Larry Kart

Bought it when it came out, and it's always been a favorite. One of Ernie Henry's best, and he and KD are a great pair. The unlikely choice of "Is It True What They Say About Dixie"? is a great track; it really pops. Bassists Wilbur Ware and the fairly obscure Eddie Matthias have a lot to do with the success of the album. Good characterization by you of Henry's approach. IIRC , Ernie aroused Martin Williams' ire with his playing on Monk's "Brilliant Corners," though Martin would soon become a strong supporter of Ornette. Wouldn't necessarily blame Martin for that anomaly in taste, though. Henry was strong medicine -- perhaps the hard bop equivalent to Johnny Dodds, he had a kick like a mule.

Ronnie Cuber's "In a New York Minute" (Steeplehase) 👍 Kenny Drew Jr. plays his ass off on this one. A sad loss he was.

The way Frank reads the lyrics of "Willow Weep for Me"! It's an object lesson in how to weave vowel sounds into a tapestry of feeling. And thanks to Ann Ronell for giving him the pallet to work with. Nelson Riddle too.

Yes. it's the meaningful (storytelling, if you will) plasticity of her phrasing. And while she doesn't literally alter the melody, the nuances of her timbral variations more or less do that. Further, it's her intimacy; she's inside the song. Musically and emotionally.

I love Kay Starr. Caught her once live -- dynamite. She did a great album a good while back with Red Norvo.

A good example of what's involved in being a jazz singer, because she's almost singing it "straight" but definitely is not: Trumpeter is Joe Wilder.

I vaguely recall writing a long piece about this, but I don't remember what I said.

My late friend Bob Wright playing Luckey Roberts.and Joplin. Note how different these interpretations are, how Bob captures the Jopalso lin lilt. No less than Eubie Blake said that Bob was the greatest living interpreter of Stride and Ragtime music. Bob also had some theories (or "theories"):

It's a gem.

Right, Xanadu. Steeplechases are fine IIRC.

Ronnie Cuber's "The Scene Is Clean." I like Cuber but not this one. Cluttered with Latin percussion and funk grooves. And Ronnie, though well recorded, which was not the case when he recorded for Muse, just doesn't blow enough. A drag.

Was listening to this the other day, Not top-drawer Turrentine IMO.

Totally fine.

It's much more effective here because it doesn't stick out like a trick but is integrated into his lines more or less overall.

Thanks Brad, though I wouldn't be surprised if they had lost track of such material.

may be a dead issue now, but yesterday I was listening to a good 1983 Barron album "Variations in Blue,"( Muse), which raised a general question in my mind. Engineered by Elvin Campbell, the sound quality is not that good -- rather dull and claustrophobic. I know that much can be done with original master tapes to remedy such problems, but if master tapes aren't available, what then, if anything? And since much if not most latter-day Barron is on Muse, would that label's master tapes be obtainable?

In the words of Judge Roy Be-Bop, 'There are a lot of pieces of it that "Donna Lee" mirrors -- not that "mirror 'Donna Lee'."

Freddie Hubbard in excelsis! Check out his solo on "the Big Push" from Wayne Shorter's "The Soothsayer" album. Whew! And James Spaulding follows him in the same vein.

The Blue Notes are great but I have a special spot in my heart for the two on VeeJay -- "Introducing Wayne Shorter" and Wynton Kelly's "Kelly Great." Both have instances of Wayne's surrealistic sense of humor.

Two CDs, two dates, both from 1959, one from Tangier, where the band had been working for several months, one from New York. Idrees Sulieman, pianist Oscar Dennard, bassist Jamil Nasser, drummer Buster Smith. The remarkable Dennard (b. 1928) would die in Egypt in 1960 of Typhoid Fever. This is by far the best Sulieman I've heard; here he has a Clifford Brown-like fluency and remarkable breath control. For sure he came out Fats but is own man. This was a working group, and it shows.

"When I first heard mentor/music legend Ronnie Cuber had passed away, the 1993 The Scene Is Clean(Milestone) recording session immediately popped into my head,” said bassist Reggie Washington on social media. “Ronnie was pissed at pianist Geoff Keezer for not taking the music seriously. At the end of his rant (and the rehearsal) he said: ‘Do you know who the hell I am? I’m Muthafu@king Ronnie Cuber … and this rehearsal is over!’ I looked at my big brothers, drummer Victor Jones and legendary percussionist Milton Cardona (R.I.P.), and they motioned me out the door! The next day was as if it never happened and the session (as you can hear) was great!" Larry Kart (who yesterday ordered "The Scene Is Clean")

A very kind sensitive, and empathetic man in my experience. Those human qualities played into his music.

Interesting. Don't know what Now Sounds is though.