AllenLowe

it really had nothing to do with democracy in the group - Julius was happy to share the credit and the writing - it was pure jealousy, based on the Downbeat article which rightfully credited Hemphill with the organizing concept - and with Bluett and Murray in particular you had two highly f'd up individuals who were going through particular craziness in their personal lives (on top of their own innate asshole-ness) -

two sextet CDs are Fat Man and the Hard Blues and 5 Chord Stud - both highly recommended - I think they are on Black Saint - as I mentioned, Hemphill thought of the Sextet as a kind of revenge on the WSQ - it was his way of saying, keep your damn quartet, I can do it for six -

I will add ad few things vis a ve Hemphill - years ago I was talking to Vinnie Golia and he remarked that Julius was "the Duke Ellington of the avant garde." I concur - the whole sax quartet concept for the WSQ was initially conceived and executed by Julius - and, when this was acknowledged in a Downbeat article about the group, the other three got together and kicked Julius out. This was a trio of egomaniacs and typical of their actions. Julius was not a guy who promoted himself; he just wrote brilliantly and played brilliantly. I know this story because I was in NYC for a rehearsal with him on the day he received the letter from the group's lawyer. I took him downtown, he went into some office, and that was it. He was quite wounded, but told me he would go them one better, and hence his series of Saxophone Sextet albums, which are even more amazing. If you have not heard them, find them - I will also add that the the Electra CD of his big band writing is incredible, the best big-group writing of the last 30 years, IMHO -

this one's hard to find in this format, in good shape with original cover, first edition - $30 plus shipping conus. Prefer paypal. Email me at alowe@maine.rr.com (which is also my paypal address) -

we do need to avoid certain oversimplifcations, especially per- Jazz Masters of the 1940s - the truth was that things were changing in the early 1940s rhythmically - Charlie Christian was working toward this, Lester Young was a major influences - Rudy Williams (alto, the Savoy Sultans) recorded something in 1942 which is very boppish - Bud Powell's earliest work with Cooties Williams shows that he had some of the same ideas - Nat COle was a MAJOR transitional figure between swing and bop piano, and there were others - but Bird was really the first to put it all together, to take all the new elements - eight-note/triplet rhythms, chromatics, chromatic harmony, more distanct chord subs, etc etc - and put them together into a single brilliant and cohesive/coherent style.

well, I tend to think he was over-rated - but no one has mentioned The Long Goodbye, which is/was one of my favorite films -

on the sound issue - let me add that I have French RCA LPs (the Black and Whites) of the Original Memphis 5 and Thomas Morris that are absolutely clean and clear and noiseless - and recorded in the 1920s - I also have an LP of early Jug Bands and Jive recorded on Brunswick in the 1920s and 1930s - that would astound you in terms of recording quality - if we have the masters, the stuff sounds as good (or really better) than new digital recordings - because they were dependent not on acoustic modeling (aka fake reverb) but on the natural room acoustics of the place they were recording - and we won't even get into the issue of condenser microphones; I have, however, proposed legislation which would outlaw all other kind of mikes. Bad recording is the only crime for which I favor capital punishment - slow and painful, like the way they killed Mel Gibson in Braveheart -

let me add that all of the above sounds, to me, much closer to performances I have heard in the flesh than about 99% of current CD-issued new recordings -

"To be able to hear what Bird was laying down at the Dial sessions in modern hi-fi would be nothing short of mind blowing. Same with Armstrong and people like Lonnie Johnson, ect." I disagree with this - because - 1) there's plenty of great-sounding Bird recordings - the Savoys are excellent quality, everything sounds "live" and audible - as are the Verve's - also the Carnegie Hall concert, as well as the Massey Hall - of course, don't forget the Town Hall stuff that came out - crystal clear recordings - AND, I would argue, they sound more like "real" performances than new multi-tracks recorded in isolation with artificial-sounding group spreads 2) there are plenty of great sources for early Armstrong - find the original Columbia domestic LP issues - beautiful stuff, crystal-clear; also, the Deccas were beautifully recorded - real room sound, once again probably MORE accurate than current recordings - 3) For Lonnie Johnson, pick up the Sony Legacy stuff issued 10-15 years ago (from the 1920s) . Well recorded, nicely re-mastered, perfectly clear and clean -

hey, not to worry, Ghost - I recently had an idea to make a bumper sticker: "Junkies Make the best music." At least that's true in my experience -

Mugsy Spanier, Relaxin' at the Touro - it was a New Orleans infirmary -

well, it fell out of a window - or maybe it was pushed -

Prices include media mail shipping; paypal preferred, my paypal address is alowe@maine.rr.com email me at that address- Sinatra: The Song is You; hardcover - Will Friedwald $12 Too Marvelous For Words: The Life and Genius of Art Tatum, hardcover, James Lester - $10 Marshal Royal: Jazz Survivor, hardcover autobiography - $8 Chet Baker: His Life and Music - paper, ok condition, j.de-valk - $6

there's an LP that Zim released, recorded in a basement apartment in which one of the pianists is identified as AL Haig - when Haig was asked if that could have been him, he replied: "I'd never go into any basement with Charlie Parker."

well, as Al Haig said about Bird: "he was a pleasure to work with - no problems, no hassles.... ......no money - "

wait - are you sure it wasn't Groovin' by the Young Rascals?

actually, that's a Dizzy tune, not a Bird composition, based on the changes to Whispering. So you all flunk - Big AL is not alone -

actually, that's Chuck Nessa's old address - from when he worked in the Garment District -

Strangest encounter - Jack DeJohnette at Tower Records, NYC, middle 1980s - I said "are you Jack DeJohnette?" and he glared at me like he was a crazy man. Did not answer, just stared like he wanted to kill me. I took that as a "yes."

looks like an interesting project; the whole roots thing is worthy of some deeper examination, as it has become something of a bandwagon thing. Still, if the music is good the music is good, and sometimes you just need a way of getting people to pay attention. Ditto with Clem on Greil Marcus; Marcus wrote one great book, I think, and than proceeded, intellectually, to jump the shark. He just works too hard at it and has succumbed to stardom, in the media/commentary sense. And some of his stuff is just plain silly. As I said, I have some more thoughts on the whole "roots" phenomenon. My main observation is that, from my experience, few of the contemporary musicians who profess to like the deeper aspects of the American vernacular have really listened to a lot of it (Rudd, by the way, is a notable exception). I try to deal with this somewhat on a CD I have coming out in January - I refer to contemporary musicians in their generally shallow deference to roots musical heroes as name-droppers in a post-modernist gossip column. Obligatory reference, big on surface, not a lot of depth. Look at the NPR show American Routes - same three musicians played every week (Ray Charles, Alan Toussaint, Lee Dorsey, I kid you not - almost) - American Music History Light, I call it -

Marcello - I think that's just the way Taylor played, as I saw him on occassion around NYC in the 1970s in addition to working with him later on once or twice. He was a nice guy but a little edgy, so I was never comfrotable trying to discuss anything like that with him.

another musician unfortunately listed as "unidentified" in the original edition is pianist Dick Katz -

definitely - as a matter of fact I remember listening to Barry Harris plays Tad Dameron, I think it was, with Gene Taylor on bass - I worked with Taylor once or twice and he played some weird notes - maybe wrong, maybe just his style, I never wanted to ask - and on that LP, because of the direct-to-board hookup, it just sticks out like a sore thumb -

that's the guy - he was Schlitten's favorite engineer. IMHO he's better than Van Gelder- gets a more natural sound -

way too expensive - I've done plenty of my own CD production and current costs do not warrant such high retail, even if bought through a third party-