AllenLowe

that'a a drag - Bertrand, has anyone thought of trying to revive The Connection? I'll bet you could get some other musicians who would be quite happy to work with Redd on a new version of the play -

"I ran into him in the bathroom" well, as long as you didn't say, "put 'er there" -

to add, it's a bit vague in my mind, but I think that's the name of the tune - is Redd still alive? As I recall he had very fond memories of Godfrey -

I believe the pieces is called "Sir John," but that's from memory (I actually remember talking to Redd on the phone when I visited Sweden years ago, and we discussed Godfrey) - I haven't seen Godfrey since, maybe, 1982; I did inquire about him a few years ago and was told that he had died, but I'm not sure if this is true -

well, I was not going to be too specific, but John wasn't the first musician I knew who was inconsistent - let's just say that, if his pot supply was good that week, his time might waver somewhat - and trust me, it's very possible to be excellent but undependable/inconsistent - if we had time I could mention about 20 others - on a good night he was a quintessential modern jazz drummer - sensitive to the music, swinging, full of very creative backgrounds - on a bad night he changed time, lost his place, played too loud - sad but true -

I knew John Godfrey in the 1970s in NYC - he went by the name Sir John Godfrey (Freddie Redd named a tune after him) - excellent, if inconsistent, drummer -

Something Else is a major work, in my opinion - something which has always bothered me, as well, is how it never seems to be noted that this recording, though under Cannonball's name, is very much a warmup to Kind of Blue - Miles's blues playing, in particular, shows that he was really working on distilling his scale ideas -

1) I thought Martin Williams was gay (of course, Keane may be the cause of this) 2) when I lived in Connecticut in the late 1970s I got to know Nan Evans, Bill Evans last wife, pretty well; I met Keane at some conference, mentioned Nan's name, and, boy, did this set off a tirade - they hated each other and apparently had more than a few turf battles before and after Evans's death -

she can always confess and be forgiven - I think -

I think I'll wait until it's overpriced on Ebay -

what happened to the topic of nastiness? I was so happy to see it come up as a new post - and all I see is Gabe Kaplan! Next thing we know, you guys'll be posting happy faces here - what is this, a Prozac convention?

still got plenty of these - order today for $49.95 (how do we do it? ever seen those episodes of the Sopranos where they hijack a truck? You get the picture) -

unless he's talking about the Boston that's in the mountains of Afghanistan - in that case wear a burka - and an automatic rifle -

1) translating Dorn's note: "I don't know anything about gospel music." 2) Let's not forget that there is also a significant white gospel tradition with great music - Collectables has a White Gospel collection with late 1940s, early 1950s quartets; Yazoo has a Kentucky gospel collection; there's a great singing preacher who recorded on Savoy, released on Ace (can't remember the name right now) - all worth checking out - also, let's not forget the singing pianist Arizona Dranes, released on Document - early barrelhouse/religious piano.

well, when Balliett is good he's good, when bad he makes me want to strangle him - some of his profiles are indeed priceless, off the top of my head I'm thinking PW Russell, Red Allen, Mel Powell, ML Williams - I do find many of his impressionistic descriptions of musical performances excruciatingly annoying, and I skip over them - and he has LOT of blind spots - Miles was a "first rate second rate trumpeter," Jaki Byard's playing was "watery," he does not like Barry Harris, thinks Max did not swing - I'd have to go back, but these are the things whicc, ultimately, have dated some of his writing - and if one reads his festival reviews back to the '70s and '80s he is overwhelmingly negative about contemporary players, with a few exceptions -

sorry - missed this - it's been re-scheduled for 4/17 - the day before he leaves for Europe - will report back -

there's lots of good comps - any Document, as has been mentioned - particularly, and his is important, the Document Guitar Evangelist CD with Utah Smith who, in my opinion, invented rock and roll (see my maybe-to-be-published history of rock and roll about this strain); Blind Mamie Forehand; The original Blind Boys of Mississippi; find anything with Bosie Sturdivant, who recorded for the Library of Congress in the 1930s; pick up the Document early quartet records (from ca. 1921 onwards; also the Dinwiddie stuff from the turn of the century); and don't forget the recording which Dick Spotswood discovered, one of the earliest black recordings, Poor Mourner, ca. 1897: Cousins and DeMoss with banjo accompaniment which represents, as Spottswood has ssaid, "gospel written for the minstrel stage," an important hybrid -

sorry - I wasn't trying to start a fight - I just find Murray a useful frame of reference stylistically as someone who has certain of the same goals as Krystal - at any rate, Krystal is a brilliant player. I had a conversation with him some years ago that was very interesting - he told me that he rarely gets the gig or studio calls because he's not a Coltrane-clone, not slick enough even for some of the straight-on jazz dates. Just goes to show, as I've often observed, that fellow jazz musicians are far from the best judges of talent -

Davey was something - he turned down three recording dates with Dizzy, and he turned down Norman Granz who wanted to take him on the road - and he was admired by everyone - Stan Getz, Jackie McClean and Bill Evans all told me they thought Davey was one of the greatest saxophonists they ever heard - Evans's quote, exactly was: "As far as I'm concerned there were only two saxophonists who came out of the bebop era who didn't just copy Bird - Lee Konitz and Dave Schildkraut." I cornered Dizzy at a gig and asked him about Dave - he said: "Dave Schildkraut was the ONLY saxophonist I ever heard who captured the rhythmic essence of Bird."

sorry, don't have those, but I will commend you for choice of subject - she's one of my favorite singers -

actually, the daughter was killed in a car accident; she had a very crazy boyfriend, and Davey was always warning her about his driving- one day he lost control of the guitar and wrapped it around a tree, and she was killed. Davey's wife Gloria, a lovely woman, took to her bed after this, and never got out, finally dying of cancer. Davey had moved to that Coney Island apartment from a place they had near the Belt parkway where I had visited him and Gloria a lot in the late 1970s; we lost touch as Davey became more and more paranoid. Last I talked to him, in the middle 1990s, I think, he accused me of stealing money fom him and exploiting him, and told me that people where coming up to his door and than running away. That was the last I spoke to him; he died, I think, in 1998.

Fasstrack - intersting about the nephew - I spent a lot of time with Schildkraut in the late 1970s, got to know him and his wife Gloria pretty well - was the nephew's dad named Alan? That was the only son I met -

is that Sean Smith the bass player? If so, say hello for me; we worked together a bit in Connecitcut some years ago (he lived next to my wife's parents) - yes, I agree Jaki Byard was a genius (and I've met two in jazz - Jaki and Dave Schildkraut; Roswell Rudd I would consider up there, too) - as for Terrason, I agree, I find his playing to be competent but a bit precious - Francis Pudras seemed to be trying to groom him to follow Bud Powell, but he lacks the gravitas; I guess he'll never be the hair apparent -

buy stuff from us and we'll REALLY like you -

yes - MARTY KRYSTAL - simply one of the greatest saxophonists alive (David Murray does not even compare) - some of the older LPs he made with Niedlinger are amazing, particularly one of Monk tunes -