mikeweil

I remember seeing plenty of the white in his eyes when he was in Frankfurt with a down-sized Gil Evans Orchestra. He and bassist Donald Pate were late for the gig, Peter Levin downtuned his synth to play bass until they arrived. Gil sat happily hammering chords as the band rocked through his tunes, with his back to the band - there was no way to turn the piano around on that small club stage - and Lew Soloff and Terumasa Hino were almost playing as many jokes as they were playing notes, while Gerry Niewood played his heart and soul out. Robert Crowder handled the drums. A mildly weird gig! Very unorthodox!

I got a double DVD from Fresh Sound/Blue Moon a few days ago, "The Greatest Jazz Films Ever", very fast delivery, and in a registered letter with no extra postage cost! To have all of Lester Youngs films on two discs is a good deal. The visual quality of the JATP film is excellent. They edited the "Jazz from Studio '61" to have two numbers each by the Jamal and Webster Groups without interruption, but I liked the film as originally edited better.

Who said that?!? Everything I know about Pierre Sprey's approach to recording tells of his devotion to the music and his efforts to make it heard without any sound manipulation! The musicians play what they want on his sessions. And it's real jazz, not some fancy stuff tailored to appeal to high-end listeners. Because they are hard core jazz his CDs are underrepresented in HiFi shops, at least over here. And the equipment he uses is simplistic and sophisticated at the same time. I have the Ran Blake with Jordan and find it musically great and great sounding at the same time. For what other label could he have recorded this music? I'm looking forward to getting his other Mapleshade discs.

Yeah, how about this, I'd have some thoughts to post about this too!

You gotta "free" Dolly Parton first - or at least a part on her.

Another vote for a Tony Scott RCA Mosaic! There was so much interesting music made between 1945 and 1955! The Roger Kellaway Cello Quartet was on A&M - have the LP. Its is pretty "classicistical", no drums, and Emil Richards' percussion has a very subdued part to play. The cellist plays arco most of the time in a pretty classical attitude with a wide vibrato. I keep the disc, but it's an acquired taste. I suggest you have a listen if you can.

I use the Bruyninckx Discography.

yeah! cut it out willya! Severe case of deprivation you caused!

C'mon guys, you make me feel like I missed somethin' like man's first step on the moon .... While you were busy watching and posting here I was in the basement, cleaning up my rehearsal room, setting up and adjusting my drumset, repairing the P.A., just like a working citizen is supposed to do, and YOU???!!! Now who did it? B)

Yes, it has to do with the Kansas City influence he always admitted. Sonny Stitt's "Stitt Plays Bird" is another great example of his comping style. I often find it amazing that academically trained players like John Lewis and Herbie Hancock have these deep rhythmical conceptions going on.

Can't wait to hear the breakdown takes!

Sample pages

Kubik, Gerhard: Africa and the Blues. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi: 1999 ISBN 1-57806-145-8 or 1-57806-146-6 Has anyone here read this book? He presents a new perspective on the Blues based on his research on Agrican Music, deducting the specific blues tonality from African pentatonic scales confronted with Western intsrument tunings and scales. I find his thesis much more convincing than other blues "theories" especially by German scholar Carlo Bohländer.

Lemme quote from Clarece Major's "Juba to Jive - A Dictionary of African-American Slang": COOL: "gone out" (Mandingo); fast (Mandingo). The number of expression going back to African languages, especially Mandingo and Wolof, is amazing: Jive Hip or Hep Dig Okay Jazz and countless others ...

Not only that, he was the incarnation of coolness! The inventor of being cool. The opening scene of "Jammin' the Blues" where you realize it is his hat you've been viewing from the top only after he lifts his head, and the way he sits on his stool and plays his saxophone - that's as cool as can be! And the contrast to "hot" Illinois Jacquet, after he played his coolly swinging solo ...

Forgot to say this is an African musical device, having two or more level of elementary pulsation going on at the same time, and keeping it ambiguous. Ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik, who developped this terminology and did some essential research on this - I highly recommend his recent book "Africa and the Blues" - talked about multi-beat structures and the like. I think, the African influence in jazz is generally underestimated - there is much more African musical thinking in jazz than most fans dream of.

When I think a little more about it: You ever heard the MJQ's "Plastic Dreams"? The second track, "Dancing", has John Lewis playing riffs all the time behind Bags' solo and in his own solo that would suit a Kansas City Jump band as nicely as the JB's, Percy Heath plays as funky as can be, and Connie Kay does some amazing things that could be played by some funk drummer with a different sound to great effect. If you change one aspect: the volume, the instrumental color or whatever, it sounds fresh, although the patterns may remain indentical. Entirely different mathod from simply changing the tempo or style in which you play a tune, more subtlety. Jimmy Smith's trio was subtle soul jazz.

To quote from German's national poet, Goethe: "Die Schönheit liegt im Auge des Betrachters". Literally translated: The beauty is in the spectator's eye. The "connection" is in the listener's ear, if we hear it that way, or that of the musicians, when he/she creates things this way, or both. We should ask Bailey if he had such an idea before it's too late. That's a very very loose and experienced player with some very original concepts. Afraid of absolutely nothing.

Just an idea: What would you think about a list of all "used" tracks in alphabetical order by performer's last name? (gotta start this as long as it's easy ...) This would help to avoid duplications. I would post this in the Test Master Thread.

Done!

Some Basie 1969/1970 albums: Standing Ovation, Dot - rec. January 1969 Evergreens, Groove Merchant - rec. October 1969 Basie on the Beatles, Happy Tiger - rec. December 1969 High Voltage, MPS - rec. February 1970 Afrique, Flying Dutchman - rec. December 1970 I know only the first of these, a nice live album, deserves a completed reissue.

No, but you can register for an e-mail newsletter informing you about upcoming Norah Jones reissues. US Mail seems to be incredibly slow: my brochure arrived here a week ago!

They did a CD reissue (double disc) of this, but it is OOP. Very nice.

I'll get me these three, for sure: Clark Terry & Chico O'Farrill - Spanish Rice (LPR) - Reissue - Impulse! Records Gloria Coleman - Soul Sisters (LPR) - Reissue - Impulse! Records Yusef Lateef - The Golden Flute (LPR) - Reissue - Impulse! Records Been waiting for the Lateefs for years! How's the Mel Brown? And the Johnny Frigo?