AllenLowe

I love Ornette's commentary on everything and anything. He has this oblique and brilliant logic to almost anything he says; it's like out in left field yet exactly correct. I particularly like his comments about Mingus, especially in light of the nasty stuff Mingus said about him; he is pointing out, contrary to Mingus' belief, that 'free' jazz is not just a matter of abandoning form or ignoring immediate precedent but of redirecting form.

if you want to know one sign of RJ's greatness - and thanks, Jeff Crompton, for that very perfect summation of his brilliance - listen to the turnarounds. A friend of mine, a great jazz pianist, one described these as unworldly and perfect - a level of harmonic free association yet paced like a dream (my words, not his).

a good friend - whom I trust - just raves over the 2014 LPs, in mono, direct from analog, etc. I did search here and could not find whether this was talked about already so I apologize if redundant. Was wondering about opinions here.

just ordered the Verve and the savoy solo cd.

larry, if I can find it (most of my LPs etc are packed up right now) I'll send you a CDR copy of the Hank Jones.

Larry - I think I mentioned this to you once before - but both Hank and Tommy Flanagan have some early recordings which are way more under the influence of Nat Cole in terms of touch; like you (I think) I tend to prefer this side of their playing; it mighta been some weird Detroit transition, but you also hear it on the Verve where Hank plays with Bird. To me, however, the most magnificent thing is Hank's Savoy solo album which is only, AFIK, available on vinyl. (there is also a Hank Jones Capitol from around 1960 I think). also, it was interesting but when I saw Jones in NYC play solo in the '70s he did a lot of Fats Waller.

all seriousness aside, my prediction is that, due to rarity, certain genres of CD will be very valuable in 10 years. Of course, I also predicted the Beatles would get back together.

people like novelty, and they also never saw LPs before the (temporary) boom. Mark my words, and let us talk in 10 years. and also, remember, I'm the guy who predicted the McGovern victory.

the Shorter was not very good; flat arrangements and very sub-par Shorter. Shorter's weak playing is something no one seems to want to talk about.

because of the permanence of the media - and the unavailability of so much that I own, in equivalent quality, as downloads; too much historical material is only available in inferior quality, and this will only get worse. attitudes will change. People grow up. I actually think the download-culture has a very disposable, and hence changeable, attitude.

exactly; the reality is that mastering has become an art, and there is plenty of good work being done.

I always like the idea of Simone better than the actual music.

cds will come back, no need for real stores. The sound on most of my historic discs (meaning older music) is generally way better than comparative LPs.

interested to read all this because I am about, in the next year, to release a series of shorter CDs (35-50 minutes) of my old and new stuff; will sell them at under $10 (and this includes things we did with Hemphill, Murray, Doc Cheatham, Ros Rudd, Don Byron, Marc Ribot, etc) and issue them as the real thing (no CDRS) with generic (but nice) covers and links to my web site. Because I think predictions of the death of the CD are like predictions of the death of the book, meaning it won't happen because of the (relative) permanence of real CD media. And if I'm wrong I figure I'll be the Last Musician Standing, without competition; all I know is that in the last year I made more money off my web site than in the previous 30 years of being in the music biz; no middle men, direct sales, reasonable prices. and, friendly service.

just horrible news.

1) the "shipp plays" will be out mid-August - 2) these 2 will probably be October or so -

did a trio recording with Shipp on Saturday, 7 piece band with Bluiett on Monday; all went well. Bluiett was fun, easy to work with as soon as he felt where the music was going.

I like Hodeir's music, a lot. Geez, putting down Schuller and Russell too? Dumb, dumb.

I saw Grex last year in Brooklyn; great, great band. Recommended.

I got mine this week; to me Sonny of the '60s was god-like. In addition to his rhythmic genius he was working at a kind of compound, layered harmony that I do not know how, exactly, to describe in technical terms; though there is some aimless 'free' playing on this that reminds me of what Bley said to me years ago, which was to the effect that "we didn't need Sonny to play free, we needed him to play standards."

sounds like he's suffering multiple deaths. Poor Doc.

that's not audience, that's musicians he's worked with. I should have clarified that we were talking about market. And his market, based on what I've seen, is old people who think this is young peoples' music

uhhhh.....so far the only people I have heard praise Washington are.....older white jazz fans.

in the day

two I hate: "reaching out" and "the culture of" (as though cops beating the crap out of people has anything to do with culture)