felser

+1

If you're still not sure, ask Barry Mann.

I had AR speakers for about 20 years, then bought a pair of Klipsch Tangent 100 bookshelf speakers which I've had for 25 years, and have always been very happy with them. I have been using Sennheiser headphones for several decades (several iterations, I wear them out from constant use), consistently happy with them, and definitely notice the difference between them and other brands. I'm not an audiophile, and have 67 year old ears and a middle class financial base, but what I have sounds great to me.

No doubt Morris Levy did something criminal with it.

Events like that are sad. I saw Andrew Hill solo at the Walnut St. Theatre in Philly in the 70's, and less than 20 people showed up. Tragic and insulting. Juju at the Ethical Society in the 70's was also very sparsely attended from memory. Both times, the music was magnificent.

You're probably right. I'm in Philly, but haven't listened to commercial radio much in decades, and based my observation on the music I hear piped into stores and restaurants when I am shopping and eating, and on what I hear on Sirius/XM. Yeah, they didn't play the Ian song in Huntsville either. I lived in Cincinnati when the Dion song came out, and it was huge there.

May be that your local A.M. station chose not to play it, and the Friends of Distinction version made the Masakela version instantly obsolete for golden oldies formats. I didn't hear "Eve of Destruction" until a few years later, as my family lived in Alabama in 1965, and it seemingly got banned there, likely for the line "You talk of all the hate there is in red China, but turn around and look at Selma, Alabama". Not that it wasn't true... Agreed in retrospect, had no knowledge of him at the time apart from the song. That scenario actually seems to perfectly fit the criteria TTK set in the first post. As far as Jankowski in the USA, that cut is the only time he was ever on the radar of much of anyone in the USA pop or jazz worlds.

I LOVE the vocal version by the Friends of Distinction which went top 5 in 1969. They also had two other great hit singles, "Going in Circles" in '69 and "Love or Let Me Be Lonely" in '70. A more daring Fifth Dimension (and I like both groups a lot, I realize YMMV on both counts).

I can't verify, but this is on his Wikipedia page. Pretty decent company for a 10 year old, eh?: At the age of 10, DeFrancesco joined a band in Philadelphia that included jazz musicians Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones.

This went to #1 on the pop charts in 1968: This was huge and still sounds great almost 50 years later: And of course...

I love that Martino album.

Kitu is a more likely spelling, but "thing" or "object" perhaps an odd nickname.

He was 18 when his first album came out in 1989, and he was making waves years before that in the Philly area.

I object to that.

Good to hear. WRTI has needed new blood for a long time.

+1

Loved his playing when in a good context. RIP way way way too soon.

Paul Desmond - Pure Desmond. Great record.

He did, but there is a difference in doing that well (Sebesky) and doing that poorly. Those differences are meaningless if you reject the form in general (for instance, I don't know the difference between good or bad gangsta rap, or good or bad opera, because I can't stand gangsta rap or opera), but have significant meaning if you enjoy the form. I have room for both AACM and CTI in my collection and listening enjoyment.

I think he lost his mojo when he lost Don Sebesky at CTI. Bob James was a large step down, and David Matthews was then another large step down.

I find that many of the early 70's CTI recordings have aged incredibly well. The music is really good on its own terms in retrospect. RIP.

Really good bio, thanks for posting it.

I saw her at the Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square in the 70's, one of the great concerts Leo Gadson presented. Forget who she opened for, may have been Juju or else Carlos Garnett. Performances there were always good. She could play, did a fair amount of singing at that concert, and was a very commanding presence. I couldn't fully comprehend her at that point (I was about 21, she was in he early-mid 20's). Agreed some of the Steeplechase music is really good. RIP. 70 is young to pass.

Agreed on every point you make.