Quasimado

Disc 1 has Art with Warne Marsh!!! But then - this is probably originally from Contemporary, and has already been released(?). Q

Anyone care to opine on these two: "Complete Live at the Cafe Society" "Complete Live at the Rockland Palace" CORRECTED: The first is a collection of 1950 live recordings at Cafe Society comprised of medium-tempo tunes and ballads that were somewhat rare for Parker to perform at this stage of his career. Band includes Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Al Haig on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. Both are essential IMO. Cafe Society has an extended *Lover Come Back to Me* that has some of the best Bird you can hear. Rockland has a version of *Lester Leaps In* that is simply miraculous. Q

Ah, life, LIFE - one beautiful, talented lady! Q

Just picked this double CD on the British Ember label. Apparantly it was recorded live by Chan in 1953, and sold to Columbia in the 70's. The Ember release dates from 2000. To my ears this is pretty fine Bird with a good rhythm section (Haig, Mingus, A.T. plus Benny Harris on trumpet, although he is mainly edited out). Bud also gets a mention, but does not seem to play. Has this ever seen US release? (Apologies if this is old news - I did a search ...) Q

Allen, is that the tape with Don Ferrara? GREAT playing by everyone involved. Q

Oh? Maybe you could be a bit more specific as to the problems with JJ - for example just what was the "narrow outlook"? Perhaps jazz magazines by their very nature are "unremittingly tedious, dismal looking, dull and overlong features, late reviews and generally poor writing ....". Afterall, hipness has long passed us by. Q

For those interested in Twardzik the jazz musician (naturally excluding anybody who has written or hopes to write a book about anything) it's a pretty informative read. Q

L, It's more obscure than I thought. I have it on the Bird Box Vol. 5 (JUTB 3005) - it's listed as Conception/ Deception. However the Bird Box is now pretty hard to find. I also have it on Philology Bird's Eyes vol. 51. If you go to the Philology Home Page, look for the Live Catalogue. Down near the the bottom you will see the message: !!!! PLUS 58 VOLUMES OF UNOFFICIAL BIRD'S EYES FROM VOL. 26 TO VOL.83 ( W 857 TO W 874 ) !!!! ASK FOR DETAILED LISTS !!!! It's one of those. (That is quite a list! ). Also it's on a Charlie Parker Birdland Sessions Vol. 2 on Ember, and I think there is a Miles Davis Birdland 1950 (or somesuch title) that also has it. Just to confuse matters more, on Bird's Eyes Vol. 51 there is a remarkable "Slow 52nd Street Theme", which supposedly features Miles, but which to my ears seems too advanced for Miles for the time, and may well be Fats! (All of this material comes from Boris Broadcasts, which may explain the dating problems). I should clarify that the Bird/ Bud Fats/ session and the Birdland jam session are obviously different groups (although both sessions are included on Bird's Eyes 51, which is sub-titled Bird'n Fats in 1950). Bird makes only a brief appearance at the end of Conception/ Deception) . (In my previous post I said the rhythm section was the same for both sessions - certainly Blakey is on both, but Walter Bishop Jr. would seem to be the pianist for the jam rather than Bud). Anyway these Fats Birdland sessions have so much incredible music, plus the intrigue. It'd be a great broadcast! Q

The dates are disputed, there is no doubt about that. For the "Conception" session, The Bird Box Vol. 5 has the date as a Birdland jam session from "probably" June 17, 1950, and dates the Bird/ Bud/ Fats/ session as June 30, 1950 (as does Giddins for the Columbia). Bird's Eyes Vol. 51 has the "entire" Bird/ Bud/ Fats session, including "Conception" (not released on the Columbia) dated as May 15/16, 1950... The rhythm section would seem to be the same throughout. But apart from the dates, which are obviously incorrect, if you have it, please listen to the long "Conception" track. On most releases, the trumpets are listed as Miles then Fats. Miles is obvious. The second trumpet sounds something like Fats, but is hopelessly lost in the changes ... which to my knowledge, Fats never was. So, either Fats "blew clear up to the end" (as exemplified by the fantastic blowing on the Columbia), or, the 2nd trumpet on "Conception" is not Fats. Or? Q

I've read that too, but the Ornithology session (Bird, Bud, Fats) is supposedly the same date, and that is arguably about the greatest Fats there is on disc/ tape ... Q

Fats is the man - I just hope they spend serious time looking at that Birdland session from May 17, 1950. I can't believe that is Fats fucking up on "Conception" - Fats never fucked up. Q

From the Lennie Tristano Forum (11/30/2004): "In roughly 1985 I ran across a compilation album that included two tracks said to be Lennie Tristano, in 1943, overdubbing four tenor sax recordings, unaccompanied, with two 78 rpm disc recorders. They were two jazz standards of the thirties. The recording was in a huge LP collection at a radio station where I did a weekly jazz program till twelve years ago. I have visited the station several times and tried to find it, with no success. Unfortunately, I seem only to recall the album title ended with the word "forties or 40s". I cannot recall who else was on the album or the album's label, just that there were eight tracks, including the two of Tristano. Tristano, once more, has been unaccredited as being ahead of his time. Those two unprecedented tracks were certainly well ahead of Les Paul's overdubbing of 1949. Is there anyone reading this that has those two Tristano tracks? I would love a copy, or even just the label and album title so I could search for it. Any help is welcome. Bob Fox" Q

You have an actual disc? That's a real rarity, I would say. I have both the Warne sides on tape. *Swinging* has beautiful Warne and very fine RB. *Now Hear This* is a well sung ballad, with some fine Warne obligato and an excellent solo. This was an excellent session all round... but just about as obscure as anything I can imagine ... Great Find! Q

Do you mean to say our ex- soul sister (the lady with the questionable mouth) is still around? I'm shocked to hear this ... Q

Well, to my ears at least, they are pretty much conceptually, rhythmically and harmonically a long way apart. From my understanding it would seem that it was really hearing Bud that turned Lennie from a flashy modernist to a pianist who came to appreciate the value of each note he played. I recall reading somewhere that he was so taken by Bud's ability to approach what he (LT) thought of as pure musical expression that he spent sets lying under Bud's piano! It's not a big leap from there to his concept of *playing from the id*, allowing the music to manifest itself through the elimination of (egoistic) emotion, in an environment of intensive practice. Despite Crouch's reservations, Iverson could do worse than investigate this path - it hasn't lost any of its validity, IMO. Q

Q

I don't think this has been covered here: http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/20...e-tristano.html It's is a great read (extensive, with related chapters). I have to disagree with his theory that LT disliked Monk's piano because it was too black. Quote *... the point is that Tristano’s paranoia about drummers and his distaste for Monk seem perfectly aligned. He doesn’t want too much African diaspora in his jazz, period*. Well, It's an argument, but IMO LT respected Bird and Bud for their amazing (at their best) melodic and rhythmic development of the line - a purely Black, bebop development. Monk is a master in his own right, but rather than too black, he is too *primitive* (ie his vision is too idiosyncratic) for Lennie to appreciate, compared to these two instrumental masters ... Q

Arrangements on the CP album are square, old man arrangements, not even coming close to Comstock. It's ironic that most (not all) of the "jazz guy plus strings" albums had arrangements infinitely more square than you hear on so-called "easy listening" records from this period. Nobody mentioned the arrangements ... Q

Chet Baker Sextet ('54) with Shank and Brookmeyer playing Mandel arrangement has a superb Chet solo - the kind that makes you sit up and think "This cat can play!" There's also a nice Bird w. Strings on Verve - kills Comstock. Q

I hope you didn't take any baggage into the interview, Allen Q

With a little less meditation and more drinking you'll soon be ready for AFL! Q

The same question could be asked about CT ... Q

Agree - a fine book IMO, well researched, many new facts uncovered - I would think essential reading for anyone with an interest in Twardzik and his music, and also the Boston scene at the time ... Q

Yes, that's one of these 2CD sets - isn't this the one that's below 80 minutes? I think it is. The second of the 2CD set is called "At Café Downtown Society and Birdland" Yes, that's it. Now that you mention it, the time for *Open Door* is just over an hour, although the cover says "Duration 130.14". Still, it's good music. Notes are by Bird nut Robert Bregman. Q

Talking of Ember Records releases, I just picked up *Charlie Parker at the Open Door*, which is a 2 cd set from one of Chan's tapes. IMO this is fine Bird from July '53, with reasonably good sound for a live recording from the period, although it's basically only Bird, as other soloists have been deleted, (which may bug some people) ... Personel is Bird/ Benny Harris/ Haig/ Mingus/ AT. Bud gets a mention but doesn't seem to play... Still, as I said, it's fine, later Bird ... has it ever been issued in the States? Q