AllenLowe

thanks, Chris - it was the passive aggressive tone of it that I found worthy of noting - and that took it out of the realm of personal communication - and waking up to it was a little like hearing the sound of a Hezbollah missle incoming - though I hope that, unlike the Israelis, I did not over-react -

or let's try Stuart Broomer, from Signal to Noise: "There's nothing like Lowe's CD compilations, providing an extraordinary portrait of the forces and variables in American music...the music is likely to come as both a revelation and a joy...the book and CDs are entirely worthy of the material they cover...in extraordinary detail"

might as well post this: BOOK REVIEW Allen Lowe That Devilin' Tune : A Jazz History, 1900-1950 (Music and Arts Programs of America) by Joe Milazzo January 2002 In 1958, Sonny Rollins wrote this about his Riverside recording Freedom Suite: "America is deeply rooted in Negro culture: its colloquialisms, its humor, its music. How ironic that the Negro, who more than any other people can claim America's culture as his own, is being persecuted and repressed, that the Negro, who has exemplified the humanities in his very existence, is being rewarded with inhumanity." Diction aside, in a mere two sentences, Rollins expresses the central tenets of what was come to pass—and what we've become accustomed to as—jazz criticism in the past 40 some-odd years. Perhaps Ken Burns was right when he diagnosed jazz intellectuals with chronic inability to arrive at civil consensus on even the most trivial musical facts. But Burns mistook the symptom for the disease, and missed completely that jazz criticism still suffers from a hereditary weakness, a lack of collegial trust that stems from perceptions of race and power. Whether Sonny Rollins, since typecast as modern jazz's most lasting enigma, ever envisioned or currently approves of the racialist ideologies of Albert Murray and Stanley Crouch is something which we will perhaps never know. But Rollins' statement, like so many of profound cast, presents truth and obfuscation in equal measure. It's up to us to separate them, to see what justice time has meted out to them, and to peel back the layers of paraphrase and misinterpretation that now cling to these ideas. When this reviewer first read on page 13 of tenor saxophonist, arranger, composer and scholar Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune: A Jazz History, 1900-1950, about the "deep African and African-American roots of all [emphasis mine] American culture", a tiny bit of despair entered into the reading experience. But what quickly becomes obvious over the course of the next 250 pages or so is that Lowe is perhaps the most rational writer to attempt a project of this subject and scope. Take, for example, just these few sentences on Thelonious Monk's career: "Who was Thelonious Monk? No one really seems to know, though toward the end of his life (he died in 1982) the pianist was revered as the last of jazz's great eccentrics and offered large amounts of money (which he refused) to perform in public. The very things which had once made his music so difficult and incomprehensible to many—the odd melodic turns of phrase, the percussive primitiveness of his touch, the unresolved dissonances, and, most of all, his reputation for inscrutable eccentricity—were now, in a more modern and tolerant age, the stuff of marketer's dreams... From his earliest days as a professional musician Thelonious Monk had gone his own way... Though his stance—his absolute refusal to do anything but play his music in his own way, without compromise—was seen by many as heroic, it was more likely the only choice he had. In truth, Monk had a kind of artistic tunnel vision, something which was to his and jazz's benefit, though he was lucky to have a built-in support system—his wife and, later, record companies, promoters, and booking agents—that allowed him the luxury of such a principled life." (193) The personal, the political, the musical—there it all is in a package that is not so tidy as to be smug, but tight enough to withstand the jostlings and pryings of dissent and rebuttal. Incorporating historical investigation (sometimes impertinent, but most questions are), discographical detective work, personal interviews, and, most crucially, often pithy and memorable musical analysis—such as his likening of Frankie Trumbauer's C-melody saxophone playing to "a painter using only straight brush strokes" (112)—Lowe combines the best features of the musicological and (often "amateur" or "enthusiast", as Terry Treachout defined in an essay from last year's Nation) jazz critical traditions. Perhaps the most notable aspect of this book is that Lowe returns to the notion that jazz is a popular music, with all the wonderfully fascinating and difficult complexities that entails. His consideration of the music's growth and transformation during the first half of the 20th Century yanks jazz out of its isolation as "art music", an aesthetic phenomenon only, without confusing the music's socio-historical context for its actual and sole meaning. Citing Richard Gilman, Lowe views "artistic creation... [as a] counter-history, the generation of a psychological and aesthetic alternative to the prevailing artistic and social order". (176) Yes, this book could be five times its current length, and it sometimes moves too swiftly, especially when one is not all that familiar with the recordings under discussion. But That Devilin' Tune is criticism of the best sort. It does not evaluate, rank, or taxonomize—it elucidates and makes relevant to the way we perceive the totality of the music, the way we recreate these sounds in our own imaginations. It is a perhaps the first real jazz morphology; in That Devilin' Tune, jazz is a musical attitude, a loose alliance of very different kinds of information, that manages to cohere and flow through any available circuit, and across any geographical and anthropological borders: "We've discussed in earlier chapters... issues of musical black and white, acknowledging jazz's roots in the techniques and experiences of 19th century black America. That truth notwithstanding, jazz could not long be contained in one community, so strong were its powers of musical persuasion, and so tempting and attractive were its expressive elements—as a matter of fact, an argument can easily be made that jazz's racial and multinational proliferation was a tribute to the genius of its African American inventors. They had devised cultural and musical strategies that were so irresistibly populist and ingeniously community-based, while still amounting to great art, that jazz itself held, in the very essences of its aesthetic and mass appeal, the key to its racial and commercial dispersal, to those very things which would aid and abet its separation and ultimate flight from the African American community." (147) Aside from it's dramatic irony, this thesis points toward Lowe's other major achievement in That Devilin' Tune. Suppose we do as he has done, and we consider early jazz vocalist Annette Hanshaw, 1920's cornetist Thomas Morris, swing-era saxophonist Rudy Williams, and European band leaders Ray Noble and Spike Hughes? Or, as Lowe himself writes: "And then there are those groups and musicians whose impact and visibility is like that of a hit and run driver, who are here one day and, though sometimes traceable by label (rather than plate) number, nearly gone the next, having vanished into the fog of the jazz and dance band's world of economic uncertainty." (106) The image, for this reviewer, immediately recall the Joe / Josephine and Jerry / Daphne of Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, musicians in dresses and heels madly scrabbling across boundaries not in self-conscious violations of taboo, but in search of some safe haven (and maybe a little fun). One of the most often-repeated tenets of early jazz research is the fact that we know so little. We have tall tales about Buddy Bolden, first-hand accounts of the brothels of New Orleans and we know that the Gennett studios were almost literally on the wrong side of the tracks, etc. But Lowe exposes this assumed paucity of knowledge for the canard it is. Throughout That Devilin' Tune, Lowe reminds us that, if we just open up the established canon of jazz recordings even the slightest bit—if we deign to turn critical attention to the likes of Wilbur Sweatman, Guy Lombardo, Raymond Scott, and Hank Garland—it comes to light that we know more than we expected we did. Recordings, for all their flaws (and early recordings may not be so much flawed per se as much as they are a different form of expression altogether) are the most important documentary resource we have. Working from these assumptions, Lowe is also able to devote much needed attention to musical styles that, existent—and in some cases, still evolving—parallel to jazz as it's canonically defined, both drew from and contributed to the music's vocabulary: The rural blues, minstrelsy, and Western Swing. Some may argue that his hunting for hints of jazz in the acetate dross of the early 20th Century is an attempt to pollute the music with allegations of influence that run counter to "the facts". But, consider, as Lowe does, the impact of the recording as a technology: "Jazz and its categorical offshoot popular blues still largely emanated from the African-American community, but as soon as the music reached shellac and national distribution any proprietary ideas of ownership had to be abandoned." (73) Doubtless it is no accident that That Devilin' Tune's final paragraph is dedicated to a quick, "coming attractions" appreciation of Sonny Rollins"n everything he played there was a sense of a work in progress, of structures built to last yet still unfinished". (258) This very thing is what Sonny Rollins was trying to communicate to us in 1958; the punning overtones and sorrowful, indicting inflections that surround the words "humor", "people", "humanities" and "inhumanity" as Rollins employs them in his little annotation to Freedom Suite still ring clear and harsh today. Like any good jazz player, Lowe has the ear to hear it, and to know that, in many ways, the attempted remedies have been worse than the affliction itself. At times cauterizing, That Devilin' Tune cannot help but heal without hurting. With Lowe currently at work on a companion volume that brings us through the 1950's, another period that saw "white" and "black" forms of jazz sharply defined in the critical and popular imagination, we will see if his cure takes.

'cause I did not send him an email - figured I could out him as the kind of guy he is - that was, after all, not really a question he asked but a reponse to my own chronic dislike of his work. The difference is, unlike me, who would say "Yanow is not good and I have said this before and I do not like his prior work," he couches his criticisms in pseudo-objective language. Unfortunately, the guy is not even good at sarcasm -

I vote for Scott Yanow -

so, I wake up this morning and I find this from Yanow: "I just wanted to thank you for all of the kind words that you've said about me on the Organissimo threads. It's greatly appreciated. Scott P.S. Why did you put out That Devilin' Tune without personnel listings, sometimes using scratchy surfaces that are inferior to other reissue projects, and with liner notes that often do not mention the recordings? For example, you have the first-ever example of scat-singing by Gene "The Ragtime King" Greene and don't even mention it in the notes. I know that there was a reason for all this. I'm just curious as to the strategy." yes, Scott, with your usual brilliant insight you may just have caught something I should have mentioned per Gene Greene; and you're full of shit, as I mention a GREAT MAJORITY of the recordings in the text, and at the least refer to them stylistically per the period in which they were recorded - yes, I may miss a few but, gee, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry - as this was done over a 5 year period on my own time, with my own collection, without a penny of financial support , AND I did all restoration work - and just happens to have been praised to the skies by just about everyone else who has heard and read it -read Signal to Noise this month, or Joe Milazzo's review in One Final Note, or the review in Cadence - so it may be possible that not all recordings are the best sources; name however, 10 that sound better on other reissues. And than do your own damn project rather than writing badly about everyone else's - sorry, also, that I could not list full personnell for the 1,000 recordings that were re-mastered for the box; I do note key soloists in most cases. But just in case you're still confused, Bix was a cornetist - ALSO, I would hope, given the fact that, yes, I never tire of saying publicly what an incompetent hack you are, that you refrain from reviewing Devilin Tune, as there is clearly a conflict of interest on your part; just as I could not, now, objectively review a work of yours in a publication, I hope you would admit same -

Bley is smart, and in conversations has a tendency to tell you how to do everything - a bit of a know-it-all, but than, he does know a lot - good guy, and full of insight. And how can you fault a guy who hired Ornette Coleman in 1957, and who was playing free jazz even prior to that? I figure that he's earned his right to proselytize -

I will give them lots of credit for just initiating this project - though I have to admit that I do feel that, every time I see a "plays the compositions of" or tribute CD it makes me think that there's too many recordings out and that it's time to cut back. There was a thread a few years back in which I got everybody mad (so what else is new?) by complaining about tribute CDs and calling for a moratorium on same. I don't want to start that again here, and I understand that this is much more, at least by intention, though there are certain composers whose work I personally would avoid, as I see their compositions as so intrinsically a part of their performance/improvisational style. Monk, for example, and Herbie Nichols, and also Hill. But I am very curious about it, and would agree that the best thing is a complete re-casting of the work that preserves the composer/performer's intentions while adding something unique (thinking Zorn's Morricone CD, one of the most successful in this genre). Of course, I should talk, as I did a Louis Armstrong CD years ago, and I will admit that it started out, at least a lilttle bit, as a marketing ploy and as an answer to Wynton, Crouch, et al -

Joe's a very nice guy, I knew him in Connecticut and worked with him a few times, heard him a lot on various gigs - great sound, though I was never quite impressed by his own compositions, and thought his own groups tended to get stuck in a bit of a free-jazz mire. Haven't heard him in quite some time, however, and would be curious to know what kind of things they're playing -

here's what's left: (hey doen't anybody buy LPs anymore?) CDs: Prices Include First Class Shipping in plastic sleeves: Kenny Dorham: Cafe Bohemia: Vol. 1 w/Montersoe, Kenny Burrell, Bobby Timmons. Blue Note.$5. Art Blakey: Compact Jazz: Verve: $4. Laverne Baker: Sings Bessie Smith: Atlantic. $5. Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years: collection, Blue Note. $4. Charles Mingus: Mingus at Antibes: Atlantic. $6. Thelonious Monk: The Unique: Riverside. $5. Coleman Hawkins: In the 50's: Body and Soul Revisited. Decca Sessions. $8. LPs: prices include Priority Shipping in the USA: Randy Weston: Blues for Africa: Freedom. LP is NM, sleeve has some separation. $12. Bill Russo and His Orch. Seven Deadly Sins: Roulette. Some Marks on LP, plays well. $15. Barry Harris Quintet: Newer Than New: McPherson and Hillyer. rare Riverside, LP is VG++, cover has some separation. $20. Richie Kamuca's Charlie: Concord. Out of print, get the Biird tribute LP that Larry Kart has described in glowing terms. Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Rowles, Ray Brown. LP and cover are M or M- if you're a fussy one. $20.

that's the jazz book biz - write it today, publish it whenever they feel like it -

I'm quite curious about this release - I liked Cline's Coltrane CD, did not like him when I heard him in person (dull, repetitious, but let's not start trhat fight again) - I've recorded with Ben Goldberg, who plays great but does not really have a harmonic conception in the way that I hear Hill - doesn't mean he can't make something of it, but I'm very curious as to how organically they approach the music - in other words, not just theme and free, but something that creates an interesting frame of reference consistent with the feeling of Hill's music -

here's what's left: CDs: Prices Include First Class Shipping in plastic sleeves: Red Allen: Dr. Jazz: 1951-1952. Live radio sessions with Willie the Lion and Buster Bailey. Storyville. $5 Teddy Charles/ I Sullieman/Mal Waldron/John Jenkins: Coolin, OJC. $4 Kenny Dorham: Cafe Bohemia: Vol. 1 w/Montersoe, Kenny Burrell, Bobby Timmons. Blue Note.$5. Art Blakey: Compact Jazz: Verve: $4. Laverne Baker: Sings Bessie Smith: Atlantic. $5. Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years: collection, Blue Note. $4. Charles Mingus: Mingus at Antibes: Atlantic. $6. Thelonious Monk: The Unique: Riverside. $5. Gerry Mulligan Concert Band and Sextet. Live sessions. Jazz Band. $5. Tubby Hayes: The Eighth Wonder. Jasmine. $8. Coleman Hawkins: In the 50's: Body and Soul Revisited. Decca Sessions. $8. LPs: prices include Priority Shipping in the USA: Randy Weston: Blues for Africa: Freedom. LP is NM, sleeve has some separation. $12. Bill Russo and His Orch. Seven Deadly Sins: Roulette. Some Marks on LP, plays well. $15. Johnny Richards and His Orch: Walk Softly - Run Wild. Coral. Original LP is VG+++ or M--, I would say. Cover is in excellent shape. $25. Barry Harris Quintet: Newer Than New: McPherson and Hillyer. rare Riverside, LP is VG++, cover has some separation. $20. Richie Kamuca's Charlie: Concord. Out of print, get the Biird tribute LP that Larry Kart has described in glowing terms. Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Rowles, Ray Brown. LP and cover are M or M- if you're a fussy one. $20. Roswell Rudd: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Plays Numatik Swing Band, w/Charlie Hayde, Charles Davis, Beaver Harris, Howard Johnson, Sheila Jordan, Enrico Rava, Dewey Redman, Sirone. Live recording from NYC, 1973. A rare one, nice cast. Record is M, cover has some separation. $20. paypal preferred, email me at alowe@maine.rr.com (which is also my paypal address) - if you're out of the country, email me for shipping rate.

the Julie London is gone - but I'll hold the JJ for you -

CDs: Prices Include First Class Shipping in plastic sleeves: Red Allen: Dr. Jazz: 1951-1952. Live radio sessions with Willie the Lion and Buster Bailey. Storyville. $5 Teddy Charles/ I Sullieman/Mal Waldron/John Jenkins: Coolin, OJC. $4 Jay Jay Johnson Quintet: Live at Cafe Bohemia 1957. Tommy Flanagan, Bobby Jaspar, Ejvin Jones, Wilbur Little. Fresh Sound. $7. Kenny Dorham: Cafe Bohemia: Vol. 1 w/Montersoe, Kenny Burrell, Bobby Timmons. Blue Note.$5. Chris Connor: Chris. Bethlehem. $4. Art Blakey: Compact Jazz: Verve: $4. Bob Brookmeyer/Jimmy Giuffre: Portrait of the Artist/The Four Brothers Sound. Collectables. $6. Laverne Baker: Sings Bessie Smith: Atlantic. $5. Red Mitchell/Harold Land Quintet. Hear Ye Hear Ye Hear Ye with Carmell Jones, Frank Strazzeri, Atlantic. $4. Julie London: Julie Is Her Name, both Volumes on 1 CD, showing boobs and covering boobs: Liberty: $6. Thelonious Monk: The Blue Note Years: collection, Blue Note. $4. Charles Mingus: Mingus at Antibes: Atlantic. $6. Thelonious Monk: The Unique: Riverside. $5. Gerry Mulligan Concert Band and Sextet. Live sessions. Jazz Band. $5. Tubby Hayes: The Eighth Wonder. Jasmine. $8. Coleman Hawkins: In the 50's: Body and Soul Revisited. Decca Sessions. $8. LPs: prices include Priority Shipping in the USA: Randy Weston: Blues for Africa: Freedom. LP is NM, sleeve has some separation. $12. Bill Russo and His Orch. Seven Deadly Sins: Roulette. Some Marks on LP, plays well. $15. Johnny Richards and His Orch: Walk Softly - Run Wild. Coral. Original LP is VG+++ or M--, I would say. Cover is in excellent shape. $25. Barry Harris Quintet: Newer Than New: McPherson and Hillyer. rare Riverside, LP is VG++, cover has some separation. $20. Richie Kamuca's Charlie: Concord. Out of print, get the Biird tribute LP that Larry Kart has described in glowing terms. Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Rowles, Ray Brown. LP and cover are M or M- if you're a fussy one. $20. Roswell Rudd: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Plays Numatik Swing Band, w/Charlie Hayde, Charles Davis, Beaver Harris, Howard Johnson, Sheila Jordan, Enrico Rava, Dewey Redman, Sirone. Live recording from NYC, 1973. A rare one, nice cast. Record is M, cover has some separation. $20. paypal preferred, email me at alowe@maine.rr.com (which is also my paypal address) - if you're out of the country, email me for shipping rate.

hint: the autobiography was inspired by Joan Crawford -

yeah, except that Warne was one of the most controlled of saxophonists - as we know from his autobiography Lennie Dearest -

the Federal years are fascinating - some of it is fairly typical r&b BUT - one hears the little rhythmic figures that would become his signture, on a few of the cuts - definitely some signs of the new funk thing -

the Encyclopedia has some excellent sources - as do many of the LPs in the French Black and White series -

"Is it possible that the use of the program just interacted poorly with other equipment used at the time?" there are a lot of possibilities - but I tend to think that those early reissues (I remember the Bixx single-cd was awful as was the Morton single cd collection) were badly transferred, possibly from bad sources or using the wrong equipment (styli, turntables, etc) - I know people who witnessed engineers throw metal masters on the turntable and begin recording without regard to stylus or eq - another tricky area, as I mentioned, is A to D transfer, which we've learned is so essential - I am certain that many of the bad-sounding European reissues CDs of jazz were/are related to this aspect - and I can relate this from personal experience, as I did my share of so-so transfer work in the early days. The built-in A to D converters in early DAT machines were generally mediocre at best, and the conversion back to analog than back to digital than back to analog etc etc etc (because many engineers were not yet aware of how important it was to keep things in the digital domain once the first conversion had occured) was sonically destructive. The graininess you may hear on bad reissues is the result of this. Another issue is digital clock stability, jitter, and digitial clicking Of course, as any transfer engineer will tell you, if the original source sucks, the sound will suck no matter how well transferred and restored. I remember doing one transfer, for That Devilin Tune, at Rutgers, of a Fletcher Henderson 78 that was in absolutely mint condition (My Pretty Girl). I transferred it to DAT on their turntable using a generic stylus and it sounded great than and it sounds great on the CD. Remember, also, that during the beginning of the CD age record companies were either unaware of where their original sources were or did not give a shi#, and rushed things and just used whatver the hell they could find. They have learned better now - though the majors still don't know the full extent of their holdings and have specifically declined any suggestions that they do an inventory; personally, my mouth waters at the thought of the existence of master recordings of early country musicians and early jazz musicians and early pop singers; we know they are there, but we don't know to what extent. One thing I started doing about 15 years ago was to buy up old historical LPs that were clearly done by the majors from master recordings - I own some AMAZING reissues of 1920s Brunswicks, old Deccas, Victors from as early as 1925, things that would astound you, that are so clear you feel like you are in the same room. I will go to my grave holding these things, as they are the best real link we have between that old music and today's world -

"Sonic Solutions No-Noise program, which RCA used on all of their 78 rpm jazz transfers at that time. To me, the artifacts are audible as a kind of swishing out-of-phase sound. To me, the "air" is sucked ouf of the sound also. To others, this stuff may not even be audible. " actually, you are incorrect in terms of the processing done at that time - in its early stages Sonic Solutions' program did very little, good or bad - some basic de-clicking and de-crackling, absolutely no de-hiss (there was no de-hiss program yet) - the de-crackle and de-clicking they did had nothing to do with the sounds you heard - those were either the results of bad transfers, bad original sources, or poor A to D (analog to digital) conversions - I have listened to that set and what you are hearing as swooshing is actually sounds from old 78s that are masked by other noises like crackle - when the crackle is removed, that's what you often hear - but I know with absolute certainty that the deadness on a lot of the Morton had nothing to do with "No Noise" which, at that point, was a new program with little real application. I have taken some of those tracks from the RCA/BMG box and re-Eq'd them, and the differnece is nothing short of astonishing - I even convinced Larry Gushee of this, and Larry, as the world's foremost authority on Morton, has heard just about every release and transfer -

I have 5 boxes of volume 1 (1900-1927) and 5 boxes of volume 2 (1927-1934) that were opened as promos and than never sent out - they are in mint condition, booklets and CDs, nothing's ever been removed - 9 CDs in each box - in the US I will sell each for $35 shipped media mail - paypal only (alowe@maine.rr.com) - Western Europe, figure $43 shipped each - inter-galactic, call for rates - first come first served, please email me at alowe@maine.rr.com order as many as you like, as long as I don't run out -

they actually showed some of this in the Ken Burns documentary -

misjudged, as well, I think, because he recorded too much, good and bad - classic junkie situation, anything for a payday; also, there ARE times in the 1950s when he does sound like Miles on a particularly bad day, like the Riverside with Haig/Griffin/Philly Joe; probably everybody was strung out that day in one way or another. - however, I have a feeling that those who hate him have not heard the post 1970s recordings on which he completely renews himself, not just as good as the old Chet but better, newly aggressive and creative -

actually, given the way things are going, I may join Braxton in Valium-land -