Dick Katz

[romualdo]

I've been sourcing a number of the recent Japanese Warner/Atlantic "nice price" CD releases from this year

Have been considering this Dick Katz release (infrequently see his solo material on CD)

Any comments from the board - worth getting?

I don't have any of his solo material but quite a bit on others (Pettiford, Cohn Mosaic Select, JJ Johnson, Dorham, Konitz, Carter, Candido, Raney, Rollins)

[brownie]

Always liked that Dick Katz Atlantic LP.

Katz could really play in his own economic and subtile display of talent! He was cleverly assisted on this one by Joe Benjamin and Connie Kay and let Jimmy Raney and Chuck Wayne share solo space.

[AllenLowe]

I love Dick; he played at my wedding. Anything he played is worth owning.

[king ubu]

Yep, fine album (got the Collectables issue).

[jlhoots]

One of his best.

[romualdo]

Thanks all

will get it with my next CD Japan order

[mikeweil]

one mo' ...

[MomsMobley]

Dick Katz is great-- everything someone like Fred Hersch is too arrogant and dull to even wish to be. A pleasure to hear Dick talk about music too, especially insightful on John Lewis, for those JL skeptics among us.

[Peter Friedman]

The Dick Katz on Atlantic is very good.

I also highly recommend his trio session on Reservoir.

There is also a nice quintet recording with Katz as leader on Reservoir

[Larry Kart]

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

[Peter Friedman]

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

I agree that Piano and Pen is by no means a high energy session. However, for me there is a tasty low key elegance that make it quite enjoyable.

My recollection is that the Katz Trio date on Reservoir is a more swinging session.

[J.A.W.]

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

I agree that Piano and Pen is by no means a high energy session. However, for me there is a tasty low key elegance that make it quite enjoyable.

My recollection is that the Katz Trio date on Reservoir is a more swinging session.

As Peter said these are not high energy sessions (recorded in December 1958 and January 1959), but to my ears the guitarists, Chuck Wayne on the former session and Jimmy Raney on the latter, are worth the price of admission alone.

[Larry Kart]

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

I agree that Piano and Pen is by no means a high energy session. However, for me there is a tasty low key elegance that make it quite enjoyable.

My recollection is that the Katz Trio date on Reservoir is a more swinging session.

As Peter said these are not high energy sessions (recorded in December 1958 and January 1959), but to my ears the guitarists, Chuck Wayne on the former session and Jimmy Raney on the latter, are worth the price of admission alone.

I'm one of the world's top Raney fans and like Wayne, too, but IMO Raney fares much better on his own ABC-Paramount albums from a few years earlier, as does Wayne on his marvelous VIK album with Don Joseph and a pocket big band, "Strings Attached." Again, Atlantic engineering tended to be of the ingrown-toenail school, and that, combined with the less than electrifying team of Kay and Joe Benjamin, cast something of a pall over the results. Still, I'm glad I have "Piano and Pen" because Katz-led dates are rare.

[J.A.W.]

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

I like Dick Katz, but IIRC (and IMO of course) "Piano and Pen" is a rather soporific album, thanks in large part to Connie Kay and the dull Atlantic recording job.

I agree that Piano and Pen is by no means a high energy session. However, for me there is a tasty low key elegance that make it quite enjoyable.

My recollection is that the Katz Trio date on Reservoir is a more swinging session.

As Peter said these are not high energy sessions (recorded in December 1958 and January 1959), but to my ears the guitarists, Chuck Wayne on the former session and Jimmy Raney on the latter, are worth the price of admission alone.

I'm one of the world's top Raney fans and like Wayne, too, but IMO Raney fares much better on his own ABC-Paramount albums from a few years earlier, as does Wayne on his marvelous VIK album with Don Joseph and a pocket big band, "Strings Attached." Again, Atlantic engineering tended to be of the ingrown-toenail school, and that, combined with the less than electrifying team of Kay and Joe Benjamin, cast something of a pall over the results. Still, I'm glad I have "Piano and Pen" because Katz-led dates are rare.

I think you mean Chuck Wayne's String Fever. You're right, that album and Raney's ABC-Paramount dates are better. The latter would be perfect for a Mosaic set, even though the Spanish "cowboys" (as another member called them) have released them all.

Edited September 24, 2012 by J.A.W.

[Larry Kart]

Well, I knew that the word "string" was involved somehow.

BTW, if you buy "String Fever," get this one:

http://www.amazon.com/String-Fever-Chuck-Wayne/dp/B00005B7RT

with good sound and valuable alternate takes (especially for Don Joseph fans). IIRC, the Spaniards issued the album (perhaps a needle drop?) without any alternates.

[JSngry]

...Atlantic engineering tended to be of the ingrown-toenail school...

Don't really have anything to add to the particular discussion at hand, just want to highlight this amazing descriptive phrase.

[J.A.W.]

Well, I knew that the word "string" was involved somehow.

BTW, if you buy "String Fever," get this one:

http://www.amazon.com/String-Fever-Chuck-Wayne/dp/B00005B7RT

with good sound and valuable alternate takes (especially for Don Joseph fans). IIRC, the Spaniards issued the album (perhaps a needle drop?) without any alternates.

I second that recommendation. It was reissued on Euphoria/Sundazed in 2001 and it's a legit release It was mastered by Bob Irwin, who has done a lot of mastering jobs for Sundazed. The CD has 16 tracks, including 5 bonus tracks.

Edited September 24, 2012 by J.A.W.

[AllenLowe]

like a lot of good musicians, Dick was better in person, though I do like the Atlantic (hard to stay detached as I knew Dick very well); better to hear him on the Percy France date I released; I also have a nice one hour tape of my wedding, He did tend to tighten up a little when recording.

one night Oliver Jackson was listening to him warm up at the West End; OJ said, "you know who you sound like?"

Dick said, "Who?"

"Dick Katz." needless to say, this pleased Dick immensely.

he was also pissed because Lee Konitz, who did a lot with him, was only hiring Scientologists for some time.

also, I always thought he should have had co-authorship for Jazz Masters of the Forties, because it seemed half of Gitler's profiles featured long interviews with Dick.

Edited September 24, 2012 by AllenLowe

[Chuck Nessa]

he was also pissed because Lee Konitz, who did a lot with him, was only hiring Scientologists for some time.

also, I always thought he should have had co-authorship for Jazz Masters of the Forties, because it seemed half of Gitler's profiles featured long interviews with Dick.

Please provide dates.

[Larry Kart]

like a lot of good musicians, Dick was better in person, though I do like the Atlantic (hard to stay detached as I knew Dick very well); better to hear him on the Percy France date I released; I also have a nice one hour tape of my wedding, He did tend to tighten up a little when recording.

one night Oliver Jackson was listening to him warm up at the West End; OJ said, "you know who you sound like?"

Dick said, "Who?"

"Dick Katz." needless to say, this pleased Dick immensely.

he was also pissed because Lee Konitz, who did a lot with him, was only hiring Scientologists for some time.

also, I always thought he should have had co-authorship for Jazz Masters of the Forties, because it seemed half of Gitler's profiles featured long interviews with Dick.

Don't recall that Konitz, in the period when this might have been an issue (if it ever was), ever had a working band that wasn't very good. If it was Harold Danko that Katz had in mind (if indeed Danko was a Scientologist), Danko IMO was a better accompanist and soloist than Katz.

[AllenLowe]

I do believe Harold was a Scientologist; and I will add that if you'd seen Konitz as many nights as I did at Gregory's, close up, with Dick on piano and Wilbur Little on bass, you might feel more strongly about Katz's playing. I don't think he ever recorded as well as he played the many times I saw him around NYC.

Incidentally, and off topic, sort of, Dick, who had studied with Teddy Wilson, told me Wilson was the one who told him to listen to Monk, whom Wilson called a "rhythm master." Not really surprising, but Teddy's not the first guy I would think of when trying to imagine other pianist-admirers of Monk.

Dick was also the guy assigned to go back and forth to Monk's apartment when they were rehearsing the Hall Overton/big band concert. He told me he saw Monk over a period of 6-8 hours one day, and he was playing the same tune each time he saw him. Don't remember what it was, however.

Edited September 25, 2012 by AllenLowe

[Joe]

Have always enjoyed Konitz's and Katz's interplay on PEACEMEAL (which Katz produced, IIRC), which may be the oddest of an odd bunch of Konitz releases from this period.

Some of my favorite Katz, though, can be heard on the first / only volume of Dorham's JAZZ PROPHETS (ABC, 1956).

Edited September 25, 2012 by Joe

[MomsMobley]

Danko was (is? I dunno) HEAVY into Scientology-- this is not speculation, it's FACT (I say to the A. Lowe skeptics)... Is Ken Dryden still around? From his review of a Danko "Chasin' The Bad Guys"--

"The oddball cowboy cover art might make one think this is a country album, but pianist Harold Danko leads his quartet (the Geltman Band, named after a pair of Scientology leaders) though a better-than-average date from the late '70s..."

Ya'll wanna see something even crazier? Peep this--

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/h/harold-danko.html

Thankfully I have no Hariold Danko records that need purging and I always liked George Cables about a jillion times better.

It's disturbing and disappointing both that Lee Konitz, with a million other educational options in his life, chose THAT one...

I do believe Harold was a Scientologist; and I will add that if you'd seen Konitz as many nights as I did at Gregory's, close up, with Dick on piano and Wilbur Little on bass, you might feel more strongly about Katz's playing. I don't think he ever recorded as well as he played the many times I saw him around NYC.

Incidentally, and off topic, sort of, Dick, who had studied with Teddy Wilson, told me Wilson was the one who told him to listen to Monk, whom Wilson called a "rhythm master." Not really surprising, but Teddy's not the first guy I would think of when trying to imagine other pianist-admirers of Monk.

Dick was also the guy assigned to go back and forth to Monk's apartment when they were rehearsing the Hall Overton/big band concert. He told me he saw Monk over a period of 6-8 hours one day, and he was playing the same tune each time he saw him. Don't remember what it was, however.

[Larry Kart]

Danko is still a fine pianist IMO (soloist and accompanist) and a fine bandleader-composer, too --that quartet he had/has with Rich Perry has made many excellent recordings.

I note FWIW that the last entry on the Danko Scientology stuff that Moms links to dates from 1991.

[AllenLowe]

I knew Harold, who lived near me in New Haven in the '90s, actually worked some gigs with him - great guy, great pianist, no doubt. I was just pointing out what Dick said to me at the time, and I'm sure it was accurate. (Harold is now, I think, up in Rochester; for some time he was also on the Jazz Research list that Fitzgerald kicked me off of; I think Larry's still a member; don't ask me what happened; all I can say is that it has to do with Homeland Security and Don't Ask Don't Tell).

Edited September 25, 2012 by AllenLowe