AllenLowe

not me; title of my autobiography: "Picture of Wardell Gray"

to me it sounded like a fair amount of light, but too many ongoing presentations. Lacked focus. But then, I may have edited out, in my head, anything that did not meet my expectations. I'm sure it was a nice event, I just see too many of these prototypes which, to me, represent an uneven viewpoint or a lack of focused intent. It sounded like the kind of day in which I would have listened, gone out, and then come back and listened again.

Smalls, btw, does it right, I will say, even though Spike and I don't get along real well.

yes, I did.

If my experience with the people who run various venues is indicative, nobody takes care of business, anyway; what I mean is lack of response and followup, rudeness to the musicians themselves who seek to play the venues, poor promotional efforts, lack of presentational imagination. So this latest news may be just the sound of the pounding of very large nails into the jazz coffin. As I pointed out elsewhere recently, back in the days when my prime contacts in the business, in trying to get work, were thugs and semi-mafioso, I was paid better and treated better than now, when musicians tend to run the show. one example is a small venue in New Haven that I tried to book; 4 or 5 emails and no response; I was directed to someone else, who directed me back to the first person who then informed me he just had a baby and was too busy (after he had asked me for details and then disappeared); as I pointed out to him I work a full time job, have 2 kids, one disabled, a wife with cancer, I run a web site and a publishing company and a CD business, have about 3 recordings projects going on at any given time, and I compose every day; but I answer, in a timely manner, every email I get. That shut him up, though unfortunately it also ended any possibility that I might get the gig. But the hell with it, I thought; the business is bad enough without out 'friends' treating us like this, and I honestly think this is powerfully related to the decline in audience, as this reflects not only my experience but that of virtually every other musician I know who works on my level, meaning, you've done a lot but are not well known. Most venues either go for 'names' or for people who can bring their friends in; this is no way to build and protect the music from extinction.

sound kinda luke warm to me......

close enough, as they say.

1) I won't pretend that I don't worry about all of this, constantly. 2) the good news is that, given that I have a steady and scattered audience of about 100 people, I now know, after reading this, that my jazz audience share is about 25 percent. 3) there's pretty much nothing else that I am any good at, so I am stuck anyway.

there is also a pianist in Woodshole Massachusetts named Glenway Fripp; played with him a few times; scary brilliant, pulls stuff out of himself that makes you turn around and say, huh? Also Lewis Porter is incredible.

my hope is to get a roster and then raise funds; ideally I think I would have maybe 5 composers recording 2 things each; wide variety of styles. geograhically would be nice to spread it around, but logistically too tricky probably; would like the piece to be written specially for the project. Would also probably be easiest to have it played by the same group, yes. Or maybe commission it for myself. funding-wise, I've done best in the past with pre-orders, but with a project like this the timing is complicated. I would like a ringer in this; I can find one or more, as my rep, based on the last two things we did, has actually gotten a lot of 'sidemen' interested. Composers are more difficult to find. My latest thinking is to find a gathering of the obscure who are widely divergent. This would probably be musically most interesting and financially the most manageable.

this has now become my favorite thread.

that's a possibility. thanks.

that's the sound.

I should mention Bob Neloms, who has not played publicly for many years.

his wife Gay took over his students after he died; I used to refer to her as the Last of the Mehegans.

good ideas; I've already been turned down by a bunch of those above, but some others sound good.

Larry - was Billy Wallace the pianist on that session with Coltrane on Roulette? If he was, I remember him as a very interesting and percussive player.

I think that at heart my musical approach owes more of a debt to '50s modernists than to any other era; like early Mingus, LaPorta, Macero, Bob Prince, Bley with Ornette, Carisi, Gil Evans, George Russell; I admire the harmonic ingenuity of these players and composers and the sense off discovery in a lot of those '50s recordings. .Also the early Third Stream, the stretching of triadic harmony, the early liberation of certain kinds of improvised freedom coming out of Rollins, Coltrane, and then Ornette. And I also love that era in terms of recording projects; the idea of the anthology album, like Something New, Somthing Blue, some of the Teddy Charles things, some Third Stream things like the Brandeis concert. there are few contemporary jazz composers I listen to; mostly because of time and focus, as there's only so much I can do while holding down a day job and getting older and trying to keep up with my own music. so the idea is this - a recording project in which I assemble maybe 5 or 6 composers and ask each to contribute 2 pieces. None of these people has to resemble me in terms of the approach; all I seek is someone I like, they can be as far outside or inside as necessary. I have in mind two particular writer/players for a start - Tyshawn Sorey and Steve Lehman - but so far I am not getting a yes from anyone; even tried Braxton on a long shot, as he is sometimes responsive, but not this time. so throw a few contemporary names at me, if you will; people who really compose. thanks

my own wife just recently had some serious health problems (cancerous tumor removed) and I can feel your relief, danasgoodstuff; here's to a healthy future.

ribbed for your listening pleasure.

I heard him play very well at the Vanguard, but he was never my favorite.

I'm into health, so I use Brown Rice sleeves.

I met Junior Mance once, at Bradley's, where Tommy Flanagan introduced me; nice hang, as we say. Mance seemed to be a real gentleman.

I think I'll do a sale with no CDs, just jewel boxes and covers; just kidding; gives me an excuse to bump you up.

Max changed a lot over the years; Triglia told me that in the '50s, if you saw him coming down the street, you crossed over to the other side so he wouldn't shake you down; when I met him he was extremely open and friendly. Chet Baker was also, in my one conversation with him, very nice and open.