johnlitweiler

He was living here in Chicago a few years ago, playing for tips at the corner of Michigan and Adams, across the street from the Art Institute. Seemed healthy, sounded energetic. Strangely enough, he only played on the street, not in concerts or clubs. The rumor in those days was that he moved here for love of a local lady. One of the good guys.

Laurie, keep having more birthdays.

Tonight on Zoundz! a celebration of Von Freeman - the show begins with LYoung and CParker at 6:30 pm Chicago time and will be almost all Von after 7:30 pm. WHPK Chicago 88.5 FM and www.whpk.org

I hate to say it, but When? The Hit Parades of the Swing Era, the best-selling record lists of the 30s and 40s seem to argue otherwise (I've seen old Billboards and such). Who, outside of black communities, knew of Armstrong, Morton, Bessie Smith during the Jazz Age?

A few years ago I finally found and read a Bernard Wolfe novel (Dan Morgenstern has recommended his writing) - one of those silly books where the opinionated narrator stays drunk from begin to end. But when I was 11 or 12 Really The Blues was one of the first books about jazz that I read. It still makes a great story, with a lot of truth in it even though Mezz comes across as a magnificent bullshitter.

That's a delight. Thanks, Jim.

A Miles Davis Sextet w/Coltrane and Buddy Montgomery played at the Sutherland in Chicago in 1959 or '60. Wish I could have heard them.

Just finished Nixonland by Rick Perlstein. It's obsessive reading like a James Ellroy novel, a lot of the same crimes too. When Nixon was pres. I worked for a newspaper-clipping service and Perlstein's book captured a lot of that period paranoia for me. While some of his reasoning might be arguable, his conclusion feels right: America is divided into 2 kinds of people - we good, honest, hardworking, God-fearing folks and those snobby people with college educations who look down on us. Nixon didn't invent this divide but his genius was in the ways he amplified it.

Michael Jackson's thoughtful obit includes some i-didn't-know-thats: http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/music/14466939-421/chicago-jazz-icon-von-freeman-dead-at-88-walked-tuff-to-the-end.html In 1973 IIRC Terry Martin and I began going to the Enterprise Lounge on Monday evening; before long Chuck Nessa started coming too and on one occasion Chuck's father, who seemed to enjoy the music. The rhythm section would set up in the front window (L to R Charles Walton, David Shipp, John Young) and, a little after 8:30, Von would stand in front of them and begin playing, with the big sound. He favored a medium-fast tempo that he called the Chicago Tempo (as in Time After Time, Have No Fear, etc.). His solos would begin simply, a minimum of decoration (he was a very straightforward player); sometimes as his melodies acquired momentum they'd go progressively farther and farther outside the changes; sometimes he'd stay at length within the changes until he'd start a chorus with a leap that would take the whole piece out; less often he'd play a whole solo out, with coarse sounds, hollers - he might do this with minor one-chord pieces. What grabbed you was his passion. You couldn't be cool to his music. Rough sound, flat, sharp, totally out, didn't matter - the long, long melody line with all its twists was what carried you with him. His creativity was endless. Dear Lord, what trips. He'd continue non-stop for two hours and more, pausing for his accompanists to solo for two choruses each. As he played, the small club would begin filling up, mostly with musicians. Eventually he'd play his blues theme After Dark and get out of the way of the sitters-in, and not return until very late. I knew Von as a kind, generous man, a very smart man who'd given a lot of thought to jazz and its history. He was recurringly shy at first - used to wear shades at night when he played. After his reputation spread and he began to play white clubs up north, for awhile he wore shades again (mid-70s). Sometimes he'd have to nerve himself (drink some courage) to play for foreign audiences, like a DownBeat all-star tv show for PBS and the night his quartet and Cecil Taylor were a double-feature at a U. of Chicago concert. By the 1980s the rest of the world began to know that Von was really a great artist.

No tickets - just come and grab a seat (arriving a bit early is a good idea, in fact).

Tomorrow, Monday, August 6, 2012, we'll have lots of records to celebrate the birthdays of Louis Armstrong (his real, honest-to-goodness birthday, not the one you were taught in school) and Roscoe Mitchell on Zoundz!, the most dangerous jazz show in Chicago, with John Litweiler and Michael Rock. It will be from 6:30 to 9 pm Chicago time (6 hours later Universal Time) on WHPK Chicago 88.5 FM, the pride of the South Side and the joy of the world wide web, streaming at www.whpk.org.

Wilfrid Mellers has a good book about all the Beatles songs, to go with his Bach, Beethoven, Mucis in a New Found Land, and Bob Dylan, etc. books

A thoughtful interview IMO, interesting insights re Evans, Byard, Jimmy McGary, lots of others. Hersh seemed to seriously try to answer Iverson's questions.

Oh, and "Mojo Snake Minuet" includes some references to jazz artists. Oh, and "Mojo Snake Minuet" includes some references to jazz artists.

I have some of the Martinon Debussy performances on LPs. Now I had to order the CDs. Thanks, folks.

"Up Above The World:" by Paul Bowles has a scene in which two couples (predators and victims) sitting in a living room listening to a Cecil Taylor record is an extremely decadent activity. Bowles is as persistently sadistic as Mickey Spillane and up to a point, more effective.

Of the several times I heard Sam Rivers, the one time he played inside was with Gillespie. Sweet lyrical playing, my favorite Sam Rivers set ever. Too bad there isn't more of this side of his music available.

Douglas Ewart has made some and Rowscoe Mitchell has played one.

The only one I heard had a small, thin sound - couldn't project very well.

Today, Monday July 9, 2012, from 5 to 9 pm Chicago time (a special time), Zoundz! will play its annual midsummer show. Herman, Berman, Ellington, Horn, Holiday, Dodds, Coleman, Lonberg-Holm, Ayler, anniversary records, boogie, bebop, and blues, and the rest. That's on WHPK Chicago, 88.5 FM and www.whpk.org (the show starts at 11 pm [2300 hours] Universal Time for international listeners.

Better yet, keep dancing.

Arizona Dranes Iowa Chuck

On the radio Dick Buckley once mentioned that the trombonists Abe Lincoln and George Washington not only knew each other, they once rode in a car together when a Los Angeles cop stopped them.

Hard to believe - my White Sox just beat the best team in the AL 3 games in a row. OTOH one of these days Humber and Danks will come off the DL and our red-hot rookie pitchers will have to make way. I sure hope H. and D. get totally recovered and that Peavy skips his annual visit to the DL this year, especially since some of the batters are starting to hit a bit.

Wonderful photos. Are you really highly skillful or do you have an excellent camera, or both? I usually chase geese off by hissing and stomping after them.