[Junior Mance RIP]

As a sideman, one of his strongest performances is with the Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis - Johnny Griffin group, from Minton’s in 1961. That night yielded material for 4 Prestige albums!  His solos are a highlight in a night filled with highlights.  

[Fran Lebowitz and Charles Mingus??]

From that series on Netflix, Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scocese - apparently she was friends with Mingus, he even had Thanksgiving dinner at her parents house once.  Her mom liked him - he was a good eater. 

[Howard Johnson - RIP]

The only time I ever saw him... The Village Gate, summer of 1965, with Charles Mingus. What a band! Jimmy Owens, Charles McPherson, Julius Watkins! 

[Gil Evans & Ten]

Back at the turn of the century, when it was briefly a thing, Fantasy released a bunch of SACD hybrids, the usual suspects that had been reissued many times. I never thought the sound was anything special - okay, of course, but nothing like (say) the Analogue issues of some of the same material. But I recently pulled out “Gil Evans & Ten,” and it is really sounds great! (The notes say how the original stereo tapes were used for the first time.)  If you haven’t heard it in awhile, worth digging out. 

[Shorty Rogers - The Fourth Dimension in Sound - WB 1443]

I sometimes think I like the “idea” of Shorty Rogers more than I actually like Shorty Rogers...

[LPs that have never made it into CD]

Curtis Amy’s “Mustang,” on Verve?

[Red Garland on Prestige]

Red’s terrific, but I rarely play the Prestige trios - too many bass solos, a little goes a long way. 

[Gerry Mulligan & the CJB and the ‘60 World Series]

What always gets me is that series, which went the distance, ended during the second week in October.  In the afternoon. I remember it being a pleasant day. Today the season stretches out another month, with night games in lousy weather. What next?  Designated hitters?  

[Gerry Mulligan & the CJB and the ‘60 World Series]

Thanks!  That would be a 3 mile walk from downtown, where the hotels were located, mostly uphill, as he describes. Hell of a band! (And hell of a World Series.)

[Gerry Mulligan & the CJB and the ‘60 World Series]

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates beating the Yankees to win the World Series. The game ended around 3:30, with Bill Mazeroski’s 9th inning home run in the seventh game, certainly one of the great moments in baseball. (Every year fans gather at the site of Forbes Field to listen to a broadcast of the game.) Anyway, Gerry Mulligan and his Concert Jazz Band were on what I think was their initial tour, with a stop in Pittsburgh at (I believe) the Syria Mosque that night. That venue (the home of the Pittsburgh Symphony and the site of probably every major artist of the period - among many others, I caught The Who, Ravi Shankar, Roland Kirk, but foolishly skipped Bob Dylan and Joan Baez) was a stone’s throw from the ball park.  The city, of course, went wild!  Did the concert come off? I think Mulligan talks about this in the notes in the “On Tour” LP, but my copy is long gone.  Can”t imagine many people were interested in “I’m Gonna Go Fishin’” that night. 

[Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder]

I’ve always considered Herbie Hancock’s ‘Blindman, Blindman’ as one of the first of this type of thing - it was even promoted on the album’s cover. An obvious attempt to create a Jazz “hit.”  Of course, the Blue Note catalog is filled with pre-‘Sidewinder’ numbers that had wider appeal, often showing up on jukeboxes, not necessary in that ‘boogaloo’ style, but funky and with some commercial appeal - “Back at the Chicken Shack,” “Moanin,” Horace Silver...

[I Dare You to Listen to Both Volumes of "TV Action Jazz" by Mundell Lowe]

Two of my first LP purchases as a kid, my introduction to many of the great New York musicians at the time, and I still play them. Lowe might have been the “leader,” but I heard him as more of a participant. (I also bought Buddy Morrow’s “Double Impact,” a mediocre sequel to his mediocre “Impact” - the era of television theme albums.) (Harry Betts’ “The Jazz Soul of Dr.  Kildare” - nothing special, but Jack Sheldon had a beautiful sound.)

[Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder]

Every time I hear it, I still hear the skip in Barry Harris’ third chorus of the title cut after all these years - don’t miss my vinyl copy.

[“Schiltz Salute to Jazz”]

Robin Kelley’s notes to the Monk “Palo Alto” release mentions this in passing. Does anyone remember this? Pittsburgh was one of the stops, although I don’t recall the Schlitz name being attached. It was Cannonball (opening with “74 Miles Away”), Gary Burton (with Coryell and Roy Haynes), Herbie Mann (Roy Ayers, Sonny Sharrock & Miroslav Vitous), Hugh Masekela (replacing Wes Montgomery, who was announced as part of the lineup, but recently passed - Masekela was subbed, probably on the basis of having a surprise “hit” record at the moment), Dionne Warwick and Monk. Wow! We used to take these kind of shows for common, although, outside of Newport, that was about a strong a lineup as I ever heard. 

[SURPRISE!!! - The Black Jazz Records Reissue Program Is Getting Wonky]

Years ago (before the Japanese reissues), looking for Rudolph Johnson’s “Second Comimg,” I tried ordering it on a Black Jazz website. No luck, couldn’t get it to work. But somehow I found a telephone number, somewhere in California, the guy who answered, apologized - couldn’t have been nicer - and sent it to me for free! Sounded like the whole operation was located in his garage.  Does anyone know about this?

 

 

[“The Jazz Communicators”]

Wow. That clears that up! And thanks Nliko for digging up those pictures. A lot of great music in the neighborhood, we probably thought it would last forever. 

[“The Jazz Communicators”]

Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Kenny Barron, Herbie Lewis and Louis Hayes. They played a week at the Crawford Grill, here in Pittsburgh, sometime in the fall of ‘67. The only tune I remembered them doing was ‘Backlash.’  I’ve never seen a reference to the group, any recordings...  Obviously short-lived, although if they went to the bother of coming up with a name (as opposed to something like the Freddie Hubbard-Joe Henderson Quintet) it makes me think they may have had plans for the group.  Anyone hear them? Did they have other gigs?  (Those were the days, when you could hear Freddie Hubbard in a neighborhood club.)  Is my mind playing tricks on me?

[Rarest "classic" BN in CD Era?]

There are some corrections to Colinmce’s list, I’d need to take some time to go over it, but the first item (Donald Byrd) did have a domestic CD release, as did many others. (The CD era began in the mid-80’s, and a lot of stuff came - and went - quickly, easy to miss.)

[Grant Green interview]

There’s an interesting story about the album in (of all places!) an Amazon review, by someone named Travis Klein (if that’s his real name, who knows about those reviews). He recalls the recording as being 1965, and that is a period when Young was working and recording with Green. However, a common recording date is 1967, and Patton was working with Green then (I saw the group at a gig that year at the Hurricane, an organ bar on Center Ave., up on the Hill.) Whoever it is, and I’ll go with Young, it’s hard to identify - nothing really stands out, the organist is working the standard organ vocabulary.  

[Cleveland Eaton: 1939-2020]

I also put “Upendo...” high on my list, Eaton is particularly strong on it - but part of the reason he stands out is that the recording puts him right up front, he almost dominates! He is also strong on “Dancing in the Streets,” recorded live in San Francisco, which is actually one of the least commercial of Lewis recordings. (I think the original trio was better experienced in person - Young, and especially Holt, were showmen, that was part of the presentation, which doesn’t come across on record.)

[Grant Green interview]

Thanks!  You’re right, it’s mostly the interviewer - who’s frothing over that number from “Final Comeback,” where Green is hardly a factor. (Although, maybe he played it in that club, and did more with it.) The new Cobblestone LP they talked about was actually recorded several years earlier in a studio in Pittsburgh (released as “Iron City”), and the debate rages over the name of the organist. 

[Jazz musicians in TV commercials. Can you recall any?]

I swear I saw Greg Abate on a commercial for a local furniture store on a trip to Providence. 

[RIP Johnny Mandel]

I don’t think Frank Sinatra made a more swinging album than “Ring-a-Ding Ding.”

[Stan Kenton Short on TCM]

Quite a week on TCM - “Odds Against America,” “Elevator to the Gallows” and “Knife in the Water.”   Maybe I’ll put off cutting the cord awhile longer

[TTK's First Organ Groove Record]

“Son of Ice Bag” had a brief moment around that time, but with a couple of later exceptions, seems to have disappeared. I heard Jack McDuff do it once, and Hugh Masakela (who also recorded it). Was always curious about it, there had to be a story there...