sgcim

Sounds like Sergio Mendes on LSD.

Played at my cousin's backyard memorial Saturday. I thought it would be a solemn affair where her friends would tearfully read touching poems written about her, through their KN95 masks. Just the opposite- they were doing maskless shots the whole night! Then they found a mic, and some maniac followed my 'exquisite' Duke Ellington medley with "Sympathy For The Devil", reading the lyrics through his cell phone and screwing up the melody five times each line. My B-I-L, who runs a Health Center in MA, was the only one who came in with a mask, but it was off in 20 minutes, after he got crocked on shots, and he led the whoo whoos in SFTD. My aunt is a devout catholic, and I wondered how she was taking a song about satan being played at her daughter's Memorial celebration, but I was laughing so hard I didn't care. At the end of the night she slipped me $100 in cash, so i guess she didn't mind too much. I found myself leading an Irish sing-a-long when a bagpipes player dressed in a kilt came up and played the real Irish schlitz. The wild revel petered out after 6.5 hours, and five days later, and no word about any infections. I was at 98.6 last night, so it looks like the vax works.

Chocolate was my fave flave of Necco's. It's lucky that they're online; I have self control over buying things online.

I think it's time that this fine WKCR jazz DJ got a thread of his own, after 40 years of his Sunday afternoon show "Profiles in Jazz" which centers on one artist for five hours. Ed Beech had a similar show on WRVR in its heyday, which lasted shorter, but was on five nights a week. Gribetz, a Family Court Judge in the Bronx for over 20 years(!), always does a well researched show without the unrelenting verbal assault that is typical of another DJ at the station, yet still offers enough verbal information to clearly describe the artist's career. He offers a wide selection of artists that goes well beyond the usual ones that have been played to death, ensuring an interesting show every week. Today he is doing a show on George Wallington, and has brought in records from his incredible collection that illustrate every phase of GW's career. By the end of one of his shows, you have been exposed to enough of the artist's output presented chronologically to fully appreciate that artists style. ,

A keyboard player I worked with a lot was MD for Jack Jones for a while, and he said JJ was the most musician friendly singer he ever worked with. There was nothing he wouldn't do for members of his band. In fact, for JJ to have kept this dude as his MD for any length of time, revealed that JJ mist have been pretty out there, because the keyboard player was way out there. He got picked up by the police in Atlantic City, just for looking dangerous, was voted "Most Likely to Become a Serial Killer" by his senior class, and once knee dropped my amp almost overboard on a cruise gig we were playing. He overheard me putting down one of the changes he played, and then attacked my amp, and threatened to send me overboard too when I started yelling at him. I'm 99.9% sure he's no longer with us, and judging by the age the online obit said he died at, the rest of us in that band figured somebody must have put out his lights. Those High C's JJ kept hitting were pretty out there, and the tenor solo was good. You can't say much good about the Joe Beck/Sinatra thing. Even Ethel Merman was trying to climb on the disco bandwagon!

Notice that he stayed mainly in the low register on his solo To express his time during the day spent underground in his crypt. He was supposed to be the bass player on "Blues For Dracula", but they held the sessions during the daytime. This situation convinced Frid to leave the jazz scene, and his friend Robert Cobert got him the DS gig, which was shot only at night.

It turned out my Super had never received a vaccine shot. He was about to get his first shot the day before he was tested positive. He's not contagious anymore, so he installed the cheap POS bathroom sink/vanity I bought for $248. I greeted him at the door with a mask and gloves on, and he said, "What are we in China?" The poor guy is a long hauler, so I didn't try to chew him down when he asked for $100 for the installation. He had to go down to his place and get O2 after he finished the job. I visited my 94 year-old dying uncle last week, and just came back from his funeral and the social gathering we had afterwards. No one had masks, not even my retard sister who refuses to get vaxxed, because Gary Null told her it was dangerous. I ignored the retard for four hours, until she went back to her shithouse in Staten Island. My cousin also hasn't gotten vaxxed yet either (because she's afraid...), and she wanted to hug me goodnight, and I told her I don't hug anyone who hasn't gotten vaxxed, and she told me she was gonna get vaxxed. I told her I'd hug her after she got vaxxed. Saturday, I've got to play some Irish tunes for a Memorial gathering for my cousin who died of cancer a year ago. These are the first large gatherings I've been to in over a year.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about "Emily" and "Spartacus" here. While they indeed have the same first six notes of their melodies, and are both waltzes, Spartacus is in a minor key, hence giving it a tragic quality, while Emily is in a major key, and has a kind of prettier, lighter quality. However, on the Bill Evans/Jeremy Steig LP, Bill Evans adds a parallel major section that, AFAIK, was not in the original Alex North score.This genius move on the part of Evans (or whomever first thought of it) makes it a wonderful blowing vehicle, which is what BE's harmonic choices are all about. This change gives a sense of triumph to the song, as if a victory has been achieved over some some dark force, which Emily lacks, so that's another way to differentiate it from Emily. I wrote a big band arrangement of Spartacus (along with about 25 or so other songs (originals and obscure movie themes/standards) over the pandemic, and hopefully in Sept. we'll start playing again, and I'll be able to hear it played by real instruments,instead of the synthesized accordion sounds of MuseScore.

The funny story I read in the Geo. Russell bio that I may have mentioned before, was that Miles couldn't cut the EZZ-Thetic head, because he was strung out (or whatever), so he tried to sneak out of the recording studio before they played it. Russell's wife was at the exit. and latched on to him like a pit bull, until George and the guys dragged him back in there. George gave Miles a simple descending line to play in whole notes, and Lee played the heck out of the head, and played a great solo on the LFS changes. I can never get enough Lee in the 50s, but he said to a friend of mine that the Kenton tour messed him up, and that he was never the same since.

IMHO, Norman was probably the greatest jazz accompanist that ever lived. His work with Betty Carter and Joe Williams was perfection. Rest In Peace, Brother.

I can't wait!

Who kicked you out?

He once described his music as bebop adapted to pop music!

Yeah, I always wanted to hear some of Vladimir Duchevsky's 'serious' music. Anyone who could write Autumn in NY must have written some interesting stuff.

TTK BACK IN DA HOUSE! Fascinating interview with a guy who was sideman on a bunch of records, who I always wondered about. Good to hear he hated Schoenberg's music when he was at Julliard. That chamber piece he wrote for Count Yorga sounded like a great piece of music. I was completely unaware that he scored the Yorga movies and the film that featured hippies treating a vampire as their guru, "Deathmaster", in addition to the Blacula sequel. I'm going to look for his autobiography to find out more. Thanks!

Here's another thing that Bill did on Contemporary that I never heard, and it's just one movement of four, with him playing clarinet! I don't know why he wasn't considered the next Buddy DeFranco PLUS Geo. Russell, Gil Evans, etc..This thing was done by Shelly Manne back in 1956. Some clarinet player named McGuiness recently recorded the whole thing and videotaped it. I asked my friend who received the Grand Prix in Rome along with Bill in the 60s, and he never heard of the chamber music LP you mentioned on Contemporary. Here's Mike McGinnis playing it live:

I was just talking to a trumpet player friend of mine who went on the road with Lionel Hampton ("Gates") back when Curtis was playing with the band. Gates would play all the well known crowd pleasing stuff on most gigs, but when they played Detroit, he wouldn't use any of the white players,except my friend, who had an Afro back then. Gates figured the people wouldn't know what the hell he was! They'd change their repertoire, and play stuff like "Moment's Notice", and my friend would have to play it with Curtis, scared as hell! He said Curtis paid him a compliment (kind of) by saying he had a weird way of playing, but it works. RIP, Curtis.

Yeah, Lennie and Chet were very close friends. When Lennie died ( police think that he was strangled and dumped in a pool) Chet couldn't even talk about it without breaking down and crying, as he did during the documentary on Lennie made by his daughter.

I never knew they did these things live. #1 I don't get involved in Middle Eastern politics #2 Disliked, I don't care who it is. #3- The great Lennie Breau. He went on the road with her, so this must be a tribute to her. Only Lennie could play those false harmonics so quickly in chords, so it's got to be Lennie. #4 - That's got to be Ray Crawford on guitar Benson couldn't play that well if a gun was pointed at his head, and it's not Burrell or Green. Great cut! #5- ATTYA There are so many great lines you can play on a fifth fall chain. Just listen to Bach. #6 Great cut! If Jim said JG, then it's either him or someone on his level. Masters all! #7- Who cares? #8-Definitely Quincy and all the NY boys. Phil and Urbie or Cleveland take no prisoners. #9- Some of the things he did with Emily reminded me of The Peacocks, so maybe Jimmy Rowles, or someone influenced by him? Very conservative rendition, but good.

Perry R. studied withTony Scott and used the same embouchure that Scott used; no upper teeth on the mouthpiece, just lips. But Scott had a freak, enlarged diaphragm. Scott used to play lying on the floor and tell Perry to jump on his stomach while Scott was playing the clarinet. Scott didn't even feel it! Perry had a normal diaphragm, so he couldn't get the same sound as Scott, or play those long lines without a breath that Scott could play. Scott was one of the first clarinetists to bring Bird to the clarinet, then he became one of the first to bring Trane to it; by virtue of his freak diaphragm.

CRI was a great record label.I used to buy their vinyl every week at Tower's budget LP store in the city. I know they went to cassette tapes at one point, but did they ever go to CDs?

That's probably it.

A friend of mine played a multi-movement piece WOS wrote for jazz ensemble (like "All About Rosie"),for us before a session, which I enjoyed tremendously. Along the lines of pre-LCC George Russell. My friend met and hung with Smith in Europe when they both won the Prix de Rome in their respective fields, so the piece could have been a European production.

It's funny everyone was raving about PRS guitars years ago, and a student of mine ran out and bought the Santana model. It was a POS. Then I tried other PRS models and they were fine. Maybe the Santana model had the old pickup in it.

Herb Ellis could be a real dick. He called the luthier that made both of my guitars, and told him he'd play one of his guitars, if he gave him it for free. The luthier told him to go screw himself.