Big Al

Sweet! I'll have to take a break from listening to the sports-talk radio shows trashing the Cowboys to listen to this!

Just off the top of my head: The entirety of the following albums: Herbie Hancock - MAIDEN VOYAGE (especially "Dolphin Dance") and EMPYREAN ISLES Wayne Shorter - SPEAK NO EVIL Freddie Hubbard Blue Notes - HUB-TONES, READY FOR FREDDIE, OPEN SESAME, and BLUE SPIRITS Tina Brooks - TRUE BLUE Art Blakey - FREE FOR ALL, UGETSU (especially the title track), and MOSAIC Freddie Hubbard CTIs - STRAIGHT LIFE and SKY DIVE Stanley Turrentine - SUGAR And many, many, MANY more!!! More than enough to last me a lifetime, as I'm discovering right now while spinning the Atlantic 2-LP set THE ART OF FREDDIE HUBBARD.

Since this thread started, I think I've managed to find every CTI album with Freddie on it. FIRST LIGHT and SKY DIVE are unreal; heavy HEAVY on the groove! KEEP YOUR SOUL TOGETHER does just that, and then some! Despite the "leftover" feel of POLAR AC, I love it just the same. Then, of course, there are the two volumes of live albums he did with Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Hancock, and Jack Dejohnette which feature NASTY versions of "Hornets!" All of it fantastic, and can usually be had fairly cheap at your local used vinyl store!

Remedied that with a trip to Half Price Books, where they had the 2-LP The Art of Freddie Hubbard. Spinning it right now; very nice!

As Big Al's alluded to, some of us are Cowboy fans in spite of the owner. Probably most that fall in this category have been fans since long before Jerry Jones rode into town on his wildcat. Correct. But just to show you what a gutless bunch this is, NOBODY sounded angry or frustrated after this loss. Tony Romo shrugged this game off by saying "I've had worse things happen to me." Well, isn't that comforting? Apparently the plane ride back from Philly was something of a party atmosphere. Coach Candyland was his usual whimpering sniveling self in today's press conference, saying that he was working on a plan and that he was putting it together and that there would be changes. Not in his personality, style, personnel, attitude, or anything else. But there would be changes. The only person who was even remotely pissed was Bradie James, and that was only because some idiot fan went out to Valley Ranch wearing a sandwich-board that said 'The Cowboys have no heart." Unfortunately for this guy, one of the few people on that team that has any heart--James-- happened to walk by. Anybody else would've just shrugged it off. Then it was revealed that Jason Garrett is interviewing with the Lions. Do you know how COOL that would be if Garrett takes over the Lions and leads them to the playoffs (or even a victory), while the Cowboys continue to languish in mediocrity? I'd love it, since it isn't likely the Cows are gonna be anything resembling a playoff contender, much less a Super Bowl team, in my lifetime.

She made the most of the situation she was placed in; can't fault her for succeeding on some level. That said, I have yet to hear another singer perform "Ipanema" so perfectly, IMHO. She captures the simplicity and sweetness of that song, where others turn it into something either more schmaltzy or schlocky (Sinatra came close, but he too was working with Jobim). Small doses is enough for me as well, but oh my those doses.... her rendition of "It Might as Well Be Spring" with Stan Getz..... whoa!!!

Maybe I missed an earlier thread, but these titles just appeared at BMG: Luiz Bonfa - Violão e o Samba Elizeth Cardoso & Ciro Monteiro - A Bossa Eterna de Elizeth e Ciro Eumir Deodato - Idéia João Donato - Chá Dancante Quarteto Novo - Quarteto Novo Walter Wanderley - Samba no Esquema de Walter Wanderley Anyone know anything about these? The only info provided is the usual long-winded AMG Thom Jurek babble.

Sad but not wholly unexpected. I was seriously bummed when he cancelled his show in Ft. Worth last summer because of health issues. My dad and I had planned to go see him, my dad being wholly responsible for me liking jazz and knowing who Freddie Hubbard was thru the Blakey MOSAIC album, and we were pretty bummed when that didn't pan out. So many beautiful solos, but if the only solo he'd ever done was the one for Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance," that would've been enough to make me a fan for life. So many great albums, I don't even know where to begin. Open Sesame, Ready for Freddie, Hub-Tones, Blue Spirits, Straight Life, Red Clay.... and that doesn't even touch on the Atlantic stuff that I've never heard. And sideman appearances! The cat was as busy as Billy Higgins! RIP Freddie. Thanks for the great music, of which there was BEAUCOUPS. Keep your soul together.

Damn straight!!! Damn straight!!!! Damn straight!!!!!

I did this review for a magazine whose name escapes me. The circumstances surrounding this was our church's youth director (at the time) was also a contributor to this magazine, which was devoted to film scores and soundtracks. He knew I liked jazz and asked if I would listen to 3 CDs he'd received and write a brief review of each of them. The target audience was film-score fanatics, hence the explanation of some things we probably take for granted around here. The date says April 2002, but I honestly can't remember. Submitted for your enjoyment, FWIW. It probably explains why this is the only review of mine to ever be published. ************ Sony/Legacy continues its reissue campaign with a series of curious releases, three soundtracks which share a common thread of jazz. What makes them such curious candidates for reissue is the fact that none of the three releases had bad sound to begin with. Additionally, with so much other great music yet to see the light of day on compact disc, one has to wonder why the time and energy was spent on these three releases which were already available, when that time and energy (not to mention the money) could have been used on other, more essential releases. While each soundtrack has its moments, by far the least useful of the three soundtracks is the soundtrack to the film BIRD. While the concept was novel at the time of its release, the execution was badly flawed, and the sound upgrade only accentuates those flaws. The original concept was to take original sax solos by Parker, and superimpose those solos over recordings made at the time of the film (1985), to make it sound like Parker was playing with currently living musicians. The result was akin to a band playing along to a transistor radio, as many of Parker’s solos sound like they were recorded in another time zone, much less another time altogether. So with this in mind, one has to wonder who will want to shell out the extra ten bucks for this upgrade: Parker-philes will have every one of these recordings in better quality on superior recordings; those who are just discovering Parker for the first time would be much better served by going for the original recordings on Verve, of which there are volumes; and film score fans won’t be served at all, as this is nothing more than a compilation of recordings that were used during performance scenes in the movie. Ultimately, this release begs the question: would anyone truly have complained if the original recordings were superimposed over the live performances in the movie? The next upgrade fares a little better in the improved sound category, the soundtrack to STRAIGHT, NO CHASER, the documentary about legendary jazz composer/pianist/iconoclast Thelonious Monk. What makes this soundtrack particularly interesting is that it succeeds in much the same way as a score would: it tells its story through music. Granted, these performances are also used like those in BIRD, as the movie is as much a performance piece as it is a documentary. But what separates this soundtrack from BIRD is that the soundtrack serves the same function as the film, documenting Monk’s life in his music. Again, there is no incidental music to speak of, but anyone with even a fleeting interest in the life of Monk would be well-served in seeing this movie and hearing the accompanying soundtrack. Clearly the best of the lot is the soundtrack to ROUND MIDNIGHT. This soundtrack scores high marks on many counts: first is the improved sound, which brings out the subtleties that were missing from the first issue; second is the all-around performances on the soundtrack. Spearheaded by the delicate yet swinging piano playing of jazz great Herbie Hancock, already a master at soundtracks having scored, among others, the avant-garde masterpiece BLOW UP, each song features a who’s who of legendary jazz figures: Dexter Gordon (who not only plays on the soundtrack, but also starred in the film and was subsequently nominated for an Oscar); Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Billy Higgins, and Wayne Shorter. It is a tribute to the strength of each player that the soundtrack succeeds as not only a fine jazz album (and a nice introduction to jazz in general), but also as a fine soundtrack as well.

Today was such a banner day for us Cowboys fans who despise Jones and how he's brought this team down to the depths: 1) The aforementioned embarrasment in Philly. This should finally expose Terrell Owens as the NFL's biggest fool, along with Jerry Jones who wanted him in the first place. 2) The Miami Dolphins are in the playoffs, and the Cowboys aren't. For anyone not paying attention, Miami was 1-15 last year, and then they brought in a new head coach: former Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells, a man Jerry Jones was still deriding as recent as a couple of weeks ago. 3) The San Diego Chargers are in the playoffs, and the Cowboys aren't. The Chargers' head coach is Norv Turner, the man all us Cowboys fans thought would be the perfect successor to Big Bill; the man who was passed over by Jerry Jones in favor of Coach Candyland himself, Wade Phillips. This Cowboys fan would love nothing more than to see the Super Bowl being played between the Eagles and the Dolphins/Chargers. Then I'd want to watch the Super Bowl with Jerry and say, "See? This is what happens when you have a REAL GM and a REAL head coach." Dave James said it best:

This Cowboy team has to be THE worst ever, in terms of talent and expectations. Eagles are annihilating the Cows, 34-3 barely into the 3rd quarter. Actually, the Cows are giving it away, which leads me to believe this is nothing more than open revolt against Jerry and Wade. Remember how Jerry ripped Marion Barber a new one a few weeks back? Jones has yet to say anything about the antics of TO and Pacman (who just muffed ANOTHER kickoff as I type this), but he rips one of his hardest players. As a result, Barber has been playing DOWN to Jones' expectations, and the rest of the Boys have been following suit. Can't say I blame 'em. If I was getting paid millions of dollars to be mediocre, I'd phone in my performance, too! I'd like to see Jerry explain THIS one!

Why? The Parlan's OOP already. The Turrentine's in its running low or last chance stage (I forget which just now) Neither, according to the Mosaic website (as of right now). It's just backordered. I am REALLY looking forward to the Leo Parker! Didn't think this would see the light of day in light of other deletions!

PM sent about that!

James and the Organauts!

Drat! My notes are at the office. Will post them on Monday!

Because we here at BFT HQ are always trying our best to ensure the quality and security of the BFT process, we have hired the finest in security systems to make sure no one (myself included) has access until the proper time. I hope you all are impressed: I strongly believe he is a descendant of the killer rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Organizyouizorizyouaintmybaby?

Slightly off-topic, but that whole Grapevine Mills is getting depressing. Not only is Virgin closing down, there were about 4 or 5 other big stores that were having close-out sales.

Christiern's "Happy Holidays" thread inspired this. Members of the Hoffman board are referred to as Hoffmanites; AAJ visitors are referred to (I think) as AAJ-ers; JC's members are referred to as.... eh, better not go there. Anyway, this is an unofficial poll. Just thought it'd be interesting to see what y'all think.

Thanks for starting the thread, Chris. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and all the other Organissimites!

The Crusaders record is dirtier, nastier, and greeeeazier than it has any right to be! the Ramsey Lewis album is a beautifully breezy little record, perfect for Saturday mornings. The Masekela is the proverbial needle in the haystack, and a solid gold needle at that. It's a shame this didn't get the recognition it deserved, but I sure am glad it's available again. It not only treads inside BITCHES BREW territory, it stomps the grooves right into the ground!

I have thirteen Cal Tjader albums, and this is my least favorite. I love it; it's one of my favorites. My bile is reserved for "Several Shades of Jade/Breeze from the East." Talk about a 2-fer from hell.... YMMV, of course!

Like Jerry will ever let THAT happen.

While I certainly understand your frustration with your hometown team, I would ask you all to mark Sunday on your calendar as the ONLY time in my life I'm rooting for the Eagles to beat the Cows, and here's why: 1) If the Cows win, they get to the playoffs, where they will lose. This is a team that deserves to MISS the playoffs altogether. This team NEEDS to miss the playoffs. If they miss the playoffs, Jerry Jones will have no choice but to acknowledge that his way has failed AGAIN. The ONLY way this season is an improvement over last season is if the Cows have a Super Bowl ring on their finger in February. Anything else is a failure compared to last season. I won't hold my breath for Jerry to make that statement, though. 2) Come on: even the most die-hard Cow fan has to acknowledge what a gas it would be to see T.O. embarrassed in Philly, especially since if the Eagles win, THEY go to the playoffs! Pray for me, Sunday. It'll be like rooting for the Cards against the Cubs. As much as it pains me to say it......GO EAGLES!!!!