Soul Stream

Tom, I just finished reading your book and enjoyed it very much. Nice to have a book on Lee Morgan! (Now if we can just get one on Hank Mobley). I noticed that you didn't have any interviews with either Bennie Maupin or Wayne Shorter. I could guess that it might be hard to get Wayne to participate. What about Bennie? To me, some of the best information in the book was first hand accounts from bandmates like Jymie Merritt, Harold Maeburn, Mickey Roker and Billy Harper. I'm sure this was a labor of love. Thanks for doing it.

Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan are throwing up right now thinking about their new label mates.

My problem is that my computer CD burner is not working. This whole thing really pisses me off. I mean, I paid good money for these downloads and now I can't load them into my ipod without a bunch of bs. this sucks. when are these guys gonna wake up and realize that copy protecting these downloads is ultimately going to lose them money. Not the other way around. I won't be buying from them again. Back to the itunes music store for me.

Thanks Rotasi. I actually realized that my itunes will automatically convert a wav file that I try to add. However, the wav files I'm trying to add have been copy protected somehow and won't convert. I'm not sure why these folks who offer these downloads like this make it so you can't get them into itunes.

I've paid for a couple of downloads lately (walmart and an artist's site) and they've come as wma files. I want to put them in my itunes/ipod. How can i get them in there! thanks for any help

Yeah,...I mean, let's be honest.

I'm a big RVG fan. That said, there's something about the OG Conns. that I can't help but love. I really dug those and still won't sell mine even if I get the RVG. Call me sentimental...

Isn't Interstellar space just a little bit too much influenced by Ayler? Just a thought. It always seemed to me that he was really under Ayler's spell on this one.

One thing I saw that was funny... They have a thing called "American Idol Rewind" that shows on off hours. It's old shows of AI. I saw the "Hollywood" tryout (which I think is the second round people selected go to) of Kelly Carkson. After she sang, Simon whispered "No, I just don't like this girl". Paula Abdul had to step in to save her being cut.

As much as I want (and do in many ways) want to hate American Idol. It's really the ONLY primetime show that my whole family can watch together. That's saying something. I've got an 8 year old and an 11 year old, and it's nice that we can all sit down together and watch something that's not a bunch of doctors fucking, or desperate housewives fucking, or CSI digging up murder victims.

Much though I respect your views, Soulstream - and I really DO - that is a bleeding terrible thing to say about a musician one admires. What you're saying is, "he wasn't good enough to communicate with the whole world". Well I don't believe it. MG I guess what I really meant by that MG is that there are a certain amount of technical aspects that John excelled at. These wouldn't be apparent to a listener in general. For instance, some of his organ basslines are the most difficult ever recorded as far as their rhythmic demands for left and right hands. These are especially true from "Let 'Em Roll" on. Songs such as Latona, Early A.M., Man From Tanganyika....the counter rhythms of the bass patterns are just more difficult than anything Larry Young or Groove Holmes ever did in that department.

I agree Jim. It's not so much that I'm waiting for the average joe or jazz listener to appreciate what Patton was doing. I just wish (well, yeah Scott Yanow comes to mind ) that people who represent the hardcore jazz community and presswould appreciate John a little more. We hear Larry Young's name bantered about and then that's it. A guy like Bob Beldon or Michael Cuscuna's appreciation counts for a lot. And they've both done quite a bit in elevating the awareness. If not for them, a couple of John's greatest sessions may not have ever been heard (Memphis to NY Spirit). Hell, maybe you have to be an organ player to REALLY know how different and deep he was. You might could cop some Larry Young and be a pretty good impersonater (I've heard a LOT of guys do it). But try copping Memphis or Steno with any authenticity. I haven't heard anybody even close. Maybe they're not trying. I think of everyone, Larry Goldings is the closest to have picked up on what Patton was sending out. Both are music-based, not lick-based organists. Very tough.

Also Jack DeJohnette lived with John Patton for 7 months in 1966. Jack played with John during that time and Patton really credits DeJohnette with helping to open him up musically. Jack is a hell of a piano player and showed John a lot of stuff in that time.

Holy Cow...I'd love to see Papa Lou playing this music. Somehow I don't see that as happening....please let me know if it does!

I don't think John ever used the name. Grant Green also had a Muslim name although, to my knowledge, nobody has been able to uncover what it was. Ben Dixon is still a practicing Muslim. John never told me he used it one way or another. Although, I do dig Ya Ya.

As MG said, there is a HUGE breakthrough stylistically for John between the recording of Got A Good Thing Going and That Certain Feeling. I would describe GGTG as the last chapter in Big John's initial style. That Certain Feeling started a WHOLE 'nother thing. The musical feeling from that point on 'til the end of his life was much more open and free. His harmonic concept really opened up and as John loved to say..."put the whammy on you!" He covered a LOT of ground those two years, and I think the break with Grant really shows that he was developing his concept with other people. Here's a quote from John about that time.... John Patton, Feb. 2000 "There was something I wanted to capture in hearing Elvin play.... It was just another level that I wanted to try to get to. I had this concept of wanting to play feer, man, you know." Also, 1967 was the year John began a 6 year relationship with the Nation of Islam, taking the name Ya Ya (although he never used the name professionally). I think this also played a part in his musical sensibilities at the time.

Wow, I've never heard that!?

John is still the king. His records seem just as alive to me as the day they were recorded. One day the jazz world will catch up to what John was all about. Until then, I'll just keep spinning "Understanding" and saying "Damn!" He was so hip. After about '65, he was unstopable. Once you get to his last recorded sessions for Blue Note, he was waving 'bye bye' to all the organ grinders recycling Jimmy Smith licks. That's just the facts. People are unaware. Pure musicality. No bullshitting when John was on the stand. RIP, we miss you.

Yeah, that's definately Grant. When they issued the CD, he's listed as Grant Green. My favorite soul jazz alias was Litte Miss Cott for Shirley Scott on Turrentine's "Dearly Beloved" Blue Note LP.

Yes, there is reason to dispute Bob on this account. I might have a clue as I "co-produced" the Blue Note re-issue of this material and also recorded for Fresh Sound Records and produced new recordings for them and have been to their offices in Barcelona and have some knowledge of their operations. Let me lay it out this way without relying on my inside knowledge. Yes, the group was at the Both/And the week before the Lighthouse. Yes, it's possible that there was a radio broadcast from the Both/And. But how does anyone know that this is the material that is on the Fresh Sound CD. Does Bennie remember what he (or Lee or anyone) played that night and when he heard the Fresh Sound CD (if he ever has heard the Fresh Sound CD) said oh yes I remember playing that lick the night of the radio broadcast 30 years ago. Now, the Fresh Sound release says original recording produced by Howard Rumsey and there are other Live at The Lighthouse recordings released on Fresh Sound. Now just on these facts, where do you think the material on the Fresh Sound release was recorded? The band was at the Lighthouse for two weeks and the Blue Note material was recorded towards the end of the engagement. I still firmly believe the Fresh Sound material was recorded at the Lighthouse earlier in their run at the club. By the way, there is probably 3 or 4 more CDs worth of material from this date still in the Blue Note vaults. We put out one version of every tune they recorded but there are 3 or 4 versions of many of the tunes recorded. Picking the strongest performances of each tune was easy in most cases except for a couple of incidences. I had about three or four bootleg LPs with the strange titles and all this stuff is the stuff that's on the Fresh Sound CDs. Man, I'd love to hear everything that was recorded at the Lighthouse!!!! Amazing. I wonder if this stuff will ever get the Plugged Nickel treatment, as in THE COMPLETE..... I also noticed in the Grant Green "Live At Club Mozambique" that there were like 3 days worth of sets recorded. And all we got was one 'lil ol CD of about 8 songs.

Just looked at the All Music Guide review. Amazingly they're right on the money this time. The first album as a leader would of course be an occasion of incredible pressure, especially for an artist such as this one. By the time this recording was originally released in 1961, pianist Walter Bishop, Jr. had spent so much time in other people's bands that it seemed the sideman stigmata would never heal. And it really never did, since despite more than a dozen efforts as leader between this one and his death in 1998 he never really achieved the acknowledgement as a leader that some of his contemporaries did, even ones who were somewhat lesser players. Of course anyone who peruses commentary on the bebop era that Bishop paid his dues in will come across opinions to the contrary. It is sometimes said that this pianist "lacked chops," hip lingo concerning technique and not meant to suggest he failed to stop off at the butcher on the way home as requested. True, this is not a flashy keyboardist and also one who did not choose his debut as a leader to unveil a stack of up til then hidden original masterpieces of composition. He plays standards here, choosing either the long or short form for six different titles, some of them quite familiar. Listeners may be advised that this is a side worth owning simply for the playing of the bassist, Jimmy Garrison, the value of the piano playing put aside temporarily. By the '60s this bassist was mostly associated with John Coltrane, and was a member of what is often considered Trane's classic quartet. While that group was quite adept at playing standards, the type of straight-ahead approach presented in the Bishop trio was more the way Coltrane played before Garrison came into his group. This album is full of this bassist's wonderful touch with mainstream jazz material, including some rumbling arco solos and terrific walking. "Blues in the Closet" holds steady to its quick tempo; after all, Garrison hardly flagged on the long, fast "Chasin' the Trane" that would follow only a few years later. Interesting drummer Wilbert G.T. Hogan recorded with some other fine pianists besides this one, notably Randy Weston. He also wound up with the Ray Charles band at one point and lays down a somewhat harder beat on sides by tenor saxophonist and Charles alumni Hank Crawford. This is somewhat more information that was given about him on the original album and reissues, the total sum of which was the following: "G.T. Hogan is on drums. Notice his fine brush work. A diminishing art today." The final comment isn't really true if any contemporary percussionists are asked — they would all love to play brushes as well as Hogan and many are trying very hard. Whether the same comment could be made concerning the pianist is hard to say. Many keyboardists have missed out on the influence of pianists such as Bishop, who knows how to state themes simply and eloquently. His use of dissonance in 1961 is subtle, hinting at tritones in "Sometimes I'm Happy" and letting somewhat delirious overtones ring out on the superb performance of "Alone Together." Needless to say, the piano is a bit out of tune here and there, adding to the mystique. Despite that, there is the sense that this album must have been something special for Bishop. His final recordings came out under the title of Speak Low Again several years after his death, kind of like a set of bookends

I don't know if I'm alone on this or not. But a record I've really been into heavily for several years now is Walter Bishop Jr.'s "Speak Low". The original LP was on Jazztime. It's on CD now as "Milestones" on Black Lion. This session is so killing. A huge part of the enjoyment for me is Jimmy Garrison. He's so heavy on this. In the pocket with a HUGE sound. I never knew who the drummer was until tonight. It's G.T. Hogan! I wonderful drummer who used to come to MY gigs when I was working in San Antonio a year or two ago!!!! He since has passed. But what a true pleasure it was to know him. A musical spirit full of encouragement. To think I had been so into something he was involved with and never knew it is mind blowing. He also played drums on my favorite Joey Defrancesco recording (Marchel Ivery's "3" on leaning house.") Any, all that's beside the point. If you haven't heard this do yourself a favor and pick it up. Great trio recording of standards and blues. Records like this get lost in the shuffle sometimes but shouldn't. Wonderful music.

I was looking at iTunes for some Alice Coltrane and was surprised to find a couple of japanese-only impulse CDs...stuff ya can't get here. Wow. Also, Lon Armstrong wrote some nice stuff in review of her strings impulse lp.... nice work lon.

Rap at this point is an unavoidable part of today's society. Movies, commercials, t.v., cars, bars, ect... It's inescapable. If I could "not" listen to it I would. That said, I understand it's most young people's music of choice and for some an adopted lifestyle. It's a huge part of the landscape these days. I was never into popular music even when I was a kid. I was making my own banjo from scratch and listening to Earl Scruggs records. So the idea of someone like that not digging Wu Tang when he got older ain't that hard to imagine.

When will that be, I want to mark my calender. Anyway, if you've seen Mike Judge's film "Idiocracy" you'll remember that the #1 movie in the future is "Ass". Which is a feature film that shows someone's bare ass the whole time. Somehow, I get the feeling that's not so far off the mark of where music's going. Yeah, I'm well aware of the generational divide I've crossed over to. It was marked with the introdution of rap into the mainstream of the 80's. I hated it then and have grown old enough to see that stuff have the "classic" tag hung on it. And just like a generation who didn't get the Beatles, I don't get (or care to get) Biggie Smalls.