AllenLowe

I don't think we should shy away from negative reviews, if they are written without spleen and with clear attention to the material at hand; otherwise the whole idea of critcisim is negated. On the other hand I can see that sometimes it is better to just leave a small independent musician alone - the problem for me is that even in the better jazz journals everybody likes everything; I won't mention any names but I was removed, about 10-12 years ago, from the reviewing staff of a good and independent magazine because there was too much stuff I did not like (I wrote one review, in which I lamented the need for all musicians to write all of their own material even when they were compositionally limited, and I called it "Why Does Bad Music Happen to Good Musicians?")

there is some problem, ironically or not, with Schuller's level of technical knowledge, I think, and his ability to write histories - I talk about this, I think, somewhere in my own book but basically I think certain levels of technical knowledge sometimes overwhelm less empirical values like taste and critical instinct - for all my respect for Schuller, if I want a second opinion on a musician or a performance I will more likely turn to non-musician/critics like Larry kart or Giddins or Francis Davis or Bob Blumenthal, whom I believe have a combination of writing skill, personal taste, historical perpective, and just plain smarts. The problem is that some non-technical writers get themselves into trouble, and Giddins is the best example of this; whenever he tries to show off with some personal citation about harmony or other chord-change issue, he invariabley comes off as half-assed if not mistaken. Martin Williams had a problem in this area, and Dick Katz told me Williams would never acknowledge a technical mistake. So one has to come to all of this having read a lot of the backgtound material and having listened to too much music (trust me, it's a burnout process) - though I've never asked him about it, I think Larry kart clearly has some musical background - Loren Schoenberg is one who has vast technical knowledge and good aesthetic judgement - Chris Albertson not only knows the music but he knows the musicians and has learned the music in the best possible way, by being in the middle of it all - unlike most academics - on the social end, as I have said before, I believe one needs to know the social context but not let it overwhelm aesthetic judgement; I often cite my unofficial mentor, the late Richard Gilman, to the effect that good art creates an alternative history, a narrative that is outside the socially verifiable - and though I have tried to read a lot of academic writing on music it ultimately tends to suffer from a convoluted kind sociological rationale, which neccesitates a writing style that is at once both impermeable (read: intellectual rationalization) and opaque (read: WE NEED TENURE!) -

Schuller is brilliant but sometimes misses the forest for the trees - let us say that he sometimes misses the emotional element, or even the entertainment side of jazz - I think of his homophobic comments, in The Swing Era, about Pha Terrel and the use of the falsetto in African American singing, as though it is some sort of aberration when in reality it is one of the essential elements of that tradition; also, I remember the notes he did to the Buster Smith/Atlantic recording, in which he spent most of his time bemoaning the fact that Smith had been relegated to working in bar bands - though there was an element of truth to his lament, he also clearly had no understanding of the cultural implications of Smith's current way of making a living and tha fact that it may not have been so terribly tragic to Smith himself -

just wanted to mention, re-Hawk and Bach; he was said to be much-influenced by the solo Casals/Bach, and one listen to these recordings confirms this in a very fascinating way - one can hear on these the big Hawkins sound, the vibrato, and harmonic skips -

just saw Charlie last week - didn't realize he knew Garrison -

I met Scott Robinson, by the way, for the first time in a recording studio (it was Randy Sandke's idea to use him in place of a bassist) and yes, he was something -

re-Jaki Byard - in the years I knew him he generally kept the tenor on the piano and picked it up from time to time - particularly when he was the Sunday pianist at Bradleys, circa 1974-75; sure, his tone was not the greatest, but he was so completely original on the horn that it was a wonder to listen to - a slight Lester Young influence, maybe, but just a cascade of smart ideas, lines that could only come from the mind of Jaki Byard - I can still hear that horn and it's been over 25 years since I actually heard him play something other than the piano - and there are few actual HORN players of whom I can say that -

somehow reminds me of when I saw the Mothers at Columbia U. in 1968 - Zappa called out to the audience and Sam the Sham came on stage and they did a letter perfect version of Wooly Bully. I've always thought that, for all his clear contempt, Zappa had a not-so-secret affection for pop culture and rock and roll; I also heard him, that night, do an absolutely gorgeous blues al la T. Bone Walker.

favorite was the Jessica Simpson lip-synch disaster -

just saw a clip of Buckley on tv, from 2004 - "Cheney is a first class public servant." guess some things never change - so much for his differences with the new Republicans -

actually to get serious here briefly, I think they should listen to CDs at least twice; not only that but I'm convinced that few listen to the entire CD even once - there's too much stuff, and the same is true of book reviewers; I continue to read letters to the editor in which it is obvious that the reviewer, having missed essential info, skimmed - as a matter of fact, I have a feeling that one of the reasons I'm having trouble getting my current CD reviewed is that it is actually 2 CDs and requires some actual concentration -

"I'm innocent, I tell you, innocent..." tell that to the twins - and don't forget next month's check - I'm not made out of money

"That's how I got high at a Foreigner concert. In 1987." Hey - that's where I woke up -

actually, I knew all about that (I interviewed his twice-removed second-cousin's bastard son for That Devilin TUne) - and I have a whole chapter on it in the book. But since neither of you guys have purchased it directly from me you missed the footnote on page 84, chapter 11 - as a matter of fact, on page 97 I reprint the MRI that shows Lipschitz's brain injury from Bolden's blow - they were bedmates at the asylum since it resulted in brain damage. Had sex twice a week and gave birth to Scott Yanow -

nothing wrong with posting about your work - there is a sense that it's basically a floating advertisement, especially as you also don't answer private emails -

did you say birdshot or birdshit?

"pretend to be Larry Kart" if you don't mind all the paternity suits -

all that rings a bell - we indulged prior to arrival - I was suffering something of a sensory overload - I do remember a lot of voices, kids arriving, very communal feeling - and than I woke up and it was 1987 -

few people know this, but the E in Ellington is silent -

hey - I know the answer to the question asked by this thread - there are no minimum qualifications to be a jazz writer (might even be an oxymoron) -

there are, of course, the stories of Bird running into Varese down town and talking about studying with him - though some have claimed this to be false, it does seem to be confirmed by some interview I've read with Varese himself - also, I don't think he used a theremin, at least on his early recordings - it was something called an ondes martenot -

well, it's like when an aide to Adlai Stevenson said, "Mr. Stevenson, you will get the vote of every thinking American." "I'm sorry," Stevenson said, "but we'll need a majority."

the weird thing was, for years I thought Pinochet worked for the phone company -

well, Weizen, I'm glad we finally cleared the air - "Well, now that we're kinda pals again, Allen.....you want to come down and go shooting with me and Cheney and an ex-Lott staffer on a private reserve out on the Chesapeake some weekend this spring?" sure, be glad to - but why do I have the feeling that by the end of the weekend I'll be the Jew running naked through the woods with some crazy Republicans shooting at me?

wrong again, Weizen - as you might recall we all took a pledge of civility following Jim Alfredson's threat to shut us all down about 2 (?) months ago - and if you were paying attention you might have seen my apologies to Jazz Moose and my pledge to follow the 12-step-be nice-to-everyone-here pledge (which I think you forgot to take; but that's ok, it's never too late; we're still also waiting for Gould's pledge card to come in; and in case you're asking I think Clementine got a waiver from the Pope; or maybe it was Rabbi Schneerson) - so anything you cite has to be after 12/1/07, at the least - so that stuff doesn't count - but still, let me apologise to both you and Berigan for saying those things - they were definitely not nice and I should not have posted them - I now know that you are a truly sensitive and caring individual (not counting, of course, Iraqi civilians) - -Allen Lowe, Born Again Organissimo-ite