AllenLowe

Yes, and especially discouraging given that I'm using the biggest pen I can find -

In response to Chris -Early's books are quite good, essays full of interesting and not obvious points. He's refreshingly non-doctrinaire and very open. Some of his best work are his pieces on Baraka - he's also written a great essay on the Harlem renaissance -

I think the point with the Manne Act is that it was selectively applied - especially in this case -

This was a rather historic CD recorded at the Knitting Factory, a modern tribute to Louis Armstrong, called: "Mental Strain at Dawn" - it was my own group, with Doc Cheatham and David Murray, Loren Schonberg, John Rapson. Got 4 Stars in Down Beat, CD of the month in CD Review. Notes by Dan Morgenstern. Selling for $5.00 plus $1.50 shipping, domestic ($5 to Europe) - act quickly, as I only have about 300 of these left - also, first 100 calls get the stair-cleaner attachment - email me at alowe@maine.rr.com

When I read Larry's work I sometime feel the way pianists who listen to Tatum feel - it makes me want to give up the pen for reasons of gross inadequacy -

Early's got two collections of essays in book form - one is Tuxedo Junction, the other, I don't recall the title. Find them if you can; he's incredibly insightful -

Hey, let's not insult Gerald Early, who is one of this country's finest critics -

and, seriously, I think we do have a lot of info about Monk, Powell, and Young, enough to get some accurate impressions from afar.

you know what I do? I fill out the fake forms with fake passwords and lots of obscenities - like my pass word is: gofuc*yourself - it doesn't really do any good but it keeps me amused -

Mike - you're crazy - .........(LOL)

well, I do account for cultural bias -

Give me your password, bank account number,and credit card number and I'll take care of it for you -

I sort by eye color - within that, by SAT scores -

Nice first post! Beginner's luck - just kidding, really, and I agree completely - it's interesting to see that autism is mentioned - there is a relatively newly defined disorder called Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD), which encompasses symptoms seen in everything from classic autism and aspergers to ADHD. It's a complicated suject, and I have a foortnote on this in my jazz book, That Devilin Tune. Suffice to say that many many many creative people are symtomatic in this way, including some of out favorite misfits like Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Lester Young. A very common trait is a kind of social retardation, inability to read social cues or work in socially conventional ways (think Benny Goodman) -

I agree with John, and would add that, while I personally tend to prefer certain kinds of approaches to open soloing, that I would not reject less conventionally organized solos - I have heard Joe McPhee, eg, play many times in a manner which is much different from, say Ornette; the good improvisor creates his own frame of reference. I like the concept of noise and pure sound, but I also feel that many of the possibilities inherent in it have been played out. Where I object is in the confusion of mannerism with style; I also have the sense that the avant garde has now defined it's own brand of cliches (it's been, lets face it, almost 50 years since this approach was first clearly defined);The burden of the improvisor is to say something new within these new kinds of confines. I also have issues with length of performances, and the inability of many musicians to self edit -

yes, he died of prostate cancer - and, somewhat ironically given his stern opposition to drug use, Zappa was a heavy smoker -

well, Ornette's problems are largely his own doing - he demands too much money, as great as he is. He could record for anyone, if he wanted, but he has, himself, managed to slow his career down -

Zappa was a complete control freak, and really didn't pay the band very well - he did very well with his publishing income over the years and ended up dumping that first band, which was probably his best - still, I love the music, and there has never been anyone remotely like him in the US - I remember seeing him at Columbia University, 1968. I was all of 14 and it was quite a fantastic experience. One think I've always believed is that, as contemptuous as he acted toward mainstream rock and roll, he really loved the music. That night at Columbia he introduced Sam the Sham in the audience, brought him up, and did a letter perfect version of Wooly Bully -

NOW! (pleeeeeaaaaaaase) ...don't make us beg -

she's still dead - and I'm not feeling so well myself -

"Allen, any chance you can post some reminescences of Al Haig. I would love to hear some" Haig is a long and complicated subject. I got to know him well in the mid-late 1970s. He was a guy who had been through some terrible things - he was charged, in the early 1960s, with killing his wife, though the charges were dropped. His lawyer, Flo Kennedy, called this "the niggerization of a white man," and told me, after Al's death (in 1982) that he would never have been charged if he wasn't a jazz musician. Al became somewhat musically lost after Bird's death, became an alcoholic and a bit of a wanderer (see Chan's autobiography for some grim accounts of his visits to see her and Phil Woods). By the time I met him he was a complete tee totaler, distrustful in general of people (he particularly hated when someone came up to reminisce about the "old days") and could be a bit jaded and hostile. I went to see him play regularly at a club called Gregory's on NYC's East side, and slowly we became friends; I think it was beacuse I didn't want anything from him and didn't press him on things like Bird and bebop. We spent a fair amount of time together, and though I never did a real detailed interview with him he said some interesting and amusing things about Bird and bebop. One thing he told me which was particularly interesting was that the 1945 gig at Billy Berg's, if not a huge commercial success, was an artistic and personal success: "those people were flummoxed by the music, their jaws just dropped." His recollection was much different than that of some of the histories, which simply describe Billy Berg's as a failure. He also once said to me, "Charlie was a pleasure to work with, no problems, no hassles - no money..." There's a Zim recording made in a basement in which Al is named as a possible pianist. When I asked him about this he looked at me and said "I wouldn't go into any basement with Charlie Parker." His humor was dry but real, and he was a genuinely nice man, if deeply scarred by his life history. He got re-married about 1980 to a great lady named Joanne Thompsn (now, I think, up in Toronto) and died suddenly of a heart attack in 1982 -

Selling: Art Pepper Live in Toronto - broadcast, only so-so sound, great playing Warne Marsh Live In Los Vegas -bad sound, bad edits - Zoot Sims Live at the Half Note - decent sound, Zoot, Al, Bill Crow, Mel Lewis. Dave Schildkraut - Last Date - brilliant, in my opinion. The great saxophonist's last gasp, a "live" date from 1979 (on alto and tenor), includes Bill Triglia on piano. Sound is OK, everything is audible. $5 each, plus shipping. These are leftovers from a bad deal in which I was burned by a Japanese distributor, long story not worth re-telling. Order the batch and the unit price is $4.00. Email me at: alowe@maine.rr.com -

Glad Duke jordan came up - does anyone know where he is these days?

I think we're ganging up a bit here on Youmustbe; personally I find his comments interesting (and come on fellas, he was joking about beating up hippies - I think) - he points to a common problem with writing a bio about a living person, while having that person's cooperation - how much can you reveal about personal foibles? The problem is not just cooperation but the friendship that develops. I know that two musicians I got to know briefly - Art Pepper and Bill Evans - revealed personal shortcomings that I could NEVER write about at the time - even now I hesitate to reveal certain things, but than I realize that these shortcomings are extremeley relevant, not for prurient reasons, but because they cast so many other aspects of the life is much clearer light. I'd like to know, however, who youmust be is by name, because I think his anonymity is a cowardly mask -

Yes, I agree - the question isn't whether or not a musician knows the changes, per se, but whether or not he creates his own frame of reference -