Kalo

This is a fascinating thread, voyeurism and all... I bought a remaindered copy of Balliett's Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz and read almost all of it (skimmed in places). The guy hates hard bop, and constantly throws in such digs at the genre. I don't feel confident enough to say "fallible," but his tastes are sufficiently different from mine (I listen to lots of hard bop, for instance) that I wouldn't go by his recommendations. I like reading Balliet for his language, not for his taste. Sometimes his tastes and mine intersect, sometimes not. But his use of the language, stylized though it often is, is enough for me. I agree with Sangrey: Balliett is all about the language. I will never forget his description of Pee Wee Russell as "stooped like a parenthesis." That's good writing, whether you agree with his taste in music or not.

Guess I won't be "upgrading" anytime soon...

Nice piece. Thanks, Nate.

I've heard very good things about Ross Thomas, Niko. Thanks for the reminder.

This sounds good. Herrmann is probably my favorite film composer; certainly in the top 2 or 3. Don't Hesitate, BruceH. Since you're a classical music fan and a film aficionado, I think you'd get a lot out of this. Herrmann was a lot more of a force in the world of "serious" music than I had realized, though I did know that he was an early and lifelong booster of Charles Ives, from having read Jan Swafford's Ives biography (which I would recommend very highly as well).

Still available. Don't hesitate to jump on this one. Superb album with excellent late period work by Rouse, Sahib Shihab, and Walter Davis, Jr. in a sextet also including Claudio Roditi, Santi Debriano, and Victor Lewis. Excellent arrangements by Don Sickler. Recorded and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. On the Uptown Records label. One of the essential records of the 1990s.

The Complete Verve Gerry Mulligan Concert Band Sessions - Disc II I'm really glad I finally took the plunge on this set.

Even a broken watch is right twice a day.

Smuttynose Brewing Company India Pale Ale My new B.O.C. (Beer of Choice).

The Drowning Pool was the second Archer, sort of a holding pattern after the very good The Moving Target. The early Archers are indeed, as you noticed, under the spell of Chandler (Chandler himself was a bit pissed off at the time). But even though the early Macdonalds were derivative, they were derivative at a very high level. He started out good and got better and better. As he went on he evolved a style that elevated the Chandlerian similes, in Chandler confined to clever wisecracks, to a level of thematic resonance that has rarely been matched since.

I wonder if "Peg-Leg" Bates ever played the same bill as "Wingy" Manone? For those who didn't know, "Peg-Leg" was a dancer! From a 1997 obituary on Jitterbuzz.com:

Welty was right: Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar) was the man. I read all of his novels over the course of a year about a decade ago and have returned to several of them a few times since. Other big Macdonald fans were hard-boiled singer/songwriter Warren Zevon and one of my favorite living writers, Thomas Berger (Little Big Man, Killing Time, Neighbors, The Feud etc.). The Galton Case is one of Macdonald's best, a watershed for him, but all of the Archer novels are worthwhile. Anything from the '60s is highly recommended, especially The Wycherly Woman, The Zebra-Striped Hearse, The Chill, The Far Side of the Dollar, and The Goodbye Look.

I've been trying to resist succumbing to the "Blowout" sale, but last night I finally slipped. I mean, CDs for three bucks! I ordered 33 of the damn things, including a lot of K2s (though very few "upgrades"). So in about a month I should have a very full plate of music to listen to.

Don't have one right now, but looking forward to getting a table soon.

Just finished A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Times of Bernard Herrmann by Steven C. Smith (University of California Press) Very good book. Smith writes well, is judicious in his critical evaluations, and wisely quotes Herrmann's own eloquent published writing and letters at length.

F Yeah, but what about "flicker"? Seriously, thanks for looking that up, Fer Urbina. I'll have to check out that space age pop site.

Didn't get the e-mail, but I always wondered about that myself. I seem to remember that the graphics on the album covers depicted what looked like film.

Is that a closet or a time machine? Thanks once more, Chris.

I voted for the first option. Time Out was one of my first few jazz albums way back when in high school, and I bought Time Further Out shortly thereafter. They still sound good to me on the rare occasions when I listen to them. His "classic" quartet really was something (how can you not like Desmond and Morello?). And I think Brubeck has his own, honorable place in the world of jazz. Is he the be all and end all? Of course not, but he achieved one of the main distinctions in jazz: he sounded just like himself.

Get outta here! No shit? A major omission to be sure, but I already had it when I got the box, so I didn't mind. (Still, hard to believe that an "expert" would be unaware of this stellar session.) It should also be remembered that when these boxes were released, much of the music on them was unavailable on domestic issues of any kind. Plus they included things that had never legally been issued in this country before. These sets aren't perfect, but they are damn good, and at the time they first came out they were revelatory for some of us "youngsters."

Cat Anderson & Gato Barbieri

You took the words right out of my keyboard. Will Daltrey tour as "The Who" after Townsend kicks it, or vice versa? Give us a break. The last man standing gets to tour as "A Who."

I would be all over a Levitt Mosaic Select. I really like the OJC and the RCA The Arrangers disc has been a prized possession for years. I agree with those who find that Levitt's band is both distinctive and ideal for his wonderfully inventive and idiomatic arrangements. Thanks for the reminder. I'll be pulling these out again soon.

Just pulled the trigger on the Mulligan.

Just pulled the trigger on the soon to be O.O.P. Mosaic Mulligan Concert Band box. Threw in the Ellington single The Cosmic Scene as the cherry on top.