BeBop

Sonny often used to play outside the window of my San Fransisco office (1982-1986). I, a dude in a suit, chatted with him a few times. After a while, he recognized me, but I was pretty self conscious about being a guy in a suit. I'm so glad to have gotten to hear him there and later in concert.

I wasn't sure when I'd be able to.post in this thread again. Tonight at Andy's in Chicago, Eric Schneider. It's been a really nice show. Casual and friendly. The audience, perhaps ten people at the first set. I don't think I've been to Andy's since seeing Organissimo here. Will be back again Friday.

Says CNN, though no details yet. A real icon from my youth.

I work in a health care facility, though I'm not a doctor. Current projections show I will be eligible to register in June. Considering my lockdown began in January 2020 (in China), it's starting to feel like a long wait. Then again, we weren't even supposed to have a vaccine available until about now.

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.

Bagpipes, absolutely. Clarinet, yes. (Worse, for me: oboe.) I'm really pitch-sensitive, so trombone is "vulnerable" and somehow bothers me more than, say, cello.

Some damn good Moody on Muse, though not enough for a set. Some nice Woody Shaw on Muse too.(I'm pondering the graphic possibilities of a pairing of those last names.) I haven't shopped in years; is Muse stuff readily available?

I'm just starting to play, but this is nice. Link J-DISC: An Online Jazz Discography Jazz history resonates in jazz recordings. Jazz Studies Online staff is working on a project that will provide rich, reliable data on recordings that can help unlock and elucidate the stories they can tell about jazz. J-DISC will be a fully searchable online database with editing and commentary by noted jazz scholars. It will take full advantage of digital communications tools and methods to transcend the limits of current discographic sources and preserve, enhance, and provide access to discographic data for study and research. The project's initial phase, which has received generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is a test version. The final database is now accessible and usable to all Internet users at jdisc.columbia.edu. In the renewed grant phase, we are expanding contributors, developing a business plan for the long-term management of the resource, and exploring ways to handle the vast quantities of data on jazz audio using computer science methods.If you are interested in either the artists, repertoire, or research questions in the current J-DISC project, please go to the site itself at the link just provided. J-DISC builds on a tradition of collaboration and rigorous research by jazz discographers of over more than 70 years. Like the best in that tradition, the new research tool will serve as a reliable guide to who played what, where, and when. But it adds an extra dimension to research on recordings. By loading a wealth of data about jazz recordings into a single database application with the capability for string searches among many types of information, we will enable users of J-DISC to observe trends in the music as well as information about individual artists and their recordings. The advanced search function will allow students and researchers to mine the data for insights on improvisation, documentation of artists' careers, trends in jazz history, and the development of the recording industry itself. J-DISC will also account for many categories of essential information specific to jazz that libraries do not normally make use of in cataloguing their audio recordings (and which, in some cases, earlier discographies do not contain either). Information about jazz compositions, geography, performer attributes, and the production and distribution of recordings will all be available and usable within the advanced search function.

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?

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.

More good thoughts from here, Lon.

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)

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.

One of my very close friends slipped down the QAnon rabbit hole in retirement. It's very upsetting. A good guy. A smart guy.

Philadelphia Weekly A historical concert review, cum history and storytelling. I enjoyed.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.)

"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.

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.

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.

A loss today. A loss for a long time to come. RIP

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.