Mark Stryker

I spoke earlier this week with George Walker, whose Violin Concerto will be performed by the Detroit Symphony this weekend. An all-black composer program: Walker, Dawson, Still, Ellington, more. At 92, Walker is traveling to Detroit for the performances. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/03/03/george-walker-classical-roots-dso/24332241/

All you cats are wrong: The world's greatest drummer was Animal on the Muppet Show, who took down Buddy in a drum battle, though in fairness Buddy pretty much had him until Animal stepped outside Marquess of Queensberry rules at the very end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJh9W3Gcpmo

I saw a note on Twitter yesterday that he had entered hospice. Now comes official world of his death. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/arts/music/orrin-keepnews-jazz-producer-and-record-executive-is-dead-at-91.html?smid=tw-nytimesmusic&seid=auto&_r=0

Would have loved to hear Joe Henderson stretch out on "Airegin" at a medium bright clip ... Also would have loved to hear Sonny tackle it again later in his career. I recall hearing him play "Strode Rode" in concert either in the fall of 1980 or spring of '81 -- another minor bebop tune -- and he was playing it at least as recently as 2009. But I don't think he ever resurrected "Airegin." Anyone know of evidence to the contrary?

It was mentioned earlier, but the 1956 Miles quintet version is just really incredible. Everyone at their best, but it's not the individuals so much as the whole band locked in as a BAND. So casual yet so fucking locked in -- the rhythm section hits behind the solos, the way PC and Philly Joe are up on the beat yet so relaxed, Miles and Trane just their bad selves. All in 4.25 minutes. A masterpiece by midnight, indeed.

I like this Stan Getz version. It's kind of a mess in a way but an early sign that Stan was always going to stay in the present tense and really push himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qomPl60BT1E

Re: Lin Halliday. I specifically remember hearing him play "Airegin" twice, once around 1982-83 in Urbana and then a few years later at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago. That first time he was having a (not atypical) weird night, turning his back to the audience, nervously adjusting his reed, playing a few lines, then re-adjusting all during the course of the tune in real time. Just wiggy. But I will never forget that somewhere in the middle of the solo he focused for maybe two or three choruses and what came out was like he was channeling Sonny Rollins in 1957. Not copying or aping or playing licks of whatever, but truly IMPROVISING in that language with so much authority and electricity it was, well, profound is the only word that comes to mind. At times like those the idea of "originality" gets very slippery and kinda meaningless when you're right there feeling the air move in the room. I think Jon Hendricks sounds amazing in this version. Lambert sounds great too, but not like Jon. God DAMN. I know someone who has good ears who thinks Lambert cuts him, but I don't really think it's even close. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul54NWmwLxs

Moms, Mori -- thanks for the thoughts.

I wrote this appreciation yesterday. We have some terrific video of Levine too. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/02/15/philip-levine-obituary-detroit/23457965/

"A lot of people don't know this, but the blues, which is an American music, is not what you think it is. It's a combination of Arabic violins and Strauss waltzes working it out. But it's true." What exactly is he trying to get at here?

Here's a more contemporary fadeout from Mike LeDonne's first record. This is the entire track, which appears last on the CD and functions as a coda, fading in and then fading out. Conjuring up the ghost the Wynton Kelly Trio is really what this is about, a brief nightcap and toast to LeDonne's heroes. The whole record is excellent. In the idiom, sure, but very fresh and creative and and they really strike a groove. When it feels this good, you can play anyway you want. It self-justifies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk_sxcGG6_Y

One favorite story concerns the conventions of television drama vs. the realities of intergalactic travel: It makes no sense that they wouldn't have seat belts on the chairs on the bridge, so that whenever the ship gets hit with enemy fire or turbulence the crew wouldn't go flying. The producers used to get letters from fans asking, "Why don't you just seat belts on the bridge?" The answer was simple: "If we did, the actors couldn't fall out of their chairs."

Know more about this topic than I care to admit and, thankfully, am too busy to reveal all. Will note that the quality of the writing in the first season was generally excellent -- many favorite episodes but one that stands out for me is the cat-and-mouse match between Kirk and the Vulcan commander in "Balance of Terror." The second season is more hit and miss -- some real high points but also more clichés and more what one author calls "puzzle-box" episodess where the conflicts are less truly character driven and more plot driven -- where the good guys find themselves in danger and KIrk extricates everyone safely (except the one extra you don't recognize who beams down to some planet and gets killed in the first act) while simultaneously solving some longstanding problem on the planet and ending with a bit of moralizing. Third season is a further definite drop off in quality of the writing. I have no idea how you got to your age without seeing this show.

I heard Gidon Kremer and Daniil Trifonov in recital a week ago perform a couple of Weinberg sonatas. Best was the late period Sonata No. 3 for Unaccompanied Violin. Intense piece, devastating performance. (Whole program, which also included solo Mozart and Schubert sonata was terrific.)

I've been wondering who the musicians are with Frank on those Playboy clips. Was talking the other day with John Campbell (who has not actually seen these clips) but said the pianist could be Marty Rubenstein, a jazz & commercial (studio) player in Chicago, who was also the pianist on the Nicolas and May LP "Improvisations to Music." Hefner in fact makes a quick reference to "Marty always being ready to help out" before Frank sings "Let There Be Love." Any of you Chicago guys have any experience with Marty? Seems to have died young in 1991 at 66.

FWIW, Kurt Elling also recorded "Say It." String quartet, pianist Laurence Hobgood (who I assume wrote the chart) and Ernie Watts on tenor. I don't know of other vocal versions from back in the day but there must be some. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMJ3wNSy4RU

Sinatra recorded "Say It (Over and Over Again)" with Dorsey. Not sure if this is the record that introduced the song but Coltrane almost assuredly knew the tune from Sinatra/Dorsey.

Just to piggyback on Jim's comments from a long time ago about Hank's comping on Dexter's "Ca' Purange," for me the real star of that otherwise rather marginal side is Thad Jones, who plays some wild-ass solos and who wasn't on a ton of small group records in that era. Back in the day -- 1973, I think -- Down Beat ran a transcription (by David Baker) of Thad's solo on the slow blues "Oh! Karen, O" -- a study in controlled, expressive dissonance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC_i3qcaRDg

I can think of three others right off: Donald Byrd on "Ethiopian Nights" and "Kofi" (though his chops were pretty shot by then); Randy Brecker; and, believe it or not, Nat Adderley (check out Cannonball's "Black Messiah," especially title track.)

Wouldn't expect folks here to know Midge Ellis, who was a local treasure here in Detroit. But I'm posting my piece as both a nod to her and as a hat tip to those in other communities who play such an important role in the fabric of the music. http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/01/16/midge-ellis-detroit-jazz/21881513/

Two suggestions: Eddie Henderson and Terumasa Hino both play at the intersection of Freddie & Miles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE3mxhwrDqA

The two Japanese Sony dates and "Third Plane" (under Ron's name on Milestone) are the only pure trio LPs with Herbie, Ron and Tony. BTW, there are some trio tracks on Ron's "Uptown Conversation" with Herbie and Billy Cobham. There's some fantastic playing on the record. Not nearly as well known as it should be.

I've just become aware that the two Herbie Hancock Trio LPs with Ron Carter and Tony Williams on Sony/Japan from 1977 and 1981 have been reissued on Wounded Bird. I haven't heard the earlier one but the later one is fantastic. Have these every been available domestically in any form except for the recent monster CBS box? (I do have the recent Wound Bird reissue of Herbie's '74 solo LP "Dedication."

The various Karajan/Berlin Beethoven cycles come to mind -- 1963, 1977 and 1985. (There's an earlier set with the Philharmonia but I don't know it.) Of the others, all on DG, of course, the '63 set is great -- beautifully plotted but still fresh, natural, flowing, with a real sense of the changing character of the music. The subsequent sets get increasingly mannered and over-massaged -- the one-size-fits all of later Karajan.