paul secor

Louis Myers: I'm a Southern Man (Advent)

A.B. Spellman Molly Bee B. Bumble and the Stingers

Most - perhaps all - of the music is available on various European CDs, but Nighthawk certainly did a very nice job of presenting this music back on LP back in the day.

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Chicago Slickers Volume 2 - 1948 - 1955 (Nighthawk)

Lonesome Sundown: Bought Me a Ticket (Flyright)

As I recall, Bill Harris was a somewhat overlooked figure (he was playing in Vegas by that time, I believe) when Roswell Rudd recorded Everywhere in late 1966 and made it a point to mention his love for Harris' playing in the liner notes.

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Mondo Cane Kai Winding Kurtis Blow

Musicians play music. People like us put labels on what they play. I don't think that's always a good thing, but that's probably a whole other thread.

I heard Eddie Gale playing in a Cecil group - must have been not long after Unit Structures was released - obviously very different music from Gale's own BN releases. Ghetto Music and Black Rhythm Happening seemed to have been made as crossover records (at the very least, crossover from the usual hardcore jazz audience - although that audience was already splintering by that time). I wonder how well those records sold in relation to, say, Ornette's and Cecil's Blue Note releases. I remember seeing them in record stores, but for only a short time.

Curtis Fuller recorded some great ballads.

I'm pretty far from being a soul Jazz aficionado, but Willis Jackson's Bar Wars sounds like a very good one, to my ears. And Baby Face Willette's Stop and Listen is an important one for me.

Hawk Hawk Hawk

Paul, what's your take on the Mistry books? I have "Family Matters" sitting about here, wonder if it is worth reading. I've only read Family Matters and enjoyed it very much. Interesting characters and situations - gave me a sense of how people and families have similarities, no matter what the culture.

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I'm thinking about Walt Dickerson this morning. Any of his recordings would fall in here.

And Walt stayed there. If Prestige hadn't recorded Walt Dickerson - 5 albums worth, I believe - so much would have been lost. And the later recordings for Steeplechase and Soul Note might never have happened.

Happy Birthday!

Tadd Dameron: Fontainebleau Joe Newman with Frank Foster: Good 'n' Groovy

A few more: Benny Carter with Ben Webster and Barney Bigard: BBB & Co. - A Prestige/Swingville date that (I believe) was recorded in California, in spite of the Englewood Cliffs recording location listed on the OJC reissue. Very nice one. Al Casey: Buck Jumpin' two by Buck Clayton and Buddy Tate: Buck & Buddy; Buck & Buddy Blow the Blues Art Taylor: Taylor's Tenors The Prestige Blues Swingers: Outskirts of Town - more organized than the average Prestige blowing session, due to Jerry Valentine's arrangements Joe Newman Quintet featuring Frank Wess: Jive at Five At Ease with Coleman Hawkins

I don't know how underrated these are, but they're very good records: Taft Jordan: Mood Indigo Zoot Sims: Quartets - dodgy sound on a few cuts, but very good music Phil Woods with Red Garland: Sugan - one that Chuck turned me on to Getz, Zoot, Cohn, Eager, and Brew: The Brothers Elmo Hope Trio: Meditations Charles McPherson with Carmell Jones and Barry Harris: Bebop Revisited - a good bop date - w. Nelson Boyd on bass - years after the fact Tiny Grimes with J.C. Higginbotham: Callin' the Blues two volumes of the Wardell Gray Memorial Finally, the musicians may not be underrated, but I don't see these recordings mentioned very often: Jackie McLean Quintet: Lights Out! - with some very fine Elmo Hope Benny Golson: Groovin' with Golson - He and Curtis Fuller made a fine team. Art Farmer: Farmer's Market Gene Ammons: Nice an' Cool A special tip of the cap to many of the Swingville recordings. My listening and jazz listening in general would be much, much poorer if Prestige hadn't recorded so many swing musicians. No other company did this to anywhere near the extent that Prestige did.

To get back to BN, my take during the mid-sixties was that Blue Note got their toes wet with the new music when they recorded McLean, Hutcherson, Hill, Moncur, etc., and they signed Ornette, Cherry, and Cecil because they didn't want to get left out. (And don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that those records were recorded.) Perhaps that's not the whole story. Just my take at the time and still my take.

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Dylan: Blood on the Tracks (Columbia)