paul secor

Most of the recordings I bought in 2006 were reissues. That's not a good thing, so one of my resolutions for 2007 is to listen to try and listen to more newly recorded music. A couple 2006 "bests" that come to mind are: Don Menza/John Bacon/Bobby Jones: Jack Rabbitt (Cadence) - great record, and a tip of the hat to Mr. Sangry for steering me to it. Nat Su/Michael Kanan: Dreams and Reflections (Fresh Sound New Talent) - very fine sax/piano duo

Terrible news. I only knew him from his posts, and didn't know he was ill. His posts always gave me the sense that he was a true gentleman. Condolences to his family.

Lefty Frizzell: His Life, His Music (Bear Family) - 1955/56 recordings

Happy Birthday!

You're complete right. I could have posted three baby pictures, but .................. What about these charming ladies? These (sisters ) are from the 1930s. One of my favorite Boswell Sisters recording is one of their first: the 1925 Victor recording of Nights When I'm Alone . - it's so pure, so amateurish, so innocent, so sweet - don't you think so? BTW: The PAUL Sisters happen to be the PAULL SISTERS. (Sorry I missed one letter ) Keep swinging Durium Durium, you would be hard pressed to find a bigger Boswell sisters fan than me! No better vocal group ever, IMHO. If you like the 1925 recording of Night's When I'm Lonely, I bet you would like the other side, which for some reason was left off the Storyville Chronological cds! I'm Gonna Cry(The Cryin' Blues) is a great little tune. I wish they had re-recorded it in the 30's, but what you gonna do? I love the line, "With all my persistence, you still keep your distance" Something about the way it rolls off of Connie's tongue.....sigh....Anyway, the only place I know of the track is the old ASV Boswell sisters cd. If you want to see the sisters(No clips yet of them on the 1932 Big Broadcast) check out these at youtube.com..... http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=boswell+sisters OK, you two - or anyone else: What's a good CD to start listening to the Boswell Sisters?

I would say that Ayler's Spiritual Unity and Trane's Meditations would definitely qualify. As I remember, There were a number of critics who hated those records and a number who loved them. It was around that time that I came to the conclusion that reading critics who merely had opinions (as opposed to critics who had ideas and insights) was a waste of my time.

Just curious - why do you have a picture of the McGuire Sisters, who were popular in the 1950s, in a thread on vocal groups of the 1930s? They do look good, but ?

Thanks for posting Rod. I didn't know that Bonnie Owens and Johnny Paris had passed. Both were part of my musical life at different times.

CD Unverse also carries it - no soundclips, unfortunately - and the Forum gets $ if you buy it there.

Thanks. After hearing it all these years, I finally know the title.

Haven't seen that name in years. Is she still around and writing?

So shoot me: I like Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock". I like John Lennon's Christmas 45, tho I'm not sure of the name - "And So This Is Christmas"?. And I like Aaron Neville - even have the Christmas CD that came out a few years ago and play it once or twice each season. Can't stand Burl Ives' "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas". Has anyone read the book on Burl Ives and John Cage? This is a serious question. I saw it in a catalog about ten years ago, but never ordered it. The whole idea of a book pairing that twosome intrigued me.

Memorable Sessions on Blue Note - Edmond Hall Celeste Quartet w. Meade Lux Lewis, Charlie Christian, & Israel Crosby

At Ease with Coleman Hawkins Edit - wrong title. I'm tired.

I almost expected him to play on for another 90 years. Thanks, Mr. McShann. RIP.

Here's what I'd take if I were leaving today: In no particular order - Herbie Nichols Trio Ornette - Golden Circle Vol. 1 Curtis Fuller: Two Bones Port of Harlem Jazzmen - ok, it's a Mosaic LP, but it's Blue Note material Cecil Taylor: Conquistador! Art Blakey: Birdland Vol. 1 Dizzy Reece: Blues in Trinity Ike Quebec: Blue & Sentimental Tina Brooks: Minor Move Sonny Clark: Leapin' and Lopin' Hated to leave off Monk and Trane at Carnegie Hall - issued on Blue Note, but not really a BN recording.

Warne Marsh: Warne Out (Interplay)

I didn't know you were part of the whole rap debacle of the late '80s/early 90s... The rap guys killed each other. The jazz guys killed themselves.

Hampton Hawes/Paul Chambers: The East/West Controversy - Smoking Hawes on side one

Good to see that someone included an Ike Q recording on their list.

Cecil wasn't enamorated with the RVG sound. Period. When CT was in Paris in 1966 - that was before I heard those two BNs - we had arguments about the way RVG captured the Miles Davis Quintet on those Prestige sessions. I was trying to defend that sound, Cecil was against! Hard to win against Cecil Taylor I didn't! That was my impression when I heard him speak. He wasn't going to go against what he believed in - which is probably why he's still doing what he does and why I'm still listening to his music.

That lightens things up. I'm not enough of a Byrds' fan to comment, but I do know that they gained when David Crosby split - The Asshole of the Earth.

I'm going to knock Blue Note, but I do think that BN's canonization has gotten way out of hand. They did certain things well. They developed certain artists and started their careers. They made sure that their recording dates were rehearsed and that their records were of a certain level because of that - tho they may have lost a certain amount of spontaineity by doing that. And they stayed in business for a long time, and that's no small thing. That said, if you look at the two other major east coast independent jazz labels, you can find certain things that they did well, and certain people they recorded that didn't show up at Blue Note. Riverside nurtured a number of artists - Wes, Cannonball, Bill Evans, Blue Mitchell, Johnny Griffin, Monk (I realize that the latter two recorded for BN before they recorded for Riverside, but Riverside took more care and used more imagination in the presentation of their music). I've always wondered if Riverside went under because their major artists left the fold, or if the artists left because the label was going under. (I realize that Monk left earlier, but the others left within a fairly short time frame.) Riverside also recorded a number of artists as leaders who didn't show up at Blue Note - many for stylistic reasons: James Clay Joe Albany/Warne Marsh Budd Johnson Wilbur Ware Elmer Snowden The JFK Quintet Louis Cottrell Ernie Henry Don Friedman Barry Harris Jimmy Heath Not knocking Blue Note, but their (Alfred Lion's?) frame of interest was much smaller - especially in later years. BN recorded swing musicians and some boppers early on, but once hard bop hit, they didn't look much further. Prestige is a whole other story. They were able to stay in business. From my understanding, they did it by keeping costs low, and, if certain musicians are to be believed, by ripping off the musicians they recorded. I don't know if the latter accusation is true, so I won't go there. Prestige was also not in the business of establishing musicians' careers. They were more of the hit and run - put it out and then record someone else - mentality. Then again, even Prestige tried to develop certain artists - Gene Ammons, Jack McDuff, Eric Dolphy, Jaki Byard, some of their organists. (Perhaps Prestige wasn't interested in developing artists - just in continuing to record artists who sold - tho I don't know where Jaki Byard would fit in there.) But - The list of artists who recorded for Prestige who didn't get and probably couldn't have gotten a Blue Note date looms large: Tiny Grimes Buck Clayton Al Casey Walt Dickerson Lem Winchester Shorty Baker & Doc Cheatham Lonnie Johnson Hal Singer Buddy Tate Don Ellis Jon Eardley Mal Waldron Scrapper Blackwell Barry Harris (as leader) Coleman Hawkins Gigi Gryce Taft Jordan Eddie Kirkland Steve Lacy Guitar Pete Franklin Claude Hopkins Teddy Charles Jaki Byard (as leader) Otis Spann A lot of great music would be lost if only Blue Note had existed back then. And I fear that a lot of people who canonize Blue Note and listen to Blue Note records to the exclusion of other music are missing out on a lot. There have been a few threads on this Forum devoted to other record labels, but they don't compare to the threads devoted to Blue Note - and the Blue Note threads keep on coming. I guess what I want to say is that labels recorded what they recorded, and that's what we have to listen to. Blue Note was an important record label, but perhaps it wasn't the most important label. And whatever your opinion on that statement, there's definitely much, much more out there than Blue Note.

Disko Mate also leased Jimmy Knepper in L.A. to Inner City - not sure if Inner City used the same title.

I think that griff was significantly better served at Riverside than at BN, although whether or not that was as much a matter of his own maturing as anything else, I'm not ready to say. But Riverside was definitely more amenable to different/expanded/whatever settings than was BN, for whatever reason. Now, about Unit Structures, again, some historical perspective is called for. You gotta remember that prior to that, the last Cecil date that was out there was the Into The Hot material, and that that was still "Cecil playing over time". (I know that some of the Montmartre stuff was released in the US on Fantasy/Debut, but A)that was a trio date, B)Fantasy back in those days was not all that widely distributed except for a few "hits", and C)I don't know exactly when that album was released. Anyway, good luck finding a copy, then or now). Anyway, Unit Structures was the first side with profile (and quite possibly the first side period) to present Cecil Taylor's music in the form that we all know today. It could be argued that pretty much everything that's come since is an expansion on what was first documented on that album. So afaic, it's "classic" status is a no-brainer, even if the music wasn't as incredible as it is ("Enter Evening" alone is one for the ages, & getting an alternate of it on the CD was a gift from on high). He'd have come out (no pun intended) somewhere sooner or later, but this is where it happened, and there ain't no changing that. There literally was no Cecil Taylor music like this on record before Unit Structures, but there's been plenty of it since. So I say you gotta give recording props to the recorded archetype. Agreed. I was at a public preconcert discussion with Cecil Taylor in maybe March '66 where he remarked that his group was going to record for Blue Note. He made the comment that Alfred Lion liked to make the musicians he recorded sound like Miles' band - he probably meant some of the Herbie/Shorter/Hubbard stuff - and added wryly that he didn't think that their record would sound like that. I'm happy for the two Cecil sides that BN issued. & I'm happy for the Cherry's, the Ornettes, & the Dolphy. I'm not much of a Hill fan - except for Pt. of Departure and possible Judgement -, but I'm happy that BN recorded him too. Different companies did what they did, and I listen to what I listen to. Not much point in playing what if. brownie's post wasn't there when I wrote the first paragraph above. Obviously, Cecil wasn't enamored of the BN/RVG sound.