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Mark Stryker

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Posts posted by Mark Stryker

  1. Butch Warren and Billy Higgins

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    Here's another one for today: How many records did Butch Warren and Billy Higgins make together. I count nine on Blue Note:

    Donald Byrd (2)

    Sonny Clark

    Herbie Hancock

    Jackie McLean (2)

    Don Wilkerson

    Dexter Gordon (2)

    plus an aborted Grant Green date, right?

    Are there others I'm overlooking either on BN or elsewhere?

  3. Donald Byrd and Clare Fischer

    in Discography

    Posted

    Can anyone provide a definitive recording date (year) for the "Donald Byrd with Strings" album that was recorded in the '50s but not released until the early '80s on Discovery. I've seen at least one discography list it as 1959 but other usually reliable references that have it as 1957. I don't own it but have heard it before -- beautiful album -- but not recently, when I've been listening to so much Byrd I think I could might be able to tell which year by the sound of his trumpet.

    Thanks in advance.

  5. Donald Byrd

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    "Gospel" is a slippery category. In relation to "A New Perspective" the issue is not whether the singers were either a standing church choir or an adhoc ensemble from the Manhattan School but whether the idiom in which they were singing qualifies as "gospel." Frankly, I'm not sure. We have an unbelievably great African American choir in Detroit -- the Brazeal Dennard Chorale -- that specializes in spirituals but also performs standard classical literature and they go nuts when they are called a gospel choir, because they associate the term with a more sanctified style, more vernacular, accompanied by electric organ/rhythm section etc. There is a formal, refined sound to the choir on the record -- the spirituals are there but its not sanctified as I would understand it.

    Can anybody offer of precise definition of "gospel" or what's the best way to refer to the choral part of "A New Perspective." Calling Allen Lowe, perhaps?

  7. Donald Byrd

    in Artists

    Posted

    Thanks, Larry.

    Interesting -- I don't know this record at all! From the same year as "A New Perspective." My sense is that perhaps no one had literally married a gospel choir with modern jazz until Byrd did it, but that related ideas and concepts were undoubtedly in the air.

  12. Tom Harrell

    in Artists

    Posted

    Fass -- to be clear, I think Tom comes out of a lot of trumpeters, but there's a purity of melody here that I particularly associate with Chet. I also wouldn't say that solo could have been played by a lot of those older trumpeters -- not literally. The great thing about is the distinctivenss of Tom's own voice, absolutely contemporary but clearly rooted.

    Speaking of others though, the little double-time grace-note figure at the start of the final bridge is a warm wink at Clifford Brown.

  13. Tom Harrell

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    Hmm, thanks. Very weird. I just replaced my links and now they do appear to work, at least for me. But they're still just showing up as URLs and not as embedded videos. Anybody know why?

  14. Tom Harrell

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    I've been sharing this with a few folks, so I thought I would post. This Harrell solo on “Darn That Dream" is one of the more remarkable things I’ve heard in a long time. The pure melodic content, natural lyric flow and uncliched but accurate way he winds through the changes here is just off the charts. You can really hear the influence of Chet Baker taken to an incredibly high plane of invention. Also entertaining to watch Wayne Escoffery's facial expressions as he listens to the solo unfold.
    Which Chet did Tom pick up on? This one I think, especially the first two A sections of his solo after the head.

  15. For Dexter's 90th birthday

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    Dexter was the first great jazz musician I ever saw live. Fall 1977, Indiana University Memorial Union in Bloomington, Ind. George Cables, Rufus Reid, Eddie Gladden. I was 14 and already into jazz, but it still changed my life. The authority, sound and stage presence were just overwhelming to a kid who could play the heads to "Yardbird Suite," and "Billie's Bounce" and was just connecting the dots with ii V I harmony and the like. I remember part of the set list. "Gingerbread Boy," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" (with Dexter reciting the first 8 bars of the lyric), a fast blues to close and something else in between. They did a second set and I think "It's Your or No One" was part of that and, if memory is not playing tricks, Dexter played something on soprano.

    Saw Dexter several more times, but that was the best. Of course, he always phrased behind the beat, but maybe 5 years later I heard him in Chicago and I remember the way he played "Moment's Notice" was so far on the backside that it sounded like the rhythm section had lapped him!

    Faves: "Go," "A Swingin' Affair," "Our Man in Paris," "The Panther," "Generation," "The Apartment," "Bouncin' with Dex," "Swiss Nights Vol 1" -- I can't tell you how much I listened to those records when I was young. Lot of lessons in Dexter's playing -- melody, warmth, importance of sound. You know, there's a reason why, say, Kurt Elling has based a number of vocalise pieces on Dexter solos -- the phrasing is so songful.

    Very interesting review, saw Dexter "live" around the same time, maybe a little later. the first time I saw him he opened his set with "It´s You Or No One", which he announced as "a CBS plagiat". Then followed "Fried Bananas" (Dexter: All about something very good to eat), the inevitable More Than You Know (I think he played it all the times I saw him), and the fast Blues "Backstages" with a long solo by Eddie Gladden.

    Later, in 1981 he was still very strong, played a fanstastic "Gingerbread Boy" and a long "Body and Soul", which was an encore I think.

    The last time I saw him in 1983, and I think he had slowed down a bit. Started with "Secret Love", then "Good Bait" at a somewhat slow tempo, More than you know (as always), and "Jelly Jelly Jelly" about the same way he does it on "Swiss Nites", but anyway, on that last occasion he didn´t play as much, it took almost 10 minutes until he came on stage, after his rhythm section had played 3 tunes, which I don´t remember since I was waiting for the chief.....,

    I´m waitin for the book his widow is workin on, will be great to read it....

    Nice memories.

    Thinking back, I do remember hearing him play an epic "Body and Soul" when Kirk Lightsey was on piano. He really made that into the centerpiece of a set, using Coltrane's arrangement (vamp on the A sections; "Giant Steps:" substitutions on the bridge) and playing not only the melody but then playing two or three choruses of improvisation. And speaking of "Good Bait," when I heard Dexter at the Jazz Showcase once in college I wanted to get his autograph and the only paper I had was a folder of music, so I grabbed the lead sheet I had copied out of "Good Bait" and he signed that!

  16. Blues Waltz

    in Discography

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    Well said, Steve.

    Mike, never meant to criticize if I came off that way. I should have made the leap to what you probably meant. No doubt your impeccable English much better than my nonexistent German :)

  17. Blues Waltz

    in Discography

    Posted

    Thanks - the recording dates undermine this: Roach was March 1957, Charles July 1958. So Charles copped the tune? uh-oh ....

    Confused a little by your response: "Undermine" means "contradict" and if those are the recording dates then they actually support the proposition that Belgrave could have introduced the tune to Ray's band, Also, entirely possible that Marcus learned ths song from live performances or personal contact rather than the recording. Finally, just because the recording credits the tune to Charles doesn't mean that Ray necessarily was trying to "steal" it (though it might). But also possible that producer or others either made a mistake or were tyring to avoid royalties or whatever ... sometimes life is complicated.

  18. Blues Waltz

    in Discography

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    I can tell you that Marcus Belgrave has told me that he was responsible for bringing "Blue Waltz" into the Ray Charles book because he knew it from performances/recording by Max's group. Whatever the origins of the tune, Ray didn't write it.

  20. For Dexter's 90th birthday

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    Dexter was the first great jazz musician I ever saw live. Fall 1977, Indiana University Memorial Union in Bloomington, Ind.

    I discovered Dexter right around the same time, and in a similar setting, but not live. It was "Jazz At The Maintenance Shop" (Iowa State U.), which I saw on PBS tv. As I was wont to do back then in such situations, I grabbed my parents' portable audio cassette recorder, and taped most of the show using an external mic. I still remember when my dad came home that evening, and the sound of him opening the garage door and pulling the car in became part of the recording I would be listening to for years.

    I remember that series. In addition to Dexter, there are shows with Bill Evans, Woody Shaw and Phil Woods. Very rare to see serious jazz on TV in those days and no VCRs -- talk about appointment TV! There are clips on YouTube. I remember at one point in the Bill Evans show between tunes he's complaining about the on-stage sound and says scarastically something like, "I'm sure glad we did a sound check." It's the first time I can remember being cognizant of a certain strand of dry/dark humor from a musician.

  21. For Dexter's 90th birthday

    in Artists

    Posted · Edited by Mark Stryker

    Dexter was the first great jazz musician I ever saw live. Fall 1977, Indiana University Memorial Union in Bloomington, Ind. George Cables, Rufus Reid, Eddie Gladden. I was 14 and already into jazz, but it still changed my life. The authority, sound and stage presence were just overwhelming to a kid who could play the heads to "Yardbird Suite," and "Billie's Bounce" and was just connecting the dots with ii V I harmony and the like. I remember part of the set list. "Gingerbread Boy," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" (with Dexter reciting the first 8 bars of the lyric), a fast blues to close and something else in between. They did a second set and I think "It's Your or No One" was part of that and, if memory is not playing tricks, Dexter played something on soprano.

    Saw Dexter several more times, but that was the best. Of course, he always phrased behind the beat, but maybe 5 years later I heard him in Chicago and I remember the way he played "Moment's Notice" was so far on the backside that it sounded like the rhythm section had lapped him!

    Faves: "Go," "A Swingin' Affair," "Our Man in Paris," "The Panther," "Generation," "The Apartment," "Bouncin' with Dex," "Swiss Nights Vol 1" -- I can't tell you how much I listened to those records when I was young. Lot of lessons in Dexter's playing -- melody, warmth, importance of sound. You know, there's a reason why, say, Kurt Elling has based a number of vocalise pieces on Dexter solos -- the phrasing is so songful.

  23. Donald Byrd - Live at Montreux 1973 getting release

    in New Releases

    Posted

    BN folks told me it's not on docket for release at this time but will be available as a stream indefinitely. Pace Jim, definitely edgier than the LPs released at the time. This may not make a difference for some -- I'm not sure it does for me either, as I haven't made up my mind about a lot of this music. But I listened once yesterday and found it illuminating in the way that it gives a fuller picture of what Byrd was up to. FWIW, making it available as a stream was Don Was' idea.

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