sgcim

Some white musicians i knew were doing a recording for one of his shows, and when they were in the studio, they overheard him making some racist comments about them to the black recording engineer. Ever since I heard that, i took everything i heard him say with a grain of salt.

You have a vivid imagination, I hope. Imagination? Are you trying to say all of this never really happened?

Well, my idea for the psycho-thriller is that since that is JH's daughter, his psychoanalyst wife has sent out a secret message, because that harmless looking, universally respected jazz guitarist is actually...uh, I'll leave that up to your pajamanation... A German psychoanalyst jazz fan, still clinging to his belief in Freud, has deciphered Jan's desperate message, and tries to get in touch with Jan, but she is being held captive in the SUB-basement of the VV where her screams for help are being drowned out by the loud, distorted sound of the annual John Scofield Festival, which is going on for a month, 24/7. The German PA tries to convince the police that Jim Hall is really a diabolical dude, but they too are big jazz fans, and refuse to believe the desperate Freudian. This leads to the climax of the film, where the Freudian confronts the evil Jim Hall during a gig in Berlin... Since that bald guy from the original film version of The Odd Couple is probably gone by now, we'll have to get John Malkovich to play Jim Hall.

Let me first state that this was not my idea- at least the start of it- it was thought up by a guy on another forum. First, we know that Jan Hall, a psychoanalyst, wrote the title tune. Second, notice the twisted smirk on Jim's face. Third, notice the Bockwurst sign extending from Jim to his daughter, Devra. Fourth, notice the obvious pleasure both Jim and Devra are having... Do I have to go on? I know, sometimes a Bockwurst is just a Bockwurst...

I'm snowed in with a lotta time on my hands...

Iirc, Marshall Effron's parody lasted until Joe Franklin threatened to sue and WBAI couldn't afford to fight it in court. It was hilarious. Here's a pass along e-mail I received from a friend: Back in the 70s when Mingus’ Beneath The Underdog was published he was a guest on The Joe Franklin Show. Virginia Graham, the daytime TV show host, was also a guest and preceded Mingus. After the Graham segment Joe goes into his Hoffman soda spiel then says “When we return jazz great Charlie Yardbird Mingus”. That's interesting, I wondered why they never played it again. I might have it on reel-to-reel tape somewhere, but I don't have a RTR recorder anymore. The best part was Marilyn Sokol playing a washed up actress/singer, Sarah Goy, singing an atonal version of "Lover Man", banging out nonsense chords on the piano! I'm listening to Max Schmeed on WBAI this very second playing a tribute to JF.

That's been a long time comin'. I'm definitely gonna pick it up. I saw it in the theaters when it came out- the film sounded like a BH concert. I'm surprised no one mentioned his 'serious' music- "Symphony"- my fave rave "Moby Dick" a cantata The Fantasticks"- a song cycle with orchestra "Echoes"for String Quartet "Wuthering Heights" His Opera Benny and David Raksin (both Russian Jews, who didn't get along too well- I don;t think anyone got along well with BH!) were my fave film composers.

JF provided TV exposure to young hopefuls whose very presence on the show almost guaranteed they were headed for oblivion. I remember watching in astonishment at 2:00am when he had a singer on, who I once worked with named Muffin (yes, she looked like one), a jewish, born-again, lesbian, punk-rocker, who would be too wasted on booze and valium to make it up to the stand to belt out her atonal version of a Judy Garland medley. You can't buy shit like that. Marshall Effron and Marilyn Sokol did a parody of him on WBAI they called "The Frank Joklyn Show", which IMHO is the funniest thing ever produced by human beans. RIP, Joe. Another part of NYC that is gone forever.

As little as possible...

Thanks, but I've checked out that woman before, and there's no mention of her singing with Amram, but who knows? She was in NY in 1971, when Amram recorded the LP with Pepper Adams, Al Harewood and Lisle Atkinson, but this Lynn Sheffield sounded black, and sang in tune, unlike what I heard of Lynx Quicksilver. Maybe when she was younger she sang better?

I've only heard this vocalist on one LP, David Amram's LP from the 1970s, "No More Walls", and she seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Does anyone have any info on her other than the Amram LP?

The Stagg A350LH-n violin burst doesn't look like that bad of a guitar for the price. There's one online for only $149- do a search. I don't know if that includes a case. There's a Russian guy playing one on youtube that sounds kind of trebly, but you could adjust the tone control. It plays in tune up on the neck, and has nice sustain for a cheap guitar. If you want a lefty archtop in the $300- $500 range that is more well-known, you could look for a used Ibanez AFJ-85, 91, or 105. Also the Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor can be a decent guitar if you get a little work done on it. Samick made a decent, cheap lefty archtop that you might be able to find on ebay. You could play jazz on a solid body if you have a Roland Cube amp. I played on an LP that was reviewed in Downbeat with a Hondo Strat copy that only cost $100 new.

They all use monitors because they have a sound man that controls everything you hear in the audience I can't stand that BS, because everything is up to the sound man. I did a SAG production of 'Smokey Joe's Cafe', and the contractor complained that he could only hear me on my solos. It turned out the chick who was doing the sound at the theater (she went to college for sound production ) decided that was how she thought it should sound. After the three month run, I never worked for that theater again. Phil Woods got so sick of that BS, that he refused to use mics for his group for years.

Never heard of them. Do you want a lefty for rock or jazz? How much are you willing to spend?

The answer is somewhere in here: http://eatingacademy.com/personal/idea Search the blog.

Thank you, let me explain. I posted this in the musician's forum. I am asking working musicians, either professional or semi-professional, if they notice a difference between how their older peers and younger peers approach group dynamics. There will of course be outliers in either category. I am curious if -in general - huge PA systems, amplifiers, rock-era aesthetics, louder instruments, and any combination of these may (or may not) affect how musicians of different age groups approach group dynamics. If I did not articulate this well enough in my original post, kindly attribute this to my limitations as a writer. I was talking with a younger trumpet player about this after a gig recently. He was putting down an older trumpet player, because he thought the older guy played too loud. I told him that he played loud because the band wasn't using mics, and that up front where I was set up, he was the only trumpet player in the section I could hear when there was a trumpet solo. The younger guys are used to playing with mics, so they don't work on projecting their sound like the older musicians did. I was surprised hear from a trombone player that Bill Watrous couldn't be heard without a mic. As far as rock cats are concerned, they have such powerful pickups, pre-amps, amps, pedals, and mics that they play through powerful PA systems, that they literally couldn't play quietly if their lives depended on it. I subbed for a rock/fusion player on a musical with an orchestra, and I sat there in disbelief as this dim-wit drowned out the entire string section. When I did the gig, I blended nicely with the strings, and the conductor and musicians appreciated it. OTOH, if I were to sub for him with his rock band, they'd probably laugh me off the stand, because I don't have powerful enough gear to be able to cut through the loudness of the rock band.

Kenny's a great musician- he doesn't count...

People have been conditioned to think that louder = better.

Thanks! I went to her estate sale over the summer in Port Washington, and came out with a very rare Herb Ellis LP. The rumors that I also bought a number of her dresses was untrue; probably started by a number of my enemies trying to destroy my street cred.... A sax player friend of mine, Jimmy Miller, bought her huge, tape deck. and needed help carrying it to his car. He was ecstatic about the sound of it. RIP MM

Looks like he got more than just hip voicings from Bill Evans... He used to be in the same chant group as one of my student's parents.

No, as usual, it's her word against reality, and she usually lost in that regard. I'll delete the post, but she was a cop/jazz musician back then, so maybe she had some inside knowledge. She woke up one morning to find the pianist in the band dead next to her of an OD of coke and methadone, so we're treading in some dark, murky waters here...

I've been looking for this film for a long time, and found it on youtube. I love watching these gritty, B&W films made in the 50s and 60s about jazz musicians, because they usually deliver a more authentic representation of the jazz scene than atrocities like "Lady Sings The Blues, "Bird", and the soon to be released, "Wynton- How I Invented Jazz". Sweet Love, Bittersweet (1967) is about as real as it can get, with Dick Gregory portraying a Charlie Parker-like alto saxophonist named Richie Stokes, nicknamed 'Eagle', who is befriended by a white, unemployed college professor (played by Don Murray) and put up by an adoring black friend (Robert Hooks' film debut). Out of any jazz film I've seen, it's the only one that makes no attempt to pander to any Hollywood formula whatsoever, and sometimes seems like just a bunch of short segments, rather than a similar narrative like "Round Midnight", which it obviously influenced. The soundtrack is similarly as anti-Hollywood as it can get, with some great tunes written by Mal Waldron, and featuring: Mal Waldron — piano Dave Burns — trumpet George Coleman — tenor saxophone, alto saxophone Charles Davis — baritone saxophone Richard Davis (tracks 1 & 4) George Duvivier (tracks 2, 3 & 5-13) — bass Al Dreares — drums according to Wiki. I read some of the few reviews on the IMDB, and someone claims that Chas. MacPherson plays the alto parts, but i suspect they might have gotten it confused with "Bird". We couldn't figure out which city it was filmed in, but it was supposed to be NYC (with one stock footage scene of Columbus Circle). However, when I checked the IMDB, it turned out to be Philly. Check this out for the great music, and if you're a fan of esoterica.

Actors- Pier Angeli, Jean Seberg(?), Peter Duel, Inger Stevens, Brittany Murphy, Spalding Gray, Marilyn Monroe(?) Musicians- Nick Drake, Judee Sill, Elliot Smith, Roy Buchanan, Phil Ochs, Danny Gatton, G. G. Allin, Mike Bloomfield(?), Tommy Boyce, Bob Grattinger, Sonny criss, Donny hathaway

I read some of Crow's other reviews, and he seems to complain about many players; Pepper Adams 'unbearable sound on sustained notes', Johnny Griffin's,'pinched sound', Oscar Pettiford's playing, and many others. I'm glad he got a taste of his own medicine when Chuck Israels reviewed a record he played on, and found Crow's rhythm section playing severely lacking. Bill Evans' letter also expressed puzzlement over his negativity about Scott, and Crow's review of the Metronome Encyclopedia. Scott could be obnoxious when he got carried away on some of his recorded jam sessions, but he sounded fine on many of his studio LPs. Maybe Crow had a bad day at his job at Local 802, or someone turned down his Jazz Anecdotes book...

Another of the greats has passed. RIP, Buddy.