YouTube says that 42,793 people have seen a clip of Clare Fischer (1928-2012) conducting what seems to be a master class. I came across it this evening while looking for something else. I abandoned the something else; Fischer was more interesting. At the piano, he plays Duke Elliington’s “I Didn’t Know About You†to set up an observation about the quality of Johnny Hodges’s alto
saxophone playing. Without mentioning it he also demonstrates the quality of his own harmonic conception. In the second video, we hear Hodges confirm Fischer’s point. The person who contributed the video was obviously at least as concerned with the audiophile setup as with the music.
The YouTube uploader offers no details about the Hodges recording; who’s playing with him, for instance. My wild guess is that it is from the 1958 Not So Dukish session on Verve, with Billy Strayhorn, piano; Jimmy Woode, bass; and Sam Woodyard, drums—stalwarts from the Ellington organization. Out of print for years, Not So Dukish has been reissued on CD.
Oh, yes, this is the uploader’s description of the audio system. I presume that his or her fellow audiophiles will understand it.
THORENS TD 124 + WE MC STEPUP(PHILIPS RESISTOR) + BLACK CUBE SE + WE 80A +10 SE + LOWTHER PM6