Don Brown

I 've always loved the recordings John Lewis made with Lester Young in 1950 and '51, especially Petes's Cafe and Little Pee Blues from the Norman Granz session of January 16th, 1951. Lewis' keyboard economy suits Pres to a "T" and his rhythm section colleagues, Gene Ramey and Jo Jones complete a perfect team.

Auto da Fe / Elias Canetti

All of the Bright Orange LP releases are listed in Tom Lord's Jazz Discography under Maxwell Davis' name. The one-time rhythm 'n' blues tenorman produced all of the sessions for the Bihari brothers' Crown label and either transcribed the charts from the original recordings or wrote new arrangements based on those recordings.

Right. I discovered Chris' new blog a couple of weeks ago and what a treat it is. I sure miss his presence on this site. The right wing rednecks who seem intent on taking over Organissimo have become a huge pain in the ass. I really can't understand people who hold those views listening to jazz. The very idea is oxymoronic. Most of the musicians I've talked to over the years seemed pretty apolitical but I doubt that many - Lionel Hampton being the only exception I can think of - ever voted Republican.

Sad news. Cronkite always was a newsman with integrity. And welcome back, Chris. We've really missed you. This board has been a bust since you left. I get so tired of reading the rantings of the handful of rednecks that seem intent on taking over Organissimo. I just can't get my head around the idea of rabid right wingers listening to jazz. Seems like an oxymoron to me.

Another masterful composer whose compositions don't get played nearly as often as they should be is Tadd Dameron. And Hank Mobley wrote many pieces that deserve a place in the jazz repertoire. Oscar Pettiford was another fine composer whose pieces seem mostly forgotten.

This selection is on Baldwin Street Music BJG-502 which contains several other hard-to-find Charlie Shavers recordings.

Ellington's "Cotton Tail" Thelonious Monk's "Brilliant Corners" Count Basie's "Taxi War Dance" Pee Wee Russell's "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" Don Byas & Slam Stewart's "Indiana" Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" Albert Ayler's "Ghosts" Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" Bix Beiderbecke's "I'm Coming Virginia" Red Norvo's "Congo Blues" (with Bird & Diz) and a thousand others...

I seem to recall reading somewhere that when Lucky Thompson was in the Basie band he fell out of favour with his fellow band members for being critical of Lester Young's playing. I've always felt that Lucky Thompson's principal influence was Don Byas. I don't hear any Pres in his work.

I didn't notice any mention of Monk. He appeared on Steve Allen's show with a pickup group that had Hank Mobley on tenor.

I'm sure Jordan didn't find it the least bit amusing, Jazzmoose, but I did. Apparently Jordan's accountant had advised him to put some of his originals in his wife's name since his royalties were affecting his taxes. Sometimes you're better off ignoring your accountant.

Louis Jordan's Caldonia. Jordan had actually recorded the piece before Woody, but Decca Records sat on it and Woody had the first hit recording on Columbia. An amusing sidebar is the fact that Jordan had copyrighted the tune under his wife's name and got no royalties after his marriage broke up.

If you check out the discography page, Clunky, the Armstrong box appears to be higher than it is wide. I'd suggest both photos got distorted somehow.

My favourite Will Friedwald bit is in his notes for one of Mosaic's Stan Kenton sets. They're not close at hand right now so I can't quote Will precisely, but his comments on Halls of Brass kill me. He feels the piece should have been called Balls of Brass since the music sounds like the soundtrack to every teenage boy's masturbatory fantasy.

Please, Chris, let's have some more of that extra special stuff from the Albertson closet. Publicity photographs simply can't hold a candle to some of the wonderful stuff you unearthed.

I remember seeing Jimmy Forrest as a sideman with Harry 'Sweets' Edison's quintet in the late 1950s at the Town Tavern here in Toronto. The group had an impressive rhyhm section - Tommy Flanagan, piano; Tommy Potter, bass, and Elvin Jones, drums. Of course Flanagan and Jones were relatively new on the international scene at the time. Some time in the 1980s I mentioned to Flanagan that this had been the first time I'd seen him and Elvin Jones in person. "Tell me,' he asked "did we sound promising?"

Jeeziz, O'Reilly's right. The first 'jazz' interpretation of Stella by Starlight was by the Claude Thornhill orchestra. It was a Lang-Worth transcription recorded in Liederkranz Hall in New York City on November 18, 1946.

Just this past Saturday I was playing a Jimmy Gourley CD on which Stan Getz sits in on several numbers. Gourley was a fine musician who I first heard in the early '50s on a 10-inch Contemporary LP. The music had been leased from a French label and I didn't realize at the time that Gourley was an American.

The Wardell Gray/Dexter Gordon concert originally leased by Gene Norman to Decca Records may have been recorded live in concert but the original LP and all subsequent reissues definitely have canned applause added.

Thanks, guys for the good wishes. Guess when you reach my age you just get a bit lazy. (Jeez, what am I talking about? Chris Albertson's a year older than I am and he's here posting nearly every day.)

I remember being in Sam Goody's store in March of 1965. A friend here in Toronto, John Norris, the owner of Sackville Records and then publisher and editor of Coda Magazine, suggested I look up his old friend from England, Jeff Atterton, who was a clerk there. I did, and Jeff introduced me to Harry Lim who also worked there. "Not Harry Lim of Keynote Records"?, I asked. And Harry Lim's comment was, "You mean somebody actually remembers?" He struck me as a sad little man who'd done great things and felt forgotten.

Altoist Frank Morgan's father played guitar with the Ink Spots.

Wasn't "Puerto Rico" one of the guys who chased performers who hadn't done well on amateur night off the stage at the Apollo Theater?

Reminds me of the time World Pacific (Pacific Jazz) leased recordings Sidney Bechet had made in 1957 for French Vogue and issued them for the first time in North America, Peter. We were more than a little surprised to discover that the pianist on the date was Martial Solal and the drummer Kenny Clarke. But then musicians in those days never paid much attention to all that "mouldy fig vs. bopper" crap did they? That was for Leonard Feather and his ilk.

Please don't stop. Chris. The first thing I look for when I open the Organissimo site is your "I came across..." thread. As a guy who's from your generation - I'm a year younger than you - I still remember buying many LPs that you had had a hand in producing. What a treat the the Prestige Bluesville albums with Elmer Snowden and Lonnie Johnson were not to mention the Ida Cox on Riverside, and the wonderful New Orleans series on the same label. I was also always impressed by your catholicity of taste. I got pissed off by so many writers of that time who were unable to appreciate more than one style of jazz. Your mind seemed always open and now so is your closet which has turned out to be a real treasure chest. More please.