.:.impossible

Are you staying in Newport? From the airport, you are going to take 95S to Rt 4S. Take the exit for 138E. This takes you across Narragansett Bay. Two bridges and the second one will cost you $2. This takes you into Newport. Let me know where you are staying in Newport and I'll do my best to remember. I learned the roads pretty well, thanks to dave9199's beautiful gift - an atlas. I had no idea how much that thing would come in handy. Once I know where you are staying, it will be easy to give you directions to the park (venue) as well. You have to stop into the Cooke House for a Dark and Stormy while in Newport, that much is a given.

Very cool. I just changed my desktop background! The coloring actually makes Bird look even more like a man possessed! I always thought this was an intense photo.

I wrote this in response to a question elsewhere, and thought I'd post it since I never start topics and really need to start pulling my weight around here before I get let go. Four recordings that (truly) changed my life. As far as how I actually listen to the world, that is. These are the four most influential recordings in my life thus far. Technically, I guess I should include ‘Please Don’t You Cry Now Beautiful Edith’, but I have somehow limited my self to four. The first recording that really knocked me somewhere off to the side was ‘Out To Lunch!’ under Dolphy’s name. This was the first time I actually took notice of the vibraphone. And it took some time. Possibly eight months or so before it actually hit me. This music was so strange and so languid and incredibly inventive at any given moment and what made it different, what suddenly hit me as I realized that this recording was forever going to be with me, was the vibraphone. Bobby Hutcherson’s wide-open four mallet vibraphone playing. His hesitance, his curiousity, his daring eagerness to push Eric Dolphy ever so gently toward the perimeter of his self-challenging mind created more space for the role of the bassist and the drummer, in this case two highly elastic senses of time, both almost equally as interested in stretching time as they are interested in the sound of sound itself. And Eric Dolphy himself. The motion that he was able to create while playing with these musicians on that day made me want to find out more and more about the man, vibraphone present or not. The next recording that knocked me back out past my last knock was a recording by solo percussionist Milford Graves. ‘Grand Unification.' Now by this time I hadn’t yet heard many solo drum recordings, though I had heard a few collaborations and/or dates led by percussionists, many of whom would be considered masters. Jazz drumming masters, or world masters whatever the case may be, it wasn’t until I heard ‘Grand Unification’ that I realized just how complex a simple rhythm can be, rather how simple a complex rhythm can be. And just how fluid time actually was. At this point in my life, I began to realize just how inconsequential and arbitrary the secondhand of a timepiece actually was. Believe it or not, the first time I began to consider challenging the notion of standard time was after a conversation with my mom. I was listening to ‘Dead Set’ and brought my boom box to her, impressing upon her the idea that she had to hear these drums. She told me they sounded like a “washer/dryer” and that made a lasting impression on me. Milford Graves turned rhythm into something that is constantly happening. Something that just happens, like the patterns and random designs in nature, rhythm is happening. He is somehow able to channel such a vast amount of diverse energy through his four limbs, sometimes using his forehead, to decode the emotions that he draws upon. It changed the way I listen to drummers. It changed my idea of drumming entirely. Believe it or not, it actually made me appreciate pop drumming, and drum machines, but people like Sunny Murray and an immensely renewed appreciation for Elvin Jones, and later (for me) Max Roach got so much deeper to me. Then I sat in the room while Alvin Fielder played drums. And so on. The tradition runs deep, and it also runs wide. And I heard Divine Gemini, a duet between vibist Walt Dickerson and bassist Richard Davis, who was also present on both ‘Please Don’t You Cry Now Beautiful Edith’ and ‘Out To Lunch!.' After a significant period of time outside of public recording, Walt Dickerson re-entered the archived sound world, recording a pair of duets with bassist Richard Davis. Of course I knew none of this at the time I heard ‘Divine Gemini’, one of the sessions documenting the relationship. Again, the feeling of standard time being an arbitrary element and sound and the act of listening taking precedence over all other consideration. The playing is absolutely beautiful and difficult and, more often than not an actual solid manifest of living, breathing souls, what great collaborative music can become. It is very difficult to figure out how to convey this. The most relaxing music I own, and I’ll leave it at that. ‘To My Son,’ another recording by Walt Dickerson was the next, and so far, the last to really knock me out, to really change the way I think. This trio recording was done not two years after the duets with Richard Davis. Walt Dickerson had found a bassist and drummer, who I don’t know anything about other than the recordings with Walt Dickerson, who propelled his way of playing into something that I had only imagined hearing on a vibraphone. Divine Gemini is so close to bliss for me, and this recording arrived at my door to bring me back into reality: it was all bliss. It all made perfect sense, and it all fell over the concept of music, and yet it seemed so different after these albums for me. Things that normal people don’t find enjoyment in, I stand and listen, and find beauty and anger, and the emotions that I don’t have words for. And it is albums like these that changed the way I listen. Now.

Nice. I will let you know what my schedule looks like. I have a feeling most of the weeknights will be reserved for company functions (yippee), but I don't know for sure.

Recieved! Thanks Martin. I'm looking forward to these. Still have to finish Sangrey's!

No shit. That is something else. That was one belt buckle, but damn. Roy Eldridge? Make it out to KC. You've got stories I need to hear. Who's in?

Some people wear their hearts on their sleeve. Others keep them up their sleeve. I suppose we all should have guessed... Chuck wears his heart on his pelvis.

PS That is one hell of a belt buckle.

Hey KC folk! I will be out in Kansas City, MO for two weeks beginning August 22. My employer is headquartered in KC. The main objective of my trip will be technical training (Adobe) and I was hoping some of you would have some time during that two week period to show an East Coaster what the Midwest is all about! I'd love to meet all of you. Nessa, you up for another trip?

So is that portrait of you above Satch's fireplace! Awesome.

I'd recommend it based on your interest Nate. It is called CHANCE MEETING. I first heard this years ago in college on a video. I think it was just called "Tal Farlow" though I really can't remember. I remember thinking these guys were out of this world. At the time, I hadn't heard anyone play guitar with that kind of fluidity and there they were, two grown men smiling and having a great time doing something I didn't know was possible. I'm pretty sure it was recorded in a local bar near Tal's home.

That's what my post referred to. I thought that was hilarious.

Alright! Happy Birthday my man! BIG FIVE OH! Enjoy the day!

BELLS: Thanks Mike!

I have a duo recording of Breau with Tal Farlow that sits well within the descriptions above. It feels like you are a fly on the wall listening to these two push each other!

BACK OFF before someone goes 'poultry' on you!

Thanks. I'll have to look out for that one too then.

Is Conic Sections also recorded in that fashion? That church sounds incredible. The way he uses it to create so much sound and so many lines is amazing to me.

Definitely! Pronounced "gwey" or "gwuy" and translates roughly to "cool" or "hip" or whatever, from what I was told. Have a great time Brandon. Spain is a beautiful country.

That explains why you never responded to my PM. I sent you a PM during the sign-up phase of my BFT to see if you would like a copy. People haven't been responding to my PMs much over the past 6 months, so I was beginning to wonder if it wasn't working! Tom, if you would like a copy of .:.BFT, let me know! I'll be happy to send you one. Something to listen to while you burn away!

I've never had a hot alarm clock. Just fyi. I wouldn't be too surprised if mine was hot though. I bought it for $2.50 off a guy selling rock 'n roll photo magnets and various designer handbags.

Great cover Noj. Count me in as a fan of your work. Hey, are you guys going to be selling match books? That is one fly matchbook cover.

I live in an area where there is a 30% chance of rain every day during the summer. It doesn't usually rain everyday, but there's always that chance. Thunderstorms bloom up on the doppler out of nowhere. Usually not in my backyard however. In the Virgin Islands, a storm will pass through every day pretty much without fail from April through Hurricane season, probably year 'round, I don't know. Forecast: chance of thunderstorms 100%. Easy.

01 Burnin’! How High The Moon. I’m not sure who the players are, but I have a feeling they were having a good time. Sounds like the drummer is having a little bit of fun with the tune, but not letting it get out of hand! Good opener! 02 WTF? A bunch of friends and my (now)wife and I went down to see Phish for NYE 1999/2000. ABC had arranged to have a live feed from Big Cypress during their montage of large NYE celebrations around the world. Before they went live at Big Cypress, the band announced that this was going to occur and they would like for everyone to chant “cheesecake” throughout the entire thing. Just as WTF as this track… who is the other voice? Hoppy the Frog? Mitch Hedberg reference. 03 This sounds like Cachao. The only reason I know is that my brother plays bass in a salsa band called Bio Ritmo and he is constantly turning me onto more Cuban, Puerto Rican, Brazilian bands. Cachao was early on, and Vint turned me on to Cachaito! 04 I’m liking this, despite the electric bass. The guitar sounds so small, which is kind of cool in a way. Firey gruffness. Who is that? Nice trombone solo, then it really turns out! That is not an alto I don’t think. What the? A second electric bassist and we’d have ourselves a real good time! 05 I don’t get it. The whole thing was sort of odd, beginning with the laugh track. The group never really seems to gel. Some weird intonation from the saxophone. 06 This I like! The Man I Love. This is earlier than the majority of my jazz collection, so any exposure like this is much needed. What a trumpet! I’m liking the fuzz-tone guitar and the simplistic bop lines he is playing. He is relentless. This is great stuff. 07 Here we go, two bassists! It’s a party! This is actually really nice, and unlike anything I actually own, but the type of shit I really turn up in the car when I hear it on the radio. Alright, I’ve probably only ever heard anything like this on the radio like once, but I’m certain I turned it up. Syrupy like Bojangles sweet tea and the early-70s soul/r&b station that let me have it. It would be a long shot for me to guess who this is, but the lead sort of sounds like Gene Ammons. I’ve never heard him play with this type of band though… 08 Somewhere along the line, something changed. These days, it seems like a session with a vocalist on it becomes a solely vocalist session. A lot of the older recordings sound so fantastic because of the great horn players. I’d guess this is late-sixties because of the way the tenor plays some of its lines, and I’m not positive, but I would guess Archie Shepp? I dig this concept. Where did it go wrong? Obligatto. 09 Boy is this band stacked! 10 11 Hi-Fly. What a great tune. Unmistakeable vibrato and tone of Lionel Hampton! Wow. I had to go back to that one a few times. He’s so much fun to listen to. 12 13 Far out! Someone’s in the mood. I can’t tell if those are bells or a music box or a celeste or what. The voice sounds oddly familiar too. No idea though… as usual. 14 Mountain Oysters? Gross. I’ll take cheesecake. 15 Finish it off with a late night organ groove. This is hitting really nice right now. Sometimes this stuff is a little too light, but that touch is doing it. 16 17 Didn't want to miss the bus. I missed a couple of tracks, but I'm going to get back around to them this weekend. And Disc 2!

What do you know about the people in that house? Meth lab? Explosives lab? Something highly flammable I'm guessing. Damn! So are you in the basement like the officer said?