garthsj

Thanks for this recommendation, Larry. I am just coming out of covid-19/researcher/author hibernation (I got both of my shots) and missed this one. I can now resume my life as a full-time jazz fan until my editors start demanding yet another edition. I need to retire - so much jazz to listen to, so little time left!

Here is a very neglected album of "Tristano Music.' It gives you a chance to hear three Tristanoites play some great swinging music and some wonderful improvisations. Pity that Ronnie Ball, Willie Dennis and Ted Brown (who is still alive AFAIK) did not make more music ... Dennis is the real surprise here. This is well worth acquiring.

This recent compilation album contains a collection of Lee's early recordings. These are essential recordings, and contain some of the greatest improvisations you will ever hear. These recordings established Konitz as a unique voice in modern jazz. The two early albums he recorded for George Wein"s Storyville label are also essential to following his development.

After several years away, I am back! Here is a favorite Eddie Harris album, with Kenny Barron, Cecil McBee and Ben Riley. Straight ahead and swinging all the way.

Larry, I am sorry it has taken me two and a half years to respond to this very interesting post. I totally identify with you ... I am always aware of the past experiences in my young life and how they compare with the present. I enjoyed your examples of the comic strips. I teach film history, and I look at these older films, particularly ones that I saw in the fifties and how they contrast with images today. Anyway, thanks for your most stimulating post.

I am a little late replying to this .... just getting back to this great site after a long hiatus. I once took a 10-week course on jazz history with Oscar Peterson at his "college" in Toronto. (This is a story for another time). The P&B album had just been released a few days before, and Oscar played it for us after class. He especially focused on "Gone" playing it several times pointing out how difficult the orchestrations by Gil Evans were, and how the sax section was all at sea. In particular he pointed out that baritonist Danny Bank was just not making it. Oscar suggested that Columbia was so eager to get the album made and released to cash in on the release of the film, that they had rushed the rehearsals. I am not sure he was right, but whenever I listen to that album, I remember that little bit of information. It is true that later takes from that session get much better.

Thanks Joe. Unfortunately it is NOT my birthday today (actually March 2nd), but I will accept your belated wishes from an old comrade from the trenches of academe. I’m glad to see you so active on this list. How’s Hollywood doing?

ITS AMAZING! I have not been very active on this list for several years, (a long story ... other writing projects kept me busy) and here I discover all these warm birthday wishes over the years that I did not answer. I apologize for that. I am a little grayer, but the same guy .... and now that the 7th edition of the propaganda book is put to bed, I hope to be more active again.

Hi Larry ... You bring back a great memory for me. I was 15, growing up in Cape Town, and I clearly remember buying this album with a week's worth of pocket money. It was originally issued as a 10" album called "Hollywood Party" and I played that album on an inexpensive red plastic Swedish portable machine with a needle and cartridge that must have weighed at least a pound! Like you I have the Fresh Sound copy now, and I still thrill to the interplay between Bob Cooper, Bud Shank, and the underrated Bob Gordon on baritone. (Maynard just gets in the way!) There is still a lot of great "West Coast Jazz" waiting to be appreciated.

Sadly, I am rather late to this topic. As many of you know over the years I have been a great champion of Buddy DeFRanco, and a self-proclaimed "number one fan." His death was a very personall loss for me. That said, I want to respond to this question about his MGM period. I first "discovered" Buddy's music in far-off Cape Town when I was twelve years old, after taking up the clarinet. I was in a music store when the clerk (Bernie .. he became a trusted advisor) recommended that I try listening to DeFranco rather than Goodman, or Shaw, and he sold me a 10" 78 of "Carioca"backed by "Just One Of Those Things" ... I was never the same after that ... it also somewhat demoralized me in that I realized that I could never ever hope to play like that. I acquired every MGM DeFranco I could find and this was the true start of my life-long relationship with jazz. The very first LP I ever purchased was a 10" of DeFranco's "KIng Of The Clarinet" -- which now sits in a glass frame on the wall of my study. These MGM singles have been reissued over the years, the best collection being on the Hep label ... Many of the quartet sides feature Art Blakey and Kenny Drew, and they are consummate "bop" interpretations. I still marvel at DeFranco's advanced harmonic explorations, and it is no wonder that Charlie Parker considered DeFranco so highly. So ... I do not consider these to be tentative explorations, but high;y confident and mature interpretations in the bop idiom. They are essential for any DeFranco fan.

Some jazz musicians, like the great and woefully under-appreciated Art Farmer, remained immaculately dressed throughout their careers. The last time I saw Miles Davis live, he was wearing a bright red leather jump suit, and looked ridiculous ...

I "discovered" Aaron Sachs back in the fifties when I was fascinated by bebop clarinet. Despite his great reputation with other musicians he made very few albums under his own name. There is a set on the Dawn label that has been reissued, another on the Rama label that has been reissued by Fresh Sound, and the previoulsy mentioned Xanadu material. eMusic, the download site that offers an adventure in jazz every day with their eclectic mixture, recently made available this early Bethlehem 10" album: http://www.emusic.com/album/aaron-sachs/aaron-sachs-quintette/14652673/ Sachs actually did a lot of composing and arranging of Latin jazz, and worked with Latin greats like Machito and Perez Prado. What a pity he did not leave behind more recodingds .... R.I.P. Aaron Sachs.

I am sorry to have revisited this topic ... Because I am working on a publishing deadline I cannot visit here as often as I used to ... so I do tend to miss things ... and my search skills are not very finely honed ... but my intentions were good (like the road to Hell!). :blush2: Garth.

I am not sure if anyone else has posted this information. I received a catalog from Oldies.Com yesterday which has a massive load of Fantasy material, at $4.98 and $5.98 (The Sonny Stiitt 3-CD set "Stitt's Bits" is $4.98!!) ... I guess that Concord is offloading stock. This is a good chance to fill some OJC gaps, and the prices, with the low postage, makes this a little cheaper than used copies from Amazon dealers ... WWW.Oldies.com

Is this for real .... ? Anyone have any further information on this book ... http://www.amazon.com/Somethin-Else-Story-...5900&sr=1-5