AllenLowe

I think those small group recordings set a standard of organization and solo nuance that stands up very well almost 80 years later. They represent, also, a very early and good example of white musicians adapting to jazz and applying their own, and quite convincing, aesthetic -

no question that there are plenty of great and unsung black trumpeters - Jabbo, Miley, etc - but one doesn't need to have Sudhalter's agenda (which I have genuine problems with) to recognize that Red and Miff's small band work is incredibly important, and that Arthur Schutt (pianist) was a major and important talent. I feel the same way about the Original Memphis 5, Eddie Lang, Bill Rank, Fud Livingston (great arranger)and a lot of those guys from the early white bands -

not a Bix disciple? He had his own sound, a certain military stiffness, but his work was clearly modeled after Bix - who was on record several years before Nichols -

could use a little more variety...

the movie was fun but had virtually NOTHING accurate about his music or his importance - Nichols was a very fine disciple of Bix, and led extremely important small group recordings in the 1920s (with Arthur Schutt, Miff Mole, et al)- in later years he became something of a dixieland star, but the stuff to listen to is the early stuff - find, also, if you can, the Whiteman version of I'm Coming Virginia (late 1920s) - great arrangement, fine solo. He's no Bix, but he has poise and chops, and those small group recordings are among the most important of the pre-swing era (though you would not know this to read most jazz histories) -

let's change that last answer - yes, he does owe us something - because he has accepted the terms of public performance and the acceptance of public money (the paying public) for performance - so he does owe us some real playing, live and on CD - if he does not want these trms, he should not play in public for a living -

Sonny plays the game continually, but I don't think his plan is as conscious as you think, Jim. I think he thinks (or thought) he could be more contemporary, hence electric bass and lots of rhythm section activity, and than thought, well, this is easy, I can phone it in and still make more money than I used to. Well, more power to him, because he had clearly reached some kind of psychological impasse with the whole CONCEPT of recording, and had thus decided he would function in that sense but not thrive. In that way I agree with you. But the recordings are still awful, And his live playing is often brilliant, but still tragically lost in all the background mess. So, you see, he has not really succeeded on either level, and the loss is his AND ours - I don't think Sonny owes US anything, but he owes himself some honest and focused work -

well, than, let us say that Sonny has decided not to play the game in the conventional sernse, or to worry about legacy or documentation - but what do we see? Sonny in the mainstream, playing concerts, on the cover of Downbeat, winning awards in the company of Oprah, putting out actual CDs - so he has not rejected the mainstream, only come to an unsatisfactory accomodation with it. So, if he is going to go to all the trouble of playing in public, recording, appearing in the media - well, than, he has decided to document his work. So that's no longer the issue, Jim. The issue is whether he does it well or badly. And I think he does it badly -

so, if you are not playing for the money, and are unconcerned about anything you do or leave behind, what is left?

3 CD boxed set has a nice assortment (inclusing some work with Don Cherry). CDs are mint, box cover has a little marring. $20 plus shipping. Paypal, check, or money order. Email me at alowe@maine.rr.com -

I still think Sonny is God - with a bad rhythm section -

"Why? And for who?" well, for me, for you - for anyone who cares about expression, about art (small"a" as I hate that word), who cares about performance and jazz and music and what has come before and what comes after. Otherwise it's just a job, and what's the point if it's only for the money? And if it's only for the money, that's fine, than let's say what it is - and why does anyone write, or record? To document their work, thoughts, ideas -

well, I've seen him in person AND listened to the records - the records (CDs) generally are not worthy of his talent - If you guys think that's OK, than, that's fine. But even in person there is a problem, tinny sound, over-loud acccompaniment. Yes, documentation is important, vital, INCREDIBLY important -

it doesn't matter whose needs it may fulfill, Jim. It's just the obligation of talent, IMHO - which is not to waste itself -

is that Sandole project available? Is Sandole on it? More info, please...

Is that Harpur as in Harpur College in Binghamton?

Jack Purvis. Johnny Carisi.

interesting about her marriage to Webb - because I have another related story. There was a great bassist who spent years playing in Los Vegas and who was working in NYC in the 1980s (and it's killing me because he was a brilliant player, sounded a bit like Milt Hinton, but I can't remember his name right now!) - he said that the reason Cry Me a River was so effective, such a hit, was that London was practically crying during the recording session from her breakup with Webb -

thanks, Kalo - almost forgot about that Nightstage gig - very poor turnout, but, oh, that was a good band - per Francis, the guy has written masterful essays on a number of things - I recommend the following (and, sorry, I don't have specific collected references for all here, but almost all, if not all, of these are in various books that have collated his stuff): 1. Frank Sinatra - great piece, captures the man's essence and complicated personality - 2) Johnny Cash - in Like Young - 3) Velvet Underground -also in Like Young - 4) Jazz of the 1970s - Smashes the Marsalis/Burns myth of the fallow period between the 1960s and the Lincoln Center Messiah - not sure where re-printed - 5) Wayne Shorter - great article, was in the Atlantic; not sure if collected yet - 6) Billie Holiday - another masterful Atlantic piece - look for it - these are just the tip of the iceberg - I'm a little bit shocked, honestly, that there are not more Organissimo members, who consider themselves SERIOUS jazz people, familiar with Francis's work. It is one of the most important bodies of critical work in this field in the last 30 years - collections include: In the Moment, Outcats, Bebop and Nothingness, Like Young, Jazz and Its Discntents - read'em all and you will have learned a significant amount about this art form that you did not realize before - and, by the way, calling Terry the Oprah of radio is just plain silly - she is one of the most intelligent and artful interviewers I have ever heard - plus she's never bought anyone in her audience a car - and Alan Shorter WAS fucked up - with a capital F -

24 bit -

Chuck's waiting until they finish the remastering of the Buddy Bolden cylinder, so it can also be included -

I like the Deccas -

well, Christine Jorgensen lived in my town - but she never performed at my High School -

as an aside, I would say that sometimes description IS analysis, especially with certain kinds of difficult or apprently abstract work - especially with "modern" works, though I know that term is imprecise - there's a line by Charles Olsen in which, attemptiong to explain modern poetry, he says (I'm reciting from memory): "An object is it's own meaning." What he was saying here, and what Susan Sonntag was indicating in her famous essay Against Interpretation, was that sometimes, instead of trying to put everything into metaphor or into separate terminology in order to explain meaning, sometimes we need to find such things within the more obvious and representative aspects of the work - I think the best critical writing is a combination of both; the art is in the kinds of descriptions, in the nuances of surrounding language.

or: dancing about architecture is OK as long as you don't come too close to the edge of the roof -