bertrand

By the way, the Dave Douglas thing was *not* his last 'piece' for Jazz Times - it was a praise of pianist Eric Reed. That's a no-brainer - Eric is indeed a fine player. Perhaps he realized he had gone over the top and tried to tone down the rhetoric a notch or ten. But it was too late. I applaud Jazz Times for their decision. Life's too short to waste on people like Crouch. I have enough assholes of his ilk to deal with at work. Oops, here comes one now... Bertrand.

Do any of the critics quoted in the article not realize that it cost Jazz Times money to allow an entire page of their magazine to be devoted to Crouch's rantings? And if readers are turned off and cancel their subscription, it will cost them even more. The decision was striclty an economic one - when the dust settles, people will realize that publishing his crap is just not cost-effective. Sure, he has a right to say what he wants to say - it's a free country. But no for-profit enterprise is obliged to spend the money to publish it. It's his responsibility to find a venue for it. If a given outlet no longer chooses to serve as his mouthpiece, it's their right as well in a free country. What's next - it's my obligation to let Crouch hold court every Sunday afternoon in my living-room? I think not. By the way, a note to all critics: some of us don't actually need you to tell us what music we should like. That's what my ears and my brain are for. It's my responsibility as an educated consumer of jazz to do my research and go out and listen and decide for myself. Bertrand.

'Lucky Jim' by Kingsley Amis is one of the funniest books I've ever read. His son Martin's 'Rachel Papers' is a laff riot as well, although there's an undercurrent of bigotry that turns me off. It's not clear if it's an expression of the author's own feelings, or a clever, understated put-down of others who are bigoted. For both men, these were their first novels. Kingsley had some subsequent novels that were quite good, but none rivals his masterpiece. He got more and more conservative as he got older. Martin's subsequent books are uniformly awful. I tried reading about five of them, and never finished one. Bertrand.

I'm not familiar with his work, but it's always sad to hear of anyone's passing. I always wondered what happened to Herbie Lewis - now I know he lives in the Twin Cities. Bertrand.

Based on the lyrics, that's the tune that is copyrighted. Now if I can hear what it sounds like, and compare it to the piece on Blues For Lou, we will know for sure that it is indeed the same John Patton. Thanks! Bertrand.

Patton copyrighted a few tunes (with some co-authors) that he told me were written for groups such as the Shirelles (don't know if he mentioned them explicitely). I'm pretty sure there was one called 'Big John'. Isn't there also a piece with that title on the much-maligned Blues For Lou Grant Green CD? If so, is it the same piece as the Shirelles'? You've really piques my curiosity. Next time I'm at the Library of Congress for a longer stay (which may not be until July), I will try to compare the copyrighted 'Big John' with the one on Blues For Lou. Since Patton resurrected 'Personality' for this date as well, it's not impossible that it's the Shirelles tune. Of course, I've never heard the Shirelles tune... Bertrand.

You're not kidding - E-dog was fabulous. It turns out he's a fellow Wayne Shorter freak, so we had a lot to talk about. More on the gig tomorrow - it was fabulous. They closed with Patton/Green's 'Soul Woman'. Bertrand.

I think it's Creole patois. It's certainly not French. Bertrand.

I just talked to Bill to ask him who was playing with him. It's his regular tenor e-dog whose real name must be Scott. Based on my knowledge of Twins, I doubt there will be a real b-3. Oh well...I still think it will be solid. I hope I get to see Organissimo somewhere soon. I plan to get the CD this week-end. Bertrand.

I'm probably going tonight. Anyone else interested?

Santana had great respect for Larry Young - I bet he'd pitch in something. Let me know if you have problems contacting him or some of the others. I know someone who could hook you up. Have you already contacted Bill Heid? I will see him this w/e. Did you get my PM about Larry's copyright deposits? I hope this will not be between 6/7-25; I will be unavailable! Bertrand.

Check out Lee's solo near the end, at about 5:15 or 5:30. Bertrand.

Jim, Interesting. I heard the same thing from a bigwig in the jazz publishing business (who will remain nameless). Bertrand.

Soul Stream, Simple - D.C. is not a big organ town. Bill has been doing more piano/vocals gigs, which of course are much more lucrative. What he does outside D.C., I do not know. B3-er, I'm being more careful about how many gigs I go to (for example, I decided to pass on Barbara Dennerlein, because her set at the Kennedy Center will be short), but I still can go to some gigs. I've only seen Bill on organ once as a sideman, so this leader gig is very tempting. Bertrand.

Rooster, I'll have to dig up the interview. Lee is listing some recent recordings of his, and he mentions a recent date with the 'avant-garde' organist Larry Young. As for the Bitches Brew/Mother Ship connection, you had the same idea as me, but I can do you one better! Here are the clues: 2/7/69: Mother Ship is recorded 2/18/69: Miles Davis In A Silent Way is recorded; according to the notes to the recent box set, Larry Young is present in the studio, although he does not play 8/19-21/69: Miles Davis Bitches' Brew is recorded Here's my theory, based on the clues and the strong similarity between some of the licks on Lee's solo on 'Trip Merchant' and Miles' solo on 'Pharoah's Dance' (one of the two BB tracks on which Larry appears): Larry is at the Silent Way session, brought in by one of the musicians (Williams or McLaughlin?). He is not there to record, but to bring an audition tape to Miles. The tape? Mother Ship, of course, which was just recorded less than two weeks before. Miles listens to the tape, digs Lee and Larry's playing, and hires Larry for his next studio album. While he's at it, he picks a few select Lee Morgan riffs. But, much more importantly, the whole feel of Bitches' Brew is inspired by Mother Ship. How far-fetched is this? I don't know. I had a chance to run my theory by Herbie on Sunday (we were talking about Larry), but he had to go onstage and I didn't think of asking him until it was too late. Damn. Note: My theory comes apart if Rudy Van Gelder has a firm rule about no one taking home copies of the sessions at his studio. However, we know Coltrane would do this, so there probably is no such a rule. Feel free to point out how wrong I must be... Bertrand.

Mother Ship, no hesitation. Even though it was not released at the time, Lee mentioned this session in an interview, so you know he had a soft spot for it. Ever notice the similarities between some of Lee's playing on this album to Miles' playing on Bitches' Brew? For example, compare the end of Lee's solo on 'Trip Merchant' (around 5:30) to Miles' solo on 'Pharoah's Dance'. I have a theory... Bertrand.

... but doesn't get too many organ gigs. Anyway, he will be at Twins this week-end, in a trio with Scott ? on sax and Marty Morrison on drums. They confirmed that he would be playing organ. I'm tempted, although money is real tight these days. Anyone else game? Bertrand.

Did you try the curried haggis?

I have been told (although I never found the source) that Wayne once said in an interview that he wrote 'Elegant People' in his college years. I did read an interview where he said that he frustrated his composition teacher by mixing styles, and according to the interview I did not read, 'Elegant People' was the piece in question. So, unless Wayne knew Alex Acuna in 1952-1956... In his speech at Berklee, Wayne also seemd to be saying that he wrote 'Aung San Suu Kyi' in college as well, although it had to have had a different title back then, of course. Bertrand.

I'm not at all surprised that Wayne comes up as a frequent example of this. If you read his interviews, his albums are designed to grow on you slowly, rather than knock you out on first listening. This didn't work for me, however. Most of his records blew me away upon my first encounter. There were some exceptions - Phantom Navigator, Joy Ryder, and High Life. Alegria was an instant smash, however. Bertrand.

For what it's worth, I saw Herbie Hancock on Sunday. We were talking about the internet, so I mentioned the BNBB and what happened. He seemed really puzzled at Blue Note's behavior. Bertrand.

Leeway, Sorry we couldn't meet - I got here at 9:29. Can I call them or what? The only 'new' tune was 'Two Timer'. And Ray Gallon told me there were no 'new' tunes in the first set. The second set was: Epistrophy I Mean You 'Round Midnight Ask me Now Two Timer Evidence Four In One I enjoyed it a lot. Bobby Porcelli and Ray Gallon were particularly good. Bertrand.

Let's have a Blue Note convention in Anchorage!

Barak, I just called the Monk Institute. The auditorium will open at 10:30, so you may want to be there a little bit before. We suspect that it will hardly be packed however. See you there. I will be doing a lot of running around, so you may spot me. Kevin, I definitely see your point. The interview where T.S. really ragged on Sonny Clark kind of shook me up. Even if he did steal the tune, you have to feel sorry for him. I often toy with starting a thread in the musicians' forum as to whether this tune is more characteristic of Monk's or Sonny's writing. It would be a very interesting topic for a jazz researcher to pursue. Both composers have their little tics - are Monk's more noticeable than Sonny's in this track? Bertrand.

Barak, The semi-finals are on Saturday 4/26, not tomorrow! It starts at 11:00; I would imagine 10:30 would be good enough. If I have time tomorrow, I'll try to confirm that with the Monk people. A lot of people will be going in and out, so I think it will be easy to get in. Bertrand.