Pete C

Not someone I listen to much, but I would have loved to have seen "The Wildest!" show live.

He won't be there. I've rarely been to a tribute concert that was worth the trouble.

I believe Sony plans to release 1969 Juan Les Pins in the U.S. at some point. There is another set besides the one that was released in Japan as "1969 Miles." I agree that 1967 Antwerp is more intense than Paris, but both are amazing.

I found the following. It looks like this will be the last year of a jazz festival in Detroit: It was announced Dec. 18 that the 2004 Detroit festival, the 25th year for that event, will be its last at Hart Plaza on the city's downtown waterfront. The 2005 event will expand to include blues, rock, R&B and gospel music. It also will relocate to other sites around Detroit. "The expansion in Detroit was a move that was born out of necessity," Malfitano said. "That festival has struggled in funding, like a lot of major festivals in the country." Malfitano said the Detroit festival has lost about $1 million since 2000. http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/post...63634149361.xml

Yeah, that's a great one. It has a nice version of Quimbombo, which was a hit for Chappotin and is on the compilation I mentioned earlier.

I read somewhere that Detroit was going to be making it a music festival with jazz as only one component--I don't think the jazz festival has done well in recent years. Anyway, Chicago always had a more interesting lineup. I might aim for Chicago, which I've been trying to do every other year. Last time I got to see one of Mal Waldron's last performances (the duo with Oliver Lake).

But this may be the creme de la creme.

The Verve collection of Chico O'Farrill's 50s recordings, Cuban Blues, is a must. Also essential, from the 70s, is Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods, by Dizzy with Machito--it's all Chico's music. The Mario Bauza big band, which formed after Machito died, made some very good albums. One of the greatest jazz-oriented big bands in Cuba in the 40s & 50s was Orquesta Riverside. Its singer, Tito Gomez, was one of the best. Unfortunately, it might be tough tracking down CDs. There have been several collections of Tito Puente's great early 50s Tico recordings, but I don't know what's currently available. Puente, Machito & Tito Rodriguez were the kings of the Palladium. I have an excellent collection called Tito Rodriguez Hits. If you're into Afro-Cuban jazz, then other Cuban music that's not specifically jazz, but has a heavy horn orientation might appeal to you. The conjunto led by trumpeter Chappotin made some of the most infectious music. The essential collection on CD is Que Se Funan.

Morava is a delightful album. Viklicky plays beautifully, and the singer, Zuzana Lapcikova, has a really pretty voice.

Ed, I started a thread in the Festivals section of Jazz Corner. It doesn't look like too many takers this year.

I was just asking someone about that last night and he told me the sound quality was not very good. Live in Wilisau is a killer album, and the sound is very good. downtownmusicgallery.com lists it in stock at $17.

That would be timely.

I'm rather fond of Alexander's associate Jim Rotondi; nothing original, but a really nice sound. He's a much better Freddie Hubbard than Hubbard these days.

I'll be in Montreal 4th of July weekend. I have tickets for Joao Bosco/Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Portal/Sclavis/Texier/Humair, & Jorge Ben Jor/Margareth Menezes.

The couple of times I saw Frank Catalano there was a level of excitement that was missing from Alexander, whom I've seen live 3 or 4 times. Ultimately it's all taste. Kevin loves Alexander and doesn't get Idris Muhummad. I love Muhummad, and have seen him several times with the great Lou Donaldson rhythm section with Lonnie Smith & Peter Bernstein (the rhythm section was great, that is; Donaldson generally sucked), as well as with Ahmad Jamal.

I'm in agreement with Larry on Alexander, Hamilton, and Vache. Since he wrote those pieces they've all gotten better at what they do, but what they do hasn't gotten any more interesting. I'd be interested in whether the Alexander fans have heard much Tony Malaby, and what they think of him. That, guy, IMO, is one of the most exciting younger tenors around.

Yeah, she's really good. I also saw her several times in Montreal. She was just in NY in January at the IAJE conference; unfortunately they had her playing in a noisy corner of the Sheraton lobby.

Rebecca Coupe Franks is indeed good. If she's not in NY now she was for a while, and I believe used to gig at 55 bar. Another great unknown trumpet player was Barbara Donald, who used to be married to (and recorded with) Sonny Simmons (check out Simmons' Burning Spirits on OJC). I saw her in the '80s with Gunter Hampel's Galaxie Dream Band, but I don't know what happened to her.

"Throughout the '80's, Foster continued to play on a wide variety of sessions and eventually moved into production. Among the musicians he worked with in the '80s were Jimmy Smith, Klugh, Flack, Harvey Mason, Stanley Turrentine, David Sanborn, Djavan and Grover Washington Jr. Foster continued the same path in the '90's, playing with many of the same musicians, as well as Lee Ritenour, Roland Vazquez and The Temptations, among others. His own records were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners in the '90's, as well, with several of his records used as source material for sample-heavy acid-jazz and hip-hop records." http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Ronnie%20Foster.html

I just posted the updated schedule above.

Yes, I'm me. From my perspective the best nights of Vision (combination of quality, variety, and presence of new/different blood) are Wednesday, Sunday and Saturday, in that order. I'll be at those 3 shows.

Have a Brooklyn Lager when you're in town, the flagship beer of the greatest former city in the world. Dmitry, I think we met very briefly at one of the Vision Festival shows a couple of years ago (I can't remember who introduced us). Are you going to any this year?

Is that a compliment?

Huh? I don't know about the rest of Canada, but there are plenty of good microbrews in Quebec, many of which I sampled last year at the Mondiale de la Biere in Montreal.

I'm not really an Alexander fan, but he appears on this KILLER album: Cookin' With the Mighty Burner