Hot Ptah

I saw her live in a small bar about the time that this album came out. She was standing on a stage which was one foot higher than the rest of the place. I was packed in right next to her at the stage. She was a real beauty then (as now).

As a member of the elite, you are allowed to stay here:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, indeed!

I was pleased with my gifts: Mosaic Lionel Hampton box Charles Mingus--Cornell 1964 Art Ensemble of Chicago--Fundamental Destiny Art Ensemble of Chicago--Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City Baby Face Willette--Face to Face Herbie Hancock--Sextant Dexter Gordon--Sophisticated Giant (The last two are my first CDs of these titles, replacing scratchy vinyl).

When I saw this group in the spring of 1976, their first set was loud and electric, and their second set was all acoustic. I don't remember many specifics, other than Al DiMeola noodling over an acoustic guitar with a quizzical look on his face, and Stanley Clarke playing a flashy, crowd pleasing solo on acoustic bass, which he finished by moving his hands from the very top to the very bottom of the bass, down to the pegstand. That got a big ovation.

I find it slightly odd that on another thread, Stanley Turrentine's artistry is staunchly defended by the group against any and all criticisms, but Oscar Peterson is so harshly judged on this thread. I don't think it is quite so obvious that Turrentine was a far more worthy artist than Peterson. I like the "to each their own" idea, but I realize that many here do not.

The RTF with DiMeola, Clarke and White was a loud rock band in concert, and attracted rock fans who did not go to jazz concerts. I saw them twice in the 1975-76 school year. It was a calculated attempt to get at the rock audience and its money. In that context, Al DiMeola was fine for that purpose, as he played loud and simply, but fast. The rockers in the audience liked that. They could follow everything he was playing, and could also find it exciting in its speed and volume, much like listening to any rock lead guitarist with the major rock groups of the time.

I saw Oscar perform a solo piano concert once. His playing was quite compelling, more so than on some of the group recordings which I have heard. I think that had he concentrated on solo piano work, instead of accompanying others or small group work, his reputation among the elite may have been more elevated. Looking into my crystal ball, the clouds part and I foresee few members of this forum agreeing with me. I know what I heard.

Mother Maybelle Carter June Carter Cash Norm Cash

Thanks for the comments. I have the Peterson and like it. I also like Marcus Roberts' Christmas album, better than almost all of his regular albums. I think I will try the Brubeck album. There should be a glut of very inexpensive holiday CDs at Half Price Books shortly.

We bought our eleven year old daughter an early Christmas present, her first full size violin. She has been practicing more in the past few days than she has in months. The sound quality is obviously far superior compared to the 3/4 size rental violin she had been using. Most important, she is very happy with it. The folks at KC Strings could not have been more helpful. KC Strings is a place where they handcraft and make fine string instruments. We are lucky to have it in Kansas City. Merry Christmas to all!

In all seriousness, if you have a jazz fan on your Christmas gift list and are still thinking of a gift, there could be no better choice than Allen's sets.

Will the restrooms be equipped with Go-Karts?

We have a lot of Christmas albums at my house, but not that many of them are listenable all the way though. I just noticed that Dave Brubeck has a Christmas album. Has anyone heard it? Is it worth getting? Can it be listened to all the way through without pain?

We have a lot of Christmas albums in various genres at my house. Only a few of them are easily listenable all the way through. These listenable ones include: God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen (1981, Columbia, with Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Arthur Blythe, Heath Brothers, Paquito D'Rivera, Wynton and Branford Marsalis) Marcus Roberts--Prayer for Peace (one of the few Roberts albums I genuinely like) Charlie Byrd's Christmas Album (on Concord) Emmylou Harris--Light of the Stable Willie Nelson--Pretty Paper (this one veers toward easy listening, but it can be digested without feeling compelled to take the CD out of the player, unlike many holiday albums) The Oscar Peterson Christmas Album (I'm not a huge OP fan, but this one is really pretty good) Nat King Cole--The Christmas Song Ella Fitzgerald Wishes You a Swinging Christmas

This is mostly traditional carols sung by a choir. The song "Christmas Tree" though is one of the strangest things ever committed to vinyl. People either laugh in disbelief at that song, or run screaming into the night when it is playing (without bothering to put on their winter coats first). This album has only been released on CD this year. Walter Schumann also wrote the famous theme to "Dragnet".

I heard a radio interview with bluesman Anson Funderburgh, by Chuck Haddix on Kansas City's public radio station, on Chuck's "Saturday Night Fish Fry" show. Chuck asked him what he did when not performing, and Anson said that he was rarely away from the golf course, that he golfed at every possible opportunity. It struck me at the time that this was far removed from the lifestyle of Mississippi John Hurt in the 1920s.

The Werner Herzog film-- Every Man For Himself and God Against All....

It is amazing that Clark Terry is still performing and recording. I saw him in concert about two years ago, and he was still doing his routine where he plays a duet with himself on two horns, holding one in each hand. I met him by chance after the concert, as he was in a wheelchair on the sidewalk waiting to be helped onto the shuttle bus. He was very friendly and gracious. He tried to shake my hand and there was no grip, no strength there at all. When I played trumpet in school (badly), I relied on my hands a lot in my playing. The higher the notes, the harder I gripped the trumpet and the more I pushed the mouthpiece into my lips. I think that many trumpet players do that. For Terry to be able to play as well as he did, without the hand strength, and to hold two trumpets up and play them well under those circumstances, I just don't understand how he does it. Anything we can still hear from him is a bonus at this point.

Capybaras have been in residence at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin, for many years.

For what you seem to be looking for, I recommend John Zorn's Absinthe.

Thinking about this thread again, about Larry Kart's jazz book being read in the bathroom, and the idea for bookshelves in the bathroom, made me think up a new marketing idea for Larry's book. Larry, if your publisher is not bringing ideas like this to you, what do you have them for? Here is the idea: a rolling set of bookshelves, on wheels, to be wheeled into the bathroom for your special reading times, with the added feature that the shelves expand and contract to fit your bathroom space across from the "Throne". The shelves would come with an autographed copy of Larry's book, on the top shelf as you take the shelves out of the box! So Larry's book would be right there, convenient for reading the first time that you wheeled the shelves into your private kingdom. Considering the laziness of the majority of the population, it is very likely that no other book would ever be placed on the shelves. So Larry's book would be the daily bathroom reading of choice for an entire world. In addition to sales of Larry's book skyrocketing, the global knowledge of jazz would exponentially increase. What to call it? Something that would grab the attention of today's attention span deficit buyer, a short, punchy name. Playing off on the movable feature of the product, and the fact that one is literally "going" as one reads Larry's book, it should start with the word "Go". Combining that first word "Go", with an obvious second word, the entire package could be called........ the GO-KART. I hope that name isn't already taken. Those obsessive patent examiners can be real sticklers for detail.

Mine too. She never plays my Varese or Ives, ever.

She is not a violinist. She gets deeply into what she likes. She has hundreds of CDs by Bach, Mozart, Handel, Haydn, Albinoni, Corelli, and Vivaldi, and almost nothing else. She has no interest in Stravinsky or someone like that, none at all. She used to like jazz more than she does now, and went to over 100 concerts with me, digging Sun Ra and Lester Bowie, among others. Sje just really goes deeply into what she is exploring.

My wife has all of the versions you have mentioned, and I have heard each one literally dozens of times, sometimes when I would have preferred to hear something else. I still like the Accardo best, although you have mentioned versions which are in the upper tier, certainly. I agree that the versions you have cited are appreciably better than the two originally mentioned by B. Goren. When you have heard this work as many times as I have, literally hundreds of times more than I would have played it on my own, you are grasping for something more in the interpretation. To me, the Accardo provides a certain intensity and interest which makes the work palatable on Listen #945.