Hot Ptah

Has no one posted this one yet:

Has anyone heard this project? I have now heard it. I may be missing its place in the contemporary music scene. To me, it sounds not all that different from some of the music that was around in the early to mid-1970s, such as Pink Floyd before "Dark Side of the Moon", Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells"---long instrumental works comprised of pleasant sounds, all composed and somewhat complicated. I hope that Mr. Hartz would not take that comparison as an insult. There may be a much more contemporary tradition for this type of music, which he fits into, and which I am not aware of. I received a vinyl LP and a CD of the music. There are two songs, each one side of an LP long. As the composed sounds go by, you definitely hear the sounds of Corey Wilkes (especially) and Roscoe Mitchell playing some of the parts. There are no improvised solos. The music is not dissonant or "free". There is a steady drumming beat to support the composed parts, many of them played on synthesizers. There are not hummable melodies per se, but the music is not atonal or dissonant. It is pleasant to listen to as background music. I had mentioned to Mr. Hartz that I have been a Richard Davis fan, in my email ordering this album. He was good enough to include a handwritten note with my album, telling me that Richard can be heard on the left channel, and that one of Richard's students plays bass on the right channel. Again, one can make out Richard's bass sound in the playing of some of the composed parts. What is notable about the album is that as the music plays on, one hears many recorded voice mail messages very distinctly. These sound like real life voice mail messages, probably from Mr. Hartz's phone. There are many profanity laced, mundane conversations about making arrangements to go places, to receive items, to meet up with someone. A neighbor woman calls and in an ethnic accent (probably Eastern European) begs him to not be so loud, so that her children can have some peace and quiet. These voice mail messages are at the same volume as the music, and are heard for most of the album. As the messages contain much everyday cussing, the album should not be played around children if you are a parent concerned about things like that. I couldn't help but wonder what Richard Davis and Roscoe Mitchell think when they hear their contributions competing with voice mail messages in which young men talk about meeting up at some location later on, using foul language. I wonder if the musicians wonder what they got themselves into. I have seriously thought of asking Mr. Hartz if he could mix a voice-mail free version of the album and sell it to me. It would be enjoyable on a certain level without the extensive phone messages. I know that there is a tradition of using spoken word parts in experimental music, including "found" or real life speech. However, to hear almost non-stop voice mail messages over two sides of an album, which compete with the music throughout, is a bit much for my taste.

Art Ensemble of Chicago-Live (DE 432) Zane Massey-Brass Knuckles (DD 464) Ira Sullivan--Blue Stroll (DE 402)

There was an interview with Bennie Maupin posted on this board last year, in which Bennie stated that Miles asked him to join his touring band as the reed player within a few years after Bitches Brew. Bennie said that Miles was surprised when Bennie turned him down to join Lee Morgan's band instead. It is possible that Bennie would have played some tenor sax if he had held down the reed spot in Miles' touring band. Obviously there is no way to know at this point.

The live performance is quite good, though. It is different, and in some ways better, than anything in Santana's recorded output. I think that some people who do not generally like Santana would like that live performance on Santana III Deluxe.

Yes, the deluxe edition of Santana III is really worth getting, if you like that album or are a fan of the first band. The live performance is very much worth hearing, and bears repeated listening.

Has anyone heard this project? Not yet, but I have ordered it. A full report will follow. I recall that Smart Studios is the site of recordings by Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, Killdozer and other 1990s rock bands. This is the first time I have read of jazz musicians recording there.

Smokey The Bear Smokey Robinson Smokey Hogg

I don't know if Mitchell appears with Davis on Antelopes. Here is the article from Isthmus magazine which gave me all of the information that I have about it. I have not purchased it yet: Heavy hitters Eric Hartz snares jazz and funk greats for the new Voltress album Tom Laskin on Thursday 03/15/2007, Eric Hartz has a long history in Madison music, both as the drummer with Hum Machine and as the driving force behind Cancer Records. But as his alt-rock-flavored band wound down and Cancer became less of a preoccupation, he thought about tweaking his atmospheric studio project Voltress, a synth-heavy affair that had released one CD. Determined to make a second album, Hartz began writing music that was very different from what he’d done before. That’s when things got interesting. He has just released Antelopes, a genre-mixing new Voltress album that features musical heavyweights from the jazz and funk worlds like Richard Davis, Roscoe Mitchell and Bernie Worrell. “I always had more jazz in my record collection,” says the self-taught composer. “And I thought: ‘I don’t have anyone to impress anymore. The days of me being on the road and trying to snag a record contract -– that’s not important anymore.’ So I kept very true to myself on Antelopes. It became a lot of the things that I was hearing in my head. I wanted to integrate more of the avant-garde, long-song type of feeling, and that’s what I did.” Hartz had always planned to use local players he’d come to know through Hum Machine, and a number of them are on the album. But when bassist Matt Rogers provided him with an introduction to UW professor and jazz bass great Richard Davis, he decided to begin pursuing some of his musical heroes. “It was very much on a hope and a prayer,” he says. “I didn’t know any of these people. But I called Roscoe Mitchell and went over and played what I had for him, and I just found that these musicians I’d admired were accessible.” The album was recorded in stages at Smart Studios. Logistics were such that few of the players ever got together in the studio at the same time, which meant Hartz (who plays drums and synthesizer on the album) found himself communicating his musical vision one-on-one just before the tape started rolling. “I tell you, it was some of the most nerve-wracking times of my life getting someone like Bernie Worrell or Richard Davis in the studio and instructing them about what I wanted,” he laughs. “I almost threw up a few times.” The results of those sometimes queasy hours in the studio are impressive. Antelopes contains just two long tracks, and each one explores a variety of styles, from outright free-jazz blowing courtesy of saxophonist Mitchell and trumpeter Corey Wilkes to portentous art-metal that sometimes recalls Teutonic prog giants like Can and Amon Düül. Hartz is pleased with the disc, and so is the album’s distributor, Redeye, which he says is making a point of pushing it in the jazz market. Instead of using the old Cancer imprint, he’s founded a new label, Shortwave, which is geared to vinyl- and download-only releases. (For folks who just can’t get enough of those shiny reflective discs, the handsomely silk-screened vinyl package for Antelopes also includes a CD.) Hartz would love to put together a few live performances of Antelopes, but after paying for studio time, compensating his musicians and pressing the album, his finances are stretched thin. “The idea is to get the album picked up by a larger label,” he notes. “That will make playing live easier.” Although no local concert is in the offing, Hartz is hosting a local CD-release event on Thursday, March 22, at MadCity Music Exchange, where the album will also be on sale. He says Mitchell, Davis and several other local musicians involved in the recording process are slated to attend, and he plans on having a brief Q&A with the musicians after previewing the album for attendees.

Roscoe Mitchell plays on another new album, Eric Hartz's "Antelopes", which was released March 22 on the Shortwave label. Personnel also includes Corey Wilkes, Bernie Worrell and Richard Davis. It appears that the album is released under the artist name "Voltress", after checking out the label's website.

I have heard these works for literally hundreds (possibly thousands?) of hours, as they are among my wife's favorites. I have repeatedly heard the Uchida, Perahia, Gould, Brendel, Schiff, Schnabel, Serkin and Gileils recordings discussed on this thread, together with several other versions by pianists not named yet. My favorite is the Perahia. I also love Perahia's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. I like the Uchida version of Mozart's Piano Concertos very much, and if you are still giving her set away, Chuck Nessa, I will take it. We have it on cassette (purchased in the 1980s). I am happy to learn of some versions new to me, and look forward to exploring the Staier, Pletnev, Jando and Fischer.

As I listened to some of the records that my parents and grandparents collected, I was struck by the trumpet playing of Romy Gosz. He had a unique, compelling sound and style. He was a virtuoso, but more than that, he had his own voice on the trumpet, which cuts through the polka backgrounds of his music and explodes off the vinyl. If he had ventured into jazz as a side project even once, we would all be familiar with him and singing his praises. Has anyone else heard Romy Gosz's music? And did any of our more mature members ever see him live?

Since someone is going to post this album, it might as well be me:

I know just what you mean. I held all three Horos in my hands at Schoolkids Records in Ann Arbor when they first came out, some time between 1978--80. I decided that I had better buy only "Unity", and put the other two back. It was not until some time after 2000 that I was able to buy the other two Horos on ebay, at a somewhat reasonable price (still many times what they sold for originally). How large of a chain was Schoolkids? There was one here in town about ten years ago. It is a Mexicano clothing store now. I always thought it was a regional shop. Still a couple of indie shops hanging on in town... It would surprise me if Schoolkids was a chain in 1978-80 when I shopped there in Ann Arbor. It seemed like the quintessential independent record store in a large college town. It was more than a store, it was also a cultural center of sorts, for both jazz lovers and the punk and New Wave music lovers. The staff were all serious music lovers and album experts. It had four long aisles of records, one of them devoted only to jazz. The first time I walked in there were a number of young men debating the merits of various Andrew Cyrille albums. I knew it was a place I would be visiting often. I have heard that it is now closed in Ann Arbor.

I know just what you mean. I held all three Horos in my hands at Schoolkids Records in Ann Arbor when they first came out, some time between 1978--80. I decided that I had better buy only "Unity", and put the other two back. It was not until some time after 2000 that I was able to buy the other two Horos on ebay, at a somewhat reasonable price (still many times what they sold for originally).

This death is nearly as devastating for the cultural health of the nation as when Ernie Bushmiller died.

I guess a lot of trumpet players have to deal with "the looks", and as a result some of them get kinda sensitive about it. I was playing (in the sax section) in a band with a guy who is regarded by many as a state-of-the-art lead trumpet player. We were playing a tune and he played something really amazing. I was turning to look back at him for an "atta boy" and before I could even turn enough to see him, he shouted at me, "Fuck you! Turn around!" That actually makes me feel better, after all of these years, to hear that a successful professional trumpet player did not like it when someone turned around and stared at him.

Another detail--after the shouting man was literally thrown out, which was quite a spectacle, Joe Segal came out and said that the man had a tape recorder on him and could we believe that he was trying to tape the show, so we should just forget about it and enjoy Dizzy's music. From what I observed, there was no opportunity for the Jazz Showcase staff to have searched the shouting man for recording devices before he flew through the air.

"Unity" is great. I have between 100 and 200 Sun Ra albums (stopped counting at some point) and "Unity" is my favorite. It is perhaps the one time where everything came together just right for Sun Ra on record. The playing is tight and together, the material is excellent, the solos are really good, the swing era stuff is exciting and tight. It lacks extended avant garde blowing vehicles, but otherwise any Sun Ra fan would most likely enjoy it.

The trumpet is a harsh mistress, requiring constant attention and daily long practice to stay any good at it. I played trumpet for eight years, throughout high school, in the school band, stage band, school play pit band, and marching band. I was not very good on a professional level, just one of the guys in the ensemble. I had a certain level of proficiency and ability to read music, but could not solo well in the stage band, for example. For someone like me, I found that using the alternate fingerings for common notes in the treble clef tended to give you slightly different pitches, subtle but unmistakeable. The notes sounded slightly out of pitch to me, with the alternate fingerings. It was not like you could just switch around casually with the fingerings. It was not difficult to make all of the pitches on the treble clef with a combination of fingerings and changes in embrochure. That is an elementary part of learning trumpet playing. However, high register playing was quite difficult for me. It took a huge amount of daily practice time to keep my chops together enough to be able to hit the high notes. If I took any time off from practicing, like a family vacation trip, it took a long time to recover and get the high register back. Since I knew I was not going to be a professional musician, I did not have Prussian-like discipline about practicing. In college, there was a recreational band for non-music majors, just for fun. Everyone who took it and came to all of the rehearsals and our one annual concert performance got a one credit "A" automatically. So many people took it to boost their GPA a little. It was not meant to be a serious musical ensemble, but there was a regular Music School faculty member in charge of it, and there was a certain pride in not making it sound terrible. I took this band class my first semester in college. The band had about 50 flute players, all female, and two trumpet players, together with a regular number of players on the other instruments. I was one of the two trumpet players. I was studying hard and otherwise enjoying the undergrad experience that first semester, and was not practicing my trumpet a lot. I knew that I was in trouble one day about a month into the semester. I was practicing in a small music practice room in the basement of our high rise dorm. After I played for a while, a woman came down the hall and stared intently through the window in the door, a horrified, disgusted look on her face, like she had just heard one of the worst noises she had ever heard in her life. Soon after that, in our band rehearsal, I was unable to hit the high notes in a section in which the trumpets were prominent. As there were only two of us, you could not hide. The band director asked me what the problem was. All 50 female flute players turned and stared at me in unison. All I could do was stammer that I was trying. I dropped the course the next day and never played again. If you can't or won't devote a lot of time to the trumpet always, your chops don't go to 80 per cent, they go to near zero quickly. That was my experience at least.

Adventures in audience noise, over the years: I saw Big Joe Turner in a Boston club that served food, around 1979. He commented between songs, "I can hear every word of all of your conversations, you folks down front, and every time you bang your silverware on your plates, I can hear that too." The couples conversing intently did not change their facial expressions or stop talking at all. They kept on as if Big Joe was not there. I saw Branford Marsalis and his quintet on its first American tour, at the Grand Emporium blues club in Kansas City. It was sold out. We had to share a table with two strangers, who spoke loudly throughout the entire set, never stopping to catch a breath. I finally asked them politely to be quiet and the woman almost punched me. She was incredulous that I would find anything wrong with it. They did not stop. But then at a Dizzy Gillespie performance at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago in the spring of 1978, a short, thin man was shouting that he loved Dizzy during the songs. After about the third time, a truly huge man emerged slowly from a back room, picked the shouting man up and threw him up a flight of stairs. Problem solved. At an Ella Fitzgerald concert at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor in December, 1979, a young African American man with huge dreadlocks screamed during Ella's vocals and ran down the center aisle to the front of the stage. He was quite disruptive to the music. Security officers moved in on him. Ella waved them off and had the young man come to the stage. She hugged him, talked nicely to him and after a while, asked him to please sit down and be quiet. He was quiet the rest of the concert. My favorite example of audience talking during music: Sun Ra and his Arkestra played at Parody Hall in Kansas City in 1985 (I am sure of the date because near the end of the concert, Sun Ra chanted hundreds of times, "It's only 15 years until the 21st century!"). A young man in the audience stood up in the middle of a song, looking truly baffled and anxious. He shouted, "Oh man! Oh! Oh! There's something wrong with this music! There's something wrong with this music!" He then ran out of the club as fast as he could, with an agitated look on his face.

Many people focus on the nudity in Porkys, but that only obscures the superb script, brilliant acting, and undefinable element of artistic quality which elevate it into the stratosphere of all time cinematic achievements.

I have been eating three raw almonds a day since reading that Edgar Cayce said that if you do this, you will never get cancer. He could have been wrong, or crazed in some way.....but what if he is right about this? It is an easy enough thing to do.

As the policeman who beat up Miles outside of Birdland:

Captain Kangaroo was cool. I especially liked the Grandfather Clock who always fell asleep while someone was talking to him. Decades later, I can relate.