Matthew

This set has now become my official "It's Early In The Morning, And I'm With My Cup Of Coffee, Trying To Wake Up" music. Disk three right now. I'm loving this set to death for some reason.

Well, I listened to first dic today, and I am confused - I didn't like it at all... And I was listening quite attentively. I have a big problem with Raphe Malik (here in particular, since his solos are endless) - I find his sound to be absolutely "flat" and somehow I am very annoyed by the fact that he can't play long notes (and when he does they (notes) sound "shaky"). I never really thought about long note issue before, but here I just absolutely clearly felt that some of the notes should be played longer - otherwise it all gets jammed... Lyons is better, but also nothing outstanding or particularly original here (sorry). Drummer is good, but lacks variety, IMO. Compositions are typical early free pieces (Ornette, etc.).... I'll listen to it again some day... I agree with you on disk one of the Lyons box. I found it dull, with too much Malik, and not enough of Lyons. The set really picks up on the rest of the disks -- I find myself returning to the solo session and the cuts with Karen Borca, who is great.

A Quiznos Classic Italian Sandwich, a bag of "Classic Kettled Cooked" Potato Chips, and a can of Coke.

All lps. Love and Rockets: --- Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven --- Express Jet: --- Get Born Black Sabbath: --- Heaven and Hell Electric Light Orchestra: --- Eldorado Wish I could think of a good excuse for buying them...

This set has now become my official "It's Early In The Morning, And I'm With My Cup Of Coffee, Trying To Wake Up" music.

The Complete Anita O'Day Verve / Clef Sessions. Disk 2. This is a great set if you love jazz vocals.

I'm really looking forward to this one for some reason. I preordered it, and I have zero Farlow in my collection. Just going by the line-ups, and the fact that everyone ravs about these sessions.

Run to your car. Go as fast as you can to a good record store, and buy these two. Tito Puente: Top Percussion. You have no idea just how great this cd is and you will be amazed the first time you hear it. It not only has Tito, but also Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Aguabella, and Julito Collazo. Did I already say this is an amazing disk? The other great Afro/Cuban set you absolutely need is:Benny More Y Su Banda Gigante. Grabaciones Completas: 1953 - 1960. More was the King of Cuban singers, and this set is to be treasured. This has been one the best box sets I've bought in years.

I continue my strange listening streak: Tears for Fears: Songs from the Big Chair. Now, I know this thing sold in the billions, but it really is a great pop record. Next up -- Pet Shop Boys: Actually

An absolutely mint lp copy of The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St for $7.00. And it sounds great.

Happy birthday! And thanks for Nessa Records and all the great music.

Supertramp: Crime of the Century. Fantistic sounding lp, even a cheap .50 cent one in mint shape.

This from a man who raked me over the coals for listening to Chris Standring! P.S. But it is nice music, so maybe I'll let the Standring thing pass.

Always thought Randall was a vastly underrated actor. Even in those comedies of the late fifties I thought Randall also presented a glimpse of the dark underside of 1950s corporate life. Like he was saying: "Yes, I'm doing comedy here, but also beware, working for the American Corporate Machine can do serious emotional damage." It was tricky how he did it, but to my mind, that aspect was always there in his performances.

Favorite line from The Odd Couple. To set the scence, it's a "flashback" segment where Felix is explaining to Oscar why Felix and Gloria had to get married. Felix: Oscar, we have to get married, you understand? Oscar: You HAVE to marry her? A man who covers up every piece of furniture with plastic, and you HAVE to marry her!?" Cracks me up everytime. How that got past the censors, I'll never know!

If it's any help, I have zero interest in the Morgan/Shorter & Kelly/Chambers Mosaics -- too many alternate takes for my taste.

This explains some of it.. From The Francis Bacon site. Bacon’s most recognizable image, and hence most famous painting, is the screaming pope of Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953. As the title states, this picture was inspired by Diego Velázquez’s extraordinarily lifelike portrait of a powerful and unscrupulous pope who duplicitously took the name Innocent. Painted in 1650 at the height of the Baroque period, shortly after his arrival in Rome from Spain, it was Velázquez’s eminently successful attempt to rival the portraiture of Titian and the great painters of Italy. The subject of the painting is unquestionably the most powerful man in the world. He sits confidently on the papal throne, fully at ease ex cathedra -literally from the cathedral seat-as God’s representative on earth. The true brilliance of Velázquez’s accomplishment in this painting is to have satisfied his demanding papal client with a flattering, beautifully rendered portrait while at the same time passing on for the ages the unmistakable hint of corrupt character and deep-seated deceit behind that well-ordered and stern facial façade. Haunted and obsessed by the image . . . by its perfection, Bacon sought to reinvent Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X in the papal portraits that form the focus of the current exhibition. In the great Des Moines painting, the Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Bacon updates the classical image by transforming the Spanish artist’s confident client and relaxed leader into a screaming victim. Trapped as if manacled to an electric chair, the ludicrously drag-attired subject is jolted into involuntary motion by external forces or internal psychoses. The eternal quiet of Velázquez’s Innocent is replaced by the involuntary cry of Bacon’s anonymous, unwitting, tortured occupant of the hot seat. One could hardly conceive of a more devastating depiction of postwar, existential angst or a more convincing denial of faith in the era that exemplified Nietzsche’s declaration that God is dead.

For the past couple of months, I have been finding that the the art of Francis Bacon has become very important in terms of my seeing/understanding today's world. The themes of violence, religion, anger, self-doubt, the need to look honestly at something, all these notions run thoughout his life and art. Maybe it's just my own confusion over this world that is making me seeing all these things in Bacon, but his art seems to be made for these strange and violent times. Is anyone else finding an artist that is speaking to them especially given the current world situation? edit for picture

Phew!!!! It's safe to go outside. I thought hell had frozen over and pigs were flying, when I saw jazzbo's name as posting on this thread.

Spent the afternoon listening to this: Gerry Hemingway Quartet: Devils Paradise, which is on Clean Feed Records, and I was very impressed with it. Quartet consists of Hemingway, Ellery Eskelin, Ray Anderson, and Mark Dresser. The interaction between Dresser and Heminway was impressive, they seemed to know where each one was going, and drove the music in a very forcefull manner. This cd is not "wild free-jazz " by any means. All the songs are Hemingway compositions, and the front-line of Eskelin on Tenor Sax, and Anderson on Trombone kept finding nice cracks in the music to add wonderfully creatively solos. The cd has a Coleman/Cherry session aspect to it, the outside - inside feel they had to their quartet. If you see this, don't be afraid to take the plunge and buy it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Making my way through the Mosaic lp box, Miles Davis: The Complete Plugged Nickel, which has the best live sound I've ever heard. Would love to get my hands on the Mosaic Gil Evans/Miles Davis lp set, that's supposed to be fantastic.

MACHINE GUN DONE BY MUZAK. HELL YEAH!!!

I'm in the process of buying the pop-jazz stuff of The Crusaders. It's nice music to relax to. Plus, I just got Free as the Wind for .50 cents, which is what I'm buying most of their lps at.

This week I've been listening to The Complete Verve Johnny Hodges Small Group Sessions 1956 - 61, and it has reminded me how truly great Hodges was as a player. I've come to the realization that this is the best Mosaic ever. Every other song, my jaw drops to the floor, and I say to myself in amazement: "Did you just hear what the Rabbit played!!! " There is no substandard Hodges solo here, (I don't think he ever recorded one) and the sidemen are in top form. No musical revolutions here, just music played with the highest skill possible. All I can say is that if you ever considered buying this set, do yourself a huge favor -- do it. Just had to get this off my chest.