Kalo

That one's nice, and budget priced, too, as I recall.

If we're talking rock, then I always thought that Buzzcocks's Singles Going Steady was a great title. What about Captain Beefheart's Lick My Decals Off, Baby? Hell, MOST of 'fheart's titles would qualify.

Wow! More Songs About Buildings and Food. An excellent title, and in the running for best album cover as well.

I second Spontooneous's recommendations. ESPECIALLY the string quartets. (I'll have to check out the Keller rendition myself. I became a Bartok convert for life in college, when I sat in a lecture hall about three feet away from a quartet, including violinist Phil Setzer who's now in the Emerson Quartet, while they played Bartok's fourth String Quartet. Can't say I'm a big fan of the Emerson Quartet, though). A personal favorite: the Historic 1940 Library of Congress Recording of Joseph Szigeti on violin and Bartok himself on Piano (Vanguard Classics). Hungarian fire! Not only do they play Bartok's own Sonata No. 2 and Rhapsody No. 1, but also Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata and Debussy's Sonata. Sound is OK, performances amazing.

On the other hand, it took me YEARS to get Bird's "Koko." (Not to mention Bitches Brew.) Sometimes listening to Bird is like staring into the sun: too much brilliance. Of course, I love him now, but when I first got into jazz I had a hard time with him, partly because of the thin sound on the Savoy LP reissues of that day. The Denon mini-LP CD remasters that I have now, however, sound like you're in the damn recording studio with Bird! Incredible sound and incredible music.

Time Out was certainly one of my "gateway" records into the world of jazz. Though I was never a trained musician, I had a lot of friends in the band in high school, and they turned me on to Brubeck (as well as the three Ms: Miles and Monk and Mingus--along with Brubeck, interestingly enough, all Columbia artists, thus readily available at retail outlets). I pored over Time Out's liner notes as I listened, and learned a lot. I still like this record. Great band and excellent compositions. It's funny, but Brubeck is simultaneously in the running for most overrated AND most underrated figure in jazz.

On the nose, 'Moose. I couldn't have but it putter myself.

Interesting theory, Jazzbo. It seems simpler to observe that Nero Wolfe and Archie are a variation on Holmes and Watson.

I'm absolutely sure that that was an intended tip of the fedora from Macdonald to Hammett. BTW: if you haven't read the Macdonald Archer's yet, then what are you waiting for? Start with The Galton Case, The Chill, or The Zebra-Striped Hearse. Then read the rest in any order. They're all good, though of course some are better than others. Thomas Berger, one of my favorite 20th Century America authors and not generally lavish with compliments, praised Macdonald sdpecifically for his voice, "for the purity of his American language, for his keeness of eye and precision of ear." He was a master. And unlike many authors confined to the Mystery ghetto, he's eminently re-readable. It's the characters and the writing that count. To paraphrase Edmund Wilson: who cares whodunit?

Having written all the above, I must add that "G-Man" is an amazing performance which would have been stunning to witness live. I also liked the disc Global Warming (Stephen Scott doesn't hurt), especially "Echo-Side Blue." I'll have to check out This is What I Do.

If Silver City collects most of the highlights, I guess I'll stick with that. I've been listening to it lately, inspired by this thread, and though it has some inspired moments, mostly in Sonny's cadenzas, its a mite spotty for a "best of." Mostly what irks me about these recordings, if not Sonny's occasionally seeming to be pushing at the melodies rather than playing them, is the atrocious accompaniment, especially as it's been recorded and/or produced. I'm not a big fan of the style of recording on many 70s sessions, not just Rollins's, so that may be a big part of my response. If accompaniment is beside the point in later Rollins, why doesn't he just issue solo records? I've only seen him once, and I was disappointed enough to never pay for the big bucks to see him again (Sonny don't come cheap). I tend to agree with Allen Lowe's points in this thread. If Rollins keeps putting out records, why should we buy them if he's giving short weight? His career is perplexing, to say the least.

On the other hand, I really dig your avatar. I'm not familiar with that particular record. But I am a HUGE fan of Lee Dorsey. Let's hear it for Lee Dorsey! The MASTER of sly, snaky, and spectacular vocals. There's no one else like Lee: a true original.

I think that the later posters's suggestions all beat "Tuff Ass Jazz." (That Cramps album, especially.) TAJ might be in the running for worst cover art ever, though. I guess you're being sarcastic? My favorite title, given the circumstances of its recording: Marvin Gaye--Here, My Dear. (Best album cover art ever? Though it comes in barely a hair ahead of Monk in his little red wagon on the cover of Monk's Music, I nominate Sly & The Family Stone--There's A Riot Goin' On. I LOVE that cover. Too bad the CD reissue deep-sixed it for a cover that makes it look like a live album--this for one of the most gloriously studio-based albums ever.)

Has anyone else read Steve Hodel's book Black Dahlia Avenger? A former LAPD Homocide Detective, Hodel claims to have solved the now iconic 1940s murder case that has baffled generations. It's no spoiler to say that he fingers his father, an LA doctor who was good friends with, among others, Man Ray and John Huston. I find his argument very convincing, though a trip through the web finds many dissenters to his solution. What do you think? If you have even a glimmer of interest in this famous unsolved mystery, then read this book.

These are, indeed, the albums most mentioned as justifying Crimson. I'll give them a try when I get the chance.

Hey Ghost! Your show sounds very hip. Andrew Hill followed by jazz in the French New Wave. I will definitely check out your archives when I get the chance. Where in California do you broadcast?

Maybe Crouch's masturbation-fantasy character in his novel, Don't the Moon Look Lonesome. You know, the white chick with the black booty. As featured in the novel that Dale Peck panned, for which Crouch Bitch-slapped him.

I've had many a dally at Balliet, and my go at Goldberg (frustratingly, my copy of his Jazz Masters of the 50s has no index, meaning that I don't return to it as often as I should). And you've convinced me to get back to Baraka. By the way, how IS "Balliet" pronounced? With a hard "T" or in the French manner? Actually, looking back, my rhyme above works OK either way. Don't ask me WHY I rhymed. Guess it's the musician in me. (So, if my prose is musical, I wonder if my music is prosaic?)

I've always dug him more as a sideman/collaborator with Eno, Bowie, etc, than as a creative leader on his own. Still, I would have to agree that he is strikingly original as a guitarist. I could never get into any of the incarnations of Crimson back in college, when I was still interested in trying. And prog-rock as a genre leaves me cold. I liked Exposure at the time, but eventually sold it.

Thanks, Jim. Time to get reading. Will start with the recent books from Kart and Morgenstern(always love his liner notes).

I would say that Tyner and Hancock are pretty central, and that Corea and Jarrett are very much less so. And I can't say I'm a big fan of any of them (which is no reflection on their talent as musicians). So where's the argument? We all come to this vast music from different directions. I never found Jarrett to be all that compelling, though I have enjoyed a few of his recordings over the years. I'm more of an Ellington/Monk/Weston guy where piano's concerned, though I can appreciate other styles. That's just my taste I have to admit that Jarrett kind of irks me, and it might have something to do with both the pretensions I hinted at above and, as you imply, his being overrated in demi-jazz circles. But give me the choice between Keith J and Kenny G and I'll take the J any time. B-)

Just curious, Jim, but which critics still float your boat? I ask because, as I said above, I learn more from this forum nowadays than just about anywhere else. And you're one of the main guys LEARNIN' me.

I agree that he is a very good prose stylist, which is part of what keeps me reading. Jazz of the last 20 years has been such a centrifugal explosion that I'd be surprised if anyone has a handle on it. I can't say he seemed like an extra-nice guy when I met him. Mostly he talked about himself.

The first book I read about Jazz, way back in 1979, was James Lincoln Collier's The Making of Jazz. Unbelievably opinionated, dubiously delving into various musician's psychologies (most famously, he called Bird a sociopath), and very anal about what is and isn't really jazz (as I recall, he pretty much writes off most Ellington after the '40s.) I basically disagree with most of this book now, but it gave me a roadmap and got me started. Though, as I recall, his discussion of swing (the musical quality, not the genre), a notoriously difficult nut to crack, was pretty good. We all have to start somewhere. Nowadays I learn more from this forum than just about anywhere else.

Now I'll have to get it.