Larry Kart

thanks, you live and learn--who knew?

Perhaps there's nothing to it but this occurred to me while listening to a Frank Wess album "The Long Road" (OJC) that clearly combined two different Prestige dates -- one from 1962, the other from l963. The former, released as "Southern Comfort," feature an octet with Oliver Nelson arrangements, charts in a mellow Neo-Basie bag with Wess, Al Aarons snd Tommy Flangan the soloists; the other with Wess, Thad Jones, Gildo Mahones, Buddy Catlett, and Roy Haynes, released as the oddly titled "Yo Ho Frank Wess Poor You Little Me." The first session is pretty clearly "orphaned;" it almost certainly was intended to be mated with a similar date of similar personnel, but that didn't happen. The second session strikes me as a different , odder case. The first session is a good one but one of a good many of its kind,; the second session is in several ways exceptional. Both Thad Jones and Roy Haynes are, when the mood struck them, irrepressible compositional shape-makers, and the mood struck them here. Thad's opening tune "The Lizard" is a remarkable mistereso piece of work, and he, Wess, Mahones, and Haynes plumb its mood to the depths. And so it goes for five more tracks, even the title tune from the Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh musical "Little Me," which may be have been the excuse for the date in the first place. All the pieces are given the full weight of everyone's attention -- Mahones is a consistent delight, Thad is thematic as hell, and Haynes places firm, brilliant frameworks beneath and around the soloists. And yet for all that care and musicality, the date was "orphaned." Go figure. Any others come to mind? P.S. Wess is in fine shape on this date -- very heated and amost Ammons-like at times..

Artists/albums we feel a soft spot for, even though there's nothing major about them: Mat Mathews "The Gentle Art of Jazz" (Dawn, 1956.) The very tasty Dutch accordionist with Oscar Pettiford, Kenny Clarke, Art Farmer, Gigi Gryce, et al. This album and Matthews has never ceased to charm me. There is one major track here though -- the duo between Mat and Oscar's virtuoso plucked earthy cello on the latter's "Now See How You Are." it's on You Tube under Mat's name.

An Art Farmer Mosaic. There'a so much to chose from that I think one would have to be very selective, perhaps even focusing only on trumpet Art and excluding most if not all flugelhorn Art, assuming that a reasonably sized Mosaic wouldn't have room for both. Certainly a Mosaic worthy artist iMO. I'm especially impressed by early Art when his thinking shows the influence of his studies with George Russell. And then his transformation into the dulcet virtuoso of the flugelhorn was among the most notable stylistic shifts of any brasssman, though again I'd want be choosy there.

Thanks, Mark. I have a fair number of those Golson/Fuller albums.

Don't know if I captured that "tic" perfectly, there's a little hiccup on the first two notes; you can't miss it.

"The Other Side of Benny Golson" -- with Curtis Fuller, Barry Harris, Jymie Merritt, Philly Joe Jones, Re-encounteriong this one on an AVID Golson 4-fer after many years -- bought it when it came out, then it went away somewhere -- I was delighted by how fine it is. Interestingly this package includes four albums from a short span of time and lets us witness a welcome development in Golson's playing. The first two albums -- "The Modern Touch" and "Benny Golson's New York Scene" -- do have their virtues (among them the first recording of "Whisper Not," but after a while one notices on both those 1957 albums that Golson ends many choruses and even just phrases with the same seemingly compulsive cluster of three notes: Buh-Dee-Dot." Given all the attractive aspects of fluent Golson's soloing, one can't but help find this recurrent little "tic" a bit annoying. On "The Other Side of Benny Golson," though it's nowhere to. be found; nor IIRC does it crop on the final album from the AVID collection, the excellent "Benny Golson and the Philadelphians" from Nov. '58, with Lee Morgan, Percy Heath, Ray Bryant, and Philly Joe. (Lee Morgan's brilliant solo there on "You're Not the Kind" must be heard.) But back to "The Other Side of Benny Golson." I think is the first of many pairings of Golson and Fuller -- and what a good pairing it is in phrasing, timbre, and temperament -- Fuller fairly cool and laid back rhythmically with a warm, cloudy tone that blends perfectly with Golson's urgent honey-bee flow. Add the fact that Barry Harris and Philly Joe are in top form and that Golson contributes several compositional gems -- My favorite is "Are You Real?," later IIRC done by the Messengers after Golson arrived there, but "Strut Time" and "Cry a Blue Tear" are choice as well. One suspects that this was a happy date, and it makes me happy too.

Ervin's response to a Lockjaw Davis track in a Down Beat Blindfold Test: "Damn -- That Jaws plays BACKWARDS.

I posted this in January: If you can find a copy, grab Barron's 1962 album "The Hot Line" (Savoy -- probably the last of his Savoy dates; I have it on a mono LP), which pairs him with Booker Ervin, backed by brother Kenny, Larry Ridley, and Andrew Cyrille. As might be expected, Barron and Ervin make for good company, with the former perhaps stimulated by Ervin to play in a more in agitated "blowing" manner than usual. In any case, agitated Barron is great to hear.

I bought my first Mosaic sets -- Mulligan/Baker and Monk -- in 1981, the year Mosaic was founded, I was 39. Now Mosaics line my basement walls. I'll be 81 this May.

Given TTK's frequent claims that Mosaic is stuck in the mud , has failed to innovate/ grow its audience, and is on its way to doom, what I wonder is his version of how Mosaic should grow and save itself? He'a a smart guy; let's have it.

I can't tell you how good this 2-CD set is ! Jaws in excelsis. Very good rhythm section too. Fine sound.

But the TikiBar audience is growing!

Hutch Fan -- I agree that it began before the '90s, but I'll stick with my notion that the "Young Lions" episode played a perhaps key subrosa role in curdling the pudding, both in terms of the amount of organically creative (dare I say innovative?) music that was being made and of the organically coherent interest in and appreciation of same -- if only because the degree of publicity that was inherent in the whole "Young Lions" episode was in itself so inherently inorganic, so willed. It was as though the music were being/had been taken out of our hands and/or the living hands of the music and musicians and left to swim in the murky realm of "product."

I think the problem (or "problem") may be that the history of consensual connoisseurship in jazz began to slow down, even come close to grinding to a halt in the 1990s, Why that should be, if that is so, is a big question, but without such rich patterns of agreement as to what among the "recently new" is likely to be of lasting value and/or inspires strong attachments of sentiment, what is an enterprise like Mosaic supposed to do.? As to why this happened, if in fact it did, I'd point my finger at the whole ""Young Lions" episode, which in ways I can't quite quantify at the moment (I'd probably need to write a whole darn book to flesh out this intuition) may have profoundly disrupted the organic flow of the music per se, not to mention the complex of living sensibilities and deeds that have alway supported it.

Joe Henderson's "Mirror, Mirror." Albeit respectful, I'm not the biggest Henderson fan, but the tracks I listened to on You Tube sounded top notch. With Chick Corea, Ron Carter and Billy Higgins, what could go wrong? Damn, I've bought a lot of CDs lately, jazz and classical. No regrets so far, not until the money runs out -- it's just that as I wander around the 'Net, things seem to speak to me.

I bought the Monk and Mulllgan/Baker sets right off (don't know what year that was, but if you do, tell me; I'm 80 now and can do the math.) Another slam dunk for me was Herbie Nichols. Lord knows how many Mosaics I have now, but a lot.

At the juncture we seem to be at, I think it would be a good idea to look back at the history of Mosaic and ask ourselves, as well as the folks that be at Mosaic, which sets and which kinds of sets (big boxes, Selects, etc.) did the best -- economically and/or in terms of satisfying strongly felt needs within the community, even if such sets didn't always generate great sales. I think that up to a point almost all the early sets were slam-dunks from one point of view or another: Muillgan/Baker; Clifford Brown; Blakey 1960s; Buck Clayton Jam Sessions; L. Hampton Victors; Hodges small groups; Blue Note Elvin; Maynard Ferguson Roulette; Thad and Mel; Lunceford Deccas, Tristano, Konitz, Marsh, Atlantics, the Armstrong sets, Basie/Lester Young, Chu Berry, etc. Two possible deviations from whatever the general Mosaic model was were Tina Brooks and Freddie Redd, and both of those were blessings in my book. Another blessing that recently just dropped from the trees was the "private" Tristano set. That said, I think that there can be little doubt that failing further such pieces of good luck, we're now hard-pressed for slam-dunks, and Mosaic without slam-dunks is ill ease to say the least. Now the old or original Mosaic model was eminently sound, I think -- both in terms of filling vital needs for the jazz community snd probably (I don't have the figures of course) economically sound as well. Can Mosaic more or less go on as it has before on what might be thought of as a reduced diet of some sort? If not what alterations to what seems to have been the Mosaic model would make sense -- -- in terms of filling community needs and significant historical gaps, etc? Notably broadening the jazz aspect of Mosaic might be/probably would be self-defeating; that this is more or less a purist endeavor seems to be of its essence. For instance, at one time I thought of Sauter-Finnegan, which might be fun, and might even do well sales-wise, but really...? I certainly don't have the answer or answers, but, again, I think that a close look at Mosaic's past might clarify matters.

Jim, How did you remember that?

This board keeps me sane -- barely.

Also I knew Ken Nordine. He was one corny MF.

What's wrong with a chronological track list? Would you prefer one tied into tropical cocktails?

As for the first two, Are you out of your mind? Why not thrown in the Treriers or Stan Freberg?

I interviewed Ahmet about the one back in the day. Nice conversation.

Thanks , Mark, I'll take a look. I suspect that the cover got damaged in a basement flood some years ago and I ditched it when the Mosaic set arrived. Good suggestions, especially Newton and Page. I like Storzier but don't think he is in the category artistically with Newton and Page.