Hot Ptah

I saw Jaco several times with Weather Report. The first was in the spring of 1976, shortly after he joined. He seemed a bit nervous and played extremely well. He did not engage in any theatrics. It seemed like he was trying as hard as he could. His solos were outstanding. After that, he engaged in increasing amounts of showboating and theatrics, and to me, never sounded as good again. He would get the crowd screaming with a few notes of feedback as he danced around. To me, he was one of the few jazz musicians whose most memorable moments came on studio albums, instead of live performance.

I think that the reality is that retail music stores are in a difficult period. If there are still unique, excellent stores anywhere, which give pleasure to some music lovers, the next issue is whether they should be celebrated for what they are, or attacked and condemned as unwelcome relics of a previous age. I guess I don't understand the need to condemn such places and argue that they need to go out of business for the greater good. I have detected more than a hint of such thinking on this thread. What is the harm of the continued existence of such places?

Our pre-war Iraq intelligence....missed by that much.

One of my favourite nonsense moment is to tell my students an "USSR era" joke. I always say : "its a XXth century joke, no one of you will laugh". And this is exactly what happens. However, there too--someone spray painted "USSR" across the large Obama campaign signs on a main street in Kansas City. My 12 year old daughter and her friends understood exactly what the USSR was and how it tied into the Republican attacks of Obama as a socialist.

I see it on page 17 of the issue of Rhythm & News which just came to me, in the mail. (That is the publication of Jazz Record Mart). It is described on page 17 as: "Jason Adasiewicz--"Rolldown" (former employee along with former employee Frank Rosaly and current employee Josh Berman)." My order is on the way! Pertaining to nothing in particular: Adasiewicz--As a Wisconsin native, I love that quintessential Upper Midwest name. My brother had a good friend named Alasciewicz.

I agree that a younger generation is coming up that is more familiar with technology than brick and mortar stores. My 12 year old daughter would not consider buying a CD. She asks for an ITunes gift card regularly, the way I used to ask my parents if I could buy an LP that I really wanted, when I was too young to have much of my own money. She also text messages her friends all the time. All of the kids do. As she puts it, "email is so old fashioned." Still, I see many young people in the used music stores which I frequent, in their late teens and early 20s. They are music nuts just like me, only at a different stage of their journey. They stand over the used vinyl marvelling that there are certain jazz or folk albums in good condition. I think that there will always be people like that, of every generation. It is too easy to generalize about an entire generation, I think. There were never all that many people in the 1970s, on a percentage basis, going to the used music stores every week either. Bev, it sounds to me like the brick and mortar scene where you live is abysmal. I didn't know that I had it so good with brick and mortar music stores in Kansas City, until I read your posts here.

Mother Maybelle Carter Cousin Joe Uncle Dave Macon

My experience in record shops of pretty limited interaction - everyone is burrowing away looking for their own choice of CDs, no different than people hunting down their provisions in a supermarket. Yes, I've known shops where I've got to know the owner and had a nice chat - but it's hardly the norm for most buyers. You are also forgetting that by purchasing online rather han trawling the record stores we might be reducing isolation and increasing social interaction. The time liberated from hunting for records can be used reconnecting with family and friends. I don't spend a fraction of the time searching for CDs online than I used to spend on a trip to town on a purchasing hunt. Also, I have become friends with some of the ebay sellers from whom I have purchased regularly for years. We have never met in person but we have exchanged personal emails and come to know each other pretty well. It is pleasant in its own way, just as getting to know people on this board is pleasant even if we never meet in person. I have nearly always found that I did develop some type of personal relationship with the owners or employees of the used music stores which I frequent. They just saw me so often, buying stuff that was intriguing to them over time, that it naturally happened. I think that personal interactions at used music stores is much more likely than at new retail music stores.

I do a good deal of searching and buying online, but I will always enjoy going to small, independently owned book and/or music stores, usually with used stock. There's something about the experience that just really appeals to me. It did when I was 15 years old, and it still does. Even if I don't find anything, I just like to be in the stores. I had a list of jazz albums I could never find at stores, some after years of searching, and within a few years of all-out searching online, had all of them. That took place from about 1999--2002. So I know the value of online shopping, to be sure.

Yes, the Delmarks are representative, though some are more successful than others; usually the closer to the present, the better. I'm particularly impressed by Keefe Jackson's "Just Like This" and Jason Ajemian's "The Art of Dying." Another recent very good one is Jason Adasiewicz's "Roll Down" (482 Music). I''ll try to assemble a more comprehensive list, but I don't think you can go wrong with those. Thanks, and I would be interested in the more comprehensive list.

I agree with MG - I don't think I'm anywhere close to being done with exploring. Even in what might initially seem like the small world of jazz there's still lots of leads unexplored. The 'That Devilin' Tune' discs demonstrate wondrous worlds I've hardly touched. Then there's the endless arrival of new music (which I appreciate is not to everyones taste). And then there's all that stuff beyond jazz. I find those journeys much easier to set off on under the new web-based approaches than they were in the days when I bought from record stores. The breadth of my listening was greatly enhanced by web-based buying c. 2000. Downloading is only opening more possibilities. It's hard to move away from a way of life that has given us so much pleasure. But anyone seriously interested in continuing to explore music beyond the immediately popular is going to be forced into the new model very quickly. But I'm sure most of us who lived for some time in the days of record shops will leave them behind with some sadness. Why not use both stores and online sources?

I still find a certain magic in going into a used book/music store and stumbling upon some 1960s Johnny Hodges vinyl in mint condition plus barely used copies of the books "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Big Sleep", as I did at Prospero's book store in Kansas City recently. I never would have thought of seeking any of these items out online, but when they were there in front of me, I snapped them up. And the store owners are friendly and knowledgable. This is an experience which I still enjoy.

Larry, I see in my current issue of Rhythm & News that at least some of these artists have been recorded by Delmark. Are there other recordings on other labels which you can recommend? And are the Delmark releases representative of what you have been hearing live from these artists? Thanks. I am envious of anyone who can shop at the Jazz Record Mart as their local store.

Another vote for the John Fahey, and for the Oscar Peterson, which is surprisingly enjoyable. Also, Marcus Roberts' "Prayer for Peace" is an unexpected pleasure. Roberts is not a favorite of mine, but he hits this solo piano holiday album out of the park.

This one isn't too bad, with Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Arthur Blythe, Heath Brothers, Paquito D'Rivera and Wynton/Branford first quintet, performing uncompromising acoustic jazz. It is more of a jazz album that happens to have Christmas songs as the material.