Stompin at the Savoy

Note to self: next time I buy a laptop make sure it uses a USB C charger!

Hipnosis was released on the Grachan Moncur Mosaic Select.

I've had that box for decades but didn't listen to it much except for the album with Woody Shaw. Hmnnn... Time to give it a spin again.

Well, you can listen to it here (or download m4a files which in this case are mp3 level of detail, not as good as cd): https://archive.org/details/ArgoEmarcyandVerveSmallGroupBuddyRichSessions. I had a sort of strange impression of Buddy Rich from my youth in the 50s and especially the 60s. You would see him now and then on TV doing some humongous, over the top, over long drum solo and looking like death warmed over. So I wasn't too attracted. But the Mosaic set turns out great, lots of fine players and good stuff. He really was a top drummer. Booklet: https://musicbrainz.org/release/595f02e2-355b-48d7-a8a7-f9ffefa8cb03/cover-art

That's a pretty good price for that set. People have been asking absurd prices for it for years. Like $999. $100 per disk? I don't think so. There don't seem to be many for sale. I have some files I found so I've heard it but have been looking around for a reasonably priced copy for years. My concept of a 'good price' for a Mosaic is somewhere close to the original price, which was maybe $15/disk years back and is now more like $18. And the market is such that I have often snagged used sets for something in that neighborhood or less. Recently I got the Buddy Rich set for $35 including shipping! That one's got to be a record low price for me. A 'reasonable price' for me on a set that is rarer or generally fetches higher prices would be about $20-$22 per disk. Some stay stubbornly high, like the Ferguson. I don't think I have ever seen one as low as the price you got.

The book was updated in 1994 and I remember Laurie Pepper being interviewed on NPR about it, possibly by Terry Gross. It sounded interesting but somehow I never got the book till now.

https://archive.org/details/CompleteRouletteRecordingsoftheMaynardFergusonOrchestra_201904

Kindle edition of Art and Laurie Pepper's bio - Straight Life: The Story Of Art Pepper - is on sale today at Amazon for 3 bux.

I had them in various boxes, thrown into storage in the order acquired (after I ripped them to disk). It was a jumble. I had to move so I took the opportunity to reorganize my storage and get all the sets sorted in order.

👍

I wonder if 'noodling' is covered in chapter 4?

Gee that's a tough order and there are folks here who could do a far better job of it. I play around with piano but am basically a guitar player. Piano is kind of unique in that the two hands can pursue independent musical thoughts. I try to simulate that by moving toward independent bass and treble voices on guitar but under the hood they are necessarily both a combination of the efforts of both hands. I like Fats Waller and wish his stuff would get a better remastering. There's a Centenary Collection (or something) volume where they did a beautiful job remastering. Count Basie as a piano player is a big favorite of mine. He tended to be a little shy as a soloist so it's hard to point to single albums. I have a nice playlist with Basie piano features like Kid from Red Bank. So many great players!

Too many and hard to decide. I like stride piano a lot, so that calls up a list by itself which I'm sure I needn't enumerate here. One album I often go back to is Dick Hyman, Music of 1937. He frequently plays the tune in several piano styles - Someday My Prince Will Come is a good example - and it's fun to speculate which segment is whose style.