jeffcrom

Very sorry to hear this. You are in my thoughts.

One more before bed: Tony Parenti - Ragtime (Jazzology)

Sidney Bechet/Martial Solal - When a Soprano Meets a Piano (Inner City). It hit me this evening that I hadn't listened to any Bechet for awhile, and suddenly the need to hear some was strong and immediate - almost physical.

Modern Jazz Piano: Four Views (RCA Camden). A 1957 collection, with Mary Lou Williams, Erroll Garner, Lennie Tristano, and Art Tatum; it has several tracks I don't have anywhere else.

Mary Lou Williams - First Lady of the Piano (Inner City). Ms. Williams was not happy during her stay in England, but you can't tell by listening to this excellent session.

As usual, spinning lots of shellac without posting about it. But here are some interesting ones from the past few days: Jelly Roll Morton - Black Bottom Stomp/The Chant (Victor, 1926). A nice copy of this one. Listening on 78 makes you realize how well Morton understood the medium - these are both three-minute masterpieces. King Oliver and His Dixie Syncopators - Someday Sweetheart/Dead Man Blues (Vocalion, 1926). Picked this one up for a few bucks recently. It's very worn, so although it plays with no skips, it's more of a cool object than a record I'm going to listen to often. But it's my only original-issue Oliver, so I'm happy to have it. Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy - A Mellow Bit of Rhythm/In My Wildest Dreams (Decca, 1937). I've got half a dozen Kirk 78s, but "Mellow Bit" is the only Mary Lou Williams instrumental I have in the lot. It's a good 'un. Mary Lou Williams - Knowledge/Oo-Bla-Dee (King, 1949). Mary Lou at her boppiest, with Idrees Sulieman, Mundell Lowe, and Kenny Hagood.

Are these going to be CDr's or factory-pressed CDs? I'm in either way, but am curious.

Well, it's not bullshit, MG, although the approach Copland describes is only one way to listen to/approach music. I think we had a version of this argument when you visited. Music is a lot of things, which are not mutually exclusive. It's an expression of its time and place, it's a thing in itself, it's a "product," it's an expression of the person who created it, and it has a social/cultural function. I listen to music in all kinds of ways - with deep attention, with partial attention, as a background to work, and as a background for socializing. I get something different out of each. You said once that Jimmy Smith's The Boss album, recorded at the legendary Pascal's La Carrousel Lounge in Atlanta, made you realize that the purpose of the organ trio was to be the soundtrack for the party. Yeah, well.... Those happy partiers you hear in the background on the album are missing a lot of the music - they're getting the flavor and excitement, but Jimmy Smith is doing some amazing things that they are talking and laughing through. On the other hand, when I'm listening at home and shaking my head in amazement at Mr. Smith's playing, I'm certainly missing out on the atmosphere, the camaraderie, the context, and well, the fun that those folks were experiencing. But that doesn't make my way of approaching the music bullshit; it's just different. And I don't think you need a musician's ear to be able to "follow" music in the way that Copland is talking about. One of my favorite pieces of recorded music is Charlie Parker's "Embracable You," take one. Even a casual listener will recognize that this is an exceptionally beautiful piece of music, but a close listening will reveal that it's also a brilliantly constructed improvisation, with the opening six-note lick serving as the basis for the whole thing. Bird repeats that lick, transposes it, turns it upside down, disguises it - but I think most people could follow what he's doing. This recording rewards listening with the kind of attention Copland describes. And yes, I know that context of that three-minute recording - the circumstances of Bird's life at the time, what was going on in jazz at the time, the relationship between jazz and popular song, the currents of American society at the time, the fact that just minutes later Parker played another excellent (although not quite as brilliant) improvisation on "Embracable You." I can think about all, but mostly, this recording is a thing in itself to me. It's a beautiful, deeply moving (to me, anyway), incredibly well put-together piece of music, and it has given me lots of joy over the years. I've got more, but jeez, that's enough for now.

Jazztime U.S.A. (MCA) Then complementary material from my battered three-EP set: Jazztime U.S.A. Volume 1 (Brunswick)

Mundell Lowe - Porgy & Bess (RCA Camden stereo). A nice one, with Ben Webster and Art Farmer, among others. Recording for this one began on July 16, 1958; Miles and Gil went into the studio to start on their version six days later.

Rainn Wilson Don Sleet Adolphus Hailstork

Onzy Matthews - Blues with a Touch of Elegance (Capitol stereo). Really enjoying Curtis Amy's soprano on "I Should Care," notwithstanding the fact that he's slightly out of tune.

Nippon Gagaku Kai - Gagaku: Ancient Japanese Court Music (Everest). Gagaku is reputedly the oldest more-or-less-unchanged musical tradition in the world. I had never heard of "the music of a thousand autumns" until I visited Kyoto in 2006. On that trip I heard three performances of gagaku, or rather, two performances and a rehearsal. The rehearsal was the most memorable. My wife and I visited Atawa Shrine at dusk, and were looking around the grounds when a gagaku ensemble started rehearsing inside the building. We sat on a bench as it got darker and darker, with this ancient music filling the courtyard.

Fearless Fosdick Dick Tracy Mr. Trace, Keener Than Most Persons

JImmy Heath - Jimmy (Muse). I'm grateful to felser for introducing me to this surprising album in BFT 115. (This is a Muse reissue of the original Cobblestone LP.)

Dixie Hummingbirds - Live (ABC/Peacock)

!!!

Well, I don't always post what I'm listening to, but this morning it was: Duke Pearson - It Could Only Happen with You (BN UA)

Frank's Place, episode 4, "The Bridge" - the first great episode of this great one-season program.

Johnny Hammond Smith - The Stinger (Prestige stereo). After dixieland and post-modern jazz tonight, I felt the need for some grease.

Just for fun, I'm taking the underdog. Hamilton, 50.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire (Columbia). I pull this one out every once in a while and try to like it, but I don't, much. It seems like I should - I'm not a snob about fusion, I don't think, and these are all great musicians. But it's so... clean. Miles' music at the time was gritty, dirty, and unpredictable. This ain't.