AllenLowe

it was basically: "Hi, I was your student 50 years ago." He was perfectly cordial, but just kind of indifferent.

this happened because Crouch knew next to nothing about music, technically speaking, but tried to bluff his way through. As for that account of what Lyons, etc supossedly said, I think Crouch was was flat out lying. and this sure as hell doesn't sound like Cecil:

I had him as a band teacher in 8th grade out in Massapequa, and used him for lessons for a year or two when I was in high school. I was always proud because he told my mother I was the best student he ever had (probably the only one who could play chord changes). Last year, maybe in June, I found out he was playing at a restaurant on the North Shore so my wife and I went out, and it was an odd experience. He didn't remember me, which was fine and understandable, but he was also oddly stand-offish. But he was still playing very well.

for those of you who have been thinking about the new collection, Turn Me Loose White Man, 30 cds and the book. I am now selling the CD side of it in 10 CD sets; it costs a bit more, unit-price wise, but you can now stretch it out a bit if you want to overpay. I will divide it into 3 sets: Volume 1 CD 1-10 Volume 2 CD 11-20 Volume 3 CD 21-30 Each volume is $65 shipped media in the USA. If you buy any of these individual sets I will sell you the book or E book at a discounted price (email or message me for details) - (for Euro shipping check with me first, as I will have to price it out) thanks -

just spotted this. Mr. Ursini was my first and last saxophone teacher, during a few of my high school years. Great man, incredible saxophonist (and clarinetist, too) -

feeling so desperately helpless these days; there's still some ways to just do stuff without all the crap.

done.

I've only listened to a little of this guy; is there a particular cut or album where you think he does this in particular?

so I just started to listen to On the Tender Spot. This guy is great. And I'm old, but I think he is terrific, terrific ideas, terrific sound. I think you guys are just jealous because he's more popular than you are.

I never heard of the guy.

the only thing I will add to this discussion is that there are hundreds of African and Africana studies departments in the United States. Why have they not addressed this problem? (rhetorical question that I will answer anyway: because they are as full of crap as the rest of academia)

paypal is not only completely safe, but much better than any other entity I have ever dealt with when it comes to returns and seller misrepresentation. And yes, they have my bank account info, all of my medical records, and a few snapshots of my wife. I mention all of this because of some of the suggestions here that it is risky to give them access.

not to rove too far from the subject, but those older horns just breathe like newer ones don't - weirdly enough it's like the difference between tubes and solid state.

that's quite a nice solo on You Don't Know What Love Is. As for saxophones of choice, well, it's the reason so many contemporary players have that buzzy, kazoo-like sound. But they've been seduced by how much easier modern horns play. But it's a real loss for the soul of the music.

I wouldn't know where to start, so I think I won't.

well...if it were that straightforward. Sometimes I see it as replacing one self-destructive dependency with another. And I have seen it more than once, though I should not mention any more names....

yeah, Dolly was so proprietary about Jackie's career and so over-demanding in terms of fees that he gigged relatively little in his last years. When I ran the New Haven fest and tried to book him she was impossible to deal with, and I offered some real money. I always noted that at his death there was relatively little acclaim, relative to his musical stature, because he just wasn't out and about that much. She thought she was being slick, but I remember a well-known jazz agent at the time telling me he had removed Jackie from his roster because Dolly was so impossible to deal with. Jackie was a very nice guy, but he deferred to her in everything, in that way that recovered junkies and alcoholics tend to give absolute loyalty to those who stuck with them when things were really at their lowest. As for Jackie's playing in those last years, his sound became that buzzy, Yamaha-thing (that's the way those horns sound and I hate them). I called it dissident indifference above because his playing had, to my ears, a kind of angry (at the business) indifference to what he seemed to think was musical and sonic focus. It lost its connection to the earth, in a way which I find hard to explain. It's just all spread out, brilliant technically but cold and distant. But, clearly, other people hear it differently. To me he peaked in his '60s playing.

those Steeplechases are my favorite Jackie; he seems to have reached a peak, influenced by the "new freedom" but not trying to play in any way other than his accustomed style. As for his intonation, it is beautifully expressive in its early sharpness; his later work has a kind of dissident indifference which completely turns me off (though it still has more than traces of the old brilliance). (and I defer to Larry Kart, who has very smartly, in this forum I believe, explained why McLean's later work leaves him cold). It probably has nothing to do with Jackie, btw, but anyone who plays older, non-Selmer saxophones understands how hard they are to play in tune, especially in the more-noticeable upper register. But that's another story.

sorry, wasn't trying to be overly dramatic. I am doing very well, definitely in remission, but the whole experience was so hellish that it enforced a certain sense of new urgency about getting certain things resolved -

I'm sure you would.

the problem is that if I donate the collection now I want it where I can get access, as I still have some things I want to to do and write. So I was hoping to find something in the New York/Connecticut/New Jersey area, but so far no luck.

and therein lies the rub - because of the historical projects I have been working on for 20 + years, my collection is organized like a step-by-step study of all of American vernacular music from about 1900-1960. My long term goal, toward which I am making no progress, is to find an institution that wants to preserve it and let me organized it for the purposes that I gathered it; for the short term I do want to sell off some of the excess. But there are parts of this collection, as with Schildkraut et al, that are irreplaceable. On the other hand, if I die in the next year or two there will be no recourse and this thing will likely just disappear.

thanks, this is illuminating. Not surprising, but illuminating.

on a private level most of my "audience" - and I use the term loosely - want hard copies, though I use Bandcamp and it has worked well. And since I am currently signed to ESP, I don't have to worry about all of it anymore, which is nice.

been so busy lately with the book, writing volume 2, recording and composing, etc etc that I feel like I have lost touch with the world of interest-in-jazz and its market (such as it is). I have a fair amount of CDs I want to sell, good stuff, mostly older jazz and I have no idea if anybody is buying these suckers any more. I ask because I would like to know before I go to all this trouble of collating, listing, etc. if anybody is purchasing anything any more in the time-of-download. Whaddaya think?