Kalo

BruceH is the man who turned me on to this way back when it was first re-released on vinyl in the mid-to-late 1980s. At the time I was too blinded by the brilliance of earlier Ellingtonian incarnations to fully get it, but I certainly do now. There's something of a sweet spot for Ellington here, an intersection of state-of-the-art recording, relaxed lived-in performance with a primo band, and a wonderful blues-based program that make this one of the most homey of all Ellington recordings.

I saw the Assad Brothers, the Brazilian classical guitar duo, on Saturday at Jordan Hall. Sunday I saw Bill Frisell's Unspeakable Orchestra at the Berklee Performance Center. No more guitars for me for a while...

By the way, Chuck, on the joke!

And as I always seem to do, I misspelled "Misspelling" in my last post!

Yes it was; I tried to correct my mispelling of Petrucciani and accidentally deleted.

Me too. Trombone's one of my favorite jazz instruments.

I hate that direct bass pickup sound. Ruins a lot of '70s recordings for me.

Stopped by the Harvard Square Tower last Wednesday and the jazz and classical sections were decimated, though discounts were still only 30% off. All of the Criterion DVDs were gone, too. Still plenty of rock and pop stuff in the bins, though.

get it, Get it, GET IT... GET IT! (He said, Satanically.) Seriously, You won't regret it if you like big band music at all.

He was amazing in his very first film, Panic in the Streets, alongside fellow actors Zero Mostel, Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, and Barbara Bel Geddes, directed by Elia Kazan. An overlooked but key Film Noir. Oy, what a punim he had! The result of burns they say. And of course, he'll always be remembered for his indelible villain in Shane, facing up against a nervous Elisha Cook, Jr. (for all his putative wimpiness, a hard actor to face up against). "Pick up the gun..." Sad to see him go.

Saw it last Sunday. I haven't laughed so hard at a movie since the first Richard Pryor concert film. I felt a lot guiltier laughing at this one, however. Still, I have to think that Cohen is some sort of comic genius.

HB to PS!

Though I have a hard time with it myself, Bob Wills's signature "A-Haaaaa" thing made a lot of sense back in the 78 rpm days when bands would release a new disc to the jukebox trade every few weeks or so. Whenever they heard that identifying cry, listeners realized that they were hearing the new Bob Wills. But on a CD (not to mention LP) what was a canny week-to-week branding thing in its day becomes a major annoyance when repeated ad infinitum track after track. However, I can imagine such "signatures" coming back in the current musical climate, as the kids today have a "single" or "track" orientation in this downloading age. Individual rappers's trademark cameos on different tracks are a harbinger of this...

I don't understand this thread. I'd love to hear Lacy with Monk; ditto Thad. So tell me, should I invest in this disc?

While I admire Byron's ambition and talent, the phrase "eclectic to a fault" comes to mind...

Dragon fruit? What does it taste like? Right now I'm drinking Pian Del Ciampolo, a wine made in the Chianti region by the Montevertine winery.

Good call on Tom Conway looking like Flynn, BruceH. He was definitely a good deal better-looking than his brother George, and just as sneeringly urbane. Leaving open the questionas to why George became the bigger name by far. Luck of the draw, I suppose.

I got around to it a few years ago... and then got rid of it. I think you can safely skip this one. I like Davis, think he's generally a fine writer, and own most of his books, too, but this one just didn't do it for me.

That would be a great reissue program! I don't even know all the Fontanas that came with Roling covers, but I'd buy a box set ( ) in less than a second. Those that I've heard (that happen to ahve Roling covers) have been great. I kind of doubt Universal (U.S.) will reissue these. Maybe Universal France, a la the Free America batch? Michael Cuscuna once told me (in passing, casual conversation via e-mail) that he'd like to do a Fontana Mosaic Select. I wouldn't necessarily get my hopes up, but that would great as well. Let's see, Marte Roling did covers for Marion Brown, John Tchicai, Paul Bley, Albert Ayler ... who else? (Don Cherry?) Late, I was thinking of Universal France of course and specifically of Daniel Richard who knows his jazz inside out! As for Marte Roling covers, our friend Clifford took care of this: Fontana Marte Roling Series Edited to correct to the appropriate link! Great Link! Thanks! Sign me up for that box set if it ever materializes.

Marion Brown is such a beautiful player. I've been a fan ever since I stumbled across a Public Television broadcast of a concert of his one lonely New Year's Eve in College. I think it was the year all my friends went away to Europe to study, which puts it around 1981. Anyone familiar with this broadcast? It may have originated here in Boston. An acquaintance of mine, Robert Fenz, made a movie that featured documentary footage of Marion Brown (which I haven't seen). Here's some information on it. Here's a link with a photo of Brown from the film: http://www.harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar..._fall/fenz.html If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can see that Fenz has also worked with Leo Smith.

You're making me very jealous. Wish I could have been there.

YES! I agree that this is essential. Some of the best, most poetic American films of the 1940s. With a sense of dread and a deep sadness that eclipses most "horror" films. I Walked With a Zombie is a B-Movie masterpiece, better than most A pictures. The two Cat People films are wonderful psychological studies, with the second being even finer than the first. The Seventh Victim is an incredibly underrated film, the darkest of all the Lewtons, and one that Hitchcock likely stole from (shower scene!). The other films are worthwhile, too, and include excellent turns by Boris Karloff. A great set that I'm very glad to own.

Indeed, the group Television always struck me as very much minimalism as applied to rock 'n' roll. Also working in New York, also at the right time... Then of course, there's the Ramones. Interesting. I agree with you that the Ramones were minimalists, but in a totally idiomatic Rock and Roll way. Television, on the other hand, garnered frequent Grateful Dead comparisons at the time; I mean, they had those long long guitar solos and shit. To my ears, Talking Heads was the NY band that at the time was consciously borrowing Reich and Glass's stuff, them being art school conceptual types and all. And, of course, Reich and Glass were themselves influenced by the brutal rhythmic primitivism of rock.

Some nice drinking this weekend. An old college buddy who was recently married came up to Boston to introduce the old gang to the new wife. All of us are wine-lovers (most are jazz fans, too) so we pulled out some decent bottles. Michele Chiarlo 1996 Barolo, La Rioja Alta 1996 Vina Ardanza, Domaine des Galets des Papes 1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape. (Those are just the ones I remember...)

Mysterious Thelonious is really excellent. The illustrations and setting of the words mimic the see-sawing motion of Monk's Mysterioso perfectly. (As an aside, for years I've imagined Mysterioso as the theme song for a really hip and twisted television kiddie show.) I haven't seen the Coltrane book, but Raschka also wrote and illustrated a book called Charlie Parker Played Bebop which I have seen and which did not impress me in the same way as the Thelonious book. I notice that he's also worked on a book about Armstrong.