jeffcrom

We're all still alive and we all still like each other!

Just saw this. Thank you.

Maynard Ferguson - Jam Session (Emarcy). Nice original pressing. Maynard is kind of bombastic, but the others, especially Herb Geller, Claude Williamson, and Max Roach, play very tastefully.

That was indeed interesting, but I think he's missing something obvious here. The baptismal registry is the closest thing to a primary source listing Louis' birthday that we have, and to me carries more weight than what Armstrong's once-removed accounts of what he had been told.

Thank you, James. It was great to see you again. The St. Pete audience was one of the best I've ever had. This kind of music was new to most of them, but they were curious, attentive, and appreciative. The tour-ending show in Atlanta tonight was perhaps the best set this group has ever done. It was intense.

And I'll bet Milt could have hung.

This little road trip starts a week from tonight. If you're near any of these towns and have any interest in free jazz, come out and hear us. My bandmates are incredible - I'm the weakest member of the trio, but I write the tunes, so I get to put my name on the band.

When my wife retires and we move to the other side of the country in 8 - 9 years, I'm paring down to a few hundred LPs and the same number of CDs . This will be one I keep until I die.

I love Pee Wee Get My Gun. Apparently, during the sessions Ford pissed off keyboardist Frank Frost (a minor hero of mine) so much that Frank finally declared, "I want everyone to know that I'm now playing against my will."

Jemeel Moondoc Tentet (Jus Grew Orchestra) - Live at the Vision Festival (Ayler)

Losing my teaching job a few years back was one of the best things that ever happened to me, although it took me about a year to realize it.

I seldom post about my musical activities here, but at the age of 58, I'm making the first tour under my own name in about a month, and wanted to let folks know. It's a short southeastern tour by the Jeff Crompton Trio with bassist Evan Lipson (best known in free jazz circles for his association with saxophonist Jack Wright) and the great Bob Stagner (Shaking Ray Levis) on drums. Our Magic Word CD made Creative Loafing Atlanta's "Top 10 Atlanta CDs of 2016" list. The music is free jazz and a certain amount of free improv. Here's the schedule: Sunday, July 9 - Indianhead Factory, Tallahassee Monday, July 10 - Hi-Ho Lounge, New Orleans Wednesday, July 12 - Studio 620, St. Petersburg Thursday, July 13 - The Gallery at Avalon Island, Orlando Friday, July 14 - El-Rocko Lounge, Savannah Saturday, July 15 - Mammal Gallery, Atlanta If you live near any of these spots, please spread the word, even if you're not interested yourself. Thanks!

A fabulous collection.

Jazz at the Philharmonic (Stinson 10" LP). This is Volume 1, although not labeled as such. I guess Granz wasn't sure that this was going to be an ongoing series yet.

Jackie McLean - Hipnosis (BN). The session with Grachan Moncur.

Tony Fougerat (Rampart). Old-style New Orleans dance hall music from 1974. Lee Konitz Meets Warne Marsh Again (Pausa) Cousin Joe of New Orleans (ABC Bluesway)

Steve Lacy / Ulrich Gumpert - Deadline (Sound Aspects). Lacy urged his fans not to buy this 1985 album, because it was mastered at the wrong speed. I dutifully avoided it for years, but have recently been using my variable speed turntable to pitch other records correctly, so I picked up a nice copy of this recently and quickly found the correct speed with the help of the sheet music to the opening piece, "Art.". Pitch issues aside, this album doesn't seem to be that well regarded, but I like it a lot, and think that Lacy and Gumpert play very well together.

This very sad, but not unexpected news is enough to bring me out of my near-silence here. I'll just say something about Gregg Allman's songwriting. "It's Not My Cross to Bear" is one of the greatest blues ballads ever, And it was written, I think, when Allman was only 20. And if "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'" is not strictly a blues, it certainly has the blues spirit, and I've always thought that the lyrics were the equal of many classic blues lyrics. "Tell me 'bout the car I saw parked outside your door; Tell me what you left me waiting two or three hours for. Tell me why when the phone rings, baby, you're up and 'cross the floor. Please don't keep me wonderin' no longer."

I want to emphasize how much joy Col. Bruce brought to Atlanta and the world. I've been listening to lots of his music today, and I remarked to my wife what a happy, upbeat-sounding song is "Basically Frightened," the lyrics of which are about fear and paranoia. And I'll never forget an evening back in the 1980s, when a band I was in opened for Hampton's band at the time, The Late Bronze Age. Chick Corea and the Elektric Band had played the club the nght before, and Corea had apparently distributed flyers titled "Rules for Musicians." Hampton's bassist, Ricky Keller (now also gone) found one of these papers; he read each rule in turn while the band interpreted them. The only one I remember all these years later was, "Do not bang on or abuse your instrument." You can only imagine what the next two minutes sounded like..

Yes - I talked to a friend today who was close to Bruce, an Atlanta music writer who was at the concert. He said that when Hampton fell onto the stage, there was no doubt in anybody's mind that it was part of the show. John Popper, who was on stage playing harmonica, was the first person to realize that something was wrong. Even after Popper and a couple of stagehands turned Bruce over and it was apparent that he was unresponsive, the audience was hoping that it was still part of Bruce's flair for the dramatic. My friend said that for most of the audience, it wasn't until they walked out of the theater and saw the ambulance that they realized how serious the situation was.

The unclassifiable Atlanta music legend Bruce Hampton collapsed last night during the last song of his 70th birthday tribute show at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. He died soon afterwards. http://www.11alive.com/news/atlanta-artist-bruce-hampton-collapses-on-fox-theatre-stage-dies-after-tribute/435937558 Col. Bruce's music can be described as improvisational avant rock, I guess. I'll miss him.

Ernie Caceres was a great, underrated clarinetist. I love the Condon "Town Hall" series. I can kind of see why many critics didn't think much of it at the time, but all these years later, every recorded minute seems precious. Same with the "This is Jazz" broadcast series.

Who is on this one, and what vintage are the recordings?

Improvisational Arts Quntet - NO COMPROMISE! (Prescription). Alvin Fiedler's group with Kidd Jordan, Kent Jordan, Clyde Kerr, Jr., and Elton Heron. The liner notes make a big deal over the fact the the title was deliberately presented in all capital letters, so I followed suit.

The Davis Sisters - In My Room (Savoy mono, 1967)