Don Lanphere - Where Do You Start?

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:11
Size: 127,9 MB
Art: Front

( 5:25)  1. Ragazza De La Mer
( 5:53)  2. All Across The City
( 7:10)  3. Blues Away
( 5:56)  4. Ming's Dream
( 3:01)  5. Methuselah's Big Duck
( 5:40)  6. Wilke's Grin
( 6:12)  7. Where Do You Start?
(10:13)  8. The Scene Is Clean
( 5:38)  9. Cottage For Sale

Few veterans of the classic bebop era were still active in 2002, and even fewer were still in their musical prime. Don Lanphere is a major exception. Rather than just recreating the past (which in his case includes leading a date that featured Fats Navarro), Lanphere always looks ahead. A distinctive tenor-saxophonist, Lanphere also doubles effective on soprano and leads a top-notch sextet in the Pacific Northwest. Where Do You Start has a high-quality repertoire performed by Lanphere, cornetist Jonathan Pugh, trombonist Jeff Hay, pianist Marc Seales, bassist Doug Miller and drummer John Bishop. The five originals by group members include "Blues Away" (which is in the Art Blakey hard bop tradition), a feature for Lanphere's soprano on the moody ballad "Ming's Dream" and the novel "Methuselah's Big Duck," which has the cornet and trombone imitating quacking sounds. Of the four other tunes, Jim Hall's "All Across The City" and "Where Do You Start" (which is very rarely ever done interpreted as an instrumental but works quite well) are joined by Tadd Dameron's "The Scene Is Clean" and a wistful version of "A Cottage For Sale." Just one in a string of excellent Don Lanphere recordings after 1980, Where Do You Start has been put out by Origin, a valuable label that documents the jazz scene in Washington State. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/where-do-you-start-mw0000020354

Personnel:  Saxophone – Don Lanphere; Bass – Doug Miller; Cornet – Jonathan Pugh; Drums – John Bishop; Piano – Marc Seales; Trombone – Jeff Hay

Where Do You Start?

---

Don Lanphere Quintet - Don Loves Midge

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1984
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:14
Size: 142,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:11)  1. And The Angels Sing
(4:22)  2. Easy Living
(4:52)  3. I Remember Clifford
(2:51)  4. Try A Little Tenderness
(4:10)  5. Poor Butterfly
(3:00)  6. I'll Never Be The Same Again
(5:11)  7. Once In A While
(5:05)  8. Old Cape Cod
(3:02)  9. God Bless The Child
(3:37) 10. Gone With The Wind
(4:05) 11. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
(5:16) 12. Everything I Have Is Yours
(2:16) 13. Put Your Dreams Away
(5:34) 14. Soon
(3:08) 15. My Foolish Heart
(2:26) 16. There's A Sweet, Sweet Spirit In This Place

A native son of the Pacific Northwest, saxophonist Don Lanphere was one of the region's jazz icons. He learned to play at home on his father's alto sax. As a teenager he idolized Coleman Hawkins and gigged with name touring bands whenever they came to Washington. Lanphere began his music studies at Northwestern University in Illinois and played with local bandleader Johnny Bothwell. At the age of nineteen Lanphere and the band answered the Big Apple's beckon-call and headed for New York. 

After a short time in the city, Lanphere was fired for stealing Bothwell's girl, Chan Richardson. He secured a job with Fats Navarro and recorded some excellent sides, then explored the big-band and swing scene. He played Carnegie Hall with Woody Herman's Second Herd, moved on to Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five, and gigged with the bands of Claude Thornhill, Charlie Barnet and Billy May. Lanphere also made friends with Charlie Parker and recorded the altoist at home with some friends. Those legendary tapes became known as "The Basement Sessions"... and Lanphere's girl, Chan, later became Mrs. Charlie Parker.

Like so many of his contemporaries, Lanphere soon got hooked on narcotics and alcohol. Much of the 1950s was a haze of confusion and he eventually quit the business, returned to Wenatchee and worked in his father's store. In 1969, after he and his second wife, Midge, became born-again Christians, Lanphere dusted off his horn and began playing again. He slowly worked his way back into gigging, and in 1982 he landed a contract with the Scottish label Hep Records which resulted in some fine recordings (Don Loves Midge, 1984). In 1996 he moved to Origin Records, which issued five recordings up through 2003's Where Do You Start? He encouraged young Washingtonians like trumpeter Jon Pugh and pianist Marc Seales, and collaborated with singer Jay Clayton and guitarists Larry Coryell and Mimi Fox.

In his later years Lanphere became an educator, took up the soprano sax as a double, frequently guested at Bud Shank's Port Townsend Jazz Seminar, and held down a regular gig at Tula's in Seattle. He performed with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO Live, 2002, Origin), and co-hosted a radio show with his friend, Bud Young, until Lanphere fell ill with hepatitis C earlier this year. Lanphere's website and cadre of friends proclaimed him as "Seattle's Jazz Grandpop", a title he wore proudly and had more than earned over two decades of serving the Northwest jazz community. On October 9, 2003, Don Lanphere passed away at Group Health Eastside Hospital in Redmond, Washington at the age of 75. He is survived by his wife of fifty years, Midge. ~ Todd S. Jenkins  http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=1066843510

Personnel: Don Lanphere (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Camille Peterson (harp); Jonathan Pugh (trumpet); Marc Seales (piano, Fender Rhodes piano); Chuck Deardorf (upright bass, electric bass); Dean Hodges (drums).

Don Still Loves Midge

---

Don Lanphere Quintet - Stop

Styles: Saxophone Jazz

Year: 1986

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 55:13

Size: 127,3 MB

Art: Front

(4:24)  1. New U.S. Moon

(3:59)  2. Stop

(6:14)  3. Body And Soul

(8:16)  4. A.L.C.

(5:19)  5. I Heard You Cry Last Night

(5:01)  6. Avalon

(5:08)  7. There's No You

(4:18)  8. The Preacher

(4:38)  9. Laura

(7:52) 10. Still Will

An excellent all-around set by Don Lanphere (who doubles on tenor and soprano), this release from the Scottish Hep label features Lanphere in several settings. He performs four numbers, including "There's No You" and "The Preacher," in a quintet with trumpeter Jon Pugh, pianist Marc Seales, bassist Chuck Deardorf and drummer Dean Hodges; he explores "Body and Soul" with the same group (without Pugh); he takes "Laura" as a spontaneous duet with bassist Deardorf, and teams up with Pugh on two other straight-ahead originals in a different quintet with pianist Don Friedman. No matter what the setting, the underrated Don Lanphere is heard throughout in top form. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/stop-mw0000246725

Personnel: Don Lanphere (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Marc Seales (piano); Chuck Deardorf (acoustic bass, electric bass); Dean Hodges (drums); Jonathan Pugh (trumpet).

Stop

---