No, and I am a bit horrified by the idea that my comments could be interpeted as somehow having done that. To clarify, I meant that people like Fats Navarro or Miles (or whoever) are the innovators in jazz — not Wynton, or his whole crowd.
Some of the best and truest (and most hilarious) words ever spoken about Wynton actually came from the Prince of Darkness himself. Whenever I think of these quotes, I have to laugh at how dead-on they are:
Hey, while we're on the subject of "short lists" in general (i.e., not just of trumpeters, but of geniuses, etc.), I forgot to mention this before — I couldn't help but be struck by the coincidence of your inclusion of George Gershwin in the above-quoted list from a couple of days ago. And I wholeheartedly agree with it, glad to see Gershwin in there! You see, this week I've been listening around the clock to a 1956 version of "A Foggy Day" that I haven't heard in years because I don't have a record player and I don't think I ever re-purchased this version on CD. Anyway, I am ordinarily not too big a fan of the whole West Coast sound, but I cannot get over three things on this record: (1) the cleverness and elegance of the arrangement (sounds almost like something Marty Paich could have arranged); (2) the great feel, taste, and swing of the playing and the solos; and (3) that these guys managed to cram all this great playing into LESS than four minutes. Also interesting about this record, since we're talking about trumpeters, is that this strikes me as a slightly less conventional quintet, because rather than a saxophonist and a trumpeter, the group for this tune has two saxophonists as the front line (not "really" unconventional, but I would expect the more familar trumpet/sax lineup on a record like this).
Well, to me this is full circle. What I mean is, and this is the truth, it was listening over and over again to three (or possibly four) albums between 1978 and 1981, that got me into music to begin with (playing music, I mean). And one of those records was Panorama. I was about 11 when I first heard it. I realize that the connection between that record and some of the music we're discussing in this thread may seem like a stretch, but your playing on that record got me actually transcribing solos off the record, which led to other players, which ultimately led to Miles, and then I stopped playing the guitar and got almost exclusively into being a pianist, and now (fast-forward a couple of more decades) I'm back to electric guitars. So yeah, this place is real cool!
Well, I definitely have always been impressed by the architecture and/or structure of that solo. One thing I liked about it (then and now) is the sense of build in it, it almost sounds like a composition unto itself within an already composed song. Definitely a real triumphant build in that solo, and a very happy-sounding solo in general.
....and while we're on this general time period/subject, I'm still dying to hear any stories about what it was like to have these guys as an opening act! :hee
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....and while we're on this general time period/subject, I'm still dying to hear any stories about what it was like to have these guys as an opening act! :hee
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:salude
:rofl
One thing that surprises me is that Alan is apparently 73 years old now, which would mean that he was about 42 in 1980. (Since the two of you actually interacted with him around that time, could this be true?) As I understand things, it was revealed a couple of years ago that he is actually ten years older than had been previously believed. I don't know how true this all is, but at present his birth year is reportedly 1938.
