AllenLowe

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 -

"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 -

Ron is a very intelligent guy - thought I'm a bit biased, as he wrote the first article anyone ever wrote about me, for the Bridgeport Post, about 20 years ago -

Excellent review Nate - I remember listening to Braxton's Tristano album and really wondering if his particular methods were really conducive to re-examining the music in any convincing way. I still prefer him on his own turf, and was interested in reading your accounts of his musicians losing there way in standard form. I have had this particular experience, as I mentioned in an earlier thread, on the bandstand with one or two well-known "free" players and it is disconcerting, especially as they seemed to have no idea that they had lost their place (and this was in the context of a very convertional, play-the-changes and play-the-tune gig. Any claims that they were consciously extending the form were really b.s.) - my point is not that these guys don't have something to say, only that they should not try to prove that which they are unable to prove. That's why I'd rather listn to musicians like Ira Sullivan or Von Freeman play standards - they have nothing to prove, and they have such fresh and unique ways of approaching the music, from years of first-hand musical experience.

I don't know - to me the worst jazz song is anything written by Leonard Feather - if you don't believe me ask Chris Albertson -

Bob Neloms has basically retired from the music, is living in Manhattan. He had some physical prpoblems, but seems to be doing well, though is not active in the music.

Bob Neloms - with Mingus's last band, inactive these days, a brilliant musician and exceptionally creative -

Actually, I don't want to be negative, but I wish they'd found someone other than Gitler to do the notes - honestly, his Eager notes are weak and gramatically a mess - I think the guy has run out of ideas - I volunteer to do the next one -

How about an EP of the 6 minutes?

well, I'm prejudiced because he was a friend of mine, but Al Haig, paritcularly his recordings from the early 1950s. He set the standard, and pianist like Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, and Hank Jones have all cited him as an early influence, as establishing an alternative to Bud Powell's sound. Also, Bill Crow has pointed out that Al was one of the most important musicians in establishing the chord changes on standard tunes, the changes used by most pianists that followed him. A great musician and a very interesting guy -

Or do we mean Rudy the Wacker?

I thought that by "late Ellington" he meant music he wrote after his death -

there's also Rudy the welder -

well, we'll need 18 references and a background check -

Is he any relation to Rudy Van Gelder?

well, I should add - he is intelligeent - but also dishonest and completely lacking in principle -

Stanley's an intelligent guy but can't write to save his life -

Particularly interesting are his chord voicings, which were very advanced -

Profit is essential, an early modernist, influenced Bud Powell - very advanced pianist -