AllenLowe

it's actually difficult to fully understand this stuff without some knowledge of the history of African American minstrelsy - for anyone, by the way, who needs to understand this WHOLE subject, the new book by Doug Seroff and Lynn Abbott, Ragged But Right, is required reading - and I agree that, as Ghost indicates, one needs to be aware of the pitfalls of white arrogance -and sometimes PC is not a bad thing - considering that, unlike when I was a kid, we actually cringe these days at racist and anti-women jokes and misogynist expression and rape jokes etc etc. At the very least, this indicates a sensitivity that was sorely lacking in earlier parts of American history - on the other hand... black minstrelsy was a complicated and liberating force for African American performers, whose acceptance of its conventions (like those lyrics,) was not necessarily a surrender to white hegemony, but a complicated adjustment to a white-originated form that was created as both observation and imaginative adaptation of/to black culture. As we've learned, there was a lot in early white minstrelsy that was taken quite directly from black folklore, and certain kinds of musical ideas - like vocal with background instrumental comment - likely comes directly from minstrel shows. And minstrelsy itself had a complicated relationship to the travelling tent shows that exposed so much of America (particularly in the South) to African American music and culture in the beginning of this century and so had a revolutionary impact on the USA - in terms of format, musical approaches, stage business, exposure and dissemination, etc etc. Lyrics like these, for better or for worse, come from this whole idea of show business and performance - so they need to be understood, yes, in context; that context, however, as Ghost indicates, is more than just performance but the whole Southern Jim Crow world of black/white relationships, which were both symbiotic and parasitic in both an artistic and economic sense - but, as I said, you guys should all read Ragged But Right - a brilliant and illuminating (and expensive - $75) book - absolutely essential to discussing any of this -

wow - that's the kind of stuff that makes me want to go back and revise Devilin Tune - also like Duke's block chords -

I don't have numbers, but I would be interested to see what the comparative bookings/earnings are for contemporary white and black jazz musicians; I would be more than surprised if whites were earning more and working more. And a few more observations: 1) the most powerful individual in the history of jazz is Wynton Marsalis, who is African American; 2) dopey white liberals are the source of many problems; when I lived in New Haven there was a young black jazz musician who was completely incompetent as a player; yet he frequently got the arts-community jazz gigs because he was young and black and fit their idea of what a jazz-cat looked like. I used to tell them ALL the time about the older black players who lived in town who could really play (like Bobby Buster who worked with Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons or Dickey Meyers who worked with Jimmy McGriff, or Sonny Williams, who plays on an old John Hammond Smith LP - ) but they were clueless and never hired guys like that. This carries over in many ways to the critical community, which is largely composed of dopey white liberals. 3) Ultimately, as Ralph Ellison says, the music is spread socially and culturally, not genetically (which would be a Nazi-like theory) - and I've always felt that as the music has moved so far from it's community roots we can no longer consider it to be racially specific - 4) Of course, I always remember an interview I did with Dizzy Gillespie many years ago; he had just performed at the White House with Stan Getz. I had seen it, as it was televised. Itzhak Perlman was the host; after they played, Perlman went over to Getz to ask him about the origins of bebop. Dizzy, when I talked to him, was still seething about this unintended insult: "They never let you forget you're black." This from a guy who had just told me that a white man - Dave Schildkraut - was the only alto player to "capture the rhythmic essence of Bird." So he was no racist - 5) At the end of the day I can play the blues better than any of these guys - Malone, Braden, Broom - probably because I know the music better than they do, understand where it's been better, and have listened to it more - so much for racial determinism -

a few comments, as I arrive, as usual, late to all this - Hemphill's memorable comment about Marsalis (which I've seen quoted, but which I also heard in person) was that Wynton was "tilling the master's fields." This from a guy who was very racially conscious, yet quite racially ecumenical in his thinking; I never encountered any resentful sense of race as a point of white entitlement coming from him; not to say, in any way, that he was not, once again, deeply aware of race and his own social point of view; just that ultimately he saw the music as music and, unlike Harper, had some perspective on the whole thing (heard him also praise Lee Konitz as the first alto player who gave him a sense of a way out of bebop conformism); but Jim is absolutely right in his comments that it's neither all or nothing at all. Race and its relationship to product and access and market dynamics and simple personal background/social comfort is a multi-layered topic. I was recently at a conference in which a very highly charged comment was made about white theft of black music; 10 years ago I would have stood my ground and fought the whole thing rhetorically with various personal and historic and musical observations. This time I walked away from it because I long ago learned that when you take a particular side in this argument you are not merely representing yourself to anyone listening, but you become a surrogate for virtually everything said or done in the name of white opinion on this subject over the last 50 years, from Dick Sudhalter to Larry Kart (sorry Larry, just kidding). And I won't be a poster child for white academic opinion, won't put myself up in a way that forces me to spend half the argument defending or refuting opinions that are not mine, but merely ascribed to me for being white and/or sharing some perspective with certain white critics (like Sudhalter). and then I will add a quote from Anthony Braxton which, if self serving here, makes a point compellingly counter to Harper (and sorry for repeating this from another self-serving post of mine): "I think Allen Lowe...is deeply misunderstood because he doesn’t hate himself. Now if he hated himself, and hated TransEuropa, then he would have a more successful run, but he is misunderstood because he wants to include the input of the great transeuropeans who have also contributed to the music – it is not understood – and the idea of European Americans being connected to the music is looked at almost as if it’s a racist proposition, or some diabolical political plot to destroy the essence of the music, when in fact, as far as I’m concerned, my research a long time ago made it pretty clear that we don’t talk of the historical aspects of the music correctly, that jazz has been etched out and defined as a vehicle for African Americans...

during that session Carter was complaining about all the electric instruments - he said "everything's electric - the organ, the guitar, this bass; and you think it's easy to play this damn electric bass? It's so heavy, do you think anybody might care enough to get me something so I can sit down?" so they got him an electric chair -

I congratulate them on refusing to do an encore - not kidding around. I think encores are: 1) redundant 2) anti-artistic 3) destructive of performance pace and rhythm 4) bad bad bad glad to hear it was a memorable night - and trust me, they did you a favor by leaving the stage when they did - asking for an encore is like watching a play and than asking the actors to come out afterwards and do another scene, from whatever play they feel like - just my opinion -

I think it has to do with laundry - somebody has to do Bush's dry cleaning -

do you mean Ken Osmond?

Allison Miller is a great drummer - can play jazz with anybody, AND works well on the pop/rock side - I've seen her a few times with a friend of mine, Erin McKeown - Allison is a great drummer -

still waiting for the naked Teddy Wilson pics -

the Nocturne stuff is excellent, and I do talk about it in my 1950s jazz history which will probably never see the light of day - but that's another story - however, I was wondering if in your archives there is any unreleased Al Haig -

"only the publication of 8 CDs worth of unreleased Georg W. material, a set of nude photos of Teddy Wilson, or the abdication of Marilyn Monroe could - perhaps - get me to go online for a minute or two." hey, whatever floats your boat - as long as Wilson is playing the piano in those pics -

everything is shipped - I have a few on reserve, but can still offer one of each volume for $37.50 each shipped; I'm getting a few more in today or tomorrow -

that's what I'm thinking - access is important -

I hope he can find someone to take the collection and take proper care of it - I've been looking around myself to possibly donate (though I don't have nearly that much stuff) - and I am finding that institutions don't like LPs anymore, as the pesky things take up too much space -

ditto, wish I was there; Braxton is to me such a completx musician and so changeable, if in sometimes subtle ways - also, personally very open and inquisitive - I'm supposed to go down and see him next month in Connecticut; we've been emailing and lunch is a possibility; for years I've been trying to pin him down for a project. Great guy but elusive - will see what happens -

just to take this thread in ever more confusing directions - I actually remember seeing Boots on some country music show (not sure but coulda been the old Roger Miller show) and thinking, that guy can blow - he was actually a pretty accomplished player and could improvise quite well, as I recall -

bumping - I have 1 left of each volume -

I like Jaki all ways - ever hear the Don Ellis session on Candid? also, there's an incredible solo record on Prestige that has never made it to CD, I think - I heard Jaki play solo quite a few times and it was always an adventure, but he was also a great group player. A complicated guy with an amazing sense of humor, as well - he was also one of the most honest people I ever met and said some very interesting things (I know I've quoted this before - but I said to him once "why is Don Ellis so under-appreciated?" Jaki's answer: "because he's white.") I did try to pump him on a few occasions about Eric Dolphy - all he said was "he practiced all the time and he was a nut."

I have 2 more of each volume (1-4) that I can ship media for $37.50 each - conus boxes are opened but all is mint and un-played - paypal preferred; my paypal address is alowe@maine.rr.com email me at same

look, the comments about Nabors and Hudson were gross and uncalled for - a schmuck is a schmuck is a schmuck, as the saying goes - it's one thing for his loved ones to mourn him privately, as they should and will; it's another for us to praise his public persona without knowing what he was really like - a dose of truth is always good, so thanks, Chris -

sorry to be so slow to respond - I sent him a copy after I met him at a pop music conference in April - I was quite happy (and surprised) at his response -

too many tenors - that's why I switched to alto -

good thing his first name isn't Berry -

doing ok, getting nice reviews - biggest thing sales-wise will be to get some non-jazz, mainstream press; also working on Jewish music sites -