Hot Ptah

Ah! It includes "At the Clambake Carnival", my favorite Cab Calloway recording featuring Chu Berry.

Fugs--Nothing Kill For Peace Wide Wide River

From what I can tell, the Stan Getz "Gold, Happy 50th Stan" on Inner City (a 2 LP set) is the same album as the Steeplechase releases "Live At Montmartre, Vol.1" and "Vol. 2". I have more than 50 Getz albums. I can tell that this one is probably not one of "the best" from a critical analysis standpoint, but it is one of the Getz albums that I play most often. If you are interested, I would say that you should get it. It is not a compromised fusion album like some of his late 1970s material. It is a very enjoyable listen.

I second (or third) many of the recommendations here. I don't think anyone has mentioned an enjoyable live date from the late 1970s--"Gold, Happy 50th Stan". Stan is joined by Joanne Brackeen, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and Billy Hart. I especially like the version of "Cancao Do Sol" on this album.

Me to. I recently blasted "Hocus Pocus" at a very high volume. But seriously, Getz's Focus is one my favorites of the non-bossa albums. Hocus Pocus is one of the few hit records to feature yodelling.

If that's the real reason Chris left, I don't know what to say. Seems just a wee bit dramatic, don't you think? If you read several years of Jazz Corner posts, you would understand. Maybe not agree, but you would know the basis for it.

The Super Bowl halftime shows have featured jazz artists. Super Bowl VI's halftime show was titled "Salute to Louis Armstrong" and featured Ella Fitzgerald (also Carol Channing and Al Hirt). Super Bowl VII's halftime show featured Woody Herman (also the University of Michigan Band). Super Bowl IX presented the Ellington Orchestra, under the direction of Mercer Ellington (also the Grambling University Band).

Marilyn Maye would be a good candidate.

Yep, and they used to be in a box together, until they lost the license. I was in the market for the box until I saw it going on ebay for $250. I feel fortunate. I bought a Criterion DVD of The Lady Vanishes around Christmas at a Barnes & Noble. The quality of the print is stunning compared to our old VHS copy of the film.

The down beat article about the "Mr. Gone" album made me think--there is no jazz group, or CD release, which would create this type of controversy today. Another way to look at it is that Weather Report and its series of albums were not nearly as much of a big deal as down beat made it seem. Still, it is odd to think that any one CD release today would create a magazine cover story with controversy about the way that the CD was reviewed.

I think that was Mr. Gone. Guy Yes. I have the issue in my basement, with the cover story, "Storms Over 'Mr. Gone.'"

For me, this has been one of the interesting aspects of beginning to read the organissimo forums. Before reading these forums, I had always approached writing about jazz as purely informational--did it help me decide which albums to buy next or which artists to see, or miss, in concert. I realized that some of the writers were somewhat better than the others, but the idea that any jazz writers could be high quality writers on some type of objective level had not occurred to me. I always imagined that much of the writing about jazz was done on a deadline, and that the writers deserved somewhat of a "pass" because of that. I guess that there is no reason why jazz writing could not be at a high level of artistic quality. Up to now, that has never been one of my criteria in deciding what jazz writing to seek out. I am going to start thinking about it more now. I found Whitney Balliett entertaining, and sometimes useful on an informational source. I found some of his metaphors funny, on a tongue in cheek level. I always imagined that he was chuckling to himself at how strange he could make some of the metaphors and still get them past the editor. I am beginning to get the idea that this was a private idea of mine, not shared by other readers.

I have always remembered a statement made by Zawinul in a down beat feature in the late 1970s. He stated that he had conceived of a new way of playing solo acoustic piano which was unique and was on the level of Art Tatum, only with a totally original concept. I was excited to hear his first recordings in this new, innovative style. Some jazz loving friends and I discussed what it might be like--we were all big Zawinul fans. We are still waiting. That's when I realized that Zawinul does not lack confidence. However, he came over from Austria and became an essential part of some heavy music, including his own. A shrinking violet could not have done all of that.

Rolf Harris Jonathan Harris Billy Mumy Will Robinson Frank Robinson Brooks Robinson

From the title of his thread I thought that he had found his soulmate, the (human) love of his life.

This is pretty much my thinking, too. If Mosaic needs to expand its horizons in order to keep releasing the good stuff, it's OK with me. I'm not sure I understand what people are concerned about "tarnishing the brand" unless it somehow impacts their ability to continue the boxes. To the extent that brand identity reflects reality, my notion of Mosaic is a quality product, involving only recordings of clear artistic merit. I might not like some of them, but I respect all of them as being chosen for their merit as music. I have thought of Mosaic as the George Washington of jazz labels. If Mosaic is going to become a hit and miss label, with Chu Berry coming out one week and the collected late 1970s works of Bob James the next, it will change the way I think of it. Instead of automatically considering all of their releases for potential purchase or gift lists, I will pause and wonder if a new release is trash or treasure, and will wonder if I have the time, patience and energy to analyze which it is, and why. I may come to think of Mosaic as the Lyndon B. Johnson of jazz labels.

If this program results in the CD reissues of all of the A&M Horizon albums, and the India Navigation and Horo labels, I will be all for it. If it is confined to the commercialized efforts of Columbia and CTI from that era, it will tarnish the Mosaic brand, in my opinion.

SUPER BLUE is already up for pre-order on Amazon. There are no extra tracks added in that Amazon listing.

I note that the Ultimate packages are described as "comprehensive compilations." What is a "comprehensive" compilation? Is is all of the tracks recorded by an artist for a label? What does "comprehensive" mean if it does not mean complete? There are some good albums from the 1970s which have not been reissued on CD. Except for the inclusion of Earl Klugh, the idea looks potentially promising. What does Chuck Nessa sometimes call himself? I forget, but it reminds me of the inclusion of Earl Klugh in this particular punchbowl.

Who are the male jazz musicians who wore dresses in the 1970s and/or 1980s? Who is Wynton talking about? I am not aware of that happening at all. Did it?

For what it is worth, perhaps little, I saw Max Roach live some time in the winter months of 1994-95, playing in a trio with Jackie Mc Lean and Richard Davis. It was a function to promote the planned jazz museum at 18th and Vine in Kansas City. At that time there was doubt as to whether it would ever be built, and this was a rally of sorts for the museum's supporters. It was a short set, planned only a few moments before they hit the stage. In any event, throughout this performance, Max Roach played as exuberantly as anyone I have ever heard live. He laid down a furious, intense wall of sound, dominating the music. There was none of the "dour tuning" or other less than totally engaging features of his 1970s and 1980s group, which I also witnessed. Some performances by Elvin Jones in the 1970s are the only drumming performances I have witnessed with the same kind of energy. So what does one make of an artist who often doesn't play the way he CAN play? As an aside, at that function, the City of Kansas City had just spent taxpayer funds, without the approval of the City Council, to buy Charlie Parker's white plastic alto sax at auction, to place in the planned museum. The Mayor at the time, Emmanel Cleaver (now in the U. S. House of Representatives), was attacked for that "waste" of public funds. At this function, Jackie McLean was asked, or nearly forced, to play the plastic white alto sax. He introduced his playing by stating that the sax was in terrible condition and was basically unplayable. He then played tremendously on it--only a slight difference in tone from the previous song, played on his own instrument, provided any indication that a different instrument was used.

Jack DeJohnette recorded a lot of ECM albums, with his New Directions band and in his own name, into the mid-1980s. One of the best ones, "Inflation Blues", has not been reissued on CD. "Special Edition", "Tin Can Alley" and "Inflation Blues" do not have the stereotyped "ECM sound." In the context of the discussion on this thread, they have the sound of black avant garde albums of the time period, and they are representative of his live shows of that time (1980--83). Lester Bowie's solo albums and early Brass Fantasy albums on ECM also do not have the light, spacey "ECM Sound". Looking at ECM's website, I am struck by the vastness of its catalogue, and the futility of trying to lump all of it into one stereotype.

Interesting analysis. Apart from the content of this particular line of thought, I think that it is representative of Wynton's tendency to take small bits of information or opinion, and blow them up into widespread generalizations about music and life, far beyond anything that the original small bits can support. If not for his status with the national media, it would be an odd little quirk, buried in passages in things nobody pays a lot of attention to, like CD liner notes and jazz magazine articles.

Well, that describes about 90% of all successful artists in any genre! Not John Coltrane.

I know why I lack respect for them. They both started out as humble seeming artists who tried to put out understated albums of nuance and high quality. Then they both became bombastic, clownish buffoons, and their albums were filled with cheesy schlock. Other than that, no problem.