paul secor

Charlie Parker at the Open Door is a must - wild blowing by Bird. I have it on an Ember 2 CD set (though it could have fit on one CD). I'm not sure how it's available these days, but the recordings are definitely worth seeking out. Jeff has already commented on recordings with Red Rodney in 1949-50. I'll just put forth one specific recommendation from that period - recordings from Birdland in 1950 which were available on Royal Jazz - Charlie Parker: More Unissued Vol. 2. They may have been issued elsewhere as well. Fiery, fiery playing by Bird, Rodney, Kenny Drew, Curly Russell. and Art Blakey - not to be missed. Charlie Parker: More Unissued Vol. 1 on Royal Jazz has two recordings done with Bird,Lennie Tristano, and Kenny Clarke (playing on a phone book). If you're a Bird fanatic, it's worth getting just for those two cuts. Also available on Philology. Finally, I'll mention three cuts that have Bird sitting in with the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Bird's Eyes Vol. 8 - Philology W80.2. Fine stuff, plus that CD also contains an interview done withPaul Desmond and Bird in 1953 or 1954. The interview is perhaps not essential (though I guess it is to me), but it's interesting.

The Gellers (Emarcy Japan) During this listen, I found my listening concentration was on the other Geller - Lorraine.

That was true about a decade ago. But sound has been improving since then with the advent of ALAC/FLAC, which are indistinguishable from CD/.wav. And from I've seen most folks challenged cannot tell the difference between a .wav file and a 320kbps AAC. Hell, I'd challenge anyone to correctly pick out a .wav file from a 256kbps VBR AAC. The biggest downside now is the horrendously shitty production methods in modern studios. Loudness War in end stage. But digital files have improved immensely over the last decade, and seem to still be on an upward trend. iTunes guarantees all their music downloads to be no less than 256kbps, after having 128 as their standard for years. And Emusic has played the catch up game. This tells me that people were complaining about sound quality, or else they wouldn't have changed anything. I've even heard whispers that with hard drives getting larger and larger, and storage getting cheaper and cheaper, that iTunes will eventually offer ALAC downloads. And at that point, you've got the same thing they pulled off the original disc. That sounds pretty good to me. When I made that statement, the discussion was about people listening to iPhones and iPods on the go. And, unlike years ago, the vast majority of people don't care about sound quality at all. That's all I was saying.

Music becomes more and more accessible and the sound gets worse and worser. I wonder where it will end. (Not that I really want to find out.)

The Axeman's Jazz The Beasts of Bourbon The Whiskeyhill Singers

It's well up there on my list too.. I love Beavis and Butthead and I'm not ashamed at all.

Roland Hanna Plays the Music of Alec Wilder (Trio) - with Helen Merrill on one track

Tootie Heath Tug McGraw John McGraw

Donald Byrd: Byrd's Eye View (Transition/King)

James Jamerson Robble Robertson Johnny Johnson

Sidney Bechet: Basin Street Blues (BN/King) Every great jazz musician has a distinctive sound, but Sidney Bechet's sound was something else.

Dashiell Hammett Sam Spade Digger Phelps

Kenny Burrell: Swingin' (BN/King)

Pete Seeger lived in the general area where I live. I had incidental contact with him on several occasions. The impression that's stuck with me is that he was very down to earth and at the same time larger than life.

Kelso Millard Fillmore Bill Graham

Elvin Jones: Coalition (BN/King)

Cannonball Adderley: Alison's Uncle (BN/Toshiba EMI Japan) 45 rpm

Boom Boom Mancini George Scott Howard Tate

Lyles West Joe South Willie Shoemaker

Gogi Grant U.S. Grant Gary U.S. Bonds

Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet: Stiudy in Brown (Emarcy Japan)

Rumpole Morse Dalziel

Robinson Cano Tippecanoe Professor Longhair

W.P. Kinsells: Scars

I hope that the executors of the Max Roach estate will find ways to make some of this material accessible to those in the general public who are interested and not just to academics and scholars.