Cecil Payne

[B. Goren.]

What a great baritone player Cecil Payne is!!! I think he can stand in the same line with Pepper Adams, Mulligan, Serge Chaloff and some other great names of the jazz history. His recordings for Delmark are among my favorite recordings of the 90's. BTW: He sounds great also on flute. Another good reason to listen to his Delmark recordings is the great Harold Mabern who's doing a perfect job. Even Eric Alexander who never was my favorite tenor player sounds good when he plays with Payne. Any other Payne's fans here???

Edited May 6, 2006 by B. Goren.

[White Lightning]

Count me in as a Cecil Payne fan!

Indeed, his Delmarks are constantly good ones, not just for Payne's playing, which has less chops than he had in the 50s, but also for the excellent sidemen he got.

Eric Alexander is great on all those Delamrks, and I also think he was somewhat responsible for the reemergence of Payne in the 90s.

The following 2 Delmarks are also recommended:

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I think the only Payne I've got (apart from in my back) is with Jimmy Smith, on "Six views of the blues", which has a bit of a strange sound to it. But Cecil's playing is very nice on that, though I prefer Leo Parker, Leroy "Hog" Cooper & Ronnie Cuber.

Those Delmarks that have been posted look interesting. Can I see Marcus Belgrave's name on "Scotch & milk"?

MG

[jazzbo]

I've two of these Delmarks and like them. Should work on getting the others.

I really like the old Savoy lp under his name, and the Charlie Parker Records session too.l

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

His sextet played The Kitano last night and a friend who was there tells me that he was wheeled in and despite the diminished lung capacity still gave a pretty strong performance.

[bertrand]

Where's the Kitano?

Bertrand.

[John Tapscott]

  The Magnificent Goldberg said:

Those Delmarks that have been posted look interesting. Can I see Marcus Belgrave's name on "Scotch & milk"?

MG

Indeed, you can. "Scotch and Milk" is an excellent CD. So too is "Chic Boom", which is the other Payne Delmark CD I have. I would recommend them both. A strong front line, of course, and the rhythm sections are really smokin' on these dates.

[jazzbo]

http://www.kitano.com/default.htm

?

[paul secor]

Glad to hear that Cecil Payne is still playing for audiences.

Brooklyn Brothers, from 1973 on Xanadu, co-led with Duke Jordan, is another very fine date. I'll try and check out at least one of the Delmarks at some point.

[BruceH]

I love Payne (Cecil, that is) and am now feeling mighty left out that I don't have any of those Delmarks. I should work on rectifying that.

[catesta]

  Son-of-a-Weizen said:

His sextet played The Kitano last night and a friend who was there tells me that he was wheeled in and despite the diminished lung capacity still gave a pretty strong performance.

Weizen, sounds like your friend had a better experience than sheldonm did on Wednesday night.

[BFrank]

Thanks for the heads-up. Most of those Delmarks and the Xanadu are available on eMusic. I'll have to do a little downloading ...

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I'm going the Thumper route here... "If ya can't say nuthin' good, don't say nuthin' at all".

Edited May 7, 2006 by Kevin Bresnahan

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

  catesta said:

  Son-of-a-Weizen said:

His sextet played The Kitano last night and a friend who was there tells me that he was wheeled in and despite the diminished lung capacity still gave a pretty strong performance.

Weizen, sounds like your friend had a better experience than sheldonm did on Wednesday night.

That's 'cause Mark was standing too close to him snapping 60 pics w/some monster flash and blinding the poor guy!

[Clunky]

  Son-of-a-Weizen said:

  catesta said:

  Son-of-a-Weizen said:

His sextet played The Kitano last night and a friend who was there tells me that he was wheeled in and despite the diminished lung capacity still gave a pretty strong performance.

Weizen, sounds like your friend had a better experience than sheldonm did on Wednesday night.

That's 'cause Mark was standing too close to him snapping 60 pics w/some monster flash and blinding the poor guy!

I thought he didn't use flash

[sheldonm]

.....I don't use flash and Cecil has actually gone blind over the past year or so; I'm not to blame for that! Although I was thrilled to see Cecil at the Kitano, he did not play well. Many short, painful solos and Cecil acknowledged to me that he was not playing well and hadn't played for the past couple months. It was a thrill to speak to him, wonderful guy. I belive Eric Alexander really loves this guy and is doing all he can to keep him playing. Cecil told me Eric gives him energy!

Anyway, here are a few images from the show.

m~

[sheldonm]

....and

[sheldonm]

...and

[sheldonm]

...and cheering on Alexander's solo.

Edited May 7, 2006 by sheldonm

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

  sheldonm said:

...and cheering on Alexander's solo.

That's a nice one; he really doesn't look well in the others.

MG

[B. Goren.]

Thanks for the images Mark. I'll take this opportunity to wish Mr. Payne good health and all the best.

[White Lightning]

  B. Goren. said:

Thanks for the images Mark. I'll take this opportunity to wish Mr. Payne good health and all the best.

What Bentsy said

[sheldonm]

Cecil appears to be in good spirits and loves the chance to play, he's just 84 long years old and it takes it's toll on you....hard to believe with the great health care these guys got over the years.

m~

[Soul Stream]

Don't know how he played, but he LOOKS cool. I think I saw Miles with those same shades on in the 70's Yeah, I'm a Cecil fan for sure.

Edited May 8, 2006 by Soul Stream

[Peter Friedman]

Some other nice Cecil Payne CDs that I don't think were mentioned include:

Cecil Payne - Performing Charlie Parker Music - Collectables

Cecil Payne - Stop And Listen To ... - Fresh Sound

The Cecil Payne Quartet - Casbah - Stash