AllenLowe

I have a box of old issues, mostly from the early 1990s, of the excellent British magazine Blues and Rhythm; all in very good shape; about 20-25 issues, maybe more, plus a few copies I will throw in of Blues Unlimited; $110 plus media shipping in the USA (will get a figure on this before we send) - my gmail is alowe5@maine.rr.com email me at allenlowe5@gmail.com

this is bizarre; because it is 3:45 AM and I just woke from a major and anxiety-inducing dream which ended with me telling off a guy, who had praised OP, about how Oscar Peterson was the most incompetent jazz pianist ever; which was followed by my waking up with my eyes wide open and me unable to get back to sleep. there was more to the dream but this was the big ending - my denunciation of OP. now I come downstairs, turn on my laptop and see this first thing.....very strange and somewhat disturbing (but not as disturbing as the effect OP's playing appears to have on my psyche)....

I really think that connecting Kamasi's music to Lehman and Vijay is critical smoke and mirrors; and I begin to roll my eyes when faced with this kind of silly rationale: "...jazz that tries to get back to jazz way after half a century’s worth of alternative narratives. The critical and promotional agendas are something else entirely, and they’re tied into the physics of two genres (jazz and hip-hop) in respective processes of urgent, desperate survival. The “worthy” art in and among all of this chaos is maybe good but definitely far more complex than might seem evident." means nothing; I've been doing the same thing as the first part of that for 25 years; give me a medal. as for Kamasi, he's is being anointed by the likes of Greg Tate and Gary Bartz, so his means of making a living is probably very secure. Which is fine, but let us not panic at this, as though we have to be sure we are keeping up with the times by praising this new false messiah. oi, why do I end up on this side of the argument about once a year? Well, maybe because the desperation to be current really leaves us very far behind the art form.

THAT is a good idea.

Butler had a lot of bad personal habits which curtailed his career.

I was actually thinking of the Xanadu release of these. Schiltten probably paid for the rights.

thank you. Exactly.

I don't think it's only a matter of liking black culture - it's a sense (false) that Kamasi is rescuing this music from White appropriation. Really, I have seen a lot of support, from African American critics and fans, for this viewpoint.

just as a note; some of the best Barry Harris playing is on the LP Sonny Criss did for Xanadu.

for a while it was on Netflix.

what has he played on with Booker Ervin? here's something: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbafd

this is the one, the real thing, the best restoration tool that I have used; but I am winding down my work, finishing one final project, and so am selling this; it's pricey, but new these things sell for almost $6000 - it is amazing at getting all LP noise out in real time, does wonders for 78s; really you can pass anything through this baby from 45s to CDs to human waste (well, I'd be careful with the latter). $1500 plus shipping and insurance in the USA - email me at allenlowe5@gmail.com. Would prefer to avoid paypal fees on this, but let's talk.

I tend to prefer Lenny Bruce. And the Marx Brothers. but ultimately I just cannot separate the ideas from the sound, and Desmond just cannot hold my attention because of this. Apparently I am not in the majority about this; however, to compare a similar-sounding alto player (IIRC), I much prefer, as Larry mentioned, Richie Kamuca's alto recording of Bird tunes. As for erudition, well, I think Desmond was witty and pithy, but that's not really enough for my ears and head.

the reason I think Scientology appealed to guys like Konitz (per Larry Kart above) was the structured way in which it ordered existence; it gave you a way to function with someone else doing the planning about practical matters. Same as with Lenny, who I met only once but who was one of the most disturbing people whose presence I have ever shared. Controlling, overconfident, arrogant, and certain he knew best about everyone and everything. and yes, I like Danko as both pianist and person, worked with him in New Haven in the 1990s when he was my neighbor. Katz was highly annoyed that, because of his lack of affiliation, Konitz stopped calling him. Lenny also, I should add, had an 'aura,' it is true, and gave a sense he knew everything about you. as to Larry's comment on Billy Taylor and Desmond - very interesting. I always regarded Taylor as accomplished but facile and slick.

there was a fascinating performance televised on New York's public tv when Byas came over to play for George Wein - I remember watching this at something like age 14 or 15 and just being mesmerized. I have never seen that performance anywhere else; I hope it is preserved somewhere.

ah, my memory playing tricks - that's who I was trying to think of - Goodman also did some very good reissue work for RCA.

it's always been pretty clear to me that Konitz's '60s tone was a response to Ornette, consciously or not; I remember first thinking this about Spirits - I think it was (is that the one with Sal Mosca?) not long afterwards he became a Scientologist and would, for a time, only record with Scientologists, as Dick Katz told me with great annoyance back then (I think Danko was a Scientologist).

Schilitten told me his favorite engineer was - Ray Hall? an RCA guy, IIRC. I think he did the Xanadus.

for those who doubt me, check out various Desmond interview quotes - full of a nice but not-particularly-insightful, bland wit, sort of Dorothy Parker-ish. I find his playing to be the same. A non-comedian's idea of a comedian. which, like an intellectual, is both a thing AND a way of being.

just to add, Schlitten recorded only live to 2 track; which is a tougher gig for a sound man. If he gets it wrong, it's wrong.

I think I have gotten tired of logical continuity; it's kind of the last refuge for those who don't know how to be incoherent.

I always found Desmond to be really the ultimate Jazz Middlebrow - smart but in veiled-conventional, middle class ways. In his person and his playing. The kind of intellectual that only a non-intellectual thinks is an intellectual.

1) this is not a well recorded LP; Barry is hard to record because he plays nearly everything at the mid point of the piano, and has a fairly flat sound. So it requires careful mic'ing and eq to separate the instruments - everything on this sounds 'bunched up;" you could probably improve it with some eq - 2) Gene Taylor used to play a lot of 'wrong' notes, somewhat out of the chord, and this also creates problems - plus, IIRC, this was the day of the bad-buzzy-direct-to-line recording of basses, a regrettable time (though this technology has improved greatly) -

I am unable to comment at this time. As long as I am married to his sister......

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