Big Al

This is a wonderful session indeed! One I need to listen to more often. I also agree that this is Spaulding's best work, especially the flute duo between him and Rivers! Agree also with the comment about the Spaulding cliches; to often, they mar some otherwise nice solos (especially on Shorter's Schizophrenia and Mobley's A Slice of the Top.) Donald Byrd's work here is vastly underrated; IMHO, he more than holds his own despite the fact that he's out of his normal element! Gonna go dig it out right now!

DAAAAMN STRAIGHT!!!!

Some actual thoughts on the complete HAFC™: 1. Pretty nice. It swings, as far as violin jazz goes, I s’pose. Not much interest beyond that, though. 2. Never been a fan of this kind of percussive piano playing. 3. Originally turned off by this, but the more I listen to it, the more the subtle beauties reveal themselves. Very relaxing. 4. Starts off swingin’, but then the lead sax player starts blowin’ his brains out. NMCOT™!!! 5. Again, the intro turned me off, but once I got past that, it actually sounded pretty nice. The piano player sounds like a Hancock disciple. 6. Another one that took a few listens to fully appreciate. Not much of a fan of unaccompanied solo sax, although the ensemble playing is very nice. 7. Now that’s my kind of jazz! Straight-up mainstream swingin’. Boring to a lot of people, comfort food for me! 8. Sheesh! Every time I’d try to start this track, the phone would ring, the Coke™ guy would be refilling the machine outside my office, a train would go by, SOMETHING!!! I may have to listen to this one later thru headphones or something, cuz I wanna hear what’s going on!!! Okay, now that the distractions are outta the way, this sounds like Bill Evans. I like this kind of piano-playing! 9. The first name that sprung to mind was Joe Lovano. I guess because whenever I think of full robust tenor playing, this is the guy who immediately springs to mind! 10. YIKES!!! Sweet Mother of God, now I know how my dad felt when I played him that Metallica record years ago! DKDCHAFC™ AIEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Please God, make it STOP!!! (Although, granted, I’d rather listen to this than ANYTHING Metallica’s put out in the last fifteen years!) 11. Very nice. Again, this is my favorite kind of piano playing. It sounds like Vince Guaraldi recorded by today’s technology! 12. Sounds kinda Monk-ish. In fact, the whole group sounds as if they’re playing tribute to Monk in their own way. Another nice one! 13. Nice standard piano trio stuff. Nothing I’d go out of my way to purchase, but then again I wouldn’t switch it off the radio if I heard it! 14. Very nice guitar trio stuff! Very interested to find out who this is! Well, that was both challenging and interesting, and I ended up liking a lot more than I originally thought I would! Again, great job Nate!!!

You've got mail!

Sounds to me like he was out in the streets at 6 AM, another sleepless night, three cups of coffee couldn't clear his head from what went down last night. Ah the joys of being a new father!

Listening to one right now: Jackie McLean's "Omega" Pretty much any version of "Jumpin' at the Woodside" gets my adrenaline flowin'! And I'll second previous mentions of Blakey's "Moanin'" and "It's Only a Paper Moon." More nods: I Never Knew - Kenny Burrell Phinupi - Kenny Burrell (true story: I was in a restaurant that actually played this on their canned music; my family looked at me like I was nuts (well, they do that anyway) cuz I was about bangin' the table to Blakey's beat!) It Ain't Necessarily So - Grant Green Yes I Can, No You Can't - Lee Morgan Cornbread - Lee Morgan Bumpin' on Sunset - Wes Montgomery And of course, Basie's "April in Paris!"

Are you kidding? This makes reading the news a helluva lot more enjoyable!

I know; I always said, if I get one, I gotta get the other, and up to now, I've never seen them on sale together anywhere. Well, now I got one, so I s'pose I gotta get the other!

D'OH!!! Must....... resist,....... temptation.......

Up for the lunchtime crowd!

Some shtuff for sale or trade, all prices include shipping: GONE: J.R. Monterose (BN Conn, w/OBI strip) GONE: Sonny’s Crib – Sonny Clark (BN Conn, no OBI) HOLD: The Inflated Tear – Roland Kirk (Rhino remaster) HOLD: Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges (Verve LPR) HOLD: Time In – Dave Brubeck (French Sony reissue, fantastic sound; will very likely cause you to get the For All Time box, as it did with me) Or take all three for $20 (or 2 CDs on the wish list), shipping included to US/Canada. PayPal gladly accepted. I’d like to trade for any of the following: Buhaina’s Delight – Art Blakey (RVG) Inner Urge – Joe Henderson (RVG) Breaking Point – Freddie Hubbard (RVG) A Fickle Sonance – Jackie McLean (RVG) Action – Jackie McLean (RVG) Sixth Sense – Lee Morgan (RVG) Serenade to a Soul Sister – Horace Silver (RVG) Midnight Special – Jimmy Smith Julian “Cannonball” Adderley (Verve LPR) JG – Johnny Griffin (Verve LPR) ‘s Make It – Art Blakey (Verve LPR) Candido (Verve LPR) Buddy & Sweets (Verve LPR) Chicken Fat – Mel Brown (Verve LPR) PM or e-mail acrearick@hotmail.com. Thanks for looking!

It would seem that there are too many folks with too much time on their hands.

On the downside, I’ll be in Michigan on Saturday, so I won’t be able to drive to Austin to catch RB. On the Upside, I’ll be in Michigan on Saturday, so I’ll be able to get my greeeeeaze fix on the 21st seeing Organissimo!!! I can’t WAIT!!!

Like I said before, equal parts self-serving and self-deprecation.

The 4-CD set The Riverside Records Story does a fair job of living up to its name. It was assembled and annotated by OK. I find the liners to be at times self-serving as well as self-deprecating. OK speaks fondly of the musicians he worked with at Riverside: Monk, Wes Montgomery, Cannonball & Nat Adderley, Bill Evans, etc. As is the case with musicians of that caliber, the music is timeless, and will likely to lead you to other Riverside purchases (as it did with me).

Hold down the "alt" key and type "153". Like this: ™. See how easy that was?

Yes! This is Billy Mitchell, already in the series, makes me agree with you on that. Coupled with the Grey disc, it makes for a very nice back-to-back listen! And I am SO looking forward to California Here I Come!!!!!

"DKDC" stands for "Don't Know, Don't Care." I think it was coined by Dan Gould. He also coined another acronym, "NMCOT," which stands for "Not My Cup o' Tea." "HAFC" was coined by yours truly. It stands for "Haven't a Clue." I think the joke's worn thin by now, so I don't think I'll use 'em anymore.

Peter Marshall! (Take THAT, MartyJazz! )

Hey man, don't DISS the big Peter!!!!

So THAT'S what the "MC" in MC5 stood for! Howzabout Penny Marshall?

So far, I've gotten to track #9, and this is by far the most challenging BFT for me. I must confess that I haven't actually made it all the way through any track yet, and that may have less to do with the music than anything else. In any event, this disc has been one long HAFC™, with a few tracks also falling in the DKDC™ category as well. But maybe there's some hidden gems that I haven't come across yet!

Received mine today! Thanks Nate!

He actually had fans?

I checked with my travel coordinator last night (aka Mrs. Big Al) and we have nothing going that night, so I'll definitely be there. My 17-yr-old daughter wants to know if she can go! I dunno, I told her. Is there an age limit?