Comments on: Who’s Alive?

By: Marvin Goffe

Marvin Goffe — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 15:05:17 +0000

How about my boss the great bassist Ron Carter?

By: Olivier

Olivier — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 14:53:21 +0000

I saw Johnny Griffin first in Alfortville, France in 2001. He was playing with Steve Grossman, Alain Jean-Marie and Pierre Michelot (who died in 2005). He played great especially on a Loverman solo feature that my dad and I still remember fondly.
I saw him a second time in Paris at L’Olympia in 2005. He was playing with Kenny Garrett. He could barely walk across the stage but still managed to play well on a few tunes.
I saw Phil Woods in Paris in 2008. He was playing with Pierrick Pedron and Alain Jean-Marie. He played great and signed some of my CDs including The Individualism of Gil Evans, Quincy Jones’ This Is How I Feel About Jazz, Quincy Jones’ The Quintessence, Quincy Jones’ Live at the Alhambra ’60, and Legrand Jazz. He complained that none of the CDs were his 🙂

By: Albin aka 'Albinoni/nstagram'

Albin aka 'Albinoni/nstagram' — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 22:28:31 +0000

Just remembering, like so many above (thanks!)..
Last year North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam.. listened to Pharaoh Sanders with my (then) 10 years old daughter (she fell asleep, but was amused as well).
Three (?) years earlier: Benny Golson telling stories and playing in-between (really good stil). Also saw Martial Solal then.. Dutch improvised jazz veteran Han Bennink as well.
2005: McCoy Tyner, NSJ still on the original location in The Hague..
Before that.. 1988!! Oscar Peterson.. Gerry Mulligan, Willem Breuker.. And: Art Blakey!! (still wondering who was playing with him back then).
Some good memories there!

By: N. N.

N. N. — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 17:09:36 +0000

Hal Singer, who started with Ernie Fields’s territory band in Tulsa in the late 1930s, and first recorded with Roy Eldridge in 1944, is still alive – and taking bookings, according to his website! Also making the 1949 cutoff date, and not already mentioned, are Sammy Nestico (first recorded 1946), Candido (1948) and Marshall Allen (1949).

If we admit big band vocalists, there are some who really take the cake, such as Vera Lynn (first recorded 1935) and Doris Day (1940)…

By: Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 20:06:44 +0000

oh yeah, the Danish scene is really rich and has been for decades. Probably not too many Americans know about it, alas. Many of my favorite jazz players are from that part of Europe.

By: Kristian kristiansen

Kristian kristiansen — Sat, 09 Feb 2019 22:36:10 +0000

Just to say that there are still intimate small clubs around with the kind of jazz we love now played by a young genration of wonderfull musicians taking their inspiration in the 50s and 60s but adding their own touch. Both Gothenburg and Copenhagen have such clubs, yesterday I attended a friday afternoon concert at Jazzcup in Copenhagen, max capacity 50-60 people, with Jan Harbech tenor, Magnus Hjort piano,Snorre Kirk drums. They are superb muscicians with a line of CDs that you will find on Stunt Record. Check out and you will be surpriced. I heard all the great Americans since the mid 60s but these guys equal them
Kristian

By: Michael Gilson

Michael Gilson — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 02:22:17 +0000

Thanks for this post. I feel privileged to have seen Jimmy (Little Bird) and Al (Tootie) Heath play a superb set in a tiny club (capacity 75!) during the Montreal jazzfest about five years ago. I was accompanied by my wife, my usual concert buddy, and my dad, who has since left the planet, and who introduced me to jazz back in the 70s via the MJQ and Miles (although it took me decades to get into the genre seriously, via an interest in vinyl and a focus on the great hard bop and soul jazz artists). Dad and I chatted with Jimmy and Al afterward, and Dad mentioned having seen their brother Percy with the MJQ in the late 50s. The evening remains one of my fondest memories of my Dad in his later years.

By: Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 15:47:14 +0000

Yeah, I’m a few years older than you and feel the same way. Never did see Woods or Griff play, though. What a treat!

By: Olivier

Olivier — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 15:22:07 +0000

If you refer to the Great Day in Harlem photograph, only Benny Golson and Sonny Rollins are still alive.

I feel very blessed to have seen the following major jazz artists play live: Rabih Abou-Khalil, Geri Allen ?, Ron Carter, André Ceccarelli, Jimmy Cobb, Ornette Coleman ?, Steve Coleman, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin ?, Steve Grossman, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Ahmad Jamal, Keith Jarrett, Lee Konitz, Didier Lockwood ?, Joe Lovano, Magma, Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, Michel Portal, Enrico Rava, Pharoah Sanders, Jack Sheldon, Archie Shepp, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Randy Weston ?, Phil Woods ?, and John Zorn.

I have chased some of them specifically because they were getting in their later years. Some of them were great (Johnny Griffin, Bobby McFerrin, McCoy Tyner), some of them less so.

I do feel that I was the very last generation (I am 37) to have had this opportunity.

By: Olivier

Olivier — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 15:18:15 +0000

If you refer to the Great Day in Harlem photograph, only Benny Golson and Sonny Rollins are still alive.

I have chased some of them specifically because they were getting in their later years. Some of them were great (Johnny Griffin, Bobby McFerrin, McCoy Tyner), some of them less so.

I do feel that I was the very last generation (I am 37) to have had this opportunity.