AllenLowe

basically what Wynton told me was that I was a cloistered academic white guy who knew nothing of the music or the musicians - I've written an entire chapter about the visit which I may post at some point - it's all very interesting to me, and it's the thing that got me started on my blues project. Suffice to say that I honestly think that W. talks a good game about open-ness to other ideas and musical/personal generousity, but when challenged he shows another side which I found troubling. To me he seemed somewhat taken aback that a) I might challenge him on something, or really, anything, and that b) I did not just listen with the usual awe of his sycophants (sorry, that sounds harsh, but it's precisely the impression I got). For a guy that attacks (as he did, through someone else, in a recent magazine article) cultural ignorance he is surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) un-knowledgeable about various root forms of American music. The Progressive Age of American history (approx. 1890-1917) coincides, through no accident of history, with the coming together of most forms of American music; virtually everything we see as genres of music, from country to jazz, is fusing during that period from various and sometimes opposite strains. W's failure to really see that gives him something in common with the late Ruchard Sudhalter, who also had very little frame of reference on what we might call the pre-history of American pop. But it's all there (well, a lot of it is there) and W. just has to take the time and listen. Instead, he has developed a series of talking points from which he varies little and from which he cannot be distracted (there is a Crouchian element here as well, of course). There is an additional irony to this in that he regularly espouses the cause of education as it relates to historical consciousness; yet his response to me was distinctly ANTI-intellectual - and by the way, Chuck, he will HATE Noonah - like Crouch he will see it as corruped by Euro elements -

worse - he called me an academic -

from what Steve Allen said, NBC destroyed most of them -

whole thing is on high definition video -

well, I'm going to brag that I may be the first and only person to walk out on Wynton during an interview - I had him on camera back in October for this alleged film I'm working on - basically he insulted me and I closed the whole thing down, said "thanks" and left. Yes, I know, I'm getting sensitive in my old age but what he called me was worse than calling my mother a whore -

anybody have contact info for this guy? Just picked up on this thread - by the way, by way of nothing, really, that old stuff about Purdie playing on Beatle records has pretty well been showed to be false -

thanks guys - the best thing about this project is all the music I've re-discovered - there's a piece called Old Time Baptism that I spent a few hours restoring that's an absolutely astounding religious recording, preacher and congregation - I was ready to toss my crutches about 30 seconds into it; also Kid Coley, who's black and country/minstrel/ragtime - listening to him, believe it nor not, reminds me of Bobby Short, a bit of a revelation for me as it reminds of those non-blues African American traditions that are so important (kinda vaudeville/medicine show). Also, Arizona Dranes is amazing; and I found some very clear Blind Lemon Jefferson, one cut in particular in which his guitar playing sounds like (or really preceeds) Gary Davis; and Lemon's voice is one of the glories of country blues -

1) Dan - I hope I can put those on the collection, but can't quite determine anything yet - will let you know as soon as I know - 2) "Are there plans to include ANY tracks from 78rpm, acetates or whatever, i.e. tracks that never ever have been reissued before anywhere, i.e. something that not even collectors with the most exhaustive collection of reissues imaginable could possibly possess?A sort of icing on the cake, so to speak ..." There are some possible Al Bernards, Marion Harris, and Arthur Collins 78s I have access to and may use, some of which were on Devilin Tune that I may use again, still unsure - I think you will find that, as with Devilin' Tune, though a lot of this stuff has technically been reissued, it is hard to find (eg; I have an LP with an Ellington blues that I've never seen anywhere else); and there are some cuts on Devilin Tune which are almost never seen and which I may use again, like an early Sophie Tucker and a Gus Haenschen playing a rag blues before 1920. I am most concerned with using recordings that are usually not used in such things, as with, once again Devilin Tune; I will also use the "usual suspects," as they are important; my way, however, is to juxtapose them with things that are far less usual, or, when possible, to use less common cuts by commonly known artists - 3) "Reissue projects that more and more fall back to the usual artists as they become more and more comprehensive aren't exactly thin on the ground (and this is where I found the debate in the original thread a bit wearying as everybody seemed to add more and more essentials). So an overview that in a way runs crosswise to the usual retrospectives and puts the emphasis on filling the gaps everybody else left open in their compilations (and programs tracks and artists together that aren't usually matched) would open up entirely new perspectives. " that's basically my hope here -

not sure it is vast, but it is significant - and those Honey Dew reissues are taken from those tapes, apparently used without permission - Bill had an early and very good open reel tape recorder, and when he was house panist at Birdland in the 1950s he apparently used it a fair amount - I was told that there was stuff by many important players on tape, including Sonny Rollins - however, I've been unable to reach him recently, and Bill is in his middle 80s; I'm not sure how well he is, and I am not sure what happened to all those tapes; I will try to reach him again, however - will add, by the way, that although there is not a lot of Triglia on recordings, I regard him as one of the best 2 or 3 bebop pianists of the 1950s - the equal of Al Haig or Hank Jones, quite amazing playing when you can find it -

yes, exactly, have a stack of CDs waiting to go in about 1-2 months - my main consideration in all of this is sound; LPs tend to sound better with many notable exceptions. One thing also noteable about the transfer process is how bad (or really weird) LP eq'ing is. Some of this stuff after I've re-mastered is like listening to a different recording - original mastering engineers (and this continues in the age of CD reissues of old material, to a lesser extent) often use high frequency rolloff as a noise reduction technique, but also don't understand the use of mid-range, which can either clog up a recording and make it unintelligible, OR be reduced so much as to get that "telelphone" effect. I spend a relatively great deal of time on each cut, though sometimes the basic transfer goes quicky; I do a lot, also, of hand-removal of noise (usually large pops) from the wave form. This avoids over-digitization, making everything too smoothe, and I am very careful, even with CEDAR, which I use very sparingly. I also tend to add high end to everything, and I also question the kind of monitors used in many studios, as the results are sometimes oddly tone-deaf. And don't get me started on how the use of cheap de-hiss programs has ruined many reissues. I have one such program but it has to be used like one is doing micro-surgery; it can get the edge off, but there is no such thing as eliminating ALL hiss except, occassionally, on a much later recording, but even that is usually a bad idea. Ambient hiss is your friend and helps the recording to breathe, gives it life and resonance - I was also lucky enough, about 20 years ago, to start buying up LPs that I was able to determine had used very good masters, some of which were lost in the CD age - lots of French Black and Whites, Decca reissues (hence my grief over the Universal fire), amazing sounding Brunswick stuff, the old Victor X series (some gorgeous-sounding Bing from the '20s, great Tiny Parham, great New Orleans stuff), Herwin, Historical Records, some Yazoos (which are a bit noisy for my taste but can be worked with as the originals are very good), anything by the late Carl Seltzer, who did work for Folkways and Rosetta - also some early CD reissues of Gus Cannon, the Memphis Jug Band, and more excellent hillbilly stuff that has now disappeared - not to mention the old British label VJM which has AMAZING sounding LPs of Duke, Whiteman, Fletcher Henderson, etc.

well, will try to start over - not sure why the last was deleted, probably a victim of guilt by association - I just got the go-ahead from the record company - there will be 18 cds and a book; the title, I think, is When Will the Blues Leave? Still unsure of duration; will probably go to 1956, give or take a year - here is a list of current transfers (doing LPs first, as I mentioned; and not all of these will make the final cut): 1. Lovesick Blues Anita O'day 12/27/50 2. Coalminer's Blues The Carter Family 6/8/38 3. Baby Look at You Pete Johnson/Joe Turner/Buster Smith 1939 4. Got the Blues Blind Lemon Jefferson 3/26 5. Tip Easy Blues Jones/Collins Astoria Hot 8 11/15/29 6. Tight Like That Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band 11/9/28 7. Barrelhous Stomp State Street Ramblers 3/13/31 8. West End Blues Zach Whyte's Chocolate Beau Brummel's 2/26/29 9. Mosby Stomp Artie Mosby and Roosevelt Sykes 9/22/32 10. That Too, Do Blues Bennie Moten Kansas City Orchestra w/ Jimmy Rushing 10/28/30 11. Bluin' the Blues Original Dixieland Jazz Band 11/10/36 12. Livery Stable Blues Original Dixieland Jazz Band 2/26/17 13. Blues Riff Django Reinhardt w/Duke Ellington Orchestra 11/10/46 14. Oh Lovin' Babe Uncle Dave Macon 12/17/30 15. Dirty Dish Rag Blues Light Crust Doughboys 11/30/38 16. Steppin on the Blues Lovie Austin and the Blues Serenaders w/Tommy Ladnier ca. 11/24 17. Woodchip Blues Smokey Wood 9/12/37 18. Georgia Bound Blind Blake 8/17/29 19. Talkin' 'Bout You Bob Wills w/Junior Bernard 1/4/46 20. New Falling Rain Blues Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers w/Bob Dunn 4/8/40 21. Scattin' the Blues Leo Watson 1/24/45 22. Buzzy -Dave Schildkraut/Triglia ca. 1953 23. Whisky Headed Woman Tommy McLennan 24. Baby Please DOn't Go Big Joe Williams 25.Catfish Blues Robert Petway 26. Viola Lee Blues Canno's Jug Stomper 27. Big Road Blues - Tommy Johnson 28.The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair Sleepy John Estes 9/4/29 29.Rocks in My Bed Leroy Carr Scrapper Blackwell 30.Devil's Son In Law Peatie Wheatstraw 31. Vicksburg Blues II Little Brother Montgomery 32. Mitchell Blues (note the riff) Wade Mainer and Sons of the MNountaineer 1/27/38 33. Kingfisher Blues Tampa Red/Black Bob 3/22/34 34.When Things Go Wrong With You Tampa Red 3/21/50 35. Wrong Road Blues Tommy Duncan ca. 1948 36. Blues de Basil Amede Ardoin 11/24/30 37. Route 66 Betty Roche 4/56 38. Corinna Corinna Winger Manone and his Orch, w/Chu Berry 4/26/39 39. Weary Blues Sidney Bechet Tommy Ladnier 11/28/38 40.St. Louis Blues Louis Armstrong 4-26-33 41. Chattanooga Blues Allen Bros 11/4/27 42. Brain Cloudy Blues Bob Wills Junior Bernard 9-6-46 43. Dallas Blues Louis Armstrong w/Luis Russell Orchestra 12/10/29 44. Copyin' Louis (title?) Jack Purvis Orch. 12/17/29 45.Call of the Freaks Red Nichols and his Orch w/Benny Goodman solo 8/1/30 46. M.K. Blues Art Hodes' Backroom Boys w/Max Kaminsky 4/21/44 47. Blues For Jelly Art Hodes Trio (Simeon/Mesheux) 9/14/45 48. Black Bottom Blues Gene Autry 6/30/32 49. Prayin' the Blues Jimmy Dorsey 6/13/29 50.I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate Boyd Senter and his Sentipedes 3/23/28 51. Poor House Blues Maggie Jones w/Amstrong, F. Henderson 12/9/24 (mute!) 52. The Bridewell Blues Nolan Welsh acc. L. Armstrong (showbiz phrases in trumpet) 6/16/26 53. Hootie Blues Jay Mcshann Orc. with Charlie parker 54. Cold Winter's Day Blind Willie McTell 4/25/35 55. Hy’A Sue Duke Ellington 8/14/47 56. The Clothed Woman Duke Ellington 12/30/47 57. Blues My Baby Gave to Me Frankie Newton 1/13/39 58. Robert Wilkins Rolling Stone 1 9/7/28 59. Shaking the Blues Away Ruth Etting 1927 w/Rube Bloom, piano 60. Jungle Blues Benny Goodman’s Boys 6/14/28 61. Dirty Dog Jack Teagarden/Benny Goodman 4/29 62. Steamboat Whistle Blues Roy Acuff 1936 63. Clarinet Wobble Johnny Dodds 4/21/27 64. Wild Man Blues Dodds/Armstrong 4/22/27 altered chords/Earl Hines 65. Weary Way Blues Natty Dominique Johnny Dodds Jimmy Blyth (background figures) 10/5/27 66. Perfect Eddie Lang Frank Signorelli 10/12/27 67. Penn Beach Blues Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Signorelli, Don Murray 11/5/27 68. Guitar Blues Lang/Lonnie Johnson 5/7/29 69. Oh Baby Frank Teschmacher/Krupa/Joe Sullivan 7/28/28 70. Suitcase Blues Hersal Thomas 2/22/25 71. Jack O' Diamond Blues Sippie Wallace/Armstrong/Hersal Thomas 3/1/26 72.You Can't Get That Stuff Anymore Tampa Red and Georgia Tom 4/25/34 73.Savoyeur's Stomp Carrol Dickerson's Orchestra w/Armstrong 6//5/28 74. Overnight Blues Paul Howard w/Lawrence Brown 4/28/29 75. How You Want it Done? Big Bill Broonzy 1932 76. Awful Fix Buddy Boy Hawkins 1927 77. Don't Leave Me Here Henry Thomas 1929 78. Bye Bye Baby Blues Little Hat Jones 1930 79. Oh So Lonesome Six Cylinder Smith 1930 80. The Gone Dead Train King Solomon Hill 81. New Orleans Joys JR Morton 1923 82. Dippermouth Blues King Oliver 83. Royal Garden Blues Mezzrow/Ladnier 84. Blues in Thirds Bechet/Hines 85. Shake That Thing Ethel Waters 12/23/25 86. Waiting at the End of the Road Ethel Waters 7/11/29 87.The Mooch Spike Hughes 4/2/30 88.Creole Love Call Duke Ellington 10/26/27 89. The Mooch Duke Ellington 10/30/28 90. Higginbotham Blues JC Higginbotham and his Hicks 91.Chock House Blues BL Jefferson 92. Chinch Bug Blues BL Jefferson 93. Royal Garden Blues Bix B. and his Gang 5/10/27 94. Jazz Me Blues Bix B. and his Gang 5/10/27 95. My Daddy Rocks Me Tampa Red’s Hokum Band with Frankie Jaxon 4/13/29 96. It Must Be the Blues Jasper Tyler and His State Street Boys Keppard/Parham/Dodds 1/27 97. Biffly Blues Red Allen/JC Higginbotham 7/16/29 98. Numb Fumblin’ Fats Waller 3/1/29 99.Bleeding Hearted Blues James P. Johnson 7/15/23 100. Davis Street Blues Sugar Underwood 8/23/27 101. Waitin’ for the Evening Mail Noble Sissle/Eubie Blake 5/23 102. Bugle Call Rag Oscar Aleman 1945 103. Jelly Bean Drag Sid Valentine and his Patent Leather Kids 10/2/29 104. Going Away and Leave My Baby Horace Smith w/Sid Valentine 10/2/29 105. Sugar Foot Stomp Fletcher Henderson Orch. 4/29/31 106. Jimtown Blues Fatty Martin and his Orch, 3/19/25 107. Shout On Great Day New Orleans Singers with JP Johnson 12/19/29 108. Watch Me Go Lavinia Turner w. JP Johnson 11/21 109. Killing Blues Jess Johnson w/Byrd Moore 1930 110. Tennessee River Bottom Blues Mike Shaw’s Alabama Entertainers 12/30 111. Steel String Blues Syvester Weaver Ed Coleman, violin, Charles Washington Banjo 4/6/25 112. Guitar Blues Sylvester Weaver 4/2/23 113. Dumfino Stomp - Sylvester Weaver gtr banjo 4/12/27 114, The Bumps Jeanette's Synco Jazzers w/ML Williams 1/27 115.South Street Blues Benny Moten's KC Orchestra 5/14/25 116. Big Bad Bill Emmett Miller w/Eddie Lang 9/5/29 117. Can't Help Lovin' that Man Helen Morgan 2/14/28 118. The Boy in the Boat Charlie Johnson's Paradise 10 9/19/28 119. Prohibition Blues The Missourians 2/17/30 120. White Heat Jimmie Lunceford 3/20/34 121. Birth Of the Blues Paul Whiteman 8/12/26 122. Shaking the Blues Away Paul Whiteman 8/22/27 123. All Night Long Blues Roba Stanley and Bob Stanley 12/24 124. The Poor Girl’s Story Moonshine Kate (Rosa Lee Carson) 1930 125. Old Lonesome Blues The Bowman Sisters 10/23/29 126. Lovin’ Sam From Alabam Mamie Smith 11/6/20 127. Frankie Blues Mamie Smith 2/21/21 128. Black Snake Blues King Oliver 11/18/27 129. Snag It King Oliver 9/17/26 130. Four or Five Times King Oliver 4/13/28 131. Sittin’ On Top of the World Joe Evans 1931? 132. High Fever Cookie’s Ginger Snaps Keppard 6/2/26 133. Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man Cook and His Dreamland Orchestra Keppard 7/10/26 134. Mississippi Shivers Zez Confrey and his Orch. 7/3/24 135. Rhapsody in Blue (excerpt) Paul Whiteman 6/10/24 136. Cravin’ a Man Blues Lillian Glinn 12/26/29 137. Black Hearse Blues Sarah Martin w/Sylvester Weaver! 8/30/27 138. Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy Uncle Dave Macon 7/24 139. I’m Comin’ Virginia Bing w/Paul Whiteman 4/27 140. Old Man River Bing w/Paul Whiteman 1/28 141. Knoxville Blues Sam McGee 1926 142. Hanna Won’t You Open the Door Sam and Kirk McGee 1927 143. Pneumonia Blues Blind Lemon Jefferson 9/24/29 144. Chock House Blues Blind Lemon Jefferson 4/26 145. Can’t Put the Bridle on the Mule This Morning Julius Daniels 10/24/27 146. G Burns is Gonna Rise Again Johnson-Nelson-Porkchop 2/17/28 147.Clair & Pearley Blues Kid Coley 6/13/31 148.Good Old Turnip Greens Bo Chatman 12/28 149.Old Time Baptism PT 2 R M Massey 1/28 150. Crucifixion Arizona Dranes piano solo 151. Lamb’s Blood Has Washed Me Clean Dranes, Rev FW McGee, Jubilee Singers 152. I Shall Wear a Crown Dranes, unknown musicians, unknown female singers 153. I’m Sittin On Top of the World Shelton Brothers 154. Sunrise Blues Will Day 1928 155. Lock and Key Blues Ramblin Thomas 1928 156. James Alley Blues Richard Rabbit Brown 1927 157. Cherry Street Blues Little Hat Jones 1930

hmmm...would be interesting to splice that old clip of Curly (of Moe, Larry, and...) singing opera, into the Pavorotti - wonder if anyone would notice the difference-

hell yeah - on my last cd I did a little bit of judicious splicing to eliminate a guitar slip on one cut - the result was a musical jump that was physically impossible, though nobody seems to have noticed - I went from the 13th fret to the third fret in an instant - I like to think that everyone marveled at my Django-like technique.

speaking of strange people, is John Ore still alive? I knew him a little bit in NYC in the 1970s -

anybody see the movie they made about her? I never did but am curious -

just listened - yikes, sorry, but on the Viper piece, they sound like a parody of a bad stripper band - and a TERRIBLE singer who sounds like a bad parody, as well - look, you need to listen to the originals - try the original Alfonso Trent Band; the Missourians; Charlie Johnson; Jeanette's Syncopaters; the Bennie Moten Band; the 1929-1930 Chicagoans (Benny G, Teschmacher, Bud Freeman, Joe Sullivan, Krupa) - also, the Yellow Jackets - Bernstein's guys add nothing to the music, they don;t show an interesting perspective, it's musically tired stuff - would rather hear the originals - no better than Lincoln Center's bebop revival - Bernstein's guys sound a little like Chadbourne, in the way that they act as though they are somehow superior to the material, they play it with too much distance, musical irony, which I find tired and condescending - sorry, but I really hate this stuff - much better, on Pennies From Heaven, but it still sounds like a revival band, which, for me, is a problem - and that DAMNED SINGER - (must kidnap her immediately and have her vocal cords removed - yes, extreme measures, but as Karl Hess said, "extremism in the defense of music is no vice.") too much "good time" crap - they are working way too hard - string of solos as usual - same old stuff - is it only me or does anybody else find this music offensive?

the man was a genius and FAR ahead of his time -

depends whether he uses the exhaust pipe or the radiator hose -

well, at least it wasn't Eddie Yost -

its integrated, with a great pre-amp - Pete seems to have offered to buy, than disappeared - however, now I'm thinking of keeping the damn thing - love those tubes -

with any luck and if Obama doesn't launch WW III (hey, who knows, maybe the guy's a secret hawk) I'll be there by 2011 -

few people know this, but if you interpolate Twinkle Twinkle over the changes of Wonderful World, you hear "Armstrong's Dead, Armstrong's Dead."

Larry, the Mill Run Theater? I was there in 1972, probably, while I was a student at U of Michigan; saw Woody Allen do one of the last standups he ever did - Jim Croce opened for him -

don't get me wrong, these are fine musicians. But because this music is so much of its time, one has to find a way to deal with that stylistic distance - it has a lot to do with context, how the rhythm section handles itself, because the rest of the band will respond to that. I'm thinking a lot about these issues these days as I work on my blues book. I'm also planning on doing another recording maybe next year of all-blues or blues-related material. But I hear the musical solution from time to time, if mostly in my head. It has to do with free-jazz principles, but only as they are very tightly tethered to form. But to make it "right," one has to play this music with a certain unconscious sonic emphasis, if that makes any sense. Solos, I think, should be short and to the point while still feeling "free." Also, contemporary recording techniques don't help, the separation of instruments, even as they are remixed together, works against the kind of loose ensemble feel that makes this music so satisfying to hear when played right - Archie Shepp can do this right, but he's one of the few -

well, my dad's been dead 7 years - for their sake, I hope he's minding his own business -