Hot Ptah

I am in, and will get a disc from another member in my home town.

#7 is "Follow Your Heart", composed by John McLaughlin. I first heard it on his "My Goals Beyond" album. Joe Farrell recorded a good version of this song on one of his early 1970s solo albums. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41A99XZIo3L._SY450_.jpg This is not the Joe Farrell recording obviously. I like this recording of it a lot. I have no idea who it is and I want to know! I want to get this! In fact, this may be my favorite recording of "Follow Your Heart."

I love her performance in The Big Sleep, one of the greatest films ever in my opinion.

The first song is long but so enjoyable that I am glad you included it. My obvious guess is Abdullah Ibrahim. If it is him, I don't remember this track. It's a great opener. I have been playing it on the way home from work to heal before resuming my life.

At that time my parents were sure that they would come back, that this new stuff like the Beatles was just a passing fad.

"Jikes" How soon does that happen after one first got in touch with the music? I'm not much into labeling myself, so I do not mind her singing country or jazz or both. I like country myself and sometimes I sing and play some on my guitar. According to what she did in the past I really liked her cooperation with the Charlie Hunter Quartet and covered their "Day is done" (orginally a Nick Drake song) with my band. I do not really look at her as a jazz singer but when do you verify exactly as one? And who, besides yourself, gets to decide which influence you want to bring into your music? For some bizarre reason I missed the HP quote you posted here. I don't see older audiences for those genres as anything alarming. I think getting into those genres IS a matter of age. What I mean is that when were younger we tend to lean towards music that is easier to digest on the fly, or in the background because we haven't settled down at that point in our lives. But as we mature we take the time to "stop and smell the roses". Most people when they're younger aren't looking to invest the time and focus needed to appreciate these art forms. And it IS an investment of time and focus. Just my two cents. It's mostly older folks who listen to Mozart, but it's not like they were around when he was composing. However, when I went to see Albert Collins, Luther Allison, Son Seals, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, etc. in the late 1980s and early 1990s, at the Grand Emporium in Kansas City, the audience looked like it was in its 30s and 40s. Now the audience for the same kind of music is mostly white haired. Maybe it is the exact same audience members, 25 years later. Also, when I went to jazz concerts, from McCoy Tyner, to Count Basie, to Sun Ra, to Ella Fitzgerald, to John McLaughlin, you name it, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were many college age people in the audience. That is not the case any longer.

I am listening and enjoying very much. I will post impressions after a few more listens!

I Yes, I find it amazing too. For example, Rickie Lee Jones is another female vocalist who is not primarily a jazz singer, but who has recorded jazz songs. If a thread was started about Rickie Lee Jones, I would be very surprised if there was so much emotion. Norah Jones strikes me as being about as controversial as a blueberry pancake, so why does the very mention of her name make some people's blood boil? Weird!

I agree with you about LOVE ACTUALLY. I found myself cringing often as I watched it.

To me, Allen is a brilliant composer and musician, and a thoughtful, insightful poster on this board. I hope he comes back.

Something about Wynton, and Norah, and Kenny G, and Phil Woods, and Oscar Peterson, that just automatically brings out negativity on online discussion boards. There's material for one or more PhD theses in this phenomenon.

Allen, if it seemed like I insulted you with my post, I did not mean to do so. It just puzzles me that Norah Jones generates negative discussion, but if I started a thread on any other soft rock or light pop singer, there would probably be no discussion here. What is there about Norah Jones? She must operate on some deep level that I don't sense, and really creates profound reactions within the human brain. I find her pretty much nonconsequential, forgettable, but others do not. What is different about my brain?

I don't understand the heated emotion that Norah Jones generates. If we started a thread on Grace Potter, I suspect that there would be no strong emotion expressed. It strikes me as a near pathology of more than one music board that the mere mention of Norah Jones brings out strong emotions. She didn't cheat people out of their life savings, or take part in war crimes, or say anything terribly insulting about anyone. Why anger and bitterness at the mention of her name? I don't get it.

Phil is not a favorite of some members of this board, to put it mildly.

Don't forget Phil Woods.

This is a very smart career move. In my business I have to socialize with a lot of people of different ages from around the U.S., all of whom are not jazz experts. It has struck me many times that today's pop country music is now THE popular music of America. It is immensely popular. Look at who is performing in the football stadiums, outdoor amphitheaters and large arenas in any big city. Except for older rock stars like Paul McCartney, it will be almost all today's pop country music. Some of it sounds just like 1970s rock. In fact, Lynyrd Skynyrd songs from the 1970s are played now on one of the nation's top country hits of today radio station (syndicated around the U.S.) We can smirk about someone performing country music today, but then we are just like adults in 1964 saying that this Beatles garbage will never last, is just trash, etc. etc. It just shows that the writer is severely out of touch with today's listeners and music. Oh yes, the only other kind of music that anyone from around the U.S. seems to listen to is hip hop, from what I can tell. When I go to blues, jazz or classical concerts today, the attendance is low and virtually everyone for blues, jazz or classical has white hair or is bald from age. So I am not that excited about a thread ridiculing Norah Jones for singing country music. She's a pop singer, not a jazz singer. So why do we care?

And Fred Wesley?!? James Brown's Fred Wesley? Sounds interesting. It was interesting. From Fred Wesley's autobiography,"Hit Me Fred-Recollections of a Sideman" (a memorable book, by the way), I learned that Fred played in Count Basie's big band in the late 1970s, after leaving Bootsy Collins. In any event, he played very well that evening in his jazz solos. He also sang a funk song, but I don't remember the title.

The best Idris Muhammad performance I ever saw was in Kansas City, when he performed in a group headed by guitarist Rodney Jones, with Arthur Blythe, Fred Wesley and Dr. Lonnie Smith, He was incredible, as they all were. I literally ran as fast as I could for three blocks through a heavy rainstorm to get to that concert. It was well worth it.

I will bet you that they will say that they stream or download only, and that they like either hip hop or today's pop country music. That would make them mainstream, if the people in their mid-20s who I know are any indication. If this person says that they buy CDs, and like jazz, blues or rock, they are not going to fit in with the other mid-20s people in your company, I think.

Is the pianist on #11 Lynne Arriale?

I will participate. I will send you a PM.

Yes, their sign "God Hates the UK", was outstanding in its ridiculousness, even by Westboro standards.