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david weiss

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Everything posted by david weiss

  1. My apologies if this one has come up before but I was just e-mailed about this...... http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/george-russell-sextet/concerts/newport-jazz-festival-july-03-1964.html George Russell at Newport in 1964 with John Gilmore, Thad Jones and Tootie Heath!!!
  2. Guys I think this is set now.... http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=253-MD-CD
  3. I thought with with the sense of history that is on this board I would have seen a lot more screw ball comedies and the like mentioned. Though perhaps not considered a comedy first, I have to say that to me Network is one of the funniest (and most prescient) movies ever. Then every thing Preston Sturges especially the big three...The Lady Eve, Palm Beach Story and Sullivan Travels. Duck Soup, My Man Godfrey, Dr. Strangelove, The In-Laws (the original of course, the remake was one of the worst movies ever made), The South Park Movie are others that come to mind. I don't think any Chaplin has been mentioned. There are many of course but maybe Modern Times is the one that cracked me up the most as a kid. Though not one of the funniest, another good one is That Uncertain Feeling by Ernst Lubitsch. Not one of his better known movies but very funny. Woman leaves her brutish husband for egocentric concert pianist she meets in her psychiatrist's office.
  4. That may have been the film that gave me my crush on Catherine Keener. That and Living in Oblivion (directed by and with Buscemi). http://www.youtube.c...&feature=fvwrel http://www.youtube.c...h?v=NWYbXsTqv4g Have to agree with Happiness, one of the only movies I've found really funny in the past 10 years or so..... Living in Oblivion is great but it's not directed by Buscemi it's by Tom DiCillo
  5. Bedazzled is uneven, but has some great moments. I don't know why, but for years I labored under the misconception that it was a Richard Lester film. I love Bedazzled as well. There is some funny stuff in that. The pop star wish is hilarious. I've read people write that the 'pop star' Peter Cook plays in this scene is strangely pre-empting David Bowie's stage persona of a few years later http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ-1uO5H0Vk Best lyric..... You fill me with inertia....
  6. I've heard a few stories about editors knocking off a star or so because they didn't agree with the rating or more often because it was in the 4 plus star range and the editor didn't think it should have such an exalted status. I know of one instance where it happened to me. The writer forwarded the review to me before it went to press and it was given a 4 1/2 star rating. This was for a magazine that for years only went up to 4 stars and had only recently changed their rules to allow for the 5 star rating for what they thought would be reserved for classic records only. They took away the the 1/2 star when they went to press. The writer sent me a nice note saying he didn't know what happened but it seemed pretty clear to me...... Actually I just thought of a second..... Apparently an editor for a French magazine took off a star because he hadn't heard of me. I was friendly with the writer in question and the next time I saw him, I busted his chops a little (something I do try to refrain from doing) saying really, 3 stars for that CD (he had told me how much he liked it). He then told me what happened.......I guess I should take that one with a grain of salt but I did believe him and had heard other stories about the editor in question...... It all seems like a huge waste of time......
  7. Yes, it was Turbo Village. Freddie told me about this place many times. He said he and Wayne tried to get a gig everywhere and this was the only place that would hire them. They were given Monday nights. He said they were so happy that someone finally gave then a gig. Freddie said it was a dump (and I guess at the beginning had no piano)...as he put it, there were peanut shells all over the floor..... I guess it was early in their careers but imagine these guys having such a hard time securing a gig anywhere..... Also, ironically....the guy interviewing Freddie in the above clip has been, how do I say it....a bit troubling to the estate. I can't get into it of course and it's not a big deal but he did try some shit. I actually thought there would be a lot of this sort of thing after Freddie passed but there were only a few......
  8. Big, big topic, but thinking off the top, five indispensable Blue Notes that Joe just kills on are McCoy Tyner's "The Real McCoy," Andrew Hill's "Black Fire," Larry Young's "Unity," Pete LaRoca's "Basra" and Kenny Dorham's "Una Mas." Lots of interesting records of more recent vintage, too, but I've got to do some work. More later. I concur, especially Black Fire and Unity but my favorite out of all these amazing sides actually might be "Our Thing". There is just something so special to me about that date...... As for non Blue Note stuff, Power to the People is the shit to me, it might even be my favorite Joe record......
  9. I saw this band at the Playboy Jazz Festival a couple of weeks ago. They closed the Festival the day I played there. They followed something called Robin Thicke who I never heard of and when I inquired back stage who the fuck was this guy I was told his father was Alan Thicke and then I had the ask who the fuck is that only to be told..... Anyways, it seemed like they played to about 300 or so devoted fans as the rest of the place emptied out like it was the 7th inning of a Dodgers game. I enjoyed it a lot. It's fun to hear that material played in general but especially nice when played by musicians who know what they are doing and can really bring it...... It was a mix of stuff including one tune from the second era (Holdsworth band) Lifetime group.
  10. Tom, we had to postpone this gig because we are playing in the area in August..... Something called Jazz in the Valley.....looks like a nice program http://www.transartinc.org/theschedule2012.html We will get to The Falcon at some point, I've heard it's a great place and we really do want to do something there......
  11. Back home and recovered from a great tour....... I don't know what to say about all this..... I won't make excuses either..... I think it just comes down to taste. I don't think we're for everyone. I think any band that is trying to stretch parameters or whatever you want to call is not going to be for everyone. I see that people who saw the same show had opposite reactions to said show, we were either too loud or didn't have any energy so again it's all taste and perception I guess. I guess the sound in the venue is a factor and is something we don't have that much control over. We played Scullers two years in a row and I don't think the shows were all that different. Not from my perception on stage. Can 20 or 30 less people in the room and someone sitting a few rows closer to the stage make a difference? Perhaps.... Can shitty sound mess things up....most definitely. Can that happen without our knowing about it? Absolutely, unfortunately...... Some venues don't mic the drums because they are loud but in a larger venue, they might not project to the back of the room with the power they should and that might take away from things a bit. Until we are big enough to tour with our own sound person, this is always going to be an issue unfortunately..... All I know from the stage, where I'm sitting, this band always brings it. There is never a night where I feel the energy is lacking. Some nights are better then others of course as some nights things just click and it's amazing. The other nights are pretty good as well. Even if we are tired or had a long day of travel, we always find the energy when we get on stage. I would never use this as an excuse. It's also the reality of touring, we are used to it and again, I thought anyways, that we always found the energy when it was showtime. Also, not every tune is supposed to cook. If you leave before our rousing closer (with drum solo) perhaps you can walk away thinking the show lacked energy but I always thought we mixed it up. Played hard hitting tunes mixed with spacier more etherial tunes or ballads or something. I don't think every tune should be a go for the jugular free for all (pardon the pun). This band has many sides and I think we should display them all. I don't think screaming each tune at the top of our lungs is the way to go. I do appreciate you all coming out and supporting us. I'm glad most of you enjoyed us and for the rest, sorry we didn't make your day. Questioning why one would have "ensemble work" on a ballad though seems a bit much but everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think it works great but hey, that's just me....... Anyway, almost everywhere we go we getting rousing standing ovations at the end of the night and while they might be going through the motions or being polite, I have to think we are usually pretty well received and those who do not find it to be all that are in the minority. Again, I realize we are not for everyone.....I don't remember the quote exactly but I think it's something to the effect of if someone doesn't like you you're doing something wrong or maybe it's if everyone likes you, you're doing something wrong....you get the idea.....
  12. Domestic or import label? Domestic this time...Motema Records Release date June 12. I believe it is a gig for the Hartford Jazz Society or something to that effect. This is the venue info they gave me Polish National Home, 60 Charter Oak Ave. Hartford, CT. 06103 Hope you can make it..... I happen to be the president of the Hartford Jazz Society and can confirm the venue is correct. Really Ron, I had no idea.....thanks then...looking forward to it.... At least you're not the treasurer My lord -- Billy Harper blowing on "Free For All"?? Hot damn!!! Yeah, my thoughts exactly....... People liked The Core so much that we thought we had to do some sort of follow up to that and this was the most logical tune so.........
  13. Agreed Pete... Neither the sick patient nor the sacred art form model is going to attract anyone new to the music. The first is too negative and might even convince some who have a passing interest in the music to not bother if they are actually paying attention. The other just scares some people off and I get more of the inevitable "I want to like Jazz but I guess I need to know about it first" when I tell a person I meet that I'm a jazz musician. Then I have to go into the whole well the music should just appeal to you on a basic level like any music and then the beauty is if you want more detail and understanding of the music that's there for you to but it's just music like any other you can pat your feet, shake your ass and sing along with the melody shtick. The piece I referred to above, the part I did keep was about how I was getting tired of the sick patient part and all the pieces about how jazz is dead or dying or why Americans can't comprehend it or it needs to be simpler etc etc. It's overkill and if people are paying attention even a little oppressive perhaps. I went on to say that I travel the world playing this music and I go a lot of places where things are done right, creative programmers, festivals, club owners who run a nice shop etc etc and these places thrive so if things are done right, the audience is there. Maybe we should focus on that and how to do that in more places and then maybe we can get somewhere. When I play with The Cookers, it is usually for an older audience and they couldn't care less about most of this. They just want to hear some good music (with ties to the stuff that first got them interested in this music apparently) in a nice surrounding and buy a CD and go home......I love them all...... Jazz has been mainly a lifestyle music - like most musics I suppose - but practitioners have to be a whole lot more into it than anyone else (um, like, say, golf). I have come to disagree with the idea that it is a music that requires a sophisticated listener - yes, it is basically (in its 'modern jazz' form) an expository music, but so much so in fact that lots of the records become quickly boring, they are so easy to take in, the tunes get boring *really* quickly, too few of the solos actaully catch fire, etc. So the question of venue is important, as you say, but also therefore of demographic, and then a question of what music. If you don't want to play to elderly toe-tappers, don't. Miles knew if you want to retain audience you have to change idiom, and he also saw ways to make that artistically engaging for himself. Jazz - if it wasn't good enough for Miles, why should it be good enough for anyone else? To my mind there is not 'the music'. Musicans have to train a lot and are invested in method - audiences can move on quickly. It's not 'education' though, I agree with you, and the more 'jazz fans' push it the more dire and uncompelling it seems (most discussion of jazz persuades me that I am not interested in it any more). Can it stay on, as a classical music? That's the model now - hm. The classical model at least shows that most forms of music can have legs and can last forever and jazz will certainly do that. I guess it's just how much. How big of an audience will there be down the road, how many musicians will be able to sustain themselves doing this etc etc. I guess a large part of the older fan base will be dead or not going out so much anymore in 30 years and that leaves it to the next generation that is not that interested? Somehow classical music has it's audience and it seems to renew itself so I guess it will be the same for jazz, newer generations will figure it out at some point. Right now they are going to 55 Bar, Smalls and Fat Cat and some places in Brooklyn. I guess in 20 years they will go see the same bands (who have climbed up the ladder) at Birdland and have dinner and buy a CD or something and have a nice night and so on and so on. I had a meeting not too long ago with a record company and sat with three people from the label discussing things. One said, how do we expose jazz to more people, get a broader audience etc etc and I said, great, that's a noble thing, go do that but you know what, why don't you just get me all the jazz fans. If you got me all of the jazz fans, I'd be doing OK. There are enough of them, focus on them, get the word out to all of them and have them come to my shows and buy my CDs. I'd be fine with just that. Let's start there and then we can do that bring it to the rest of the world thing.......
  14. Yeah, I regret it a little but you kind of have to walk on eggshells out here, everyone is a little touchy and it's easy to get in trouble and get a reputation for being...I don't know....a dick I guess..... Well, the NYCJR edits more for length than for content, so had you submitted that part it probably would've stayed. Besides, I think more people would agree with you than not, though perhaps that is me being naive out in the hinterlands. Clifford, I did submit that part and the whole piece was too long so as I said elsewhere, I made the decision to cut out this whole section instead of trying to trim everything a little bit and hurt every section of the piece...... I decided I didn't want to stir the shit that much as it were and removed the semi offending part......
  15. Agreed Pete... Neither the sick patient nor the sacred art form model is going to attract anyone new to the music. The first is too negative and might even convince some who have a passing interest in the music to not bother if they are actually paying attention. The other just scares some people off and I get more of the inevitable "I want to like Jazz but I guess I need to know about it first" when I tell a person I meet that I'm a jazz musician. Then I have to go into the whole well the music should just appeal to you on a basic level like any music and then the beauty is if you want more detail and understanding of the music that's there for you to but it's just music like any other you can pat your feet, shake your ass and sing along with the melody shtick. The piece I referred to above, the part I did keep was about how I was getting tired of the sick patient part and all the pieces about how jazz is dead or dying or why Americans can't comprehend it or it needs to be simpler etc etc. It's overkill and if people are paying attention even a little oppressive perhaps. I went on to say that I travel the world playing this music and I go a lot of places where things are done right, creative programmers, festivals, club owners who run a nice shop etc etc and these places thrive so if things are done right, the audience is there. Maybe we should focus on that and how to do that in more places and then maybe we can get somewhere. When I play with The Cookers, it is usually for an older audience and they couldn't care less about most of this. They just want to hear some good music (with ties to the stuff that first got them interested in this music apparently) in a nice surrounding and buy a CD and go home......I love them all......
  16. I get my satisfying release here I guess...... You're right, I should blog but it is too time consuming for someone who has to do long tones and write arrangements and it will just get me into trouble. To be clear though, the above passage is something I edited out of the piece myself. It was too long and instead of just fine tuning every little thing, I decided to just eliminate one theme. I have to think that with everyone's love for jazz controversy these days, the publication would have preferred I kept that part in even though it is barely controversial. They didn't complain when I removed it though.
  17. Domestic or import label? Domestic this time...Motema Records Release date June 12. I believe it is a gig for the Hartford Jazz Society or something to that effect. This is the venue info they gave me Polish National Home, 60 Charter Oak Ave. Hartford, CT. 06103 Hope you can make it..... And tracklisting? Can't wait!! Believe, For it is True (Billy Harper) Temptation(s) (Cecil McBee) Ebony Moonbeams (George Cables) Free For All (Wayne Shorter) Quest (Billy Harper) But He Knows (George Cables) Tight Squeeze (Cecil McBee) Naaj (Billy Hart) All have been recorded before in one form or another except for Temptation(s). Tight Squeeze is from a Cecil McBee CD called Unspoken which came out on Palmetto maybe 10 years ago or so and kind of flew under the radar I guess. It's a great record. You know I'm always happy to answers questions here and I appreciate the interest but I also want to mention that there is a Cookers Facebook page and you can see the CD cover there and some new pictures from the photo shoot for the CD. http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cookers/102077619858672
  18. Exactly Jim..... I'm all for Glasper making intelligent well made pop/hip hop CDs. I just get sick of hearing how it is the future of jazz. To me, the older critics jumping on this bandwagon are the equivalent of a 50 something year old male buying a Corvette, trying to show how young and hip they still are...... I'm all for the BAM thing too, take this shit over, call your music what you want it to be called (I probably would try to ban the phrase hard-bop, that's the one that seems to keep me down and oppress me), take charge of your music and try to get it called what you think it should be called (though all labels are probably a dead end in the long run). You are right about there being a lack of intelligent writing for all the fusion music (and it's offshoots) for most of it's life (I think there are probably good reviews of Miles' electric period and the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the like). I think this part is changing though. Like I said, the "jazz" artists today going electric or delving into more popular forms are not demonized as selling out but lauded as taking bold new directions so one would think that there could be intelligent reviews about artists taking bold new directions, it just might not work for you since you know better....... The article I wrote (the part I kept that is) at the end essentially says/asks/ begs that at this point if we are going to write about music, can we just write about the music. Nothing is going to change the world that drastically at this point so can we just get an idea about what is well done, fresh, exciting, has a pulse or whatever.....I mean ultimately isn't that we are looking for.....good music.
  19. The first concert I went to in my life (outside of what my parents dragged me to) was a double bill of the Billy Cobham/George Duke band and Tony Williams Lifetime at I think it was called the Academy of Music at the time (on 14th Street, later it was the Palladium). I think I was all of 11 or so. Allan Holdsworth was supposed to be on guitar but he had visa issues and didn't make it......I can't remember who the sub was.....
  20. Yes, Scullers June 14 Hartford, CT June 15 Playboy Jazz Festival June 17 Yoshi's Oakland June 20 and 21 Vancouver Jazz Festival June 22 Jazz Alley Seattle June 26 and 27 Mt. Vernon Country Club, Denver, CO June 28 New CD "Believe" will be released June 12.
  21. Another difference is that some of the people who heard those 70s albums actually liked - and still like - some of them, and see no reason to not like them, or to incorporate that which they like into their own stuff. Nothing at all wrong with that. One more difference is that today some people recognize that some of that stuff was actually good music, period. Not everybody, of course. Remember "Bebop Is The Music Of The Future"? Nice try, that was. Yes, of course.....but I still read thinly veiled put downs of this era when reading current stuff about Wayne Shorter or Freddie or any of these guys. The sell out phrase is so ingrained into the history of this era that none of these guys shake it entirely. I was reading a recent article on Wayne that referred to "the dark period" or something to that effect. I was once asked in an interview how I felt when all my heroes sold out. My first response was I was 7 at the time so it didn't hurt so much but then I got into how they all made great records in that period, as good in it's way as their acoustic stuff. Herbie Hancock's Thrust, Wayne Shorter's Atlantis, a lot of the Miles stuff, it's all great and all has a lot of soloing in it (unlike the Glasper CD). I still love them all and play them, they're great records. Bebop is the Music of the Future, we just haven't arrived at that future yet, but just wait, it's coming........you'll see, some 14 year old will have learned all of Charlie Parker's solos and, oh wait, never mind.......
  22. Yeah, I regret it a little but you kind of have to walk on eggshells out here, everyone is a little touchy and it's easy to get in trouble and get a reputation for being...I don't know....a dick I guess..... I was following a similar thread to this on a jazz journalists blog (he talked of this being the future and how important it is to keep things simple for the people) and posted a comment much more sugar coated then what I said above and it is still "waiting moderation" a month later while the discussion continues. No fun at all.......
  23. I don't know how many tapes are in the collection but I do know another label was interested in acquiring them and they had to get the whole lot (but lost out) so I assume it was the same deal for Uptown. I guess we can expect a lot of good things from them in the future (and not only from this source)
  24. I was asked to write a column in one of the New York Jazz monthlies and in one draft, I sort of took on the phenomena without being specific to one artist. It was annoying me a bit seeing the cover of Down Beat and other publications going on and on about the stuff being the future of jazz etc etc. I think most of you have it right and wish you guys were the status quo. How is a well done hip hop or pop record pushing the jazz envelope exactly..... Since I have some regrets about cutting all of that out of my piece, I'm going to post it here. I wound up just writing a piece trying to put a positive spin on the state of jazz today, that there is some good stuff out here, some presenters and clubs get it right and have an audience etc etc. Here is the part I cut out... This fruitless search of the new thing or trying to sell something as the new, groundbreaking thing has bought us to the point where we are being told that artists with jazz backrounds making pop and hip-hop CDs is the newest, groundbreaking thing, even the future of jazz. Said artists are even proclaiming in print that they are pushing the music forward and doing something completely new. It’s easy to think you are making history if you don’t know your history. There have been jazz musicians working in pop, soul, R&B, funk, hip-hop music since the invention of said musics. Most of the Motown session musicians were jazz musicians first. This is nothing new. The only difference was those guys weren’t on the cover of Down Beat saying they are breaking new ground because they can excel in both styles. Sometimes I think we are reliving the ‘70’s which was the last time straight ahead jazz had a down period of sorts and fusion and the avant garde were at the forefront until we had our fill of that and Dexter Gordon came home and Wynton Marsalis burst onto the scene. The only difference between now and then was back then, the jazz artists who began to dabble in electric instruments were maligned as selling out and these days when you make the transition it is proclaimed as a bold new step and moving the music forward. But that is symptomatic of the world we live in today. Since major labels (what’s left of them anyway) are part of large corporations and large corporations want to sell a lot of product, jazz has adopted a pop mentality when it comes to breaking a new artist which is why a lot of our new jazz stars seemingly come out of nowhere with very little experience. Pop is all about breaking new stars, putting a ton of money into a new act and seeing if they take off and now it seems like the jazz world is doing the same thing. It’s nice to see these artists on David Letterman and for Letterman to call them jazz artists but they are playing pop and hip-hop. They sound good of course, they are good musicians but is calling pop and hip-hop jazz because it’s performed by musicians with a jazz backround really helping jazz in the long run? If jazz is dying and not connecting with the youth of today as some say, is this really a long term answer? Despite all this, I still think jazz is in great shape. There are a lot of great bands in all genres of the music performing today so it is still possible to see this music performed at a high level. I just wish things were a little more balanced. For young people to be truly exposed to this music, they need to be exposed to all of it. I don’t think young people only want to hear music created by people their own age though they do perhaps have the notion that only people their own age are hip. I think like everyone else, they want to hear good music, something that moves them and excites them and perhaps if they were exposed to some of the unsung guys out here still carrying the torch and playing music of great beauty with passion and intensity and at it’s highest level they might find a true, deep love for this music and venture on from there.
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