White Lightning

Thank you guys! It's wonderful to return after all this time away and find all the well-wishings Here's a little gift from me:

I'll add Serge Chaloff

Happy Belated, Lon! Have a great year!

Sorry to hear that, eventhough we saw it coming. Good luck with everything, guys. Thank you for all the wonderful music - and bring on some more music - individually or together!

Happy BDay Bro! Have a great day and even greater year.

Thank you all for your well-wishing. It was a fun day for me.

Thank you Fred for a wonderful music that touched my heart as well as many others'. Your music will live forever. R.I.P.

In Tel-Aviv the prices are similar to DC... Well, in 2002-2003 4USD = 20NIS, nowadays it's only 15NIS...

When we stayed in DC I used to sit at Starbucks a lot. It was the best place to prepare my lessons with comfortable couches, good music and no hassle from waiters etc. The one thing I didn't get was the coffee. It wasn't that good (too burnt and acid for my taste), HUGE jugs, sometimes with all kinda creams toppings etc. and the price was ridiculous - I remember it was 3.5-4$ for a cappuccino(!) Here in Israel the espresso bar culture is very strong with a strong preference to Italian style coffee. Prices are similar to Italy (around 1 Euro for an espresso, 2 euros for cappuccino). After all this, no one was really surprised that Starbucks Israel folded after a year or two. No one misses it here.

Bowie, Lester and Joseph Grey, Al & his son Mike Marsala, Joe & Marty Pizzarelli, Bucky & his son John

Bebo & Chucho Valdes

Woody Herman Select disc#3 Jazz Crusaders disc#4

I've never warmed up to Hubbard as well (his recordings with Tina Brooks is an exception). I really tried but I still don't really like Joe Lovano.

Not 100% sure, but some of my favorite tenors didn't record on BN: Curtis Amy, Stan Getz, Wardell Gray, Sal Nistico ...

Oliver Nelson CDs 1 and 2. The music is sleek and more polished than I'm used to, but I love the music nonetheless

So sorry to hear that. Ray. My thoughts are with you.

Happy BDay Agg!

Konitz played twice with a local group at the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival early this month. For the last couple of years he's doing Un-amplified(!-on-the-spot group improvisation Standards. I really enjoyed that gig. Here's a 10' video clip from the gig. It'll help you understand better what to expect:

I believe Guy has a valid point. There is the Jazz-World fusion style that basically is Jazz in its essence (swing/blues/whatever) that adds "world music" (I use the term for lack of a better one) ornamentation. That style of ornamented Jazz is quite common say, a specific North African/Maghreb/Andalus music. The other Jazz-World fusion "style" (it's not a "style" per-se) is more of a true fusion in the way the 2 essences of the musical genres, say Jazz and Andalusian fused together into one. It is usually a fusion of distinct musical genres that the musician is fluent with. Jon Jang, Miguel Zenon, Omer Avital, Rabih Abu Khalil, Anouar Brahem, Abatte Berihun and Dudu Pukwana to name a few.

Just dropping by to wish all the O board members Merry Christmas!

George Russell Hugh Hopper Eddie Higgins Buddy Montgomery R.I.P.

Blue Bossa. JoHen. St. Thomas. Newk.

A belated TY. Had a nice relaxing weekend, but I can't wait to go on the trip to the Pyrenees and Basques country in September. Once again, thank you guys. I should really spend more time here once again.

Agggggggg.... a second happy birthday!!