Hot Ptah

I also heard Cotton live around 2000 at an outdoor festival. His harmonica playing was as great as ever. He had some throat surgery, from cancer I believe, and his voice was very hoarse. It was still great to hear him though.

It is Cuber. You will be surprised at who this is. Jim is really, really good at this!

I have been thinking about this thread. I think that the wide differences in posts about certain musicians could possibly reflect the fact that working musicians and composers are commenting here at the same time as non-musician jazz fans. For a non-musician fan, a lot of music sounds pretty good, and the highly negative comments made by musicians and composers may seem harsh and disproportionate. But the working jazz musician or composer probably looks at it all differently. This is their art, their passion, and their job, their livelihood. They can tell about differences in artistry at a much more involved and higher level than fans. It occurred to me that if people who were not members of my work profession, law, posted relatively uninformed opinions about attorneys or judges, or Court decisions, which I knew were simply not correct, and which mischaracterized issues important to me, it would be difficult for me to agree with them that all of it is pretty good, there are no real distinctions to be made. Should only musicians be allowed to post here on music topics? I would not go that far. But I think that non-musician fans like me should step back and think about the deeper level of insight that musicians and composers are bringing to the discussion. But then I am curious about this. Just for fun I Googled Oscar Peterson's name yesterday, and looked through some of my jazz books, and came up with quotes from several musicians who were his contemporaries, in which they strongly praised his playing and his accompaniment. For example, Ben Webster was quoted as saying that Oscar Peterson was the best accompanist he ever played with. Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum all praised Oscar Peterson in print. What were these musicians, who worked with Peterson or heard him play in person often, missing in their evaluation of his playing? Or was it customary back then for jazz musicians to just highly praise all other jazz musicians at all times?

I just had a different impression of the book when I read it. I think that one could take many longer books and find the Top 10 best ________ within them, whatever you want to list, complaints, favorite cities, whatever. But I did not find the Burton autobiography to be a litany of complaints with narrative linking them.

I saw him live in a very compelling night of music on July 3, 1980. No one had to go to work the next day and it was a wild crowd and an inspired musical performance.

Some of them are Phil Woods, Pat Metheny and Gary Burton. All are bad musicians.

I keep forgetting that when you are a Catholic and live in Salt Lake City, you can't talk about the Mormon church. Don't worry about me. I'm going inside and pulling down the blinds.

I did not find the book to be that way. He talks about a lot of things in what seems to be a candid, thoughtful way. I did not come away from it thinking that he had complained about much of anything, more that he had given us a glimpse into the way he thinks as he considered a wide variety of subjects.

I thought it was a thoughtful book. It did not strike me as being particularly pissy. Burton also praised many musicians and discussed positive experiences.

......

You are correct on identifying George Adams and Fats Waller. Thanks for your kind words about the BFT!

Yes, you have found it! I discovered it at Prospero's Books in Kansas City, Missouri, an independently owned used bookstore. In addition to a CD and LP section on the second floor, the store has a random selection of CDs stacked near the first floor cash register, and other random stacks of CDs in odd places throughout the store. I found this CD on a windowsill on the side of the steep staircase going to the second floor, and impulsively decided to buy it.

It is James Newton playing flute on Track 10, and not Ray Anderson on trombone. It is Jack Sheldon as the singer/player. You are right, humor is highly subjective. To me, this is by far the most humorous thing on this particular album, among several humor selections.

It is good to see you back here on this board, Allen.

Here is where we are on IDs for this Blindfold Test: 1. No ID 2. No ID 3. Jim Sangrey identified this by artist and album. 4. Jim Sangrey identified this by artist and album, and my reply fills in some of the details. Other members have identified Arthur Blythe as the leader. 5. No ID 6. No ID 7. This has been identified as Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Shirley Scott and Al Smith by several members. The album title and song title have not been provided. 8. Jim Sangrey identified this by artist and album, and my reply fills in some of the details. 9. Jim Sangrey identified this by artist and album, and song title. Other members identified Henry Threadgill as the artist. 10. No ID 11. Several members have identified Sun Ra and John Gilmore, but no one has provided the song title or album. 12. Jim Sangrey identified this by artist and album. Other members have identified Fats Waller as the organist. 13. No ID

The comment "Pat Metheny, of all people" leads me to wonder if the author has heard all of Metheny's recordings, under his own name and as a sideman. There are many worthy Metheny recordings. They are not all bland group fusion efforts, by a long shot.

Actually, I had the #1 all time post count on the AAJ Forum at the time of its demise. I had about 15,000 posts, going back over 13 years. So maybe it is fair that it is my thread.

Great!

Very interesting comments. You are correct with Arthur Blythe on #4 (Stanley Cowell is the pianist) and Fats Waller on #12. You are correct that the flute player on #10 is modern. Some of the players here would feel highly complimented by the guesses you made. As for #13, humor is personal and subjective. To each their own.

Happy birthday, Big Al! I wish you would come back to the Blindfold Tests!

Yeah, "Greasy Love Songs" is not a mistaken name. I have some of the MOFO Project CD sets, and they are really interesting. The Uncle Meat set, 'Meat Light", is one of the best, and contains some gems from the early Mothers which had not been released. I find that the live recordings and previously unreleased recordings from the mid-1970s band, with George Duke, are also excellent. I love the 1988 big band recordings, especially "Make a Jazz Noise Here," and wish that more from that sadly short lived large jazz ensemble would surface.

Thanks for getting the discussion started, John. I have to tell you that Track 2 does not feature McCoy Tyner, Gary Bartz or Sonny Fortune!