Mark Stryker

I hear you and appreciate the sentiment. I think there's no question that the producers (Cuscuna/Crouch) were interested in getting lots of material on the recordings and the understanding was that the performances would be more compact than usual for Joe at the time. In fairness to the producers, it is worth nothing that some of the tunes they selected for Joe ended up being part of is repertoire for the rest of is life -- "Beatrice," "Ask Me Now."

IMO this one and the later Blue Note Village Vanguard Twofer are his best live recordings. I know lots of people love "State of the Tenor," but for me the playing sounds too constrictive -- I'm not convinced Joe is really into all of the material selected for him, the tunes are atypically short compared to Joe's best playing in those days and the sound mix for me doesn't work: not nearly enough Foster in the balance and way too much bass (that's an LP impression; if that's been fixed on CD, somebody tell me...). In any case there were some European live concerts of similar vintage that I prefer, especially "An Evening with Joe Henderson" (Red). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkkqphwI-k&list=PLF06EF13D310BE710

Funny how all of us keep skirting the initial question! But, yes, the three LPs that are tenor sax + rhythm quartets -- "The Real McCoy," "Basra" & Andrew HIll's "Black Fire" -- are all essential Joe, especially the "Real McCoy," one of the landmark records of that or any other era. When you start adding in the sideman appearances the list really gets long ...

Well, the Milestones are a different question, but in order: Power to the People In Japan Tetragon Black is the Color

1. Inner Urge (no contest) 2. In 'n Out 3. Our Thing for the playing; Mode for Joe for the writing.

GREAT solo. Paul at his best, sounding more like Paul Desmond than Paul Desmond usually does. Not something I necessarily need a lot of in my life, but something I want when I need it. Thanks for posting.

Lovely, insightful words from Pat Metheny. http://www.patmetheny.com/news/full_display.cfm?id=104

For folks who might be interested, here's a 2004 profile that I wrote that we reposted today. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/06/11/ornette-coleman-profile/71066180/ There was also a sidebar about a remarkable turn during the interview when Ornette gave me his alto to play and gave me a harmolodics lesson. We didn't repost that one but I've put it on my Facebook page. Here's a link: https://www.facebook.com/mark.stryker.35/posts/491860824312091?comment_id=491913590973481&offset=0&total_comments=4&notif_t=feed_comment

Related. Just discovered this today: Jazz in Detroit c. late 80s.Charles McPherson with Kenn Cox a very young Rodney Whitaker and /Roy Brooks. Priceless footage. The tenor sax heard over the opening credits is Donald Walden, the host, who came up in Detroit with Charles and Lonnie Hillyar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfzgb5h1VL0 …

In case folks are not aware, Emmanuel Riggins is the father of the great Detroit-born drummer Karriem Riggins. Karriem had a very difficult week in losing his father just a few days after his mentor Marcus Belgrave died ...

Ron Carter on "Born to Be Blue" w/Eddie Harris in '65:. Less adventurous than w/Miles -- not appropriate in this context -- but absolutely perfect in every way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdV6zlP3kyc

I've got 40+ years of Down Beat in my closet too -- subscriber for decades since '76, now single copy buyer, bought various collections and single issues over the years to fill in gaps so pretty complete back to 1972 or so, sporadic before that, but lots and lots in 1959-61. Fun for the whole family! Well, maybe just me. But invaluable for research purposes and opening a window on various eras.

Very important document. Thanks, John, for the prescience to write it, and thanks to Jim for posting.

The funeral service was today. Here's a full report. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/05/30/marcus-belgrave-funeral-detroit/28232601/

Coda: Not long after arriving in Detroit, Marcus led a recording date for Motown that was to be part of a short-lived jazz subsidiary. There were 8 tunes recorded over two days in June 1963. The personnel is Marcus on trumpet, Bennie Maupin (tenor), Pepper Adams (bari), George Bohanon and Paul Riser (trombones), Cecil McBee (bass) and George Goldsmith (drums). The record was never issued, but it is almost certain that the tapes exist in the Universal vaults. No one I know has ever heard any of this. I'm trying to run some connections ...

The Village Gate material is remarkable. Not all of it equally successful, but hearing it really puts what got released, which was generally more conventional, in a much broader context. Several of the tracks are on youtube for those who want to explore. Now, what I really want to know is are there complete unedited takes of the "Standard Sonny Rollins" material. I mean, "Three Little Words" contains just over 2 minutes of the greatest shit ever and then fades away. Sonny sounds like he might go on forever. How long did he keep playing?

Suggest starting with Roland Alexander's "Pleasure Bent" (1961) -- Marcus gets featured billing on that. He gets nice space on Fathead Newman's debut: "Fathead, Ray Charles Presents David 'Fathead' Newman" -- check out "Willow Weep for Me." He's also on about half of "Fathead Comes On." An under-the-radar disc from much later where he gets lots of space is Horace Tapscott's "Aiee! The Phantom" (Arabesque) from 1995. He's on three tunes on Lenny White's Freddie Hubbard tribute, "Hub Art" (1996 on Hip Bop) -- "Crisis," "Pensativa," "Little Sunflower." He's all over the ensemble on McCoy's "La Leyenda de la Hora" (1981) but plays only one solo -- a good one on "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit." Otherwise, let me repeat what I said above: HIs best records as a leader are "Marcus Belgrave with Detroit's Jazz Piano Legacy, Vol. 1" and "Working Together." Definitely look for those if you haven't heard them.

Lawsuit ... http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/05/21/ornette-coleman-seeks-to-block-bootleg.htm

Colin -- thanks for the nice words. All: I've compiled a set of eight performance by Marcus from YouTube that range from his first solos on record with Ray Charles in 1958-59 to a 2012 concert video at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. I should also note Marcus' two best recordings under his own name were made for his own label in the 1990s and while they were not widely distributed, you can find them with a little searching: "Marcus Belgrave with Detroit's Jazz Piano Legacy, Vol. 1" and "Working Together." I can't recommend these highly enough, especially the former, which includes performances with the Tommy Flanagan Trio and other tracks with Geri Allen and Gary Schunk (a terrific pianist and local hero not many know about outside of Michigan). http://www.freep.com/…/marcus-belgrave-recordings…/27885363/

Sad news to report from Detroit this morning. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/2015/05/24/trumpeter-marcus-belgrave/27878711/

http://www.vulture.com/2015/05/strange-saga-of-dylans-first-letterman-gig.html

Certainly, people laugh at the opera -- have permission to and are encouraged to do so. Something to remember, however, is that performances today are always done with translations projected above the stage or, at the Met, on digital read-out screens on the back of the seat in front of you. Even works in English are accompanied by English titles. The result is that the audience today is actually even more clued into the verbal jokes, puns, humor, etc than they often were in the past. Sometimes it can be a little disconcerting that the laughs line up more with the timing of the screens rather than the actual words coming out of the singers' mouths.

That story about Byrd and Bud is really fascinating. Thanks for sharing it. I can offer an amen on "Bouncing with Bud." LOVE it. Tremendous on every level. I I've heard some of the SteepleChase LPs and find them, like most of late Bud, uneven and not essential but also, at their best rewarding in the intensity of expression, even when the mind and fingers are not so in sync. Also, the two duo tracks with Johnny Griffin c. 1961 ("Perdido" and "Idaho") are on the same level as "Bouncing with Bud."

Thought folks would be interested in this profile of the Detroit-born drummer. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/04/18/gerald-cleaver-black-host-detroit/25952157/ (Coda: a quick shout out to my employer, the Detroit Free Press, for still devoting substantial real estate and resources to stories like this.)

This was new to me. Subtitle: "Conversations with Jazz Musicians, New York City 1964 1965" http://darkforcesswing.blogspot.com/2015/04/hey-nineteen-garth-w-caylors-instant.html