paul secor

Carl Hiaasen's novels. John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. Bukowski's novels, short stories, and poems. Flann O'Brien's works. And there's always Mark Twain.

Five cds of Jimmy Lyons - YES!

couw - Thanks for the info.

A question - What are the Ayler tree cds? Also - I heard Albert Ayler play at a concert in Buffalo, N.Y. in early 1968 (the Love Cry group with Juni Booth replacing Alan Silva). As I remember, the concert was filmed by a well known documentary filmmaker - can't remember who - D.A. Pennebaker comes to mind. If the footage still exists, it would great if we could see it, either as a separate entity or as part of the new Ayler film. A Cecil Taylor concert was also part of that arts festival and was also filmed.

A second to Chuck Nessa's mention of Frank's Place - a great show that deserved a larger audience and a longer run. It featured great music too. Other favorites: Taxi (Louie was my all time favorite tv character). The Rockford Files - Anyone remember the episode where Angel's wife divorced him and got custody of his Little Walter 45's as part of the settlement? Northern Exposure.

Paul Gonsalves plays on Clark Terry's Duke with a Difference (Riverside/OJC) recording, which features Ellington (and Strayhorn) material performed by Ellingtonians in a relaxed small group setting. My favorite Gonsalves on this is his solo on "Cottontail".

I heard him several times in the 70's. I remember hearing him in a small club on a snowy night with maybe 5 people in the place. He played better than the times I heard him playing for a full house. That night, he had Eddy Robinson (at least that's what my memory tells me - it's been 25 years) who recorded for Blue Note with the Donald Byrd/Pepper Adams group. Does anyone know if Eddy Robinson is still actively playing or still living?

I have all four, but voted for Sonny Meets Hawk! mainly because I haven't listened to it in a long time and this will be a good opportunity to revisit it.

Funny how these things happen. Last Friday, I was cleaning out our garage (boss' orders) and I found a flyer from the late 70's for Chuck's old friend J.R. Monterose, who was appearing at a club called Justin McNeils in Albany, N.Y. Nice photo of J.R. on the flyer. It brought back some good memories of the times when I heard him play back then.

Various artists: Drop Down Mama (Chess) Jenkins, Jordan and Timmons (It's always great to hear Wilbur Ware and get an aural reminder of what a great musician he was - the heartbeat of jazz.) Various artists: Jump 'n' Shout (Delmark) Various artists: Memphis Blues Singers Volume 2 (Frog) Harold Burrage: Messed Up! Miles Davis and Milt Jackson: Quintet/Sextet Various artists: Jazz the World Forgot Volume 1 (Yazoo) Charles Gayle/William Parker/Rashied Ali: Touchin' On Trane Various artists: The Jazz Scene (Verve)

Very sorry to read this. My favorite Earl King recordings were the things he did for Ace, but he was able to keep his music fresh through the years, something that isn't always true of musicians in the popular music genre. Glazed, the album he recorded with Roomful of Blues, done thirty years after his first records, is a fine one. "Love Rent" is a personal favorite from that record. Soul Stream - It must have been cool to have played a gig with Earl King and to have hung out with him afterward.

This morning I was listening to a cd of Jackie McLean's New Soil (Blue Note), which contains one previously unissued tune, Walter Davis Jr.'s "Formidable". The tune sounded familiar, and I realized that an Art Taylor group had recorded it a month later on Taylor's Tenors (New Jazz), but the title was changed to "Cape Millie". It's a fine tune, but I wonder why the change of title? My guess would be that perhaps both record labels wanted publishing rights and Walter Davis Jr. changed the title so he could record it for New Jazz. Could he have known only a month after the New Soil session that Blue Note wasn't going to issue "Formidable"? My cds don't contain publishing information so I don't know if my theory is possible. Any ideas?

Thought I'd add my thoughts before this topic ends. I bought this record shortly after it was released and still have my old mono copy after all these years. I also have the 20 bit cd issue which I've listened to in my car a couple of time this week. I've probably listened to Mingus x 5 at least 50 times over the years and it still moves me and I still hear new things when I listen to it. I guess that's as high a recommendation as I can give to any record. This is music of high passions and strong feelings. To me, that's what music is supposed to be. Further thoughts: This is definitely a bassist's record. Mingus' bass is recorded to the forefront - not realistic, but musically sucessful in this case. "Bull fiddle" is perhaps a perjorative term, but that's what comes to my mind when I hear Mingus driving the band during the ensembles and solos. Mingus' solo on "Mood Indigo" is one of my favorite bass solos - his bass sings. "I X Love" - I particularly enjoy the voicings during the section where what sounds like an oboe (though there's none listed in the liner personnel) comes to the fore. It brings to mind numerous Ellington recordings where I find myself wondering how he got that sound. I wonder what part of this in Mingus, and what part Bob Hammer? I love the way Charlie Mariano manages to bring forth some of the spirit and sound of both Johnny Hodges and Bird without mimicking either. Walter Perkins plays some nice cymbal sounds on this tune, and his drumming is a pleasure throughout the record. Thanks to a post on the Booker Ervin thread by Mr. Nessa, I'm more aware of Booker Ervin's shortcomings than I once was. However, I also find myself more aware of his strengths. The intensity of his solo on "Theme for Lester Young" captures the feeling of loss and sorrow that Pres' death must have brought to Mingus. I agree with impossible. In all the times I've listened to this record, I never once compared these performances with previous or later ones. For me, this is where Mingus was in 1963, and that's all that matters. By the way, impossible, you should have gotten the job just for recommending this record to the interviewer. Too bad life doesn't work that way. "Hora Decubitus" - Eric Dolphy! I've always enjoyed and learned from Mingus' liner notes. Among jazz musicians, Ornette's liner notes are probably the only ones I enjoy more. Here, speaking of Lester Young, "If I had to use one word to describe him, it would be sensitivity. He towered over most other musicians, but he didn't do it as a gorilla." Mingus the historian - "...the Savoy Sultans, though a small combo, 'used to outswing most big bands, by just building on riff patterns. Here I wanted to do the same thing - to swing hard!'" How many jazz critics were writing about the Savoy Sultans in 1963? The cd issue adds "Freedom" to the original lp. To me, the lp was fine as it was. More doesn't always mean better. It's the last track though, so I can just skip it if I want. I hope the above makes it obvious that I love this record.

In the current New York magazine: 100 People Who Changed New York: Wynton Marsalis, trumpeter, Lincoln Center jazz artistic director. Charlie Parker never raised $128 mil for a jazz joint.

A non-Monk addition. In 1962, Duke Jordan recored an album entitled Music of the Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture Les Liasons Dangereuses - Composed and Conducted by Duke Jordan. Duke Jordan, piano; Charlie Rouse, tenor sax; Sonny Cohn, trumpet; Art Taylor, drums; Eddie Kahn, bass. No Problem #1; No Problem #2; No Problem #3; Jazz Vendor; Subway Inn; The Feeling of Love #1; The Feeling of Love #2. New York, January 12, 1962. Charlie Parker PLP 813. My copy is a Japanese reissue with notes in Japanese which I can't read. Perhaps someone here has a U.S. Charlie Parker Records issue with liner notes in English and can add more. (Or perhaps someone here can read Japanese, and can read the reissue notes.)

I've never seen the film. All I can add is a mention in David Meeker's Jazz in the Movies: "Music score credited to Jack Marray (pseud). Underscore consists of Thelonious Monk themes specially recorded in New York by Monk, pno; Charlie Rouse, ten sax; Sam Jones, bass; Art Taylor, drs: 'Crepescule with Nellie', 'Ba-lue bolivar ba-lues-are', 'Rhythm-a-ning', 'Well you needn't', 'Light blue', 'Pannonica' and one other. Source music for both the nightclub and party sequences composed for the movie by Duke Jordan and played by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: Lee Morgan,tpt; Barney Wilen, ten sax, sop sax; Bobby Timmons and Duke Jordan, pno; Jymie Merritt, bass; Art blakey, drs: 'No problem', 'Prelude in blue', 'Miguel's party', and 'Valmontana'. During the party sequence, the performers on camera (unsynchronised) are Kenny Dorham, tpt; Barney Wilen, ten sax; Duke Jordan, pno; Paul Rovere, bass; Kenny Clarke, drs."

If I can add a favorite that's not on the list: Curtis Fuller: Two Bones w. Slide Hampton, Sonny Clark, George Tucker, and Al Harewood. Of those listed, I voted for Hank's Thinking of Home.

Over the weekend: Jelly Roll Morton: Great Original Performances 1926-1934 Masahiko Togashi & Steve Lacy: Twilight Don Cherry: Multikulti Count Basie: Complete Decca Recordings - disc 1 Sonny Boy Williamson: Talk that Talk - Sonny Boy at the Chess Studio 1957-61 Rev. Claude Jeter: What Is This Lorraine Ellison: Stay with Me

My local paper, the Poughkeepsie Journal, which I read at work, completely ignores jazz. The New York Times, which I read at home, features jazz coverage by Ben Ratliff. Of the two, the Poughkeepsie Journal has better jazz reporting.

Over the past couple of months I've listened to a number of records which Jo Jones plays on - most recently Illinois Jacquet's Swing's the Thing (Verve) and Illinois Jacquet (Epic/Classic), along with several of Jo Jones' albums on Pablo and Denon. I'd heard Jo Jones for many years, but until recently I hadn't truly listened and heard what he was saying. What a wonderful musician! He was able be fiery and subtle at the same time. I'm especially impressed with the way that he varied his accompaniment on the same tune, depending on who was soloing - a quality lacking in many drummers. I'm sorry for myself that I took his playing for granted for all those years, but I'm happy to be hearing him now. That's one of the great things about music - no matter how long you've been listening, there's always something new to listen to and learn from. If anyone has any thoughts, anecdotes, favorite recordings, whatever - I'd be happy to read them and I'm sure that others would too. P.S. Before writing this, I reread Nat Hentoff's memories of Jo Jones, "Mr. Jonathan David Samuel Jones", in his book, Listen to the Stories - a most worthy tribute. I'd like to sign off with a quote from that chapter attributed to Max Roach: "For every three beats a drummer plays, he owes Jo five."

Amen. My feelings exactly. I buy reissues and support the labels that recorded the music originally as long as they reissue the music properly, but I'm more concerned with supporting the labels that are recording and documenting contemporary music.

I don't mean this in a negative way, but why does the album of the week seem to be so Blue Note oriented? I don't like to focus on record labels - the artists are the ones who created the music - but there are a lot of other record companies other than Blue Note - OJC (Riverside, Prestige, Contemporary, Pablo), Black Saint/Soul Note, Columbia, Nessa, the Verve labels, ESP, Steeplechase, Delmark, CIMP, Okkadisk, DIW, HighNote, Black Lion, etc. I was glad to see The Mingus Impulse recording chosen for future discussion, but most of the mentions as suggestions for the future seem to be Blue Note recordings. Also, how about considering more recent recordings? On a positive note, I found the posts on Donald Byrd's Byrd in Hand to be enlightening and entertaining, and I'm looking forward to writing and reading comments on future records. I'm only one person and very probably in the minority, but I just wanted to make my voice heard.

Two of my favorite Clifford Jordan recordings are Cliff Craft and his collaboration with Ran Blake, Masters from Different Worlds, on Mapleshade - a fascinating record. Here's a Clifford Jordan anecdote. I heard him play a concert in Poughkeepsie in the early to mid eighties. He was playing with a local drummer and pianist who were non professionals, and with a young bassist he brought with him from NY. During the concert, they played a standard (can't remember what, but it was something well known.) The pianist and the bassist were unfamiliar with the tune and were playing from sheet music or a fake book which the bassist was looking at over top of the piano. After they had finished the tune, Clifford announced to the audience that he told the bass player to stop looking at the music and just play - "I told him he can hear better than he can read upside down."