John Tapscott

Lovano sounds great live, as well. Several years ago, I heard him in concert with a trio - Dennis Irwin and Willie Jones 111. Joe played nothing but tenor for two hours and he was incredibly HOT! Without question, it was one of the greatest live jazz performances I've ever attended. And the jazz-loving freind I attended with felt the same way. I had listened to all of Joe's Blue Notes in the weeks leading up to the concert, but they didn't prepare me for the impact of seeing him live. Sometimes (and this may happen to Lovano), musicians get so caught up in "concept" recordings that it distracts somewhat from what they do best, which is Lovano's case is stand in there and improvise brilliantly and powerfully at length. I also agree that Joe is a very warm, enthusiastic, and friendly personality. This came through after the concert. I asked him to sign my Rush Hour Cd insert, and when my marker wouldn't work on the shiny paper, HE began searching for another pen. I finally got the autograph, thanks to his efforts. He also mentioned how he remembered playing the same venue nearly 25 years earlier with Woody Herman. No doubt, Joe Lovano is a real credit to jazz and to the music scene in general.

The liner notes to Verve's 3 CD set " Stan Getz/Chet Baker - the Stockholm Concerts" (1983) are quite enlightening. Mike Hennessey describes the problem as a conflict of addictions - Getz and booze vs. Baker and heroin. Getz was also jealous of Baker and the how warmly audiences received Baker on that tour. (You can hear the sutained applause for Chet on the CD). Getz was resentful of the fact that Baker was supplying a rhythm section for Baker and on the tunes Getz and Baker played together, Getz turned it up a notch, trying to embarass the trumpeter. But it didn't really work as Getz planned. Chet hung right in there. After several concerts, Getz said to the promoter, "Either he goes or I go," and Baker was dropped from the tour. But honestly, if you listened to the music alone, you wouldn't know any of this. The music is very good, the rhythm section, (McNeely, Mraz, Victor Lewis), excellent, but I wouldn't call this one essential, either. Very enjoyable, but not essential.

Kansas City Suite - L.A. September 6 & 7, 1960 Personnel identical to the June 7, 1960 date posted above. From the Mosaic set discography.

From the Mosaic Roulette Studio set for the recording on June 7, 1960 Sonny Cohn, Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Joe Newman - trumpets Henry Coker, Al Grey Benny Powell - trombones Marshall Royal (as, cl), Frank Wess (as, ts, fl), Billy Mitchell (ts, cl), Frank Foster (ts), Charlie Fowlkes (bari, bcl, fl), Basie (p), Freddie Green (g) , Eddie Jones (b), Sonny Payne (d), Joe Williams (vcl) On the previous studio date Sept. 24, 1959, the only difference is John Anderson instead of Sonny Cohn on tpt. The personnel on your recording is probably the same as the June 7, 1960 date. A great band!

I'm sure money had something to do with it, but I'm going to be a bit cynical here and say - these guys wouldn't have lasted in any other band. Who else but Duke would have put up with the sparring (verbal and otherwise) between Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams and Ray Nance? (Eventually Duke had to send Ray back to the US after he had a terrible row with Cootie overseas). A friend of mine once saw Ray making toast on the bandstand as the curtain rose. Gonsalves sleeping on the stand every night and having to be prodded by the bassist when his solo turn came (didn't Gonsalves last 2 weeks with Tommy Dorsey's band?), Hodges making a fool of Ellington every night on stage, with his implied demands for more money as the crowd applauded. And oh yes, Hodges demanding to be paid in cash afte every night's job, Cat's tendency towards kleptomania, Lawrence Brown's aloofness, and on and on. These guys were great musicians, but where else could they have worked steadily?

Thanks for posting this. I was on vacation and missed the earlier thread. Sad news. I like Williams and really enjoy the 4 or 5 CD's of his that I own. In fact, I had one with me on vacation which I listened to - "Talkin' Trash" with Clark Terry. That's a good one. I had no idea he was ill.

Happy birthday Lon and thanks for all the insightful musical posts!

As I said, nuts, plain and simple. Some of you guys are right - she doesn't need to be locked up in jail, but rather, confined indefintely in a psychaitric institution.

Call me puritanical or whatever you want, but I'm sorry, we have really lost our moral compass when we can defend the sexual relationship of a 12 year old boy with his 34 year old teacher, or a 15 year old boy with his mother. LeTourneau is nuts, plain and simple. She wrecked her own marriage, and seems to have messed up her young lover pretty well, and brought two children into the world who will have little chance at a normal family life. I wonder if the word "NO" ever occurred to her. The jail sentence was totally deserved, and I hope she got some serious psychiatric help when she was in prison.

I'm a fan of Maria's and enjoy her CD's, especially Allegresse. I would love to hear this new CD and just went to the site to order it. But besides the $16.95 cost for the CD which is OK, the price for shipping to Canada is $6.95! There is no friggin' way I'm going to pay that. The cost for mailing a single CD to Canada from the US is under $3.00 (and usually less than that, including the mailer.) I know because I've ordered a ton of single CD's from the US over the years. Usually the postage stamp says $1.40 or sometimes even less. I would like to support Maria and all, but I'm sorry, the profit should come from the CD, not the shipping of it.

I don't know whether he's been mentioned or not, but I'm really enjoying Tardo Hammer's latest CD "Tardo's Tempo" on Sharp Nine. (He has two earlier trio recordings on Sharp Nine). Tardo's a Powell man who really digs in and lays down some powerful solos. Ably assisted on this one by Dennis Irwin on bass and some fiery drumming by Jimmy Wormsworth.

What about the review copies? Or would they be unnumbered? You would think there would be 20 or 25 copies sent out to the various jazz "publications" (I use the term loosely) for review. I've always been curious about how Mosaic handles those.

Maynard Ferguson - Disc 7

There was a fellow in the town where I grew up whose first name was "Seaman." I knew another guy a few years ago who had the same first name with the same spelling. I'm wondering, Jim, if this is the true spelling.

All right. I'll spell it out. Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen (BASS)

Don't know how that happened. NHOP (B)

I personally find it hard to believe Oscar is playing solo. All of his recent (and rare) concerts have been with Ulf Wakenius (g), NHOP (B) and Martin Drew (d). Oscar basically lost the use of his left hand due to a stroke over a decade ago. He comps a bit with his left hand, but most of his playing now is with his right hand. I think that's part of the reason he always always plays concerts with his quartet. Oscar still plays well, and you've got to give him credit for his courage and his continued "will to swing", but to put it gently, he is nowhere near the powerhouse pianist he once was. In his prime, his solo playing could be almost overwhelming. But you should go to see him, whatever format he's using. Please tell us about it if you do.

I saw the Basie band three times that I can remember, first in '74. Sonny Payne was back on drums for a short stint and really tore things up. Al Grey, too. The next time was in '75. Butch Miles was on drums and Dave Stahl was in lead tumpet. Jimmy Forrest did one of his feature numbers, Body and Soul, I believe. The audience was disappointed because the band only did an hour long set before departing for the night. There was a mix-up somewhere. Perhaps the most enjoyable Basie concert I attended was in the early 80's. Basie came on stage in a scooter, slid onto the paino bench, played little, said even less, and hardly moved thoughout the whole concert. The band was very good, however. I believe Dennis Mackrel was on drums. Some of the soloists were Kenny Hing, Dennis Wilson, Booty Wood and Bob Summers. Freddie Green was still at Basie's side. Most of my Basie exposure has been though recordings, - the Pablos, Verves, Mosaics, and some of the earlier Decca and Columbia sides. I prefer the later recordings, however, because of the superiorr recoding quality. The Mosaics are among my most teasured musical possessions. The live Birdland material is exceptional IMHO. It's so well recorded you'd think you were sitting at a table a few feet in front of the band. Listening to Basie's music always lightens your load, helps to make the sun come out, and seems to make the world a brighter, better place. Basie's music is a supreme example of how the swinging blues can "blow your blues away."

All right, bad enough, but nothing on Buddy. I like the way he gives the guys three days to "get it right", then one week "to get it right. " A few more minutes and it would be two weeks to "get it right." A little while longer and it would be the whole tour "to get it right". Personnel changes in the middle of a tour are a pain, no doubt.

I have it. It's an excellent set, marred only by a couple of sub-par pop tunes which not even Gerald can redeem by his arrangements. However 90-95% of it is top-notch. If you like powerful big bands that swing (and it sounds as if you do), then this is a great set to have. Personally, I'm really looking foward to the Johnny Richards Select.

Of the three you mentioned I only have the JJ. I've heard some of the Stitt, and enjoyed it, and I have some of the Hodges on Lp. They are all very good sets. I would get the JJ first for the reason you mentioned.

I remember the day after the "not guilty" verdict, OJ proclaimed on national TV that he would spare no time and personal expense to find Nicole's "real" killer. Uh.... we'e still waiting, OJ.

Though 80% at least of my jazz listening is in the mainsteam/hardbop/straightahead vein, I must say that this is really great album, easily my favorite Taylor. to Jimmy Lyons, too.

I guess not - that's too bad. I would have ordered a couple.

32 years ago at age 17. Jazz has been my only real musical interest since then. I have probably bought 500 jazz recordings for every one of any other style since then, and since I have 5,000+ jazz recordings, you can figue out how much "else" I have. My wife and daughter buy the "other" stuff around our house.