Mark Stryker

All of Sonny's concerts these days are recorded for archival purposes -- and have been for years. The more important question is whether Sonny will approve anything for release. Remember, the 50th anniversary reunion with Roy (and Christian) at Carnegie Hall a few years ago was originally planned for release but Sonny wasn't happy with two of the numbers and so the only piece that made it out was "Some Enchanted Evening" on "Road Shows" (though bootlegs of the other two tunes from Carnegie have floated around). As for Roy, he's a freak of nature. I don't think there's ever been any performing musician in any idiom in history who has ever played with greater technical precision, authority and creativity at such an advanced age -- and he's playing the drums! I actually think Roy is literally playing better than ever. I heard him with his own group just five days ago in Detroit and it was so amazing that there are no words. Also, up close, he looks like he's about 55. There was quite a special scene backstage at the Detroit festival during Branford Marsalis' set when Roy was sitting next to drummer Karriem Riggins (35 years old) and both were listening to Justin Faulkner, Branford's dynamite new drummer who is just 19 -- 66 years younger than Roy!

A few initial first-person accounts: http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2010/09/sonny_the_sax_king.html http://runningthevoodoodown.blogspot.com/2010/09/and-how-was-your-friday-night.html http://thejazzsession.com/2010/09/10/review-sonny-rollins-80th-birthday-concert/ http://barcelonajazzfestival.blogspot.com/2010/09/sonny-rollins-at-beacon-theatre-ii.html

Not sure if it's been mentioned on the board or not, but there's a new posting of the Cecil Taylor Quintet at the 1965 festival -- with Bill Barron, Jimmy Lyons, Henry Grimes, Andrew Cyrille. Three tunes: "Steps," "Unit Structures," "Tales (8 Whisps)" Total of nearly 50 minutes. Just listening to the opening of "Steps" and it's pretty incredible.

When I interviewed Joe in 1996, one of the questions I asked him was how he felt about his current success -- he was then riding the Verve contract and resulting exposure to the biggest paydays of his his career -- especially in light of the fact that so many of his former colleagues like Kenny Dorham had been tragically under appreciated during their lives. The angle at which he came at his answer surprised me; I'm going from memory here as I haven't listened to the tape of that interview since it was done. But he essentially talked about how some guys really didn't want to be famous or created situations that in effect kept them underground, or perhaps more underground than they needed to be. He was clearly not talking about himself -- he liked flying first-class and dug the bread, though he said if it all went away tomorrow he'd still be getting up everyday and working on his music, just as he had during all those years when not many folks other than musicians were paying attention. I interpreted his answer that he was specifically talking about K.D., but I didn't follow-up, because I didn't think it was germane to the wider context of the interview. Still, interesting.

In 1993, Joe told USA Today the following about BS&T: "Here you had a jazz-rock group and they didn't have any black faces. I was going to do a lot of writing, which was not necessarily going to be commercial. There was so much money, I was driven to rehearsals in a chauffeur-driven limo. They would go into the studio and live there for two months. I was used to recording in two days." The USA Today reporter, James T. Jones IV, then interjects in a quick summary that's surely reductive: "That, along with the band's numerous personnel changes, led him to leave after six months."

I guess I would add that pressure to conform does not always produce insecurity -- it's not a straight line. In fact, it can produce the opposite, an increased stubbornness to stick to your convictions, and Joe, as much as any musician of his generation, marched to his own drummer for his entire career. Here's an in-depth 1991 interview that doesn't directly address the issue but does paint a larger and interesting portrait of Joe's personality and includes reflections on his early days. http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/henderson.html

I didn't read the quote as a reflection of insecurity, that is, an admission that he felt he wasn't living up to bebop standards. Rather, I read it more as a statment that he didn't completely relate spiritually or emotionally to pure bebop and not until Coltrane did the music hit him deep in his soul. Detroit was a bebop town -- Barry Harris was still the leading guru in town when Joe was in college -- and Joe once said he felt like a man alone listening to Ornette when he was here. (He also told me that studying Hindemith, Stravinsky and Bartok at Wayne State helped keep his ears open and was one reason that early on he related to the experiments of both Coltrane and Ornette.) Of course, it's possible that he harbored some insecurities, but he sure didn't play that way. In fact, one of the things that's so amazing was that he was so in control of time, articulation and harmony that he could at any moment shift from abstract, slippery phrasing that obscured time and form to laying down a row of swinging 8th notes that was so Right-On-The-Money it could put to shame Sonny Stitt. That's one of the things that I love most about his playing. Allen: Do you know the source for that quote? I'd be curious to see the context.

Joe was not a particularly "loud" player in person, but being the master of the instrument that he was, he could still project his sound to where it could be heard anywhere in any room (under "normal" circumstances, of course). Projection & "volume" are subtly different but very real parts of sound production...there's guys that will be loud as hell when you stand right next to them, but you go out 15-20 feet and there ain't hardly anything there. Other guys, you can hear a triple-pianissimo at the back of a huge auditorium. It's the latter group that have really mastered the whole airflow/support/embouchure thing. We've been down this road in past threads, so just to quickly repeat a salient point about Joe's volume: It's one of the things that allowed him to play so rhythmically loose and with such extraordinary flexibility. It's nearly impossible to play some of Joe's signature flickering and swirling shit, or at least have it make the same effect, if you're trying to blow down the house. I was shocked at his volume the first time I heard him live but it was also a revelation because I immediately understood a lot more about how he manifested his concept. And as Jim says, volume is not at all the same thing as projection.

I was discharged from the Army in March 1959. I grew up in Detroit and so returned home to Detroit when I left the Army. Joe Henderson was in Detroit at that time and i had the opportunity to see this basically unknown tenor player at a local club playing with local Detroit musicians. Sorry to say I don't recall their names or the name of the club where I saw Joe a number of times. I do recall that I very much liked his playing. Not long after Joe left Detroit to go to New York. He asked a friend of mine to keep some of his personal things until he got situated. It turned out that Joe did not claim those things far a long long time. There is a fabulous picture in Lars Bjorn and Jim Gallert's book "Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-60" of Joe leading a quartet on the tiny bandstand of the historic Blue Bird Inn in 1958. The rest of the band is Kirk Lightsey, Ernie Farrow and Roy Brooks. All the cats are in jackets and ties -- Joe is wearing a bow tie and shades. Maybe if Jim Gallert is reading this (he's a member), he wouldn't mind scanning the photo and posting it.

I did not know Joe outside of a single phone interview in January 1996 that lasted at least 90 minutes in which he was completely engaging and loquacious, which surprised me given all the things I had heard about him. The portrait drawn by everybody I talk to about him is as a quirky (yes, enigmatic) personality who was all music. Bennie Maupin, who often practiced with him in the late '50s when Joe was studying at Wayne State in Detroit, told me that when he would go over to Joe's apartment, there'd be nothing but a mattress, ironing board and a few chairs. Maupin said, "It was like he had a secret and never shared it." Joe earned the nickname "the Phantom" from other musicians and that says a lot. I've heard stories from people who studied with him of marathon lessons during which he might disappear in his house for up to an hour. One former sideman told me that once in an airport Joe started calling out chess moves and it took her a minute to realize that he was trying to engage her in a game of "air chess" without a board. "Joe's easygoing, but he runs his world exactly the way he feels at the moment," she said.

There's nothing within walking distance of Hart Plaza, if that's where it still is. Seriously, Detroit is empty. You'll be lucky if you can find a restaurant. I think there may be a Hard Rock Cafe a few blocks away, and there is Greektown along with the casino, but I'm not sure of the distance. This is completely false!! No, downtown Detroit is not a walking mecca ala Chicago, but there are a number of good options. Next to Hart Plaza inside the Renaissance Center, there's Andiamo's (Italian) and Coach Insignia (steak house). Across the street from the Ren Cen, is Tom's Oyseter Bar (seafood). Widening the circle to a short walk from the festival site, inside the Book Cadillac Hotel, there's Michael Symon's fantastic new place called Roast (inventive contemporary steak house with other options besides red meat too); across the street from the Detroit Opera House near the ballpark is Small Plates (tapas). Also nearby is Vicente's Cuban Cuisine. A slightly farther walk gets to the MGM Casino where there's Michael Mina's excellent seafood place Saltwater and other options. The Greektown strip is within walking distance and offers the usual fare. There are other casual sports bars/burger joints around, especially around the baseball and football stadiums. Cliff Bell's, an art deco bar, has jazz and food. It's tucked behind the Fox/Filmore theatres and it's at a distance that I probably wouldn't walk at night. But it's within shouting distance. The museums are not within walking distance -- you'd need a car or cab. Unfortunately, the Detroit Institute of Arts is closed on Tuesdays, but I think the Motown Historical Museum (in Berry Gordy's original Hitsville home) is open on Tuesdays. Again, that's a car ride. One thing to think about is the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the incredible Smithsonian-like collection of Americana, is in Dearborn and on the way to the airport. So, assuming the museum is open in the morning, you could shuttle out to museum, check bags, hang out, and then continue on via cab to catch a flight. so, my post was not completely not false at all. You fleshed out what I said. The Opera House is, what, 10, 12 min walking distance from Hart Plaza? Is the Ren Cen even open in the evenings? It didn't seem like it was the last time I was in the area. Well, you said, "There's nothing within walking distance of Hart Plaza" and "Seriously, Detroit is empty. You'll be lucky if you can find a restaurant." Those statements are indisputably false. I listed seven restaurants within walking distance of Hart Plaza. Three are within three to five minutes, two are about 10 minutes away and two are about 15 minutes. Some of those that are actually closer if you're walking from the northern part of the festival site at Campus Martius/Cadillac Square. Of course the restaurants at the Renaissance Center are open at night. And I'm not including a bunch of other restaurants, including bars with food, etc. Beyond walking, there's also the People Mover monorail system that widens the circle further. Look, I'm not sugar-coating the state of downtown Detroit. I get it more than anybody -- I work down here everyday. But "nothing within walking distance of Hart Plaza" is simply untrue.

There's nothing within walking distance of Hart Plaza, if that's where it still is. Seriously, Detroit is empty. You'll be lucky if you can find a restaurant. I think there may be a Hard Rock Cafe a few blocks away, and there is Greektown along with the casino, but I'm not sure of the distance. This is completely false!! No, downtown Detroit is not a walking mecca ala Chicago, but there are a number of good options. Next to Hart Plaza inside the Renaissance Center, there's Andiamo's (Italian) and Coach Insignia (steak house). Across the street from the Ren Cen, is Tom's Oyseter Bar (seafood). Widening the circle to a short walk from the festival site, inside the Book Cadillac Hotel, there's Michael Symon's fantastic new place called Roast (inventive contemporary steak house with other options besides red meat too); across the street from the Detroit Opera House near the ballpark is Small Plates (tapas). Also nearby is Vicente's Cuban Cuisine. A slightly farther walk gets to the MGM Casino where there's Michael Mina's excellent seafood place Saltwater and other options. The Greektown strip is within walking distance and offers the usual fare. There are other casual sports bars/burger joints around, especially around the baseball and football stadiums. Cliff Bell's, an art deco bar, has jazz and food. It's tucked behind the Fox/Filmore theatres and it's at a distance that I probably wouldn't walk at night. But it's within shouting distance. The museums are not within walking distance -- you'd need a car or cab. Unfortunately, the Detroit Institute of Arts is closed on Tuesdays, but I think the Motown Historical Museum (in Berry Gordy's original Hitsville home) is open on Tuesdays. Again, that's a car ride. One thing to think about is the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the incredible Smithsonian-like collection of Americana, is in Dearborn and on the way to the airport. So, assuming the museum is open in the morning, you could shuttle out to museum, check bags, hang out, and then continue on via cab to catch a flight.

Read this is the Times' Sunday Magazine and found it fascinating: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

Man, I've never even heard of this record! What does it actually sound like? Also, from the Eric Larrabee review in Harper's that Jim posted: "The normal emotional atmosphere of the jazz world is one of ferocity slightly tempered by paranoia ..." First thought: I wish I had written that. Second thought: Ouch, cutting kinda close to the bone ... Third thought: I might remove the word "slightly." Of course, to borrow an old line, just 'cause we're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get us.

Thanks for checking. Mulgrew himself estimates the total at 500, which sounded high to me and as always with these things its better to have documentary evidence if possible. Still, if you figure his recording career dates back to 1980, that's an average of 17 recordings a year over the span of 30 years -- certainly possible for one of the most recorded musicians of his generation.

I keep looking for a hat like that. Most porkpie hats seem to have narrow brims. Getting tired of the parade of depressing news. Never met him but was told by many that he was a very sweet and classy guy and, of course, a brilliant photographer with such a sharp eye not only for personality but theater, governed by impeccable taste and sensitivity to jazz. William Gottlieb was really more about "capturing the moment" as a journalist, though his finest images ascended to the level of art in terms of defining personality and formal composition. But Leonard was an artist fundamentally, making portraits with a sharp eye not ony for personality but theater and drama and creating compositions that mixed myth and metaphor, including, of course, his trademark back-lit cigarette smoke. I'm very proud to own a large format Leonard photograph of Thelonious Monk (the familiar shot looking through the open piano as he's composing, pen in right hand, cigarette in left hand) that my wife bought me as a wedding present from a Chicago gallery 19 years ago. On the issue of the search for a porkpie hat with a wide brim, you almost surely need to go custom. I recommend Optimo Hats in Chicago. Graham and his team make some of the best hats in the country. It's not cheap (understatement), but you can get exactly what you want and the quality is second-to-none. Checking the website I see this model that would seem to be in the ballpark, though you can specify any brim size you want. http://www.optimohats.com/felt/flattop/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/arts/music/17jazz.html?_r=1&hp Edit to add posted audio clips: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/08/17/arts/music/savory-collection.html

I've got a favor to ask of anyone who might have access to Lord (or perhaps another source of current discography information). I'm trying to get a ballpark figure for the number of records that Mulgrew Miller has appeared on. More than 100? 150? Less? More? Online sources I've seen appear to be missing big chunks so I thought Lord might offer some accuracy. Thanks much.

Coda: Bunky Green, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Henry Threadgill (perhaps more as a composer, and from what you might call the younger generation, Kenny Garrett and Steve Wilson.

When I played, it was Jackie McLean's sound and conception that was the strongest voice in my ear, but the list of favorites is long and varied: Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, Frank Strozier, Sonny Stitt (at his most inspired), late Art Pepper, early Charlie Mariano, Charles McPherson (the way he plays today), also with great appreciation for Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Lyons, Sonny Redd, Roscoe Mitchell, Arthur Blythe, some Lee Konitz, as lead players in a section: Marshall Royal and Jerome Richardson) ... many others

All: Thanks for the good wishes.

Seems as if the discography may well have it wrong. Interestingly, the LP I saw today (but did not buy) had a cover identical to that which Marcello's link produces, but Hayes was definitely listed as the drummer. I don't recall the label, nor whether a more specific recording date is given beyond 1969 in Milan.

Anyone heard this or know anything more about its provenance? Odd that Louis Hayes is here given the date but perhaps he rejoined for just a quick one-off gig. Nat Adderley (cor) Cannonball Adderley (as) Joe Zawinul (p) Victor Gaskin (b) Louis Hayes (d) live in Milan, Italy, 1969 The Scavenger Joker (J) UPS 2057 Sweet Emma - Ballad Medley - This Here - Manha De Carnaval - Walk Tall - * Cannonball Adderley - Alto Giant (Joker (J) UPS 2057)

With Harold Arlen: She sings in these clips: (obviously lip-synced) she doesn't sing in this segment, but there's a long George Carlin newscaster bit that captures his pre-counterculture style. interesting stuff, including an weirdly prescient joke about the Giants trading Willie Mays to the Mets (show was recorded in 1966), which in fact happened in 1972. also the fact that he's performing for an audience of uniformed soldiers in the context of a host stumping on various occasions for the Vietnam drives home the disconnect he spoke of often in later years between his material and his real feelings at the time.

In a word: yes.