coming this music for the first time, having just bought a used LP which I haven't been able to listen to yet since my wife is having a party and I'm seeking refuge away from the crowd without access even to headphones to listen via youtube and start trying to decipher for myself. I see listings that say Johnny Mandel, Luther Henderson, Frank Foster and Thad Jones all wrote charts. What I'm really interested in nailing down is what Thad may have written. The LP was recorded more than a year earlier than Basie's "Chairman of the Board," which contains Thad's first definitive charts for the band. So whatever he did for "No Count Sarah" would be his earliest big band arrangements that found their way to LP. The tunes: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes Doodlin', Darn That Dream,' Just One of the Those Things, Moonlight in Vermont, No 'Count Blues, Cheek to Cheek, Stardust, Missing You. I see that Thad appears to have written most of the charts on "Count Basie/Sarah Vaughan" (1961) -- don't have that one yet. I do have "Sassy Swings Again" from five or six years later that also has a lot of Thad's charts. which has a lot of Thad's chats. Anybody know anything? Update: Was able to listen to side one and the only chart that I think could possibly be by Thad is "Doodlin'" though something about to me suggests it might be more like to be Frank Foster.

Have not heard the new CD yet so have to reserve judgement but I enjoyed Miroslav's "Remembering Weather Report" (2009), freshly made in a "we-always-solo-we-never-solo" aesthetic with a band that has personality. Perhaps significantly in light of the discussion above, the earlier record has no Weather Report "covers," though one song is based on a fragment of Wayne's "Nefertiti."

Didn't know those "solo" takes had circulated ... FWIW, I just sent Nancy Sinatra a message on Twitter asking if there had ever been talk of releasing these tracks with just her father's vocals. Will let you know if I hear back.

No. In Yusef's autobiography, he notes that he was not under an exclusive contract to any one company in those initial recording years, but he doesn't say how or why these companies allowed him to act as an independent agent when they did not do so, to my knowledge, for anyone else. The Savoy contract came first based on a recommendation from an Associated Press reporter, who heard Yusef's band at Klein's in Detroit, and then told Savoy's Ozzie Cadena in New York -- who agreed to record that band without hearing them. Yusef also says that a demo tape he previously sent to Blue Note was rejected. It would be interesting to known if any of these contracts or paperwork still exists among Yusef's personal papers -- doubtful, but you never know. I haven't gone that deep to try to get access ...

Wasn't aware of the Fresh Sound set, but I have the two others. I think each cost $15 here at Dearborn Musc, maybe $13. Sound quality varies disc to disc but never worse than passable given the price. No liners to speak of except for tune titles -- not even the personnel is listed, so you have go to discographies for details. But it was definitely worth it to fill in the gaps I had between the mish-mash of original LPs, various twofers and CDs. I spent a lot of time this spring researching and writing a 5,500-word essay about Yusef for my book, and it's still not clear to me how he managed to record for so many labels simultaneously in an era of exclusive contracts.

Dibs on annotating that Yusef Savoy box ...

Hey, good one! . Translation: "Praise of Lofty Judgment" Once in a deep valley the cuckoo and the nightingale struck a wager. Whoever sang the masterpiece, whether won by art or won by luck! Thanks would he take away. The cuckoo spoke: ‘If you agree, I have chosen the judge,’ and he at once named the ass. ‘For since he has two large ears, he can hear all the better, and recognize what is right!’ Soon they flew before the judge. When he was told the matter, he decreed that they should sing! The nightingale sang out sweetly! The ass spoke: ‘You muddle me up! You muddle me up! Heehaw! Heehaw! I can’t get it into my head!’ There upon the cuckoo began quickly his song in thirds and fourths and fifths. It pleased the ass, he spoke but: ‘Wait! Wait! Wait! I will pronounce thy judgement, yes, pronounce. You have sung well, nightingale! But, cuckoo, you sing a good chorale! And hold the beat precisely! I speak from my higher understanding! And even if it cost a whole country, I thus pronounce you the winner, the winner!’ Cuckoo, cuckoo! Heehaw

Well, in Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (overture), there's a section where he musically depicts Bottom having been turned into an Ass (Donkey) by Puck. The braying starts at about 3:10. There's this too: Not sure I'd classify it as "great," but it has the virtue of being explicitly on topic. Remember: Don't ever laugh at a donkey, 'cause he may laugh at you.