Realized that Silver Linings Playbook featured a cut off Brubeck plays Bernstein plays Brubeck. And it was pretty awesome. One of the few great albums I "borrowed" from my dad.

Cross-linking to the KPFA In Your Ear broadcast featuring the Steve Berrios interview/music sampler, from the Kid's mention in the obits thread

never saw this photo before



pretty sweet

Hipsters.

didn't think people head banged back then.

Big Jay had a foot in R&B & jazz, almost literally, playing the clubs that dotted Central Avenue.
A bit like "Indian Jacket" (Mingus' name for Illinois Jacquet) in style; lots of 'showbiz'

Cedar Walton died a few days ago. Apparently Coltrane had planned to tap him to record Giant Steps with him

Good story on how it came not to be for Walton, and DID come to be for...well, you probably don't know or remember, and won't if you don't read the story....

I believe most/all of our jazz tribe is NOT in Philadelphia, but if any are, here's a treat for this Friday:

Jaleel Shaw @jaleelshaw
PHILLY! I'll be playing @ the @philamuseum w/ my 4tet ft Lawrence Fields, Boris Kozlov, & @JohnathanBlake1 this Fri! facebook.com/events/6651537…

Shaw's a ripping alto sax guy - this apparently a tuneup for his Saturday date at the Charlie Parker Jazz Fest in NYC's Marcus Garvey Park

EDIT: forgot to mention (plain forgot): Shaw grew up in Philadelphia

drsmooth wrote:Cedar Walton died a few days ago. Apparently Coltrane had planned to tap him to record Giant Steps with him

Good story on how it came not to be for Walton, and DID come to be for...well, you probably don't know or remember, and won't if you don't read the story....

I didn't read the story but I know that it was Tommy Flanagan.

drsmooth wrote:Cedar Walton died a few days ago. Apparently Coltrane had planned to tap him to record Giant Steps with him

Good story on how it came not to be for Walton, and DID come to be for...well, you probably don't know or remember, and won't if you don't read the story....

That's a shame Cedar never recorded Giant Steps later on....

For those here not well versed in Jazz, "Giant Steps" written in 59, was a revolutionary hard bop song by Coltrane. It had a harmonic progression not seen before in Jazz and it was played at break-neck speed. The harmonic under-pinnings are similar to Axis-tonality in Bartok's music. Only Coltrane could really play it at that point.

Over the years Giant Steps is sort of a right of passage tune for jazz musicians and young guys. "Can you play Giant Steps" ?? Can you play it fast? I think I recounted this before in this thread but I remember talking to Bobby Watson Alto Player from Kansas City at Lasalle University in the 80's after a gig he did there and he said "George Coleman" (tenor player) he said, "thanks man, but George Coleman, he can play Giant Steps in all 12 keys!"

Even today, it eats a lot of guys up when it's super fast. Hard to connect your linear solo lines with the fast changing harmonies that are not a traditional blues or jazz progression.

I've been tracking versions of it since the 70's - there's a really strange solo Alto Sax version by Anthony Braxton (one of my thesis advisors in grad school) from the 1970's, Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba has a version that is sick on YouTube, I think we've covered this before and posted that and some others maybe in this thread or on the old Philaphans off topic site...

Cedar like a lot of guys of that era, were mostly self-taught with Jazz. He became a really really fine player.

I also saw Tommy Flanagan many years later and HE DID re-record Giant Steps in the 80's I think to redeem his getting his as* kicked on the original.

There's a Donald Byrd recoring called Mustang from around 64-65 on Blue Note and there's a tune called Fly Little Bird Fly -- and it's a very fast tempo and chord changes similar to Giant Steps - and they all get beat up on it except McCoy Tyner who smokes it... the greatest versions of Giant Steps besides Trane himself are McCoy at his heights ... sadly no longer able to play as he once did...

I think this has been posted here before, but it's awesome enough for a repost.

Philly the Kid wrote:

drsmooth wrote:Cedar Walton died a few days ago. Apparently Coltrane had planned to tap him to record Giant Steps with him

Good story on how it came not to be for Walton, and DID come to be for...well, you probably don't know or remember, and won't if you don't read the story....

I didn't read the story but I know that it was Tommy Flanagan.

We have a winner! What do we have for our contestants today, Johnnie?



Kid, I DO remember well you posting some terrific tubes of Giant Steps performances - great stuff

Also love TV's GS animation - I like the longer version of the tune. This one by Michael Levy is a visual mind-blower, but shortens the tune a ton (click image to play):

Kenny was my teacher in 1982. I auditioned for him that summer and started in the fall. I was living in Manhattan on 12th street btwn 6th and 7th. Kenny lived in Brooklyn. I once had a lesson with him in the morning and showed up to catch him gigging at Lush Life, almost asleep at night...but his fingers never stopped moving his eyes were closed. Philly born guy....

Hard sometimes for me to grasp a female from Japan doin this as it's not really her culture or cultural inheritance but hey - she's smoking...

Philly the Kid wrote:Hard sometimes for me to grasp a female from Japan doin this as it's not really her culture or cultural inheritance but hey - she's smoking...

She was at Newport this year, but not the day I was there

I love Pat Martino--Philly guy, a bit strange, snappy dresser, great guitarist.

Slowhand wrote:I love Pat Martino--Philly guy, a bit strange, snappy dresser, great guitarist.

Nice! I'm pretty new to Pat Martino, own El Hombre and his much more recent Live at Yoshi's, which also features his fellow Philadelphian Joey DeFrancesco on keyboards, and far, far from not least, drummer Billy Hart. Love is not too strong a term for my affection for the latter recording. For reasons I can't put my finger on I particularly enjoy Mac Tough as, literally, a driving tune (though the file I've linked seems to have been filtered; not as 'bright' as I hear it whizzing down the local highways).

Martino's personal story is, as several here probably already know, also the stuff of feature-length films

drsmooth wrote:Call me an optimist, call me sentimental, but any part of the things described in this article coming to pass would be great:

Dreams of a Harlem Jazz Rebirth

Haven't been to either yet, but Minton's is re-opened



as is Lenox Lounge.




Nice, though it looks like the money guy behind the Minton's revival has basically priced his place to suit his buddies waaaaay down Wall St way. Could change, who knows

Had meant to mention taking in Yosvany Terry's quintet during the Jazz & Colors event in Central Park a couple three weekends ago. Good stuff

Haven't read the story yet:

The President of the Cool (NY Times 12/18/13)

but liked the Hub-Tones-ish photo: