Soul Stream

OF COURSE!!!!

I watch this show with my son all the time. It's a great nature show, sometimes it get's old...but his enthusiasm for animals of all kinds is contageous!!! Makes me realize how boring the old "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was when I was a kid.

I'm a big Harold Vick fan. He had a certain "whine" that I can always fingerprint him by after just a few bars. I don't really know a whole lot about him. He was a close associate of John Patton's. But other than that, I'm not real hip to any later stuff he did after his Blue Note appearances. Don't hear much talk about Vick these days. Wondered if anybody had any other thoughts on this lost tenor.

Ben is doing GREAT!!!! Man, he's so in shape and healthy, he's got to look 10 years younger than his age at least. He's slender, muscular....officiates basketball games to show you how in shape that cat is. His drumming is still amazing. He just retired and is getting back into gigging more now. He's playing with Lonnie Smith and Rhoda Scott and the Vail Jazz Festival at the end of the month. Plus, to this day, Ben is one of the "hippest" cats you'll ever meet. Slick. He dresses slick, talks slick and PLAYS slick....!

Freddie was always trying to get me to use him on a jazz date. I heard him a few times in jazz based groups he led on the south side and he sounded more like Sid Catlett or Cozy Cole than PJJ. Damn fine drummer and good spirit anyway. By coincidence I used his old partner Louis Myers on a Wadada Leo Smith date later. I think out of all the blues drummers, Freddie Below and Odie Payne were about the jazziest imho. I always dug that aspect of the chicago sound....the drummers. Without their more uptown contributions, Little Walter, Muddy, Magic Sam, and everyone else's music would've been much different. BTW, the Myers brothers were some baaad cats! I wish I could have met Louis, I bet that would've been great. Remember that band they had with Junior Wells'...The Aces?!!!

I guess it all depend on what your perception and "likes" about jazz and blues are. If you're nothing but a Weather Report fan, I guess the link to Lightnin' Hopkins may not be apparent. To me, Fred Below playing a shuffle behind Little Walter is pretty damn close to Philly Joe doing the same behind Tina Brooks. That said, some kid playing Stevie licks ad nausium isn't necessarily linked to anything I would consider jazz.... However, the Vaughan brothers were/are huge Grant Green and Kenny Burrell fans among other things. To me any true jazz player HAS to be a good blues player. If not, it shows.

Berigan, sorry if I missed this information elsewhere, but... Do you live in Atlanta? I'm curious as to where you are seeking medical help at this point. Are you going to a doctor connected to a major facility in Atlanta on tuesday? I hope your family is doing o.k., it's very hard to make these decisions I'm sure.

All I have to say is...THANK GOD FOR BOB PORTER. I think that guy has single-handedly kept organ music alive when the public was less than interested. Plus he records these older cats that most people seem to shy away from...not "hip" enough for large sales or critics polls. Way to go Bob!

Can't wait!!!

I feel like my entire CD collection is one big backlog. It's more like a library....I don't feel I've ever given many of the CDs the attention they probably deserve. About once a year I'll go through and pull out stuff that's just not ever REALISTICALLY going to get listened to that much....then I go the the record store and consign them. Which is nice because it keeps a line of credit going at that place. So when I see something I can buy it on my accumulated credit. All that said, I NEVER feel bad about buying a new BN reissue. Blue Notes are like diamonds

Berigan, I learned the hard way (through my father's death) that doctors don't really treat patients like they'd treat their own parents. My advice is simple... Don't waste time. Get to the absolute BEST doctor, at the BEST facility in the BIGGEST city you possibley can. TODAY. Your doctor sounds like a loser who's ALREADY wasted valuable time. Cat Scratch Fever?!!! Don't blindly trust doctors or think they know what they're doing. If it feels wrong to you, it IS wrong. Time is of the essence and your mother's life is at stake. Do it now. I know I'm coming off strong. But if I could go back in time and change some of our family's reactions and inactions, my father may very well be alive today. Don't make the same mistake I made. I hope for you and your family all the best.

Has "mainstream" jazz ever got over Miles' second quintet? It seems like they pretty much took things as far as they could go. The best young jazzmen today hold these albums by Miles second great quintet deep in their hearts and imaginations. The concept seems to take acoustic jazz to it's logical conclusions...after the elasticity of this jazz concept, there's only the fusion with rock/funk/soul/world music/noise/hip hop/ect. to explore. In short, are these lps the apex of modern mainstream jazz? I guess that's not a new idea, but it's a conclusion of pretty much reached. Wynton thought he was hip playing this stuff 15 years after the fact, and the "young lions" still do. And you know what, they're right in a way. Because you can't really get any HIPPER that this stuff.

My feeling is it's getting very, very, very hard to be a musician. Gigs don't pay. Making CDs doesn't pay (probably costs you money in the end). Expenses are high..... People are so used to "burning" CDs for each other that it's kind of like someone buying a newspaper at a restaurant and leaving it...then 20 other people read it throughout the day. In the end the newspaper publisher makes 50 cents. I'm not talking about Madonna or Metallica here, SCREW those millionaires. I'm talking about bands living in a van, or playing the crappy gig down the street at the bar.

I thought of "Let It Go" because I just got the used CD in the mail today!!!! I put it on and.... B) Well, I'm not really THAT hip on tunes, just lucky the mailman showed up. But I had never heard "Let It Go." I had no idea that "Sugar" was just an old Turrentine number renamed basically. Pretty cool.

Hey Jim, why not combine your love of Shirley Scott and "Sugar"....play "Let It Go" from the Impulse Stanley Turrentine LP of the same name. "Let It Go" is the same song as "Sugar" except hipper AND with Shirley!!!!!

I would just add that many musicians who are in the later stages of life would depend more on cd sales, reissues. John Patton and George Braith are two that I know who recieved a few nice checks when the opportunity for them to gig wasn't that great. But, like B3-er, I think most musicians at this point look at records as a necessary evil in order to tour. Making money, except for that small select popular group, from CD sales is not even really considered....in their prime at least.

Speaking of the live set. When are you going to post some special "live" recordings again on your website? I dig when musicians w/websites do that. Feels like you're getting some extra candy for free! ...hey, and I'm just kidding about "Sugar." But NOT Mr. Magic!!!!! B)

Wow Noj! This is really amazing work. You have a real unique concept that you execute the hell out of. Thanks for showing your stuff.....

Thanks for the heads up Lon. I would have missed it otherwise. I really enjoyed it, and it gave me some genuine insight into his condition. Now I'm even MORE amazed by him. After seeing him live a month or so ago, I wondered how much his condition affected him....quite a bit it seems. Simply amazing. Tom Harrell is nothing short of a genius. Did you see the cartoon he drew when he was 6!!!! His music is pure and joyful.

Jimmy Smith at his worst is still the best organist you'll ever see. Don't pass up an opportunity to see a legend.

I think Jim has the right idea here. I don't think it's realistic to expect any political forum on the internet to be a healthy, civil affair all, most or some of the time. When there's sharks in the water you enter at your own risk. My advice would be to get out of the water for a while.

I think Jim's thoughts sum up my attitude pretty well. I love this board and enjoy all the great people on it. I'm glad it's an open forum where people can discuss anything they chose. However, I get enough politics and religion on the nightly news. I like to think about jazz.

I agree with you Rooster. This may be the only time when I question Alfred Lion's judgement as far as track selection! Seriously, why you would leave off "Blues In The Closet" in favor of the lesser blues "Blue Riff" is beyond me.

Just picked this up last night. I'd held off because of the expensive price tag, and to be honest...I've always liked this session, but never listened to it that much. However, the extra tracks REALLY make this for me. "Blues In The Closet" alone is one of the best versions I've heard of that title. Anyway, for those on the fence about it, I would just say the bonus material is worth the price. Also the sound is very nice.

For all I know, I may be the one with hearing loss!!!! After years of playing and listening to music constantly, I may very well have some treble loss myself!