jazzbo

To paraphrase a Curtis Fuller and Benny Golson selection "Be Back Directly." B)

There was a Blue Note cd domestically, it was deleted, and then released again in the Collectors Choice series, and now deleted again. . . ! ARGH! I'll bet this JRVG sounds nice. I like Hope a lot. He and Bud and Monk were actually friends and travelled about their neck of NYC a lot as young men. Hope is his own man in ways that the others are their own men. . . . An interesting pianist and writer. I'd recommend almost anything you can find of his as a leader. I have a special like for the date on OJC cd called "Meditations," and I also have a fondness for the "Final Sessions" on Specialty and material on Beacon and Celebrity that has appeared on both a Fresh Sounds cd and a Prevue label cd.

This is a great set indeed!

I think we should celebrate Louis Armstrong's birthday, August 4th! -_-

Well you have a point. . . but I still enjoy these a lot, perhaps because I am not as steeped in Arab etc. music, and because I just think there are great performances in these. . . .

I actually like this one!

Good album. Cover that should have never been!

As you know, I'm a fan of the Hep label. They have great cds out there, reissuing in excellent sound material that is not available readily elsewhere. Their Slim Gaillard series is excellent---I have one more to find. And I bought the Benny Goodman "Plays" series of cds based on arrangers and play these often; I think it is a great way to present this material, and they sound great. Their Teddy Wilson series is excellent as well, reissuing the material without Holiday that doesn't see the laserlight in America for the most part. And there are many more. I just realized there are a few more of the Thornhill series I need to get when I have some more cash. . . .

Tea's big band sides are pretty darned good for the most part. There are several cds on the Vernon label of live broadcasts of the band, and then there are the Classics. There are some duds in the sides, but if you enjoy those on the Kallen disc, I think you'll enjoy exploring them. I like the Vernon (live versions) better.

Oh, you mean "EGOMAN"?

Alright, I just really enjoyed listening to this again, via the RCA box version. One factor that I really like about this suite is that Ellington and Strayhorn were very wise to not try to write Eastern music, but to bring some sounds of that music into their own. There are a few melodic elements that seem eastern, but most of that character of the suite is in my estimation developed through the sound of the instruments and to another extent through the rhythms selected. The suites seem to be joined by this approach, the touch of the exotic to the sound, and this is more effective a "glue" to my ears than some other methods Duke used to form suites. Gonsalves, Hodges and Hamilton especially seem to carry a lot of the "easterness" and quite admirably. Another plus to this recording is that the material was not entirely fresh in the studio. Bits and pieces had shown up on live material from as far back as two years plus before this session, and I have a recording of the bulk of the suite done for a Canadian television station more than a year before this. What is most new is the drummer, Rufus Jones, who does bring a new sound to the recording (it would be interesting to have this high fidelity a recording of the same occasion with Woodyard on the throne instead; Woodyard had a very well worked out conception for these pieces too that differs in some ways from Jones'.) To my ears the orchestra is really familiar with this material and gives it a tight rendition---not always the case with this orchestra which could be charmingly and not so charmingly loose as well. Another delight for me is bassist John Lamb. I really liked his tenure with the orchestra, and his meaty, modern sound really adds to the recordings he was on. From video sources it appears to me that Duke really liked his playing and sound as well. When the piano is absent during this suite, Lamb's notes give the swing and the foundation needed. If anyone knows of considerable work that Lamb did after this tenure with the band, let me know! Here too I find a very nice melding or fusion or coupling of Ellington and Strayhorn. One can find the lyrical Strayhorn idea followed by the flashily elegant Ellington bit, and they seem to be well placed. The writing of this seems more inspired than some of their collaborations or separate suites to me. Strong themes and strong writings for the ensemble, well captured by the RCA engineers. This recording was one of the ones that made me realize there is no decade or era of the Ellington Orchestra that can be ignored! I had been thinking that after the fifties I would probably have to be very choosy in selecting Duke recordings to collect. After exposure to this and other RCAs and to a Reprise lp or two I just decided I would have to pay as serious attention to the final years of the Orchestra as to the earlier! I hope that quite a few of you dig this out and listen again and enjoy!

This is a great cd, in killer remastering; I got mine for even less from Red Trumpet. Fans of Shepp, consider.

Yes, and I just think that it would be a great melody for her voice and phrasing. . . .

Sad news. Let's wish her all the best indeed!

Oh if only Billie Holiday could have recorded Duke's "I Didn't Know about You."

Well, I don't have either! It will be fun to read what you all think!

Hey, no drinkin' and drivin', alright? Have a nice safe holiday. I'm off to see The Hulk!

Hey, Dr. Strange was my favorite of the superheroes. . . I wish I would have come out as him, but I would have had to LIE!

Just call me Reed. . . .

Try this on for size: http://www.liquidgeneration.com/quiz/super...erhero_quiz.asp

Well, I have mixed feelings about this. I think my favorite tune on this is "The Morning After" with its dark balladic aspect, and it showcases that Mobley "psycodrama" that Jim talks so well of, and has this odd "Hardbop Tailgate Trombone" writing for Fuller that just really gets me! Most of the album though I hear as a "bag of tricks" session, especially from the horn players and Higgins. Morgan's solos almost all just seem to me to be a string of his "effects" patterns. Mobley puts in some good ones but again using his "bag"---though they do keep my interest for their interplay with Higgins. The Fuller. . . well I just think "that's Curtis" when he's soloing. The rhythm section keeps this one together. They're very tight, maybe too tight, with Cranshaw and Higgins locked into the groove for each track and really making it almost too slick. Tyner I like here, he really comes up with some interesting little touches in his solos, and his comping is nice, though contributing to the "slickness" for me as well. I think we all would enjoy this if the remastering had more depth to it, but at least it isn't one of those McMaster SBM teethgrinders! So thanks for choosing this and making me listen to it again, it's been a while. Partly this suffered because I had played Cannonball's "Live at the Club" right before it (the RVG Special Edition) and it was dimmed a bit in comparison. (THAT is one killer session!) Partly also since I last heard this my listening has been away from a lot of the hardbop/boogaloo sessions from the label at this time, and I seem to see more formulaic manufacturing in these sessions now than I did before. But this is good solid stuff, which I enjoy more when I'm doing something else than just critically listening. . . .

Mnytime: I'm here to tell you (literally) that Texas is much more the South than it is the West.

I think I've read all his work, though I confess I haven't read any of his books in years. "Sanctuary" is a big favorite, and "The Sound and the Fury" is a real masterwork.

Y'all have said it all as far as I am concerned. I'm so glad I have the RCA box, but if not, I'd go for this smaller set.

Yeah I know he hated it. And drank his way through it. . . .