johnagrandy

I think he qualifies as a serious jazz musican because of his ability to communicate at the most serious emotional level in a manner that includes consistent innovation in composition, improvisational ideas, rhythms, plus masterminding high-level group communication and synergy. He has serious knowledge of the history of jazz recordings and incorporates it into his playing. Others say he's not a serious jazz musician, because of one or more of the following: 1. he plays other genres, many associated with partying and party drugs 2. he plays 8string guitar, which possibly implies: (a) he invented a gimmick instrument to make $ (b) no one could ever get any good at jazz guitar if they have to deal with playing the bass line too 3. his jazz improv chops are not at the level of Frisell, Sco, Stern, Metheny, etc. 4. he almost never plays with recognized members of the serious jazz establishment I say CH did his own thing, his own way, with his own people, and it worked, and he deserves all the success and adulation he's getting -- 'cause how many cats could pull that off? I mean when the guy was 15, how many people would have laid $, even at big overlays, on him being where he is now? However, I'd also say that currently he's involved in too many projects, playing too many genres, touring too much, trying to make too many recordings per year, not innovating his core style anywhere near the rate he was in his 20s ... the guy might go full tilt if he keeps it up at this rate. Maybe he needs to do a Rollins thing on a bridge or something. The most important point though is the following: I think CH and his crowd (many whose parents were/are jazz musicians) looked at serious jazz when they were teenagers and said to themselves "These guys are not involved in a group experience. They might as well be encased in plexiglass cubes onstage. I don't want to do that." So, in my opinion, the reason why a lot of players well on their way to serious jazz chops in the 80s and 90s decided to go a different direction and today are doing the jam band scene (or whatever you want to call it -- my little invention is "jazz plus"), is that they wanted to be viscerally involved with the audience and have fun and they didn't see serious jazz going in that direction.

That shit was fucking killin' ! There are three rock musicians in history who weren't guitarists per se but who figured how to get everything and more they needed out of the instrument : Jimi, Prince, and Kurt

akanalog, You might very well be right that there is a problem, because as someone who's been to a lot of these shows , it's obvious to me that all that most members of these audiences want from jazz history is some added-in authenticity to the soothing alternative sounds and vibes being deployed to make their lives more comfortable and their evenings more enjoyable ... and a lot of this music is created so that its maximum effect occurs once various substances have worked their magic -- so take that into consideration as well. (Don't extrapolate my jazz history statement onto the musicians themselves, 'cause that's a whole different conversation.) Now, if the avg jam band fan went to Sco, Goldings, Holland, DeJohnnette or Mingus Big Band or McCoy Tyner, they'd have to somehow prepare their minds for some serious shit ... and if they even got it, they might drive home pretty fucking depressed 'cause it would have become obvious to them that the world is way way more serious than they were taking it to be. But one thing it (very unfortunately) took me 20 years to learn is the following: the people who can have the fun should have the fun. Now if it's jocks on the beach drinking beer and chasing p, well that ain't my kind of fun. But these jam band crowds are basically my kind of people in the relative (very important word) sense of how they view our world. So if Hunter or whomever wants to cater to this hippie-trippie , no-reason-to-think-about-tomorrow , daddy's-money-in-my-wallet (or "I don't give a fuck about money") crowd, then why not ? What's the problem ? It's not "cashing in", I mean c'mon, these bands don't get rich like The Dead did. They probably do better than most jazzmen do, but being your own businessman and following the money is intrinsic to existing in this country. We don't got no social services or government training programs. What I think is cool is that some of these kids (and, actually, they're really not kids , that's a total misconception -- you're just as likely to find 30-somethings as 20-somethings) do get into serious jazz via this route, that might be how a modern fan base gets rebuilt that actually has some understanding of jazz history. 'Cause Nirvana doesn't goes on forever for anyone , and sooner or later all serious people who think and feel are gonna understand what Miles was really speaking of in 'Round Midnight -- and that's when party music don't do shit for you. Also: How exactly is the serious side of jazz building the future of the music for anyone except themselves and the cognoscenti? Should erudite and modern serious jazz even be used in the same sentence? Monied well-dressed finely-appointed enclaves of elitist sound derived from but having little or no direct connection to the experiences that engendered them don't necessarily have anything to do with the real world either. As for Sco: I think he eventually booked too many hours in that scene and got sick of it, but he was having a blast while he was doing it. Why should the young guys get to have all the fun ? As for Hunter on 8-string: Since the beginnings of the modern jazz rhythm section , there's always been this problem with the bass and the piano's left hand not synnergizing and doing what the band or soloist needs/wants them to be doing. And every great jazz leader has expended big energy trying to find the right jazz/piano combination , or trying to get them to play together to get the sound he wants, or re-educating them , or whatever. Hunter didn't invent a gimmick. He solved a problem: his musical problem: he wanted this base line with these chords and it was better faster cheaper less headaches and more fun if he just figured out how to do the whole fucking thing himself , so he did. Someone else started calling it a gimmick. I saw Hunter many times when he was just figuring this stuff out and the attraction to the audience was the groove, the unique sounds, the brilliant reworkings of "standards" from many many genres of music into a jazz-based forms. After a few minutes into the 1st # you're not even thinking about 8-string or "Where's the bassist?" or whatever. Back then most non-musicians didn't even notice.

Keep in mind that he cheated and every time you call him "Prince" you let him get away with cheating one more time.

Is anyone aware that Hunter and the rest of Garage A Trois except for Skerik put up on Amazon a list of stuff ya just gotta listen to. Lots of organ. The New Orleans-based progressive-jazz/funk combo Garage a Trois formed in 1999 as a trio that included guitarist Charlie Hunter, drummer Stanton Moore, and saxophonist Skerik. Vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon came on board three years later. Their second release, 'Bande Originale du Film de Outre Mer', is the soundtrack to the film by Klaus Tontine. Here is some of their favorite music. Stanton Moore's List of Music You Should Hear Some things I've listened to over the years and keep returning to... 'John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman' Quite possibly one of the most lush and romantic records of all time. 'Sketches of Spain', Miles Davis Beautiful. 'Live at Birdland', John Coltrane This was the first record that turned me on to how powerful and energetic jazz can be. 'Live At Last', Black Sabbath Raw and badass. 'Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway' About as soulful as it gets. 'Wrecking Ball', Emmylou Harris Emmy is an inspiration to anyone who wants to have longevity in what they do. Everything by the Meters. [Among their albums available at Amazon are 'Funkify Your Life: Anthology' and 'Look-Ka Py Py'.] I'm still amazed to meet people who haven't checked out the Meters. I want to make a shirt that says "LISTEN TO THE METERS." Like the Skynyrd, Marley, and Sabbath ones. Been checking out lately... 'Deliverance', Corrosion of Conformity When I was learning tunes to tour with these guys I really got into this record. If you're a fan of any heavy stuff at all you should check out this record. The John Bonham isolated drum tracks. [The isolated drum tracks from Led Zeppelin's 'In Through the Out Door', which have been floating around the Internet for a number of years.] You may have heard about these. I put them on and barrel over with laughter, they sound so amazing. Mike Dillon's List of Music You Should Hear 'Bags Meets Wes', Milt Jackson and Wes Montgomery My favorite jazz vibraphone record ever!!!! Philly Joe Jones, Sam Jones, and Wynton Kelly are funkier than a dog dipped in armadillo wax. The conversation between Bags and Wes is astounding. 'Cal Tjader's Latin Concert' My favorite early Cal record is this one. Willie Bobo kills on this. You can hear the chemistry between Mongo and Cal as well. 'Primo', Cal Tjader and Charlie Palmieri Mindblowing!!! Listen to vibraphone and Wurlitzer magic. 'Five Leaves Left', Nick Drake "The River Man" rules. I am a sucker for string arrangements. The Nels Cline Singers [Among their albums available at Amazon are 'The Giant Pin' and 'Instrumentals'.] I do not remember the title of this record, but it is in my iTunes and I love napping to this one. The dreams shift from opiated wonder to crushing terror shakes like when aliens abduct you in your sleep. 'Let's Kiss', Brave Combo The freaks from Denton, Texas, continue to reinvent the polka and throw the best cracker hoedown on the planet. Oh yeah, they won their second Grammy with this one. 'Clouds Taste Metallic', the Flaming Lips I still listen to this CD at least once a week. I took a lot of drugs to 'Transmissions from the Satellite Heart' and then cleaned up to 'The Soft Bulletin'. 'Banned in DC: Bad Brains Greatest Riffs', Bad Brains 'Nuff said. 'Bob Wills - Greatest Hits' Bow down to the original freak. 'Out to Lunch', Eric Dolphy My favorite Dolphy disc. Bobby Hutcherson is amazing on this CD. Any and all Thelonious Monk!!!!!!!! [Among his albums available on Amazon are 'Monk's Dream' and 'Brilliant Corners'. Charlie Hunter's List of Music You Should Hear 'Olivier Messiaen: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 1', 'Olivier Messiaen: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 2', 'Olivier Messiaen: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 3', 'Olivier Messiaen: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 4', 'Olivier Messiaen: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 5', and 'Messiaen: Complete Organ Works', Rudolf Innig 'American Hips', Jim Campilongo 'Counterclockwise', Bobby Previte 'One Foot in the Swamp', John Ellis 'At the Deer Head Inn', Keith Jarrett 'Heaven', Ron Miles 'Belle Epoque', Mose Se 'Fan Fan' 'Bridge', Sonny Rollins 'Go', Dexter Gordon More Garage 'Emphasizer', Garage a Trois 'All Kooked Out!', Stanton Moore & Charlie Hunter 'Jazz for Jerks', Ten Hands 'Flyin' the Koop', Stanton Moore 'Bing, Bing, Bing!', Charlie Hunter 'Friends Seen and Unseen', Charlie Hunter

Somebody's gotta pick up this "Super Heavy Organ" CD so I can talk about it with them. Heh heh. This shit is so killin' I can't turn it off -- and I got 5 new CDs this weekend. It's just not a RW thing. It's the whole band. This session just cooks and cooks and cooks like a primo oxtail stew ... who is this cat Tim Green ???? He cuts-up the funk like Jack The Ripper. Now I gotta save some $$$$ for all these Galactic, Greyboy Allstars, Soulive, and 20th Congress CDs that got linked into this thing by Pandora.com Not sure about the following guys though: Russo/Benevento Duo. Same genre, rave reviews, etc, but saw them live and seems like they got stuck in these endless repetitive grooves and thought it was just the best thing ever. (But when everyone in the audience is that fucked-up ...) Plus Benevento's way too into electronic loops and computer samples and a dozen keyboards and all that shit. Should stick with a single B3 and a few effects pedals.

Who is that? Courtney Love?

Maybe he'll be at Jazz Fest 06 ... 'cept how hot is it in Orleans in April? I hate hot weather.

Prince Charles was on Saturday Night Live ?

So it's a junk ho? No wonder those brothers were laughin'. One of them just got out of the joint ... and he had some b workin' the street for him. Actually my English friend says that's "skag" is more common than "smack" in England. "Skag" what they call it in the flick "Trainspotting".

What a trip. I could have figured that out from Google. I thought it was some sexual reference. I remember seeing Hubbard on that tour and he started yelling in the mike that "don't be gettin' the wrong idea, this music ain't what y'all think it's about" ... ... huh ????

Just got Charlie Hunter's latest: "Copperopolis". Release date = Feb 6 ... that's Monday ! Well, I live real close to Fast Atmosphere so I'm probably one of the first non-insiders to give a listen. Unfortunately, this is only an avg CH disc. Very solid, but not a lot of surprises here for a Hunter fan. Charlie's improvs are bluesy, funky, and quite sparse note-wise -- a territory where he excels, and his direction for quite a few years now. Actually, CH albums might be on a downwards slope : "Right Here Now" was way better than "Friends Seen And Unseen" -- which in turn probably has the edge on "Copperopolis" ... not sure on that yet, I need a few more listens. For me CH is everyday while-you're-living-your-life music so I'm sure this one will grow on me. However, I had crackpipe-in-the-sky hopes when I heard that the band rocks-out on this date. But that really only happens on "Cueball Boppin'" and "The Pursuit Package" (a bizarre tune which abruptly cuts-off at 2:14 ... not the instruments, the track ! ... huh???? [liner notes or other clues do not exist ... could it be a studio mistake?] ). ("Drop The Rock" is dark dank downer of a tune with some underground undertones near the end.) By far the best track is Monk's "Think Of One", re-done Hunter-style, of course. This is the unadulterated Hunter genius I remember from live gigs over a decade ago. Any work of genius from any genre gets re-worked into a new work of genius in a new genre. What a trip! One mistake the band made on this date is that John Ellis messes around with a Melodica and a Wurlitzer on a couple tracks and, for my ears, what's the point? Hunter's got such a massive bag of sound tricks ... why add more from someone who doesn't specialize in that area? It's not poorly executed, it's just that people expect quite a bit from a CH CD these days ... and although these e-struments don't sound bad they also don't add anything special ... it's like Paul Schaeffer fucking around on his break or something (ok, not quite that bad). But the big solution to the core underlying problem with this recording is unfortunately even more far-reaching than its immediately evident problems: in a nutshell, it's time for John Ellis to move on. John Ellis either needs to start devoting most of his time to leading his own band (and all that that implies), or maybe start playing with some of the older serious jazz heavyweights. He's got to pursue his own improvisational style in the context of his own music, or head in another direction and learn some tough lessons in contexts more improvisationally advanced than what he's been playing in. This guy is the most talented 20-something saxophonist on the planet and fitting himself into CH's units and various other funky or alternate contexts doesn't seem to be catalyzing his talent to explode the way it should. I'm sure he wouldn't agree with me, and who the fuck am I anyway?, but that's the way I see it. As for Hunter, I recommend heading off into the land of experimental instrumentation -- how about trombone, trumpet, vibes, and drums ?

Personal Admission Of Guilt Pt. 2: I've always kinda dug it. At this point, I just want to know what "Skagly" means. It's been 26 long years. I asked the homeys down the street and they just started laughing and told me to go the fuck away.

http://www.cosmicsounds-london.com/DUSKO/bio.htm What is mind-blowing about this bio is that not once is Larry Vuckovich mentioned. How can one of the two greatest Serbian jazz musicians be left out? From the Dusko bio: "1997 saw the release of the 2-CD set "Balkan Blue", another high point in his career." ... but: 1980 saw the release of Vuckovich's "Blue Balkan" (with Hutcherson playing the long complex heads from memory after one listen - 'cause he forgot to bring the sheet music ! ... shades of Woody !) 2000 saw the release of Vuckovich's "Blue Balkan : Then And Now" Larry's bio does not share the same flaw: http://www.larryvuckovich.com/biog.htm "Besides touring with Hendricks, in the late '60s Larry led the house band at what was then Germany's top jazz club, The Domicile, in Munich. In that role, he backed visiting jazz greats including Lucky Thompson, Slide Hampton, Pony Poindexter, Clifford Jordan, and Dusko Goykovich. Larry was a member of Dusko's International Quintet, recording a live album with the Quintet at the Domicle. It was also at the Domicile in Munich where he worked with the master drummer Philly Joe Jones, with whom he went on to tour Europe (see the Gallery shots here). He also performed with Dexter Gordon in Austria and in Copenhagen at the famous Montmartre jazz club."

Well I still got the LPs. So how do I get them into digital? Is there some place I can send them?

Yeah, apparently Johnny V was Stanton's mentor during his teenage and/or college years, but Stanton was such an original that Vidacovich knew the sound-alike wouldn't last long. Stanton says Zigaboo is one of his and Galactic's primary influences, especially in terms of sparseness and finding the swing/straight percussive middle-ground. Actually, Zig is probably one of the top ten primary influences in all jam band music. (Or so I have read and heard -- I just know all this stuff from listening and reading the web, mags, and books.) The Robert Walter "Super Heavy Organ" disc is very interesting to me 'cause I can really hear the difference in Stanton and V, even though they're both playin' the same basic style on essentially the same music. It's all relatively new to me and I'm really diggin' it 'cause I was such a Blakey, Jones, Lewis, Williams, DeJohnnette, Chambers, Smitty, Kilson kind-of-guy ... I mean I always liked my drums BUSY. (But I do like Roach a lot too.)

So at time of this recording Miles had a bad hip (what was wrong?), ulcers (bleeding?), busted ankles which didn't heal right or something, and was addicted (to what? painkillers?) ... ... 'cause if you compare P/A to Fillmore Live or any of those from a few years earlier his facility on the horn has strikingly deteriorated.

Brad Mehldau because he's an uptight doofus who ain't got no soul.

Tendinitis, arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, thigh pain, etc. It's the whole keyboard-mouse related repetitive stresss injury syndrome. Keys players should take note of the following: Seat at correct height to drop arms with natural 90deg bend at elbows. Don't use a cushion if possible (force the body to build the muscle). Middle finger joints also at near 90deg angle. "Pistons to the keys: Up/down motion discipline, whenever possible." Don't rest arms on any sort of support. Hang either arm down at side when not used. Hold head up looking straight ahead: get music stand to read sheet music that sits vertically, not horizontally. Minimum: 15min break every 2hrs. 1hr break every 4hrs. Walk around. Figure out a stretching program, that includes hands AND legs, especially hamstrings. Be very careful and incremental about stretching the hands. Rubber bands are useful. Don't get fat. Don't eat while playing. Don't let abdominals get weak. Don't wear shoes that start hurting during a concert. Read a book on ergonomics. Every minute you spend at a non-ergonomic computer setup, you're damaging your keyboard career.

Medeski doesn't play left hand bass or pedals, but I would call him an organist, for sure. I don't know... does it matter all that much? Whatever whomever Robert Walter really truly is , you guys should pick up "Super Heavy Organ". I'm on 6 1/2 hours straight and I can't stop listening. This is groovin' music.

And what about "Skagly" ?????????? (Personal Admission Of Guilt: I bought this LP on day one.)

Yeah, I can get the Fresh Sounds 1029 2 CD set from Amazon for ~$40. What's amazing though is that some serious Leeficianados never heard of these sets.

I don't know man. Johnny Vidacovich is on more than 1/2 the tracks on the album, and from what I've heard Johnny V. is kind of the man when it comes to NO style drumming. So I don't think he's gonna play with some Hammond phony ... it's not like this CD is going to sell any copies or anything. http://www.johnnyvidacovich.com/ http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Johnny_Vidacovich.html http://www.magnacarta.net/releases/robertwaltersho.html What about one of these Organissimo members (man, does that sound pornographic or what?) ... have they heard any of Walter's stuff and what do they think? I think "Super Heavy Organ" has some very funky and very well played music. There are no weak tracks. There are no weak links. Tim Green is clearly a monster , at least for this funk / out-jazz genre -- up there with Skerik and Karl Denson. I feel lucky to have come across the recording, thanks to Stanton and Pandora.com The percussion occasionally rises to some pretty serious heights .... check out the syncopation on "Criminals Have A Name For It" or the on-again/off-again groove on "(Smells Like) Dad's Drunk Again" (both Vidacovich). Interestingly, sounds to me that Stanton's got a looser wrist than Johnny V. I know Stanton talked about that in an interview but I thought he said Johnny V. was the one who got him to loosen up. Apparently loosening up is part of what NO style drumming is all about.

Fuck. I just bought the cheap Amazon versions.

So Agharta Disc 2 Track 1 is "Right Off" , and Track 2 is "For Dave" ? How about Agharta Disc 1 ? Is it really "Prelude 1" and "Prelude 2" or did someone just not know the tunes' names ? Finally it is worth it to get the remastered CDs ?