ep1str0phy

I know--this isn't really good stuff to go off of, but- Purely watching hands (and as a guitar player who actively plays this stuff), George is definitely not soloing in the first video and Paul is on bass. But--a solo is happening at about 1:30. There are some 16th note figures ([da-ga-da-ga]-[duh] or some permutation of that) at around 1:45 that correspond to the solo, and George's hands are clearly visible--he's not playing them. Since the guitarist that is visible isn't playing that part, the other one (John) is the likely candidate. On the second video, the guitars are interlocked and for whatever reason George is more forward in the mix--but, the bluesy line (the part with the string bends, the 16th note figure, etc.--clearly the solo on the album version) is being played by John. I think that the 12-string is dominating because of the balance, but it's technically playing the accompanist role that it does on other versions of this tune.

And cutting away when it's your turn to play.

OK--this is ridiculous to the extent that every live video of YCDT cuts away from Lennon at the guitar solo, but in this one: YCDT Which is pretty clearly live, George isn't playing the solo. In this one: This one: YCDT You can actually catch a second of the solo, but it goes by so fast that it's hard to tell if it's George or John (by George's right hand, it looks like he's playing the rhythm part, right down to the psuedo-lead chording right before it cuts to Ringo). Enough to convince me, but then I always get thrown off of juries...

It's a logical leap, but the fact that Lennon syncs to the solo makes me think that it was his to begin with. (Unless there's another instance of John/George trading solos for live syncing. For the hell of it?) Too much youtube after late? Yes, I think so. This video would seem to confirm your suspicions, TTK: Not really - I am pretty sure that is a lip-synched performance. DId you notice there are no microphones for the singers and the electric guitars have no chords coming out of them? Also people in the audience dancing only inches away from Lennon and clapping hands and yet those sounds not picked up. Finally, this sounds exactly like the recorded version. I rest my case.

The balancing-a-trumpet-while-playing-bass thing reminds me of the rumored Rahsaan trick of balancing an upright bass on his head while circular breathing. Also: not enough instruments.

Reminds me a lot of the Monks' "I Can't Get Over You," which employs a similar rhythmic conceit: Funny how raw the early Beatles actually do sound in comparison to the much more overtly dark and aggressive Monks; on a purely aesthetic level, the Beatles at their most grungy can stand up with the best garage rock. (And I for one think that the Monks were one of the hardest swinging rock groups of the day.)

Muhal came and visited my last year at Mills-I managed a one-on-one with him, and it totally changed my life. He had me playing "Crepuscule with Nellie" a second after I got plugged in. The open-form stuff we did that day was some of the best music I've played in my life; Muhal has a tremendous, and at this point quite storied, way of relaxing tensions and extracting from those around him the very best of feelings and talent. I may have mentioned this somewhere before, but with the brief time I spent with him, I really, really learned a lot. The amazing thing was that every one of the dozens of other students and itinerant musicians who got to meet and spend time with Muhal that week came away with much the same reaction... That Roscoe/Muhal duet concert that closed the week--that was something else. The tapes are stuck somewhere at Mills--that is, until the department can scrape together the time and funds to put together a "live from Mills" series (when that will be, who knows... but there is a treasure trove of music logged in there). I'll be listening to the Braxton/Muhal Arista duets, maybe The Hearinga Suite--there's so much. What's amazing about Muhal's discography is that it's so big, and he has this uncanny ability to get top-drawer players to reach for their best (hence the consummate quality of these recordings)... Happy B-Day! (And earlier I bought a birthday card for my Dad. Happy returns for great men.)

I've been doing something akin to this, although using much less "hip" repertoire, with my little guitar students (just transcribed the Harry Potter main theme so that an 8 yo could practice reading in G major). Simplifying melody like this is hard when trying to keep the music interesting. First thing that comes to mind (in addition to some of the other Kind of Blue tracks)--"Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise" (at least the "A"--transposed. It's a strong melody on its own).

Christ, I just found out that Paul played the solo on "Good Morning, Good Morning," which is one of the best Beatles solos for me, period. A fine, fine rock soloist. There were also those rumors that Clapton played some of the solos on the White Album (an old teacher of mine tried to convince me that he played the lead breakdown on "I Want You," but I don't buy it--the articulation is all wrong).

I don't think this one has as many fans, but I love it.

RE: Clapton--this video answered my own question. The look on his face is priceless: Clapton having Cream/pseudo-harmolodic flashbacks in Toronto.

This video would seem to confirm your suspicions, TTK:

Whoops. I guess a single google search would have sufficed to fact-check my last statement. Maybe more compelling in person? Fred was pretty transfixed by it. Somehow the surreal SME/Ono band pairing brings to mind (for me) the even more surreal Live Peace Toronto version of the Ono band, with Clapton on guitar. Again, I don't have the recording in front of me, but I think he stays in for the duration of the free jam "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow"--which is, if anything, rawer and less controlled than the stuff on Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band.

Can, Coltrane, Dudu Pukwana (esp. In the Townships), the Brotherhood of Breath, Brotzmann w/Miller & Moholo, Kind of Blue, Orgasm by Alan Shorter, Touchin' On Trane, Howlin' Wolf, Abbey Road and the White Album--that's been my pick me up flavor for the past few months. I can detect no trends, only things that always, always work. What's interesting about this to me is that a lot of my understanding of this music is as closed systems--that is, full discographical chunks that I own and cannot be added to (hence there's nothing to really plunk down for at the record shop... I usually just buy new stuff and hope i like it).

Couple more things--there's a dissertation floating around that has apparently done extended, intense dissection of the Jazz Composers' Guild. I wonder if you've read it? Last time I checked, the cat who wrote the paper was on the way to getting the JCG chapter published... don't know if it was in the ether when you were researching for the interview. Also: very cool to hear about Bob Ralston. He's one of those spectral voices I always thought may have played a notable role in 60's/70's free music.

Creativity is fun, no?

Oh, let's not forget Ringo. He kills it on both parts of Plastic Ono Band, though I can only wonder what he was thinking when the whole thing was going down. Rock steady. There was a Downbeat (?) feature on Hendrix's influence on jazz a while back, and I think it was Branford Marsalis who said that Band of Gypsys achieved the grease that the Beatles and Led Zeppelin got close to--but I'd be damned if even Buddy Miles could lay it down as straight, fat, and relaxed as Ringo's drumming on those Plastic Ono Band albums... close to no embellishment, just perfectly minimalist.

Wait--are you doing a whole thing as a samba, or just the verse? That actually sounds like it would fit pretty nicely--I'd think that Damage, Inc. might work similarly (I can actually hear a bossa nova clave under some of the first few riffs, matching the rhythm pretty well).

Shit, "Battery." If there's no melody--like there is no real, active vocal melody in this context--I would just find one. My first step would be to shrink down the wall-of-sound guitar and bass parts into more manageable, less dense melodic lines--just forget the vocals. I agree that this would fit an afro-cuban vibe well to the extent that this sort of metal is not only rhythmically intricate, but also modular in design. This is related, I think, to what J said, but once you abstract the melody from the guitar and bass parts, it should be easy to play with it.

That would hurt my brain. For whatever it's worth:

Yes, thanks for putting this together--monumental work.

So--granted all the talk about the Beatles reissues--here's something a little different: I'm actually a pretty big fan of the Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono band album, and I think Lennon's playing is totally unheralded. If he were anyone but a former Beatle, we'd be talking about him in the same breadth as Ray Russell, Masayuki Takayanagi, and, dare I say it, Sonny Sharrock--not that his playing on that album is quite as technically accomplished as any of those individual players' idioms, but it's pretty fantastic... proto-Arto Lindsay in that sort of clustery, ultra-rhythmic, anarchic kind of way. A lot of Lennon's solo features with the Beatles, come to think of it, have a savantish, No Wave kind of charm--his distorted barking on the "The End" guitar battle, the wiry, somewhat uncontrolled fills on "Get Back," (what I assume to be) his propulsive, almost rock pianistic triplet solo on "Yer Blues." Does anyone ever talk about his playing in these terms? I recall, actually, chewing the fat with Fred Frith, who mentioned that he had seen the concert that wound up on Two Virgins (from memory, so not 100% sure). Fred was apparently bored to death by most of the proceedings of the concert (John Stevens and John Tchicai were there ?!), but he found the Lennon/Ono pairing really compelling. I love the Beatles, but/and Yoko Ono and the Lennon/Ono duo are pretty awesome, in my eyes.

I have been listening pretty intensely to Love Cry the past few days, and I think I "get" it a little more. Essentially an album of thematic statements, the quartet/quintet format casts this component of Ayler's ethos in really stark, beautiful light... it's probably the "prettiest" album Ayler ever made, the earlier, similarly quaint (but somewhat more grotesque) Goin' Home included. Two things- (1) The jewel case Impulse reissue probably made this a substantially better album. Re-expanding the last few tracks and including missing/alternate takes expands one's perspective on this particular quartet configuration and, balancing with more "classic," Spiritual Unity-era idiomatic playing the terseness of the short tracks, magnifying the beauty of the album's concision. (2) Milford Graves kicked ass in Ayler's band--probably the ideal foil for Ayler's "free spiritual music" concept, a real shame he didn't stay in the group for long. The flexibility, detail, and dynamism of Graves's sound stands in stark contrast to Ronald Shannon Jackson's more blustery approach and Beaver Harris's static, martial sound fields. Graves (actually, Graves + Silva, although the latter doesn't really cut all by his lonesome on the great-in-their-own way Greenwich Village recordings) is the motile element on Love Cry and (arguably) the decisive factor on the Newport recordings found on Holy Ghost--an ecstatic, truly propulsive sound that just lifts Ayler's cry to the next level. I'm now led to think that Graves was the Ayler drummer in the post-Bells period. I love Jackson and Harris, for what it's worth, but Graves's is just a whole different animal. There's something creepily atheistic about Sunny Murray that suits Ayler's earlier, darker, more confrontational sound, but I just can't hear the "rejoicing" in his playing--and Graves is all about "rejoicing"... with Ayler, on Black Woman, Babi Music, Nommo, whatever. If only they could have worked more together... Ayler's healing force + Graves's nascent theraputic musicality.

The "self-taught" saxophonist thread (to which I have no new information to contribute) got me thinking about Abe, mentioned as he was. Letting his music sink in for a bit, I don't think he's as entirely inaccessible as his reputation makes out. His solo recordings, even in their more heated moments, are pretty transparent when set alongside Braxton (especially on For Alto). I also managed to (finally) find a CD copy of Milford Grave's Meditation Among Us, and I was completely unshocked by Abe's playing in this more idiomatic free context--nothing more ear destroying than, for example, Marion Brown on Porto Novo (citing a similarly acerbic alto), Zorn, or Charles Tyler with Ayler (and not as scary as Ayler, for that matter). Now the stuff with Takayanagi is an entirely different matter. That mass direction duo stuff on DIW can be hard to take by any measure. Even in his more explosive contexts, though, I find that Abe expresses his ideas with a profound, if extremely pained, lyricism, eminently approachable in a cousin way to Ornette's blues-stained abstractions. Also, unlike, say Arthur Doyle, who is very technically nebulous, Abe is always extremely articulate in his idiom, forceful and direct.

I agree with this statement. Allen, I'm assuming this is a book/text document rather than a compilation? I can't imagine what a licensing nightmare that would be.