AllenLowe

actually, he spelled Grateful Dead correctly -

funny you should mention his name - I was in Amsterdam in 1988 and went to a local jazz club, and I sat in on saxophone with the band - after I played, a drummer and pianist went up to the bandleader and asked to sit in, which they both did, and they were incredibly obnoxious, overly agressive as though trying to take over the gig - the drummer thought he was hot shit and kept telling everyone that he'd worked with Jaco - his name? You guessed it, Brian Melvin -

I don't know boys...just started reading all this, a lot of in-fighting here for Organissimo, a lot of bitterness toward Mel -- I think we have to all get along. To quote the words of Lenny Bruce: " We need to get together - black and white, Jew and Gentile... we need to all get together - and beat up the Greeks."

still here, just busy these days - always glad to see a thread about Percy, who was a good friend, played at my wedding (along with Randy Sandke, Dick Katz, Leroy Williams and the above-mentioned Joel Perry, an old friend of mine, as well; as a matter of fact, I think I introduced him to Percy). Percy was one of the greatest saxophonists I ever heard, and taught me a lot about horns and mouthpieces. There's not a lot of him on records; I got the feeling that Percy, for all of his talents, avoided success, tended to avoid opportunities, but that was just the way he was. Sir Charles Thompson said he was the greatest saxophonist he ever worked with. not sure if this is whose purse was stolen, but Percy, for a long time, hung out with Singsy Kyle, a very nice lady who was Billy Kyle's widow. I have plenty of copies of the CD, $5 shipped is fine, my paypal address is alowe@maine.rr.com

I think, actually, that he PLAYS a thirteen year old sax - but he himself is 47 -

gotcha - reminds me of another story, thinking of keys - people used to say about Sonny Stitt, wow, he plays those tunes in odd keys, what a guy - when the truth was a little different - Bobby Buster, an organist I used to worked with who worked a lot with Stitt told me that the reason Stitt played in some weird keys was that he was too lazy to transpose, sometimes, when he swtiched instruments - so, for example, if he played Body and Soul on alto he'd want to do it in the tenor key, which would put it at Gb concert -

there actually is one Evans arrangement that Ennis recorded, and it's in my book and on my collection, but damned if I can think of the name of it - will report back, but I do remember it's quite brilliant -

I think he means Alfred E Neumann -

it's yours for $20 plus shipping. CDs are in near mint condition, nice booklet. paypal preferred; my paypal address is alowe@maine.rr.com email me at alowe@maine.rr.com

slightly off topic, but if you haven't seen it, vis a ve Larry's mention of Lenny Bruce, the Lenny Bruce Performance Film is now available on DVD and it is indispensible - about one hour long, recorded at the Basin Street West about a year, I think, before he died, and he is brilliant. It is the best thing of its kind available, shows what made Bruce so amazing, and it belies reports that in his last years he became, by obsessing about his court cases on stage, a bore and unfunny - he's quite hilarious in it, in a very smart way -

reminds me of years ago, when Bill Barron died - there was a tribute concert at Wesleyan - I'm playing tenor and there's a bunch of guys on stage, and one says to me, "we're going to play a blues in B for Bill;" well, I'm playing tenor, so I start to play in Db, since that where it should put me, and everything's all screwy - turns out they were actually playing in A because the other tenor players were afraid of Db, and wanted A concert, of course, since this put THEM in B - lazy asses - and it was mostly guys from Hartford who I couldn't stand anyway, so this gave me another reason to hate 'em - also one night I'm at a jam session in New Haven and the piano player starts playing C Jam Blues. Well, once again I'm on tenor so I start to play in D - and the schmuck is playing in Bb because all the other tenors are too lazy to do any other key - I suggested they change the name of the tune, which didn't make me popular - sorry to digress, Mike -

you don't have one of those Irving Berlin pianos, do you?

the Bird with Strings example is a good one - an ideologue might interpet it in strictly economic terms - and yet Bird was very anxious to do the dates, he thought it was good for him professionally and musically. And Frank Brief, a violinist who was on one of the dates, has told me that Bird was happy to be there, completely professional and musically serious about the session. So things are never quite so simple as a politically-oriented critic might think. On the other hand, understanding the context within which these sessions were recorded is interesting and relevant, and helps us understand the music business as well as the times that these were recorded. Which has an impact on the musical results, no doubt. So Dan is missing something by not considering this, I think.

actually, I think Hammond is just giving his butt an affectionate squeeze - but, all seriousness aside, I'm glad you posted that passage from Bluesland (which I own and have read - but one can never get too much Lonnie Johnson) - Johnson is amazing - when I was researching my book American Pop I w was absolutely amazed to hear some of his 1920s recordings, which are, basically, the first modern blues recordings - free flowing lines, long, smooth phrases - basically, taking Blind Lemon Jefferson to the next stage - everyone should hear them - to use a somewhat awkward analogy, Lonnie Johnson is the Louis Armstrong of the blues world.

well, all Marxist critics are not the same, nor are they equal in terms of quality of language, analyses, historical understanding. While I am generally wary of people who approach criticism from a particular political point of view, the counter argument is that we all bring our politics, social background, personal attitudes and prejudices into our judgements. And while this is true, ideology does tend to breed a certain schematic approach. However, it's a mistake, I think, to tar everyone with the same brush. At the very least, a good Marxist critic brings to the table that which a good deal of criticism lacks - historical knowledge, a systematic approach to understanding art and history, an ability to analyze things in a wider context. These are things we should value, and that are sorely lacking in most jazz (read: music, arts, theater, etc) criticism. The other side of the coin however, in my experience, is that most politically oriented critics that I have known or read tend to do things a bit differently from the way I would. Though I will get plenty of argument about this from many people, I believe that, ultimately, every art form CAN be viewed and understood outside of social context - which is not to say that such context does not enrich our understanding or even our ability to make aesthetic judgements. It's just that the music is the music, and should be viewed (and here I am citing my old prof Richard Gilman) not simply (or even) as a reflection of history but as an alternative to that histroy, as an alternative reality to the prevailing "reality."

where on the site are you finding the Lester Young concert, and the picture of Bird on tenor?

well, when it comes to the guitar, I'm down about a quartal -

sweetened or unsweetened?

isn't he a Marxist? Or am I confusing him with someone else? If so, just goes to show how ideology bends reality -

I've never heard Paul Bley play a boogie riff - I think Watson was getting some cross talk on his radio or tape recorder - probably from Meade Lux Lewis -

hey, I can be just as incoherent as you guys -

thanks for the cite -

don't forget 6 & 8 - they're kinda like listening to Beethoven's 10th -

just found it on the internet - Bill Miller on piano, CD is called "After Hours With Bill Miller at the Piano," Sinatra with piano, bass, and drums.

my favorite Sinatra recordings are the transcriptions with small group- piano, bass, and guitar, as I recall, don't have the CD in front of me now - he does a very slow version of "Just One of those Things, " which is very refereshing, given how jazz people always play it fast - an absolutely perfect performance - I also like his later version of "How Deep is the Ocean." With strings, very slow and still. So I'm with Jim on a lot of this, though there are plenty of rhythm tunes by him that I like -