kenny weir

Er, legend has it that no one who wear kilt does.

Ever hear of the alto player Andrew Speight? From Sydney, iirc. He was the director of jazz studies at MSU when Jim and I were there. Oh yes! I voted Andrew's quartet album, recorded during a visit back here with a great band including John Harkins on piano, as my album of the year in 1998. Great player! As far as I know, he's still teaching/playing in the US? Detroit? Sunday Herald Sun Oct 25 1998 By: KENNY WEIR Quartet (ABC Jazz/EMI) Andrew Speight Review: Kenny Weir TURN it up, sit back and smile. And then gasp as the inventiveness, imagination and passion of alto saxophonist Andrew Speight perform an irresistible tap dance on your musical soul. That the American-based Australian follows the jazz tradition - the influence of Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley is manifest - matters not. A measure of Speight's prowess is the inclusion of Parker's Dexterity and Au Privave, along with tunes as familiar as Easy Living, without the slightest loss of electric spontaneity. Speight is matched at every turn by the eloquence of John Harkin's piano, while bassist David Rosin and drummer Andrew Dickeson sound ecstatic in the wonderfully full-bodied sound conjured up by engineer Dennis Fox. One can only feel sorrow that so many people are hypnotised by the marketplace dictates of over-produced, soulless techno trash when there is such spellbinding music - played live on acoustic instruments - as this. Album of the year, no problem.

Try some brilliant Australians: Scott Tinkler (sorry - he's a trumpeter, but IS freaking brilliant), Mike Nock, Mark Isaacs, Allan Browne Quintet, Sandy Evans, Joe Chindamo, Fiona Burnett, Jamie Oehlers, Paul Grabowsky, Bernie McGann, Paul Williamson, Andre Keller, En Rusk, Phil Slater. Just offa the top of my head ...

Fair enuf, but he labors the point somewhat. I don't think he knows much about jazz. And - worst of all - he doesn't even name the other players (although I accept that those could've been edited out).

Very US-centric, but fun anyway. I was most interested to see if New Orleans - equal best city in the world (with Melbourne) - would make my list. It did. But yah - no questions about jazz etc, nor specific nitty gritty about tucker (oz for food) mean it's pretty lame really. In order: San Diego (Hi James!) Orange County Honolulu Baton Rouge New Orleans Baltimore ( ) Long beach Oakland Little Rock Providence Newhaven Portland Los Angeles ( ) San Francisco Washington DoC Milwaukee Boston Worcester San Jose Sacramento Las Vegas ( ) Chicago Hartford Lafayette (cool!)

Pee Wee also does Ask Me Now and Hackensack on the Verve album Aske Me Now. It's a cool disc. I'm not sure if it's still in catalogue, but the LPR from a few years back should be easily gettable.

buns

Try the other Gil Evans/Miles collaborations - Miles Ahead and Porgy & Bess. Also: Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else, which is often regarded as a Miles session. Also: Maybe you should try some other trumpeters, such as Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham, Freddie Hubbard.

For me, one of the great not-yet-on-CD (as far as I'm aware) albums is the post-JoC item called The Joy by Toni Brown and Terry Garthwaite. (From 1977 on Fantasy). What a ripper! Back in the day, I had at least one solo album by both women but strangely never got into JoC itself.

Alan Thompson - no relative as far as I know - played electric bass on the likes of Grace And Danger and Glorious Fool etc. I saw him with Martyn live, and both live and on record he struck me as doing an incredible job of replicating in a very suave, superior way the warmth of Danny's playing. Not too many electric bassists you can say that of.

I agree about Moondance, the song and (to a lesser extent) the album. But I reckon Glad Tidings is just about the best of Van's pop songs a la Brown Eyed Girl.

I doubt Penguin would let them depart AND take the book with them. Not that I know anything about the publishing world, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the jazz guide, in terms of ownership, is just like the OED - i.e., owned by the publishers. In that case, Cook & Morton could thus reappear as authors of a different tome completely. Could this be the last Penguin? I find it staggering they would publish without an index.

Shawn I agree totallly. I think he's wildly under-rated - to my mind he's the real American troubador (forget Dylan or Woody Guthrie or whoever). Some of his tunes are wickedly funny, others have some really devastating pathos, some have both (Dang Me). Fave tunes: Hitchiker, Burma Shave, I Get Up Early In The Morning. Little Green Apples, Sorry Willie, When Two Worlds Collide, Lock Stock And Tearrops, Chug-A-Lug (Best Drinking Song Ever).

No index? That's awful. I use it a lot for artists who don't have an entry under their own name. I think I'd rather see marginal artists excluded and the index retained.

Nate, the NO George Lewis definitely has a gong in the sixth, but it's a co-listing under Kid Valentine's name.

LAL, one of the authors (I forget which one) has a New Orleans/trad jones, and in the most recent edition (or perhaps the past two) even gave a crown to a Kid Valentine/George Lewis CD on American Music.

Tony, sent you a PM.

Art Farmer? Art Tatum? Art Taylor?

Having enjoyed the last World Cup enormously - especially the fact an Asian team got to the semis - I am still a little surprised to find I am taking interest in the various qualifying battles. The Wales/Northern Ireland stoush must have been pretty rugged - three players sent off in the first quarter. From what I can tell, Australia's bid starts in seriousness against the Solomon Islands on October 9. It's a hard having to face the fifth or sixth best South American team to get to the finals.

Actually, I suspect that recent board musings on the Kenton Presents set are exactly what has put it on the Running Low list.

Yeah, I feel a little smug, too. I ordered the Chico Hamilton - my first Mosaic - and it went. I ordered the Kenton Presents - and it's on its way out, too. I ordered the Johnny Hodges a couple of days ago - so maybe it's for the axe as well.

Hey, it's hell down here ... the bastards helped themselves to our in-fridge beer last night and then took all my box sets when they left.

It's been a while since I read up on stuff like this, but my recollectionis that guitarist/coolcat Danny Barker played a major role in re-introducing the city's youngsters to the music and their heritage.

Yeah I've got this. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but nevertheless I didn't get it! I haven't really had a good at-home listen yet, but first impressions have been of really rickety trad. Rather baffling, with not much prescence from Berry himself. I'm not finished with it yet, though ...