tooter

I should have checked this long ago, but have now done so. Definitely different tunes - nothing like the same. Some amendments to do now. Thanks, P.D., for spurring me into action.

I have seen many references to "Stephenson's Rocket" having been composed by Ronnie Ross and yet this states categorically that it was composed by Mike Carr. "The group's first CD is out titled 'Stevenson's Rocket' by Mike Carr's Blue Note Band on Birdland MC502. Ten of the eleven tunes were written by Carr and the album takes its name from one of them. 'Stephenson's Rocket' was dedicated to the EmCee Five's original drummer, Ronnie Stephenson who, by a cruel twist of fate, died two days after the recording sessions." Can anyone throw any light on this?

Very interested to hear of anything you can tell us, Paul. Do you think she has any old papers or anything like that? I am trying to conglomerate all the facts I can about Ronnie Ross, with a view to doing a short biographical bit for our website (www.ronnieross.com).

Thanks, Couw - excellent as you say. I have the front cover but dispensed with it at the site because I also have to two constituent album covers. I've copied the back for later perusal however, in case it throws up any new info.

I've got number 1 but didn't recognise it. If I remember rightly, tunes on the album not up to the same standard as the best of his writing - [Cape Verdean Blues], [Jody Grind], etc.

Now another album cover picture, already on the website www.ronnieross.com but this is not one from my list as I wasn't sure it existed. Straight from eBay today although improved by Couw as usual, here it is.

I think I know number 9 – the thing is the time signature is in the title. Written by the tenor player but he is not the leader..er…what else can I say? I remember them all on this one, made a whole series of albums and I used to have all the LP’s. The tenor player changed though, after this album, to a guy who sadly passed away not all that long ago. Trombone, and even a strange trumpet player on one album, were added. 3 – Bohemia After Dark by Oscar Pettiford is the tune. Just a wild guess at Grant Green. 1 sounds like Silver but I don’t know the front line. When I heard the intro I thought I knew the tune but it never arrived. 2 My usual technique of thinking of a name and then keeping on thinking of it until I’m sure it’s him didn’t work. I thought first of Sonny Criss but sure that is wrong. Jackie McLean? 4 Crusaders? Not my kind of thing at all. 7 Three Little Words is the tune I guess but don’t know any more – not keen on this kind of playing myself. 5 Guessing again at Joe Henderson. I liked a lot of the tracks, excluding the organ ones (NMCOT), but could not guess anything. As always, I think I know some of the sounds but can’t put any names there. But thanks for an entertaining, well balanced and fun disc, Stefan. Now I shall look at other comments to see what I can see.

Many Happy Returns, Nate -

This is not a real album but just a conglomeration of recordings I've acquired. My friend did the art work and it is now avaiable for download at [http://www.dimeadozen.org/themes/dime/imag...header-left.jpg

I liked the last part of the last sentence but how about the first part now? Is it a bit more spiffy looking these days? Give us your verdict if you've a few spare moments to look.

Mmmm - yes - thank you. The question that stands out is whether Lenny Pickett on the Sanborn album is playing soprano or alto Eb clarinet. I doubt I will sleep tonight thinking about this

I'm joining in the fun too. Will send PM. I got a message from Randy saying he would pass on details to you if I told him it was okay. Sent email back but it has just been returned as non-deliverable, so I'm starting from scratch. But could I have just one disc please - the main one.

The quest continues, regardless of the season. A new acquistion, courtesy of eBay again. An interesting album and undeniably jazz. I had a picture of the video but have replaced it at our website www.ronnieross.com with the one below, taken from the cassette I have just bought at a very modest price. The only example I have of Ronnie Ross on bass saxophone, the only time I've ever even heard a baritone clarinet.

So list is now only thirteen. Please keep your eyes peeled for anything that looks like any of them. 1. 55/1 Leader: Tony Crombie Date: March 31 1955 Venue: London Label: Decca DFE6281, F10514, 10620, F10592, F10637 Album Titles: Annie Ross with Tony Crombie and his Orchestra, Presenting Tony Crombie No. 2 (EP) 2. 55/5 Leader: Cleo Laine Date: December 13 1955 Venue: London Label: Nixa NJE1010, PRT PYL6028 Album Title: Unforgettable Cleo Laine 3. 58/ 6 Leader: Louis Armstrong Date: July 7 1958 Venue: Newport Jazz Festival Label: Columbia C2-38262, CBS(F)88669, C23-8262 Album Title: Louis Armstrong And The All Stars 4. 58/7 Leader: (Melody Maker All Stars) Date: November 1958 Venue: London Label: Pye Nixa NJT518 Album Title: (Melody Maker Jazz Poll 1958/1959) 5. 60/1 Leader: Vic Lewis Date: April 10 1960 Venue: Bridgeport, Connecticut Label: DJM SPECB103 Album Title: (?) 6. 60/5 Leader: Harry South Date: November 17 1960 Venue: London Label: Album Title: (?) 7. 62/4 Leader: Don Rendell Date: September 6 1962 Venue: London Label: Pye 7NJ 2059 Album Title: The Jazz Stars 8. 65/15 Leader: John Cameron Date: 1965 Venue: Label: EMI SC6116 Album Title: Cover Lover 9. 67/1 Leader: Acker Bilk Date: August 1967 Venue: (?) Label: Columbia DB8241 Album Title: Acker`s Personal Jungle 10. 69/2 Leader: Vic Lewis Date: June 9 1969 Venue: London Label: Nems 6-63723 and DJMSPECB103 Album Title: The Vic Lewis Orchestra 11. 78/1 Leader: Arthur Greenslade Date: January 1978 Venue: London Label: Pye NPSL18557 Album Title: George Melly With Orchestra Arranged And Conducted By Arthur Greenslade 12. 89/4 Leader: Kenny Baker Dates: September 11 23 1989 Venue: London Label: TCM 33006 Album Title: The Louis Armstrong Connection Volume 6 13. 89/6 Leader: Chris Smith Dates: November 23 29 1989? Venue: Wembley, London Label: BBC CDTP818 Album Title: Chris Smith And His String Of Pearls Orchestra Thanks again to all those from whom I have received help. The list of credits is growing longer and longer - see Jazz Discography (near the top) at www.ronnieross.com

Back to the serious business! Another picture has turned up. I already had a version but it was not good enough to use. Here's the new one.

Can anyone tell me about Don Honeywell, British baritone player? Any biographical details, date of birth, his career, whereabouts now, is he still active? Thanks.

Thanks, Brownie, but it's not for me. I can't speak any French or Spanish. Someone I know would like to find one and he can speak all three languages fluently. He would like to locate a bulletin board that has serious and informative discussion on the subject, from all points of view. He is knowledgeable about it already.

Can anyone suggest a sensible bulletin board on the subject of bullfighting please? Language can be English, French or Spanish. Looking for somewhere that treats it seriously. I did try a google search but didn't easily come up with anything. Thanks.

Me too! Seems to be a plethora of Tal discographies but you could try this one for a start.

A visitor to our website www.ronnieross.com has written saying that in the mid-sixties he used to go to the Marquee Club in Soho, London and often saw Ronnie Ross there. Ronnie's girlfriend at the time used to sit at the next table and often spoke to him and his girlfriend. Ronnie's girlfriend was extremely good-looking, he said, and later wrote to tell me that she was "the" Ann Walker, the well known model. However, he was not entirely distracted from the music and remembers it as being the highpoint of his experience of jazz. Attached is a picture of Ann - click this link if you wish to see the rest of her (adults only!)

And here is another album identified by an astute visitor to our website www.ronnieross.com who saw a review and alerted me to it. I found a nice cheap copy on line and have added it to my collection of Ronnie Ross recorded material. As a matter of fact, it is the latest recording I have, made in early 1990 and therefore (apart from one session for which the date is not known) the last entry in the Ronnie Ross Jazz Discography. The material is not really the kind of jazz that kindles my interest much but there is plenty of improvising. Ronnie Ross plays only alto and clarinet, soloing on the former occasionally but not too notably. There is another sax man, Ronnie Mackie, who plays baritone and alto and who takes some baritone jazz solos. I surmise that, as it was less than two years before Ronnie Ross died, he may have been finding the baritone difficult to play and perhaps to carry around too. The only other names on the sessions that I know are Eddie Mordue, playing alto alongside Ronnie Ross, and Iain Dixon on tenor - at least, these are the most prominent ones to me. Some of the other names could be a little familiar.

I am going to put the disc picture back because I have found out that it is of the other EP - the one above is two different tracks. All four include Ronnie Ross, playing tenor sax. I suppose one day a proper picture of Esquire EP42 might turn up.

Emailing soon. Is it one or more disks? I would like to have just one, please.

Only ten more tracks to go. I’ve always been a supporter of maximum freedom in BFT’s but I just wonder if these marathon sessions are off-putting to some, hence the lower number of participants lately. Not sure how many signed up for BFT31 though. 1. Don’t know – like it though. 2. Soprano and alto – nice again – still clueless. 3. Now this is a tune I know because I like it a lot, perhaps rather surprisingly in view of the composer. The version I go on so much is Frank Strozier’s (the only one I knew until now) whose alto playing I remember hearing described as sounding like a road drill (pneumatic drill) on the BBC by Peter Clayton’s, the much missed presenter of the weekly Jazz Record Requests. Can’t dredge up anything for the piano or drummer but the bass playing sounds so familiar – no dice. 4. Another tune I know, by Diz. Don’t know this version. 5. Very atmospheric – no ideas. 6. This is the track I like best on this disk. Still bereft of inspiration however. 7. All Blues, from the first five bass notes! Okay but singer ruins it for me. 8. Is it A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody? Not sure. Getting nowhere on this disk. 9. A tune I know sounds tantalizingly present in some bits but not sure what it is, let alone whether this is really it. I’ve no idea of the players. 10. Herb Ellis – boogie woogie-ing – with???? I’m a “do it now” person, or at least try to be on good days. Even poorer effort here than on disk 1 though, which I put down in part to BFT fatigue. Perhaps I should try spreading it out over several days, or even weeks, as many do. Don’t know if it would make any difference and anyway not so much time left this month. Wish I could contribute more but at least it leaves the field wide open for all those who have yet to post – I’ve just looked and see no has posted yet. Lots I like in this one, Tjobbe, as with disk 1. The answers will no doubt come thick and fast soon as the big guns appear.

I know three of the tunes but as for naming any of the performers I am pretty well stymied. I can only attempt a few wild guesses at best. 1. The alto player’s name hovers but won’t land. Like this one – blues – pity to fade but too long to fit? 2. Distinctive sound of the trumpet – don’t think I’ve heard it before. Another track completely unfamiliar to me I think but a novel feel to it which is appealing. No ideas. 3. Definitely finds favour here but no idea who or what. 4. Propulsive – like it – no ideas again. 5. I cannot get to like strings, however hard I try. The nearest approach for me was the Graffiti String Quartet with Michel Petrucciani on [Marvellous]. A wild guess – Claire Daly on baritone? – my favourite instrument. 6. Not keen on the vast majority of vocals and this does nothing for me. 7. Didn’t like this either. 8. Into a bad patch for me here – tedious. Guitar sound NMCOT. 9. Tune I know at last – everybody does! Satin Doll. There a sort of preponderance to the piano that reminds me of Gene Harris but far from certain. 10. No ideas – the clarinet sound rings no bells. 11. No clue. 12. The bass playing reminds me quite strongly of David Friesen. Can’t guess at the guitar. Nice track for me. 13. Better still. No ideas though. 14. Sounds a bit like Jacques Loussier – quite nice. 15. Tango – could it be Astor Piazzolla? 16. No ideas at all. 17. Ditto. 18. Bird tune which I know – good for manipulation! Bass clarinet - beautiful instrument. No guesses though. 19. Attractive tune. My favourite on the disk. 20. Turn Out the Stars of course but I don’t think it’s Bill Evans. Ups and downs for me but a nicely varied disk, Tjobbe. Sorry I cannot contribute more to the cause. I wonder if anyone else has already come up with answers, obvious or otherwise, which I’ve missed and so will be kicking myself soon.