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Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 65.

Yes it is.

Someone on the Hoffman boards just posted this: In response to a question on Facebook last week about Ellington In Order continuing, Chuck Granata said: “ Well, I’m hoping we are able to continue with it soon. Sony Music is undergoing some changes and those projects were temporarily suspended. I’m hoping things open up and we can see the entire series through to completion.” I’m sure that curating and making this body of work available legally and definitively is an idea that will not go away.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 64.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 63.

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 23 (last).

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 62.

Look at that band on Track 9!

1. Charlie Parker - Cherokee (Vic Damon Version) (Ray Noble). Charlie Parker, alto sax; Efferge Ware, guitar; Edward "Little Phil" Phillips, drums. Vic Damon's Transcription Studios, Kansas City, MO, June 1944. From the album “Bird In Kansas City” (Verve). This track was, for me, the revelation on the recent Kansas City album. Bird is backed by the mysterious Efferge Ware (very little is known about him; I only have him otherwise on three tracks by Harlan Leonard and his Rockets), who provides a lovely chordal cushion. Bird is relaxed and swings like crazy. It’s fascinating to compare this to “Koko,” recorded 17 months later. Bird uses a lot of the same phrases, but by 1945 his sound was frantic and hard edged. 2. Brian Charette - The Kicker (Joe Henderson). Brian Charette, organ; Avi Rothbard, guitar; Jordan Young, drums. 2/4/12, 12/3/13. From the album “Good Tipper” (Positone). What can you say about a good organ trio? It’s a lot like a good pastrami sandwich: the thing speaks for itself. Surprised that more people didn’t recognize the tune, given that Joe Henderson is a favorite on this bulletin board. Charette is fast becoming a favorite of mine. 3. Wilbur Ware - Wilbur's Red Cross (Wilbur Ware). Don Cherry, trumpet; Clifford Jordan, tenor sax; Wilbur Ware, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums. January 1968. Ripped from Clifford Jordan Mosaic box; also available on “Super Bass” (Wilbur Ware Institute). Not sure how Red Cross became Wilbur’s Red Cross (with Ware taking writing credit); maybe it’s like Gunther Schuller claiming writing credit for "Variants on a Theme of Thelonious Monk (Criss-Cross)” on Jazz Abstractions. Seems like this track got the most positive response of this BFT. Glad you liked it. 4. Joe Turner - Well You Needn’t (Thelonious Monk). Joe Turner, piano. 2/6/76. From the album “Another Epoch-Stride Piano” (Pablo). I always got a kick out of the fact that, at one point in 1976, Pablo had two Joe Turners on their roster: the blues shouter and the stride pianist. This Joe Turner was a contemporary of James P. Johnson, Willie The Lion Smith and Fats Waller. I recently came across his Pablo album. Alongside tracks of his contemporaries, I was pleasantly surprised to find this rendition of Monk’s Well You Needn’t. There was once a PBS documentary about Monk; in it, Randy Weston demonstrated at length that one of the foundations of Monk’s style was stride piano, so this track seemed like a master paying tribute to a progeny. 5. Carla Bley - Major (Carla Bley). Carla Bley, piano; Steve Swallow, bass. October 1998. From the album “Are We There Yet?” (Watt/ECM). Are these all major chords? Cute tune, perhaps borne from a theoretical exercise. 6. Sam Lazar - Bag's Groove (Milt Jackson). Sam Lazar, organ; Miller Brisker, tenor sax; Joe Diorio, guitar; Phillip Wilson, drums. Ter Mar Studios, Chicago, IL, Summer 1962. From the album “Playback” (Argo). The mysterious Miller Brisker seemed to get more love from our BFT participants than the leader, but Sam’s OK with me. 7. The Kenny Clarke Trio - Low Life (Johnny Mandel). Jimmy Gourley, guitar; Lou Bennett, organ; Kenny Clarke, drums. Koblenz, Germany, 1/3/63. From the album “Americans In Europe” (Impulse). I think the track swings, though the organ can sound a little corny. I was surprised to find Kenny Clarke leading an organ trio. Gourley was an excellent guitarist. 8. Count Basie - Jive At Five (Basie, Edison). Milt Jackson, vibes; Count Basie, piano; Joe Pass, guitar; John Heard, bass; Louis Bellson, drums. Burbank, CA, January 26, 1977. From the album "Kansas City 5” (Pablo). May as well go to the master. Very sweet smooth swing, great tune. 9. Thelonious Monk - Just A Glance At Love (Teo Macero). Bobby Bryant, Conte Candoli, Freddie Hill, Bob Brookmeyer (trumpet); Lou Blackburn, Bob Bralinger, Billy Byers, Mike Wimberley (trombone); Ernie Small (baritone sax); Gene Cipriano, Buddy Collette, Tom Scott, Ernie Watts, Charlie Rouse (reeds); Thelonious Monk (piano); Howard Roberts (guitar); Larry Gales (bass); Ben Riley (drums); John Guerin (percussion); Oliver Nelson (arranger). November 19 & 20, 1968. From the album “Monk's Blues” (Columbia). I worked hard to find a Monk track that board members would not be familiar with. This was probably the least favorite track of the BFT, and it’s hard for me to fault that judgement. But it is interesting to hear Monk not sound like himself. 10. Gary Burton - Blame It On My Youth (Levant, Heyman). Gary Burton, vibes. From the album "Easy as Pie” (ECM). Gary Burton has a sound that I just luxuriate in. 11. John Scofield - You're Still The One (Twain, Lange). John Scofield, guitar; Larry Goldings, keyboards; Steve Swallow, bass; Bill Stewart, drums. April 3 & 4, 2016. From the album “Country For Old Men” (Impulse). I guess the most controversial track of this BFT. I think the genesis of this album was Sco’s love of wordplay, but he probably likes this tune more than he cares to admit - listen to the way he caresses the melody, the voice-like way he “sings.” I remember one time in the late ’90’s, seeing Sco at NYC’s Bottom Line. I sat pretty close to the stage, and was fascinated by how his left hand barely moved on the fretboard, but dug into each note and phrase. 12. Benny Carter - Tribute To Louis Armstrong: When It's Sleepy Time Down South, Confessin', When You're Smiling (Muse, Rene, Rene; Daugherty, Reynolds, Weiburg; Shay, Fisher, Goodwin). Cat Anderson, tp, vocal; Joe Newman, tp; Britt Woodman, tb; Benny Carter, as, tp; Budd Johnson, ts, ss; Cecil Payne, bars; Nat Pierce, p; Mundell Lowe, g; George Duvivier, b; Harold Jones, d. Kosei Nenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 4/29/77. From the album "'Live And Well In Japan!” (Pablo). This is one of my “comfort food” albums - there’s not a raw note or bad thought in these grooves. It’s not nostalgia if it genuinely moves you. Listen to that audience react! Kudos to Thom for accurately identifying the audience. Thanks for participating.

I saw Foster three times: twice with Miles (1975 and 1981), and once in a trio led by Ron Affif at the Village Vanguard in 1997.

Oh, what a loss. R.I.P.

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 22.

The Desmond set is one of my favorite Mosaics. Ed Bickert is wonderful.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 61.

Joe Ford played nice on this: R.I.P.

If I interpret today's email from Mosaic correctly, the Savory Collection and Paul Desmond boxes are on last chance.

Glad you liked it. Most tracks have already been ID'd. As for the rest, the end of the month is only a few days away. Question about track 5: are those all major chords?

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 21.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 60.

The Cleveland Quartet - The Complete RCA Album Collection, disc 20 (quartet #15).

Excellent. Gulda is a very interesting pianist. Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 59.

Release date July 18: Embarking on an exhilarating journey into uncharted musical territories, pianist Bram de Looze assembles a quartet of extraordinary talent, featuring Joey Baron on drums, Thomas Morgan on double bass, and Hank Roberts on cello. This convergence of masterful musicians promises a transcendental exploration of sonic landscapes, where spontaneity, intuition, and boundless creativity intertwine.At Brussels Jazz Festival in Flagey, the four musicians proved to be world class storytellers through music. With unexpected twists and turns, they weaved an evocative narrative, always supporting the music, claiming the moment as a group without feeling the need to overpower each other. This magical performance was captured by VRT Radio Klara and, luckily, will be enjoyed for generations.

Release date August 8: Renowned Russian jazz pianist Ivan Farmakovskiy makes his highly anticipated debut on SteepleChase Records with a stunning new album. Blending his signature hard-bop style with modern jazz sensibilities, Farmakovskiy delivers a masterful performance that bridges tradition and innovation with American rhythm section of Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette. Ivan won the 1994 bi-annual Russia Jazz Competition, the biggest contest for young Russian performers and he won another prize at the 1997 Europe Jazz Contest in Belgium.

Release date July 18: I always try to create a story, Alex Sipiagin says. "For me, the pieces are totally connected, even if they don't sound that way - a standard could connect with some free composition or complicated odd meter. It's a very logical line from the beginning until the end." With an eye towards realizing that aspiration on his 14th Criss Cross leader album, titled Reverberations, Sipiagin booked a six-concert tour in November by a sextet of long-time friends and bandmates from several files of activity that constitute his thriving career. After a few days off, they convened at a well-appointed studio in Bassano del Grappa, the grappa capital of Italy, a 10-minute drive from Sandrigo, the village in the north Italian region of Vicenza, where Sipiagin resides with his wife, Melissa Tham. The album's back story dates to label founder Gerry Teekens' suggestion after the 2017 release of Sipiagin's Moments Captured that the trumpet grandmaster consider making a standards album as a follow-up. Teekens was responding to an exploratory session comprising seven characteristically episodic, harmonically challenging, rhythmically layered, contrapuntal, melody-rich Sipiagin originals evoking an ambiance, as I wrote in the liner notes to the similarly ambitious 2011 album Destinations Unknown [Criss-1336], of "long-form stories with multiple plot lines that reflect an array of moods and colors."Sipiagin and his band of potential poll-winners render them - as alto saxophonist Will Vinson put it in a profile I wrote about Sipiagin for Downbeat in 2016 - with "balls-to-the-wall, Coltrane-era energy." On two pieces Sipiagin inserted soprano singer Alina Engibaryan on the front line with all-world partners Vinson and Chris Potter on two tunes. On several others, he gave pianist John Escreet free rein to deploy the immense lexicon of bespoke sounds at his disposal on Prophet 6 synthesizer, and also included on "Evija Bridge" Escreet's verbatim, first-take overdub of Potter's extremely complicated tenor solo. "It's the New York sound, " Sipiagin told me several years later. "You go for it a hundred percent - there are amazing rhythm sections everywhere; everything is musical and perfect." The Album was recorded November 10 / 11, 2024 at the Art Music Studio in Bassano del Grappa (Italy). Recording engineer: Diego Piotto. Editing, mixing and mastering by Mike Marciano at Systems Two NYC. Produced by Jerry Teekens. Photography by Sasha Maschin