AllenLowe

Gras has passed...alas...

who's the guy next to Kelly?

don't forget Grace Kelly -

has anyone actually listened to her? She plays very well - for her age - basically sounds like a talented 14 year old still finding the changes. Sings with variable pitch, scats badly. Needs to wait a few years before she's worth an actual admission price - just my honest opinion -

she's no Pee Wee Marquette -

oh yes, forgot to mention, I'm naming my next son after Scott Yanow -

personally I think the best place in the world to hear jazz is in Litchfield, Connecticut - there, Jim, that's the best present I could think of giving you -

I have 3 of each that are unsealed but otherwise in mint condition. maybe a few crumbs from the communion wafer... $35 each plus shipping prefer paypal at alowe@maine.rr.com email me at same

for sale: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records by Ashley Kahn hard cover, was a remainder - decent shape. will sell for $8.50 plus shipping also: Geoffrey Emerick - Here there and Everywhere, my Life Recording the Beatles soft cover, good shape. $6.50 plus shipping prefer paypal to alowe@maine.rr.com email me at same

at the 1970 March on Washington Mitch Milller sang Give Peace a Chance on stage with Peter Seeger; it was a strange day; I had a press pass, and in the space in front of the stage Abbie Hoffman, tripping out of his mind, kept walking up to people, sticking his face in theirs, and smiling like a maniac; Mitch conducted the crowd in a sing-along- ah, those were the good old days...

First review I've seen to my CD, will be on AAJ momentarily: ALLEN LOWE Jews In Hell: Radical Jewish Acculturation Spaceout Records by Clifford Allen Art critic Clement Greenberg posited the task of modernism as follows (and I paraphrase it somewhat liberally) – a modernist work must engage and, to a strong degree, self-criticize its own basic tenets and that of its given medium, not as an affront to its place in the art world, but as a way to, as Greenberg puts it, “entrench [it] more firmly in its area of competence.” In other words, the emphasis on two-dimensionality as qualities of paint and canvas are both an affirmation of and a criticism of the nature of painting. Understanding what a painting is (not what it is “about” or “contains” outside itself) is crucial to the art of painting. Greenberg’s modernist self-criticism doesn’t come out of nowhere, though – it can be keenly related to the long tradition of Jewish self-criticism, rooted in intellectualism, and studying what it means to be a Jew in order to understand one’s place in the culture and to be better-equipped to move that culture (and oneself) forward. Like Modernism, Jewishness is a constant process of self-understanding, of re-evaluation and regeneration. What’s particularly interesting about this take on Jewishness vis-à-vis Modernism is that, for guitarist/saxophonist/composer/engineer/author Allen Lowe, Jews are the first post-modernists. The idea of Jews as a rootless people, since time immemorial without a true homeland and, in spite of it all, a strong sense of community in very disparate surroundings (whether the suburbs, Brooklyn, or Maine), begets a “post-modern” ethos. In being uprooted, one also finds that, in order to continue culturally, new materials must be engaged and new connections made. If such an idea is self-criticism on a shoestring, so be it. For example, saxophonist John Zorn’s fusing of free jazz, no-wave punk energy, film music and traditional Jewish melodies is a radical and post-structural approach to creating art while maintaining ties to one’s own cultural idiom. Is this rootless condition for self-criticism one reason that jazz has had an attraction to Jews? Is the work of Zorn or Lowe that different from the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Great Black Music ethos? Questions like these might make it seem like Allen Lowe’s Jews In Hell: Radical Jewish Acculturation is a concept record meant more to be thought about than listen to. Rather, this record, Lowe’s first since 1994’s Woyzeck’s Death, might better be thought of as his own self-criticism and summation of experiences thus far, told through the lenses of free jazz, bluesy skronk, and punk abandon. Lowe’s guitar style is itself extraordinarily fragmentary, a disjointed and dissonant, non-linear approach that seems to creep out of nowhere on the solos of “Lonesome and Dead” and imbues the bent notes and wide intervallic relationships of “Tsuris in Mind.” It’s not the square-wheel rhythms of Robert Pete Williams or the perverse Company-weaned antics of Eugene Chadbourne, though Lowe’s musical landscape surely includes such precedents. His solo on the (sub-) title track may display a bit more logic, building from loose, raunchy blues to detuned Arto Lindsay-esque DNA madness, though the tension of escaping bar lines and rhythmic constraint is present from the beginning. In a more jazz-based setting, there’s an entirely different side of Lowe’s music visible than punk-folk-blues would belie. The loose rhythms and broadly shifting cadences belie a Dolphy/Braxton approach, though his tone approximates earlier Ornithologists. In trio with the trumpet of Randy Sandke and Scott Robinson’s contrabass clarinet, there is a kinship with the AACM’s drummer-less swing and bright, swaggering melodies. There is a quiet honesty on the delicate “film version” of the title track (“Soundtrack Theme from the Film Jews in Hell”) and “I Come from Nowhere” that makes this writer look forward to hearing Lowe in a purely improvisational context. Though Jews In Hell offers settings for improvisers like Matthew Shipp (including a piano-guitar duo with Lowe on “Shiva I”) and Marc Ribot, it would’ve been interesting, for example, to hear Lowe’s take on Jaki Byard’s post-modernism himself, despite the excellence with which Shipp approaches such work. As the song titles might indicate, and as there are not only philosophical but also experiential underpinnings to the music contained herein, Lowe’s lyrics hold major importance. However, the vocals are frequently off-mike and in some cases are hard to decipher (“Suburban Jews,” an important track, is a perfect example). Sometimes, as on “Oi Death,” muffled and primal atmospherics make the point clearly, but at other times I was wishing for a bit more vocal clarity (the biting send-up of “Where’s Lou Reed?”). Then again, Charley Patton isn’t all that easy to decipher, either, though you get the feel of it. Coupled with the broken rhythms, isolated phrasing and distant-thunder twang of Lowe’s guitar (“Other Bodies Other Souls”), a clear psychological picture of alienation emerges, but it isn’t without the affirmation of humor and wry, life-giving musicianship, either. Allen Lowe has, with Jews In Hell: Radical Jewish Acculturation, created a complex musical landscape through a summation of experiences and meditation on their integration. It’s self-criticism amid satire, applied both to the musician and the craft of music making, and a vision well worth sharing in.

all right - make that w--d chipper. Ironically, there was a guy in Connecticut years ago who put his wife through one - and HIS name was Wood. as the old saying goes: how much wood could a wood chipper chip if a wood chipper could chip wood?

just to mention, though it has probably been said already - I actually think this is one of the landmark recordings in jazz history - and I'm not kidding at all. Aside from its historical importance, for a conservative "free" player like myself, it points in a lot of musical directionss that have, to my way of thinking, not been fully explored, or that, at the very least, would bear greater exploration

I actually think the sound is very good, at least on the issues that I have -

where you been? in cyber prison? puttin' the wife through the wood chipper?

so Larry, the book was basically written by you, and you're letting Peter put his name on it? I'm writing this here, so when someone googles it, they'll catch this post and than Pullman will sue you - well, you know that old song - "I don't Stand a Chance with A Ghost Like You " -

what's the search function? Can you give me a link to a thread that explains it?

just wondering about Triglia because Bill told me a story about Powell coming over to this house some time in the 1950s to get away from the drug dealers et al; he went to sleep for two days and Triglia's wife was freaking out because she was afraid Bud had died. Triglia's story in general is interesting because he told me how he and Al Haig, quite literally, followed Powell everywhere to as many gigs as they could get to, night and day. His story just epitomizes that time and place; I gave Peter the contact info, but I gues he never got to it - oh well - my favorite Triglia story (sorry so OT): he was working with Lester Young and there was another guy on the gig that, as the night progressed, Prez was becoming more and more dissatisfied with. Between sets everybody was talking and this guy says to Young: "Hey Prez, when was the last time we worked together?" Lester Young answers: "Tonight."

I tried skating in line once, but I kept bumping into the old lady who was in front of me -

is this the Dave Thomas from SCTV or the one who died a few years ago who owned Wendy's?

that's actually the next-to-last episode - in the last episode Tony gets convicted and has to do community service - so he tapes a series of Public Service Announcements for the Local Access Channel supporting Gun Control -

I just got a tip on the end of the season - Tony, on a drunken gambling binge, orders a hit on himself, hiring Furia (or whatever that guy's name was a few seasons ago who fell in love with Carmela) to come back from Italy; the hit man gets confused and accidentally wacks 4 children at a local kids party; in the process he also kills one of the ponys from the kids' pony ride; so instead of killling Tony he chops off the horse's head and tries to put it in Tony and Carmela's bed; unfortunately he gets confused once more and brings the head over to 1-800-Mattress and leaves it in the show room. Just as he does this two jazz musicians walk by; they ask Furia what he's done; Furia replies "I shoot horse" and they slap palms with him and ask him where they can get some "shit." Furia, further confused by this, tells them to check the backyard where the kids' party was held. sorry to ruin the ending...

just wondering Larry, in a bit of a digression (though with some reason) whether Peter spent any time talking to Bill Triglia -

actually, I think the daughter incident is a major plot-hole this year, a true error. Not just the threat but the sexual vulgarity would have justified Tony's actions in everyone's eyes, and there would have been no repercussions, in my opinion. Especially per Leotardo, who is Mr. "honor" and who would have been offended by the actions of his soldier. Tony would NEVER have admitted doing anything wrong -

"She then switched attorneys and is now represented by drunken driving specialist Richard Hutton" wait - does this mean he specalizes in the 'how to" of drunken driving? As in 'go slow and try to avoid cripples and old ladies and children and puppies" ?