Saint Vitus

Liz Phair's been at that game for a while ... No surprise there ... But I sincerely doubt her sincerity in portraying her sincere self on records. Just finished listening to Norah's 2nd ... It flows like a butterfly with no sting at all. I have to agree with Alexander in that this goes over better than her first, but I wonder if I'd say the same a few years from now.

Really, tonym? To me it appears screwed up. Clicking on the song titles led to a list with no entry ... and searching for a song title led to totally unrelated results.

I don't get the joke ... but I do know this: You can still rock in America

Well, this would've been exciting had I found either of them remotely attractive. B)

Another iTunes user here ... The software (for Windows) is very good for managing the mp3 files I have (hundreds of them), and I occasionally buy to get hit singles from the artists I'm not sure I want the whole album (for instance, "Where Is the Love" from Black Eyed Peas).

It's been out for quite some time. Out of print in the US, it's still available in Europe and in Asia.

Mine's a Korean painting depicting the birth of baby Christ. One of 30 in a series of paintings done during the Korean War.

1-1. Sounds like something from the 70s (or the early 80s). Pianist first revealed a Tyner influence and then turned into a Horace Silver. Nondescriptive trumpet sound ... it could be anybody. Tenor man's influenced by Coltrane. Can it ever be a more generic opening to the blindfold test? I thought the tune sounded like "I Surrender, Dear" in some spots, but "Ask Me Now"? What did I hear? 1-2. How much did the pianist pay the others to sit back? 1-3. Was the pianist trying deliberately not to swing? All sorts of influences (hints of free playing here, counterpoints there) but I just don't get the point of this. 1-4. This has got to be from a movie soundtrack. Is this Duke Pearson’s arrangement? Sounds similar rhythmically but the brass section is too hot to think it’s Pearson. Bari reminded me of Pepper Adams but it's probably not him. Clarinet sounded nice but the solo was disappointing. 1-5. The band is probably led by a pianist. Reminded me of first Ray Charles and also James Brown … Sounded like a woman but could be a man. 1-6. Is this Rosemary Clooney? Sure sounded like someone from Broadway. Some hint of Streisandism here and there. 1-7. Monk. I think I have this recording ... I'll have to check but if I'm right, I got it from a trade with a fellow member. I like how they leave all the space during the interaction. [to be continued] 1-8. Tenor is a bit too smooth for my taste. 1-9. I have no reaction to this piece ... except to say it sounds raw and elemental. I thought the main point in making a drum record was to show off. 1-10. A bit more complex rhythm than the last one. Don't think this is Blakey. 1-11. What's with the sound effects thrown in? 1-12. Hey, a waltz section in the middle? These guys must like their Sun Ra records. 1-13. Miles would say this sounds white. Light and gently swinging. Tenor sounds like Zoot. 1-14. Almost like Stan Getz. Don't like the echo ... drowning out the rhythm. Conservative ideas from the pianist ... even though this sounds like it's from the 80s. I like the exchanges of short solo breaks. Drummer must be a name player, huh? 1-15. Walk that walk! A fun record, I should say. Lionel Hampton would be too obvious an answer ... Even the pianist sounds like him ... which brings a thought that it could be either Terry Gibbs or Victor Feldman. [Kinda late to add comments for Disc 2 ... but before I go to find out the answers here goes ...] 2-1. Fusion done ECM style … Echoes of “Round Midnight” … Corea and Holland, it sounds like … The tenor player sounds so familiar I’m upset I cannot come up with an educated guess. Drum solo brings swinging swagger to the proceeding, but it doesn't quite belong here. 2-2. More swinging grooves! Two brass players compliment one another very well … George Lewis and Lester Bowie? Monk’s influence is everywhere … Was that “I Mean You” these guys are quoting? Tenor has a nice, attractive tone. Today, this type of playing would be considered to be on the conservative side. “Ornette Coleman” chant done like “A Love Supreme”!!! 2-3. Oh, Marvin Gaye!!! Definitely need this record!!! Instruments augment what Marvin’s singing very well … but that’s all they do, which is well and good. And the way the music moves … Got that pulse, and the groove, and the flow … He creates “What’s Going On” with those ingredients, and then builds on it and refine it … Heavenly. 2-4. The guitar player is from the Jaco Pastorius school, which took in more guitar players than it did bass players. I love the mood created by the synth and the piano … but it’s the guitar player who dictates everything. I wish Pat Metheny Group were more like this. The horns jump in late in the game and so does the bass (which adds an altogether different color to the composition). Very nicely thought and done. Like it for what it is, a thinking man’s background music. 2-5. Great! Music from the 30s! But look, it is on stereo!!! What is this??? Tenor listened to Herschel Evans a lot, clearly. This is killing me! Since bass is quite prominent with piano way in the back … this is probably a drummer’s band. One of Armstrong’s all stars? But I didn't hear Louis. I’m stumped. 2-6. Another big band outing … with a spacious arrangement … This sounds as if something’s missing but this was beboppers’ idea of big band music. Alto sounds very nice and piano’s comp sounds very self-assured. Tenor is clunky and piano sound gets murkier with him as well. 2-7. We have something more recent here, but this sounds a bit crowded and tiresome. I cannot listen to this much longer. Horns making runs together to create discords after discords … Been there one too many time, don’t you think? 2-8. It is the Basie outfit … the band that takes swing music down to its essentials. Recording quality is horrible, I should say. 2-9. He’s the best. It’s Sonny Rollins with Henry Grimes and Pete La Roca. His integrity in his approach to improvisation is unquestionable. When he plays, you just shut up and listen. 2-10. A nice bluesy groove … but the vocalist fails to get me. Kinda like a sleazy version of Leonard Cohen. Probably he has many followers but I’m going to have to pass this time. 2-11. The finale … and let’s get this party going … one more time!!! A not-so-subtle New Orleans influence … If only the Marsalis clan were half this fun … Along with the Marvin Gaye record, this one gets the highest mark from me. Being fun without being condescending … what makes listening to music such a joyous experience.

Is it really necessary to list Meet the Beatles together with With the Beatles and Please Please Me?

According to the Billboard chart information provided by AMG: Year Album Chart Highest Position 1965 The Sidewinder Pop Albums No. 25 1965 The Sidewinder Black Albums No. 10 1966 Search For The New Land Pop Albums No. 143 1966 Search For The New Land Black Albums No. 16 1967 Cornbread Jazz Albums No. 7 1968 Gigolo Jazz Albums No. 11 1969 Caramba! Jazz Albums No. 10 1969 Caramba! Pop Albums No. 190 1969 Caramba! Black Albums No. 42 1988 Cornbread Top Jazz Albums No. 15 1996 Live At The Lighthouse Top Jazz Albums No. 23 Year Single Chart Highest Position 1965 The Sidewinder, Part 1 Pop Singles No. 81 1965 The Sidewinder, Part 1 Black Singles No. 81 AMG Entry

B) Today I got the Kenton's Holman and Russo charts Mosaic for $48 ... a good enough find, I would think. This find led me to look for the AMG entry for the box ... only to find that Bruce Eder has replaced the previous review (penned probably by Scott Yanow) of this set with his take on the 7CD 1943-47 set.

Up again with more updates

If anyone want this (The Gold Collection, that is) for $7, contact me at lee5555@hotmail.com. Postage paid to US addresses.

I've wondered each month if these offers were good to the overseas e-mail subscribers as well ... I doubt that will be the case, although I haven't bothered to ask because I figured the savings after the shipment to the U.S. wouldn't be that substantial. Speaking of Jazz Review, I hope they get around to making back issues available in the Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) as well.

I thought Mrs. Mingus was planning to be that someone. The sound on the RKO CD (which is widely available in the US) is generally poor, although I didn't have any other version to compare. Music is a killer, as others seem to agree. Didn't know "The Great Concert" was reissued again ... I guess it comes just in time to replace increasingly-difficult-to-find "Revenge."

I had no idea this one was comin'. Does anyone have the skinny on this one? The track listing is: 01 . Rocky's Overture 02 . Rocky Meets The Duke 03 . Satchmo's Song 04 . Monkeyin' Around With Monk 05 . Ballad For Hawk, A 06 . Skunky Funky Blues, The 07 . Sunday Mornin' Prayer Meetin' 08 . Hallelujah To Ya 09 . Righteous Rumba, The 10 . Lavender Love 11 . Rockin With Rachmaninoff The Bop City homepage is offering the mp3 track of "The Skunky Funky Blues." Bop City Records

"Flash" was Jeff Beck doing Miles in the 80s. Funny, I did have the soft spot for the "People Get Ready" guest appearance by Rod Stewart, who moved subsequently on to his most reviled recording (the self-titled album that had "Every Beat of My Heart" and, you know it, "Love Touch"). "Too Much Blood," and to a lesser degree "Undercover of the Night," I see as the descendant to "Sympathy for the Devil."

These two have provided many hours of happy listening for me: Daryl Hall - Sacred Songs (1980) Daryl Hall - 3 Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine (1986)

I'd say Talk Is Cheap is the best Stones album since Exile on Main Street. That Mick's not there to mess things up might have contributed greatly to such an outcome. B)

I went electric 25 years after Dylan did. No one called me a traitor though.

clem, I am aware of that band, but the handle comes from two unrelated songs with the same name that refers to a disease. One's on a Horace Silver album and the Sabbath did the other one.

I'm afraid the main reaction from the rockers to the New Wave sound was to imitate it. They all have that thin, bass-free sound. Having said that, I grew up with it and can tolerate it (or maybe even enjoy it). Invisible Touch is the one Genesis album that might be tolerable to you, RT. "Land of Confusion" is one of the best songs they did. One to avoid: the self-title album with "That's All." It's half-baked in so many ways. I prefer Big Generator over 90125 ... for the latter (in terms of chronology ... that is, BG) album has more grooves and energy. The first few Robert Plant solos are far better than latter day Zeps, but I'd pass on the 80s Bowies for the most part (but except, of course, for Scary Monsters, which is technically an 80s album).

Just got the mag via e-mail and here are some excerpts: "Log on to bluenote.com today and there's some vague suggestion that the bulletin board may return date non-specific, and in the meantime cyber-jazz fans have turned to three other main sites - allaboutjazz.com, jazzcorner.com and organissimojazz.org - to continue their postings. Bulletin boards are the heart of the impersonal Internet. They allow similarly-minded strangers to interact and exchange ideas about any leftfield subject you could possibly mention, and the passion and intensity of the exchanges on the jazz boards is both heartening (‘People care!’) and worrying (‘Is that a new anorak?’). But like anything to do with cyberspace, there's also misinformation and downright dross." "At organissimojazz.org they have an ‘Album Of The Week’ that's hard fought for, but don't be fooled into thinking that the pastel colouring of the organissimojazz.org forum might suggest calmer waters. One red-blooded male's input concerns famous jazz musicians who've appeared in porn flicks (you'd be surprised!), and there's also a thread (I think it was here, and I'm paraphrasing) by a “middle-aged L.A jazz fan” seeking similar. Presumably he'll be boasting about the size of his CD collection." "If you are going to log on and post, you'll need a handle. Things like ‘Musings Of Miles’, ‘Gene Harris Fanatic’ and ‘Freddie Freeloader’ are the norm. But apparently, the ‘Stan Tracey’ who posts at allaboutjazz.com isn't that Stan Tracey, but the Graham Collier is. Confused? Welcome to life online, where nothing is ever as it seems." The author is Philip Clark, who confesses he discovered "us" when the Jazz Review-Jazzwise brawl took place at that other place we used to frequent.

Wow, things must have been quite interesting here over the summer. I'm sure I'll get to catch up on things in a few weeks ... but it's funny how Greg fell out of fashion just when the mullets are threatening to come back. So who has burdened the chore of frequently calling up Michael Cuscuna to get the latest news on reissues?

For Sale or Trade. A check, money order, PayPal payment accepted. Shipping to a U.S. address included in case of a sale. All inquiries and trade offers to lee5555@hotmail.com. $18 Chick Corea - The Song of Singing (Blue Note) Freddie Hubbard - Blue Spirits (Blue Note) $16 Miles Davis & the Modern Jazz Giants (Victor Japan Digital k2) $15 McCoy Tyner - Time for Tyner (Blue Note) $12 Paul Chambers - Chambers Music (Blue Note) $8 Cecil Taylor - Trance (Black Lion) $7 Sarah Vaughan (with Clifford Brown) (Verve Master Edition) Stan Getz / Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (Verve Master Edition) $6 Miles Davis - The Gold Collection (a grey market release containing a 2nd quintet performance from '67) plus, some items not related to jazz $7 Roxy Music - Avalon (mini-lp sleeve, cutout)