AllenLowe

and now my deep words of wisdom are lost to the ages......

I have three CDs I am hoping to issue soon, if I can develop enough preorders; they are: 1) I Am A Woman Again: The Life of Gladys Bentley (a women’s alliance project with: Me, Lisa Parrott, Carolyn Castellano, Nicole Glover, Kelly Green, Kevin Ray, Ray Suhy. Short but effective (approx. 49 minutes) musical suite based on the life of the cross-dressing blues singer Gladys Bentley). This might surprise you; very intense set. 2) Un-Named Session with Ken Peploswki, Aaron Johnson, me, Kevin Ray, Lou Grassi. Kelly Green); terrific jazz set, all originals by moi – 3) Un-Named session with: me, Randy Sandke, Jeremy Carlstedt, Steve Swell, Lewis Porter, Kevin Ray, Bobby Zankel, Don Slatoff; still mixing down; all originals, powerful playing by a great band, open and with chord changes. Will ship all 3 for $25 with pre-order. $10 each for individuals; these will be very basic, no frills issues (with REAL cds, btw); the music is too good for me to sit on any longer - please don’t order yet, just let me know if you want to. I can proceed with about 40 0rders – thanks -

here's what's left: Taylor Ho Bynum/John Herbert/Gerald Cleaver Book of Three Continum 2012 Still Sealed Relative Pitch $10 plus $3 shipping USA Taylor Ho Bynum 7-tette Navigation Fire House 12 2 cds $12 plus $4 shipping USA Duke Ellington 1944-1946 Complete RCA Mid 1940s Recordings 3 CDS $12 plus $5 shipping USA Duke Ellingon Far East Suite $6 plus $3 shipping USA Charles Mingus Tonight at Noon $6 plus $3 shipping USA Charles Mingus Blues & Roots $6 plus $3 shipping USA Hank Mobley Reach Out $6 plus $3 shipping USA my paypal is allenlowe5@gmail.com

Anthony Braxton 3 Compositions 2011 Firehouse 12 Still Sealed 3 cds $20 plus $5 shipping USA Taylor Ho Bynum/John Herbert/Gerald Cleaver Book of Three Continum 2012 Still Sealed Relative Pitch $10 plus $3 shipping USA Taylor Ho Bynum 7-tette Navigation Fire House 12 2 cds $12 plus $4 shipping USA Duke Ellington 1944-1946 Complete RCA Mid 1940s Recordings 3 CDS $12 plus $5 shipping USA Duke Ellingon Far East Suite $6 plus $3 shipping USA Charles Mingus Tonight at Noon $6 plus $3 shipping USA Charles Mingus Blues & Roots $6 plus $3 shipping USA Hank Mobley Reach Out $6 plus $3 shipping USA my paypal is allenlowe5@gmail.com

sorry Larry, I think you are lying about this whole thing. A New Yorker rude? Especially a hip music guy? (sounds like a scene out of High Fidelity; I am surprised they even let you into the Jazz Gallery).

the truth must be told; I actually didn't put it out, just mastered it for a Japanese label, but the whole thing was a fiasco, as they lied about owning the rights, and so there's a whole lot of unsold copies sitting around (though I won't say where). However, he does play well on it. Because of the problems, however, there will not be a Volume 2.

I spent one really strange day with him during the comeback period; incredibly nice guy, but also really concerned about appearing to be 'old hat' in that post-avant garde world. He need not have worried.

I find it oddly frustrating; it's a great clip and only has only one little dip into the kind of faux 'free thing' which for me mars of lot of this era of his playing (here at about .35). Frustrating because it feels like he sacrificed the whole last act of this life chasing - well, not exactly Trane, but some shadow of Trane. Even his late '60s work (for me) is marred by this kind of silliness. Oh well.

what a wrong-headed review; just listening now, and this CD is a revelation; absolutely incredible work from Hank all the way through. Fascinating; thoughtful, intense, and, best of all, un-selfconscious. What I mean is that sometimes to me, on the Bluenotes, Mobley sounds to me like he is straining a bit, trying too hard to be 'contemporary.' His work here is great all the way, and his sound is just a little bit smoother yet incredibly muscular. These are 50 year old recordings and they sound like they could have been made yesterday, both sonically and stylistically.

Jim - if you want to hear the greatness of Hawes you need to listen to his earlier 50s live recordings. They are unbelievably intense and some of my favorite recordings. Here we go: or: he is playing patterns a bit, even back then - I had a long and interesting talk with Russ Freeman about this once - but there is a rawness that he lost (he did later said that he was a 'maniac' during this period, and that his playing reflected this). This, btw, is really where Oscar Peterson comes from, but I don't blame Hawes for that.

the point for me is that, as I was told by more than one women musician, they are generally not first call, and every one of them has had an experience of being called by a male musician for a 'rehearsal' that was really a 'date.' White males tend to hire white males; people tend to work with people who are like themselves. I believe in affirmative action and its principles. And I think one has to get beyond one's normal comfort zone. I have done this repeatedly over the years (I was a little frightened of Hemphill because of that bare-chested picture of him with the "I want to kill you" look. But I figured what the hell and just called him up). The best tenor player if have heard in 20 years is a 22 year old woman who works a full time job at Trader Joe's. My favorite baritone player is someone I would never have played with but for my active search for women musicians, and my favorite drummer was located in the same way. So, I am not pissing with anyone, just glad I did it and proud of the results.

interesting to me on a self-serving level, because I may be the only male bandleader who has specifically, and recently, done TWO major recording projects in which the political statement was made about the need for male jazz players to stop discriminating against women musicians and to start actually hiring them. TWO. But I cannot get someone like Mercer to pay attention. One project is out, the other some time later this year. And the point I make is that this was not tokenism but an understanding of my own personal need to expand my artistic horizons. So Vijay and Iverson - who have the advantage over me of money and actual bookings - could easily do same.

I just did the mirror test on myself. So far, so good.

if we stop letting Jim post his RIP threads, can I post an RIP thread for Jim's RIP threads?

reading it now; I saw the Butterfield band in Central Park, maybe 1970, with Dinwiddie, Sanborn, and Phillip Wilson. That was a mighty band. Also, I am trying to picture Julius selling furniture.

kind of a Bar Mitzvah blues.

I hope Robey is buried beneath the rubble.

thanks for the tip; just ordered the 10 CD box off ebay for $25.

pray that they don't use the same guys for sound who messed up the Dials and the Savoys (which has really gross amounts of distortion even on the samples on their web site) - yeah, I know we're tired of hearing about this, but this is a serious malfunction (if you disagree with me talk to Doug Pomeroy, who was so upset at the Dial sessions that he wrote Mosaic a letter).

that's from a play written by Gore Vidal. Though completely altered, of course.

well, I have a lotta new stuff. Time to spread it around a bit. As for Bill Barron; nice, nice, nice man. I didn't get to know him real well, but there was a time I had just listened to the Savoy recording where he was up against Booker Ervin, and I told Barron how even a thing it was, that he had really played beautifully and matched Ervin; he was so flattered he got completely flustered. The only other time this ever occurred with me and a musician of that generation (or near-generation) was when I played Al Haig the recording of Bud Powell saying he was a "perfect pianist." This left him beyond speechless. oh what the hell; to make Chuck happy: we recorded this last year; these are some of MY 'new discoveries' - Nicole Glover on tenor; Lisa Parrott on baritone; Nicole Davis on trumpet; Ray Suhy on guitar (and passing through is me, on alto); and drummer Carolyn Castellano; this is an excerpt from the suite:

isn't that Bob Gordon on bari?

Love Bill Barron. Biggest regret: we were rehearsing to record together when he got sick. A similar thing happened with Jaki Byard. Do I discern a trend? Anybody here want to record with me? Funny thing is that I find Kenny Barron....un-moving. He plays great but the music leaves me inert.

well the point is, if they want to issue it on something as cheap and perishable as a CDR, it should be very cheap; maybe $5. And I do think we have a choice; with certain labels (like Document) you have to find older issues of CDs. With Acrobat we need to spread the word AND send them emails of protest. The reality is that replication (non CDR) is extremely cheap these days; they are not paying for musical rights, and they can issue real CDs and probably break even with sales of 50.

every pressing on that label that I ever had sounded like that. I just ordered the CD after I saw your post. We will just have to hope.