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Chuck, you have your stuff you get way too serious about, too! The name change thing is a fascinating story for anyone that doesn't know it. Silly edit. Yes, the uninformed are always fascinated. You still haven't forgiven me for John Handy - Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival meaning more to me than Albert Ayler, so you're following me around from thread to thread to torture me! I can tell my grandkids that I was harrassed by a legendary jazz producer! I didn't even remember that was you. Do you think you are being stalked. If so, call for help. I was responding to the words, not the writer. Now you're the one who's way too serious about this stuff!

Chuck, you have your stuff you get way too serious about, too! The name change thing is a fascinating story for anyone that doesn't know it. Silly edit. Yes, the uninformed are always fascinated. You still haven't forgiven me for John Handy - Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival meaning more to me than Albert Ayler, so you're following me around from thread to thread to torture me! I can tell my grandkids that I was harrassed by a legendary jazz producer!

Shawn, the commercial takes the song out of context. Remember that GM and Reagan wanted to co-op "Born in the USA" as flag-waver song, and it's anything but. Listen to the whole song.

Chuck, you have your stuff you get way too serious about, too! The name change thing is a fascinating story for anyone that doesn't know it.

Somewhat, but not overt. It's a cry for human decency and the spirit of what this country can be at it's best, like 'Scarecrow' was. I'm a registered republican (who has big problems with both parties), and was not turned off at all lyrically (in fact I found them powerful and thrilling), and I can't imagine that a registered democrat would be turned off either. The album needs to be heard by anybody who's an American. Some of the U.S.-bashing corner of the European crowd won't like the lyrics, but this album isn't for them anyways.

That would be the one. His name has been changed several times throughout his career. IIRC, it started out as John Cougar, then progressed to John Cougar Mellencamp, and now it's just John Mellencamp. Kinda bizarre, but I've always dug the cat. Maybe the next incarnation of his name will be a hip modern version: JMell Actually not bizarre at all. His real name is Mellencamp, he had the showname Johnny Cougar, and as his music became more real, he also took back his real name (after a fight with the record company, who was appalled at the idea. The John Cougar Mellencamp phase was a transitional compromise so that he would still be recognizable on the shelves back when there were shelves of records in real brick and mortar stores).

How widespread is World Cafe? As it originates out of WXPN, the station from my alma mater here in Philly (where Michael Cuscuna got his start, by the way), I have trouble thinking of it as anything other than our own really cool local college station show, but it obviously reaches much farther than that.

It is a return to Scarecrow territory especially (doesn't have the acoustic roots textures of Lonesome Jubilee with the accordian and fiddle, etc.), incredibly heartfelt and urgent, as both Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee were. I agree those were his peak (Uh-Huh was still a little snotty and a little filler-heavy for me to call it primo). I like what he did after Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee, but not like I like those two, and not like I like this new one.

Multiple choice: Who, Charles Tolliver? Yuck. You ever tried getting corpse vomit out of carpet? You must not remember the 70s... All of the above. C. And it started before the 70's, thanks to Liberty (remember 'Collision in Black' and those gross Stanley Turrentine albums?), but UA made it much worse. But I believe the Norah Jones windfall funded some reissues and new projects we never would have seen otherwise (Lou Blackburn and Charles Tolliver, anyone?),and if this does the same, OK by me. Nothing says we have to buy it, and no one is a Blue Note completist anymore.

I just got done listening to John Mellencamp's new album, Freedom's Road, and I'm blown away by it. The only other album he's ever done which compares to it is 'Scarecrow', and to be honest, this feels like an even better, even more important album. The truck commercial song ('Our Country') sounds great and has a lot to say, and that is true of every song on this album, I don't think there's a single throwaway here, which is the difference between this and 'Scarecrow', which had a couple. Surely will be the album of the year, and "Someday" surely will be the song of the year. If anyone comes along and beats either of them (and I can't think of anyone out there right now who's even capable of something in this league, except maybe Beth Orton, who isn't due for an album this year), this will be the greatest rock album year in decades. Let me know your thoughts, but only if you've actually listened to the album!

Chicken Shack was recorded 4/25/60, a little after Hayes went off with Cannonball and Roy Brooks replaced Hayes with Silver.

Ah yes! And Gene Russell's 2 LPs for Black Jazz. I picked those up, knowing nothing about him. And later found he owned the label! MG I'll add the Doug and Jean Carn albums on Black Jazz. They were $.99 cutouts which blew my mind!

Great point on Hayes. Lex Humphries reminds me of some of this style too.

Gotta disagree with you on that. Haynes w/Trane, although definitely not Trane With Elvin, was a still good thing in my book, and that's one of best of it. Interesting to hear your take on that. I'll have to go back and give it a fresh listen. Amazing Trane solo on that, sounds like a soprano/tenor duet at times from the overblowing. I don't play, so don't know technically what's going on there, but it SOUNDS incredible, and incredibly difficult.

I am knocked out by Roach's drumming on the first side of 'Members. Don't Get Weary', especially on "Effi", and that doesn't sound anything like his 40's/50's playing. When I have someone who wants to learn about jazz, I play them that version of "Effi" and tell them to concentrate on the drums and listen to how everything else plays off if them. As for Williams, I hear different things in him than from any previous drummers, in how he uses the cymbals so much in establishing the rhythm. And to me, that is quite the opposite of Roy "Snap, Crackle" Haynes. And boy, was Haynes the wrong drummer for Trane's '63 Newport "My Favorite Things", which could have been THE Coltrane Quartet recording if Elvin had been together an on the gig.

I know there's an option on the board to edit out someone's postings altogether. I wouldn't want to do that with Clem, as he makes some fascinating points, but I sure wish there was an option to edit out his ever more frequent gratuitous crudeness.

Adam, I agree on the rhythm section on that second BYG Moncur - I never heard of them either, yet their underpinning makes it a lovely session, the only BYG I would use that description for.

Eric, you're absolutely right about those, and I can tell you what the secret to the success of many of those sessions was - writing and arranging by Teddy Charles and/or Mal Waldron, who were very skilled at organizing a session as well as gifted players.

Well, the phrases floating around in the last few posts which I was/am refuting include "I think that it's a myth these days that Japanese CDs are expensive","they are not expensive at all", "There are many CD reissues priced at 1500 yen for example, and even if they have a higher price of say 2345 yen, that's fully comparable with many domestic CDs", and "final cost per disc including shipping is around 20 Euro, which is half the price many european stores are asking for the same discs". Well, that represents about a 100-150% cost increase over the domestic reissues we've been buying in the US for almost 20 years now, which doesn't synch up with the statements being made about buying them in Europe. If it's gonna cost me 2-2.5 times as much to buy the same number of discs, that's a drastic price increase, and why should I consider that "very reasonable" and "not expensive at all"? and it's sure not "fully comparable with many domestic CDs", yet those are the phrases being used here in these posts. And how do the statements "fully comparable with many domestic CDs" and "Obviously, an import is more expensive than a domestic reissue" fit together to describe the same Japanese CD's, and yet both those statements are being made here to me.

Moncur is about to turn 70. Can't go on at the highest level forever. I liked his work on the 'Lee Morgan' Blue Note album in the early 70's.

I'm a little mystified to see the classic Blue Notes, classic period Trane, and choice Mosaic sets in this thread. Really exceeded expectations? Seems like a case of grossly suppressed expections to me. Why wouldn't you already expect those to be wonderful? When I read through, I was hoping for a lot more surprises that I should consider checking out. I'll share one - The Grachan Moncur stuff on BYG Actuel is wonderful, and much more accessible than the vast majority of material on that label. Available as a twofer CD which is well worth checking out.

Same here. I usually order 3-4 CDs at a time, and the final cost per disc including shipping (no customs taxes) is around 20 Euro, which is half the price many european stores are asking for the same discs. Different market conditions in the US, where CD reissues were going for $8 to $10 each for the past 15-18 years, so the 20 euro average cost represents more than double the past normal going price.

Adamski, What did you like him in? Automatic Man was terrible, IMHO. If memory serves me, he may have done an album or two on Prestige which were OK, but that's fuzzy now.

Bought the new John Mellencamp at Best Buy on the way home from work. $9.99, includes a free exclusive Best Buy bonus CD with four alternate takes, and I had a gift card I could use. I love the song on the truck commercial, and AMG gave the CD an awesome review. He's been a favorite since 'Scarecrow', a Desert Island Disc (rock/pop category) for me.

Tyner Mosaic Select, CD1, cut 4 "Peresina" on the headphones right this moment.