Hot Ptah

Richard Davis' jazz history classes do not do any of these things. After reading this thread I feel even more fortunate to have been able to take his class!

I can't see the second name on my computer--the print is too small and blurry--can you tell us who it is?

Yes, I recommend it. I think it is one of his more enjoyable albums. To me, almost everything he did during that period is at a very high level, and Mama and Daddy is right up there with the rest of his output.

Dick Wright was great. I heard him speak many times at jazz events in Kansas City and Lawrence. He was open to a lot of different music, beyond the earlier styles that he loved to talk about. His public radio show was very enjoyable, the Swing Club. He was always enthusiastic about the concerts he was MCing, whether it was Don Byron or Mike Stern.

Richard Davis has taught jazz history at the University of Wisconsin from September 1977 to the present, in a multi-semester approach, emphasizing different instruments each semester. I took the class three times and was very much inspired by his teaching. He was very well informed, accurate and added a lot of his own experiences with the musicians to bring the material alive. It was one of the best experiences I had in my entire educational career.

That's very interesting. The director of the Wisconsin Union Theater for many years told me that he paid Miles Davis $3000 for a concert when Keith Jarrett was in the band. He was marvelling about how low artists' fees were at that time. I wonder if that was the concert. A member of the music faculty at the University of Wisconsin told me that Cecil Taylor was fired not because he flunked his students, but because of his response at a faculty meeting. Apparently he was asked about flunking many students and he stated in an abrupt fashion that he absolutely refused to talk about it. Apparently this ruffled the wrong feathers. The music faculty member told me that the draft was still going on, and if a male student flunked out of college, he stood a decent chance of going to Vietnam shortly thereafter--that was why some of the music faculty wanted to discuss the flunkings.

I have read that Cecil Taylor was a music professor for one year at the University of Wisconsin in the early 1970s, and that he gave an "F" to every student in his jazz history class. I am wondering if anyone who contributes to this board was in that class, or knows more directly about the circumstances--what was the class like, what did Cecil expect of the students, why did all of them fail?

Did anyone ever answer you? In my opinion, you would need, at a minimum, to hear the Nessa box, "Les Stances a Sophie", "Fanfare For the Warriors", "Live at Mandel Hall", "Nice Guys" and "Full Force", to get a pretty good idea of what they are like.

My favorite Muhal Richard Abrams albums from these labels are "Blues Forever" and "Mama and Daddy".

I keep my wish list on little scraps of paper. I write down the albums in an illegible scrawl. Then I shove the little scraps of paper into my wallet. Quite often when I take out my wallet outside, the scraps of paper fall out and blow down the street when it is windy.

Or how about Lawrence Welk Plays with Johnny Hodges--actually, he did. They collaborated on an album together.

Dave Brubeck plays softly now, at least in concert. He has played with quite a light touch in the three concerts I have attended in the last few years.

"Moonglow" from that 3 CD set is one of the highlights of Western civilization.

"Main stem" - Kenny Burrell, Jr Mance, Tommy Flanagan, Terry Gibbs, Milt Jackson, James Moody, Oliver Nelson, Oscar Peterson, Zoot Sims, Ben Webster. Lots of others. Why do no hard bop musicians record "Way back home"? MG Thanks for the information about "Main Stem". I have some listening to do!

The Jazz The World Forgot CDs are very interesting, as documents of once popular early jazz bands. I have had many hours of enjoyment from the LPs, then the CDs, of Blind Blake, Barbecue Bob, Bo Carter, John Hurt, Robert Wilkins, Henry Thomas, Blind Boy Fuller, Tampa Red, Furry Lewis, Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson, and Big Bill Broonzy. I find a compelling power to this music. In some ways, the 1920s recordings of Louis Armstrong in jazz, the Carter Family in country, and the artists mentioned above in blues, were never equalled by later artists in their genres. Just my opinion of course.

Thanks for bringing back a great memory, Joe. I was at this gig too (years before you and I met). I was at that concert too and remember that Jackie played wonderfully. I saw Jackie in Kansas City right after Mayor Cleaver had used City funds to purchase Charlie Parker's white plastic alto saxophone, to be used as an exhibit for the planned Jazz Museum at 18th and Vine, which had not been built yet. Jackie, Richard Davis, and Max Roach played a few songs during an indoor function about the project. I remember that Max Roach played with a lot of energy, and Jackie played quite well. Then Jackie was asked to play the white plastic alto sax. He said that the sax was in poor condition and really needed to be repaired and restored. He said that he was not confident that he could play it, in its poor condition. Then the trio played another piece and Jackie played the white plastic alto sax. I could not tell any difference from when he was playing his own horn. There was a slight difference in sound, but no drop off in quality. A short time later Paquito D'Rivera played that white plastic alto saxophone at an outdoor festival at 18th and Vine. I remember that the Mayor said from the stage that he could not understand why many people felt that the Jazz Museum would never get built, and that he had bulldozers driving around near the festival grounds to convince everyone that the project would get built. (I remember that David Murray also played at that outdoor festival with Andrew Cyrille). Anyway, to my knowledge those were the two times that Charlie Parker's white plastic alto saxophone was played in public after it was purchased by the City. It is now on exhibit at the Jazz Museum.

Both ideas strike me as interesting. But that's just me. I like Chuck's idea. For example, why does virtually no one ever record versions of Ellington pieces like "Harlem Airshaft" or "Main Stem"?

On his "Peacocks" album, Stan Getz remakes the Jazz Messengers' "The Chess Players" and "Lester Left Town" (both on "The Big Beat" originally, both composed by Wayne Shorter).

McCoy Tyner recorded "Moment's Notice" on his "Supertrios" album, in a high energy version which is considerably different from the original Blue Note recording on "Blue Train".

Betty Carter Sings the P-Funk Songbook

McCoy Tyner plays Bacharach Oh wait, that one actually happened!

From this Toon Tracker site I have learned that West Coast jazz trumpeter Shorty Rogers composed the music for the Mr. Magoo TV cartoon series.

I found it hilarious that Paulie's ludicrous babbling about his body, while sitting at Tony's hospital bedside, came across in Tony's coma dream as someone talking through the adjacent hotel room wall in a manner so irritating that it drove Tony to almost embrace death. In general, the inappropriate and ridiculous bedside speeches of A.J., Paulie and Christopher (while Tony was awake but extremely groggy) were hilarious in a dark way. These guys could not think of anything else to say to the "great man" at a time like that? I loved the brainstorming session about Christopher's slasher film, when one of the minor mobsters comes up with the idea that the pieces of the main character's body would be dumped off at different sites along the same garbage route, so that they could reassemble themselves at the dump. What a problem solver that guy is! He could go far in the corporate world with can-do skills like that!

I think that it is priceless that in his dream sequence, Tony is mistaken for an unscrupulous contractor. After having had some work done on my house, I wonder if there is any profession other than organized crime which attracts such sleazy, dishonest low-lifes as the construction industry. (I am sure that there are many fine, upstanding people in that industry as well)

Tony picks up Barry Finnerty's briefcase and wallet, and the Finnerty family reunion turns out to be an entrance into death. I wonder if there is some wordplay going on here. Finnerty, finis (Latin for end, as in end of life). If so, Meadow's boyfriend Finn is not long for this world!