AllenLowe

sorry, it is a random, automatic form. There is no pre-planned map - just listen to Parker; I have spent hours. It is the reason I think that free players have played themselves into the same corner that beboppers have. free players often have detailed philosophical justifications for what they do, which is fine. And the association of one phrase to another, I would agree, only somewhat, reduces the randonmness (or the appearance of randomness) of what they play. Hell, bebop improvisers are random performers, with maybe a bit more of a road map to go on. Either method leads to repetition and an eventual exhaustion of ideas. There is a difference between an excellent idea (which free jazz is) and an organizing principle (which free jazz, IMHO, is not) - this all goes back to some principles of noise music plus the early days of free improvisers. Many of these players identified the problem correctly but did not really solve it. Same with the minimalists. The closes thing to a musical solution that I have heard are some late 1960s and early 1970s punk and garage rockers. Most free jazz induces boredom, goes on too long. Which, yes, may be the point. I just don't find it interesting after about 2 minutes. I'd rather hear things like the Minutemen or the Sonics, Teenage Jesus and he Jerks, or the Ready Men. And this from someone whose has played "free" in many contexts. It just depends how you use it. for example, "noise" is very big up here in Maine, and I regularly hear, at a small venue in town, guys using it in very creative ways - for about 5 minutes, and then it becomes another kind of dead-end formalism, as I think free jazz is. Parker is a master musician, but I find the written descriptions of his playing more interesting than his actual playing; I think writers tend to fit him into some personal visions which speak more to what the music is not than what it is.

to get to the actual matter at hand; while I admire his technical control, as with all random forms I find the music only randomly interesting - and ironically or not, less interesting, to me, as real-time improvisation than it would be as edited collage. To me, the creative principles involved are principles, yes, but not rules. As rules they play themselves out, in the same way that tonal music plays itself out and consumes itself through re-cycling of its basic methods.

actually I was thinking: Barbara Boxer Short also, I made all of this up. as for his sexual orientation, I do recall that he had a long relationship with Gloria Vanderbilt (who was the mother of that dummy on CNN) -

David, you are a complete asshole, I don't know what the problem is, but please stay the hell away from my posts, as you have been jealously shadowing me for some time. Yes, I have a musical life, deal with it, you're resentment is really childish and stupid, and this is the last I will say on the subject.

oh, BIBLIOPHILES. I thought you said necrophiles. never mind.

I was there on the Saturday, but haven't listened to this in years - I recall it as typical Miles of the time - great beauty mixed with long and tiresome passages.

well, Bobby's second wife was Barbara Boxer -

interesting comment by John Dailey, who was a great bassist in NY in the 1970s (he was Hazel Scott's bassist) and who had spent a lot of time on the West Coast and said this to me in the late 1970s: "Julie London wasn't really making it, singing-wise, until Cry Me a River. In the studio the day she recorded it she was practically crying as she sang - she'd just broken up with Jack Webb and that whole song was her way of telling him off. That's why it was a hit - people could feel it."

tranemonk - Armstrong NEVER did anything, in terms of performance or entertainment, that he did not want to do. Take or leave it if you like, but what you're saying is really insulting to the man, though unintended - you are saying that because he acted/performed in a way that is counter to your world view, he has lost validity. Well, certainly he did what he had to do at times, in ways that may, to us, seem compromised - but remember that Armstrong is the most revolutionary American musician of the 20th century, the man who single handedly changed everything about American song, from its rhythms to its melodies.

she was married, briefly, to Bobby Short -

by the way, just did a session with Matt Shipp, who I will nominate as one of the greatest jazz pianists ever - and as one who has a certain ability for stylistic adaptation that is not generally seen in his available work. amazing guy.

good piece - I still think no one's gotten it quite right on Monk's mental issues; though I love the book, there is not a single mention of Aspergers or autism, two related conditions that clearly need to be considered, re: Monk. here's a passage from a different book: "Who was Thelonious Monk? No one really seems to know, though toward the end of his life (he died in 1982) the pianist was revered as the last of jazz's great eccentrics and offered large amounts of money (which he refused) to perform in public. The very things which had once made his music so difficult and incomprehensible to many—the odd melodic turns of phrase, the percussive primitiveness of his touch, the unresolved dissonances, and, most of all, his reputation for inscrutable eccentricity—were now, in a more modern and tolerant age, the stuff of marketer's dreams... From his earliest days as a professional musician Thelonious Monk had gone his own way... Though his stance—his absolute refusal to do anything but play his music in his own way, without compromise—was seen by many as heroic, it was more likely the only choice he had. In truth, Monk had a kind of artistic tunnel vision, something which was to his and jazz's benefit, though he was lucky to have a built-in support system—his wife and, later, record companies, promoters, and booking agents—that allowed him the luxury of such a principled life."

Steve, can you read? wow speaking about overall quality of music. double wow responding to a passive agressive question from 7/4 wow again I've made 6 CDs, not one wow to the 10th degree though one critic did once compare my tenor playing to Sonny ROllins and though Anonthony Braxton said about me "he is one of the few musicians today doing anything new." no wow at this point, though I do disagree with that critic (and though Roswell Rudd told me I reminded him of Shepp) by the way, I recorded the particular CD you refer to with a broken finger last wow

sorry, than, really. Over-reaction on my part. It's just that it's hard, unless you are in the position of being at a certain age, to realize how the world stereotypes certain types of things, and than qualifies them - sorta like saying, she plays good for a girl - I know it does not seem parallel to what was said, but it is part of a whole way of looking at age as a kind of disadvantage to be overcome. Truth is, some people are wise at 65, some are idiots - some have great wisdom and vision at age 20 - think George Buchner - some never do, some hit 40 as dumb as they were at 25. I am certainly speaking from personal experience, true, but have talked to enough others in my group to see that it's a pervasive problem.

the truth is that few writers are capable of describing music well; Giddins can, but he makes mistakes, Francis Davis is very good, Max Harrison is able, our own Larry K. is one of the best. Various methods of impressionist description can be very annoying (think Whitney Balliet, though I'm probably in a minority here). One needs to be direct and to avoid metaphors whenever possible, to be good at concrete adjectives and certain kinds of similies (the best at this, literary-wise, is the writer Isaac Babel). simply put, what is the music doing? and how is it doing it? Even musicians aren't good at this (though one of the best writers EVER about jazz and jazz performance is/was the pianist Dick Katz). just my own perspective.

I dunno - I have the energy of a 39 year old and the eyesight of a 65 year old. or is it: the mind of a Yeshiva student and the energy of a University of Michigan fullback? the wisdom of a saxophonist and the energy of a b3 organist the wisdom of a Prius driver with the speed of a Camaro. the speed of Muhammed Ali and the Wisdom of Aristotle

yes, I should head for the retirement home.

interesting as you manage to end a point of disagreement with an insult. Many people take me seriously. you're a fool

great place, small, perfect acoustics for recording jazz, great engineer. and as Matt and I were driving back toward the Williamsburgh Bridge, strangely enough, we spotted William Dafoe.

daughters are great - when mine's not telling me what a loser I am, she's a lot of fun.

joe - sorry I missed you in town - should have come by our session - nobody got hurt.

yes, I've heard both. Sorry to offend with my sensitivity. But age doesn't mean wisdom, and youth doesn't equal creativity.

did someone mention Molly Oday? I like The Singing Waterfall, a Hank Williams tune she did. best thing, however, was her record of duets with cousin Anita.

gotcha - just shows that even jazz musicians don't know any better.

actually, as I think of it, what she actually said was more like: "shut the fuck up at least those guys are working" I just inverted a phrase or two -