paul secor

Have a great B'Day!!

Charlie Parker: First Recordings! (Onyx)

Optional is one of my favorite drummers of all time! (I can't get a smiley to kick on, or one would be here.)

Now here's a reunion that I'd like to hear! But get Cranshaw off the bandstand or buy him an upright bass, PLEASE! @ Epistrophy: thanks for your considerate answer to my grumpy remark... still, I stick with the general points I made, but I was a bit out of line with regard to this being merely a day-dreaming thread. Sorry for that. Now, about those Blue Note reunions: somehow these do bore me on paper, already... I've heard some live recordings of the likes of Jackie Mac and Woody and Booby getting together again, and it doesn't work for me, I'm afraid. It's just not the Blue Note years any longer - that is now not a statement meaning travelling back in time is impossible, but rather a statement implying that nowadays this music (or these musicians?) have lost a lot of their relevance and - I dare saying that - fire. I know this is unfair, but it's just not the same anymore, if after 30 or 40 years they hook up again... all of them had been at or close to where it was happening in the mid sixties, but nowadays it's ye good ole mainstream, I'm sorry to say, and just fails to really grab my attention. Ok, Ornette can still bother people, sure Cecil can do so as well, *but* all considered, what they're playing is by now mainstream, too! I hope this comes not over as just another grumpy rant. I hear what you're saying, and agree. Cecil and Ornette are mainstream today, but hearing them in 2006 is similar to what it was to hear Ellington or, perhaps, Ben Webster in the 1960s. I wonder if Ornette and Cecil will be the last of our giants. (Sonny Rollins is no doubt another, and that story has been hashed and rehashed in another thread.) I do think that musicians such as Von Freeman or Roswell Rudd (there are certainly other names to be added to these two), who endured long periods of being ignored, and perhaps partly for that very reason, have been able to retain that fire you speak about, and still play with it today.

Oh man, well... interesting note choices, that's fer sure! Understood, believe me, but there's a few things here and there where all the action is in varying the stops and working the volume pedal, and that stuff is amazing. Very much coming from the Gospel Organ bag. Check out the Baby Lloyd cut on the WB Loma anthology for a prime example. That Baby Lloyd side is a good one, with some wild JB organ. Interesting how JB ripped off the bass/guitar line from Hank Ballard's "Teardrops on My Pillow" and used it throughout this record. Incidentally, Hank Ballard hated "Teardrops on My Pillow". The other side of that 45 was "The Twist", written by Hank Ballard. "Teardrops" was composed by Henry Glover, and King Records pushed that as the A-side, while "The Twist" was ignored. (Except by Chubby Checker's record company, who covered it and got the glory and $$$$.) I hope that Hank made out on the royalties, but given the history of ripoffs in the record biz, I doubt it.

Don Byas: Midnight at Minton's (Onyx)

Thanks, Jack - pretty much what I expected.

"Should" as in they probably will? Or "should" as in "they won't, but goddamit, they should!" I hope it's the former! Should as in 'they probably will'. I was told Mosaic was using the photo. I have yet to see the booklet with my own eyes! If they do use it, I hope you at least get a free copy of the set.

I have a couple of the Onyx LP issues of Jerry Newman recorded material - Don Byas and Art Tatum. I'm wondering if the High Note reissues have either improved the sound quality or added tracks to the Onyx issues. I expect not, but I'm curious. Thanks in advance for any responses.

Horace Silver: Trio and Art Blakey-Sabu (Blue Note/King - Japan)

I bought The Rill Thing and The Second Coming when they were released, and may still have the latter somewhere. My memory is that a decent 6 track EP might have been able to have been boiled down from the two. I can't speak about the other released LP and the unreleased tracks. Oh - The Second Coming did have a cool cover.

"long-term, gradual effect" sounds like the Republican/big biz party line, meaning no changes in environmental laws so we can make our bucks now. Y'all can change the laws in 50 years when we've made our money and when it's too late. To answer the question - This winter has been the warmest I can remember. I have no proof that this is due to global warning, but I have no reason to doubt it.

Duets - Ornette and Charlie Haden

My feelings, exactly.

There isn't really a point - all of this is just daydreaming and fantasy (nothing wrong with that) - unless someone on the Board hits the lottery and decides to put together a "dream session". That would be great.

I know his music best from his playing with John Lewis and Red Mitchell on The John Lewis Album (Finesse). He played beautifully on that. Thanks for giving us the music, Mr. Wickman.

Doc Pomus: It's Great To Be Young and in Love (Whiskey, Women, and...)

Probably my favorite Charlie Rouse - apart from Monk

Nappy Brown: Don't Be Angry! (Savoy Jazz)

Cecil, Henry Grimes, Alan Silva, and Andrew Cyrille

Mention should be made of another New Orleans artist, Snooks Eaglin, who also had a strong Ray Charles quality in his vocals - though not as raw as Alvin Robinson's - and who made a lot of fine r&b records for Imperial in the early 1960's. He also recorded more folk-oriented material for other labels.

I've just been listening to Alvin Robinson's 1969 Pulsar (released & unreleased) sides that Ace put out on CD. Some good stuff - the best of it holds up pretty well with his earlier recordings - but this stuff is more funk oriented. (I probably should say later funk oriented, since the Imperial/Post/Red Bird/ Tiger/Blue Cat sides are definitely funky, but I think you know what I mean.) Anyway, in general, his voice doesn't mesh with the late 60's funk backings and tunes as well as it did with the earlier backing bands - not his fault - he sounded like what he sounded like. It was up to the producer and musicians to deal with that.

I'll throw Augie Meyers' name in - hope no one objects to a non-jazz organist getting a mention. If Doug Sahm was the soul of the Sir Douglas Quintet, Augie was the heart.

This thing. Well worth a checkout. Ashamed to admit I've had this on the shelf for longer at least 6 or 7 years, and it's never been played - still sealed. A friend picked it up for me as a cutout, and it's one of those things I've never gotten around to listening to. It will get listened to shortly. Thanks for the kick in the butt - I need that more than occasionally.

Alvin Robinson: Shine On (Charly)