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BeBop

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Everything posted by BeBop

  1. I have lived for quite a while in places where musical skills were not well-developed, mostly due to economic conditions. Still, I enjoyed children "doing their thing". Now quarantined in the United States, things are different. Part of the difference is the instruments. Broad generalizations, high pitched instruments seem to bother me more, but not exclusively. Middle-pitched and instruments less. (Perhaps just the state of my hearing, but very low pitched I can't hear.) Instruments with variable pitch production more than a simple drum or drone instrument, maybe for obvious reasons.
  2. I'm not within reach of my 78s, but wasn't one of the Black and Whites issued under Leonard Feather's name? I don't see on the Wikipedia page, so probably just my failing memory, Spirits of Rhythm?
  3. I sent Joe Christmas a few post cards from wherever I was working (mostly in Africa) back in the day. I wish I still had contact info. Alas. FatsNavarroFanatic I must get back in touch with. I met three BNBB / Organissimo members in NY when I was at the U.N. The only one that I remember by name is....Deep. "skeith" seems like maybe (?) One guy I left a CD for in a newspaper rack on my way outta town. Good memories, except for the part about forgetting the names.
  4. Completist Confessions. First, to define, I sought to have a copy of every track on which the artist performs, including alternates. I favor original recordings over others, and legit over the rest. I didn't want every issue. Keep in mind, I used to visit about three record stores a day (with a few geographic exclusions) every day, across 155 countries. 50+ years. There was tremendous joy in the search and the social interaction it brought about. (Hard to strike up a conversation with a guy three times or one-third your age in Tchad otherwise.) Wardell Gray Archie Shepp (until we wandered apart) Tchangodei Winston Mankunku Ngozi (Rahsaan) Roland Kirk James Moody (really just 20th Century)
  5. The original LP release is among my Top (small number here) favorite albums. Moody at the peak of one of his several primes. "Much more" I would like to know about and hear too.
  6. One of my very close friends slipped down the QAnon rabbit hole in retirement. It's very upsetting. A good guy. A smart guy.
  7. Philadelphia Weekly A historical concert review, cum history and storytelling. I enjoyed.
  8. In my post above, I mentioned "other stuff". I didn't want to turn the thread to motorcycling's unhappy side. My brother, a multi-dimensional motorcycling professional/expert, broadsided a car that didn't see him at around 100kph (60mph). Be careful out there. I also mention cycling. Be careful with that too. I scaled back from 22 years of 25,000km/yr (15,000mi) to only what I can do safely. Living on Africa can be the best of times, the worst of times.
  9. When I scaled back my bicycle racing- basically when the US pulled out of the 1980 Olympics - I spent a few years riding and (mostly) racing on a Yamaha-sponsored team. I also worked at a then-fledgling California-based cycle accessory and tire chain and a Kawasaki + Suzuki dealer. Eventually, 1984 Olympics and some other stuff, I went back to cycling. The motorcycling seemed, in hindsight, to have been good for my descending abilities, but not much else.
  10. Maybe that's the unspoken reason I was thinking about this on U.S. Election Eve. Without getting political about it, I'm distressed and angry about things going on "back home" (I'm visiting California for a few days now), but listening to, say, "Ametica the Beautiful" still affects me. Maybe it's like "Strange Fruit" in reverse. SF calls me to wish for a better future, AtB makes me sad about a past that's been lost. No, the Good Old Days really weren't all that (ref: "Strange Fruit"), but, as I sit in California, well, I don't know. I'm thinking.
  11. Sorry, I wasn't trying to close things off. I realized that my situation and my own thoughts around "patriotic" songs meant that I could only speak to Americans directly. (In my examples.) I know a few other patriotic songs and many national anthems, but - with a few exceptions - they're just songs to me, even if I lived somewhere for eight years. "Oh Britannia" "O Canada" and "La Tchadienne" welcome. And "Strange Fruit", certainly patriotic in it's own way, hopeful toward an America one wishes for from the one that is. (I retitled the thread, minus "American", plus "patriotic" to capture my original intent, though feel free to wander.)
  12. Okay, maybe just me. I grew up near the United States (Berkeley, CA), but have lived elsewhere for close to four decades. A decent rendering of "America the Beautiful " will trigger the emotional response for me. "God Bless America", "Star Spangled Banner", not so much. You?
  13. "San Quentin Jazz Band" by Pierre Briançon. I grew up looking at the place across the San Francisco Bay and realizing that several of the cats I was listening to were there or had been.
  14. My father came home to the SF Bay Area from WWII just as the "dixieland" (sorry) revival was in full... well "swing" isn't quite the right word. Dad loved Turk Murphy and Bob Scobey, that sort of thing , though there were some Bechet, DeParis and Bunk Johnson recordings in his collection. Dad played the banjo and - while knowing he wasn't going to "cut it" - tried out for a Turk Murphy band opening, just because he "had to". He was a good man.
  15. Very sorry to hear this. I saw him a few times as a solo leader, but also caught him with Red Rodney at the Keystone Korner. I think I went four nights. Good memories. RIP Mr. Sullivan.
  16. A loss today. A loss for a long time to come. RIP
  17. Yes, I saw him too. Really weird, he was often over near the Wharf, and sometimes down near the old Embarcadero Freeway. It was a cool time to be in the City. As I recall, Keystone Korner survived into the early 80s.
  18. Happy Birthday, Sonny Simmons. 1983-87, I worked at Market and (New) Montgomery in San Francisco. He used to play outside my window, sound echoing off the buildings. Such a treat. We talked briefly a few times. Back then, I was a guy in a suit; tough to convince anyone I was sincere. So glad he's had a musically productive life.
  19. I've never really looked at contrafacts as 'pure' or 'sacred' things. But, in my experience, even Rose Room or Blue Moon, original head, gets a bunch of harmonic substitutions almost baked in over time. Or maybe it's just the people I play with. Heck, Rose Room was written in the 1910s. Jazz and popular music evolved into some 'more advanced" harmonies over the next few decades. Then there are the contrafacts (can't recall at the moment) with a different bridge. As for "Whispering", it was one of my father's favorite songs. He played it often.
  20. I can't remember the last time I heard "Whispering". "Groovin' High" I hear often. "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" i hear once in a blue moon. 'Rose Room" or "In a Mellow Tone"? Perhaps just my musical preferences, but "Donna Lee" hits my ears more often thank "Back Home Again in Indiana", though I hear the latter pretty often. "I Got Rhythm"? You?
  21. Plenty of Tower Records bricks and mortar and glass and steel in Japan, sometimes 10 stories-worth! But yeah, I know what you mean.
  22. Yes, bookstores. I'm viewing the retailers of my life much like the grocery stores. I'll suit-up (mask and gloves), shop, then decontaminate. If I buy something, it gets decontaminated too. I have no home, so mail order isn't an option.
  23. I work in the non-WEIRD* world where squat toilets are de rigueur. No toilet paper, just a bucket of water to splash. Oh, you might find a commode in a Western Hotel, airport, touristy spot, but squat toilets are the better choice than open-field defecation. (Big push to end this in India under Modi.) See also : Elephant Foot Toilets * Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic.
  24. I don't think there are tenor solos by anyone on any track. I'm sure I would have included it on my "complete solos" compilation.
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