BERIGAN Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 I have to admit to not being familiar with him(might have seen the name somewhere, but never heard his music) I just got around to listening to a used cd I bought awhile ago at Media Play. Encore, recorded in 1955 from Savoy. Kenny Clarke and Hank Jones are on hand as well. Very nice! I won't say he is the most innovative player in the world, but he doesn't need to be, very good. Just surprised I haven't heard much about him, he worked with everyone from Charlie Barnet to T.S. Monk. A search here didn't seem to pull up much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 He's in his eighties, and last I heard, still playing strong. He kept a diary of all his gigs all through the years. I chatted with him between sets at a T.S. Monk gig. Real nice, down-to-earth guy. Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 Me too, of the Savoys in particular. Can't say I've kept up with his later work. Good news that he's still playing strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 What I've heard , I've liked. Not in the pantheon, but very nice playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 He's also on some of Gil Mellé's BN sides, performed with Mingus at the Bohemia (Debut) and with Monk at Town Hall (Riverside). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 I am not a Bert's expert, but I love his playing with Mingus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 I have a couple of his Fresh Sound vinyl reissues which I have yet to give an extensive listen to. 'I Hear Music - Modern Music' (originally on Concert Hall) 'Let's Dig Bert' (originally on Trans-World). What I've heard so far sounds pretty good indeed. Very nice 50s modern-mainstream sessions. Richard Williams' Miles Davis book also has a great photo of Eddie chatting at a club gig with Miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted September 6, 2005 Report Share Posted September 6, 2005 His name always had a positive association for me. One of those guys who always seems to bring something to a gig. But I never really focussed on him. Perhaps now is the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dorward Posted September 7, 2005 Report Share Posted September 7, 2005 Yeah Bert sounds great on what little I've heard--with Mingus & Melle. Incidentally another underrated trombonist worth checking out: Willie Dennis. He's on a few Mingus albums but barely gets a solo on those I've heard; the one spot I've heard him solo at length is on Ronnie Ball's All About Ronnie, another obscure Savoy worth picking up (it was cut out about 5 years ago & maybe copies are still floating around). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Andresen Posted September 7, 2005 Report Share Posted September 7, 2005 Try (if you can find it - I believe it is only on vinyl) "Musician of the Year" (Savoy) - In my opinion this is his best his best effort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonm Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 'I Hear Music - Modern Music' (originally on Concert Hall) I second this one!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted September 9, 2005 Report Share Posted September 9, 2005 I have all his appearances with Mingus and the two Savoys, and I really like his playing. Really like Willie Dennis as well. And Knepper. Mingus used the best. And Woodman. And Jackson. Etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Not to derail the thread, but Willie Dennis is a key part of my favorite Gary McFarland CD: Point Of Departure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Only have the Savoy cd, like most everybody else. Nice but not spectacular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Marc Myers is running a great interview/history series on Bert this week at JazzWax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 I must have missed this thread last time... "Musician of the Year" is indeed fine, it was the first Bert I had (a reissue LP). The date with J.R. Monterose is possibly even better, though... all of that material for Savoy has been collected on a great 2CD set by Fresh Sound, recently: Eddie Bert Quartet & Quintet - Crosstown (2CD) Fresh Sound in addition offers a single disc with very, very good 1953/54 sessions by Bert with bands including Vinnie Dean (as), Sal Salvador (g), Duke Jordan (p) and Sal Mosca (p - on one session only): Eddie Bert Quintet - Kaleidoscope Definitely an underrated musician here that many more jazz fans ought to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 One of the finest saxophone-influenced (specifically Lester Young) trombone players, along with Willie Dennis. Jimmy Knepper, too, but Knepper is so Knepper that he strikes me as being more in a zone of his own; with Bert, Dennis, and a few others, the kinship seems clear. There's also Earl Swope (1922-68), who kind of took one part Lester and added two parts Dickie Wells (easy to do, at least conceptually, given the great Basie recordings where Pres and Wells both solo). Swope was very influential but not, I'm fairly sure, on Bert, who also was born in 1922 and was soloing on record with Red Norvo as early as 1941-2. Getting back to Bert's playing in itself, the melodic continuity/rhythmic fluidity and overall freshness of his playing on "Crosstown" and "Kaleidoscope" is something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Friedman Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 I have a couple of CDs on Fresh Sound by Eddie Bert that I believe have not been mentioned. Eddie Bert - The Human Factor - FSR 5005 with Jerry Dodgion, Carmen Leggio, Duke Jordan, Ray Drummond & Mel Lewis Recorded in November 1987 Eddie Bert & J.R. Monterose - Live At Birdland - FSR 198 with Ben Aronov,Bill Crow, & Eddie Locke Recorded in September 1991 Both these CDs are worth getting if you like these musicians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyo Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 If someone can help me find a CD of Eddie's Savoy album Encore that would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 8, 2007 Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 If someone can help me find a CD of Eddie's Savoy album Encore that would be greatly appreciated. It's part of the "Crosstown" 2CD package, as are Bert's two other Savoys. Mighty fine stuff! I think the date with Monterose is spread over "Encore" and the third (besides "Musician of the Year") album, so getting that package is good anyway, to have it all in one place. Larry, how about Urbie Green, wouldn't he fit in there with Dennis & Bert, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted December 8, 2007 Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 Larry, how about Urbie Green, wouldn't he fit in there with Dennis & Bert, too? I like Green, who was reputed to be (and certainly sounds like) a genius instrumentalist as well as a very tasty player, but I don't think he had as much saxophone conception going as Bert and Dennis did. Also, a certain rounded-off shapeliness of phrasing seems to come so readily to Green (as did just about everything else on the trombone) that I feel that he often rested content at that admitttedly elegant level, while for Bert and Dennis it was more like ever onward. BTW, Green fans should look for the Fresh Sound reissue (on a single CD) of his two (or two of his, don't recall which it is) ABC-Paramount albums, a small group date with Jimmy Raney and a big band album with John Carisi charts, including "Springsville," which features Green and is treated as a kind of walking ballad. The big band date is not as adventurous as one might wish -- the goal seems to have been to produce a musically superior version of Les Elgart -- but within those limits the playing and writing are very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewHill Posted December 8, 2007 Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 If someone can help me find a CD of Eddie's Savoy album Encore that would be greatly appreciated. There's a store in Pittsburgh that has, I think, two copies of the Bert Savoy. They're used at $8 a piece. PM me if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted December 8, 2007 Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 If someone can help me find a CD of Eddie's Savoy album Encore that would be greatly appreciated. Presumably, you're not interested in dropping $108 on a cd? .......then again, maybe you are?? http://cgi.ebay.com/Encore-Eddie-Bert_W0QQ...VQQcmdZViewItem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyo Posted December 8, 2007 Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 If someone can help me find a CD of Eddie's Savoy album Encore that would be greatly appreciated. It's part of the "Crosstown" 2CD package, as are Bert's two other Savoys. Mighty fine stuff! I think the date with Monterose is spread over "Encore" and the third (besides "Musician of the Year") album, so getting that package is good anyway, to have it all in one place. Wow, thanks a lot! I somehow missed this compilation. Yeah, it's from our Andorran friends once again but since Savoy still can't be bothered to release their stuff in complete form (the Montage compilation contained the rest of the Crosstown material and some other tracks from various artists that I've been waiting for them to issue on CD as well). So the sound quality of the Fresh Sound set is good then? There's a store in Pittsburgh that has, I think, two copies of the Bert Savoy. They're used at $8 a piece. PM me if you're interested. Thanks a lot for the offer, I really appreciate it and if it wasn't for ubu's post I would've gladly taken you up on your offer. But that compilation makes more sense for me after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewHill Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 If someone can help me find a CD of Eddie's Savoy album Encore that would be greatly appreciated. It's part of the "Crosstown" 2CD package, as are Bert's two other Savoys. Mighty fine stuff! I think the date with Monterose is spread over "Encore" and the third (besides "Musician of the Year") album, so getting that package is good anyway, to have it all in one place. Wow, thanks a lot! I somehow missed this compilation. Yeah, it's from our Andorran friends once again but since Savoy still can't be bothered to release their stuff in complete form (the Montage compilation contained the rest of the Crosstown material and some other tracks from various artists that I've been waiting for them to issue on CD as well). So the sound quality of the Fresh Sound set is good then? There's a store in Pittsburgh that has, I think, two copies of the Bert Savoy. They're used at $8 a piece. PM me if you're interested. Thanks a lot for the offer, I really appreciate it and if it wasn't for ubu's post I would've gladly taken you up on your offer. But that compilation makes more sense for me after all. No problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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