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Overlooked pianists


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Stanley Cowell.

Still active and his new album "Juneteenth" just got a nice mini-review in the NY Times.

Pleased he's still active. Saw him a looong time ago - with Max Roach in the 60s and Woody Shaw in the 70s.

I'm jealous - have never seen him.

I REALLY would have liked to see the Strata East reunion in London earlier this year!
STRATA EAST LIVE SOUNDS SUBLIME AT BARBICAN 

Cowell and Tolliver are clearly long-term associates. They were both in that Roach group I saw in the late 60s - along with Odean Pope and Jymie Merritt. 

To turn the clock forward a good deal, Harper and McBee from the Strata East gig also toured with The Cookers which I saw at The Sage, Gateshead in April.

Wouldn't have been Pope in that Roach group.  He was still here in Philly playing with Catalyst.  Pope and Tyrone Brown (who belongs on the list of overlooked bass players) from Catalyst ended up with Roach a couple of decades later.  Cecil Bridgewater completed the 80's Roach quartet.  Gary Bartz was on the Roach album with Tolliver/Cowell/Merritt.

It certainly was Pope. Roach made a point of drawing attention to what he called the "old English names" of his group, suggesting a complicity in slavery on the part of the English audience.

Wow, that's interesting.  Pope was a total unknown then.  Thanks for the info.

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Gene DiNovi: jammed with Bird on 52nd Street at age 15, recorded with Lester on Aladdin in '47, was with Fats and Wardell on Goodman's "Stealin' Apples" date ... and that's just for starters.  He's been living in Toronto for many years ... now in his mid-eighties and still playing!

Q

Good call.  Gene DiNovi is a wonderful pianist.  I plan on ordering more music from his website this year.

I'm not sure whether he's been mentioned elsewhere, but Richard Wyands is another pianist who gets overlooked for some reason. This might be to his relatively few leader dates, but he has been so active and consistent as a sideman that his low profile among the listening public is mystifying.  I finally saw him perform last month at Mezzrow and his playing is still impeccable.  Like DiNovi, he turned 87 his year, and I'm glad that they are both active and appear to be aging well (much like their music).

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Stanley Cowell.

Still active and his new album "Juneteenth" just got a nice mini-review in the NY Times.

Pleased he's still active. Saw him a looong time ago - with Max Roach in the 60s and Woody Shaw in the 70s.

I'm jealous - have never seen him.

I REALLY would have liked to see the Strata East reunion in London earlier this year!
STRATA EAST LIVE SOUNDS SUBLIME AT BARBICAN 

Cowell and Tolliver are clearly long-term associates. They were both in that Roach group I saw in the late 60s - along with Odean Pope and Jymie Merritt. 

To turn the clock forward a good deal, Harper and McBee from the Strata East gig also toured with The Cookers which I saw at The Sage, Gateshead in April.

Wouldn't have been Pope in that Roach group.  He was still here in Philly playing with Catalyst.  Pope and Tyrone Brown (who belongs on the list of overlooked bass players) from Catalyst ended up with Roach a couple of decades later.  Cecil Bridgewater completed the 80's Roach quartet.  Gary Bartz was on the Roach album with Tolliver/Cowell/Merritt.

It certainly was Pope. Roach made a point of drawing attention to what he called the "old English names" of his group, suggesting a complicity in slavery on the part of the English audience.

The first time I ever saw Roach or Billy Harper was with that great quartet in 1977 at the Keystone Korner. I saw Max a handful of times after that (incl w/Odean) and still see Billy whenever I can. The Cookers most recently; probably 4-5 times total.

"Members, Don't Git Weary" is a great album - but much too short!

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Speaking of Billy...is Francesca Tanksley still around? She was a remarkably sympathetic pianst for Billy's music and had one really nice trio album of her own a while back. Have not heard much of her since, though, hope she is both alive and well.

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Speaking of Billy...is Francesca Tanksley still around? She was a remarkably sympathetic pianst for Billy's music and had one really nice trio album of her own a while back. Have not heard much of her since, though, hope she is both alive and well.

I think I saw somewhere that Billy performed with his quintet recently and she was in it.

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That's good to know. Very adroit and sensitive player, and definitely overlooked.

Yes, good call.  Did not realize she had put out  a trio recording, will have to watch for it.

Stanley Cowell.

Still active and his new album "Juneteenth" just got a nice mini-review in the NY Times.

Pleased he's still active. Saw him a looong time ago - with Max Roach in the 60s and Woody Shaw in the 70s.

I'm jealous - have never seen him.

I REALLY would have liked to see the Strata East reunion in London earlier this year!
STRATA EAST LIVE SOUNDS SUBLIME AT BARBICAN 

Cowell and Tolliver are clearly long-term associates. They were both in that Roach group I saw in the late 60s - along with Odean Pope and Jymie Merritt. 

To turn the clock forward a good deal, Harper and McBee from the Strata East gig also toured with The Cookers which I saw at The Sage, Gateshead in April.

Wouldn't have been Pope in that Roach group.  He was still here in Philly playing with Catalyst.  Pope and Tyrone Brown (who belongs on the list of overlooked bass players) from Catalyst ended up with Roach a couple of decades later.  Cecil Bridgewater completed the 80's Roach quartet.  Gary Bartz was on the Roach album with Tolliver/Cowell/Merritt.

It certainly was Pope. Roach made a point of drawing attention to what he called the "old English names" of his group, suggesting a complicity in slavery on the part of the English audience.

The first time I ever saw Roach or Billy Harper was with that great quartet in 1977 at the Keystone Korner. I saw Max a handful of times after that (incl w/Odean) and still see Billy whenever I can. The Cookers most recently; probably 4-5 times total.

"Members, Don't Git Weary" is a great album - but much too short!

I saw the same group at the same venue.  Triple feature with Bobby Hutcherson group and Dexter Gordon quintet (basically Dexter with some of the musicians from the other two groups, IIRC).  Reggie Workman, with Roach that night, melted my brain he was so amazing.  Saw Jon Hendricks's "Evolution of the Blues" on the same trip (my parents lived in Bay Area at that time), ca '76-'77.  Great trip. 

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MI0002504745.jpgAnother that just came to mind. Jack Wilson. I have his three Blue Note recordings, which are all fine. Outside of those, I don't recall anything else, but he was a fine player0

This is my favorite Jack Wilson album out of the ones I've heard. Similar quartet on Ramblin', which was on Vault, and that too is excellent. I don't get as excited about Easterly Winds as some people do.

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Doubt if she has much of a presence outside the UK (even here she's better known in the North) but I've loved listening to Nikki Iles on disc and live since the early 90s. Out of the Bill Evans/John Taylor strand of piano jazz (can't see her making a jazz tribute to Black Sabbath CD in the near future) - would be enjoyed, I suspect, by those taken by Lynne Arriale. 

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