pryan

Sidney Bechet - BLUE NOTE 1204, VOLUME 2

What's the best way to get the standards duo stuff w/ Holland and Braxton?

How about a B-52. Baileys, Kahlua, and Grand Marnier, I think.

I didn't want to ruin the story (for those who have yet to read the interview), but let's just say there was a confrontation at Art's place.

Great, extended interview with Priester in the current issue of Cadence. Many interesting stories, including one about a stolen trombone, Blakey not paying his band on time, fisticuffs w/ Max Roach on the bandstand, etc. Looking forward to checking out more of Priester's stuff. I might grab that new one, w/ the Seattle musicians. He's teaching there right now.

Julian Priester, in the January issue of Cadence, mentions that Gee stole his horn from a recording session. Priester was in Duke's band at the time and the guys were on break when Gee strolled in and swiped the trombone. There's more details in the magazine as to how he figured out what happened, got the horn back, etc. Apparently Gee was a big boozer.

Thanks Ed for your review. I'm now pretty sure this Dinah box is not made for me! Speaking of Mercury/EmArcy releases I can recommend the Verve Master Edition releases to all who like pop-oriented material with orchestra/choir: What a difference a day makes! The swingin' miss "D" I sold both after a short listen. Because of it's very jazz-oriented style I'll never sell After hours wiss Miss D / Verve Master Edition, 2004. Highly recommended! I picked up WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES a few weeks ago and think it's great, regardless of the pop material and string accompaniment. Dinah can turn smaltzy stuff into gold, IMO. The Mosaic set is high on my radar now. Thanks for the review, Ed.

George Orwell: DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON

Best wishes, Jeff. Hope you have a great day!

Richard "Groove" Holmes: GET UP & GET IT

Yeah, I couldn't find it either when I tried a few days ago.

Wow, that concert album looks killer. Hopefully I can order this in a somewhat easy manner...

I just picked up an OJC vinyl re-issue of JAMMIN' WITH GENE. Liking it muchly so far.

Ike Quebec: IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING

Thanks. Really looking forward to hearing some samples from that highly-touted boxset. That "drug show" looks interesting too.

Steve Kirby (from the U of Manitoba) will be going, he informed me today. He said his school will have a booth, but he is going to be "working the crowd".

... also known as the Hank Mobley list.

I bought this from a board member a few months ago and like it quite a bit. Haven't really listened to it enough yet, however.

Currently, I'm reading Larry Kart's wonderful book. After I finish it (probably today), it's on to John Litweiler's THE FREEDOM PRINICIPLE: JAZZ AFTER 1958.

I couldn't find the Ayler program on the website. Perhaps it hasn't been archived yet? Listening to the Herbie Nichols program instead.

A very happy new year to all board members! Let's hope 2005 is a beautiful year.

Try to be nice to everyone, even people that I don't really like/respect. Read a lot of stuff: books, newspapers, magazines, journal articles, etc. Do a lot of writing. Hang out with people who mean something to me. Weed out the bullshit in my life (a continuation of the last six months or so). Complement others who deserve to be complimented.

Which musician was it?

Should a book of this sort be sound, factually? I think so, but when you use words such as, "unimpeachable", it creates a kind of perfectionist ideal that only a select few authors can attain. I think you (and other Shorter fans) want something of an "unimpeachable" nature, but this kind of thing is damn near impossible, as far as I'm concerned. Your premises/reasoning in the second paragraph indicates that this is something "you" believe the book should address (ie. this book should give the reader an authoritative version of Wayne Shorter's career and life). Perhaps the author had other ideas. Who cares if those two tunes that you mention are actually one and the same. What I'd be looking for in a book like this is information or anecdotes about Wayne the person/musician. What is he about, spiritually, mentally, musically. Mixing up a couple song titles is no big deal. Are we going to remember the names of the songs or the person who wrote them? Are cold, hard facts more important than what's inside a person's heart and soul? The answer, for me at least, is obvious.

Mike - I know you're all about historical accuracy, etc. when it comes to jazz scholarship. That's great, but sometimes you go too far in pointing out minute mistakes that others have made. Sure, they may have a date wrong by a month or two, but in the grand scheme of things what difference does it make, really? At least the author had the guts and passion to even contemplate writing the book in the first place. I'm not saying that someone should be allowed to write a book just because they have a passion for a certain topic, jazz or otherwise. But when books like this one come out, we should give the author the benefit of the doubt. Small mistakes such as the examples that you point out are bound to occur; hopefully in future printings (if they come about) they will be corrected. The quote about Shorter's extensive musical knowledge beyond the jazz realm seems quite valuable to me. I think you're reading too much into the particular dates (ie. when the musicians were born, etc.). The point of the Zawinul quote was to illustrate the fact that Shorter was deeply into music of all kinds and had this kind of knowledge at his fingertips. Also, he was still fairly young at the time and Zawinul was impressed by Shorter's knowledge at that stage of his life.