Simon Weil

There is a classic dual interview - of Wynton and Herbie - by Rafi Zabor and Vic Garbarani, "Wynton vs Herbie: The Purist and the Crossbreeder Duke It Out" (1985). This is collected in _Keeping Time_ ed Walser. The thread seems an echo of it in a certain way. That's a kind of musical link. The conception of "versus". Simon Weil

My feeling is it's what you'de expect from a bright schoolboy who was told to write some poetry for homework. So he goes to his books and sees how it's done, all this old poetry which scans and is quite pleasing and has this or that form. So then he writes something on this or that "acceptable" theme, emotes along this or that "acceptable" line, and constructs it along this or that bunch of structures. And he gets an "A" from his teacher. I don't discern any individuality of emotion. Simon Weil

I think the libretto to BotF is poor. It's banal, "schoolboy" level of "poetry". Simon Weil

OK, I get you. I still think _Liege and Lief_, because that has that (folkish)style of vocals. _Unhalfbricking_ and _What We Did_ probably wouldn't work for you, though _Full House_ ought to. Maybe you want to look at more "pure" folk artists, people like Martin Carthy (who I admit not being very familiar with), for the acoustic approach. I dunno. Simon Weil

Well, Fairport is Folk-Rock. More or less, by definition, electric. But then John Barleycorn is electric, so I'm not sure what it is about "not electric stuff" that you're looking for. Anyway, I'm going to take a guess and say it's a particular vibe you associate with JB and vaguely associate with Fairport. In that case my recommendation would be _Liege and Lief_, which is their first "true" folk-rock fusion - and sort of relates to John Barleycorn in my head, in as much as you have the folk motif in John Barleycorn himself/the way the album is a packaged and likewise (though to a greater extent) in the treatments of folk songs on the Fairport album as well as the way it is packaged. Anyway, for me, _Liege and Lief_ is one Fairport's classics, along with _Unhaflbricking_ (their previous record, more rockish) and _What We Did on Our Holidays_ (the one before that, simliar to _Unhalfbricking_ without reaching quite that standard). All three have Sandy Denny, a key element of classic Fairport and someone who'd actually started with a folk career. _Full House_ is a pretty good record (it's the one after L and L); it lacks Sandy Denny, making it in a way closer to John Barleycorn (pared-down ensemble, playing well together) but continues in the Folk-Rock vein, But I do think _John Barleycorn_ is kind of unique. Simon Weil

You're welcome, Brownie! Simon Weil

The scholarly authority on music in Nazi Germany is Michael Kater. He has three books on it. One is: Differerent Drummers: Jazz in the Culture of Nazi Germany Which has just been reisssued. It is a drier read than the Zwerin, but the guy knows his stuff. Simon Weil

Yup, Robbie Coltrane with Emma Thompson co-starring. There was also a great, acerbic, double act between Richard Wilson (as the group's manager) and Janis Toner (as his secretary). I used to obsess about a potential relationship between R.Coltrane and J.Coltrane. Simon Weil

The "Beiderbecke Affair" is genuinely wonderful, innocent, endearing - a magic mix which I don't think Plater was ever quite able to repeat. Linked with it in my mind is a series called "Tutti Frutti" which is about a defunct rock band reforming for a comeback tour. This also is stuffed with fine British comic actors (set in Scotland), wondrous dialogue and attains some kind of magic mix. Tougher conclusion though. Doesn't appear to have released on video however.

I think frivolous is actually not a bad description of some of the stuff on these CDS. But then I'm a non-musician, so maybe I'm thinking of something different to Joe. "Silly" does seem to be an element of the AEC, at least in these early years. It is kind of expressive, in its way - Not being deadly serious all the time. Simon Weil

Yeah, definitely better examples. Glad people like the comparison. Simon Weil

Probably this is not very convincing, but there's something in the sound, a distinct vibe - to do with the spaciousness and, if you can call it that, its colour which has the quality of German Romantic painting. Even when the guys are blues related, the sound kind of sets the scenario. Something like this painting (but like I said probably not very convincing): Caspar David Friedrich Simon Weil

Crouch exhibits a number of problems. The first of these, for me, is that he's not honest. Whenever I read his stuff, listen to his style rather in the way one might listen to a musician's sound, I get the sense of a man who can't believe he's got away with it and always expects to be called. The there's the question of writing out an agenda. Crouch is probably the worst example of this in Jazz. Everything is tendencious. On top of that is his liking for the race card, which he plays with monotonous regularity. Apart from that, I don't like his politics, find his style obnoxious and overblown, dislike the way he picks fights and think he's a bully. He's also very full of himself, likes to go on about fake musicians who can't play their instrument when he himself was that. In general I think he's an intellectual thug. Simon Weil

Oh, I think there's definitely an ECM sound. It's related to European Romanticism - It does lack blues as a core element. Also there's an elevation of clarity and precision of the quality of that (romantic) sound that is part of the experience of listening to ECM records. It's kind of like the sound sets the scene for you to listen to the records. Simon Weil

Pssst...Wanna buy a grubby, slightly used copy of the Protocols...Psssst. Simon Weil

It's sounds a bit like an acid trip experience I once had...where I was in this car going up Kensington High Street (in London) and the next thing I knew, the scene had segued into the road outside Harrods - which is actually about 1 mile away. Like a cinematic fade or something. Mindfuck like that. In other words, it sounds like acid without the drug. Tough to do... Simon Weil

Hi there, Oh Infallible, Allknowing and Unrelenting...Leopards and spots... Simon Weil

I seem to remember reading something from the Reich/Gaines articles and being impressed. But the couple of reviews I've found aren't so great: Philadelphia Inquirer/Richard Sudhalter Mercury News And, here, Reich replies to Sudhalter: Blues reviewer had ax to grind The only worthy criticism is disinterested criticism. The Sun's review of Jelly's Blues: The Life, Music and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton ("Jelly Roll Morton remains ever elusive, enigmatic," May 18) was penned by an author who is not disinterested. He has attacked me in letters to the editor at the Chicago Tribune and on Web sites because of criticisms I had made of his deeply flawed book, Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contributions to Jazz, 1915-1945. In one such diatribe, subsequently published on the Jazz Institute of Chicago's Web site, that reviewer, Richard M. Sudhalter, referred to me as "the Third Reich," a particularly ill-chosen attack, in that I am the son of Holocaust survivors. In failing to disclose his animosity toward me to readers and, presumably, to his editors, Mr. Sudhalter has offered a less than honest review of Jelly's Blues. Moreover, his assertion that the book has no footnotes is patently untrue (even the reviewer's copy of the book indicated "notes on sources"). And Mr. Sudhalter's assertion that neither author is "musically literate" is also incorrect. I hold a bachelor of music degree from Northwestern University, where I also did my graduate studies in music history and theory. Most reviews of Jelly's Blues have cited the exceptional clarity and persuasiveness of its music passages. The readers of The Sun deserve honest, disinterested criticism. Howard Reich Chicago http://www.google.com./search?q=cache:i1cF...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 I have heard some uncomplimentary stuff about Reich. Simon Weil P.S. Interview with Reich

Nope, that happened with me also. Simon Weil Andrew Hill has reported that the "Jazz" series put him to sleep every night it aired. The series has lots of flaws for sure, though in places, it's not bad (enough to rouse me from my slumber for a few moments, especially some of the live performance clips). But the biggest mystery to me is how the series could take something as VITAL and INTERESTING as jazz and make it seem so DULL. Something got lost in the translation. Of course, with a few exceptions, jazz and TV have never meshed all that well. The apologists for the Burns series often say something like, well it's a good introduction to jazz for newcomers to the music. Personally, I doubt it. Can you imagine showing this series, as it is, video by video, to high school or college students? I may be wrong, but I think the converts to jazz from such an approach would be few and far between. I did actually spend quite a lot of time researching the series before it came on - This was possible because of the large scale media blitz Burns and his cohorts indulged in - And one remarkable thing was Burns wasn't interested in Jazz until he worked out that, as a subject, it could fit into his conception of documentaries that explain America to itself. For me there's a kind of worthiness, a "this is good for you" quality, to the films - and I suspect that comes, in part, from Burns' basic rather worthy conception of what documentaries are for. It's like the fun is squeezed out by the basic motivation. I think Wynton also suffers from "worthiness", but that's another story. Simon Weil

Nope, that happened with me also. Simon Weil

There's an excellent, educational piece posted by Nat Catchpole on June 2 in the: Conduction in Improvised Music thread What/How a free improviser does/thinks. Simon Weil

My favourite is 39 Steps, and after that The Lady Vanishes. I also have a soft spot for Family Plot. Of the films on the list The Birds is really scary, but my favourite is North by Northwest. He made so many good films it's hard to agree on a shortlist. Simon Weil

Ahhh, too much happy go lucky and you'll go nuts, Mny. On top of cancer.. Simon Weil

Yeah, I saw this trio in London a few years ago. Solal is a fantastic, fantastic player. Not being a musician I looked at it in different terms. It just felt to me like an amazingly wise old guy talking. Like you just wanted him to go on and on it was so engaging and full of stuff. I thought the trio worked well together. Simon Weil

See, I know you think that David (or are leaning that way) because you've said it (sort of) a few times. In the end the issue comes down, to me, on the valuation I place on the guys from the 60s. I think there is a grandeur and a reaching of extraordinary emotional places sufficiently often in those guys that I start looking at comparisons with people like Picasso and Kandinsky. This is not to say one can't find that in other Jazzers of other periods, just that my sensibility takes me in the 60s direction. The problem is "so what?". I mean I might feel that, that this stuff is wonderful and marvellous. But who's to say that's not complete bullshit, if whatever is so great can't be put into words so that others can get to see why it is so damn great. And ain't nobody done that. You see I think the stuff is there in Jazz. Simon Weil