king ubu

7. What Is This Thing Called Love (Cole Porter) Helen Merrill-George Gruntz George Gruntz (p), Karl-Theodor Geier (b), Peter Baumeister (d), Helen Merrill (voc) Radio Basel (Switzerland), March 11, 1962 Released on CD2 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) Now as you all know Merrill, here's some info on George Gruntz: born in Basel, 1932, amateur musician in the early fifties (piano & vibes), semi-professional in Switzerland and elsewhere till 1962. In steps Helen Merrill and convinces Gruntz to finally make a living as a professional musician (BIG thank you to Ms Merrill - he turned into a mainstay of Swiss jazz, which he is still today). He leads a trio, travels. From 1970-1986 he's the house composer of the Zürich Schauspielhaus, collaborates with (classical) composer Rolf Lieberman. In 1963, Gruntz, accompanied Merrill on her tour through Japan. In 1971/72, together with the Ambrosettis (see #6) and drummer Daniel Humair (another great Swiss jazz musician who chose to spend the largest part of his career in France), Gruntz founded what was first called "The Band" and has later been renamed as the "George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band", a big band with changing personnel that has been in existance ever since 71/72, usually performing Gruntz' own compositions (or his arrangements). They recorded some great LPs for MPS, with musicians such as Benny Bailey, Art Farmer, Dusko Goykovich, Woody Shaw, Jon Faddis, Slide Hampton, Albert Mangelsdorff, Ake Persson, Jimmy Knepper, Herb Geller, Leo Wright, Charlie Mariano, Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Joe Henderson, Sahib Shihab, John Scofield, Isla Eckinger, Daniel Humair, Elvin Jones... A pity none of the MPS albums ever were reissued on CD. The only thing I have is a compilation, "The MPS Years" (Motor Music 1996, highly recommended). Later recordings were done for some of the leading European labels, ECM, Hat, Enja, and in recent years, TCB. The music includes folk influences, classical... Gruntz composed an opera (though I have no idea how good it actually is), and toured the world with his orchestra (all the important festivals, tours through China, the Far East, Latin America). The story goes on... And again: thanks, Ms Merrill! (Though I guess if one is Ms Merrill it's not too difficult to convince others to do the right thing... ) Now on this particular cut: I got one of the two CDs that EKE asked if I took the cut from them. It's not on that one, but I have no information on the other, and I do assume that the "Jazz in Switzerland" box is the way to go for this cut (again, there's nothing else included on that box). Gruntz does some really BAD shit here, much more advanced than on "Hush". The drummer, who's great as well, I have no further information on. 8. Whisper Not (Benny Golson) Erwin Müller Trio Erwin Müller (acc), Jacky Weidmann (b), Ueli Roser (d) Jazzfestival Zürich (Switzerland), September 15, 1965. Released on LP Ex Libris GB 393, reissued on CD2 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) The only thing I know about Müller is that he took up the drums and is supposed to be active (or at least was, back in the nineties). Google for "Erwin Müller" and you will find that there's quite a bunch of people with that name... I love the way he cuts into one of my all time favourite compositions, and I love the sonority he gets out of his weirdo instrument, too. And most important: he swings! 9. When Will the Blues Leave (Ornette Coleman) 3:51 Hans Kennel Quintet Hans Kennel (t), Bruno Spoerri (ts), Remo Rau (g), Hans Foletti (b), Alex Bally (d) Radio Zürich (Switzerland), February 15, 1963 Released on CD3 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) I quite like this cut. It's again obvious here that they're not yet quite up to the task of the tune they chose, but... Hans Kennel and Bruno Spörri (meet them again on #11 in a totally different context) both remain active. Kennel, born 1939, plays trumpet, flügelhorn, and alphorn (trad. Swiss instrument). In the sixties, he had a name as one of the early Swiss bebop musicians (see, in the sixties!!! those other cats on #5, rec. 1948 were pretty fast, for Swiss - hmm, mental? - conditions...) Kennel played with Gruntz and Pierre Favre (see #10), and toured Europe with the big ones (Klook, Oscar Pettiford, Dollar Brand). Later he played jazz rock, founding bands like Jazz Rock Experience (see #11), Magog, Alpine Jazz Herd, or Habrigani, recording a number of albums. 1990 he founded an alphorn-quartet, Mytha, then 1996 the "Alpine Experience", incorporating traditional Swiss folk music. So here's Satchmo with his alphorn: 10. Hinten (Irène Schweizer) Pierre Favre Trio Irène Schweizer (p), George Mraz (b), Pierre Favre (d) Radio Zürich (Switzerland), February 19, 1968 [no release info, prob. not available except on:] CD3 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) [will try do some little write up here] This tune has been nailed by a few of you (first by Marty) as one of Cecil Taylor's compositions, "E.B." (to be heard on the Candid album "The World of Cecil Taylor"). I have no idea why this one's labelled as a Schweizer tune here, though. 11. Street People (Bruno Spörri) Jazz-Rock Experience Hans Kennel (el t), Bruno Spörri (el as), Raffael Weber (g), Nick Bertschinger (wurlitzer elp), Hans Foletti (elb), Kenny Schmidt (d) Dietikon (Switzerland), February 6-10, 1970 Released on LP "J.R.E." (Deram SDN 19, 1970; this cut was reissued on a recent Intakt 2CD Compilation, Intakt CD 099), source: Swiss Radio Broadcast Quite interesting to hear the same horns players again as in #9, this time in a totally different context. Spörri (born 1935) has, besides being a longtime member of th "Metronome Quintet" and working with musicians of all stylistic directions, been a pioneer of Swiss electronic music. The electric sax he plays here being an early sign of that development. He's got his own homepage here: http://www.computerjazz.ch/, including a Discography. For the German-reading folks, there's a lengthy article on his experiences with electronics, too: >click here<. Now this group was the very first jazz rock group in Switzerland, and they gradually evolved out of the Hans Kennel Quintet (see #9)/Octet/Sextet. Spörri tried out a Selmer Varitone in 1967, but couldn't afford it, as it was only sold with a saxophone, not separately, so he got some Conn equipment, and Hans Kennel, too, got a Conn Multivider for his trumpet. Spörri remains active today, though as far as I know he is not really a part of the jazz scene nowadays. The "J.R.E." album in 1970 of course brought the usual purist reactions of hate and "that's no jazz" and "that's commercial". In the past four and a half decades, Spörri has played with many important Swiss musicians, such as George Gruntz, Thomas Moeckel, cabaret artist Dodo Hug, Max Lässer, Andy Scherrer (see CD2, the "Blood Count" basher...), etc, and has recorded with Clark Terry, Albert Mangelsdorff, and others. Here's another biography for the German-reading crowd: >click here<. Oh, and before I forget: there sure IS an Eddie who? connection here! The Jazz in Switzerland box includes a tune they cut as a demo for Swiss TV, and they chose "Listen Here" for that... Spörri in his studio in 1985: and a setup for a concert in 2004: (both photos taken from his website)

1. Old Folks (Robinson-Hill) Ben Webster & Henri Chaix Trio Ben Webster (ts), Henri Chaix (p), Alain Dubois (b), Romano Cavicchiolo (d) Club Johnnie's, Lausanne (Switzerland), January 29, 1969. Radio Suisse Romande Lausanne/Archives Released on CD4 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) A nice piece of late Ben Webster for starters. I'm a sucker for mid to late sixties Webster - the first of his albums I got was one of those Black Lions with Kenny Drew, still have it, got it for free in a very nice store here. That whispering, airy sound that at the same time is so big... :wub The pianist, Henri Chaix (1925-1999) was one of those often accompanying travelling Americans. He led his own groups and recorded as a leader (for Sackville, for instance), too. Of French origin, he came to be a mainstay of the Swiss scene, yet still had his French charm. He had formal, classical schooling (Conservatory of Geneva). He comes from those days when there were no schools that taught jazz, made his way through old-time bands (there were an awful lot of those, and probably most of them sounded awful, too... check #2-4 for an example). Chaix led his own band throughout the sixties - the band heard on this track. With this trio he accompanied Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Ray Nance, Stuff Smith, Rex Stewart, Buddy Tate, and many more - and of course the Frog. The trio with Du Bois and Cavicchiolo remained active till Du Bois' death in 1997. Chaix, besides his jazz career, was a professor at the Geneva conservatory and taught some other important (traditional) Swiss piano players. "C'était un montagne" was how his friends referred to him after his death. 2. Limehouse Blues (Braham-Furber) 3. Anything For You (Kander-Goldman) 4. I'm In the Mood For Love (Fields-McHugh) Morris & his Music feat. Coleman Hawkins Gustave "Gugu" Dupuis (t), Max Oberle (cl), Coleman Hawkins (ts), René Van Dyke (p), Roger Mazuit (b), Morris Einhorn (d,leader) Air shots from Club "Mac Mahon", Geneva (Switzerland), October 15, 1936. Released on CD1 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) More tenor (there will be much more tenor, as you all have noticed... the king loves them tenors...), but this one goes back more than three decades. Guest appearances such as these two with Webster and Hawkins were important events for the development of Swiss jazz. Hawkins was revered by musicians and fans alike. These three short (and supposedly very rare - has anyone of you heard them before?) air shots capture Hawk in a phase of stylistic development. According to the liner notes of the "Jazz in Switzerland" box, one of the accompanists remembers Hawk constantly changing reeds, looking for a new sound. I must admit that I can't find too much to enjoy in the two short tracks preceding "In the Mood for Love", but I wanted to share all three of them (all there is, as far as I know, so you got it, now). On #4 there's some terrific Hawk, in my opinion! Hawkins spent all of 1936 in Switzerland, learning to ski in St. Moritz, too. In May, he recorded four sides with the "Berries", a Swiss group headed by Bernhard "Berry" Peritz. Clarinetist Ernst Höllerhagen was a member of the "Berries" at that time and Hawkins' room-mate when they were travelling. Pianist of that group was André Berner, later an important organizer/impresario figure (mainly for trad jazz concerts and festivals). Berner wrote an article at that time for Downbeat, which was the first sign of existence Hawkins' mother got from her son, in more than two years (rather tragic that he had not written to her over that time, as his father killed himself in March 1935 - this seems to have left a lasting impression on Hawk and he seemed even more restrained and even less open with other people). In autumn of 1936, Hawk played at the Mac Mahon (the club the three air-shots come from). The band was an international one, with Swiss, French and Dutch musicians. Hawk had an appartment in Geneva at that time, but then in April 1937 he left Switzerland, played a concert in Paris (with Henry Mason, trumpeter), returned to the Netherlands for another date with the "Ramblers", then it was back to Paris, cutting the seminal sides with Django (among them "Crazy Rhythm" and "Honeysuckle Rose"). End of the story for me here, just a note that Hawk, during the following years of travelling (mostly in the Netherlands), did return to Switzerland again (Zürich and St. Moritz). By July 31, 1939, Hawk was back in NYC. (And just in case: I haven't heard the sides Hawk cut with the "Berries" - are they on the Chronogical Jazz Classics?) 5. Mop Mop (Heard-Wilson) Swiss BeBop Team Lukas "Cheese" Burckhardt (t), Walter Burger (ts), Francis Burger (p), Body Buser (vib), Pierre Cavalli (g), René Stammbach (b), Willy Bosshard (d) Radio Basel (Switzerland), January 31, 1948. Released on CD1 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) An early example of Swiss bop. Brothers Francis and Walter Burger from St. Gallen, guitarist Pierre Cavalli from the French-speaking western part of Switzerland, and Body Buser, Cheese Burckhardt, and Willy Bosshardt from Basel were among the first Swiss jazz musicians to embrace the new style, copying Dizzy, Bird & Co. As has been noted, there's not a whole lot of advanced playing here, and the rhythm may be a bit stiff, but they're trying... I included this as it's the only track of early Swiss bop I own, and it closes a gap between the old stuff opening the disc and the modern jazz to follow. Bop, as in fact all modern jazz, took a long time to be accepted in Switzerland. I'm sure these musicians got a lot of bad rap back in the day. The horns sound decidedly old-school (even more so their tones than their lines), the piano is close to some stoopid boogie constantly during the solo (yet doing some harmonically interesting things, too), and the guitar has an old feel, sounding like those pre-Christian guitar players a bit. Adding vibes to the mix was certainly a nice idea, though. 6. Hush (Donald Byrd) Flavio Ambrosetti Franco Ambrosetti (t), Flavio Ambrosetti (as), George Gruntz (p), Karl-Theodor Geier (b), Kenny Clarke (d) Radio Lugano (Switzerland), July 7, 1963 Released on CD2 of "Jazz in Switzerland 1930-1975" (Elite Special 4CD 9544002/1-4) (labelled as "Franco & Flavio Ambrosetti", but this was Flavio's band) I love this tune! I first heard it on the Black Lion reissue of that album Byrd made with Johnny Coles (who of course outshines Byrd on each and any tune...). This version I like quite a lot, too. It features several Swiss musicians of crucial importance and of international fame (if that ever happened to Swiss musicians, it's these guys here): Franco Ambrosetti and George Gruntz remain active and are highly regarded. Flavio Ambrosetti comes up with an alto solo that many of those second-rate BN alto players could learn something from. Klook on drums has a very lazy laid-back swing going on that I love a lot. Franco makes his entry in a sparse way and builds some, with lots of nice ideas and beautiful mellow sound (I guess he listened to the best in late Fifties Byrd, which I like a lot, anyway). Gruntz provides a not entirely cliché-free hard bop piano solo, I can hear many many influences in there (Timmons, mostly, in this case). He plays fully two-handed, and I like the effect this has. If any of you want to check out more great early Gruntz, check out the Atavistic UMS reissue of Gruntz' "Mental Cruelty" soundtrack, a great 1960 album with Kenny Clarke, K.T. Geier, Marcel Peters, Raymond Court, and... BARNEY WILEN. Here's the cover: Franco Ambrosetti never was a musician, exclusively, he still sticks to the "amateur" thing that was prevalent among Swiss modern jazz musicians in the Fifties and early Sixties. Born in 1941, Franco learned classical piano for several years, and in 1961 started his musical career. In 1967 he made his US-debut, as a member of his father's group, performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Ever since, Franco has toured all over, guested with many band leaders (among them his long-time musical associate's, George Gruntz' big band), and played the NYC clubs (there's a good Enja live recording from the Blue Note, with Seamus Blake and Kenny Barron). Here's a photo, from Bergamo (Italy), 1976: His father Flavio, same place & date: Flavio Ambrosetti, born 1919, was the son of an industrialist, and both he, and later Franco, took over the family business, besides their musical careers. Flavio was one of the first of the young bebop amateurs, and in 1949 he performed at the Paris jazz festival, meeting his big hero, Charlie Parker there. The Fifties were the era of "amateur jazz". The most important event was the "Zürich Amateur Jazz Festival", founded in 1951 by André Berner (the pianist of the "Berries", in the thirties), as a competition for amateur jazz musicians. That festival was quite a success. But then in 1958, some musicians decided not to enter the contest, not to submiss to a jury, anymore. On the verge of turning professional, they decided to take part hors concours. The ranking lists from the first ten editions read like a who's who of Swiss jazz. Great pains were taken that no musician who made his living in one way or another from music, or who had worked more than a total of two months as a musician since the last festival, was allowed. Average age of the 251 competing musicians at the 1958 edition was 22, mostly they came from larger cities and industrial areas. Not one female musician in sight. Two thirds playing trad jazz, one third (both of the trads and the moderns) were students and University graduates. And the most interesting observation: half of the musicians were the first in their families to ever pick up an instrument. Swiss radio broadcasted the winning bands and top event, but regrettably, most of the recordings have long since been destroyed. It seems in those years there was not only a gap between amateurs and professionals, but also between young and old musicians (though mainly the old ones were the pros, too). Professional bands played for dance, played whatever they were asked to play, while the amateurs had sort of an artist's pride, to set them apart. In 1959, Francis Burger (I guess the one at the piano on #5) founded the first institutions that taught jazz, in Basel and Zürich. However, as jazz turned professional, its popularity was waning, beat, pop, rock and blues becoming the main focus of young audiences, jazz turning into an insiders' pleasure.

Alright, here we go... I'm not able to post all I want right now (need to google some more, need to proof-read my write ups, etc...) I made multiple posts in order to be able to add things (including a few photos I've saved on my HD and am too lazy to find the links again) over time, and if I add anything on specific tunes or so, I'll try and make you see that by posting an updated post and putting the new stuff in different colour or so. **************** Now as for what my theme was... no one got it right, completely. It was NOT mixing the obscure with the obvious, although the fact that this happened, incidentally, was a welcome one, as most of you did post on the music, and not just post guesses and "I like it" or "Not my cup of tea". This lead to many most enjoyable posts, and I want to thank you all for that! I had a ball reading, and I found it very nice to get to know what you think about the music without actually having a clue about who is playing. That brings the whole experience to another level, somehow. I mean, if I know it's Grant Green I'd certainly post something that does have connections with my love for his music in general, and that does influence the way I put some ideas on paper, on the web, actually, about him - this could not happen here, in most cases, and that was part of the game, as I intended it. Now as for the theme: simply put "a journey through Swiss jazz" (that applies only to disc 1, of course). I'll be posting in pieces now, hope I won't take too long to finish it off! Thanks for listening! ubu

Hey Milan, thanks a lot for your posts! Glad you enjoyed the trip! As I'll start the answers threads right now, I won't go into detail here, ok?

Soon, but I don't have all of it ready yet... quite a lot of work. I may post them as a work in progress or something, though, then I could start tomorrow or day after. I certainly planned to have something up by Sunday or Monday. Will be a bit of a break till the discussion of Rooster's set starts, though, if I post them now, but I guess folks may lose interest, if I wait much longer, too. I'll do my best!

Any opinions on this one? It's a Sketch release (that label is gone now, so...). I have it, but it never got too much playtime here and it's been long since I last listened to it. Maybe I should change that?

You're thinking of the wrong side of the lake. It is Ubu who leads his wild hordes to boo the performers off the Montreux stage every year. sure, only I never was there so far... and don't feel the need to do anything against that. It turned into a immensely commercial event with 10% or less jazz (though they keep that in their name, the "jazz"-etiquette still sells... you know, it's so sophisticated!). on Miles - I wonder if no one reads French around here? Humair states just what Dave posted: people came expecting to hear the music they knew from the LPs (as far back as "Round About Midnight") and were shocked by what they came to actually hear. Some though, were able to dig, for instance our friend René Urtreger

Miles made two tours through Europe in 1960, one in March, one in October, form both there are recordings. As far as I know, Coltrane left immediately after the band's return to the US at the end of the March tour. And on the Dragon set: I never heard of a 3CD version, I think there's just the 4CD version (with one and bit CDs from the Trane concert and all the rest from the Stitt concert).

I'm quite sure they boo Giuffre, too... I got a George Russell boot from Paris that is even worse. Though Giuffre comes up with some tongue in cheek announcements... at one point he tells the audience that if they didn't like the previous tune, they'll like the next one even less I'm also slightly preferring the Paris concert, but then I had that for years when I finally tracked down the Dragon set with the Stockholm concerts. Seems it was during this tour Trane was given his soprano by Miles (I think the the 4CD release I have of the Paris concerts has a photo inside with Trane holding a soprano - not sure if this is true or some kind of myth, though). And on the "Giant Steps" question: I don't really know, but the notes of said 4CD set say no, that they knew the Prestige discs, and thus were expecting a totally different (INDEED!) Trane than what they got. ****took that 4CD set out of the shelf now (my own private anti-laziness campaign)**** There is one long article from Jazz Magazine, plus shorter ones from Combat and excerpts from two more, giving info on the debate that started with that concert. The most interesting thing about the booklet, though, I find to be the comments of several musicians who had been there that night (these were in Jazz Magazine, too): Some quotes (incomplete): Stéphane Grappelli: "... Coltrane m'a vivement impressionné mais ne m'a pas touché comme venait de le faire Oscar Peterson. Je l'admire beaucoup d'avoir eu le coeur de continuer à jouer sous les lazzis et les imprécations d'un public grossier et irrespectueux. ..." (he then goes on explaining that German audiences are able to remain quiet and polite even if they dislike the music... that changed, at Jazzfest Berlin, though... in the late Seventies Carla Bley performed a track called "Boo to you too" in Berlin, dedicated to the dedicated boo-ers in the Berlin audience...) Then René Urtreger, who obviously loved it: "J'aime l'inhabituel. Coltrane est inhabituel dans ce sens qu'il joue - ou essaie de jouer - quelque chose qui lui est particulier et par là même différent, tout en étant purement jazz. Même si Coltrane a joué des choses inachevées, voire un peu bizarres (il me faudrait réécouter la bande du concert), sa conception me plaît profondément. J'ai réellement découvert Coltrane en l'écoutant en direct." (This is the complete quote. I like the part "ou essaie de jouer" - shows how much Urtreger understood, because this really was the period where Trane seemingly played on and on if no one stopped him...) Daniel Humair: "... Le public était venu pour entendre ce qu'il connaissait des disques et a été surpris, voire contrarié d'entendre ce à quoi il n'avait pas été préparé. Ce n'est pas une raison pour manifester si grossièrement; j'ai assité aux concert du quintette à Berlin: les prestations de Coltrane ont choqué quelques auditeurs; ceux-ci ont discrètement quitté la salle. N'est-ce pas une attitude plus intelligent que de pousser des hurlement de sauvages? Pour en venir plus directement à Coltrane, j'aime beaucoup ses disques, mais l'audition directe a provoqué en moi un véritable choc. ..." Michel Hausser (wasn't the *other* socialist working together with Lafitte against Americans getting gigs?): "Connaîssant et appréciant les disques de John Coltrane, j'avoue avoir été surpris par sa façon de jouer à l'Olympia, que j'ai trouvée laide et qui - à mon avis - aurait une fâcheuse tendance à suivre la voie tracée par le saxophoniste <plastique> Ornette Coleman. ..." There's more in that booklet, but I'm too lazy to type up more. Pretty funny, though!

Both wrong, sorry! But then the drummer, while being a fine musician and longtime associate of another ebony tinkler, he's not a very individual player...

Oh, it has been so long since I listened to that set that I have totally forgotten Garrett is there, too! Will spin it again soon! Thanks for mentioning it!

Oh, and Rooster - I WANT that Woody BADLY!!!

Peter, tell me if I should organise that someone sends you copies of my #24! Rooster: PM sent!

What no replies yet? I quite like Garrett! First got to hear him on some late Miles, later picked up some of his discs (I think I have 5 or 6 so far). The trio disc is very fine, and the Coltrane disc is its equal. I like Garrett's bitter-sweet sound on alto and the power and - I guess - loudness of his sound. His latest, "Standard of Language" I saved from some bin, recently, but haven't listened to it yet. ubu

Would there be enough Ellis for a Select? The only one widely available is the "Only the Blues One", as far as I know, so...

Looking forward to this Basie set very very much! Nice to let it have it's own thread!

Sorry it took so long! Check your PM or mailbox for some of John's about possible skips on disc 2 please!

forgot to mention: sent by Mosaic Records...

Lookie here, everybody, just in my mailbox: WHOAAAA!

I don't know it, but yeah, sucks big time!

Maybe organissimo.org really is a microcosm of the actual jazz audience. I never was too fond of any later Shepp (the last album I really love is the trio on Enja, "Steam"). Rudd, though... I absolutely love his recent "MaliCOOL" album, and as I said, he's on top form with Lacy (on that official release as well as on a live recording I've heard). Then I recently got the Shepp/Waldron "Left Alone Revisited" from the library and rather liked the few cuts I've heard so far, not only because of Waldron, so I'll have to return to that one!

You mean the "orgler" on #10? Not sure the right name has come up already... will have to check tonight when at home!

That was a Toshiba Direct-To-Disc LP, a rare bird, but well worth the search. A solo each, two duos, and two quartets with George Duvivier and Shelly Manne - the most swell piano duo ever Is there more from this "unofficial" recording? They are way loose on this! I love Lewis, and his duos with Hank Jones all the more! Lewis wrote that Koko arrangement for the MJQ Ellington CD. Now let's nail the rhythm men ... Now who's that organist, or, as the late, highly original AFN radio jazz moderator Clay Sherman used to say, the "orgler"? Wild Bill? Yeah, sure, nail 'em!

First vote for "other"... want to bring Eric Dolphy into this discussion. I'm aware he didn't exactly - as a whole - sound all that close to Bird, but: I think he captured the essence of much of what Bird did way more and way deeper than guys like Lou Donaldson or Phil Woods (who are great musicians, but not all that original, I suppose). Maybe I look at Dolphy as sort of an extension of Bird, starting where Bird left off. What I mean to say is that an important part of Bird was his explorative mind (sure, he had his pet licks, too, but...), and musicians like Woods or Donaldson or Stitt lack that (while being highly competent players in their own right, but confined to some sort of "style").

Disc 23, track 13 - there's a track index in the back of the booklet .... Yeah, sure, I know, but you don't expect me to carry that sucker with me wherever I walk And sorry I was confusing again, YES to Lewis and YES to Hank J. I love the two! This, as you may have noticed, is not from an official recording - but I can highly recommend "An Evening with two Grand Pianos" (Atlantic) and also, related, "Our Delights" (OJC/Galaxy, with Flanagan/Jones). Definitely keepers, both. I see Jones/Lewis did another album together, "Piano Play House" ubu