Justin V

I was going to mention Rob Brown as well, but I've never heard any of his leader dates. All four of those look interesting. I'd also say Steve Wilson and Greg Abate. I wish that I would've caught Wilson playing in a duo with Lewis Nash in March. I always try to catch Abate when he's in the area, which often seems to be in two-alto groups (Bobby Watson, Phil Woods and Richie Cole). Yes, he does his two alto thing on his visits to the UK, too: I bought Birds of a Feather after he did an octet gig here. I chose that one over some others after seeing that John Donaldson and Spike Wells were on it. They both impressed me on Brighton saxophonist Joe Robinson's While I'm Waiting:

I was going to mention Rob Brown as well, but I've never heard any of his leader dates. All four of those look interesting. I'd also say Steve Wilson and Greg Abate. I wish that I would've caught Wilson playing in a duo with Lewis Nash in March. I always try to catch Abate when he's in the area, which often seems to be in two-alto groups (Bobby Watson, Phil Woods and Richie Cole).

I'm sorry for your loss.

Wow. That's a nice run you have lined up. The Chris Potter gig is apparently an expanded version of Underground, billed as the Underground Orchestra. Last night I caught the Wayne Shorter Quartet in Buffalo. It was a special night.

Although it obviously doesn't include the liner notes, the Andrew Hill set has been available for download on Amazon for a while for the ridiculously low price of $8.99.

I was hoping that they'd reissue Duke Pearson's Now Hear This!, which has only seen partial reissue. I looked at the new additions to the reissue schedule, not expecting to find it, and there it was! His music deserves to be out there; now if only the material from the Mosaic Select that isn't otherwise out would see reissue.

I've posted about this on the 'What are you listening to' thread, but I've been enjoying this one that came out last month: Luke Polipnick Group - Episodes, with guitarist Luke Polipnick, saxophonist Brandon Wozniak, bassist Adam Linz and drummer Mike Pride. I was a Kickstarter backer for it, and it is one of those albums that reminds me why I love Kickstarter. You can stream all of the tracks on Polipnick's bandcamp page.

I'm also pretty excited about A New Conception finally seeing CD release outside of the Mosaic box. I'll be ordering it for sure.

I like to use gift cards to pick up discs that are a bit more than I usually like to spend. After stumbling upon and loving James Williams' Magical Trio 2 (with Ray Brown and Elvin Jones), I am glad that I just purchased: James Williams - Magical Trio

Ike Quebec - Easy Living Mark Dresser - Nourishments

I've been a paid subscriber to Spotify for about a year, but it seems that I mainly use it to figure out whether I have a defective disc. I have been so inundated with new music that I've purchased that I often forget all about Spotify. I did recently use it to determine which Wayne Shorter Quartet Japanese reissue I'd like to order, however (I chose Footprints Live over Beyond the Sound Barrier). I'd probably be better served using that $4.99 monthly fee to buy a Soul Note/Black Saint download on Amazon.

I caught Mark Dresser performing solo last night at a contemporary-art space. It was a very intimate setting, with only room for about 50 people, so there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Dresser did things on the bass that I had never heard before.

I've put a couple of notes elsewhere, but Manchester Craftsmen's Guild will be streaming tonight's Paul Winter Sextet Concert here: http://mcgjazz.org/_wp/. The band includes Howard Johnson, Marvin Stamm, Warren Bernhardt, Cecil McBee and Jamey Haddad. I attended last night's concert and plan on watching tonight. They streamed a Jack DeJohnette concert I attended last year and had it up on their site for about a month afterward, but I'm not sure whether tonight's concert will be available after tonight.

I just got home from seeing the Paul Winter Sextet, with Howard Johnson, Marvin Stamm, Warren Bernhardt, Cecil McBee and Jamey Haddad, in Pittsburgh. They'll be streaming Saturday's set at 8 here: http://mcgjazz.org/_wp/. Completely unfamiliar with Winter, I wasn't planning on going until I found out who was in the band (I particularly couldn't resist McBee and Johnson). There was excellent playing from everyone. The surprising thing was how short they kept each number; using the new '62-3 Sextet anthology, Count Me In, as a reference, the band played approximately 14 songs over the course of 80 minutes. Despite the brevity of the songs, the horns and Bernhardt all had plenty of solo time. The only disappointment that the redoubtable McBee didn't have a single solo, not counting a humorous ending he played after one number. For anyone interested, the two-disc anthology has 14 previously unreleased tracks and features sidemen like McBee, Chuck Israels, Bernhardt, Jay Cameron, Freddie Waits, Gene Bertoncini, Harold Jones and Ben Riley, to name a few. The Pittsburgh concerts are commemorating the first jazz concert held at the White House, which is included on the anthology. Based on the concert earlier tonight, I'm pretty excited to listen to it and to stream the second night's set. This is engaging sextet music that deserves to be heard.

I caught Wayne Shorter with his quartet, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Esperanza Spalding on Saturday.

His album with Hank Jones, Hank and Frank, is desert-island material. I don't have nearly enough of his music. RIP, Mr. Wess, and thank you for the music.

Thanks, guys.

Listening to Roy Haynes playing on some big band tracks on Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass, I can't help but wonder on what other albums he plays with a big band. Given his longtime career as a drummer of choice, it seems that he would've recorded with a big band pretty frequently. Is that a correct assumption?

I've seen him twice with Tootie and fronting a couple of big bands, and he was fantastic every time. It's always a bit of a shock hearing that huge, complex sound coming out of a man of such small stature. He has such a distinctive sound as a saxophonist and composer/arranger and has a great sense of humor (which comes through in his music), and I'm so happy that he is still with us and active. Happy Birthday, Mr. Heath.

The Braith and Quebec sets showed up today. Thanks, Geoff! As much as I would love to snap up some more, I'm already pinching myself over finding these two for such a great price and don't want to be greedy. Someone needs to pick up Fuchsia Swing Song, which has to be one of the best Blue Notes ever, IMHO.

PM sent on the Ike Quebec Conn. EDIT: ...and the George Braith!

I just picked this one up after seeing the great Mundell Lowe earlier this month: I also recommend this one:

Using the powers of Google, I am pleased to report that I was able to track down Purnell Rice's widow so that she could be informed of (and paid for) the project. I hope that she was happy to learn that there is still plenty of interest in the work of her late husband (who died in 1974 at the age of 50) and his colleagues. I'm ecstatic that the project has met its funding goal, having raised almost double the requested goal of $1500.

Hello, Page. Welcome!

I'm not as familiar as I would like to be with Bailey's playing, but I love his only album as a leader, Blueprints of Jazz, Vol. 3 (the last volume in an excellent series that also included albums by Mike Clark and Billy Harper). Bailey's album has Odean Pope, Charles Tolliver, George Burton and Tyrone Brown, with Bailey playing harmonica on one tune and powerfully driving the band from behind the kit on the rest. The album also features 'Blues It' by Hasaan Ibn Ali, a tune that doesn't appear to have been recorded elsewhere, which is a shame. Rest in peace, Mr. Bailey, and thank you.