AllenLowe

I love his playing, but the comparison they make on the Mosaic site to Bud Powell is just....silly. To me Clark is part of a different side of that style, like Bobby Timmons and Barry Harris. And on the excerpted version of Bebop, also on the Mosaic site. he plays fine but there are clear moments of difficulty; I mean, how old was he? 20 something? It's not a big deal. But Bud Powell he wasn't, especially at that tempo. And anyway his touch/articulation was clearly different. Though I have to say that, in the big picture, I prefer Elmo Hope, Barry, Duke Jordan, Herbie Nichols, Dick Katz. I find that Clark is ripe with possibility, but something is missing, maybe the development was off due to personal stuff, I don't know.

I honestly think the style, which was liberating initially, has run its course. Here is a mystery guitarist with me on tenor: who is this guitar player? Though based on a blues, the guitarist is playing in an open style, implying the changes in a "free" style: featuring me and the same guitarist: this does not mean that there were not a few great "free" players - I think Ornette and Shepp are good examples; also Roswell Rudd and the Art Ensemble, Roscoe Mitchell, et al; but even Shepp, discussing a period when he was sick and playing poorly, said that "it was free jazz, so no one could tell." I have found ways, I think, to energize the form, to give it an advanced sense of narrative; but the basic format, with the cult following of the form, has become, I truly believe, something of a scam. ......an easy way to deal with performance and repertoire - lazy, formulaic. It is now a matter of being stuck in the kind of repetition that bored these same musicians with bebop.

that's pianist Noah Berman - he has a muscular condition - I don't remember what it's called - and those are to help his hands somehow.

I understand why people like it, but I don't quite agree on the "gospelized" aspect, especially as it represents a very middle class idea of that music - which, once again, is fine, but a little sedate for my tastes. Now if it was gospel of the sanctified church I would feel a bit differently; would love to see the smooth jazzers talking in tongues and rolling in the aisles, going crazy and having religious seizures. THAT would be something to see (or maybe Kenny G dovening and singing cantorial songs).

that's Fuzzy, Boots, Whiskers, Spots, and Frisky.

he was pretty crazy when I met him, but that was the '70s. He kept growling at me. I did hear him play with Duke Jordan around 1975. He played everything about a quarter-tone sharp. The lines were fine, but they were in a, well, different key, on another plane.

substance issues? IIRC he was still playing well in '63.

I love Elmo, but some of his 1960's playing is just not quite up to snuff (as on the Riker's Island session). But compositionally he was always together. I gather that there are no sound samples of this floating around? On the other hand, anything with Sonny Red is worth getting.

sorry, I should have been more clear - I know the book and its format well; it was one of the first jazz books I ever read. What I mean is that the sources of those quotes have no citations, no references to where they came from, and I do know (though I apologize as it has been almost 30 years since I read about it) that the Bird quote was discredited to both my satisfaction and that of PBS/Burns. Which makes me distrustful of the other quotes.

we should note that Jazz Masters of the '40s was actually, in large part, written by the pianist Dick Katz - who was quoted in it at such great length that I think he should have been given co-writer credit.

I would avoid that book - there are no, IIRC, citations and I know that one of its key quotes - Bird explaining how he came up with the idea of using upper chord intervals - was discredited years ago. I honestly don't remember where this was done, but I was able to convince the Burns people not to use it in the jazz series. After that, I would not trust the book in general.

I should probably go back and listen, but I saw this version of Mingus a fair amount in that time and two soloists who I cannot listen to are Ricky Ford (who I don't think is on this) and George Adams. I find Adams to be mannered and annoying, full of bombast with little substance; each solo is basically the same, with some slight harmonic variations. So I will probably avoid this.

Price increase: both cds shipped for $99.95. (this is only for the packaging; if you want the cds also, add $59) Also, there is no shipping. Everything has to picked up at my back door. You have to figure out the address, but be careful; my neighbors believe in open-carry.

I played guitar throughout my years in Maine, and even recorded on it. And I play guitar on two cuts on America: the Rough Cut (was trying to prove a point about how easy it is to play "free" on the instrument; I should win a McArthur for my impersonation). no, the review is here: https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2023/04/graded-on-a-curve-new-releases-from-esp-disk/#more-431415

I kid you not. That includes albums by Ornette, Paul Bley, Albert Ayler (and one in Esperanto). I have confirmed that this is from a living critic, and he was not influenced by the check I just sent him to pay for his son's college tuition. This sale is only good until this Sunday. It is a package deal; In the Dark (3 CDs) and America: the Rough Cut (1 cd) - Both; Shipped media in the USA: $27 paypal is allenlowe5@gmail.com this is for all you mothers out there, regardless of sex or affiliation. And here's the review, just in case you don't believe me: https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2023/04/graded-on-a-curve-new-releases-from-esp-disk/?fbclid=IwAR0deiWYGrhYYh2OCiTGTzCreYPgqIoXyLiIMzyVouCggnAO0voAcOQWQ0I#more-431415 Two satisfied customers:

to me his most amazing discovery was Mance Lipscomb, who was one of the most important vernacular musicians of the century

in 1968 when I was a mere 14 years old (and it may have been 1969 when I was 15), the RFK family had, in his memory, formed the Bed Stuy Corporation to aid the community. They held an outdoor concert, and I played with a very young jazz band, and we opened for Eubie Blake, who was in the beginning stages of his comeback. All I remember about the gig was that he seemed a little agitated, and kept wandering around, sitting at the piano occasionally before the concert and repeating "now that's what they called ragtime."

I wonder if the recession will survive the vinyl craze.

plus $300 shipping, $150 handling. $50 service charge.

$60? Why, you can get a phonograph record of 'Minnie the Moocher' for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie.

this will piss everybody off, and it shouldn't, but I think that's a really odd story with a sexual subtext.

working on it.....

big night last night at Dizzy's, sold out the first set, filled the place about two-thirds in the second.

on the other hand, I'll make sure you get a free drink.

Sorry Ron; your attendance and support are much appreciated.