AllenLowe

well, might we not say that style is an aspect of content and that content is an aspect of style? kinda like form and content; important to realize, also, that mannerism is not style (though a lot of artists of all kinds confuse the two).

I will grant that he is a very SINCERE musician. beyond that, he's on his own.

the anthology is done, and being made ready for publication - not sure of the exact release date -

mal-content - (speaking Spanish, and only for myself)

I was at the first concert he did at Symphony Space, many years ago (maybe 1979?) - he had Tommy Turrentine and Lonnie Hiller playing a duet on a beautiful slow version of Star Eyes. He also, as I recall, brought Chris Anderson on-stage - as a matter of fact, somewhere I have a note Barry sent me after that concert (I'd helped him do some promo). Those were interesting days; NY was much different - is he still doing those concerts? found the note: (next post):

sorry Pete! I sent you a PM through the board on Friday with all my contact info - I don't know if there were problems because of the board change - the thing of Matt playing Farfisa, though somewhat of a risk, turned out to be the best idea I had - given that there were only three of us, it just filled everything out and darkened the sound - Matt was very laid back, but his accompaniments were quite smart and musical. and yes, Ros is amazing - full of surprises, a mute, an incredible Ellingtonian wah-wah, a growl, a shout - I'm trying to convince the record company to finance a second recording, as I love writing for him. some mixing issues, but I should have everything ok to go soon, I hope - doing a little recording up here in January, I hope, also, to fill everything out (I also did a nice session with just me and Matt, in October, which is also part of the project.) I tell you, my dream horn section would be Ros, Randy Sandke, and Scott Robinson, plus me on alto and guitar; and a rhythm section with a quiet drummer - just don't think there will be enough cash, unless there are some investors out there - we shall see. and the best part of it was that I drove to NYC and back, Friday and Sunday, and hit no traffic -

close but not quite - more of a blue theme -

thanks - hoping to have it out (the label is Music and Arts) by summer -

problem is, if dance was the criteria, we wouldn't have most of the new music of the last 50 years -

went very nicely; we had Matt Shipp on Farfisa organ, I played guitar and sax. Of course, playing sax with Rudd is like playing in the midst of a (friendly) hurricane. I always feel that I am not worthy. Got 5 tunes done, about 12 separate takes; just did some rough mixes and I'm very happy about the whole thing. the project is basically variations on blues forms (I have a good working title for the CD, but want to hold off revealing it until nobody else can borrow it) - one piece is a replication of a street preacher; another is a ballad; another is a "moan"; another is just a nice real slow blues; another an Ayler-esque blue variation. we had fun. Roswell is truly one of the finest people on the planet.

Barry! don't get to see him much these days, though we were pretty friendly in the late 1970s; I wrote the first article on him that ever appeared in Downbeat. Great man, great musician. (and I still fondly remember the days when he played a duo at Jimmy's with Wilbur Little; I'd sit all night and order a glass of water; the bartender was completely indifferent; Barry later told me it was a great gig, the only one he ever had where he could collect unemployment after it was over) -

I think that the best Brubeck is solo Brubeck, maybe 1956 - he was actually a fine pianist in his day.

this is something I am convinced of after having spent a few hours recording with the man on Saturday. Buy his CDs. He is truly the last of the great jazz charismatics. there is nothing like his SOUND anywhere else. ahhhhhhhh.............................. not to mention that he is one of the nicest people on the planet. I am going to sleep now because I am very tired.

I still can't do this. but THIS, I can do -

how do I post like this?

found the messages - now how do I block Ron S? That guy's always sending me threats -

How do I find my assistant and in and out box?

thanks for the compliment - this is a terrific issue; they always come up with some good, obscure stuff, and the CD is a lot of fun. I loved writing about Riley, who was a great blues singer.

that's a funny episode, especially when they come back and he can't get a sound out of the horn - hmmmmmmm........unlikley connection, but you never know................

I'm from Massapequa - he moved there when he was in third grade and was in my class - went to the same elementary, junior high and high school - knew a lot of the same people, but he hung out more with the drama club crowd (though word had it that he drifted away from them because he was afraid people would think he was gay - sound like one of his plots?) - I don't think he is particularly fond of the old days - an old friend of mine, a women, who was pretty close to him in High School, went to a book signing he did and he was pretty nasty to her - turns out, as she told me, that one of the Seinfeld show plots (about a lost library book? Can't remember) was related to a book I'd given her which she'd told him about - strange to think of these kind of things. Also, he sometimes dropped names, on the show, of people from our high school like the football coach (Coach Bevilaqua, in one episode) - but yes, he's still little Jerry to me. Filthy rich little Jerry.

well, I didn't study with him but I met him about 1977 and we were in touch over the years on and off; great guy. The only anecdote I can relate is of sitting with him in his studio in Brookline and talking about pianists, and as we mentioned each one he went to the piano and did letter-perfect reproductions of their styles - Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Barry Harris, can't remember the others - and he was a great source of information on Jaki Byard, whom he had known for years ("Jaki was playing those 'out' things in the early 1950s," he told me, "but he never got any credit because he was in Boston. But he did that stuff before Cecil Taylor"). great guy, brilliant musician, one of the real under-sung heroes of jazz and American music. I tried to get him to play on my last CD but he told me he wouldn't do anything that was commercial. When I told him not to worry, that nobody would buy it, he laughed. That was the last time I talked to him, though the guitarist in my current band had been studying with him. Damn....

close - actually it was probably 3-4 years that I thought it was one of the best shows I'd ever seen (and I did resist watching at first because it was so strange watching this famous guy whom I'd known in the third grade; geez, I always thought I was funnier) - but there's a line between a certain kind of distancing in comedy and a pervasive derision born of a sense of superiority - as a matter of fact it's the same thing that pushed me away from George Carlin (though it's the thing that keeps 7/4 alive while reading my posts).

" I don't understand what rock-based blues is. If you mean blues-based rock, I can understand it; but then I'd be interested to know which of the old-line blues bands were forced by Korner, the Stones, Cream, Mayall, Yardbirds etc to change some of the old formulas." I'm thinking more on the American side - everybody was - hear Buddy Guy before and after that rock era - I know he influenced Hendrix, but in my opinion the influence went more strongly the other way - or Albert King's early and later work; even Muddy was rejuvenated by the excitement and the attention. Butterfield's post 1969 band - Buzzy Feitin, Phil Wilson, Gene Dinwiddie, et al - was the most exciting amalgam of blues and soul I ever heard; notice that, after this era, the old, tired, blues shuffle was largely either retired or given new life by the re-emphasis on the Chicago side of the blues, as reinforced by the ROCK guys like Bloomfield. Electric Flag and the Blues Project gave new intensity to what was becoming a fairly tired club music, and players like Howlin' Wolf not only had a new audience, they had to sound fresher when they faced it. Bloomfield woke a lot of these guys up, too - and when I heard him go up against BB King one night he tore him to shreds, he really did. so it was not just musical but audience - you'd be amazed at what a new and open-minded audience can do for a musician - look at Hendrix, rejected on the Chitlin circuit, kicked out of Little Richard's band, who found acceptance FIRST from the white kids who were stoned out of their minds on smoke and pills (after all this was in England where speed was king) and looking for something new. and Hendrix - well, he's proof of the whole idea as I stated it - no one sounded the same after getting a dose of Hendrix. He woke everybody up sonically.

in order to understand my remark, 7/4, you first need to have a SELF to refer to. empty shells don't count.