bigtiny

Freddie was one of my absolute favorites, so picking favorite albums is difficult to say the least. Other than the 2 or 3 absolute dreck albums he did for Columbia in the mid 70s, I like them all, but.... Leader: Ready for Freddie Keep Your Soul Together (don't let the smoothy trappings of the album cover fool you...this thing burns!) First Light (beautiful playing, my first jazz album) Sing a Song of Songmy (who else would have even DONE this?!?!?!) The mid-80's bluenotes with Woody Shaw Superblue Sideman: Blues and the Abstract Truth (man!!!!) - Oliver Nelson Speak No Evil - Wayne Shorter Maiden Voyage/Empyrean Isles - Herbie Hancock VSOP (3 albums) - Herbie Hancock 4x4 (one side) - McCoy Tyner with Dexter Gordon with Blakey ... you get the picture =:-) bigtiny

I was just re-reading "Jazz Anecdotes" the other day and ran across the line from Al Cohn that I'd forgotten: "A gentleman is somebody who knows how to play the accordian, but doesn't" bigtiny

You may not be aware that Andrew has a brain tumor and is seriously ill. You can check his info at http://www.andrewdangelo.com/ bigtiny

One of my fondest memories, after not seeing MIles when I was younger (in the early 70s) was going to one of the 'Kix' shows in Boston when Miles came out of retirement. I never thought I'd get to see him and then he started playing again. I had tickets to the second show, but showed up before the first show started. I was first in line outside to get in. When the first show started, I heard the music and realized that the big semi truck I was standing in front of was the mobile recording studio....the doors opened (it was warm out) and there sat Teo and some other guys. I could hear the music full on out of the monitors. I had gone to the show expecting MIles not to play much. I figured he'd blow a note here and there, play some Fender-Rhodes and glare from the stage. He was playing his ass off! After hearing the first show through the monitors, it was inside to hear the second set. I was not disappointed. It was not Live-Evil to be sure, but I've always thought that the first band (Bill Evans, Mike Stern, Marcus Miller, Al Foster, Milo Cinelu) was his best post retirement band. Some of that show is on "We Want Miles" I miss having him around.... keith

There's a documentary that came out a couple of years ago on Evelynn Glennie, the Scottish (I think, or is she Irish....?) percussionist who is deaf. Frith did a lot of the music and there are several scenes of the two of them improvising together. I really enjoyed it. I can't remember the name of the film. And there's also "Step Across the Border" a documentary about Frith himself from 10 or so years ago. bigtiny

I've always been a huge Warwick fan, and I especially like the Bachrach-David tunes. I remember listening to them on AM radio whilst getting ready for school in the morning. Great stuff and she has great pipes (and I generally don't care for singers).... bigtiny

Well now. Tell us how you really feel. Being a sellout would imply that he's doing it only for the money. History says otherwise. So he's not doing it for the money? I think you're way off base here, Jim. Everything he does is motivated by money. It has to be. Listen to his music. It sucks! I do things that are motivated by money, too. Does that mean I'm a sellout? You do what you can do to make a living; he found something he was good at and could make money at and he stuck with it and made a whole bunch of bread. Good for him. It's obvious from bootlegs that I've heard and from the stories of people in this thread that he can still burn on guitar in a jazz setting. Does that mean he is required to do so by some strange obligation to jazz / guitar nerds? And if he doesn't he sucks? The music business is extremely tough. I applaud anyone who actually has talent and musicianship for making it, however they can. Is Larry Goldings selling out because he's touring and recording with James Taylor? Look....if you make your living at something, then you're doing it for the money. Benson has stated many times that he started out singing doo-wop on streetcorners in Pittsburgh and always saw himself as a vocalist. I'm not a big fan of what he does these days (or for many days in fact) but I'll tell you what, any time he wants to he is able to distinguish himself as one of the greatest straight ahead jazz guitarists in the world. If you don't believe me, ask any jazz guitarist. Having said that, if he can make millions by playing music that HE enjoys (and apparently millions of others do too) then what's the problem? It's simple, if you don't like it, don't listen to it. I saw Benson live many years ago, touring in support of the 'Breezin' album. The tunes were all tunes from the album, so it wasn't a bad ass burning jazz concert. However, the band was great and the playing and presentation were impeccable. You know, I don't fire up an 'Original Dixieland Jazz Band' album everyday, but if I saw them, and they presented their music at their usual standard, who am I to complain??? bigtiny

4x4 is excellent indeed. Interesting story....Woody Shaw was apparently supposed to do the Hubbard side, but after disappearing on "an errand" according to his wife (and being gone for 2 days) Tyner eventually tired and called Hubbard to fill in. As far as Blythe, "Lenox Avenue Breakdown" and "In the Tradition" are both stellar in my opinion. "Lenox Avenue" was downright revolutionary at the time.....a big label album with tuba instead of bass....a refreshing sound and concept. I just love "Jitterbug Waltz" from "In the Tradition".... bigtiny

Earlier I added this to a political thread titled the Police. It took me a few min to realize what I did. I haven't heard any of the recent performances, but personally I wouldn't care, as Copeland and Summers are the *real* stars in my book. An interesting parallel is Cream. Clapton became a megastar, but Baker and Bruce (especially the stuff with Kip Hanrahan) produced the more provocative music post-dissolve. There is a parallel in that both Sting and Clapton were fairly lame singers. As for a new Police album...be still my heart. They might do better to just release a new single. The kids don't "do" albums these days, and the Police always struck me as a good singles band but not very good at programming an album. Well first off, Andy Summers had already played with Soft Machine and other groups before he ever met the others, and Copeland had already produced (and performed) on records under the name 'Klark Kent'. Hey, I like Sting, but to say that the other guys would have been nowhere without him is a bit much. I do understand your point though...it's all about the tunes in the rock world and Sting sure can crank em out. As far as programming albums...I thought they did a pretty damned good job on 'Ghost in the Machine' and 'Synchronicity'.... bigtiny

Saw a note the other day on a trumpet players forum by Wilmer Wise who is a NY freelancer and Philly native. He said he had spent the afternoon at Ted's house in Jersey and Ted is still going strong. Apparently Curson spends a great deal of time in Finland where he is very popular.... bigtiny

I don't really understand you're point. His drum sets are obviously not "unnecessarily complicated" for him, so why do YOU have a problem with them. And what would paring down his set prove? He plays what he plays...and quite well.

I seem to remember at some point reading that the image was of some sort of crystal examined through an electron microscope... bigtiny

The Mosaic set of the Roullete stuff is great. The two Mainstream albums are great too - "The Blues Roar" and "Color Him Wild". I just got a copy of "Color Him Wild" the other day. Hadn't heard it in 20 years......MAN!!! Great album.... bigtiny

I've always wondered and suspected that there was a LOT more Woody Shaw stuff in the vaults, especially live material from the Vanguard run. It's interesting to me that the one record refused to Mosaic by Columbia was the Stepping Stones record. It's a burning record (one of my faves), but that, by itself, was not a big enough reason to stop them from licensing to Cuscuna. And the Columbia reissue didn't come for several years after the Mosaic set so I don't think it was "in the pipeline" at the time. The logical answer would be that there was a bunch more material available and Columbia wanted to keep their options open...remember, that was about the time they were starting the Miles boxes. Here's hoping that if more great material exists, it will see the light of day.... bigtiny

Nat was on the road with Woody Herman. It was one of his first big time gigs (Nat went to NY before Cannonball....) Nat was a wonderful player. I had the good fortune to meet him and hang a bit toward the end of his life. Great trumpet player. bigtiny

Could be, but would Getz's tenor book be anywhere as difficult to reconstitute as the bari book? Also, the story -- which certainly may be apocryphal -- fits Chaloff's personality much better than it does Getz's. (Stan certainly could be evil but not I think in that confrontational manner, at least not with a male figure of authority like Herman.) Finally, the story as told segues nicely into the familiar tale in which Woody pisses on the semi-zonked Serge's leg while both men are standing at a bar. That was Joe Venuti not Serge Chaloff.... bigtiny

go to woodyshaw.com his son is running things and they sell charts on the site. Perhaps he would work out an arrangement with you to use the tune....] bigtiny

I think their earlier albums are more intriguing than their latest (though I did see them on tour about 5 years ago and they rocked). They are certainly not a JAZZ group, but I think they do some interesting work. I believe you can download some early classics like 'Duck Stab Wound' and the 'Mole Show' from eMusic.com. Also available is an amazing album of theirs called 'Eskimo', which is an album of ethnic Eskimo music (actually it's all made up electronically by the Residents). I often play this all night on loop while I sleep...but I'm weird. bigtiny

The LIves are excellent, though I don't know if it's really possible to pick a 'good' starting point with woody (all of his stuff is great as far as I'm concerned). Grab all of the 32jazz reissues you can find (that's the Muse catalog....). The Columbias are great.....I'd probably say check out 'Stepping Stones' or the Dexter Gordon album 'Homecoming' which is Dexter's Vanguard stint after returning from Europe, backed by Woody's band.... bigtiny

Oh...I'm sorry....I thought this was an open forum for discussion. I didn't realize that it was only for syncophants. bigtiny

I'm pretty open minded and I have broad tastes in music, but I just DO NOT get the Dead. People seem rabid in their devotion to them: articles praise their improvisation abilities; everytime I've heard them they've sounded like a REALLY bad garage band to me. So, I'd vote 'no'. bigtiny

Nobody has ever really substantiated the cause of Dolphy's death beyond saying that it was linked to Diabetes. There have also been reports that he wandered around in a confused state for a couple of days, then received substandard care in a German hospital. Those charges have never been fully explained, and I suppose they never will be. bigtiny

First Light was the first jazz album I ever owned....my non-musical mother bought it for me from the Columbia record club because I had just become interested in playing jazz on my 9th grade trumpet....I was and am still in love with this record. I like most of Freddie's records, even the ones where he's playing much more commercial stuff, because he's just a badass....the baddest trumpet player.... I agree that there is a wealth of great music on the CTIs....I still can't figure out why 'Keep Your Soul Together' hasn't been put on CD...it's got some astounding playing on it! I also recently picked up a couple of the Joe Farrell CTIs - also excellent.... bigtiny