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chris anderson


alocispepraluger102

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Don't anyone take this the wrong way, please, but when I saw and heard Chris at off-night sessions in Chicago in 1957 or so, he was so fragile (someone had to carry him to the piano stool and carefully place him there) that I (and I know a good many others) didn't expect him to be alive much longer. That he's been around for 49 more years and counting is astonishing. BTW, I wish I had a tape recorder between my ears; in-person back then he was something else.

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Don't anyone take this the wrong way, please, but when I saw and heard Chris at off-night sessions in Chicago in 1957 or so, he was so fragile (someone had to carry him to the piano stool and carefully place him there) that I (and I know a good many others) didn't expect him to be alive much longer. That he's been around for 49 more years and counting is astonishing. BTW, I wish I had a tape recorder between my ears; in-person back then he was something else.

I told Chris one time admiringly that he's a survivor. "Shut up" he explained.

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Any particular recommendations, I see he has a few releases.?

The only thing I've got is a duo date with Haden on Naim. Quite melancholic if I remember.

Yes, Chris's music can be sad and precious too, at times. He really takes getting used to, as he's unlike anyone else. He sounds best to me playing rubato solo. He's a great reflecter. He can play with a rhythm section in time of course, but chris's special moments for me are him alone, letting us in on his thoughts. Go with him, it's a great journey.

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Any particular recommendations, I see he has a few releases.?

The only thing I've got is a duo date with Haden on Naim. Quite melancholic if I remember.

Love locked Out (Mapleshade); Frank Strozier: Long Night (originally Jazzland, out now on CD); Inverted Image (trio record also on Jazzland, long out of print)

Those are my faves. He made a duo CD with Clifford Jordan the same day he made love locked out. Don't know what ever happened to that. There's also a Jordan record he played Rhodes on. I can't remember the title. Remembering MiMi or something like that. The Frank Strozier record is great, period. Strozier played his balls off, and with such passion. Bill Lee (Spike's dad) on bass, the late Walter Perkins, drums, my old friend the late Pat Patrick, bari, and George Coleman. It has a lot of Strozier's writing and a beautiful solo by Chris on "The Need for love" I told him how much I liked that record and he said he fell down subway stairs the day before and broke both pinkies. He also told me another time that record was one of his favorites. it's sure one of mine.

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Fasstrack -- Damn, I had that Strozier record (along with his other Jazzland, March of the Siamese Children), and now I don't have either one, apparently of my own free will at some time or another. What an idiot I was. I also used to have a copy of Inverted Image, but it somehow got warped to the point where it was unplayable. There's seems to be a pattern at work here.

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Fasstrack -- Damn, I had that Strozier record (along with his other Jazzland, March of the Siamese Children), and now I don't have either one, apparently of my own free will at some time or another. What an idiot I was. I also used to have a copy of Inverted Image, but it somehow got warped to the point where it was unplayable. There's seems to be a pattern at work here.

I didn't like March of the Siamese Children as much. Too much flute. The one he made with Booker Little and Wynton Kelly, Fantastic, is a hell of a record.

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Don't anyone take this the wrong way, please, but when I saw and heard Chris at off-night sessions in Chicago in 1957 or so, he was so fragile (someone had to carry him to the piano stool and carefully place him there) that I (and I know a good many others) didn't expect him to be alive much longer.

In looking over the liner notes to Inverted Image , I see that his fragility is the result of a childhood bone disease that has made his bones susceptible to breakage . He went blind at age nineteen . By way of confirming Larry's impression that his playing on this Jazzland record wasn't representative of what he could do live , Anderson is quoted in the notes as saying that he was nervous , and not particularly satisfied with the results of his playing at the first session in June 1961 . A second session was held in November 1961 , which yielded five of the eight tracks on the album , the other three representing the best of the June session .

No chance Concord will reissue this record , but perhaps Water or Mosaic will license it .

I would like to hear his first recording , done in 1960 for Veejay , which I believe wasn't issued until many years later in Japan . Would anyone who has it like to share their impressions ? Here is the cover :

ChrisAndersonMyRomanceVeejay.gif

EDIT: Fixed broken image link .

Edited by Chas
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  • 1 year later...

Sorry to report that Chris Anderson--an extraordinary, but too often overlooked pianist--passes away last Monday. I'll look for details.

I am sad beyond words. Chris was an extraordinarily warm, sensitive, honest person and a rare artist. He really was original---a claim falsely made about many. He definitely was an unique solo player, that's for damn sure. His secret in taking the tunes to the places he did, besides being harmonically gifted of course, was that he knew those tunes with the original melodies and changes inside out. He was an authority on the songbook. That's what gave him the license.

I knew this day would come and feared it, yet am very grateful for the time I got to spend with him and that we got to play a bit. Sure glad you were here, Chris.

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Sadly I never got to hear one of Anderson's albums. There was one on DIW that was around in London for a while yaers back. I can't remember seeing another.

I have heard most, if not all, the Chris Anderson that was recorded. My favorite is the one JohnS mentions above.

CHRIS ANDERSON - BLUES ONE - DIW 607

with Ray Drummond and Billy Higgins - recorded in 1991

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  • 2 weeks later...

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