sgcim

They put words to Django? NO!!!!

That's a good point, KCR is playing a retrospective on Leo Parker now, and I' really digging it. Pat Patrick, Mulligan, Leo Parker, guys who didn't pay a million notes per second, and kept a lighter sound are okay with me. Even Pepper Adams can be a bit much, as mjzee mentioned above, when he's the only horn on the record. I've never heard Stitt play Bari. It's just the nature of the instrument. It's timbre can be unbearable in large, uninterrupted doses. They're all brilliant musicians, but timbre is an important consideration.

it's a tough instrument to listen to on a small group record where it's the only horn for an extended period of time. A friend gave me a CD like that, and after half an hour or so, I just couldn't take it anymore, and literally had to turn it off. Mulligan or Pepper Adams could pull it off, because of their sound and ideas, but other than them, the range and power of the horn can be too much, especially if the player is trying to see how many notes he can cram into a measure.

Cookin' (as you can see from my listing of the table of contents) includes many of the musicians the author left out in Giant Steps. How many books have chapters on Tina Brooks, Elmo Hope, Nat Adderly, Wardell Gray, Howard McGhee, Blue Mitchell, Booker Little, Booker Ervin, Johnny Griffin, and Sonny Clark?

Mathieson didn't write Trad Dads. Trad Dads was written by Duncan Heining, who is indeed British. "Cookin' was written by Mathieson, who is indeed Scottish. Cookin' was written as the second in a series about the period covered in Giant Steps, I haven't read Giant Steps.

I'm in the middle of a great book by Kenny Mathieson named "Cookin'- Hard Bob and Soul Jazz- 1954-1965", and he has a chapter on musicians of that period who have never had a full-length biography written about them, at the time of its writing, 2002. Since then, books have been written about many of these artists, but there's a chapter on Jimmy Smith, as well as:Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon/Wardell Gray, Horace Silver, The MJQ, Cannonball Adderly/Nat Adderly, Lee Morgan/Hank Mobley, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Dorham/Howard McGhee, Donald Byrd/Blue Mitchell/Booker Little, Sonny Stitt/Johnny Griiffin, James Moody/ Serge Chaloff/ Jimmy Heath, Lou donaldson/ Stanley Turrentine, Booker Ervin Tina Brooks/ Gigi Gryce, Sonny Clark/Elmo Hope/ Wynton Kelly, Kenny Burrell/Grant Green, The Jazztet. Anyone read this? I searched it here, and the only mention is by Brad, when he wanted to sell it eight years ago. I mentioned this in the Jimmy Smith thread, but would like some opinions on it, because the opinions on the book "Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers" saved me a lot of time by warning me of the political BS the author throws into the last chapters!

Every time I've heard Steve Lacy on soprano, he sounds flat- in a bad way. Every time I've heard Bobby Jaspar on flute, he sounds flat, in a good way. Dizzy sounded out of tune when I heard him live in the 70s. That's why he switched to using guitar in his small group stuff instead of piano. I loaned Frank Strozier's "Long Night" (one of my fave albums) to Joe Dixon (clarinet and sax player for Tommy Dorsey and Bunny Berrigan), and he raved about it, saying Strozier was 'Trane influenced. I loaned the same album to a younger sax player, and all he had to say was, "he plays out of tune".I've avoided that guy since then. Don Cherry-out of tune. Ornette on violin- OOT. Most guitarists sounded OOT before they invented the electronic tuners, except for Johnny Smith and Barry Galbraith. That's one of the reasons they were on so many albums in the 50s, and (in Smith's case) played in the NBC Orchestra. I used to work with George Barrow (the Bari sax player on "Blues and the Abstract Truth), and he told me that Eric Dolphy told him he played out of tune on the flute on purpose, because that's the way they play high-pitched wind instruments in Africa. I have to admit that I'd like to hear a hip band play some of Duke's more modern pieces. His old classics sound fine that way. Gunther Schuller said in his autobiography, that the bass violin is the most difficult instrument of them all to play perfectly in tune on, because the space between half tones is too large to always find the exact place where the note is perfectly in tune. A bass player I knew who studied at Julliard, told me that George Mraz was the only bass player who could consistently play in tune.

I'm in the middle of a great book by Kenny Mathieson named "Cookin'- Hard Bob and Soul Jazz- 1954-1965", and he has a chapter on musicians of that period who have never had a full-length biography written about them, at the time of its writing, 2002. Since then, books have been written about many of these artists, but there's a chapter on Jimmy Smith, as well as:Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon/Wardell Gray, Horace Silver, The MJQ, Cannonball Adderly/Nat Adderly, Lee Morgan/Hank Mobley, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Dorham/Howard McGhee, Donald Byrd/Blue Mitchell/Booker Little, Sonny Stitt/Johnny Griiffin, James Moody/ Serge Chaloff/ Jimmy Heath, Lou donaldson/ Stanley Turrentine, Booker ErvinTina Brooks/ Gigi Gryce, Sonny Clark/Elmo Hope/ Wynton Kelly, Kenny Burrell/Grant Green, The Jazztet. In the Jimmy Smith chapter, he tells the story (in Smith's words) about how Jimmy laid out Babs Gonzales in 1957, after Babs claimed to be JS' new manager, in the studio at 70 Broadway, with Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff looking on in horrified panic. The author rates JS' records one by one, and raves most about "The Sermon', and "Back at the Chicken Shack", where he claims you can practically "feel the grease" on the title track. The author likes the Baby Grand live sessions, but claims that the subsequent two volume,"Groovin' at Small's Paradise" in 1957, is a more powerful date, and also raves about sessions on Feb.11-13, 1957, which produced five albums, "The Sounds of Jimmy Smith", and two more two volume issues, "A Date With Jimmy Smith, and "Jimmy Smith At the Organ.

RIP

Yeah, I can't listen to it as it is. GM had bad luck, especially at the 55 Bar.

Damn, that's not blasphemous at all, Pazuzu! In fact, that was one of my fave scenes from CaddyShack. But, no, it was not the great Mitchell Kumstein. This lowly floor sleeper went on to make guitars for Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Grant Green, Paul Simon, and many others.

I'm sure that's some blasphemous joke that considering the time of the season (when you first possessed poor, little Reagan), I should expect from you, o evil one, but you have proven your ignorance of the history of jazz guitar making. I shall not submit to your ceaseless attempts to destroy my faith, as you attempted to do with Father Merrin and Brother Demian, and will leave it to someone else on this noble board to supply the correct answer.

My father was a pro guitar player back in the 30s, and grew up in Little Italy on Elizabeth St., where he used to hang out at John D'Angelico's shop. There was a little guy named Jimmy, who used to sweep up the place- guess who he grew up to be? My father bought a 'Snake Head' model D'Angelico (one of John D's first models) from his best friend Duke, who was a jewelry designer (and designed the New Yorker model head stocks for John), for a few hundred bucks. He also had a Gibson round hole guitar, that had fake diamonds around the hole, that he said a cousin of his stole off of some Country music star back in the 40s. He gave up the guitar and songwriting after he got married, but he was intent on making me a guitar player when I was only five or six years old. I thought the guitar was a faggy instrument that only Roy Rogers played, and I started crying when he fooled me into going for a guitar lesson when I was a little kiddie. There was never a second lesson, because I locked myself in the bathroom, and refused to come out. They started us in band classes when we were in third grade, and I wanted to play the clarinet, because the leader of our little gang said it was a cool instrument. I continued with the clarinet, and singing first 'chair' first soprano, because the girls were too stupid to remember melodies, and i could remember and sing any melody I heard. Finally, I heard The Beatles, and it did something to my brain chemistry, and I started teaching myself to play their songs on my father's Gibson and D'Angelico. And that's the instrument I stuck with.

Happy Birthday, Little Bird!

Soft Samba was one of the few GM LPs I never bought. Something sounded wrong with it. Thanks for articulating what it was.

It's too late to to bid, but Walter Becker's 'collection' was just auctioned off at a Beverley Hills auction house, if you hadn't heard about it. WB owned 650 guitars and close to 400 amps. Certifiable GAS!!!!!!

Did your dad's concept album ever get a record release? Was he an LA arranger?

Sounds like a GM bossa nova!

That's freaky! My father bought the same two LPs back when I was a kiddie. My fave cut is Tony Scott's gorgeous interpretation of the Mike Hammer 'Riff Blues' theme, going into his Ben Webster bag, with nice acc. by Mundell and Costa.Tony used both lips for his embouchure, instead of the traditional one of resting the top teeth on the mouthpiece. He also had a 'freak diaphragm', which allowed him to use more air than someone with a normal diaphragm. I think the guy that posted that was Mundell's son.

Last night I was jamming with a friend, and he wanted me to sing the melody to a tune he didn't know. I started singing it, and he came in on the chords to the song, and I started playing the melody with my guitar while i was still vocalizing, like GM used to do with his vibes. I thought it sounded okay, and had visions of reviving GM's style in the 21st century. After the tune was over, I asked my friend what he thought of the vocalizing/playing, and he said it sounded alright. I probed deeper, and asked him if he thought it would sound good if I did it on a gig. He said, no. I asked him if it would sound good in a recording session, and he said, no. I told him I wanted to bring back McFarland's style in the 21st century, and he said, no. So much for the GM revival. I still haven't seen the doc...

The last concert I saw at Carnegie Hall was first row, center. It was the best experience I've ever had at a classical concert. In the past, I've always had orchestra seats, but they were way further back. I would've been better off listening to the record.

If that happened in the inner city HS I taught at in NY, the kids would have found a way to break in to the storage room where they kept them and steal them before the first semester was finished.

They don't tell you schist about making your choice. Sony gives you three choices: Standard, Vivid and Custom. You have to decide if it's a SOE or not. it's not apparent in the names; Standard would seem to be the right choice, but it looks like crap. Custom usually means you can alter something to suit your taste, but that's the right choice. I was about to return the TV until I figured that out. My two-year guarantee was about to expire next month, because I got a sick deal on it (a $1,000+ set for $350) on Thanksgiving night.from Best Buy, and the the main or A board burned out. I had to wait a week for the Geek Squad, but they came to my place and fixed it, and it's good as new, free of charge.

My brother was renting a room in Richmond a few years ago from a woman who had a big screen TV, but didn't understand that she had the Soap Opera Effect on her set for the last seven years! When I told her about it, she didn't seem to care. All she watched were live comedian shows, so I guess it didn't bother her. My 4K Sony Bravia 60" has a picture control for Vivid, Custom, and something else. Vivid is only good for football games, which is the only time I use it. Custom is good for movies, etc... Each company calls the 'SOE' something different.

I think that was a joke, but its teller better be on the lookout for an orange-colored ghost seeking revenge... Most Americans have a problem with Baker actually having a career as a jazz drummer before he decided to "go commercial" with Graham Bond in 1962, but I asked Leon Redbone's Italian-born drummer about it (Gianpaulo Biaggi), and he said when he lived in Italy, Baker was known as one of the best jazz drummers in Europe. He even was supposed to play with Johhny Dankworth's band in 1961, but he, "did the audition for the Dankworth Band, and all the band were raving about it, but somebody told John I was using smack, and Ronnie Stephenson got the gig and became a bigger junkie than me, which was really quite funny" Interview with Ginger Baker, August, 2009.