"Changeless" is one of my favorites from the Trio. But then the consistency of excellence in these recordings is high.
A few months (I think) ago I found Kenny Barron's Scratch in a record store and had never heard of it before. I've played it quite a bit since then. While it definitely has the sonic sheen of a mid-80s digital recording, Barron is especially inventive.
Did you know that Lester Young fashioned and created the legendary Pork Pie Hat that became his trademark? Not found in stores! To me, this looks like a page from LIFE magazine
Bernie Brightman (the jazz producer) once took me to meet the fellow who had discovered Lester Young's body.
picked up John Coltrane/Transition out of the dollar bin as well. Luck for me this is playing better than it looked. Another first listen... but with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones how can you go wrong?
Three years after Lester's death, Bob Dylan was photographed outside the Alvin Hotel, where Lester died The hotel was on 52nd Street (the jazz street) and Broadway, with the legendary Colony Record Shop at the ground floor...where all the jazz musicians shopped (You can see the Colony sign starting next to that side street entrance to the hotel). Immediately across Broadway from Lester's window was the great jazz club Birdland (at 1678 Broadway). Lester checked in and sat looking out the open window at Birdland as he passed.
Ryo Fukui’s last recording ‘A Letter form Slowboat' is issued on vinyl on 15th March. Ryo Fukui | jazz live SLOWBOAT
I just noticed that "Amusement Center" across Broadway and behind the sax player. That was an Arcade of "games of chance" where you could win point coupons and trade them in for useless stuffed animals and the like (in New York, you could not win money). They had photo booths inside and even a booth for making your own 7 inch record. I went in there quite often around the time of this photo. One of the greatest record stores of the 1940's-50's Colony Records was just out of the photo to the right (Colony became a pathetic place in its last years) One time, when I went into Colony Records, there was a rare early photo print of Bob Dylan, framed, on the wall behind the register, very special, a unique photo from the negative. I asked the guy behind the counter about it. He took it off the wall and said, "It's yours". Just like that. Who says NYC is unfriendly?
I loved the NY minute I spent there in the early nineties. i was dragged around to jazz clubs by jazz drummers. A very cool scene.
Just curious. Is it widely known by US jazz listeners that Barney Wilen was half American and raised in Arizona by age 10?
I'm going Jazz Zombie! Slapped on some All through the night Julie London Sings the choicest of Cole Porter I loved the rush of people trading in their vinyl at the beginning of the big "comeback." Made hay. Cd's too. I think I've seen the last of that for a while.
I'm into Barney, and I didn't know or forgot that. If I recall, his father was wealthy (at least by my scale).
You might also look like that if you had been blowing the sax since 10PM the night before, and had used the same stuff to keep you playing for 10 hours.
Hmm, In Clint Eastwood’s BIRD, there is a night scene of the place (Birdland). IIRC the set of the street looked much narrower.
hmm, I have that on laserdisc. My LD player is seeing duty in my mono setup. Maybe I should watch it again after all these years...
I highly recommend it. Top five Jarrett for me along with Koln, The Trio at the Blue Note box set and Survivors Suite.
X marks the spot for "Mask picture". What's that about? And can we identify anybody in the bottom photo?
The actual Birdland closed circa 1965. The place that calls itself Birdland now is a different business, on a different street, started many years later. Not at all the same. The legends did not play there. This is the real thing, 1678 Broadway. The sight from Lester's upstairs window for the last year of his life, except for that trip to Paris and other gigs, and where he died They called it the "Jazz Corner of the World" because it was at the corner of 52nd Street - "the street that never slept" This is the fake, quite a distance away . Probably owned by some conglomerate.
