AllenLowe

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.

whoops. so sorry. I don't count you because you actually show up (if that makes any sense). But you did miss my Bar Mitzvah.

I don't know if anyone remembers (or if anyone has said this already) but he popped up here a few years back, not really understanding the forum.

Well ok; in my entire time here I have never seen a member of Organissimo Forums show up at one of my gigs. Some of you live in or around NYC. You can't hide forever. And, though I hate to admit it, I won't live forever So here's your chance; we will have an 8-piece band at Dizzy's this Wednesday night; the program is called Really the Blues? First set 7:30. Allen Lowe - tenor Frank Lacy - trumpet and trombone Aaron Johnson - alto Lewis Porter - piano Kenny Berger - baritone sax Alex Tremblay - bass Ray Suhy - guitar Rob Landis - drums

"(On America: The Rough Cut) Allen Lowe is the great contemporary jazz outsider....especially aided by the great guitarist Ray Suhy. The blues is fundamentally modernist, because it’s a framework for making old ideas new...Lowe is stylistically close to Mingus because they share similar values: they see the story of American popular music, especially the music made by Black musicians, as a continuing story of modernism before there was any kind of codified jazz. Mingus played modern jazz that was really modernist gospel music, and Lowe plays modern jazz that is really New Orleans brass band and march music, or hymns, or country music, even heavy metal. "Both musicians also work through specific personal experiences and forms of expression. a series of books and accompanying musical anthologies that make for a strong argument that American music should have some sense of roughness and irreverence. His work represents a Whitman-esque rejection of “the polite trappings of (primarily but not only white) society. "His experience has also yielded In the Dark, 31 tracks across three CDs that came from his nights struggling to sleep and even breathe. He calls it, “a commemoration of the worst time of my life.” It’s a remarkable document, which sprawls across blues, song forms, free playing and all sorts of rhythmic styles, and yet remains focused. Each track is satisfying; there’s not a dull moment.Part of that is Lowe’s compositional style, where everything sounds familiar even as the themes and personality are new. The mid-sized band includes inventive and energetic players including Lewis Porter (piano) and Aaron Johnson (alto) whose explosive energy makes him the de facto lead voice." -George Grella NYC Jazz Record

this is very interesting to read - I have seen Richard Davis only twice in my life in person, and both times he got lost on tunes with chord changes. You gotta figure Sonny would notice this.

Allen Lowe & the Constant Sorrow Orchestra - In the Dark/America: The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk’) FROM THE BIG TAKEOVER 26 April 2023 by Michael Toland Saxophonist Allen Lowe has lived one hell of a music-obsessed life. Outside of his own albums, which stretch back to the mid-eighties, he’s curated jazz festivals, worked as a freelance audio and mastering engineer, written a half-dozen books about music, and worked with a murderer’s row of musicians in both the bop and avant-garde camps: Matthew Shipp, Julius Hemphill, David Murray, Roswell Rudd, Marc Ribot, Doc Cheatham, Don Byron, and tons more. Plus he co-founded the brilliant twenty-first century free jazz outfit East Axis. He also had to go through fourteen cancer surgeries, one of which left him with a near-debilitating case of insomnia, topped off with neuropathy. During that period, he dealt with it as musicians would: since he couldn’t sleep anyway, he might as well make music, and his prolific rate of composition resulted in two new albums: In the Dark, which directly addresses his health, and America: The Rough Cut, a state of music declaration. With Lowe backed by keyboardist Lewis Porter, clarinetist Ken Peplowski, saxophonists Aaron Johnson and Lisa Parrott, trumpeter Kellin Hannas, trombonist Brian Simontachhi, bassists Kyle Colina and Alex Tremblay, and drummer Rob Landis, In the Dark spreads thirty-one songs across three disks. Essaying everything from blues to bop to ballads to even tango, Lowe leads his troop through the tracks with a commitment to his vision, but the flexibility to allow his pals to play the way they need. Tributes like “Poem For Eric Dolphy,” “Memories of Jaki,” and “Goodbye Barry Harris,” as well as tunes like “Velasco’s Revenger,” “Out to Brunch,” and “Nita’s Mom,” show equal devotion to melody and improvisation, not to mention a deep reverence for old-fashioned swing and the blues. Then there are the eight “In the Dark” songs, traversing intense discomfort (“Night Terrors,” “Desperate Circles”) to post-trauma relief (“For Francis,” “For Helen”). In the Dark is a long journey, but a fruitful one. With a different and more varied lineup (primarily guitarist Ray Suhy, Tremblay, and drummer Kresten Osgood) and a more playful tone, America: The Rough Cut is a satirical commentary on the state of American music. Thus the record includes sly nods to country music (“Cheatin’ My Heart”), rock (“Blues in Shreds,” “Metallic Taste”), gospel (“At a Baptist Meeting,” featuring the late, great Roswell Rudd), folk (“Eh, Death?”), free jazz (“Blues for Unprepared Guitarist”), and blues – lots and lots of blues. Indeed, the blues is where the album’s beating heart lies, whether it’s the country blues rib “Cold Was the Night, Dark Was the Ground,” the blues-into-bebop showcase “It’s the End,” or the straightforward expression of “Full Moon Moan.” The intent ranges from gentle pokes to snide attacks, but never falls into bitterness or being mean for meanness’ sake. That doesn’t mean Lowe doesn’t have things on his mind, particularly on “Unprepared Guitarist,” but he’s more interested in making us think than in scoring points. Plus he’s happy to drop the criticism to simply pay tribute to his wife on “Hymn for Her,” a sign that his intent isn’t to sneer his way through the record. Besides, being both the player and the historian he is, there’s apparently no genre at which he doesn’t excel, making America: The Rough Cut a pleasure whether you get the jokes or not.

there was a period of time when Schaeffer was very drugged up and regularly, I have heard, being quite obnoxious. This may have been retaliation for some other slight.

I am no expert, but I started using Apple Music when I got a new Mac, and if I had a choice I would never go near the damn thing. It freezes up, it doesn't recognize CDs in an external drive, it won't play a playlist unless I restart it a few times - a real pain. It's amazing to me that Apple can't get it right.

I did a month of Mondays in Hartford with Bishop back in the '80s, nicest guy I ever met. Amazing to hear him play (Dick Katz said that in Bish's prime "there was no one who sounded closer to Bud"). All we talked about was Bud Powell, who he described as "infantile in every respect except music." I will say that though he could still play, his playing was harmed by his attempts to sound "contemporary," with the use of fourths and modal forms. It's too bad. I will say that Harold Vick, who I heard a lot in the 1970s, is a completely different player on this album (listening on bandcamp); he seems to be aiming for Trane and doing a very nice job of it. Later on he settled into almost a Houston Person feeling, few notes, a lot of tone. I like him much better here.

let me know what price you end up with and I'll see if I can do better; the big problem is that overseas postage from the USA has gone through the roof,

it's all history, and I don't expect other people to have the same degree of obsession as I have with the details, aesthetic and otherwise. The other thing I would note is that I understand that when someone attacks something that you admire, it feels personal. It's not, but I know it's an unavoidable response.

thank you. Maybe we have reached an understanding.

after the back and forth about Jason Moran's JR Europe mess I wanted to post our recording of Castles in the Sand, my JR Europe reference, with me on tenor, Kellin Hannas on trumpet, Ken Peplowski on clarinet, Aaron Johnson alto and Lewis Porter on piano. To me, the key is to ignore re-creation and instead get into the spirit of what those 1913 musicians were just discovering:

once again the point is being missed - I ENCOURAGE re-interpretation; listen to my own music. But that re-interpretation either has to give us a new and interesting perspective, or it has to somehow capture the spirit of the music in a parallel way. As for Sonny, well, bad bands are bad bands. Clearly in the Milestone years he saw his chance to establish a commercial beachhead, which he did; fine, it is his right. But that doesn't mean we as listeners have to accept everything he did. It's called critical judgement; though it is funny, here you are arguing for Jason's right to play whatever he wants, but telling those of us who were not fond of the Sonny Milestone era that we have no right to our opinion. What's wrong with this picture? thank you for taking the time to tell me my multiple and very-specific posts on what is wrong with Moran's interpretation lack "insight" and are pejorative.

it's been a little while, I will go back and check them out.

I have sent him emails - not contentious ones, but about other subjects - that he doesn't respond to, which is ok and expected, though I do consider myself to be a peer. But my larger assumption is based on dealing - and trying to deal - with people at that level of fame. I think it breeds a certain sense of un-touchability, a desire not to have to deal with unpleasant disagreements, and an ability to avoid those disagreements just because you can. And honestly, I don't have the energy to make any more futile efforts; it's next to impossible to get in touch with famous people and I am too old and have enough pride (not a lot but enough) to not want to face predictable rejection.