kenny weir

Hey Clemintine - I called up this thread thinking only of three Dylan covers - and there's Gene Clark's Tears of Rage up there already! Cool album! Also: Love Minus Zero/No Limit - Rick Nelson Tangled Up In Blue - Hoodoo Rhythm Devils

Hey - I just made veteran groover!

I enjoyed a week's leave last week so I took the opportunity to "suspend normal programming" on may radio show. I filled it up with heaps of Allman Brothers (the "new" Atlanta Pop festival stuff), Grateful Dead, Van Morrison, Gene Clark, John Stewart, Silas Hogan, Slim Harpo, Lightnin' Slim, Johnny Rivers and more. It was a hoot and a half. I got quite a few phone calls and even a couple of letters, some of them from people who had been listening to my show more than a decade ago when all the above artists and many more were what I "did". That is, many years before I "went" jazz. I find a brief foray into non-jazz stuff enjoyable and essential, for I find that the jazz fire burns even brighter when I return to it - usually within a few days. My only regret is the several thousand vinyl albums I let go for financial reasons. My CD collection doesn't have much depth in the non-jaz department, but it suffices. And odd thing, though - on the (very) odd occasion when I have the time, space and inclination to get good and drunk with just me and my music (and perhaps a toke or two, too), I invariably quickly seegway from the likes of Rollins and Silver to Garcia and Duane.

Looking forward to you practising what you preach.

Most recently, the John Patton Mosaic Package.

Dan: Don't have much to add to the questions already submitted, but ... How about asking him how much time and effort went into hustling up some pop/chart action a la Sidewinder (yeah, yeah it's Blue Note, I know, but you get my drift I'm sure). And when Prestige did end up with a "hit", how much was it either canny planning or plain dumb ol' luck. Good luck!

Saturday in the office: Martial Solal - NY-1 Horace Silver Trio Way Out West - Footscray Station John Patton - Mosaic Joe Henderson - Page One Allman Brothers - Atlanta Pop Festival Jack McDuff/Kenny Burrell - Somthin' Slick/Crash!

Hey Mr Moose: Too bad you first experience with you new set was a downer. I certainly hope it won't be the last. I don't have this set, but going by an earlier post on this thread it seems the first disc is rough 'n' ready marching band stuff. My advice would be to keep the set around and pull it every now and then - perhaps when you can't decide on what else you want to hear - and get familiar with it in small doses. I spend by far the greatest amount of my listening time digging new Australian/US stuff or reissues from the '50s and '60s. But at least once a fortnight I'll lose myself in the more traditional stuff or swing - and I can hear all the connections click into place. As I did last night with the Hot 5s and 7s. There is some raggedy playing for sure among my New Orleans albums, but the spirit is the thing.

The Commodore is mainly of historical importance as far as I'm concerned. Nice but not vital. The Decca stuff likewise, for me anyway. The Columbia stuff is the good. I suspect, now there is a "complete" Columbia box, you may be able to get a handle on this stuff by picking up cheap/used copies of the Quintessential series that preceded it. Having said that, the Columbia box is a big (expensive) slice of heaven.

LONDON, Nov 13 PA - A wacky artist will spend 12 days in a bath full of baked beans, with chips shoved up hisnose and 48 sausages wrapped around his head, in a bizarre tribute to the full English breakfast. Mark McGowan, 37, began his stunt today in the shop window of the House Gallery near his home in Camberwellin south London. ``We don't support our culture enough, so I thought I'd celebrate a part of it by turning myself into a traditional English breakfast,'' the artist told reporters. His aim is to spend eight hours a day, for 12 days, in the bean bath.

Hmmmm ... that's got me curious. What else in the way of trad stuff has Verve/Universal/Vivendi/Howard Hughes/Rupert Murdoch/Monsanto got buried away???

DrJ: I've had this set for about a year and I love every bit of it. However, I'm coming at it from a slightly different perspective from you - before I bought it, I had just a couple of the albums (Plays Duke, With Coltrane) so much of it was a completely new experience. That said, if you can get it at a good price, I'd just jump in. The sound is perfectly acceptable got my low/mid range system and ears. Besides, I wouldn't want to be holding my breath - in the present economic climate and record industry conservatism vibe - for a new mastering/packaging/annotation job. When (if) this one sells out, I doubt it'll be replaced. For me, the best part of the experience has been the many sessions I hadn't heard before with the likes of Gerry Mulligan, Clark Terry, Thad Jones. And the solo stuff is swell as well. I love it ... B)

Alice Springs???????

Saw the reissue of this fabulous 1970 Jean-Pierre Melville thriller last night - what a blast! Does anyone know who was the band and band leader who were seen at length in several shots set in Santi's nightclub? It was Basie-esque swing, a big band with about 18-20 players, about 2/3s of whom were black. I also saw a preview for another (new) French flick, Une Femme De Menage (The Housekeeper) that had a scene set in a jazz club. Just a glimpse, but I thought the piano player might be Martial Solal.

I'm always interested to read anything by Giddins - I'm a fan and I reackon Visions Of jazz is just about my fave jazz book. Having said that, there were a few things here that grated on me. And in the following I'll be trying to have in mind that this was Giddins in verbal form, not written. Giddins on Crouch: "You know, a Stanley Crouch may say something you think is preposterous, but he has earned the right to say it, if for no other reason than because he has lived his whole life inside this music. He has spent more time in clubs than almost anybody else I know. If this is a conclusion that he comes to, he has the right to say it, and you have to give him respect even as you disagree. I don't feel that way about some guy who owns eleven records and once went to a show at the Village Vanguard. I am just not that interested." Fine - Crouch has a point of view and deserves some respect. But to base that respect on the fact he's been a long-time barfly in New York? Come on! And while it may be unfair and just plain mischief-making, some of what I've read (quite a lot actually) implies Crouch is very much about being seen in these places rather than seeing/hearing what's going on. To base someone's critical status on the number of gigs they've seen is a crock unless you also factor in the diveristy of music involved and the geographical spread. Giddins on "DIY reviews" and jazz sites: "There used to be a magazine that did that. I think it was called Different Drummer. It was inexpensive looking, all white with black print, and very little art work as I recall - all amateur stuff. I hated it! Criticism isn't an amateur pursuit, it's a serious craft, sometimes raised to an art. Don't get me wrong, I'm very interested in opinions - I get letters all the time from readers who know a lot more than I do - but criticism goes beyond opinion. It's a literary, not a musical pursuit, and something you have to work at." OK, there are a lot of "I really dig this" comments here and at other jazz boards - but I like and need that sometimes, too. Sadly, the inference that comes across is that fans should heed the words of the masters and stick to their shallow "me me me" warbling, which can never ever be of the same standard as true "jazz criticism". Well excuse me, Gary. But the truth is there's plenty of people on this board and others (I'll count myself out here) who are every but as erudite and eloquent as you. People who may be amateurs, but who nonetheless write with passion. Who treat it as a "serious craft"; who often raise it to "art"; who put it in cultural, social and musical perspective that "goes beyond opinion". And yes, they work at it - hard.

Beano! Yech - sounds like liquid smoke or some such. Actually, the bean side effects don't really bother me, but I'd avoid them if I could. Garlic? I remember back in my long gone boyhood days in (culinary bleak) deep south New Zealand - days when garlic was as exotic as hell and you could definitely tell who'd been chomping on it. These days, in multicultural multiculinary Melbourne, I reckon just about everybody eats garlic every day, so it's the norm.

I bought a bag of beans on Monday - cute little thingies about 1/3 the size of a kidney bean. They were called American beans - something I've never seen before. I soaked about a cup and a 1/2 overnight. Next day I browned off a chorizo sausage. Then in the the sausage fat and a little olive oil I sauteed for a while some onions-garlic-carrot-celery. Then I threw in the beans, the sausage pieces, salt and papper, parsley, a couple of bay leaves, chicken stock. A few hours later the result was an outstanding, (even if I do say so myself) rustic, hearty soup/stew. Just great with crusty bread. But the aftermath was still, er, rather gaseous. And believe me - these beans WERE cooked. Any more time on the stove and the whole lot would have become mush. So what's the score here? I don't cook legumes all that often, but I do love 'em. Pretty healthy and certainly cheap. But is there no way of avoiding the side effects?

Actually, I hate horses and horse racing. I think the French have the right idea - they eat the nasty things. Is there any other country where a horse race is an excuse for a nationwide public holiday? Bizarre! But it's a sunny spring day here in Melbourne and, with wife and child absent, I'm doing the obvious - shut up inside with a succession of mostly Australian albums spinning away very loudly. And chomping away on the lemon loaf I baked yesterday.

OK - I'll out myself as well. I think her records have basically got progressively worse - or at least more and more insipid. All For You, her third, though is a little gem - and almost makes the after hours classic realm.

Heck Bev, I expected you to claim you were there!

Has anyone read the first volume of Giddin's biography of Crosby? I'm a fan of both, but after hefting this (ahem) tome in a couple of book shops, I suspect it may be a case of too much information.

John Patton - Mosaic Select. Oh ... my ... God!!! Martial Solal - NY-1 Andrea Keller Bartok Project - Mikrocosmos Art Blakley & The Jazz Couriers - Indestructible Grant Green - Grantstand Kynan Robinson's En Rusk - 1000 Wide Way Out West - Footscray Station

This is the key to this stuff - it's not spring or summer music. it's very definitely winter music. Just depends on your mindset.

I would suggest the Proper box - Boss Bird. amg link It's cheap and has a wide spread of Bird's stuff across the various labels - the only problem is if (when) you get really hooked you're gonna want the complete Dial/Savoy thingy anyhow.

Chuck: Serge Ermoll is still around - I heard him at he Wangaratta Jazz Festival a few years back playing some tasty more-mainstream stuff than was the case with Free Kata. John Clare is better known these days as a Sydney writer/critic/proselytiser. It's interesting that when Australian jazz is mentioned online I often get names thrown at me that are even more obscure to me than some '50s/'60s US hard bopper. I love the past decade or so and the new generations, and would love to backtrack to the '70s and '60s of Australian jazz history, but only a few CD reissues - such as John Sangster's classic Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit - have been forthcoming. The Australian jazz record biz is a tough one for those involved without even thinking of reissues. Bev: Regarding Stuart Nicholson and US jazz - that accurately reflects what happened when I interviewed him. I'm all for supporting the brilliant music being made here but I'm not sure being part of someone else's agenda is a great way of going about. While I'm a (print) journalist of long-standing I'm not so experienced at broadcasting journalism. Had I been, I might not have let Nicholson get away with such a broad, blanket condemnation of US jazz. After all, even a wide-ranging critic in his position could not have heard all - or even close to all - the independent/small label music released in the US in the past decade. What does he think of 8 Bold Souls, Quartet Out, Organissimo for instance? While he was going on about the bankruptcy of US jazz he also, several times, strongly stated that Michael Brecker was and is the best thing going in the US. And this, according to a thread at Jazz Corner, from a man who has just recently portrayed the Dave Holland Quintet as being full of soulless techocrats with bugger all to say!