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Don Brown

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Posts posted by Don Brown

  1. Marky Markowitz

    Sam Staff

    Hymie Schertzer

    Sam Marowitz

    Sam Margolis

    Shorty Rogers (Milton Rajonsky)

    Al Cohn

    George Wettling

    Marty Flax (Martin Flachsenhaar)

    Lou Stein

    Chubby Jackson

    Sid Weiss

    Lou Fromm

    Joey Bushkin

    Max Kaminsky

    George Wein

  2. Neither Dave Brubeck nor Paul Desmond was Jewish, although Paul Desmond apparently thought he was. Desmond's real name was Paul Breitenfeld but I guess that was simply a German name. I can't recall where I read it (it may have been in Ted Gioia's book on west coast jazz) but it's been established that Desmond was not Jewish.

  3. Jeez, what great memories. Toronto was one of the principal cities on the circuit in the 50s and 60s for jazz groups and big bands. I first saw Ellington in 1951 (the band with Louis Bellson) then at least twice a year up until 1973. Then there was my very first big band: Lionel Hampton (with Milt Buckner, Paul Higaki, Curly Hamner and Billy Mackel) in 1950, followed by Woody Herman (the MGM band with Sonny Igoe on drums - not really the Second Herd but earlier than the Third Herd), Cab Calloway (with Jonah Jones, Ike Quebec and Panama Francis), Tommy Dorsey (with Charlie Shavers and Sam Donahue), and Count Basie (the first time with Joe Newman, Paul Quinichette, Lockjaw Davis and Charlie Fowlkes). Ellington, Herman, Basie and Hampton each played Toronto at least once a year but usually twice, sometimes in concerts at Massey Hall, but also for dancing at the Club Kingsway, or at the Colonial Tavern where the trumpet and trombone sections were crammed onto a stage designed for a small group, while the saxophones sat on folding chairs down on the floor in front of the stage. The piano was also on the floor. If you got there early enough to grab the right table you'd be close enough to Ellington, or Basie or Nat Pierce (with Woody) to reach over and touch their right hands. It was pure heaven!

    In later years we heard Carla Bley's band, the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band, and Sun Ra. I saw Sun Ra three times, once at Humber College and twice at the Horseshoe Tavern, a country and western bar. The looks on the faces of the waiters at the Horseshoe was worth the price of admission!

  4. The music from this concert which, by the way, is excellent has been issued both on LP and on CD by the Celluloid label. Lonehill claims the music is previously unissued, but then the Lonehill/Fresh Sounds/Blue Moon/Definitive conglomerate seem more than happy to mislead jazz collectors. To be fair, they have put some good stuff back into circulation: the Manny Albam sessions, for example, but one must do a little careful research before ordering their CDs.

  5. 72 next month, but I realize that if I hadn't reached this advanced age I'd have missed hearing the following artists, and countless others, in person: Ellington, Louis, Bird, Pee Wee Russell, Coltrane, Monk, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Henry "Red" Allen, Willie the Lion, Miles, Clifford Brown, Dizzy's big band with Lee Morgan, Ernie Henry and Benny Golson as sidemen, Woody Herman's various Herds - beginning with the Third, Count Basie, Sammy Price, Bennie Green, Bill Harris, Buck Clayton, Charlie Ventura, Charlie Shavers, Roy Eldridge, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Lonnie Johnson, Sleepy John Estes, Lennie Tristano with Konitz and Warne Marsh, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Pete Johnson, Mary Lou Williams, Meade Lux Lewis, John Lewis, Robert Nighthawk, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Arnett Cobb, Wardell Gray, Johnny Griffin, Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Oscar Pettiford, Mingus, Jimmy Knepper, Pepper Adams, Gerry Mulligan with Bob Brookmeyer, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Sarah Vaughan, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Eddie Condon, Wild Bill Davison, Bobby Hackett, Bud Freeman, Phil Woods, Steve Lacy, Ralph Sutton, Ruby Braff, Illinois Jacquet with Milt Buckner and Jo Jones, Jimmy Rushing, Muggsy Spanier, Joe Henderson, Carla Bley, Gil Evans, Gene Krupa, Max Kaminsky, Tony Scott, J.J.Johnson & Kai Winding, Elvin Jones, Dannie Richmond, J.C.Heard, Shadow Wilson, Cozy Cole, Shelly Manne, Cliff Leeman, Andrew Cyrille, Eddie Blackwell, Earle Warren, Tab Smith, Earl Bostic, Buddy Tate, Jay McShann, Vic Dickenson, Roswell Rudd, Tommy Flanagan, Teddy Wilson, Marian McPartland, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow, Dexter Gordon, Buddy DeFranco, Ornette Coleman and Dewey Redman.

  6. Boy, do I remember Sparton pressings! Absolute crap. Most of the Impulse albums available in Canada were pressed by Sparton. The stereo pressings were even worse than abominable. In order to hear the great Coltrane, Mingus, Shepp, Gary McFarland and Pee Wee Russell albums from Impulse we had only one choice: buy the mono pressing. The monos weren't great, but they were at least playable. The stereos, forget about it. Earlier, Sparton had wreaked the same havoc on Atlantic albums. Sparton at one time had been licensed to manufacture Atlantic albums in Canada. Migawd they were awful. I'll never forget Pyramid by the Modern Jazz Quartet. All that delicate interplay buried under an ocean of surface noise and out-of-phase stereo. Even the mono on that one was a disaster. Bad memories.

    Strangely enough, this is not an indictment of Canadian pressings. Albums from the major labels, Columbia and RCA in particular, sounded far better in the Canadian pressings than they did in the American originals. It's not as though great LPS couldn't be manufactured north of the border, it's just that Sparton couldn't do it.

  7. Here are the personnels on Marlowe Morris' "Play the Thing".

    Mathew Gee, trombone; Buddy Tate, tenor sax; Morris, organ; Ray Barreto, congas; Jo Jones, drums

    Buck Clayton, trumpet; Edmond Hall, clarinet; Buddy Tate, tenor sax; Morris, organ; Ray Barretto, congas; Jo Jones, drums

    on some titles Gus Johnson replaces Jo Jones

    Marlowe Morris was a protege of Art Tatum and is the piano player in Norman Granz and Gjon Mili's landmark Warner Brothers film "Jammin' the Blues".

    Morris also was the pianist in Big Sid Catlett's quartet with Ben Webster on the Commodore label.

  8. Just got a list of the albums included from Scott Wenzel at Mosaic.

    Ruby Braff All Stars - Philips

    Buck Clayton & Marlowe Morris Trio - Epic

    Ruby Braff/Braff!! - Epic

    Marlowe Morris Quintet/Play the Thing - Columbia

    Buck Clayton, Ada Moore & Jimmy Rushing/Cat Meets Chick - Columbia

    Buck Clayton Special - Philips

    Buck Clayton/Songs For Swingers - Columbia

    Coleman Hawkins & Clark Terry/Back in Bean's Bag - Columbia

    Ben Webster & Sweets Edison/Ben & Sweets - Columbia

    Illinois Jacquet - Epic

    Herb Ellis/The Midnight Roll - Epic

    Kenny Burrell/Bluesin' Around - Columbia

    All they missed is Sir Charles Thompson & the Swing Organ from Columbia

  9. Cotton Tail (the 1940 Victor original) - Duke Ellington

    West End Blues - Louis Armstrong

    Parker's Mood - Charlie Parker

    Ghosts (the original version on ESP) - Albert Ayler

    Brownie Speaks - Clifford Brown & Gigi Gryce

    Choose Now - Tadd Dameron with Clifford Brown

    Blue Serge - Duke Ellington

    Rhythm-A-Ning - Thelonious Monk

    Excursion on a Wobbly Rail - Cecil Taylor

    Chelsea Bridge - Duke Ellington

    Chelsea Bridge - Ben Webster & Gerry Mulligan

    Blueport - Gerry Mulligan with Art Farmer

    Haitian Fight Song - Charles Mingus

    Burgundy Street Blues - George Lewis

    Stars Fell on Alabama - Jack Teagarden

    Stars Fell on Alabama - Stan Getz

    Just a handful of opening notes that stir the blood and spirit of this elderly listener.

  10. Chrome asks about the pronunciation off Betty Roche. Her name was actually Betty "Roach", but Duke Ellington decided to make it more classy by changing the spelling to "Roche" with an accent on the final "E". It was pronounced "Roe-Shay".

  11. Don't know if anyone else has noticed but Mosaic's last major release - The Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band - also has a reversed photograph on its cover. You sort of expect this kind of thing from graphic designers who aren't particularly interested in music or musicians. But Mosaic? Geez!

  12. Don't know if anyone else has noticed but Mosaic's last major release - The Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band - also has a reversed photograph on its cover. You sort of expect this kind of thing from graphic designers who aren't particularly interested in music or musicians. But Mosaic? Geez!

  13. This is for Clementine re: "The Dixieland All Stars". The session you're referring to was recorded in Boston sometime between June 6 and 18, 1959. All 13 titles plus 3 tunes recorded for a local TV program on June 3, 1959 are on a Jazz Unlimited CD (JUCD 2037). Check the Storyville Records web site for current availability.

    The correct personnel is: Buck Clayton trumpet; Vic Dickenson, trombone; Pee Wee Russell, clarinet; Bud Freeman, tenor; Lou Carter, piano; Champlin Jones, bass (not Arvell Shaw), and Jo Jones, drums. The tunes are:

    Someone To Watch Over Me

    Strike Up The Band

    Sweet Sue

    Billboard March

    Ballin' The Jack

    Muskrat Ramble

    Somebody Loves Me

    Bugle Call Rag

    Synthetic Blues

    When The Saints...

    Embraceable You

    Fascinating Rhythm

    St, James Infirmary

    and from the TV show:

    Deed I Do

    Dinah

    Sunday

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