I miss all these cats but Les was special to me.
Sad to see him go.
Statistics: Posted by rlfun — January 8th, 2024, 2:04 pm
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Statistics: Posted by rlfun — August 11th, 2020, 4:42 pm
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The SmallsLIVE Foundation Newsletter
March 23rd, 2020
Dear Friends:
Today the coronavirus claimed one of our own. Legendary jazz pianist Mike Longo passed away last night in the ICU at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Mike just recently played at Mezzrow with his longtime musical partner Paul West. As usual, he played with swing and grace and the bebop authority that was rightfully his. We all knew he was ill. Getting around was hard for him but it didn't stop him from making his gig. Little did I know it would be the last time in my life that I would see him.
What can one say at a time like this? I don't want to mire myself in useless or infuriating platitudes. I'm not in a position to give advice or to say anything that everyone doesn't already know. Like everyone, I'm in a wait-and-see mindset, praying and hoping and trying to keep it together. One thing I do think is to be aware of the hidden danger of isolation. Please don't get me wrong, I am not advising breaking quarantine or behaving in careless or foolish activity. However, long term isolation and anxiety has psychological ramifications that we need to be aware of. Depression is a real threat here too. Try to be in communication with loved ones on a daily basis, particularly those who may be completely alone. Reach out, contact, connect. This is a time when compassion is at a premium. Be brave and strong for your loved ones, your friends, neighbors and even strangers. Fear and anxiety can cripple and cloud judgment at a time when our minds must be clear. Like all of us, I am trying to be patient and ride this out. I pray for the strength to see this calamity to its end. I pray for the return to our normal, daily life, which we don't realize is so precious until it's been taken away from us.
Our Jazz community has always been a family and remains so. A loss of one member is a loss for all of us. Many people have written to suggest that we continue to live stream from the club. It is something that I intend to do and will work hard to make it real. But for the moment, like all of us, I just have to sit tight and wait. I am thinking about all the cats, the scene, the hang, the music. In my heart of hearts I know it will return. My love to everyone. Be kind, be gentle. We will all make it through this trying time together.
With Love,
Spike
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Statistics: Posted by jtx — March 23rd, 2020, 9:53 am
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If you want to check out the music, just go to https://bluecoastmusic.com/doug-robinso ... 3Sgpa3Mwck.
And if you want to buy a copy (which of course I want you to do) there is another 30% discount running right now--download the WAV or FLAC versions and play them on a conventional stereo setup or your computer, or if you're an audiophile you might prefer the ultra high resolution DSD versions. Just use the discount code SUMMER30, whatever you choose.
Thanks,
Doug
Statistics: Posted by Jazzooo — August 15th, 2018, 8:13 pm
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Statistics: Posted by Jazzooo — July 13th, 2018, 12:16 pm
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Please visit the site and check out the full-length versions of the songs. You'll hear Peter Erskine, Mike Stern, Mike Miller, John Pattitucci, Bob Sheppard and several other killer players.
Cookie Marenco, an award-winning engineer and producer, remastered these tracks using Blue Coast's patented SEA technology and holy moly does it all sound beautiful. These are my favorite tracks from Plays Well With Others, Two Days in November, SitJazzDown, Let Freedom Swing, DuoTunes with Ken Basman plus some unreleased gems I've been dying to get out there.
You can choose the high-resolution format you want to download (WAV, FLAC or DSD) and if you order soon you'll get a 30% discount. That won't last but for now, it's happening!
Check it out:
https://bluecoastmusic.com/doug-robinso ... zVina3Mwck
Discount code is DAD30.
No CDs, download only.
Statistics: Posted by Jazzooo — June 28th, 2018, 3:31 pm
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SmallsLIVE/Mezzrow Newsletter
June 4th, 2018
My worknight was done. It was about 2:00 AM and the late show was in progress. Everyone had been paid and I was bushed – time to go home. Just as I was leaving I ran into my old friend Paul and we walked together uptown towards 14th street. It just so happens that on the corner of 14th and 7th ave is a place called the Donut Pub. Greenwich Villagers like myself know this place to be an artifact of another time. A place before Starbucks. A place like in the painting “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper who, coincidently, had lived around the corner. A place where a working person can sit down at a counter and drink a strong coffee and have an excellent, freshly made donut. No fancy latte with almond milk – just black-ass coffee and good donuts. Anyway this place still exists and Paul suggested that we stop in before we said goodbye. I readily agreed. The Donut Pub is a familiar place to me. I am a sucker for a late-night tuna fish on whole wheat, which they do reasonable well there. The late-night counter guy knows me and, for some reason, always calls me “Michael”. I’m not sure how he knows my actual birth name when even my own mother calls me “Spike”.
2:00 AM is a good time to go to the Donut Pub because that's when they bring out fresh racks of piping hot donuts from the kitchen. They have all the classic flavors and some new ones as well. As I ordered my sandwich Paul perused the donut selection. “No cinnamon”, Paul said to me and I helped him search. Sure enough – no cinnamon. I called over to my friend the counterman and asked him why there was no cinnamon donuts. “I am very sorry, Michael, but we just sold out all of them.” Paul was crestfallen. I conciliatorily suggested a cruller or blueberry cake to him but he wasn’t interested. The counterman listened as we went back and forth. Then he said; “One moment, Michael, I have an idea!”. He took two of the still hot, glazed donuts and went back into the kitchen. In a moment he returned with both donuts coated in cinnamon. Paul’s eyes lit up. The counterman was smiling ear to ear. He had taken the opportunity to make a custom order just for my friend Paul.
It made me think of a book I had read once called “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. It's a wonderful book that I urge everyone to read if they can. The main topic is the idea of “quality” and what exactly “quality” is. The sprinkle of cinnamon made me think about corporatization and how it's slowly eroding our collective spirt. The commercialism of brands is destroying true, actual quality. I thought, man, if I was in a Dunkin Donut or Starbucks, would the guy run to the back of the kitchen to make up a special order just to make one customer happy? Would they even have the authority if they were so inspired? There it was in a nutshell for me. The quality of small business. Small business is the only way to insure true quality because quality is love – the love and pride of the business owner who wants to serve their loyal and beloved customers - their family. You don’t serve your family shit. As the corporations erode this quality of true customers service they thereby erode our spirits as we accept mediocrity as the norm. Smalls is just like the Donut Pub, from another era. We care PASSIONATELY that you love our jazz donuts. We want you to be a part of our family and enjoy what we have to offer on our menu. We are trying our very best to produce the highest quality jazz donuts and to pass on that quality, that love, to our beloved customers – you. We don’t want you to feel ripped off – we want you to be delighted and enhanced. We will try our best to get that cinnamon for you on that fresh jazz donut. Quality, love of service, a deep spiritual connection to one’s customers. It is an old idea and one that is becoming rarer and rarer. Beware America, it is vanishing right before our eyes.
Regards,
Spike
Statistics: Posted by jtx — June 3rd, 2018, 3:41 pm
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Statistics: Posted by jtx — May 19th, 2017, 1:56 pm
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Jazz superstar Gary Burton’s final concert tour stops in South Florida
By Steve Rothaus
Superstar jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton of Fort Lauderdale says this definitely is it: He’s in the midst of his final tour, 13 concerts in eight cities in 17 days.
Burton — who helped revolutionize modern jazz and then risked his career by coming out as gay in a 1994 NPR interview — is making another announcement that other big stars would dread. The seven-time Grammy winner, 74, says that when this brief tour is over, he’ll retire and never again play music, on stage or off.
“I only enjoy playing with people,” Burton says. “It just doesn’t seem very fulfilling or satisfying to play by myself, or to sit down and play the piano for a while and so on. Never has. I’ve always been somebody who wanted the live experience.”
Burton, whose final tour includes a Saturday night concert in South Florida, says he began contemplating the end of his half-century-plus career a few years ago, after he published his autobiography, “Learning to Listen: The Jazz Journey of Gary Burton,” and released what now will be his last album, “Guided Tour.”
“It increasingly makes me uncomfortable when I go out on stage and I don’t feel as confident that I’m going to have a great night,” Burton says. “I’m starting to have moments — what we call senior moments. I have them sometimes when I’m playing. I suddenly forget where I am in the song. So for a few seconds I’m fumbling and having to guess where the heck am I, how do I get back into it, and so on.”
Burton — who since his late 50s has had six heart surgeries, “some minor, two major” — says there’s nothing seriously wrong with him, just that he’s getting older and a bit forgetful and is no longer at the top of his game.
“I don’t think I’m sliding into Alzheimer’s or dementia or anything,” he says. “I compare it to other kinds of careers. ... What if you’re a heart surgeon in the middle of an operation and suddenly you’re scrambled a little bit and have to regroup mentally to go on? Those are obvious examples where lives are risk. Nobody’s life is at risk if my solo bombs, but it’s a similar thing.”
Vibraphonist Gary Burton: 'A gay guy who happens to be a jazz musician'
Seven-time Grammy winner Gary Burton is one of the world's best-known jazz vibraphonists. But until late middle age, even Burton didn't know something crucial to his being: He's gay. - José Iglesias The Miami Herald
Burton and Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Ozone will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.
“In the whole spectrum of vibists, no one achieved the technical proficiency and the creative genius of Gary Burton,” says retired neurologist Dr. Ronald Weber, president of South Florida JAZZ, which will present Burton’s final South Florida performance. “He came from an unassuming background in the Midwest and is essentially self-taught and the most accomplished player ever on this instrument.
“Beyond that, he was one of the innovators of the jazz-rock fusion movement of the late 1960s,” Weber says. “He was hearing something that no one else was hearing in the jazz world at that time and wanted to incorporate some of the hard edge, exciting elements of rock music. But in doing so, the music was not at all edgy or inaccessible. It really was high-caliber jazz.”
Burton, who for 13 years has served as “artistic advisor” for South Florida JAZZ — helping Weber book some of the jazz world’s biggest stars into the intimate 498-seat Miniaci auditorium — says his final tour actually grew from the scheduled concert at Nova Southeastern.
“Ron knew I was going to stop and said, ‘Can I get you to play one more time for the jazz society? It’s our 25th year and it would be a great addition,’ ” Burton recalls. After Makoto agreed to play with him, Burton’s longtime agent, Ted Kurland, suggested they also do final gigs in a few of Burton’s favorite cities. “I said that sounds like a nice way to wrap things up. I ended up with a handful: Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis. Plus Fort Lauderdale.”
Kurland and Burton have known each other at least 45 years, and, according to the Kurland Agency’s website, Burton was its first client in 1975.
“Gary is the ultimate explorer and pathfinder,” Kurland says. “Musically, an awful lot of what he did, and at the time he did it, was breakthrough stuff. People now talk about the fusion of music genres.”
In the late 1960s and ’70s, Burton “was taking big chances across the line, experimenting with traditional jazz and contemporary rock,” Kurland said. “The first time I met Gary, when I walked into his office at the Berklee School of Music, I saw a poster, “Bill Graham presents Gary Burton with The Electric Flag and Cream. The jazzers — Gary’s group — they looked every bit as funky and radical as the rock guys.”
Kurland, who also represents jazz superstars including Ann Hampton Callaway, Arturo Sandoval, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis and Pat Metheny, says Burton has always made smart career decisions and been a role model for other major performers. “Our nickname for Gary was always ‘the chief.’ Gary was in charge. We should all do as well with managing our lives and who we are — and when it’s time to turn a corner.”
Burton taught himself to play the vibraphone as a boy in Indiana and made his recording debut at 17 in Nashville with guitarists Hank Garland and Chet Atkins. At 19, he began touring the world with pianist George Shearing. He joined saxophonist Stan Getz’s band in 1964, months after they recorded the monster hit “The Girl From Ipanema.” Burton can be seen playing vibes with Getz, the band and vocalist Astrud Gilberto in the 1964 film “Get Yourself a College Girl.”
In 1967, Burton left Getz and formed his own quartet, recording for RCA Records. In 1968, Down Beat magazine named him its youngest Jazzman of the Year.
In 1971, Burton began teaching percussion and improvisation at Berklee College of Music in Boston and eventually retired as the school’s executive vice president for daily operations.
Since the 1970s, Burton has worked at RCA, Atlantic Records, ECM Records, Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen’s GRP and Concord Jazz.
“I’ve recorded 66 albums as leader or co-leader,” Burton says. “I have no idea how many other records that I’ve guested on, sometimes just as a sideman, sometimes just one track or two. There’s been many dozens of those. We all do those through the years. I’ve completely lost track.”
Nor does he know how many live performances he’s given, guessing that in 54 years, he played about 5,400 concerts.
Along the way, he helped launch the careers of other modern jazz superstars, including close friends Corea and Metheny. “I figure I’ve done at least 2,000 [concerts] with Chick. We’ve been playing together for 45 years. That’s a lot of gigs. We’re not even a full-time band.”
Burton says he wants to “leave at a sensible time with dignity” and not end up like many aging jazz legends.
“Among the people I knew and have known well, like Lionel Hampton, for instance, who continued on after even having had three strokes,” Burton says. “At age 94, he was unable to play anymore, but he would go out on tours with his band and stand in front of a vibraphone and wave his mallets around, sort of conducting the band. He’d actually given up playing the thing because he was so arthritic at that point he could barely move.” Hampton, who began performing in the 1920s, died in 2002.
Burton says he has carefully assessed his own situation.
“Am I playing as well? Am I still able to tackle the most challenging pieces and consistently match the standards that I’ve always striven for?” he asked himself. “I noticed that as of about 2013, the last time I made a record, looking back, that was sort of a peak. Since then, I can see that my abilities to sight read, my abilities to memorize, my quickness at thinking while I’m in the process of playing is gradually changing and slowing down.”
Typically, artists compensate and improvise to trick co-workers and audiences, he says.
“Everybody ages some. You learn how to compensate. People like me who’ve been playing for decades, we know every trick in the book to cover up frailties, the mistakes, whatever,” he says. “There are ways of covering the mistakes, so that the audience doesn’t notice it. Other players don’t notice it at first. “At first, only you know you’re goofing in places. Eventually, the guys on the stage with you begin to notice it. And eventually people in the audience.”
Burton says that during his career, he played every state and countless nations around the world. From now on, he and husband Jonathan Chong will travel for their own enjoyment.
“I’ve saved up almost three million frequent-flyer miles from all the travel,” Burton says. “Our plan is to take a couple of vacations every year.” It’s so different when you go on vacation than when you have a concert schedule and you’re carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment, and you have four other people with you that you’re responsible for.”
Burton says he looks forward to becoming more involved in South Florida’s LGBTQ community. “I’m very interested in gay issues. Never really had time to get involved in fundraising and advocacy and political issues with the gay community, but I’d like to.”
The big question, according to Burton: “Do I stay involved in music at all?
“Do I serve on a Grammy committee, which I’ve done for years? Or do I continue to teach my online course for Berklee? How would I feel about that? Right now, part of me says it will become frustrating to talk about music and focus on music if I’m not able to participate in it and enjoy it myself. That may well become frustrating, so I’m kind of assuming that I’m going to move on to new interests in life. I figure I’ve got another 20, 25 years left in another phase of life. My mother’s 101, so at least gene-wise, if I don’t drink myself to death, I’ll be living a fairly long life.”
Superstar vibraphonist Gary Burton, left,
with husband Jonathan Chong in their
Fort Lauderdale home in 2013. Burton,
who announced his retirement, has won
seven Grammy Awards.
CHARLES TRAINOR JR. Miami Herald File
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c ... rylink=cpy
Statistics: Posted by Ron Thorne — May 17th, 2017, 3:16 pm
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I've been continuing operating 'Ayler Records' and 'SansBruit' labels, with varied degrees of success.
You can find the Ayler Records releases at and on bandcamp at
The SansBruit releases can be found on bandcamp at
Both entities are still active (if sometimes a little slowed down...) and can be followed on FaceBook, respectively at (for Ayler Records - most communications are posted in English) and (for SansBruit - sorry... French only/mostly).
Hoping you'll find something of interest to your ears here and there.
Orders are always welcome and shipping costs worldwide come included [ most Ayler Records releases can also be found/ordered through 'Squidco' in the US (they're based in North Carolina), who have been very supportive over the years) ].
Currently working on a couple of new releases for Ayler Records and a couple for SansBruit, all four due in June 2017.
The wonderful musicians involved are Alexandra Grimal, Benjamin Duboc, Valentin Ceccaldi, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Daunik Lazro, Didier Lasserre, Sophia Domancich, and so on...
Best to all, on my way to the "Wahat are you listening to?" thread, if that's still exist
.Statistics: Posted by jaka — May 14th, 2017, 2:47 am
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http://www.mosaicrecords.com
Dear Mosaic Friend,
In this time and place, the Mosaic business model is becoming harder and harder to sustain in this rapidly changing world. We aren't sure what the future will hold for us, but we want to let all of you know how much we appreciate that your support has allowed us to constantly make our dreams come true with set after set and that we intend to persevere. The way we operate may change but our mandate remains steadfast.
Charlie Lourie and I started Mosaic Records in 1982 and our first releases were in 1983. The company was almost an afterthought. The idea of definitive boxed sets of complete recordings by jazz masters at a crucial time in their careers was a small part of a proposal that we made to Capitol Records in 1982 to relaunch the Blue Note label. Even before Capitol turned us down, it occurred to me one night that the release of these boxed sets could be a business unto itself if we made them deluxe, hand-numbered limited editions sold directly to the public.
Our first release was The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk, which came about because I'd found about 25 minutes of excellent unissued Monk on Blue Note. It was too short for an album and I was obsessed with how to get this music released. . It then dawned on me that all of this important material needed to be retransferred and assembled in chronological order as a significant historic document. I solved my problem of releasing those 25 minutes of Monk music and Mosaic Records was born. We had a wonderful run of projects. The Tina Brooks, Herbie Nichols, Serge Chaloff, Count Basie and Nat Cole sets were among those that were especially near and dear to our hearts.
Charlie was my best friend and working together was a joy. Mosaic was slow getting started and it took a few years before we could even draw a meager salary. I remember during those lean years worrying if we could afford to put out a Tina Brooks set. Charlie looked at me in amazement. "Isn't that why we started this thing - to do what's important without anyone telling us no?!" He only had to say it once.
In 1989, we moved out of Charlie's basement and into our own facility. Scott Wenzel joined us in 1987. We added employees as the business grew. We started issuing sets on CD as well as LP and eventually had our own website.
We lost Charlie to scleroderma on December 31, 2000. We managed to keep the tone and spirit of the company up to the level that Charlie created and continued to put out thoroughly researched vital sets of importance in jazz history. But in the early 2000s, the record business began to shrink and morph for a variety of reasons and we were forced to downsize our staff, move to smaller quarters and reduce the flow of sets.
We've always tried to be diligent about warning you when sets were running low so you wouldn't miss out on titles that you wanted. But at this point, some sets which are temporarily out of stock may not be pressed again. We are not certain how Mosaic Records will continue going forward or how many more sets we will be able to create and release. We've got a lot of great plans but few resources.
Scott and I want to thank every single person who has supported us, made suggestions, given advice and shown us such love and affection. If you are thinking about acquiring a certain set, now's the time.
- Michael Cuscuna
__________________
Very sad to learn that Mosaic Records is in jeopardy. I have a wonderful Mosaic Records memory. In the early 90s, I got a call from my friend, the late Bob Belden. He knew that I grew up listening to Maynard Ferguson, especially his Roulette Recordings. And he knew that Mosaic was planning on releasing the 10 CD set, Maynard Ferguson, The Complete Roulette Recordings. "Give Michael Cuscuna a call. I told him about you."
I first met Michael in the late 60s, when he was a DJ at WABC-FM in New York, playing the Mothers of Invention alongside John Coltrane. He then became a producer for Muse Records, and eventually was the prime force behind Blue Note Records reissue renaissance in addition to starting Mosaic Records with his friend Charlie Lourie.
So I called Michael and a few days later drove up to Stamford to hang with Michael and Charlie. A dream assignment for me, certainly, writing about something I loved, at length, and being paid a princely sum.
As soon as I walked in the door at the Mosaic offices, I was home. Charlie, who departed much much too soon, was a warm and welcoming presence. The three of us bonded around our shared enthusiasm for the music.
I spent the next month interviewing the surviving members of Maynard's early to mid 60s big band, becoming friends with Mike Abene and Ronnie Cuber. I heard the band live in 1965 at Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut and Mike and Ronnie were on that gig!
Maynard wouldn't talk. Bad memories. Morris Levy, who served as the bridge between organized crime and the record business, owned the label and the club, Birdland, the band's New York home. Their relationship ended acrimoniously and Maynard never collected the sizeable royalties he deserved.
Nevertheless, I wrote the booklet for the boxed set, some of the best music writing I've done, including a re-creation, "One Night at Birdland," when they did the live recording that was the first LP I ever purchased.
Sadly, that boxed set is now out of print. It's being sold on Amazon and Ebay for $700!
Several years later, I interviewed Maynard for JazzTimes, during his 70th birthday celebration. I didn't mention the Roulette days. The interview is posted on YouTube.
And then a decade later, I produced some short promo videos for Mosaic, and did more hanging with Michael in Stamford, joined by Richard Corsello, who worked as Sonny Rollins' recording engineer. Michael and Richie grew up together.
Michael has done some seriously great work over the years, on record, and also producing the Blue Note Town Hall Celebration in the mid-80s. His dedication to Jazz and his extensive discography are his legacy. But he's not done yet!
- Bret Primack
Statistics: Posted by Ron Thorne — May 8th, 2017, 3:49 pm
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