Pete C

I've been to North Sea 4 times. I love it, but it's a real endurance contest. 3 nights, about 8-9 hours each, 14 concurrent stages. Very bad if you can't make decisions. It's got the widest range of styles, from straight ahead to avant, and also a bunch of latin, funk, blues, fusion, etc. Last year I saw, among others: Dave Holland Big Band, Enrico Rava, Simon Nabatov & Nils Wogram, Gonzalo Rubalcaba & David Sanchez, Brotzmann Tentet, Richard Bona, King Crimson, Herbie Hancock Quartet with Bobby Hutcherson, Solomon Burke, Jorge Ben Jor, and Van Morrison. And the Hague is a pleasant place, and only 45 minutes from Amsterdam. I just learned that due to some venue conflicts they will move to Rotterdam in 2006. There's plenty of hardbop too, to keep your moniker happy. I was at the Umbria festival once. The programming is very heavy on mainstream American acts. Not much I can't see all the time in New York. But Perugia is very pleasant, and there's lot's to explore in Umbria. I wouldn't recommend Vienne. The town is not very interesting, and there's not as much choice per evening as the other festivals. The main concerts are in a Roman amphitheatre, which is very atmospheric, but you're likely to be very far from the stage. Montreux shouldn't be allowed to call itself a jazz festival. It's mostly rock, hip hop, and lots of other stuff these days, with precious little real jazz. If you're into Brazilian music, however, they dedicate one weekend to the stuff and get the best of the best. I'm pretty sure the London festival is in October or November.

I wonder what kind of interaction he and Bley had, if any, in Montreal.

The trio is a quartet: Ornette, Denardo & 2 basses: Greg Cohen & Tony Falanga.

It's a touring group put together through the auspices of the SF Jazz Festival: Redman, Bobby Hutcherson, Nicholas Payton, Miguel Zenon, Josh Roseman, Renee Rosnes, Robert Hurst & Brian Blade. "Possibly the biggest event to happen in the jazz world in years, the SFJAZZ Collective takes the stage for their world premiere with four performances in San Francisco. This first resident band for SFJAZZ features eight all-star musicians who are consistently ranked among the top artists performing today. The group will focus on jazz music from the 50’s to the present, this year featuring the work of master innovator Ornette Coleman. The group will also debut new pieces composed by each artist. Don’t miss this historic launch!" http://www.sfjazz.org/concerts/spring04/ar...collective.html

There's a side of me that says go, and a side of me that says don't go. Those '60s albums are, IMO, about as profound as this art form gets. But I haven't really enjoyed Jackie in recent years, and Moncur's chops are gone, from what I hear. I did see Moncur in a William Parker large ensemble a couple of years ago, but he played very little, so it was hard to judge. I think I'd rather see some guys in their prime tackle that amazing Moncur music. Well, Hutcherson is still in his prime... I wonder who'll be in the rhythm section? Ridley?

It was at the Village Gate. 1975. The Adams-Pullen-Walrath band. FWIW.

If he'd threatened me I'd have asked the establishment for my money back. Mingus once turned his back to the audience and farted a fart of Mingusian proportions when I was at a table close to the stage, but when he turned around he had a friendly smile on his face.

Song for Biko is superb.

Apparently a Chicago soul jazz trio from the 60's. The only name I'm familiar with is Chi-town stalwart drummer Robert Shy, who worked with Rahsaan for several years.

Yeah, I like the chemistry with Aoki in the mix. When I was in Chicago for the jazz festival in 2002 there was an amazing set at the Record Mart Sunday brunch: Anderson-Aoki-Drake get a groove going and they're joined by Ari Brown, Ernest Dawkins & Malachi Thompson. A friend of mine reported on the NYC (Tonic) gig last night. He was there for the first (10 PM) set. He tells me Brotzmann stuck to clarinet & alto, though he had the tenor on stage, and that it was a more subdued than a usual Brotzmann set, which disappointed some in the audience, but my friend enjoyed it.

Yes, excellent recording, excellent group. Don't forget Trio Music. I saw a Corea/Haynes/Pattitucci trio last year that was at the same high level of inventiveness and interplay. And a Corea/Burton duo concert in '97 was one of the most spellbinding encounters I've ever witnessed. Don't write the guy off.

I'm in total agreement with Dan Gould.

Saw them last summer at the North Sea festival. Only difference was Drake instead of Nielson-Love. It was a spectacular set full of sonic variety. Personally, I don't care for the trio--I find too much monotony in the sound and fury. I'm skipping the NY show tonight, and really looking forward to Fred Anderson's visit next month (I don't know whether Aoki or Parker will be on bass).

Don't forget that they're on Emusic too, and that could change (though perhaps not if Concord were the buyer). I downloaded several hundred Fantasy catalog titles when Emusic offered unlimited downloads.

I thought American Singles referred to "pasteurized processed cheese food."

How about throwing in dinner at Two Toms?

Tom, you're being very unfair to Chris. You forgot Mark Murphy.

I think of "historic" South Brooklyn as Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, Red Hook, maybe Sunset Park. I'm in Park Slope, and I grew up in Midwood. I think when the term South Brooklyn was coined what is now geographical south Brooklyn was a bunch of farms and independent villages.

Clementine, off topic, but I never thought of Bed-Stuy of South Brooklyn.

They did a duo thing last May in NY. It was excellent, and the audience was a musicians' who's who.

I generally don't like Hibbler, but he's so wonderfully over the top on that one that I love it.

I'm mixed on her, but I highly recommend the live album she did with Carmen McRae at the Great American Music Hall. The interplay between the two of them is a ball.

I don't much care for Ellington's male vocalists. Betty Roche, however, was one of the great underrated female vocalists. Her 2 prestige albums are really excellent. I haven't heard her Bethlehem material.

I've seen him twice at LCOOD. TO have any choice of seats you have to get there about 2 hours in advance. I think the best seats are a couple of rows in front of the sound booth.

The Atlantic story I've read in several books on soul music & the Memphis music scene. Apparently, the Stax people thought they had a purely distribution deal with Atlantic, but buried somewhere in the contract (and apparently Jerry Wexler may be one of the guilty parties) was a clause that gave Atlantic ownership of the masters. I don't know the technicalities, but I think this came to a head when Warner bought Atlantic, and Atlantic ended up owning all the pre-1968 Stax masters, which is why all those Otis Redding albums are on Atlantic. I'm pretty sure it's all covered in Peter Guralnick's excellent Sweet Soul Music.