Mark Stryker

Baraka reading "In the Tradition." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgmCpn_jILk Wow.

The Star-Ledger is reporting that Amiri Baraka has died at age 79. Wasn't sure where to post this info -- chose here because this was one of the longer threads I can recall and it started with a dicussion of Baraka's work and aesthetic. Here's the news: http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/01/hold_hold_hold_amiri_baraka_former_nj_poet_laureate_and_prolific_author_dead_at_79.html Forgive me if somebody posted this reading/performance previously in this thread.

So, I have Big Band Modern on "The Very Best of Gerald Wilson" (Master Classics) but there is no personnel, liner notes or discography information included. I'm trying to nail down info on this date and want to throw some questions out to the board: 1. Can someone confirm that the flute soloist on "Algerian Fantasy" and "Lotus Land" is Bill Green, a conservatory trained reedman who became one of the first black studio musicians in LA? 2. Can anyone tell me who the trumpet soloist is on "Bull Fighter" (a transcription of the traditional fanfare melody known as "La Virgen De La Macarena")? 3.I understand the record was released original on 10 inch LP on Federal under the title "Progressive Sounds" and then reissued on Audio Lab. Earlier in this thread it was reported that reissue came on '59 but I saw an online discography of Audio Lab that said 1960. Does anyone have the LP who could literally look as see if there's a date? Thanks.

There but for the grace of God and all that ...

Interesting you mentioned Gozzo: In a conversation that grew out of a discussion about Porcino and Young, a credentialed trumpet player friend (excellent small group player who was also on the Ray Charles band ) told me that Gozzo is revered among other trumpeters.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any film of Joe soloing with the band. However, there are bootleg recordings that can be found on CD that have him playing (his ass off) on "Don't Get Sassy," including one from Basle (Basel) and one from Paris. I'm pretty sure film exists somewhere because at least parts of two concerts were captured by presumably European TV. The question is whether either (or others) picked up a tune with Joe soloing. I'm not sure if he played on any other tunes they were regularly performing at that time. Eddie Daniels plays, for example, on "Mean What You Say."

Porcino and Young side by side with Thad & Mel,1969. The two finest post-war lead players in the same section. Pretty sure it's Porcino playing first trumpet here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZLvqXFddu0

Absolutely one of the finest lead players of the post-war era -- guys with that much power and high chops but also with the ability to swing and the taste to know what not to do are rare. I preferred Snooky Young because the swing was just a hair more relaxed but Porcino definitely had a pocket and knew how to stay there and might have been more flexible in terms of hooking up with all kinds of different drummers who put the beat in different places. He was a sign of quality and consistency on any recording on which he appeared. I've been listening to a ton of Gerald Wilson in the last week while revamping a piece and it's been a pleasure to hear Porcino on those Pacific LPs. Coda: A trumpet player friend notes insightfully that while Porcino was a pure lead player, Young was also a soloist and thus also brought that aesthetic into his lead playing.

Thanks for this -- appreciate it. That's not a record I know at all. Quite a press roll (!) leading to Wilson's intro, after the bebop choruses on top ...

Hey gang, Does anyone know whether Gerald Wilson's great arrangement of "Perdido" that appears on Duke's "The Great Paris Concert" from 1963 was recorded previously by Ellington? What a roaring chart ... (though the beboppish two-tenor intro that Jimmy Hamilton and Paul Gonsalves play was conceived if memory serves by Clark Terry and Hamilton.

In addition to my Lateef obituary for the Detroit Free Press that Michael Weiss linked to last night in post #34 (and which I'll repost below for convenience), here are some others I've seen posted today. Don Heckman's piece in the LA Times is excellent. http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-yusef-lateef-20131225,0,7549278.story#axzz2oPXoozGp Peter Keepnews iin the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/arts/music/yusef-lateef-innovative-jazz-saxophonist-and-flutist-dies-at-93.html?_r=0&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1387919951-ODBquGyKdOb9uaTU+LP0Fw Howard Mandel's more personal reflections: http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2013/12/unforgettable-sounds-and-best-videos-of-yusef-lateef.html Finally, here's my piece in case you missed it and want a look. http://www.freep.com/article/20131223/NEWS08/312230128/yusef-lateef-dies-obituary-jazz There is confusion over his original name. Older sources have his original name as Williams Evans, which was the formal name he was using before converting to Islam (and he was known on early recordings as Bill Evans). However, more recent sources, list his original name as William Emanuel Huddleston -- except that in the very first sentence of his 2006 autobiography he spells his middle name with two m's as in Emmanuel. His website has it spelled Emanuel. I chose to go with the autobiography on the theory that there was a great chance that the website, which has other errors in the bio, was more likely incorrect than literally the first sentence of his autobiography which he would have proofed himself and which would have gone through his collaborator, additional copy editing at the like. But this is one that I don't think you'd solve without seeing the birth certificate. In the autobiography, "The Gentle Giant," written with Herb Boyd, Yusef says his father changed the family name to Evans after arriving in Detroit for reasons that he never knew. The book, by the way, is very disappointing. Yusef apparently was not interested in telling stories and painting scenes, so there's little sense of atmosphere or character in what is a very flat narrative. I spoke with him a number of times, but interviewed him only once at length and while I got a little good stuff I recall it being a bit of a struggle to draw him out.

Thanks Michael for linking. We have posted an updated version. A very difficult deadline as the news came very late and I didn't have much time for polishing.

Epic ballad medleys appeared in several of Sinatra's annual TV specials. Quite theatrical, end-of-love-affair stuff. Typically he'd use one song as a linking device (previously "Just One of Those Things" and "It Was a Very Good Year") opening with say, 8 bars, then returning to that song in between each new tune in the medley. This particular one was structured a little different, opening with a taste of "Glad to Be Unhappy" but never returning to it. Instead the coda circles back to "Here's That Rainy Day," the first full song of the medley. Note: he dons a trench but there's no cigarette. The arranger of "Rainy Day" was Gordon Jenkins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iwwfFexeSg He does have a cigarette for this version (1959) with Red Norvo small band. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UESWN--L43Q The 1966 medley: Wow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l8RDKUigj4 Finally, the 1965 progenitor. Wow again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5AW4noPhbQ

I also find myself returning often to the Red Garland Quintet records with Trane and Donald Byrd -- great front line with Byrd right on the cusp of his absolute peak as a trumpet player.

Well, I wasn't counting the Miles dates -- just Trane as a leader. "Relaxin'" is a desert island disc for me, etc.

King Ubu reminds me that I spaced out "Settin' the Pace" -- a great one two. Add it to my two and call them the three best

More or less agree with Jim, but if you're looking for the absolute cream, the quartet dates "Soultrane" and "Traneing In" are it, especially the former.

That would be Bernie who discovered women: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnLqLHWDg5E

My 2 cents: Seeing RIP in the headline even with (rumor) alongside is disconcerting and easily reads as if his life or death remains unknown, when, in fact it has been confirmed that he's alive. If the thread is to remain, the head should be adjusted to simply "Horace Silver" or "Horace Silver Is Alive" or something ...

Thanks Jim, for hipping me to something I didn't know.

Here's another tune from the same program with good views of the band. I assume that's Buddy Collette in the saxophone section. Nice. Unusual to see an integrated band on TV in those days. Anybody know who the bass player is? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5HFVo7KmaA

I don't know. I work on a production desk and anyone over 50 should know that's a picture of Chick Corea. The man was pretty widely recognized in pop culture back in the day. Maybe all the old codgers have been bought out and sent on their way. You get what you pay for in a work force. Ah, but you prove my point: If you believe that anyone over 50 should have known then the fact that younger workers did not recognize him would indeed be a sign that jazz has slipped every farther from common currency. Your second point is perhaps more complicated than you suggest: While I agree to a point -- my own newsroom has lost countless veterans with institutional knowledge and broader general cultural knowledge than those who replaced them -- using 50 as the cut off point doesn't necessarily mean you're left with an inferior staff that as you imply is being paid significantly less. All of the folks who might have caught that error could be roughly 40 to 50 years old which means they could have anywhere from 18 to nearly 30 years under their belt. I would also note that general knowledge of popular culture cuts both ways. At 50, I am far less capable of understanding all kinds of pop cultural references (and thus picking up certain mistakes) than my younger colleagues. Of course, I bring other areas of expertise to the table that they don't, including the fact that I know what Corea and Jarrett look like. (As a side note, I was shocked recently, when the 40-year-old hipster who sits near me had no idea who Albert Brooks was. How could that be?) All which is an argument for diversity across all demographics -- age, gender, race, background, experience -- the more the collective knows, the more likely it is that somebody might know what Chick and Keith look like.

Actually, it's fairly easy to explain how this happened. The original photo, which came from Getty Images, came with the wrong caption attached. So the original mistake was not made at the Times. The picture editor or page designer who grabbed the image from the wire or archive had no reason assume if was wrong -- unless he/she actually knew what Chick or Keith looked like. It is certainly not surprising that this person and the perhaps two other editors involved in the production of that page, neither knew the difference. (Chinen never saw the page; as a contract writer, he may not even have a cubicle at the paper.) It would be nice to think that every person working in the culture department at the Times would know what Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett (or other contemporary jazz musicians not named Marsalis) actually look like. But don't kid yourself. If the fact that nobody caught this mistake proves anything it's that jazz has become so removed from common culture that it's probably unreasonable to expect that somebody would know the difference. I mean, it would be nice, and one reason why you want smart, well-read people on your copy desk with varied experiences and expertise is so that somebody might catch something like this. If you want to skewer the Times over any number of sins, feel free, but I'd give them a pass on this one. Larry Kart will back me up on this: It's amazing stuff like this doesn't happen more often.

Yes, Riddle chart, recorded a year prior on "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!" Good deduction on Herfurt, though I did a Google image search and the photos show a guy with hair, though it's probably a rug. Same guy?

Sneaking up on the Sinatra centennial in 1915. He would have beenn 98 today. Here's a peerless reading of "We'll Be Together Again" from television in '57. Sweets Edison is obviously the (unseen) trumpeter and Bill Miller the pianist, but anybody know who the the alto player is -- a studio cat with a Johnny Hodges in him ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw_5qZB7P-M …