kenny weir

US: R&B legend Earl King dead at 69 US King NEW ORLEANS, April 18 AP - Earl King, the prolificsong writer and guitarist responsible for some of the most enduring and idiosyncratic compositions in the history of R&B, has died from diabetes-related complications. He was 69. Over his 50-year career, King wrote and recorded hundreds of songs. His best-known compositions include the Mardi Gras standards ``Big Chief'' and ``Street Parade''; the rollicking ``Come On (Let the Good Times Roll),'' which both Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded; and``Trick Bag,'' the quintessential New Orleans R&B story-song. '''Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)' might be the one that people know, but I wish the world would hear more of his songs,'' said Mac ``Dr John'' Rebennack, a long time friend, fan and collaborator of King. ``He approached songs from different angles, from different places in life.'' In his prime, he was an explosive performer, tearing sinewy solos from his Stratocaster guitar and wearing his hair in an elaborate, upraised coif. King's songwriting was informed by syncopated New Orleans beats and his interest in a broad range of subjects, from medieval history to the vagaries of the human heart and his own so-called ``love syndromes''. ``Most people say, 'Well, Earl, you sing the blues,'or however they want to categorise it,'' King said in a1993 interview. ``I just sing songs. I'm a writer, so whatever gymnastics jump through my head, I write about it.'' Born Earl Silas Johnson IV, King described himself as a ``nervous energy person'' who constantly needed to be engaged in some creative pursuit. He cut his first singles in the early 1950s, taking on the stage name ``Earl King'' at the suggestion of a record promoter. Scenes and acquaintances from his life often found their way into his lyrics with little editing. A story King's grandmother told about his father, a blues pianist who died when King was a boy, inspired ``TrickBag''. In the song, the protagonist sings to his wayward significant other, ``I saw you kissing Willie across the fence, I heard you telling Willie I don't have no sense/The way you been actin' is such a drag, you done put me in a trick bag.'' King died yesterday and funeral arrangements had not been finalised late this evening. AP

Hi Shrugs! Yes, I will be using dry beans - with Monk, Fess, Booker AND Archibald providing the soundtrack.

MCartney to play for 400 payin customers at a Cool Museum! Tickets on EBay! I got this press release e-mail yesterday: 17th April 2003 For immediate release EXCLUSIVE sir paul mccartney charity concert TICKETS only on ebay McCartney to give performance of a lifetime at the Roman Colosseum Tickets exclusively available through eBay For the first time in history, two of the 'wonders of the world' will be appearing together when Sir Paul McCartney takes to the stage in the world's most famous arena: the Roman Colosseum. Sir Paul will play an unplugged concert for the benefit of the Colosseum's restoration and the "Adopt a Minefield" charity on the 10th of May 2003. Only 400 seats will be available for this once-in-a-lifetime concert. All tickets to the event are being sold exclusively through eBay, The World's Online MarketplaceTM. Each ticket will have a starting price of 1 Euro (about AUD $1.80) with no reserve! This remarkable event is the first time that a pop concert has ever been staged in the Colosseum in its 2000 year history!!! Blades are replaced with bids as eBay members franticly bid Gladiator- style for tickets! The first of four separate releases of these highly sought-after tickets are now available. Ticket sales will continue until April 29th. The auction is open to all Australian and worldwide eBay members. To make a bid or watch the bidding frenzy click onto: http://members.ebay.com.au/aboutme/progetto_italia/ Not since the days of the Roman Empire have seats at the Colosseum been so sought after!

I know there's Thelonious Monk fans here. Are there Professor Longhair fans as well? Are there fans of both? I've been playing heaps of Monk lately, while 'Fess is never far from my thoughts if not my sound system. These two piano masters seem to have quite a lot in common - particularly the fact that late in their careers, and enjoying worldwide acclaim and fame, both mostly stuck to a tried and true repertoire they had first recorded many years before. And they're both dazzling individualists who are/were nevertheless lavishly pickled in their respective traditions. Speaking of which, does anybody have a great red beans and rice recipe? My wife has bought a ham hock and I'm planning on cooking that sucker up this weekend. Been so long, I've forgotten how.

http://www.mikeleo.com/beer/beer.swf

An in-office conversation with a colleague inspired me to think about this. Note, the key word is "influential". Not best, favourite, most famous or biggest selling, but influential. My list: Lil Armstrong Diana Krall Billie Holiday Marian McPartland Billie Holiday Carla Bley Bessie Smith

You'll be sorry! I'm no big fan of this set, yet, but I'm gonna keep hold of it 'cause I have a feeling it will grow. Besides, the idea of dumping an album that has Patton, Green, Clark is completely ridiculous.

John Coltrane Quartet - Complete Sonny Rollins - Complete RCA Silas Hogan - Excello swamp blues Tord Gustavsen Trio - Changing Places Quartet Out - Live At The Meat House Jackie McLean - Jackie's Bag Jackie McLean - Jacknife Old Spice Boys - Alibi Of Birdland Johnny Rivers - Rhino anthology

GOM: The Records were from the UK, and their classic 1979 album Shades In Bed was, according to AMG, released in the US as The Records. AMG says a Virgin comp, Smashes Crashes and Near Misses, was released in 1988. They have a Barnes & Noble link for it: Records CD at Barnes & Noble The Shoes were, I recall, just as good. AMG has an entry for them - Shoes at AMG - but lists no discs as being available. Barnes & Noble has their great Tomorrow Night on this compilation: Power Pop Comp Actually, that looks like a pretty cool album viz a viz the topic at hand!

Blimey I love this stuff, but this thread also makes me a little sad coz I no longer own any of the discs. Don't forget the Pandoras - better than the Bangles et al. I also dug/dig Twight Twilley (second album), the Raspberries (any good compilation with Ecstasy, Cruisin' Music, Overnight Sensation), latter day Flamin' Groovies, the Plimsoulls (Valley Girl is a Top 10 movie for me), Big Star, Lone Ryders, the Shoes, the Records (with Will Birch from the Kursaal Flyers) and so many more. Then there are the roots such as the Byrds and - blimey - the Beau Brummels and the Turtles.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r0403_002.htm

I'd love to know what your hometown print media jazz coverage is like - anything in daily mainstream papers, local entertainment freebies, lifestyle magazines etc. Are there writers who cover the local scene in your area? Are they knowledgeable and well informed? Or are they a laughing stock? Does your local press just cover the likes of Norah and Diana and so on? Feel free to quote examples!

Impossible, that's exactly what I meant. Interesting responses, though. Re Santana: I think their Borbolotta album is a "lost classic". Re the Grateful Dead: I'm reading Dennis McNally's book at the moment and spent a while trawling various Dead-related sites yesterday. I wasn't appalled to find the band is going on the road, following a few gigs late last year, as the Dead. I am a little disturbed by the fact they're taking Joan Osborne with them. She joins Lesh, the two drummers, Weir and two or three others. I have nothing but respect for the likes of Little Feat, who also went with the female vox thing after a short post-Lowell George stint with Craig Fuller, and the Allmans for just keepin' going. But it seems a little sad the post-Garcia Dead may be going the same route. I'd still love to see/hear one of the shows, though!

I suspect a lot of folks here are like me - when they listen to non-jazz arists they are often, but not always, looking to get a similar buzz from the music. My faves: Bing Crosby (could pass as jazz anyhow) Van Morrison The Grateful Dead Others that come to mind: Steely Dan John Martyn Joni Mitchell Frank Zappa Wynton Marsalis

Lou Donaldson - The natural Soul Donald Byrd - Byrd In hand John Bell Trio - Spirals Whatisname - Hot 5s & 7s Edmond Hall - Profoundly Blue Various - The Blue Note Jazzmen Various - Hot Jazz On Blue Note Mark Simmonds Freeboppers - Fire Jackie McLean - Jacknife Van Morrison - Period Of Transition Bunk Johnson - Bunk's Brass Band

Hear Me Talkin' To ya A Long Strange Trip - Dennis McNally The Complete Stories - Bernard Malamud

Billie Holiday - Columbia box Donald Byrd - Byrd In Hand Horace Silver - Finger Poppin' Jackie Mclean - Jackie's Bag Stefon Harris - The Grand Theory Of Writing Wacko CD Essays Stan getz - The Sound, Proper box Jackie McLean - Jacknife Wardell Gray - Proper box Allan Browne - Collected Works Andrew Robson - On

Good deal! Have you heard his Joe Henderson album?

About 4-5 years ago, Doug Lawrence released a very good organ album - High Heel Sneakers. It was on the Fable Records label, which I think is no more. I think it's now available on another label. Amazon lists it. This isn't a funky organ album, but a really hard-swinging one, with John Webber on bass and Adam Scone on organ, Peter Berstein on guitar. His previous album, a non-organ date called Soul Carnival, was also pretty good.

Heathens!

Big Wheel, Yeah I've wondered about that , too. The numbers of people involved are small, but there's a lot of radio folks involved. Certainly, there's no one else in Australia who plays the same high percentage of BN stuff - old and new - that I do. About one in four shows is nothing but BN. I have no intention of changing my programming because of all this, though. Then, and again the numbers are small but so what?, there were a lot of BNBBers who were/are zealots who seemingly took whatever opportunities offered themselves to turn on rellies, friends, work mates and so on. But to echo other posters on various threads and boards, it's bridge under the water now. It' already a memory. And it seems to me we're all better off.

Hey, I can only vote once! Is this the American way?

Used to be that multi-cultural Melbourne meant I could gobble all kinds of interesting digestibles. Now we're in a new neighborhood I feel like it's more like the real deal - Chinese on one side, Italian on the other. The Chinese folks are gonna take a while to get to know; Maria on the other side is somethin' else. She's already showering us with fresh basil, oregano and tomatoes and even fish stew last night. I figure it's only a matter of a few weeks/days before I can sweet talk her out of her tomato sauce recipe. So how's your neighbors? Good? Bad? Does anyone have folks they can yak jazz with over the fence?

I'm a big fan of Steal Away, a Verve album of duets with Charlie Haden, mostly old spirituals and so on, but also Danny Boy. I have very little of Hank under his own name, but adore what he does on Somethin' Else, especially Autumn Leaves.

Anybody have any predictions/hopes for the new Soulive album, their third for Blue Note and their first live one? I loved their first, Turn It Out; liked just a few bits of the second (Doin' Something on BN); hated the third (also for BN, and the name of which I can't even remember). Turn It Out had some monster grooves. The new, live album is just the trio - so could be it'll be a return to some sort of greasy form.