johnagrandy

What equipment do you need to convert LPs to CDs ? Those Amazon dudes are right, Col-bumbling-ia sanitized the guitars ... somehow. I've actually got both the LPs and the CDs. Maybe someone's already done the conversion ... ? $46.50 will get you a re-master of the original "Agharta" : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004VUJ...v=glance&n=5174

Bits and pieces I found from Amazon reviews: "For untrammeled Pete Cosey, PANGAEA is nonpareil and about as epochal as out-guitar has ever gotten (although I think this group's best music was "Calypso Frelimo" on GET UP WITH IT). Unfortunately, the scant few lucky enough (or not, in this case) to have heard the original once-difficult-now-impossible-to-find Japan-Sony LP, will lament the CD remix that puts Cosey dimly in the left channel, where he had previously been front, center, and thermonuclear. Probably the worst of Sony's many and various Miles reissue screw-ups - right up there with the first CD version of MILES AHEAD." "And by the way, there is a guitar solo, I guess by Pete Cosey, about two-thirds the way through "Gondwana" that is absolutely mindblowing." "Pete Cosey's solo on Zimbabwe is one the baddest solos ever put to tape." "If Davis was unengaged and uninterested, it doesn't show, and certainly Cosey gets a real chance to shine with loads of solo space." "AGHARTA is certainly Miles Davis' finest hour, his most intense moment. But if you hear the original LP you'll see that this music is infinitely more radical and wild than it sounds now, on this LOUSY CD MIX. Columbia SANITIZED this recording on CD: it now sounds utterly FLAT!! IT DOES NOT SOUND AS IT SHOULD: I JUST WISHED BILL LASWELL HAD A CHANCE TO RE-MIX THIS POWERFUL RECORDING. CHECK THE ORIGINAL LP: Reggie Lucas and Pete Cozey are upfront, menacing; Michael Henderson's bass is EXTREME, and Miles opens up a river of shining light-sound. To make a long story short: transfer the LP to a recordable CD, and then you'll be able to hear the AUTHENTIC AGHARTA!!" "And then there is Pete Cosey. If Fortune and Foster sound like they have synthesized everything in jazz, then Cosey sounds like he's dialed in from another dimension. As Miles said, Jimi Hendrix wasn't available. Never have strings been strangled to such good use." Referring to Agharta: "So with all the superlatives, where's the downside? Well, at times the music meanders, especially on disc two, track 2's mistitled "Theme From Jack Johnson" (disc 2 track 1 is "Right Off" from "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" as can be verified from listening to the audio sample, I suppose that makes disc 2 track 2 "Interlude"), and while someone (Cosey?) seems to be having fun making these Stockhausen-like white noise static blats using a synthesizer, I recoil in mock horror every time Miles reaches for the organ ("oh no, Miles, not the organ!"). That said, it is still a remarkable, though perhaps not essential disk." "Contrary to most other reviewers, I was under the impression that this guitar work was primarily attributable to Reggie Lucas (as the style on his solo album is similar to that of Hendrix)." "This is truly an album for artists, and Pete Cosey's "on the moon, or something" guitar playing puts it all out on the table! Here is a guy who played the same circuits as Jimi Hendrix and cut albums with blues greats like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf! Reggie Lucas plays incredible rhythm and lead guitar also, but as a friend of mine who saw these guys told me,"If it's out, it's Pete Cosey."" Referring to Agharta: "The 22+ minute electro-funk workout that opens the album ("Prelude") is so intense I can't stop listening to it. Pete Cosey has a guitar solo about 6 minutes long that rocks so hard it's unbelievable."

See, that's what I was thinking/hoping that someone's figured all this out ... you can't just assume all the bad ass shit is Cosey.

Don't forget Liebman had that bad leg his whole life so you gotta cut him some slack in the image department. I mean chicks weren't going to dig him no matter how he dressed.

Yeah, but I gotta know, man, like everything down to the last detail, you know what I mean .... heh heh .... Definitely Cosey on "Prelude Part 1" ... which might be the baddest shit of it all. Cosey was and is one serious m/f ... "Paul Tingen, in his book Miles Beyond, quotes Cosey as claiming that he used at least thirty-six different tuning systems, and would sometimes go onstage with five or six guitars, each tuned differently." Anyone ever see him live with Miles ? http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=md-agh http://www.chicagoreader.com/hitsville/030613.html http://www.chicagoreader.com/hitsville/970829.html

No, I'm actually from New York, born and raised in Queens. I've had a lot of associates though who went to Berkeley High, they've really produced a great number of fine musicians there, like Craig Handy and Benny Green. Craig Handy Bennie Green Charlie Hunter Will Bernard Josh Redman Steve Bernstein Peter Apfelbaum Dave Ellis Scott Amendola Jay Lane Ambrose Akinmusire John Findlayson John Schott way more but my mind is shot right now

Yeah, but I gotta know, man, like everything down to the last detail, you know what I mean .... heh heh .... Definitely Cosey on "Prelude Part 1" ... which might be the baddest shit of it all.

'Cause I don't know what to get after "Unity" ... what could be better ? Blackstone Legacy? Of course I got that one. Actually, that was my first Woody album. I trip out on "New World" almost every day.

If it's not too late I'd like to be included. Please email johnagrandy-at-gmail.com for my address. Thanks.

I know it's more Cosey than Lucas, but has someone got it definitely figured-out (it terms of digital time intervals) which guitar solos are Reggie Lucas and which are Pete Cosey for the following tracks: Pangaea "Zimbabwe" "Godwana" Agartha "Prelude Part I" (liner notes say "Cosey's solo 1 over Foster's Herculean backbeat", I assume referring to this track) "Prelude Part II" "Maiysha" "Interlude" "Theme From Jack Johnson" Interesting little thing I picked up from the liner notes: Miles' 1,2 choices for electric guitar in this final band before retirement were Hendrix and B.B. King.

'Cause I don't know what to get after "Unity" ... what could be better ?

Yeah .... but even myself with my few Jimmy Smith , Larry Young , and a couple other CDs by the greats can tell the relative level of savvy when I listen to Melvin Seals, Joey DeFrancesco , Medeski , Charlie Hunter , Larry Goldings (listed in ascending order of my perception of their chops). (Not ready to state my opinion on Robert Walter yet) I think that most of the jam band crowd may not KNOW much -- but many of them have developed BIG EARS being exposed to so many musicians who really know jazz , and can really play jazz, and incorporate that into their "jazz plus" crossover musics.

"Super Heavy Organ" Apparently he's from SoCal but migrated and now is a key player in the modern NO scene (or what's left of it). Since I don't really know my organ / R&B history I always wonder to what degree these guys know theirs. I know that Blue Note and Prestige in the mid-50s through mid-60s were making way more money off this kind of funky danceable music than they were off of more cerebral jazz. So there's this immense lineage .... Also, I find it really interested how "making it" in jazz is defined by packing-up and moving to NYC, whereas "making it" in "jazz plus" seems to require an extended stop in NO along the way.

I suppose I could do my own research, but since there are so many organ experts on these forums I thought I'd just throw it out there .........

There are 2 versions of "Unforgettable Lee!" from Fresh Sounds records (who are they?). Both say that the tracks were recorded live at Birdland in Spring / Summer 1960. One version has a single disc: 1. Chess Players 2. This Here 3. Midget 4. Nelly Bly 5. Along Came Betty 6. Dat Dere 7. This Here 8. Justice 9. Night In Tunisia The other version adds a 2nd disc and adds the tunes: 10. Lester Left Town 11. Noise In The Attic 12. So Tired 13. It's Only A Paper Moon 14. This Here 15. Sakeena's Vision 16. Koko's Waltz The liner notes tell you nothing (if they even exist, I lost my case). Was the whole thing recorded in one night? Was disc 1 recorded on one night and disc 2 on another? Or were the tracks taken from a variety of nights ? What nights ? What dates ? Anyone know ?

Where is sign-up list for BFT #33 ?

No man ! You're stabbing a knife in my back ! Trust me, Hunter knows his shit. All that B3 comping has serious historical origins that go way back. Hunter knows his jazz, his blues, his R&B, his funk, his soul, his reggae, his rock ... I don't got time to write it all down right now. Would Sco be giggin' with him if he weren't the real thing ? MMW is kool by me but they're a one-act-circus.

Have you listened to Hunter on "Charlie Hunter"? , "Natty Dread" ? , "Right Now Move"? , "Friends Seen And Unseen"?, Stanton Moore's "All Kooked Out" , Garage A Trois "Empathizer" , T.J. Kirk ... Well, it doesn't even matter 'cause Hunter's one of those guys who is so much more astounding in person than on recordings that you gotta see him live to get it.

Well then extending this definition into the modern internet peer-to-peer era, Charlie Hunter is the premier icon of modern jazz. At this point, clearly a proven jazz genius capable of communication on a sublime level, a self-taught pioneering innovator on his self-invented instrument at the level of a Rhasaan, one of the most distinctive stylists around, practically invented the modern "jazz plus" culture, self-taught, self-promoted, more-and-more self-marketed and self-distributed (music and merchandise), anti-corporate, extremely web-savvy, a shrewd businessman in both performance realms (live tours and studio sessions), ability and true love for multiple funk-rock-jam-band-whatever genres and unashamed if these are probably more profitable that serious acoustic jazz, a rock-solid bandleader, an emerging educator, a consumate associate and promoter of younger talent (most notably, John Ellis, the best 20-something tenor on the scene) ..... ... and, finally, easily the most well-known name in jazz in the under-40 set who have even a modicum of hipness (in other words, their knowledge of jazz extends outside the doors of Starbucks), And from what I can tell, he massively enjoys it all. Not just the music, but also running his own show in life.

Me too; except in my case it's about forty years. So long that I can't tell whether this is relevant to the thread or not. Am I supposed to be learning something from this? MG I believe the discussion had shifted to how a musician attains an iconic status and what that implies for the self-experiential derived component of their music. Anyway you can pick up "In Utero" for $8 from Amazon. Worth it just to participate in these discussions (in my opinion).

David:Did you grow up in Berkeley? Berkeley High?

Nirvana only became a renowned band and Kurt an "icon" upon their first major-label release of "Nevermind" (Sep 1991). (18 million copies.) Before then, Nirvana was very close to a garage band. Records were made for literally few hundreds of dollars. The following and final studio album, "In Utero" (Sep 1993), was actually originally conceived by Kurt as a tool to destroy Nirvana's mass-following (MTV, mall kids, ampitheatres/stadiums), etc. (preliminary title : "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die".) The album is filled with tortured, often undecipherable statements of self-hatred and loathing, extreme sociophobia, maladaption to the "adult" world where hierarchical economic and sexual relationships substitute for friendship, mutually parasitical relationships, and the pain of adulation by thousands of strangers -- many of whom he probably would have hated if met in person. In sum, "In Utero" is a nasal micro-videocamera snaked up into a brain well-into an irreversible process of self-destruction. Even if you're not a kid anymore, the shit is chilling to listen to. Unbelievably, "In Utero" sold in the general range of "Nevermind" (6 million US alone, perhaps 1/2 as many copies worldwide.) However, I believe few understand what is really going with Kurt on that album. Only a few months followed before Cobain blew his brains out in April 1994. I could go on about how Kurt routinely puked up blood just before going onstage, his probably severely dysfunctional relationship with Courtney Love (who honed her style and approach to relationships with men in transvestite bars), his ambiguous conception of his own sexuality beginning in junior high school, his improbable origins as a mass-genre-creating (and mass-genre-destroying) musician who grew up in backwoods mono-think town, his almost despondent regret regarding how his massive heroin addiction (an addiction which he attributed to fame and fortune) had (he perceived) irreversibly changed his core emotional experience regarding life and the world much for the worse. Most relevant to this discussion, though, is that "In Utero" contains a number of "Fuck The Music Industry" statements, statements that don't strike me at all as charlatanism. Additionally, the music bombards the listener with psychotic-sounding but conceivably rational conclusions regarding the most disturbing and depressing of topics. Reportedly, many executives at Geffen were so nervous about alienating or scaring the shit out of Nirvana's primarily white middle-class naively-rebellious SLTS ("Smells Like Teen Spiri") teenage fan-base that they made a number of attempts to tone all it down (with no success, I believe). Kurt was a bi-polar manic depressant and many of his detractors use that to explain his life and his music. However, I believe in his later years he fought a intense internal battle against his disorders and found stardom to be the final straw in a mental illness that led irreversibly to youthful suicide.

Yeah it is a good contrast. Nirvana is the greatest rock band in history. Pear Jam sucks.

Man, you got to see Lee live. Whoooaaahh ! From David H. Rosenthal "Hard Bop" : "In jazz, Lee Morgan in the late 1950s and early 1960s was just about the baddest thing going. His statement "I'm an extrovert person ... and hard bop is played by bands of extrovert people", is more a smokescreen than an insight and does nothing to explain how he differs from more congenial extroverts like Adderly. What Lee possessed and Cannonball lacked, at least by comparison, was malice. On "Caribbean Fire Dance" on Joe Henderson's Mode For Joe album, the trumpeter manages to make his colleagues -- Henderson, trombonist Curtis Fuller, vibist Bobby Hutcherson, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Joe Chambers, all pretty "bad cats" themselves -- sound like a bunch of sissies sitting beside him. (... goes on for a bit describing the music ...) "

If you believe what he said in interviews, what he says in various lyrics , especially on "In Utero" tracks, and what friends said about him in interviews and via other sources, then Kurt Cobain of Nirvana qualifies for the above. Injecting 10x the lethal dose of smack for a hardcore addict into your vein and shortly thereafter blowing off half your head with a large guage shotgun is an indication of an extremely troubled psyche. Originally, Kurt was a guy who had learned how to be happy on $4 a day.