HutchFan

Kenny Burrell - Handcrafted (Muse, 1978) with Reggie Johnson & Sherman Ferguson

Tomorrow, my wife and I are flying up to NYC. We're celebrating my 50th birthday with some good food and jazz. My wife gets to choose the restaurants (since she's the foodie), and I pick the music! On Friday night, we're planning to see Billy Hart's Quartet at Jazz Standard. On Saturday, I think we'll go see Jacob Sacks' Quintet at Cornelia Street Cafe. I'm not super-familiar with Sacks, but his band features some outstanding musicians -- Ellery Eskelin, Tony Malaby, Michael Formanek & Dan Weiss. (I just heard Weiss in-person for the first time last week -- with Miguel Zenon's band here at the Ferst Center in Atlanta. The guy is AMAZING.) I'll probably also try to see Joe Lovano's Us Five late set at Birdland. On Sunday night, I'm looking at either Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra (at Birdland) and/or Sylvie Courvoisier's Trio with Drew Gress and Kenny Wollesen (at the Stone). It's truly amazing how much music's happening in NYC on any given weekend. BTW: If anyone thinks I'm missing something really special that's happening this weekend, gimme a shout. I'm open to suggestions from others who are "in the know." I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. I'm really looking forward to a weekend jam-packed with MUSIC!!!

I switched Web browsers (from Chrome to Internet Explorer), and the issue disappeared.

Very interesting background info. Thanks for sharing, Larry. I'd never heard any of this before.

I was seeing the same.

EDIT: I'd forgotten how wonderfully Eric Dolphy plays on these tracks. Excellent!

Now listening to: Citizen Kane: The Classic Film Scores of Bernard Herrmann (RCA) My birthday is coming up in a few days. Since my son will be off at college (and I'll be out of town) on my actual birthday, he gave me my card tonight. It's so cool and unique that I thought I'd share: The kid knows who I like!

George Mraz - My Foolish Heart (Milestone, 1995) with Richie Beirach & Billy Hart

Roland Hanna & George Mraz - Play for Monk (Artists House; reissued on MHS)

Frank Foster - Leo Rising (Arabesque) with Derrick Gardner (tr), Stephen Scott (p), Christian McBride (b), and Lewis Nash (d) Foster's "Simone" never gets old.

I agree 100%, Clunky! In this listener's opinion, Solal is one of the all-time greats.

Lee Konitz & Martial Solal - Live at the Berlin Jazz Days 1980 (MPS) A special record.

Keith Jarrett / Charlie Haden - Last Dance (ECM, 2014)

Kenny Werner, Hein van de Geyn, Hans van Oosterhout - Collaboration (Challenge, 2013)

Erroll Garner - Contrasts (EmArcy, 1954)

Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Reunion with Chet Baker (Pacific Jazz)

The 5-CD set released on Edel Classics is the same music, recorded in the mid-70s for Eterna. Regardless of label, it's such wonderful music-making! Rösel does a masterful job of balancing the extroverted, Schumann-esque "Romantic" elements with the meditative, inward, and melancholy aspects of Brahms' music. As a result, his readings of the early works in particular are more fully realized -- make "more sense" -- than other versions I've heard. I wonder: Would Rösel would be a more familiar pianist if he'd spent the early part of his career in West Germany rather than East Germany? Did being behind the "Iron Curtain" hamstring his opportunities for recognition in the "West"? Then again, Rösel's strengths aren't flash; it's his interpretive subtlety that's so astounding. And that's not exactly a quality that gets concertizing pianists noticed. Who knows?!?! The East/West thing may not have made any difference.