A new height of irony
"Iain Churches" wrote in message
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"roughplanet" wrote in message
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"Mark Harriss" wrote in message
. au...
TT wrote:
especially if some fine reds and few ports are consumed. Then the
reminiscing becomes embellishing ;-)
Heh, why else is it called "A Rosy Glow"?
Or a "Blue glow" from a tube amp playing Duke Ellington:-)
Now you're talking. I spent a marvellous evening last night playing a few
albums of Charlie Parker (I am a VERY big fan - more than 50 LP's & the
same number of CD's).
Hi Ruff.
Nice to see you posting here agan. Where have you been?
I gave this group a rest when the RAO circus was in town .
Yes, even after 54 years, Bird is still the main man. An incredibly
agile and fluid player with a fantastic technique and sense of melody.
There are some wonderful quotes attributed to him:
"You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice,
practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand,
forget all that and just wail."
My favourite Bird title is "Koko" (which funnily eough means "whole" or
"complete" in Finnish.)
If you don't have it already there is a fascinating album called
"Supersax plays Bird" which dates from, 1972. I have it on
both vinyl and CD. The latter is impeccably mastered.
Supersax was a band formed by Med Flory who transcribed
note for note some of Bird's solo, and arranged them for a whole
saxophone section - five players in a big band.
It's a brilliant CD - highly recommended.
I have the LP but regretfully, don't like large groups or orchestras,
which is probably why I never warmed to Basie. Just don't dig the
often rigid arrangements which prevent many soloists from letting loose.
Johnny Hodges was another fine alto player, as was the lesser-
known Marshal Royal from the Count Basie Orchestra. His book
"Jazz Survivor" makes interesting reading.
Yes, Johhny Hodges was a fine musician, but again, spent a good deal
of his time playing in orchestras. I only have a couple of his LP's where
he was playing in a quartet.
One of my favourite alto players was Earl Bostic the pioneer R+B
saxophonist.. He had a very distinctive "growl" tone . His version
of Flamingo was a huge hit in the early fifties. He seems to have
influenced many players including John Coltrane.
I confess my (partial) ignorance of Earl Bostic, again because most of his
music was in octets or nonets. I do have two of his early LP's; 'All his
Hits' & 'Earl Bostic & his Orchestra' neither of which I like much as IMO,
he seems to be an R&B/Jazz crossover with a strident & at times, overdone
beat.
I don't know whether you have it in Oz, but in this part of the
world Bostik is a name of a glue. A pal of mine in the UK who
does transcriptions and remastering, was compiling an Earl Bostic
album, and gave it the working title "Stuck on Bostic" I don't
know if it was released under that name.
It was truly awsome to hear the recordings from his heyday back in the
late 40's & early 50's, especially one rather noisy recorded album called
'Charkie Parker Live at St. Nicks'. But it didn't alter the quality of
his
playing, which was simply amazing - effortless blowing & improvisation of
the highest order. I was in Seventh Heaven. He truly was 'The Master' and
even guys like John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Sony Rollins & Sonny Stitt were
just wannabe's when compared to Bird.
Now you've got me started. I have a good selection of Parker material. I
shall dig some out later today, and have a listen:-)
As the song says...."Oh what a night', but alas, no port or red wine .
Those days are over for me, but I did manage a small tipple of JW's Blue
Label on ice. Ahhhhhhhh....smooth as a baby's bottom :-).
Excellent, even without the ice:-) Are you partial to Irish whiskeys?
Jamesons and Bushmills seem to both be highly regarded.
Yes Iain, I LOVE Irish whiskey. I have several bottles of Jamieson's 12 Year
Old, a bottle of Jamieson's Triple Distilled, a bottle of Black Bush & a
bottle of Bushmills 10 year old (now 20) Single Malt in my cocktail cabinet.
And only one of them (the 12 year old Jamiesons) has ever been opened :-(.
ruff
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