Mark Stryker

In that era, "Blues for Philly Joe" is another masterpiece of thematic development. Not as iconic or extended as "Blue Seven" but more swinging and a lot more fun. https://dokumen.tips/documents/blues-for-philly-joe-sonny-rollins-solo.html

Gang, In the 1958 Downbeat Yearbook, there's a story about the Detroit scene with a photo of Paul Chambers (I think). The piece includes a great quote from Pepper Adams in which he singles out Barry Harris' mentorship as a key reason for the vitality of the scene, calling him "Uncle Barry. For the film documentary that I'm coproducing based on Jazz from Detroit, I need to track down a high-res color scan or a high-res phone photograph of that story, along with the cover of the issue. I think you can see where this is going. Anybody have a copy of that yearbook and, if so, can you help a brother out? mstryker63 (at) gmail.com. Thanks

Video of this concert has long circulated.

Wow. I had no idea he was still with us. A unique voice, and what a long and fascinating career. Note: There's a mistake in the obit -- the reference to "Gerald Clayton" should be in fact "Gerald Wilson."

I actually know what you mean about the sound of the rhythm section on The Panther -- there's a smoothness there but I think that's the engineering. But let's put it this way: All the best Dexter records on Prestige have Detroiters on them -- Panther (Tommy), Jumpin' Blues (Roy), Power (Barry) Maybe the sound of "The Panther" on 8-Track has more presence.

I was just concentrating on the earlier period between 1963-66, and this one was recorded in 1984, but, yes, there are a handful of small group appearances in Thad's later career. Would we agree that the best Dexter LP on Prestige -- by far -- is The Panther (1970)? Having said that, the master take of (old) "MIlestones" on Generation has strong and focused Dexter and the band is even better; but the rest of the record to me just doesn't reach the same heights.

FYI -- And Then Again is the last time all three Jones brothers appear on a recording together. (March 1965).

This slow blues solo is fucking extraordinary. The level of expressive dissonance is off the charts. Downbeat ran a transcription of this back in the day; I think it was by David Baker but I can't put my hands on it right at this moment. Thad's solo is cued up here.

Interesting questions regarding Thad. There's just not a lot of recorded examples of his soloing at length in the '60s. Mean What You Say (1966) is his only small group record as a leader in the 1960s and the only small group record with him in, say, a leadership position made between the cooperative Motor City Scene (1959) and You Made Me Love You (1975) -- the latter a Japanese release on Elec Records with Gregory Herbert, Mraz, Lewis; I don't think this one ever came out on CD and I've never seen nor heard the LP. The next small group record Thad made after that is the great live quartet date for Artist House in 1977 co-led with Mel and featuring Danko and Reid -- look for the CD, it's got two extra tracks, so two more Thad solos. There are a gaggle of large handful of small group appearances in the period between leaving Basie at the beginning of 1963 and the start of the big band with Mel in 1966, and like Larry says, Thad sounds consistently amazing. But you gotta dig for them. Here's one on a 1963 record. One remarkable trumpet (cornet) chorus over rhythm changes. BTW, that's a very young Chick Corea on piano. You really never know what Thad is going to play. I would love to produce/curate a survey of Thad's soloing in those years, drawing on the sideman dates for both small groups and larger ensembles where he gets a chance to blow.

Thanks for enlightening us.

Apologies if this has been posted previously. Sometimes I say "I have no words" in a metaphorical sense when, in fact, I have many words but would rather not spend time putting down my thoughts in writing. However, sometimes I literally have no words. This is one of those times.

Pace Jim, I also first acquired this music via the 24000 series Twofers and they remain my favorite way to consume the material. I especially love Collector's Items -- both the Bird/Rollins material and the Rollins/Flanagan session -- Tallest Trees and Tune Up. The Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke hook-up is magic, and I adore the tracks with Horace, Percy, and Klook as a trio. On that score, the original LP titled Bag's Groove is a special favorite.

Gang -- here's an interesting question that grew out of a Twitter exchange I was involved in with Darcy James Argue, who had posted the 1932 recording of Ellington's "Ducky Wucky." Kind of a long wind-up, so bear with me. I noted that what Lawrence Brown plays in bars 7 and 8 of the first A section of "Ducky Wucky" is basically Monk's "Rhythm-a-ning" speeded up-- but since "Rhythm-a-ning" itself was appropriated by Monk from Mary Lou Williams' "Walking and Swinging": (1936), this begs the question: Did Williams pick up the melodic phrase from "Ducky Wucky?" And since that phrase appears only in the first A section of "Ducky Wucky," is it even correct to assume that Ellington (or Bigard, who shares composing credit), even wrote it? Brown may have improvised it. Darcy replied: "I think it was a fairly commonplace bit of vocabulary in this era, but your hypothesis makes sense. And the boogie-woogie inflections in the intro to 'Ducky Wucky' certainly bring MLW to mind!" Me: "I wouldn't disagree that the phrase was likely common practice material, but if so, then then it should appear on some other recording. If you can't find one, that's not a dealbreaker cuz, as I always say, the history of jazz is not the same as the history of jazz on record. ... But in this case, it would go a long way to proving the hypothesis. Any early jazz scholars or sleuths out there know of another example of the Ducky Wucky/Walking and Swinging/Rhythm-a-ning phrase showing up on record in the early to mid '30s?”

I'm interested in that John Lewis book too. Please read it first and let me know what you think.

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/27611/lot/70/a-buescher-alto-saxophone-played-by-john-coltrane/

I'm literally taking a break from writing a column about Joe Williams (ok, I'm procrastinating) to say that '60s Williams is absolutely the best. Leaving aside the record with Thad and Mel, which is in a category of one, the most rewarding chunk of his discography consists of the generally overlooked RCA records -- particularly Jump for Joy and Me and the Blues and, though I think the arrangements are uneven, The Exciting Joe Williams. His best ballad singing is here and the blues numbers represent a definite advance from his Basie tenure. Try this. Oliver Nelson arrangement. All the top NY studio cats.

This is a great record -- one of the best Criss Cross releases. FWIW, I first became aware of both Kikoski and Moore hearing them with Roy Haynes at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago in August 1986, about five months before 623 C Street was recorded. (Ed Howard was the bassist with Haynes' quartet.)

I stumbled over this New York Times (John S. Wilson) review of a January 1978 concert in which the centerpiece was a suite composed by Slide Hampton for Sanders and scored for a 13-piece ensemble. That's enticing to say the least. Does anybody know anything about this? I only see one record date in the Lord discography on which Sanders and Hampton appeared together -- a December 1978 quintet session under Hilton Ruiz's name for Denon, "Fantasia," for which the pianist wrote all the music. Did Slide ever document this Sanders-related suite or did Pharoah record a version without Hampton on the date? https://www.nytimes.com/1978/01/28/archives/pharoah-sanders-and-an-ensemble.html

I've heard this from others too.

My Chronology column for Jazz Times this month offers a deep dive into my favorite solo by Kenny Dorham's solo -- "It Could Happen to You" (1961). Thanks to board member Michael Weiss for providing the transcription of the solo printed with the column. https://jazztimes.com/features/columns/chronology-kenny-dorham-drops-a-sigh-in-1961/

Obviously, I was too young to see Bennett live in those days but I have seen three or four times since 1992 and there was often something just slightly stilted or pre-programmed about his presence and patter (but never his singing, which was as natural as breathing, save a few choreographed big crescendo arrangements on certain tunes). I think the herky-jerky movements on the TV show are exaggerated for the mass medium and you would not have seen them in a cabaret or club. But they were still in part of his showbiz DNA in those days and gradually fell away as he aged. On another front, here’s Tony with Harold Land, James Moody, and Jimmy Mulidore, Kenny Clare. Has to be in Las Vegas in the first half of the 70s. Clare talks about it in this fascinating 1975 interview. http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/Kenny%20Clare%20Jake%20Hanna_2.htm Everyone know this, right? All the A-list cats were booked so Tony had to settle for a group of journeymen — Stan, Herbie, Ron, Elvin. 1964.

Also Tommy Flanagan on piano. Beyond the music, there's that killer midcentury modern set with Saarinen Tulip Chairs -- so timelessly modern that they stood in for the 23rd Century on the original "Star Trek."

Just using this thread to post this performance with Tony and Bags. The tempo is way down but there's a lot of movement and momentum. Great performance.