Mark Stryker

http://fredhersch.com/press/articles/HerschBlindfoldTest.pdf The Blindfold Test ...

Lou Donaldson, Eddie Palmieri, Mose Allison, Lorraine Gordon (advocacy) http://arts.gov/honors/jazz/2013-NEA-Jazz-Masters-Announced.html

Long interview conducted by Ethan Iverson for his blog http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/interview-with-fred-hersch.html

Thanks for the summary. I've grown to really like these records; I will say that hearing Wayne play some of this material live in Chicago at the end of 1985 at the Jazz Showcase remains some of the most memorable music I've ever heard. He was really on the night I was there, and played very long solos (much different than today when it's lots of bob and weave). Of course, he needed to play long solos, because that particular band didn't have much to add beyond laying down the beat and handling the complex written material. But when I was there, it really felt like Wayne was enjoying the freedom of really stretching after all those years in WR.

I'm sure this was discussed elsewhere but is there any extra/unreleased material here and how is the sound compared to the original LPs. Weighing the investment based on whether my LPs are good enough; quality remastering can make a big difference with Wayne's "non-acoustic" music. Edit to add: OK, found previous thread. See that there appears to be two discs of Weather Report material of solely Wayne's material. Still interested if there's any unreleased stuff from the four other albums, plus, of course, a verdict on the sound ...

Disagree. Curtis was not known at all at that point beyond Detroit. Assuming the 1956 date is correct, Pepper didn't have a national reputation yet either, since he didn't join Kenton until right after that session and hadn't made an impact on record yet either. Meanwhile, P.C had been in New York for at least a year and he and Trane were with Miles. Cuscuna tells me has not more info on this (other than what's been repeated above), as he "hit a wall" on this particular issue years ago. Thanks. My bad. I don't know why I was thinking that Fuller and Adams had already established their reputations in the mid-50s. No worries. The minutia here can drive you crazy ...

Disagree. Curtis was not known at all at that point beyond Detroit. Assuming the 1956 date is correct, Pepper didn't have a national reputation yet either, since he didn't join Kenton until right after that session and hadn't made an impact on record yet either. Meanwhile, P.C had been in New York for at least a year and he and Trane were with Miles. Cuscuna tells me he doesn't have any more info on this (other than what's been repeated above), as he "hit a wall" on this particular issue years ago.

As for the date of recording, F thanks much for this. getting a little closer i think. i emailed Cuscuna for any clarification he might be able to bring at this point and i'll go back to Curtis one more time to see if some of this context jogs his memory a bit more.

Thanks for this. Michael Weiss sent me some info from this LP set, but it confuses the issue compared to the info included with the Paul Chambers Mosaic Select from a few years ago -- both "High Step" and the Mosaic were both produced by Michael Cuscuna. The LPs give two possible recording dates, including April 20, 1955 (instead of 1956, which is accepted in many more recent discographies and reissues) and the LPs also say the recording location is either Detroit or Boston. I spoke directly with Curtis Fuller about this (the only one still alive from the session, including the original producer)and all Curtis remembers is flying out to Boston and flying right back for the date. He doesn't remember it as "his" date. Very murky.

I'm trying to determine if the April 20, 1956 sesson from Boston/Cambridge was technically a Paul Chambers date or if it was released as a collective without an individual leader. This online discography lists it under P.C.'s name, but I'm wondering if this is accurate or not. Also wondering if it was literally recorded in Boston or Cambridge. (I've seen it both ways.) Finally, is this date currently available on CD somewhere. Last I saw it was on the Paul Chambers Mosaic Select. Can anybody shed more light? Paul Chambers Sextet Curtis Fuller (tb) John Coltrane (ts) Pepper Adams (bars) Roland Alexander (p -2) Paul Chambers (b) Philly Joe Jones (d) Boston, MA, April 20, 1956 1.High Step Blue Note BN-LA 451-H2 2.Trane's Strain Transition TRLP 30; Blue Note BN-LA 451-H2 3.Nixon, Dixon And Yates Blues Blue Note BN-LA 451-H2 * Blue Note BN-LA 451-H2 Paul Chambers/John Coltrane - High Step * Transition TRLP 30, (J) GXF 3126 Various Artists - Jazz In Transition

Joe plays great on the two Griffith Park Collection LPs, especially the 2-LP live recording "The Griffith Park Collection 2 In Concert." He also appears on a couple of good records by the fine guitarist Akio Sasajima, who I think is still somewhere around San Francisco but whom I knew as a Chicagoan some 25 years ago. "Humpty Dumpty" (Enja) and "Akio" (Muse)

Big, big topic, but thinking off the top, five indispensable Blue Notes that Joe just kills on are McCoy Tyner's "The Real McCoy," Andrew Hill's "Black Fire," Larry Young's "Unity," Pete LaRoca's "Basra" and Kenny Dorham's "Una Mas." Lots of interesting records of more recent vintage, too, but I've got to do some work. More later.

I know it's not what you were thinking of, but for what is' worth, I write about jazz and my twin brother is a jazz pianist on the faculty at Western Illinois University in Macomb. Elvin Jones had a twin who died as an infant.

Speaking of "Solar" ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Miles_Davis_Gravesite.JPG and this ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQOUxYdNeR0

I thought it was long established that Wayne wrote "Solar," no? Or is this is this actually the first documentary evidence that literally proves it? If so, very cool. "Solar" is a 12-bar form; "How High the Moon" is a 16-bar (+16) form and the changes diverge enough that "Solar" shouldn't be thought of as a contrafact of "HHtM." Yet there is a similarity in the harmony starting in bar three where both move (one bar each) G-7/C7/F/F/F-7/B-flat7/E-flat that definitely leaves the scent of HHtM even though the tunes are in different keys and ultimately begin and end in different places. It would not surprise me if "HHtM," a tune as familiar as the blues or "Rhythm" in that era, entered Wayne's mind when he was creating that part of "Solar." Would love to know if there's any hard evidence of how concsious or unconscious the reference might be. Coda: As Ethan Iverson pointed out on Twitter today, Wayne plays the opening chord as major while Miles played in minor -- actually minor with a major 7th, an exotic sound in 1954. Certainly that's one reason the tune proved alluring to musicians. Also, the truncated form is interesting -- 12 bars but not a blues, though I suppose it kinda winks at the blues in an oblique way, going to IV major in the fifth bar. But it's a quirky, circular form. Coda 2: Why do we pronounce the title "So-lar" rhyming with "bar" rather than "Solar" as in "solar system," rhyming with "her"? Seriously, when the hell did that start?

Biography is part art, part science and part craft. Oral histories are of course invaluable but they are by no means gospel -- people lie (benevolently or willfully), they stretch the truth, they mis-remember, they forget, they tell a different version of their story each time they tell it to an interviewer, who may or may not have the skill, knowledge or experience to deal with the material in a sophisticated way. Anyone who has done any interviewing or writing knows how elusive the "truth" can be, even about mundane facts much less the complicated issues in which personal relationships, pyschology, family, identity, ego, insecurities and other issues are involved. The primary source interview is the place to start, but it is by no means the end. It can take a lot of post-interview probing with the subject and extensive follow-up fact checking through secondary interviews and scouring the written documentary record -- and then collating all of the information -- before you begin to get at some sense of the objective truth. You know, letters can often be a gold mine -- think of the Founding Fathers, who wrote down just about everything in voluminous letters. Yet there was also myopia and score settling and it takes an artful biographer -- who herself/himself will be dealing with their own biases -- to make sense of it all.

I like his last line: "That is one nutty hospital!"

"Spinal Tap" rules. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDIipofjBQg

Related: Patti Smith was married to the late guitarist Fred (Sonic) Smith of the MC5, whose landmark album "Kick Out the Jams" included a piece co-credited to the MC5 and Sun Ra. Patti was always a fan of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman -- see the photo of her here with "A Love Supreme" http://www.retronaut.co/2011/06/celebrities-and-their-vinyl/ Also, in her book "Just Kids" she talks about reviewing records for little magazines back in the early '70s including (and I'm going from memory here) Albert Ayler and other avant-garde musicians in a variety of idioms. I saw her recently in Detroit performing some of the new material (and lots of the old stuff) in an intimate and acoustic setting with just her two children -- her daughter plays keyboard and her son is a good guitarist. Great performance. For what it's worth, I wrote a rather lengthy piece about her in the context of her work as a visual artist and her deep connection with the Detroit Institute of Arts. http://www.freep.com/article/20120603/ENT05/206030415/The-DIA-through-Patti-Smith-s-eyes-Musician-artist-unleashes-her-imagination-on-a-tour-of-the-museum-she-has-loved-for-decades

Thanks -- yes, Turbo Village is probably the club. Now, any tapes of Freddie and Wayne's quartet? If there were any, David Weiss would know ...

This is tantalizing: In this new-to-me interview with Freddie Hubbard he is asked about Wayne Shorter and says that he and Wayne had a quartet that played for a year and a half in Brooklyn with Tom Williams and Pete LaRoca. Anybody know of any tapes or witness accounts of this group -- repertoire, sound, etc.? Freddie may say the name of the club, but I can't quite make it out in the interview. The section about Wayne starts around the 4:50 mark.

I just listened to the first track and Woody and Victor Lewis are on fire! Really exceptional. Looking forward to the rest of the tape. Thanks for posting

Great photos. Thanks for posting. Miles' $8,000 Ferrari in 1959, by the way, would cost $63K today according to a quick calculation with an inflation calculator.

The four major Detroit pianists -- Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris and Roland Hanna -- were terrific early on, but they matured into masters in the their 40s, 50s and beyond. On record the 1970s was an especially great decade for all of them. I think Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes both got better with age. Buddy Rich, too. I prefer the best of late Art Pepper compared to the best of early Art Pepper, but that's a personal preference and much discussed in other threads. (Related: I prefer early McCoy to later McCoy, but that's not to deny the greatness of later McCoy.) Branford Marsalis is another one; anyone who still judges him based on his playing from the 1980s and 90s is evaluating a completely different musician than the personal player he has become today. Let's see, who else comes to mind right away? Dexter Gordan grew tremendously of course, peaking in the 1960s and early '70s.

Didn't get any action the first time around so bumping to see if any latecomers have any suggestions ...