Michael Fitzgerald

I posted something here a few months back that I asked for a catalog (via the website) and got a 2005 CDROM, plus the old (2002?) printed catalog. Absolutely no complaints from me regarding catalog service. Mike

Sonny Rollins? Monk Montgomery? Both of them jumped. Perry Robinson Paul Chambers as I recall fell off the back of the stage - Chicago, maybe. I think he damaged that nice bass of his. Mike

You're only as old as who you feel. Mike

Uh oh - now Nica's Dream is by Gigi Gryce? No, Nica's Dream is by Horace Silver and Nica's Tempo is by Gigi Gryce. Mike

I think that Urge is on CD - Fontana PHCE 1008 (1990). If someone could supply composer credits for that stuff for the Edgar Bateman discography on my website, I'd be grateful. Mike

The NPR stuff is very good - there's an audio file of Diamond discussing his fourth symphony too. Here's The New York Times obit: ======================== June 15, 2005 David Diamond, 89, Intensely Lyrical Composer, Is Dead By DANIEL J. WAKIN David Diamond, a major American composer whose early brilliance in the 1940's was eclipsed by the dominance of atonal music but who later experienced a renaissance, died on Monday evening. He was 89. The cause was congestive heart failure, said Samuel Elliott, a close friend who took care of his affairs. Mr. Diamond had lived at an assisted-living residence in his native Rochester since July 2003. Mr. Diamond could be prickly and dour, a sometimes troublesome character by his own admission, who knew many of the greatest composers and conductors of the 20th century. In a sense, his rise, obscurity and then resurgence mirrored the larger story of American classical music in the last 50 years, as it moved from domination by atonalism to a sometimes tonal, even Romantic idiom. As a composer, Mr. Diamond wrote music marked by a deep sense of structure - he was a master of fugues and sets of variations - and at times by tart harmonies and wiry melodies. His notes could convey an ascetic quality, but also a lush, intense lyricism. "I would say that it was beautiful music, in the sense he had a tremendous melodic gift," said Gerard Schwarz, the music director of the Seattle Symphony and a champion of the composer. "At times it was as elegant and expressive as music can be, and at times extremely driven." Mr. Diamond was an innovator, too, anticipating the Americana heard in the music of Aaron Copland, Mr. Schwarz said. Summing up his place in music, the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians said, "His meticulous craftsmanship and his musical sensibility have assured his position as a 20th-century Romantic classicist." Mr. Diamond was prolific in many forms, including ballets and film scores, but his greatest contributions were his 10 string quartets, a large output of songs and, chiefly, 11 symphonies. He was part of what some considered a forgotten generation of great American symphonists, including Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, William Schuman, Walter Piston and Peter Mennin. They had something of a comeback in the 1980's and 90's, promoted by conductors like Mr. Schwarz, who said that Mr. Diamond's Second Symphony was arguably the greatest American symphony of the 20th century. Mr. Diamond was born on July 9, 1915, in Rochester and attended the Eastman School of Music there. He went to New York to study with Roger Sessions and blossomed as a composer in Paris, where he went to study with Nadia Boulanger in 1936. In Paris he crossed paths with figures like James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Igor Stravinsky. Maurice Ravel was an admirer. "I think he was interested because of my purple turtleneck sweaters," Mr. Diamond said in a 1990 interview with The New York Times. "I had once seen him perform, and he wore a peculiar checkered suit, with yellow shoes, purple socks, a green shirt and a purple bow tie - all with this wonderful graying hair." Once he returned to the United States, his career had a blazing start. He received important commissions. Leonard Bernstein championed him, as did Serge Koussevitzky, Charles Munch and Dimitri Mitropoulos. The New York Philharmonic gave the premiere of his First Symphony in 1941. But in the 1950's Mr. Diamond and his fellow traditionalists began to fade from favor as atonal and serial music asserted itself on the forefront of new music. Some deemed Mr. Diamond's music too hidebound. "These guys were important, famous composers," Mr. Schwarz said. "Then the serialists took over." Another reason for the drift in his career may have been Mr. Diamond's difficult personality. "I had a reputation as a problem person," he said in the 1990 interview. "I was a highly emotional young man, very honest in my behavior, and I would say things in public that would cause a scene between me and, for instance, a conductor." Mr. Schwarz recounted that in 1943, when the New York Philharmonic was reading through the Second Symphony in Carnegie Hall with Bernstein conducting, the orchestra's music director, Artur Rodzinski, banished Mr. Diamond from the hall. Mr. Diamond repaired to the Russian Tea Room, got drunk and, when the two men came in, punched the taller Rodzinski in the nose. (It was daring, considering Rodzinski's reputation for carrying a revolver.) But the animosity did not last. Years later, Rodzinski helped arrange a commission for Mr. Diamond from a wealthy patron. Mr. Diamond also blamed anti-Semitism and attitudes toward his open homosexuality for the decline of his fortunes, and in 1951 he moved to Italy. He lived there for a dozen years before returning. Mr. Diamond had one sister, Sabina Cohen, who died in 1991. He is survived by a nephew, Noal Cohen of Montclair, N.J., Mr. Elliott said. The ascendancy of 12-tone composition to his detriment angered Mr. Diamond at the time. But in the 1990 interview, he said: "I don't look back in anger because I feel that I've won the battle. The others have disappeared." He also defended his style: "It's very simple: we're honest composers. We've composed music that we find beautiful, that we have loved. You have to write music that will be loved. Now if that's a sentimental concept of what being a composer is, then I'm very sorry." =============================== Mike

There may have been another done for UK, but in the US the Blakey film was entitled "The Jazz Messenger" and it included footage from the performances at the Shaw Theatre for Camden Jazz Week in March 1986. It was shown on US public TV and was available for purchase as a VHS. In addition to that "current" footage there was plenty of other stuff - interviews, old footage, concluding with a performance of "Dat Dere" by Blakey and Oscar Brown, Jr. - maybe with someone else - Big Black? The African stuff included a percussionist whose name escapes me right now, but they did "A Night In Tunisia" along with the dance group "IDJ - I Dance Jazz". This was in the period when Blakey and other classic Blue Note stuff was getting played in the nightclubs. An excellent film that I would snatch up on DVD if it were available. Mike

Me? I thought the question was whether *you* should check them out. Mike

I imagine they will be right up your alley. Mike

A musical giant who knew *everyone* (well, everyone who was anyone). http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p...40341/1002/NEWS Some of you might be surprised to learn that Diamond's sole surviving relative is my Gigi Gryce co-author. I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Diamond in Rochester a couple of years ago (he was wonderful, telling great stories and answering all my star-struck questions) and by fortunate coincidence Noal happened to be visiting the Rochester area over the past few days. Mike

I believe it was Matt Groening who put it this way: basic trouble = water balloons advanced trouble = maple syrup balloons Mike

A Black Lion CD of Tears For Dolphy from 1993 added three additional pieces from this session (previously found on a separate Arista/Freedom LP). Details in the Bill Barron discography on my website. Mike

I was hoping it had to do with rice cakes. Mike

All this talk about "difficulty" - Rice never once used the word or expressed the idea of "difficulty". Just practice, practice, practice. Mike

Well, Mark Russell did pick up on a limited aspect of Lehrer's stuff. If all you know is the TWTYTW album, I could understand the association. All Mark Russell does is political satire with a piano. But TL was so much more. "Mr. Lehrer's muse was not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste as he eulogized that lovable character, the old dope peddler, or sang of the joys of poisoning pigeons in the park." - NYT 2/9/59 Those ain't no Mark Russell songs. Mike

Aren't "work" and "effort" synonymous? I'm still having trouble finding what's so objectionable about her statement. Mike

The Irish Ballad is a classic, with the first version found on that 10" LP I mentioned - not from the 1960s - it's from *1953*!! This guy was so fiendishly ahead of his time. I had the pleasure of meeting TL a couple of years ago and thanking him for his wonderfully warped mind. If I may, here's one that, like so many Lehrer bits from over 50 years ago, still rings true. ================= My Old Town I really have a yen To go back once again, Back to the place where no one wears a frown, To see once more those super-special just plain folks In my home town. No fellow could ignore The little girl next door, She sure looked sweet in her first evening gown. Now there's a charge for what she used to give for free In my home town. I remember Dan, the druggist on the corner, he Was never mean or orner-y, He was swell. He killed his mother-in-law and ground her up real well, And sprinkled just a bit Over each banana split. The guy that taught us math, Who never took a bath, Acquired a certain measure of renown, And after school he sold the most amazing pictures In my home town. That fellow was no fool Who taught our Sunday School, And neither was our kindly Parson Brown - (I guess I better leave this line out, just to be on the safe side) In my home town. I remember Sam, he was the village idiot, And though it seems a pity, it Was so. He loved to burn down houses just to watch the glow, And nothing could be done, Because he was the mayor's son. The guy that took a knife And monogrammed his wife, Then dropped her in the pond and watched her drown. Oh, yes indeed, the people there are just plain folks In my home town. ===================== Mike

I completely disagree. I don't think saying that something takes work is negative at all. Too many children have been allowed to go through life without learning any sort of work ethic. Everything that is worthwhile requires work. I think it does students a disservice to pretend otherwise. I have seen many many students who go into learning an instrument with misconceptions, thinking that it's all just going to be fun - well, sorry, it's work too. Now, if we can instead instill the belief that work is good - enjoyable and rewarding, then I think that will help things tremendously. The single best indicator of student success is practice time. My students who put in the time (20 min/day - not a lot) succeed. Those who come in with blank practice sheets do not. And success is the best motivator. If you are successful at something, you will want to do it. Mike

Huh? Both statements are true. Or are you saying that presenting something as "work" is inherently bad? Mike

Nah, hell freezes over when Syd Barrett joins the four onstage. Mike

Well, Buell Neidlinger WAS the leader on some of that Candid stuff and the Mosaic set is "The Complete Candid Recordings Of Cecil Taylor And Buell Neidlinger" and where's Buell? - hmmm, white guy. Chet Baker was NOT the leader and YET he is still there on the cover even though he's only a "with" on "The Complete Pacific Jazz and Capitol Recordings of the Original Gerry Mulligan Quartet and Tentette with Chet Baker" - hmmm, white guy. But affirmative action was put into place so that NONE of the THREE white guys made the cover of the Bix/Tram/Tea set. So there. Justice prevails. Mike

Were any of the included Blue Note sessions issued by any name other than just "Donald Byrd"? Who had the contract with Blue Note? Is Pepper on the cover of any of the original issues? Obviously, they couldn't leave out Adams's name entirely since they weren't including Fuego, Mustang, etc. which don't have Pepper. In this case, a "with" would have worked just as well - despite the fact that sometimes Byrd and Adams worked under Pepper's name (10 to 4). Mike

Where does Benny Goodman play trumpet? Or is that just something told in a story, never recorded? Then again, his brother Irving did play trumpet. Could there be confusion there? Mike

That one is "topical" - all about the news of that time (but there are still some things which never go out of style - like National Brotherhood Week). My favorite is his first album, the 10" "Songs By Tom Lehrer" which is much more accessible, in my opinion. Mike

Tom Lehrer is a favorite of mine, but he had nothing to do with Schoolhouse Rock. His "Silent E" and "L-Y" songs were written for "The Electric Company", a show on PBS (perhaps most famous now for featuring Morgan Freeman). Mike