randissimo

Thanks Mark, I enjoyed your Dennis Milleresque take on this.. As a jazz performer, I thought I could post the additional gig info about where Harvey could be heard. After all, it is supposed to be "All About Jazz".. However, the paragraph about Organissimo got censored out which has since turned me off to the AAJ board. I wasn't tryin' to sell Organissimo over there. I was just including concert info for anybody who might be in the area at the time of our tour and would be interested in hearing Harvey Thompson. Maybe I should have made up a different band name for that post. But I still had to direct people to organissimo.org for the tour info.....

You're kidding, right? I have never seen a post at AAJ where anyone was offended by the mention of this board. Conversely, the very short thread here about whether the AAJ board was working or not seemed to draw a rather terse post. I see much more discussion here about "why I don't like AAJ"; I never read anything like that over there. May 14th I posted at AAJ on a jazz vocalists thread. The post is still there entitled something like, "Has Anyone Heard Harvey Thompson Yet?". The post was mainly a short bio about Harvey and that he has a new CD out and is worth listening to. I also mentioned an upcoming Organissimo tour we're doing at the end of June which will feature Harvey Thompson and mentioned if anyone was going to be in Michigan at the time to contact us... A couple of days later I checked the thread and discovered the moderator had taken out the whole paragraph about Organissimo! I got censored!! Somebody at AAJ is maybe jealous of our success over here??

DAMN!!! How did our cd get over there!! And who's booking Bill Heid??

OK I accept your challenge.. Pick up a copy of the Columbia re-issue on CD, "Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man & Other Billie Holiday Classics".. Though Anita is truly a great singer and entertainer, Carmen was and still is the Boss!!

Jim, thanks for the amen... I grew up on this album. My mother wore out a copy of it.. I was no doubt the only 10 year in my town who could scat along with most of the solos on this great recording.....

Correction.... All the way from Las Vegas. He was working the Vegas scene almost 10 years before the "Rat Pack" era...

While hanging out with a bass player I worked with last weekend I was sipping on some good coffee and to my surprise he had popped in the the Nancy Wilson/ Cannonball Adderly album in his cd player. That record is as fresh now as it was when originally released. This album is a perfect marriage of great singing and great musicianship, outstanding arrangements, and emotionally charged solos by Cannonball, Nat, and Joe Zawinul ( who went on to form Weather Report less than 10 years later!) and bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes swing for days and play deep in the groove on all the tracks.. If you haven't heard it, pick up a copy! It's one of those recordings that can always re-charge my batteries when my enthusiasm starts to wane. It always reminds of what it is that sets Jazz apart from Pop music.. It's been re-issued on CD and originally was on Capitol Records. Also, there is a Jazz singer I think is an outstanding scat singer as well as a fine vocalist and entertainer. Her name is Sunny Wilkinson. She has a few cds out. If you can find find her latest cd or if she performs anywhere near your area, check her out..

Yeah Ghost, I like that! We're going to have a birthday jam over at Jim's studio @ 7:00pm if you can make it..

I bet you guyz don't know it's B3er's birthday today! go to organissimo, the band to post a birthday salute

Maybe "USE3D" has access to an interesting childhood photo of Jim

Wilke never did post this week's playlist..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM!! YOU DA MAN !!! B)

Dig it, I work occasionally with these pretentious kinds of "cabaret-theater-actor singers" who fancy themselves to be Jazz singers and find myself bored to death .. And often these are the ones getting over with the "wine tasting yuppies with money set".. And I cringe because most of them also think they can scat! They should go back and check out Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Abbey Lincoln, Dakota Staton, and Nancy Wilson for starters.. And Betty carter, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sunny Wilkinson for scatting.

Gotta have a copy of that CD!!! They were BAD ASS!!!!

Whoops! I must be tired! I set up this post before I read it and realized it was last week's playlist... Wilke hasn't gotten this week's playlist up yet.......

Andy Bey is a great vocalist! The first time I heard him was on Stanley Clark's album "Children Of Forever" along with Chick Corea, Joe Farrell, Pat Martino, and Lenny White.. I was blown away! A couple years later someone turned me on to an album entitled, "Andy & the Bey Sisters".. Definately worth a listen if you can find it...

Right on Jimbo! The guy is a punk!

I grew up with vocal jazz in our house because my mother was a jazz vocalist until the late 1960's. She always had her Webcor stereo record player fired up and swinging.. I remember her listening to Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Dakota Staton, Ella Fitzgerald, June Christy, Blossom Deary, Mose Allison, Jack Sheldon, and especially Carmen McRae and Nancy Wilson. I particularly remember the Summer of 1961, around the time when the NancyWilson /Cannonball Adderly Quintet album came out on Capitol Records. My mom wore that record out! It is to this day one of the greatest Jazz recordings ever made.. Everything Nancy sings on this album is fresh, and Cannonball, brother Nat, Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones, and Louis Hayes play soulfully on every track. The other vocal Jazz album that got equal play around our house at the time was the Camen McRae album released on Columbia entitled, "Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man And Other Billie Holiday Classics".. This record cooks from start to finish! Joining Carmen on this record date was tenor man Eddy "Lockjaw" Davis. The perfect match for Carmen, who I always felt phrased like a soulful tenor player. Upon listening to this recording it becomes obvious how deeply Carmen and "Jaws" emotionally inspired each other as well as the other musicians on the session. The arrangements and musicianship are superb! Both of these albums have been re-issued and deserve a serious listen! Also, there is a male Jazz vocalist of note out of Detroit by the name of Harvey Thompson. Harvey has a style and range somewhat like Johnny Hartman or Joe williams and can sing in a falsetto range as well. Harvey is not only a dynamic singer with impeccable phrasing and intonation, he is also a very charismatic entertainer as well. Harvey has 2 Cds out, the latest one was recently recorded in Japan and hopefully will be available on the internet somewhere. Harvey Thompson is yet to be signed by a US label and his current success and notoriety are mostly in Europe and Japan. Harvey will be joining Organissimo for a 5 day Summer tour from June 26th to June 30th. If anyone is interested contact me or B3er for additional tour info. All the gigs are going to be in northern and west Michigan

Me too! I'd pay twice that amount! Roy Haynes, aka "Snap, Crackle, & Pop" has, and continues to be a great source of inspiration... He was playing with a broader sense of independance, creativity, and polyrhythmic phrasing than most of the other drummers of the time going way back to the late 40's. Listen to some of the recordings he played on with Bird. Even then he wasn't just playing 2 & 4 on the hihat!

There is definitely a fine art to learning how to SPELL 'the talk'. And actually, that's one of the things I like about on-line conversations, is finding things in print, that you'd normally only ever expect to 'hear'. As MasterCard would say... "Priceless'!!! A lot of kids can't spell... Some of my 20 something nephews can barely fill out a job app...

Dig dat den... B)

And edit out the name too, or at least all but the first name... Whoops! Duhhh....Thanks guys....

----Original Message] My name is Bradley and ive been a fan of your band for about 4 months now. your perspective on music from what I hear is extremely free. When I listen It trips me out because our approach is simillar but different because we are different people.I have been playing drums for about 8 years and I really need to fing a nich where people can let me express myself in an open playing atmosphere where all thoughts and feelings are on the table, and where all the governings of society are gone. It means the world to me to be able to sit in with you guys and I hope you wouldn't mind if I bring my kit to one of your gigs set it up early and wait out the evening to find an opportunity to play with all of you.Im going to skip my graduation to come see yawl play tonight at billys I hope you dont mind if I bring my jazz kit I will be there early. Bradley; I really appreciate your enthusiasm and would be interested in meeting you. Note; We are not at Billy's tonight so don't skip your graduation! We play the first Tuesday of every month. Also, the idea of you bringing your drum kit won't work. First of all, I don't know you, there's no room onstage for another kit, and we don't usually have people we don't know sitting in unless they are horn players who know our tunes. I would be interested in hearing you play! Send me a tape or CD. Or let me know if you play somewhere...

Roy Haynes IS DA MAN! He is, or is close to 80 now and still playin the way he does!! ... Must be an alien from the planet Groove.. He is always on and playin' great! First time I saw him was with Chick Corea and Miroslav Vitous in a ski resort in Traverse city of all places back in Dec 1982.

I positively agree with this statement. I've spun this disc about three times thru since receiving it on Monday and must say it's a great debut album. Some hip playing by all involved, especially Joe. I really like the Jimmy Smith tune, it's got a cool bridge/channel? to it; that section seems to bring out even more superlative playing from Jim and Joe in their solos. 'Life Wish' has definitely grown on me; at first it seemed dull but after repeated listenings I noticed deeper stuff going on. Love the two funkier tunes in the middle of the track order too: 'Blake's Shake' and 'You Don't Want To Do That'. Anyone who's on the fence about this one should, as Chuck says, do themselves (and Organissimo) a favor and check it out. Great work, lads! WHAT ABOUT THE DRUMMER? HeHe...."Some hip playing by all involved", is good enough for me....... Thanks for the nice review pryan. I'm glad you're enjoying the CD. "Life Wish" does grow on people. There's a tune Pat Metheny would probably be interested in...