Mark Stryker

Such a great, great quartet. Every single LP it made is worth having. I wish they made more ... The quartet was underrated in its day because of their studio day gigs and the "Hollywood" taint, and the fact that they didn't tour much . But there are times when I think it was equal to the Juilliard quartet -- certainly these were the two best American quartets of the era. In later years, their Capitol LPs were WAY out of print and were pretty much forgotten until some EMI reissues in the 80s and the Testament CDs in 90s, the latter of which sparked a revival/reassessment. I've spoken to Leonard Slatkin a bit about the group -- Felix and Eleanor were his parents of course -- and he has great stories about various composers being at the house and "Uncle Frank" singing he and his brother to sleep ...

Worth noting: The author who worked with Hampton Hawes on "Raise Up Off Me" was named Don Asher, and he deserves a lot of credit for helping shape the book and capturing Hawes' voice and spirit on the page. (This is a lot harder than it looks.) Asher himself was a pianist, who for many years was the house pianist at the Hungry I in San Francisco during the nightclub's heyday. He wasn't exactly a jazz pianist, but more of a hip cocktail pianist (in the most profound sense) and a true professional musician. In later years he became a writer too (novels and more). His memoir "Notes from a Battered Grand" is really a wonderful book. I can't recommend it highly enough. I met Don once. We were on vacation in San Francisco in 1998 and I found out that he had a steady gig at the Fairmont Hotel (I think that's where it was). Heard a few tunes and shared a drink with him at the bar. A lovely man. https://www.amazon.com/Notes-Battered-Grand-Honky-Tonk-Society/dp/0151672814

I assume the Prestige recordings are owned by whoever owns all the other Prestige recordings -- which is to say whoever owns Concord, right? I don't think the Ammons estate, assuming it exists, would legally have any involvement in production of a box set, and the extent they were paid at all would be subject to the conditions of the original contracts, publishing etc. Chuck Nessa could clarify this for us: Who gets paid or would have control if Concord wanted to put out an Ammons Prestige box or if, say, Mosaic wanted to license the material?

Birthday bump: Happy 84th, Lalo. (b. 6/21/32) This is the piece the Detroit Symphony will play next year and that I referenced above. Nice piece.

All of these Jug dates have confused me for decades -- the original LPs, the LP reissues, the twofer reissues, the CDs etc. For a long time I kept a notebook in my car with everything I had written down so I could try and fill in gaps but it was still a mess. I would totally pay A LOT of money to have all of this material boxed in chronological order and smartly annotated. In fact, I'd like to have a go at writing those notes myself if someone wants to give me a chance ...

Yeah, "Coalition" is very good; so are the Village Vanguard recordings (various sources) with Little and Coleman. Are the latter all collected somewhere in reasonable sound and legitimate provenance? "On the Mountain" is killing with Jan Hammer and Gene Perla. Overall, "Heavy Sounds" was never a favorite of mine -- YMMV -- but I do like the way they play "Shiny Stockings," especially Elvin on brushes. Has anybody ever made brushes sound as gritty and dirty as Elvin did? I also like Billy Greene's tune "M.E.," whose melody and harmony reminds me of those deliriously lyrical Freddie Redd/Tina Brooks pieces that I think of junkie music. What ever happened to Greene anyway? Re: "And Then Again" (1965) -- this was the last of the four LPs that all three Jones brothers appeared on together. The title track, spontaneously conceived with no written material and loosely in D minor, is particularly interesting, among the most "modern" settings in which Hank appeared. (note: if you go looking for this on youtube, be aware that "And Then Again" has been mislabeled in some instances so that while you see the correct cover what you're actually hearing is the music from "Midnight Walk." For the record the other three records that featured all three brothers were "Keepin' Up with the Joneses" (Metro, 1958); Herb Geller's "Gypsy" (Atco, 1959), "Elvin!" (Riverside, 1961/62)

: Here are a few paragraphs about Jones' early recordings as a leader that I've drawn from my forthcoming book (2017) about Detroit jazz musicians. ---- Jones earliest recordings under his own name date back to “Elvin” (Riverside) from 1961-62 with his brothers and three LPs for Impulse, the best of which is “Dear John C” (1965). It’s a lyrical nod to Coltrane that features strongly melodic songs and tremendous playing from alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano. Hank Jones and Detroit-born pianist Roland Hanna alternate on piano. Jones’ finest body of recordings as a leader was the group of 10 albums recorded for Blue Note from 1968-73. They range from lean trios to eight and nine-piece bands and they sweep through a striking range of material. The initial LPs, “Puttin’ it Together” and “The Ultimate Elvin Jones,” showcase his first working group with Jimmy Garrison on bass and Joe Farrell on tenor and soprano sax, flute and piccolo. With no piano and the bass hot in the mix you can really hear the death-grip bond between Garrison and Jones. “Puttin’ it Together” has an extra spark heard in the greasy hipness Jones slaps on the march beat on “Keiko’s Birthday March” and the George-of-the-jungle tom-toms that drive “Gingerbread Boy.” If Farrell felt pressure from stepping into Coltrane’s shoes less than a year after his death, he doesn’t show it, and he turns in some of the best work of his career. Of the other Blue Notes, “Merry-Go-Round” (1971) stands as an inspired, thoughtfully arranged microcosm of the eclecticism entering jazz. The 10-member cast expands and contracts as it journeys through all kinds of repertoire. Older Jones associates like Farrell and Pepper Adams rub shoulders with a new generation — saxophonists Dave Liebman and Steve Grossman, keyboardists Chick Corea and Jan Hammer, bassist Gene Perla and percussionist Don Alias. By 1972’s “Live at the Lighthouse,” Liebman, Grossman and Perla were now in Jones’ working band. The young saxophonists sound like twin wild animals tearing into a post-Coltrane language. -----

In the last month the world has lost two of the three men I admired most on the planet: Muhammad Ali and Sheldon Stryker (my father). All I can say right now is that whoever is running this fucking circus better be taking damn good care of Sonny Rollins.

Thanks for the feedback folks. As I said, I'm never giving these up. I do want to get a machine or turntable that will play them. I listened to them often as a kid. Made a large impression...

For a long time now I've had my father's 78s. He was hip -- Lady Day, Basie, HInes, Dizzy/Bird, Hawk, Jacquet, Goodman etc -- even Dodo Marmarosa (!). I'm interested in getting a sense of any monetary value these might have. To be clear: I'm not interested in selling anything; these records mean too much to me. But I'd like to know, especially since there are some rather obscure labels represented including several on Atomic. I can't really evaluate condition as I don't have a turntable that can play them, though I can say with some certainty that nothing would qualify as "mint" -- yet the surfaces on many look pretty darn good. They are not beat to shit. But I really don't know my way around the 78 world, from scarcity, condition issues, etc. I'm going to list many of them here and if anyone can offer insight I'd be much obliged: Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit/Fine and Mellow (Commodore 526) Dizzy Gillespie, Salt Peanuts/Hot House (Guild 1003) Count Basie, It's Sand, Man/Ride On (Columbia 36647) Benny Goodman, After You've Gone/Body and Soul (Columbia 36781) Benny Goodman, Let's Dance/Boy Meets Horn (Columbia 35301) Benny Goodman, Why Don't You Do Right/Six Flats Unfurnished (Columbia 36652) Benny Goodman, I'm Not Complainin'/My Sister and I (Columbia 36022) Benny Goodman, Lazy River/No, Baby, No (Capitol 20124) Benny Goodman, Music Maestro Please/The Bannister Slide (Capitol 20127) Benny Goodman, How High the Moon/Benny's Boogie (Capitol 20126) Illinois Jacquet, Wondering and Thinking of You/ (Apollo 758) Illinois Jacquet, Ghost of a Chance/Bottom's Up (Apollo 756) Coleman Hawkins, Smack/Dedication (Commodore 533) 18324) Coleman Hawkins, I'm Thru With Love/Hollywood Stampede (Capitol 10036) Jay McShann, Moten Swing/On the Sunny Side of the Street (Capitol 10039 Earl Hines, Stormy Monday Blues/Second Balcony Jump (Bluebird 11567) Jimmie Lunceford, White Heat/Jazznocracy (Bluebird 5713) Jimmie Lunceford, I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town Parts I and 2 (Decca Johnny Hodges, Things Ain't What They Used to Be/Squatty Roo (Bluebird 11447) Dodo Marmarosa, Mellow Mood/How High the Moon (Atomic 225) Lyle Griffin, Wolf Song/Strictly for Kicks (Atomic 202) Ray Linn, Where's Pres?/Eastside Jump (Atomic 220) Fats Waller, Buckin' the Dice/All that Meat and No Potatoes (Bluebird 11102) Stan Kenton, Artistry in Percussion/Ain't No Misery in Me (Capitol 20089) Stan Kenton, Harlem Folk Dance/Do Nothin' til You Hear from Me (Capitol 145) Nat King Cole, Nature Boy/Lost April (Capitol 15054) Glenn Miller, Juke Box Saturday Night/Sleepy Town Train (Victor 20-1509) Glenn Miller, Slow Freight/Bugle Call Rag (Bluebird b-10740) Eddie Miller, Stomp, Mr. Henry Lee/Yesterdays (Capitol 170) Jan Savitt, Sugar Foot Stomp/Quaker 30-0813) City Jazz (Bluebird 10005) Erskine Hawkins, Bear Mash Blues/Don't Cry Baby (Bluebird 30-0813) Erskine Hawkins, Blackout/Who's Beatin My Time With You (Bluebird 11192) Sonny Thompson, Blue Dreams/Blues on Rhumba (Miracle) Erskine Butterfield, Monday's Wash/Blackberry Jam (Decca 8543) Louis Jordan, Knock Me a Kiss/I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town (Decca 8593) Jimmy Dorsey, The Spirit's Got Me/Charleston Alley (Decca 4075) New Friends of Rhythm, Fable in Sable/Bach Bay Blues (Victor 26315) The Capitol Jazzmen, Sugar/Ain't Goin' No Place (Capitol 172)

Here's John Marshall sounding great with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra in 1994 on Thad's classic "Low Down" (on the changes of "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You.") Also, board member Michael Weiss on piano. There's youtube footage of Marshall also playing this tune with Mel and the band in 1980. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzSL_jYtBzQ

It's 1931. I once asked him specifically about the conflicting dates. He said at some point when he was young he told an interviewer for some liner notes that he was born in 1932 to make himself a year younger -- he said he had no idea why he did it, maybe just for a goof -- and from there the mistake kept getting repeated by other through the years.

Folks: Henry Threadgill has won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for "In for a Penny, In for a Pound."

In fairness to Mrs. JSngry, there is "opera" and there is "Wagner," and while the latter is a subset of the former, not everyone who digs the former digs the latter. Me? You can take all of Wagner and I'll take "La Boheme," "Marriage of Figaro" and "Falstaff" and we'll call it even.

I've told Michael Weiss this story before, but I don't think I've shared it with the forum. I saw "Epitaph" performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival in the early '90s. At one point during one of the more abstract and quietly intense "night music" sections, John Hicks interrupted the spooky mood by coming down hard on the keyboard with both hands to play a dissonant, double forte tone cluster. I happened to look over at Gunther, who was conducting, and he was looking at Hicks and shaking his head and waving his arms in big "no" gestures. Then after conducting a couple more bars, Gunther gave a big cue toward Hicks, who brought his hands down and played the cluster again. The first, obviously, was a mistake. Oops.

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but "Sound Suggestions" on ECM is a record that holds up -- interesting to hear George with Beirach/Holland/DeJohnette and how the group finds a balance between the pianist's more formal and advanced harmonic language and George's homegrown harmonic "looseness." Rhythmically, everyone is bashing together in a good way. Doesn't really sound like a working band but rather one of those days in the studio with good cats and a good vibe. Plus, you get Kenny Wheeler in the mix. I used to play "Imani's Dance" with my group in Urbana.

There's Facebook tribute page ("Remembering David Baker") that's been created by his former students where people are sharing stories and memories. This was recently posted and it relates to these Down Beat transcriptions. -------- Has anybody told the Filles de Kilimanjaro story? Here's the version I know: David transcribed Miles Davis's solo from "Filles de Kilimanjaro", and the solo was published in Downbeat Magazine. Soon after, David received a late night phone call from Miles. [in Miles rasp]: "Why you put my sh*t in Downbeat?!"... David: "Well Miles, they paid me!" [Miles hangs up.] [A few seconds later, Miles calls back.] "That's some hip sh*t, ain't it." ------ Quote: "AH! A Lester Young guy, you like to take the express, not the local, right?" -- That's David's concise interpretation of George Russell's "boat-going-down-the-river" metaphor, which may be in the text of the Lydian Chromatic Concept but which I heard from David himself as he was explaining some of Russell's ideas to me in an interview some 13 years ago. Here's an interview that Russell did with Jason Gross that I found on the website Perfect Sound Forever: PSF: If you were to describe your theory to a layman, what would say about it? GR: You can think of it as this- you're going down the river in a local steamboat. The towns along that river (are) chords. The boat would stop at each chord. The captain would have some melody that caused the genre of the chord to be heard as such. Continuing down the river, that's the way the melody would be received. Each town has its own sound. The captain, let's call him... John Coltrane. (laughs) If you think of his famous solo on "Giant Steps." He's stopping at every chord/town along that river. (He's) playing a melody that centers the listener right on that chord/town. Then to the next one. That's the way he gets down the river. Lester Young got down the river in a faster, express boat. It did not stop at each chord/town. It stopped only at the larger cities. He had to depend more on time. Forward movement, time itself to make that journey. But he would sound a melody for the listener, over a number of chord towns that center on the... might call it the final, to which those chord towns resolve. PSF: So it's a destination then? GR: Yes, that's right. Immediately, he's sending a message that these four/five chord/towns are final and he goes down the river, stopping at those larger cities. PSF: After you work and published this theory, did you see your work as a break from the tradition of bebop? GR: It doesn't fight anything. What I was looking for is how melody behaves. At first, you might say how it behaves in a jazz sense. Lester Young didn't mind choosing a final chord, a larger chord town in which the smaller towns resolves. Coleman Hawkins represented another school- he was an originator of what I'd call vertical playing. He and Lester were each indicating tonal center. With one, the river was the tonal center, the other was a final chord, a major and minor one. PSF: So you see the theory as a natural progression of what was happening then? GR: Well, what was happening, the horizontal way of playing really came out of slavery. Blacks were denied musical instruments. It comes out of church music, which is so prominent these days in commercials. It kind of became a hierarchy and sort of a duel with the vertical way of playing, performed mostly by Coleman Hawkins. The vertical players had a term for the horizontal players- they called it 'shucking.' (laughs) They weren't sounded the genre of each small town along the river. They were only sounding the genre to which those chords ultimately resolved. By that, they automatically had to be playing a melody that would indicate that chord-town over the vertical melodies. So you have the horizontal players who the vertical players said that they didn't go to school but that wasn't true. Lester Young really had both sides down and he used it to show occasionally that he had the chords down. They were also the supra-roles for certain players and these were people who reached beyond the horizontal and vertical, combined them and actually created what I call 'secondary chords,' like Ornette. He floats down the river. He's just out there! (laughs) He had a huge influence on jazz. Bebop is basically based on all kinds of show tunes. "What Is This Thing Called Love" is actually a horizontal melody. Bebop was a very vertical music for a number of reasons, some not having to do with music. After World War II, black soldiers came back to find the same old thing, nothing had changed for them. Black intellectuals, which I'm not, didn't go too far up in the educational field. I made the choice to drop school and go it on my own. People kid intellectual people all the time so I laugh when I get called that. Ornette was the first one to change melody, change rhythm, change form and brought all of that with him and used it in music. In concept terms, he would be a supra-player

I wrote up a brief remembrance on Facebook that I thought I'd share here: IU Swing Machine So saddened to hear of David Baker's passing today at age 84 in Bloomington, Indiana, where he had been on faculty at Indiana University since 1966. David, of course, was a giant of jazz education, one of a handful of guys who literally invented the field. He also played the hell out of the trombone as a young man, had impeccable credentials (George Russell, the Naptown ties to Freddie, Wes, Slide), was a versatile composer across many idioms and a tireless advocate for the music, from classrooms to the halls of political power in Washington. In 2003 he was resident composer of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in metro Detroit and some of his "classical" scores were a surprising revelation -- strong, fresh, with or without overt jazz references. Like all jazz kids who grow up in Bloomington, I saw David as part God and part hip uncle. I still clearly remember those times he worked with our high school band, and I remember Dave Liebman telling me in 1981 how much he had learned from David and that he was the kind of guy you should hang around as much as possible because he had a mind like a steel trap and was able to share so much information in such a clear way. David was, in fact, the first musician I ever interviewed. I was 15 and in an advanced English class where we pursued projects and got paired with mentors in the community. I was interested in music criticism and jazz so the teacher hooked me up with Michael Bourne at WFIU. Part of the project was writing an article about David and I lugged a bulky tape recorder over to his office and we spoke for about 45 minutes. I asked him at one point about where he stood back in the day relative to the avant-garde of the '60s and, aping something I had read on the back of album, I framed the question in terms of two camps, for and against ,and nothing in between. David (gently) corrected me in his answer, pointing out how lots of musicians drew from everything. He talked about how traditional and progressive elements sat side-by-side in the music of Russell, Coltrane and others and how many young players like himself didn't feel a need to choose one over the other. The lesson I took away, even at 15, was that history is far more complex than the reductive way it's often written. Another time, David's small group was the guest at a festival -- can't remember if was at Bloomington North or South -- and they did one piece that was basically dada theater. The cats were making funny noises on their instruments, the drummer was sitting on the ground literally rolling a snare drum back and forth and David was speaking into his cello: "You in there, Bubba?!" I remember thinking: Are you really allowed to do that? Some of the adults in the room thought it was awful. I remember thinking it was hilarious and was surprised that some people didn't get the joke: Another lesson. As I got older, my ideas about jazz education grew more nuanced and I began see not only the benefits to David's approach but also some of the downside, though that is not meant in any way to denigrate his legacy. This was a major American musician and educator. Period. And never underestimate the battles he had to fight as an African-American musician in the '60s and early 70s to bring jazz into the academy. We live in a different, better world, folks, and David is one of the guys who made it so. When I was in graduate school in journalism at IU in 1987, I took his upper level bebop history class so I could have the experience of being in class with him. It was half lecture and half playing -- a holistic approach that I really admired. He was funny, smart, perspicacious, generous. He'd talk about, say, Tadd Dameron in the first hour and then we'd play Dameron's music in the second. I learned a lot, and like so many, I have a gaggle of his method books on my shelves. I wasn't close with David, but I spoke to him frequently through the years for this and that. We shared a unique bond in that he and his wife live in the first house that my parents had built in Bloomington and the house I lived in the first few months of my life. A friend was house-sitting for him once when I was in grad school and one day I went with her to water the plants, etc. I went down in the basement where he had all his records and scores and the like, and I loved that the vibe was so connected to my own aesthetic. The world is a little less hip today with David gone. What a life he led and what a legacy to have touched so many thousands of students and cleared the forest through which so many walk today.

Don't forget this version: Tony Bennett, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izdTsAeoLtQ

Sorry for the delayed response guys -- I got sidetracked with my day job. Niko -- thanks for doing the legwork. I hadn't seen the Sun Ra page until you pointed it out, and I too noticed the contradiction with the other page. So glad to know the collective wisdom is that Yusef was not on the date. Jim -- I had not heard that Doggett side before so thanks for that. Interesting stuff. "Yusef's Mood" came first (4/1957) compared to Doggett (1958), but I'd guess that the defining riff (bars 4-12) was not actually "composed" by anyone but was rather something that was in the air within the R&B milieu. I mean, somebody literally was the first to play it somewhere but fuck if you can figured out who that was and where -- kinda like "The Theme," the rhythm changes break tune that Miles is often credited with writing but which he surely didn't.

I like the score for "Bullit" -- of its era, the jazz-rock-Mod vibe, and of a piece with, say Don Ellis' "French Connection" score And "Gillespiana" written for Dizzy... Also, the Detroit Symphony will be playing his de facto violin concerto,"Tangos Concertantes," next season. I don't know anything about it but am looking forward to hearing it.

Thanks for the help, guys -- appreciate it.

OK, really wading further into the weeds. Anybody know a source for the sides that Eugene Wright & His Dukes of Swing/Dozier Boys made in late 1948 in Chicago for the Aristocrat label. Titles include "Big Time Baby," "Music Goes Round and Round," "Pork N Beans" and "Dawn Mist." The first two are up on youtube but the second two ("Pork"/"Dawn") are nowhere that I can find. Were any or all of these issued on CD or LP? These are the sides that feature early Sun Ra on piano (and he probably wrote the charts), but I'm digging around because they almost certainly contain Yusef Lateef's first recorded solos -- and these stomping blues tell you a lot. Direct precursors of "Yusef's Mood," which would remain a constant in his repertoire for decades. Anyway, if anyone has copies of "Pork N Beans" and "Dawn Mist" I'd love to barter.

Can anyone enlighten me about how exactly the Ernie Fields band sounded in the mid 1940s or point me to representative recordings? Brother Yusef worked him through the Midwest in those years,and I'm interested in understanding the character and style of the group..

"When you're swinging, swing some more!"