AllenLowe

I've been working on the cues for the new documentary, musical interludes to be inserted into the film. This is called Do Not Go Gentle Into that Operating Room; me on tenor, Ethan Kogan drums, Colson Jimenez bass. All freely improvised:

never mind....just figured it out -

I should add that, after my first 12 hour surgery I stopped sleeping (this was 2021). Six months went by; I was sleepless and suicidal until I discovered THC which, in small dosages, has kept me sane since September 2021. Thank goodness it was legalized and I recommend it; it kept me out of the looney bin (so far at least).

Just turned 72; I would say the cancer thing aged me about an extra 10 years. It's strange getting old; I can out-play and out-compose most younger musicians, but the industry sees me as aged out, nearing some kind of unofficial retirement age. But after almost dying and then losing about 5 years I am just getting started. Though I am going to start liquidating my CD collection (though I don't know, yet, how). PTSD after 25 surgeries is the killer, night terrors, waking up; then being told that Chemo damaged my inner ear and is why I tend to get dizzy - so another thing is trying not to fall. Which is also a little scary, especially since I am in NYC a lot climbing subway stairs. But musically: fuck it all, there is a documentary coming out about me, I have a 3-CD set coming out, and a new group called the Avant Roots Quartet that is as good as any in the world. Really. So I am not going gentle into that retirement home. Gigging maybe 4 times a year, which sucks, but that's the way it's gonna be.

I hear Texas has enormous cockroaches.

well....I downloaded a sample on Kindle, maybe 40-50 pages worth and I think it's pretty awful. The intro is a waste of time, and the first section makes the same mistake every author, unedited, seems to be making these days. The writer has mistaken research for writing, and it is so overloaded with detail about - well, everything, Texas insects, the family history (could have been cut to about 3 pages), land deals, political battles - everything but Kenny Dorham himself. And written in a totally dead style, like a listings section of a newspaper. Sorry, this is probably not a popular opinion, but this weirdness is everywhere in current jazz bios and music bios in general. The writer(s) seems to thing that merely describing something is the same as having insight into it. I just am so tired of how badly music bios are done - unless they are by Robin DG Kelley of John Szwed. I gave up on this one (and I haven't even described one particular howler of mistake, which may be an editing mistake, but that just shows there was probably no editor).

Zieff was brilliant; he used to call me every once in a while and complain about a critic I knew. By far his best work is on this: https://www.discogs.com/release/14448931-Bob-Zieff-The-Music-Of-Bob-Zieff can't get the picture to appear, but that's the CD to get -

Try the Strings Attached record he made with Jimmy Rainey. Al aways had a beautiful touch but he just didn't get modal playing like some others of his generation.

I love Mary Lou, but playing that solo she reminds of Al Haig when he was trying to play in a "contemporary" way - the line never gets going and is built around repeated patterns. For her best playing I always go back to the '30s and '40s. She was always, harmonically, the hippest of the hip, but to my ears she never successfully made the rhythmic transition from swing to bebop to post-bop. the energy us unfeigned - this was where she was comfortable. and here; she was picking up the harmonies, post-Tatum, but when it came to line she needed the old-style feel:

I admire Bickert but don't know enough about him to be of much help, but no one seems to have noticed that he played a Fender Telecaster, which is extremely unusual for a jazz guitarist. It is more likely the choice of a rock or country musician. Different kind of sound (potentially).

thanks, I will see if if I can locate a phone number.

I will tell you a weird story - years ago I was on my way to a club in Midtown Manhattan. I was walking (I was about 19, so this might have been 1973) and who did I see ahead of me but Budd Johnson. I was thrilled; I walked up and introduced myself, and Johnson said "I want you to meet my friend, Big Al Sears (who was standing next to him)." I was very excited about this, wish I'd had a camera.

last I spoke to him he was diagnosed with early-onset dementia. I had been talking to him for a while since his wife stuck him in a facility without telling him what she was doing, and while he was still very cognizant. At that point he got a lawyer and was sent back home. He had started to fade, and when I did last call, a caregiver came on the phone and said he was doing ok. That's the last contact I had. I imagine he is in some kind of care facility and probably totally out of it by now. He does have a son but I cannot remember his first name, so I know of no way to reach him, sadly enough.

thanks for saying that, not everyone here agrees that I am a benign presence.

I know that he is constantly working, so maybe he is too busy to worry about it. I am hoping to do a duo album with him at some point.