AllenLowe

I agree with Cliff; the early Burton was, to my ears, not very good. Let me quote a former saxophonist of his (whom I met in Amsterdam in the late 1980s; he was a transplanted American): "he's actually learned how to play the piano now."

"Allen's agenda" - my only agenda is reality - believe me, at the time it happened, EVERYBODY knew it was acid-related. Sorry Weizen. I'm sure she had the best autopsy doctor that money could buy. Family values and all that. I hope this doesn't make you lock the thread.

also a right-wing Republican whose daughter killed herself under the influence of LSD - strangely, NONE of the news reports mentioned the daughter this morning.

to me this is a little like Bernard Purdie claiming to have played some of the Beatles' drum parts - I just don't believe it. let's hear the tapes; or just some fraction of the tapes.

it's funny because I've been listening to a fair amount of Shepp recently. Purely as a tenor player he is one of my favorites from that whole era, but musically, his sessions seem invariably to have brilliant moments, but only moments. Something is always missing on the compositional follow-through. but than, nobody in France is naming any babies after ME -

I give up. What's the difference?

he worked for the Musicians Union, too - about 15 years ago I had to call there for some reason, and this really old guy answers the phone, who was obviously very deaf and who could barely hear me. We screamed at each other for about 5 minutes (in a nice way; though I do not know why he was answering phones) - and he said "this is Spud Murphy." I almost fell off my chair. Nice man.

play it upside down and it says "Paul is alive, Paul is alive"

actually the Social Security death index is missing people WITH social security numbers, for some unknown reason. My mother, who died in 1988 and who definitely had a number, is not in there.

I've always had better luck with Fedex Ground - Deeley - first thing I would do is go get a notarized statement from your neighbor. Just to CYA - because if they say he signed for it and he didn't you have an immediate case for fraud,which is one good way to get their attention.

slightly different thing, but years ago I worked for Minuteman Records, a store in Cambridge, Massachusetts - which had a warehouse full of cutouts from Roulette, great stuff, lotsa nice jazz. Years afterwards I read about what a scam the whole cutouts things was, as a way of taking LPs off the books so royalties would not have to be paid (somebody wrote a whole and very fascinating book on this topic). well, one of the silent partners in this record store where I worked (which is now, by the way, Strawberries) - was Morris Levy, who I met on several occasions when I worked in the warehouse. He grunted a lot (as in "hey, kid..."). IIRC he was one of the original owners of Roulette, and so was probably skimming these LPs for years.

is that the documentary where he plays along with a Fats Waller record?

some of that was good, as I recall - this was my response to a youtube clip. Murray is a mixed thing - I think he's done some good work but also some gimmicky stuff that does a good job of impersonating good work, and that a lot of critics over praised.

"What does an amateurish arrangement sound like? What does a professionalish arrangement sound like" I missed this question earlier - simple answer - an amatuer arrangement sounds like it was written by someone who has no real sense of musical organization, no idea how to arrange for multiple instruments, no musical personality. A pro has not only the ideas but the tools to carry off his ideas, and a sense of how to write for multiple voices. Compare Murray to, say, Julius Hemphill, and you will understand.

genuinely nice man, I met him through Al Haig many years ago. And what a pianist -

on youtube there's some clips of a Murray Octet from Europe, maybe the 1980s - it's got Hemphill on it, and a great pianist names Curtis Clark who, strangely enough, now lives in Portland, Maine. it was a shock to me to hear how amateurish the arrangements sounded. My feeling about David, whose playing I liked at first, is that he has a certain way of doing things which he tends to repeat. Gets a little tiresome. Like him.

there's a Ray Nance? Why didn't anybody tell me?

sorry, as I said, I'd been up since dawn, also had to go pick up my daughter - let me re-iterate, I loved the band, and it was nice that she gave you so much space (and who shrunk your B3?) I don't get out to hear much world-class music in this part of the world, so it was a nice change of pace - also, let me note, she is not only a terrific singer, but has significantly more impact in person than on record - no surprise with any good performer, but particularly notable in the 21st century, where recording techniques tend to "tame" the impact of singers in particular. you guys should do a "live" album -

hey Jim, just got home, had to go around 10:15, and the band was still burning, sorry I couldn't say goodbye (been up since 5:30 AM) - impressive show, she is really a great singer and very charismatic performer - and thanks for telling me I'm your favorite Organissimo member - oops, not sure that I'm supposed to mention that in public, sorry (hope Weizen doesn't decide to lock the thread in a jealous fit) - also, hope you don't mind, but I signed your name for my bar tab -

I think my date is better looking than yours - (for $200 she better be):

got my tickets - will try to get there a little early to see if I can get you fired (Lowe to manager: "Is Jim here? He said he could get me a date with the singer") -

this was during his previous life (he was Pee Wee Marquette before the reincarnation) -

and the (sad) truth is that, without bootlegs, the whole history of jazz might have died from 1960s-1970s neglect. When I started listening to this music in 1968, I cannot tell you how alone I was - it was just me, Chewy, and a couple of winos up on St. Nicholas Avenue (not counting Chris Albertson and Chuck Nessa, of course).

I'm of several minds on this, none of them really hinged correctly. On the one hand, if my Daddy was Charlie Parker, I'd want the cash. But since my REAL Daddy left me nothing but bad memories and some unpaid bills, I am happy to make them public domain.

hey, without Everest I would never have gotten into jazz - those LPs were all $1.98.