Hot Ptah

For some reason I have seen Gary Burton live more than almost any other musician, from 1976 on. He just seems to appear in every city I live in, frequently. Apart from everything else, he plays hot solos live. He swings and gets intense in his improvisations. No matter what you think of his bands or arrangements, he is an excellent jazz soloist. Burton's current band is much more of a mainstream jazz ensemble than his earlier fusion efforts. No one has mentioned his tango albums in the 1990s, which I think are interesting and are the type of thing that were probably not a great career move at his age, and which must have taken him out of a musical comfort zone. Also, when the 1970s ECMs are mentioned, "Matchbook" with Ralph Towner has some successful cuts. I have read that Carla Bley did not like the "Genuine Tong Funeral" album, that she thought that the musicians had taken all of the songs at the wrong tempo and misunderstood her intent in composing the music.

No - though you can get all the tracks (except the two by Sonny without Jug) on Chronological Classics. There used to be a double LP called "Early visions" which covered all the recordings Jug made for Chess (some of them were issued on Aristocrat) between Nov 1948 and Mar 1951. That's the period from which "Jug & Sonny" comes from. It's a damn fine - and interesting - compilation, with all sorts of stuff in there, including his big hit "My foolish heart". It would all fit onto one CD. MG Thanks for the info, MG! I will examine the Chronological Classics now. This is an example of how our lives will change when there are no more retail music stores. I first heard "Jug and Sonny" over the sound system at a used/rare music store in Kansas City. One of the music fanatic clerks liked to put it on when he was placing new product in the bins. It was just one of many excellent albums I discovered by just being in that store and listening to what they were playing.

It will probably be Mosaic's fasting selling box.

I have always enjoyed "Jug and Sonny", Chess 1445. I don't think it has ever been reissued on CD.

He's excited about it:

I'll have to take it out tonight, when I get home from work, and examine the cover.

I put it on a "notify me when" list on ebay, and after a while a vinyl copy came up for auction. It was surprisingly quick, as I recall. I could not find any CD reissue of the album. Broadcasts of the radio show on which I heard a cut from the album may be accessed at www.kpr.ku.edu/retro/ I have discovered several interesting 1950s jazz albums from listening to that show, the Retro Cocktail Hour, with the unique and very knowledgable Darrell Brogden.

I heard a cut from this album on a public radio Lounge Music show, and had to go buy a copy.

"Difficult" music? It's not only that.

The one album that I wish I hadn't purchased is John Zorn's "Absinthe". I have read comments by its supporters that it is a fine example of an ambient album and that I just don't understand ambient sounds. I guess I don't. To me, it sounds like an effort to make as little sound as possible for the length of an album. Hey, how come John Zorn's name is popping up so often in this thread?

Van Basten, who's that girl in your avatar? The lovely Adriana Lima I think we're disgressing but i feel i'll be pardonned Absolutely. In which film does this card game take place?

Javon did not seem particularly distraught. Another indication of Les' personality. Before he played "Cold Duck Time", his first song, he said to the audience, "well, I used to play with another saxophone player. What was his name....." After a long pause, he said, "oh yeah, it was Eddie Harris. We're going to do a song I recorded with him." This was all said in an edgy, angry voice, not in good natured fun. As it was inconceivable that he would not remember Eddie Harris, I was thinking that he has a unique sense of humor.

Supersonic Sounds (sometimes titled Supersonic Jazz) Cosmos Mayan Temples St. Louis Blues (on IAI Records) Solo Piano Vol. 1 (on IAI Records) Unity Nubians of Plutonia Angels and Demons at Play Bad and Beautiful Astro Black Space Is The Place The Other Side of the Sun Strange Celestial Road Lanquidity

Javon Jackson appeared with his own quartet, which was an electric jazz/funk band. It was very good, as it included David Gilmore on guitar and Kenny Davis on bass, together with newcomer Rudy Royston on drums. They were tight and energetic. Gilmore played some interesting solos. I have been underwhelmed by Javon Jackson as a hard bop tenor sax player in an acoustic setting. He seemed to fit in better with the electric funk band. He played with much energy and simpler ideas than he attempts in his acoustic group. So it was a good set of songs by just the four of them to open the set. Jackson seems intent on taking over Dexter Gordon's mantle as master of the quote, often quoting from bits of common songs in the midst of a flight of improvisation. Jackson quoted the entire head of "When the Saints Go Marching In" at one point, which is more than I ever heard Dexter quote at one time. After some songs by just the four of them, they brought out Dr. Lonnie Smith. He played tastefully with the group, and added some fine solos. He raised the energy level and was an excellent addition. At the end of the set, they brought out Les McCann. Dr. Lonnie Smith stayed with the group too. Les played acoustic piano on three songs, singing on the last two. He did "Cold Duck Time" and "Compared to What" from the famous album with Eddie Harris, with a simple blues shuffle tune in between. His piano playing was tasteful and tight, but he did not stretch out much for any extended soloing of note. Les McCann's stage announcements were amazing. After being helped onto the stage, to join a group which had been playing to an enthusiastic reception by the audience for over an hour, he started out by calling Kansas City a "sad ass town". He commented that he had been "on the other side of the river" the night before and that they had "thrown him out" but that he didn't care what they did to him. What did that even mean? As those who know the Kansas City area would know, any area on the other side of a river from 18th and Vine would be a huge and quite varied geographic area, with more that 200,000 people and hundreds of businesses. So what did it mean that "the other side of the river" treated him badly? After the first song, Les McCann said that it was hot, and that we out in the audience should all take off all of our clothes and "get buck naked". As Les himself is quite old looking, completely bald and very heavyset at this point in his life, I was hoping that he would not take the lead in this effort. He did not do so. A middle aged woman sitting in the grass near the stage yelled out to Les at this point, and they exchanged banter for a while. Luckily only some of it could be heard or fully understood. Some of Les' comments were X rated. There were a fair number of families with small children at this outdoor community event, one of the City's major outreach efforts to the black community. After the next song, Les said that he wanted to see us all dance, get sweaty and wet, and get "wet coochies". He then called out to the woman in the grass, making more suggestive remarks, including "mama, you got enough to feed an entire family." Again, I wondered what the families with elementary age school children in the audience, who had paid $30 a ticket, thought of all of this. As Les is basically a frail old man, almost as fat around as he is tall, these sexual comments came off as creepy and weird to me. Maybe in a small smoky nightclub at 3 a.m. they would be funny. The set ended at that point, and there was no call for an encore, one of the few times that there wasn't one over the weekend.

I also thought that Pat Metheny was excellent with his trio. I thought that few guitarists, if any, could have played so creatively over a long set as he did. To play the quieter material in front of an outdoor festival concert audience and keep their attention was remarkable, I thought. I also thought that he used the guitar synthesizer sparingly and in good taste, to add some variation to the sound. He did not use it bombastically. It was a real jazz set, and I agree that McBride was excellent, both with the bow and plucking the bass. I also liked their final funky number. I have gone to all three Rhythm and Ribs festivals and they have been professionally run--to me, they have been set up better than the old Blues and Jazz festivals, with better food, better security, and better facilites overall. I agree that the bleeding over of the sound from the smaller stage is a problem that they need to fix.

I saw the Metheny trio and Javon Jackson's group with Dr. Lonnie Smith and Les McCann. What were your impressions, Eric?

I saw some of the Rhythm and Ribs festival at 18th and Vine in Kansas City this weekend. Did any other Kansas City members of this board go to it? I saw the Pat Metheny Trio with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez, James Cotton with Bob Margolin, Bobby Blue Bland, and Javon Jackson with Dr. Lonnie Smith and Les McCann. I missed the George Benson/Al Jarreau co-led show. I had to spend some time with my family over the weekend. Any reactions from anyone else who saw any of these sets?

Another example of an older guy who can still play well is Clark Terry. He still does that routine where he plays two trumpets, one in each hand. I tried to shake his hand after a concert a few years ago and he could barely make a fist. When I was playing the trumpet, I depended a lot on using my hands to hold the trumpet hard when I was playing high notes or loudly. How Clark Terry can still play so well when he must barely be able to hold the trumpet is amazing to me--and how does he play the two trumpets at once under those conditions? Of course, that may be one (of several) reasons why I wasn't any good on trumpet. Maybe none of the good players use their hand grip on the trumpet as a crutch. Hmmm, I have been telling people all of these years that I quit trumpet because I was a lousy player. Your post has given me inspiration--I will tell them instead that I was concerned about the scarring of my lip.

I went to a used music store about ten years ago and the owner made this comment, "I am closing the store for good. This is my last day. If you bring cash, I will sell you this box set of John Coltrane, the Complete Prestige Recordings, really cheap."

I am not sure if some of these films are strictly film noir, but they are among my favorites: The already mentioned "The Big Sleep"--my idea of a perfect film. Three Strangers The Maltese Falcon Shadow of a Doubt Notorious Spellbound Strangers on a Train Rebecca Gaslight Double Indemnity

WTF??? Who the Hell is that, Paul Whiteman? Not Whiteman. It's Johnny Richards! Did they mix up their Johnnys?

Oh no, Noj will be eligible for Social Security benefits before that happens!

Actually, basic tools are remarkably inexpensive. A walk through a Sears store will reveal that. I wonder how many members here have the skills to build a set of CD shelves from scratch? I do not. My situation is that I do not want the CDs to be visible. More accurately, I have been directed by "she who must be obeyed" (to quote Rumpole) that the CDs WILL NOT be visible. So shelves are not the answer, unless one could also build doors to close on them. Now that is a project requiring more skill.

re: formica... formica is not hard to come by. Home Depot or Lowe's will cut to spec for you. In the end, it will probably be less expensive than what can am is charging. as for shelves, why not build, or construct them yourselves? Again, Home Depot or Lowe's has everything you would need to do this, and less expensive than a pre-fab kit, though you can certainly piece together a nice rack using some of the closet kits... You assume that we possess a certain bare minimum amount of handiness.

I use these Iris plastic storage boxes. Each box fits 74 CDs in two rows (of 37 each, obviously). The drawer slides out and you can read the CD spines on top. They cost about $10 each, so for $100 you have storage for 740 CDs. If you stack them three high, you can still pull out the bottom drawer easily. After that, the combined weight makes it a little tight to pull out the bottom drawer. I like the fact that you can stack them anywhere, move a few boxes to another location at will, and your CDs are hidden and in a sealed container. Office Max sells them. Office Max has regular storewide sales, so I get a bunch of them at each sale. They used to be available at Organized Living, but the store closed in my city. Iris Medium Stacking Storage Drawer - Black These drawers are designed to stack and lock together, creating your own custom storage system. Made of high-impact polypropylene, each pull-out drawer is clear for easy viewing of contents, and drawers are nestled in a black case. Medium is 7-1/4 inches x 11-3/4 inches x 17-1/2 inches.