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AllenLowe
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Posts posted by AllenLowe
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Allen Lowe and Ellen Rowe (pianist)
Bill Evans Gil Evans and Mal Evans
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we should mention that Loren Schoenberg was the person who got this made.
I knew Durham a little bit back in the 1970s. Genius writer and arranger.
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On 2/5/2024 at 9:07 AM, gvopedz said:
Some of the people who release LPs (or albums) believe that collectors of jazz music have an above-average income.
I have always had an average income, and I bought tons of jazz. But I have my limits.
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44 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:
I was wondering if Boris Rose's daughter ever found someone to buy or license any of her father's tapes after he died.
I haven't compared the tracklists, but it looks similar to this 3 CD Hi Hat bootleg:
but judging from that one sample, it is radically improved sonically.
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The price is listed on one web site as $154? WTF? This is stupid shit. The sound is obviously much improved, from that video, and I would love to have this but unless it comes out on CD at a reasonable effin' price, I will have to wait for the bootleg....but to quote Richard Nixon, that would be wrong, that's for sure. But I do think this pricing is unconscionable.
Worst of all I cannot forgive bad writing on something as major as this:
"Located in a basement in the Bronx, the original reel-to-reel tapes have been cleaned and remastered."
Sounds like they did the restoration in the basement and that the tapes are still there, because according to this that's where they are located. Should be "Previously located in a basement in the Bronx, the tapes were removed and restored to optimum sound quality."
Amateur night.
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On 1/30/2024 at 2:16 PM, danasgoodstuff said:
Didn't some of the other songwriters of Gershwin's time & place try their hands at writing extended pieces of various sorts? Maybe instead of putting down RiB a better argument would be to throw light on some of those? Any thoughts on that?
there is a whole book somewhere of jazz-types experimenting with long forms in those days, but unfortunately I have forgotten the title; but check out Nat Shilkret, who was interesting:
https://www.amazon.com/Symphonic-Jazz-Carpenter/dp/B00006RHPG
here's the book:
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This is just my opinion, but I also don’t like Rhapsody, and in my opinion,if you want to hear Gershwin writing in a “serious” and successful way you should check out the Preludes, particularly as recorded by Oscar Levant, though there’s also a good Gershwin version of same.
by the way, I have to add that Ethan’s weird historical gaps continue to come out. He writes :
”Levant was considered a popular Gershwin expert and practitioner, partly because he was close friends with the composer, partly because he was a charming film personality.”
Sorry, not quite. Levant was a brilliant raconteur, called by Groucho Marx, yes, Groucho Marx, the best ad libber he ever heard. Plus he wrote two fascinating books of autobiography.
sorry about the type size can’t seem to get it corrected.
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24 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:
Appreciate this second-person (i.e. fairly direct) insight, Allen — but I also appreciate your abbreviated level of detail — which seems wholly appropriate in a public forum.
(Enough for folks to get a sense of the situation, without getting too far into personal details.)
Thank you, Allen.
thanks; knowing Larry is an absolute privilege. He is one of the best writers on music I have ever read. Glad his situation is stabilized.
8 minutes ago, sgcim said:Hey Allen, great tenor playing at Small's! What a band. Aaron Johnson's last solo on alto was as close to perfection as anyone's going to get. He played incredible clarinet, too!
oh thanks; yeah, Aaron is frightening in his level of expression. People know of him, but not enough know how brilliant he is on every level.
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I spoke to Larry a few times during his involuntary exile. Bad situation, hopefully better now.
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1 hour ago, kh1958 said:
New recording from Ben Allison:
Swan Song, the second single from our upcoming album Tell The Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols, is now streaming on all major platforms.
Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols is the fourth album by guitarist Steve Cardenas, saxophonist Ted Nash, and me. It features six tunes that Herbie himself never recorded, including such soon-to-be classics as She Insists and the title track.
Look for the full album release on February 2, 2024.
I am curious to hear it; though I like Ben’s playing some of his later stuff is a bit new agey. Actually, I was the one who got him the music back when Roswell was still alive, though that’s kind of a funny story in and of itself, involving Roswell’s then-partner Mozelle. I was annoyed at Ben for reasons we don’t need to get into now so I sent him to Mozelle knowing how nuts she was.
As for the music itself, I’d like to hear it, though I have the feeling that with Nichols as with monk it requires a very special quality that a few musicians can achieve, even some great ones. It’s very personalized material.
This is an example of what I was worried about, a mellow mood that just doesn’t fit, is devoid of any interesting tension, either harmonically or rhythmically; sounds like they recorded it stoned, though not in the good way:
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On 1/4/2024 at 10:19 AM, webbcity said:
Wow, John, this was fantastic. As always with your tests, I know have a long list of things to dig into further. So many good things here. That Allen Lowe track is KILLER. Definitely gonna check out more of that. Not to mention the Mingus, Blakey, Ayers, Nineteenth Whole, Phil Farris... oh, and I OWN that Masekela record. Thought it sounded familiar! <slaps forehead>
Also happy to learn the drummer on #2-- I am familiar with Dana Hall and have seen him play a few times in Chicago. Great, underrated player!
Thanks again, a most excellent selection!
thank you. I did spend 20 years in Maine without a gig....
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you betcha, that article disgusted me, was complete and offensive crap; as I posted on Facebook:
"the New York Times continues its assault on American culture. In an article on jazz musicians who lived in Queens (and it never even mentions people like Percy Heath who not only lived there but whose house, as I recall, was a place where a lot of younger people were welcomed to what became a very friendly hangout; and, while saying how important it was as a place for Dizzy never mentions that he left it for New Jersey) they write:
'Gillespie, together with Charlie Parker, is largely considered a pioneer of the rebellious jazz style that diverged from mainstream swing jazz’s emphasis on orchestrated productions and collective harmony. Instead, it ushered in an era of artistic experimentation that better reflected the realities of Black urban life and the talents of Black musicians."What? Never heard of Dizzy's big band, Gerald Wilson's, Woody Herman's, Boyd Raeburn's, Tadd Dameron's, all which used, can you believe it, Orchestrations? (hey, remember Birth of the Cool and GIL EVANS). And really, did Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, Lester Young, Duke Ellington, et al not reflect the realities of black musicians and black talent in the 1940s? Collective harmony? What's that?'Cultural atrocity part 2, courtesy of that NY Times article:"Jazz clubs were in Harlem. But jazz musicians lived on the tree-lined streets of Queens. While white musicians skedaddled to the suburbs, Black jazz virtuosos sought solace in the neighborhoods where their racial identity was welcomed."What what what? Where did Sonny Rollins live? Jackie McLean? Andy Kirk Jr? I think they lived in Harlem, correct me if I am wrong. And I am certain there were many more who lived outside of Queens. Monk didn't live in Queens, but I guess he didn't reflect black talent (see below).And remember BROOKLYN? Max Roach, Duke Jordan and more. This is not exactly my area of expertise but then, I don't write for the Times.And, maybe she is right, but tell us which white players "skedaddled to the suburbs" - is Bill Crow out there? It is true that Al Haig, as Curly Russell told me, went home to Nutley New Jersey after their Bird gigs were finished. But who else? I don't know and I suspect this writer doesn't know either." -
17 minutes ago, BeBop said:
Jazz music is "the clearest of all signs of our age's deep-seated predilection for barbarism".
Richard M. Weaver
that one I agree with it. That's pretty much the way the business is.
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1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:
And in other news this evening, water is wet and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
are you sure about Franco?
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29 minutes ago, Mark Stryker said:
Interjecting here to say that while I certainly cannot speak for all university presses or Allen's experiences, the University of Michigan Press paid me a modest advance for Jazz from Detroit -- half upon signing the contract, half upon delivery of the manuscript -- and I have received royalties annually since publication. Now, it is an exceedingly small return, particularly given the years of work involved and my own dollars that went into it -- I had to pay for the indexing and some of the photo acquisitions. I have no doubt that Allen's self-published books have netted him a higher return per title than my book did through a university press. But it has not been nothing.
thanks - my reaction was prompted by two very esteemed music writers, one of whom had his book reprinted in a different format by his U press without any consultation or consideration, the other of whom told me he received a pittance over the years for various books. But to me the bigger problem is the way U. Presses price books - I assume they are thinking only libraries will buy them, but that's just idiotic, as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they are charging $40-$100 a book. And Kindle prices are even crazier; because of surgery around my eyes I have been reading mostly on my kindle, and I wanted to pick up Larry Kart's book so I could re-read it; it was DOUBLE for kindle, compared to what a hard copy cost.
The other thing I will add (and I'm glad Mark that your experience was better) is that I have found U Press peer review to be nasty and full of conflicts of interest - I know I am somewhat controversial, and the last time my book was reviewed in this way it was clear that some of the reviewers did not like my opinions or me personally, though they never said so in the review but instead nit-picked. They should have recused themselves; and I should mention the U. Cal Press woman who said to me over the phone about one of my books "I love it but it won't pass political muster with my board." The truth is that academics don't really, at their core, believe in free speech if it challenges their basic assumptions.
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5 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:
One of my favorites was my second Clark Terry interview, which began at 1 am due to his having company stay later on a weeknight. But he made it worth it when I asked him how he premiered his routine of alternating between trumpet and flugelhorn during a solo, something that wasn’t included in his autobiography.
I never know when a question will strike gold but even with a veteran interviewed many times over the decades, it does happen.
I will have to admit that both Herb Ellis and Andre Previn were miserable experiences. I erased Ellis’ tape without playing it. Previn’s demands were ridiculous and he postponed scheduling it so long that the magazine couldn’t substitute another cover feature. But everyone else has been a joy and it helps when they are well represented in my collection.
I know in advance that jazz books don’t generally make a lot of money, but that’s okay. It’s not like I am expecting a university press to publish it.
what did Ellis do? Also, I would suggest you avoid University presses like the plague. I have made a decent amount off of my books, all self published. U presses don't pay, even royalties, and you cannot trust small presses who never do an honest accounting.
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get musicians who have not been over-covered; Ken Peplowski, Aaron Johnson, Sascha Perry, Frank Lacy, Ray Anderson, me (I did two long interviews in the last year, Q&A that were a lot of fun); Jack Walrath; Elijah Shiffer (great alto player, one of the most creative musicians in jazz today, though nobody here seems to know him); James Paul Nadien (great young drummer), Gerald Cleaver.
One of the reason jazz books are so dull is because the same "personalities" appear over and over. It would be nice to break the habit -
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weird thing about so much of Grossman's later output is how badly a lot of it is recorded. Off-mic, too much reverb, very little presence. Maybe his problem was with engineers. That's driven me to despair more than once.
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Noisy audience. Maybe he was waiting for them to quiet down.
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1 hour ago, JSngry said:
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Specifics?
from a musician who worked with her, said she was very difficult and Diva-ish.
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I have heard various things about an extremely difficult personality. That may be relevant.
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Larry Gushee told me about her. IIRC she did a lot of work with baseball statistics.
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6 hours ago, Dan Gould said:
Well that makes no sense but there it is.
probably because for legal reasons they are saying it's not for sale in the USA but don't really give a sh** and will sell it anywhere.
The Worst Masterpiece: "Rhapsody in Blue" at 100, by Ethan Iverson
in Classical Discussion
Posted
this is getting silly - the LA Times takes the tack that the piece was "aspirational," as though that has anything to do with whether Rhapsody is worthwhile or not. Ethan is right - Rhapsody is a pastiche of empty musical gestures, fun and dynamic at times, but shallow and musically all surface. I don't care how ambitious Gershwin was; Trump is ambitious. That does not mean anything good.