John L

I imagine that the comment refers to secular groups before the 1960s. Otherwise, it makes no sense. There were not many live R&B recordings made in the 50s at all, official or unofficial. James Brown's Live at the Apollo was a revolution in that respect.

One of my favorite non-Monk recordings of Monk's music is a duet of Bobby Hutcherson and Tete Montoliu, recorded in Koln in 1991. I don't know if it has ever been released on record, but the concert has circulated for a long time. There is a very satisfying playfulness to the approach that continually puts a smile on your face.

There are multiple concepts of "playing Monk." Just like you can play A blues and you can play THE blues, you can play A Monk composition or you can play Monk. There is nothing wrong with either, just that they are not necessarily the same.

So do I. For some reason, I had mixed feelings about it when it first came out. I can't understand why now. There are some truly inspired songs on that album. Jerry Garcia thought so too, and continually played Simple Twist of Fate and Tangled Up in Blue for years.

Wow! I didn't realize that this has been released. I am ordering it today.

Interesting opinion. I actually really like Cables' work with Dex. Dex did too. But we all have our own taste and preferences. I seem to recall that you are a Kenny-Drew-with-Dex man, and, yea, that was a different ballgame.

I listened to it once and didn't like it. So I gave my copy away and never listened to it again. Maybe I have missed something? Live at the House of Tribes is far and away my favorite Wynton Marsalis record. I also like J-Mood and Standards Vol. 1.

Thanks for that clarification, Jim. Bob Dylan's music was so much a part of my growing up that I couldn't ever think of trying to give his art an objective evaluation. I just know that much of his music is very close to me and always will be.

Jim- Just curious. When you say that Dylan is a fraud, what exactly do you have in mind. Is he pretending to be somebody who he is not? Is he being praised for talents or accomplishments that are not real?

Until that speech, I never thought of Dylan as really giving a shit what the music establishment thinks of him. Yea, you can attack him on all sorts of grounds, and many people always have - middle class background, "croaking" voice, mediocre technical command of musical instruments, etc., etc. But the unique and highly affecting music speaks for itself. It always has. I consider Dylan to be one of the greatest musicians, artists, performers.... And I am not alone.

Dylan's speech at the LA tribute to him a few days ago is getting a lot of media attention. I found it a bit surprising that Dylan would be so concerned at this point in his career about people who might not have liked, or still don't like, his music. The comment about Merle Haggard was especially weird. Since Haggard had never yet praised him in public, Dylan assumed that Haggard doesn't like his music and cut into him for that reason, indicating his preference for Buck Owens in Bakersfield who has covered some of his songs. Haggard's response was very magnanimous - He indicated that he has always been a big fan of Dylan since the 60s. Maybe Bob had a few too many drinks before that speech.

Nice discussion - i will have to revisit this one.

Lon - I am also a big fan of Tell Tale Signs, Time Out of Mind, and Tempest. I like most of the other recent ones, but not as much. The only one that I really didn't get at all was the Christmas song album.

I just heard the new record today. It is nice, if not a home run. The Sinatra connection is only tangential. This is Dylan making a serious effort to deliver these songs himself as best he can at this point in his career. I enjoyed listening to it, but it will probably be a while before I come back to it.

I would like to hear a bit more about why Mike Nesmith is more important than Gram Parsons. More important in what way? I am not a big Gram Parsons fan, myself, but Parsons did influence and inspire many people. Did Nesmith?

In addition to all of the fanfare, Bo Dollis could just flat out sing. RIP

I like cooking much better with peanuts than with almonds.

Very interesting. Thanks, Larry. I guess that if you already look like a "dangerious and suspicious character" at the age of 9, you should stay off the streets of New Orleans.

RIP

Is that right? That is good to know. I recall that there used to be a lot of compatibility issues. I still have a lot of protected iTunes files that are a pain every time that I want to use a different computer. The price that iTunes wants to upgrade them is ridiculously high. I paid full price for them. Why shouldn't they upgrade them for free?

I know that has been Apple's line, but is there objective proof? I have tended to view it as part of the general push of Apple to adopt technology that is only compatible with other Apple technology. MP3s work everywhere.

I tend to download from Amazon instead of iTunes. I prefer getting real MP3s. iTunes also sometimes includes hidden "sorting" information in its product that is difficult to change and can confuse the categorization of the music in a digital collection. I also find Amazon more responsive in the event that something goes wrong with a download. Sometimes iTunes will have something that Amazon doesn't and visa-versa, but not often.

I can't recall Wayne Shorter being mentioned yet, but he has quite a sound on soprano. Budd Johnson is also somebody who I really enjoy on soprano.

Where can I get more information on this? Thanks