Kalo

I'm a big Konitz fan and I really like this album. I'll give it another spin tonight. Looking forward to it, as I haven't listened to this in ages.

Mulligan's ankles never affected me that way!

Watch out for those strong-jawed sisters!

I recently bought the Val Lewton Collection boxed set, which was mentioned with much anticipation earlier in this thread. I will attest that this is great stuff, among the best "B-movies" ever; needless to say, much better than many "A-films." I had seen Cat People and liked it. And I had been blown away by the definitively downbeat The Seventh Victim, famous for featuring an ominous shower scene over a decade before Hitchcock'sPsycho. I had long heard of the legendary status of I Walked With a Zombie, but I was still mightily impressed by it after finally seeing it. Among other things, despite being a B-movie horror flick, it convincingly deals with the historical weight of slavery in the Western hemisphere -- a horror story if there ever was one. I Walked With a Zombie, ludicrous title and all, is up there with the best B-movies ever made. I'm talking Out of the Past, perhaps the definitive film noir, and the Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher western Ride Lonesome, which boasts one of the finest, most cathartic closing shots of any film ever. ...Zombie's closing shot rivals it, but in a way that is steeped with despair rather than triumph. The unpromisingly tited Curse of the Cat People is an inside look into the psyche of a very young girl trying to make sense of the world. James Agee, the first canonized film critic in American letters, was taken aback by the startling sensitivity of this supposed exploitation flick. In my opinion, it's upthere with Night of the Hunter as both a scary movie and as a portrait of childhood concerns. A great set, and I haven't even watched the last three films, which were vehicles for horror star Boris Karloff, one of my childhood idols.

I read that one a year or so ago. Essential.

On a Phillip Roth kick, I guess. Just finished My Life as a Man. Pretty harrowing. An account of a Strindbergian marriage, a true Dance of Death. But somehow funny, too. Not as good as The Ghost Writer, but probably Roth's first triumph after being seriously derailed by the aftermath of Portnoy's Complaint.

I recently got this one from the Groovy Bastids. As a fan of Brian Wilson, Harry Nilsson, and Randy Newman, I have to say that this one has me simultaneously horrified and fascinated. I keep putting it on with a sort of combination of annoyance and compulsion, kinda like scratching an itch. As usual, Sangrey called it: Exactly what I was thinking, too. Amazing that a major label footed the bill for this visionary madness. They kept on supporting it, too, as this was put out on CD very near the beginning of that cycle.

Yikes indeed, BruceH!

What I'd really like to hear is Cecil with Welk!

Hey, I'm the one who gave you that tape! That was a long time ago. Glad you like it. I still pull this one out on occasion. Just a super album. Nothing groundbreaking, but everyone at the top of their game. Sahib Shihab and Walter Davis, Jr.! And the Don Sickler arrangements are part of what makes the thing work so well, along with the excellent programming. On the now famous Uptown label, by the way. They've been great all along, as I'm sure all of us here know.

Two excellent versions, indeed. My favorite live version was part of a Benny Carter gig at the Regattabar in Cambridge, MA, at least 15 years ago. Alan Dawson was the drummer, and he played an entire chorus as a drum solo, never losing the thread of the tune the entire time. In fact, he kept the audience on the edge of their seats. My favorite drum solo ever (in memory, at least).

Larkin on jazz is well worth reading, agree with him or not. The man could write, and as Bruce H stated above, he often could describe very well what he didn't personally care for.

Whaddaya want, anyway? They're just body mechanics. Trial and error. How about that bird flu?

Another stellar example of why the Organissimo forums beat just about any other music-oriented publication or source, be it magazine, website, etc. I'm almost inspired to take up a collection for Larry. I still need to buy his book -- moving that one to the front burner now. Can I buy it from you, Larry?

Great News! Playtime is one of my all-time favorite movies, right near the top of my top ten. I agree that it's more than just a movie. It's really an essay on how to look at the world, a film that will re-wire your brain if you give it a chance. Definitely must be seen more than once, and on the big screen if at all possible. I hope that they do reissue Trafic, an underrated film in my opinion, with some big laughs, and thought-provoking as well. Sure, it's a retreat from Playtime in many ways, but nobody's gone further in that direction than Tati in Playtime. If Trafic had come before Playtime, it would have a much greater reputation (but then it wouldn't have had that great moon landing sequence).

How is it?

Finally listened to this for the first time last night. And I'm playing it for the third time as I post here. This is right up my alley. I'm hearing affinities with Bud and Elmo, of course, and Monk ("Off My Back Jack" reminds me of "Friday the Thirteenth" but even more obsessive!). But Hasaan definitely has his own thing going on, too. The exchanges with the drums are reminiscent of Herbie Nichols. I also hear similarities to Sun Ra (those wooly chords), and even a bit of Cecil Taylor. I predict that I'll be listening to this one a lot.

I just got the above reissue from the Dusty Groovers, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. Since this is a Collectables reissue, I wasn't surprised that they left a track off of it. Unfortunately, it's the track that was specifically dedicated to Elmo Hope. Damn.

Yeah, but who is John Zorn, really? Too bad What's My Line isn't still around.

Not a bad little book. I especially enjoyed the post-modern/post-Oprah gesture of including a reading group guide at the end of the book. Or was that the publisher who did that?

That's the one. Yuck! ← Same one I remember being vaguely embarrased by all those years ago, too.

I've always wanted to write a tune called "I'm in Love with the Pharmacist's Daughter."

Then again, there are players who are "all technique." That says it well, in my opinion.

There's no such thing as "too much technique." (Though I understand what people are trying to say when they use this phrase.) But there is such a thing as "too little to say."

Good news indeed. I hope that the recent reports about his health have been exaggerated.