shawn·m

That was pretty rich. “Bix and Pops Lost Cannabis Sessions” and Coltrane’s “The Penny Whistle Tapes” were good spoofs, too.

While I suppose it’s possible all “usable” material has already been released, I can’t help wonder about it. It seems amazing that the set doesn’t contain at least one alternate (?). Likewise, we’re fortunate that one version of each tune performed is available. Coincidence? Thanks for the additional info, Bertrand; I’ve wondered about the sound quality of the “other” Lighthouse. Think I’ll put the Fresh Sound stuff on the wish list anyway.

Don’t know why I haven’t listened to this set in a while, next to Lee’s work with Shorter in the Messengers, it’s my favorite Morgan. Thanks to all for the reminder, it’s time to play that set again! I wonder if Blue Note will ever release the rest of the Lighthouse material. Yeah, I know, it would only be additional versions of the songs already released. Even so, Miles’ Complete Plugged Nickel is stuffed with multiple versions of “Walkin’” (for example), and part of the appeal is how differently each version was handled.

James Williams Meets the Saxophone Masters is a fun recording. I don’t think it was intended to be anything but fun with George Coleman on the right channel and Billy Pierce on the left. Joe is center stage. I’d heard the DIW disk was out-of-print, but Amazon still lists it as being available.

I’m in the same boat, AfricaBrass. It’s very rare to run across something that’s a complete waste of time and money. Now, I’m not much into fusion or anything approaching a ’70’s vibe. So I don’t think it’s fair to slam something that falls within my blind spot. Unless I can entertain myself while poking fun at my limitations, that is. I was very disappointed by Mobley’s torpid playing on Thinking Of Home. Almost like he was saying, “I just don’t give a shit anymore.” Nearly the aural equivalent of being flipped off. If I’d heard this before buying it, I would have spent my money on something else. But it was Mobley, how could it be a clinker? Besides, there seem to be all kinds of people with tastes similar to mine that actually like this record. Expectation can be a terrible thing when disappointed. Was it really that bad? I gave Thinking Of Home a second and even third spin recently and no, I’m not about to say I’ve found something intriguing that I’d missed before, but I did notice something. Recorded in 1970, Hank was tinkering with elements of the era. I’m now unclear as to if diminished capacity or interest was a factor, but even the production values lean toward that ’70’s sound. So while I don’t like the recording, at least I can make peace with my expectations and chalk it up to that ’70’s blind spot. Then there’s the matter of Lester Young’s final recordings for Verve…

Outstanding! This means my audiophile-wanna-be instincts have not yet been corrupted! My knuckles may be red, and my mouth might be the envy of every son’s mother, but I’ll still give you thanks for the SACD player tip from a few months ago. Sure wish I had a little David S Ware in DSD (wink, wink). Now, with the addition of the "Mellow Tone" clue...

Agreed. That photo’s burned into my memory, too. Sure wish I could flush it out.

Hi Jim, I've a question about the following quote. "One big band recording that I did was mastered without my attendance. There was this wonderful A section of the tune played tripple pianissimo and then the whole band played a single note stinger at triple forte. It had punch and a great surprize (sort of like the Mozart Surprize symphony). Now, when the release cd came out, all of the dynamics had been wiped away, leveled out. All of the fun of the arrangement had been wiped away with no sensitivity to the intention." Were you referring to Joe Henderson’s Big Band? I always thought it was very well recorded, must have been a monster to engineer, too. Just slap my hands if the recording should remain nameless.

[message revised by hadi-blues]

Musicians and academics stand aside! At my fingertips, I have the results of a google search: A. A technique in which a band plays a pattern of short chords separated by silences. The intervening musical space is then filled in with monophonic improvisation. Typical patterns for stop-time include playing on the downbeat of every other measure; or playing on beats 1, 2, and 3 of a measure. B. Stop time, defined by Gunther Schuller as "discontinuous rhythm." C. Performance technique used in New Orleans-style jazz in which the rhythm section stops keeping time and instead alternates sets of sounded beats with periods of silence. Alternations, however, occur regularly. An accent will be given to the first beat of a two measure phrase where the rhythm section will play a chord and beat at this point. Silence follows but solos can continue. Stop-time is not only used in jazz music it is also used in tap dancing and blues. D. The way to resolve this problem is to develop a procedure that stops time for all couplings and for all individual spins in the molecule. Then if we need a selected coupling for a controlled- NOT gate, or if we want to push a given spin forward in time by just about that much, we can release just the coupling or just the spin, so that the required free evolution for them takes place for a precisely determined amount of time. Then we stop time for the coupling and for the spin again and perform whatever other operations are required to finish the controlled- NOT gate. E. "What are we after? We are literally trying to stop time," says Smith. "Running 100 meters in 10 seconds won't bring you fame. But running it in 9.79 will. He who finishes closest to zero wins. Freeze the clock -- that's what we're all about."

I’m having so much fun with the trial version of my GIF animator that I may have to buy it. I’ve already built enough Shafi Hadi avatar versions for every day of the week, but there’s a whole big beautiful world of images out there just crying to be corrupted. Silly stuff, but fun.

In ’61, I think Dolphy’s muse was more esoteric than was Trane’s —based on the recorded evidence, anyway. Didn’t Trane have to put up with defending both his music and playing with Dolphy? First the critics were confused, then Trane and Dolphy were stumped by the confusion surrounding them! I wonder did Tynan ever eat his “anti-jazz” words later? Ed Jackson, don't forget Ed Jackson! Oh, and Jazzmoose, someone soliciting your opinion on Quartet Out on another bulletin board.

It seems odd that Dolphy should have been tagged a charlatan. The man had a very identifiable style with his trademark intervallic leaps. Even on the surface, there’s a distinct method at work.

Speaking as a “free jazz” noob, I’d recommend Ed Jackson’s Wake Up Call. While it’s hardly a classic landmark recording, I do think it does an amazing job of showing how freer jazz elements fit within a larger jazz context.

Forgive the silence, I’ve just entered “sponge mode.”

That’s a shame. I’m convinced Javon was quoted out of context. Being that the Silver/Shorter connection is not an obvious one, I’d like to hear more about it. Gee, now I’ve a boatload of questions, but they don’t have anything to do with Javon, Shorter or Silver. Too cool!

Shhhhh… Quite, Sngry. You don’t want Little Debbie finding out!

Well, I work three days of swing followed by two nights of graveyard. And cover for the inevitably sick supervisor so…

Act fast. Half.com is being folded into ebay!

Sngry, I wasn’t familiar with Dixon’s October Revolution concerts, so I did a little surfing. The results were interesting. Scott Yanow and the Encyclopedia of Modern Music agree on Logan’s credentials, which look good on paper, but they are 180° apart in assessing his abilities. Free (pun intended) association time: Logan is listed as having played in bands with Bostic and Pullen. Never made the connection before, but Pullen’s style strikes me as an avant-garde extension of Art Tatum. Pullen style doesn’t rely as heavily on… well that’s another topic. Random association does that. I’m actually surprised there isn’t a long list of musicians that were specifically tagged as free jazz quacksters. Yes, Ornette, Cecil and others were attacked, but directly. The vague accusations I’m referring to were typically aimed at nameless others in defense of Ornette and Cecil. A quote from a book or even one of today’s magazines might read, “Ornette’s new music made it easy for the charlatans to follow,” or “The public had trouble discerning between Cecil’s internal logic, and the charlatans who never mastered their instruments.” Can I point to a specific in-print example? No. But the line, or something quite like it, seems nearly ubiquitous. Apparently, when this remark appears, it’s in reference to Giuseppi Logan! More likely, it’s an easy line to write. “‘Not aging well’ is really more about the judger defining his/her personal evolution than it is any intrinsic worth on the part of what's being judged, I think.” Mosaic’s Woody Shaw still gives me the willies! One of the problems I have in trying to discuss “free” jazz is its definition. I took to Miles Plugged Nickel stuff and Andrew Hill’s Blue Note work very quickly. Late Coltrane is something I just started getting a handle on a couple years ago (Ornette isn’t nearly so opaque after listening to Trane), and what little I’ve heard of Cecil is still far beyond my reach. All, I think, fall under the heading of free jazz, but each is very different from the other. Words fail, especially in a non-musician’s case. But that shouldn’t keep me from trying. minew, the same conflicting ideas float about in the fine arts world, too. Go to school and have your natural ability and individuality squashed/Go to school and learn how to make the most of your ability and individuality. This seems as good a time as any to paraphrase Forrest Gump; “I don’t know, but I, I think maybe it's both.” Funny thing is, I do have conflicting feelings about Ornette’s trumpet playing. On the one hand, he may simply need the trumpet to achieve an effect or sound he simply can’t get at on his alto. On the other, why on earth would anybody want to dilute their work with gimmickry? Also, I think David S. Ware’s name may belong on that list of technically proficient rule-breakers.

Only a joke. I learned my lesson the last time around.

Anybody heard from Garrison, aka Lukrion lately? I did a quick roster check here and at AAJ without a hit. I might have his email address somewhere…

WY, no kidding? If true, too cool! Hey Bertrand, did you ever talk to Javon Jackson and ask what he meant by “Horace Silver was the reason that Wayne wrote the way he wrote”? Mr. Goldsher’s explanation just didn’t do it for me (I don’t remember what it was, other than it didn’t satisfy).

…and besides, the whole softsong debacle I’ve archived is much more entertaining.

Don’t let the ’89 release date of the complete EmArcy Brownie box put you off, wesbed. It’s worth every penny and sounds very good despite the time of release.