danasgoodstuff

I almost forgot to put in a good word for Freddie's singing and songwriting, besides all those grooving instrumentals he also wrote some lovely songs like "Have You Ever Loved a Woman". The whole Layla album is essentially an (over)elaboration of same...(back to that pesky Clapton fellow).

Lon, the RPM/Crown/Modern/Kent (aka Bihari Bros.) BB King material has recently been collected by the UK label Ace in a v. nice 4 CD box. Good selection, intelligent notes and best ever sound. DrJ, Sorry not to reply sooner. I often face the dilema of posting off the cuff and risking being misconstrued, or over thinking it and taking too long for it to matter anymore. I certainly didn't mean to start a pissing match, so I'll lead here with the stuff I think we can agree on: the (relative, at least) excellence of Fresh Cream, Blow By Blow and "Since I've Been Loving You". Other than that I guess we will have to agree to disagree...In particular about Jimmy Page, by far my least favorite ex-Yardbirds guitarist. Emotionally empty, overblown (the music itself, nevermind the surrounding hype), and, most of all, C-O-L-D. Exactly the sort of formalist wankery you'd expect from an ex-session player. (I heard it that way before I knew much of the back story.) Eric, on the other (slow) hand, whatever his technical short comings, I generally find convincing up through Layla, esp'ly Yardbirds, Beano, Fresh Cream and London Sessions. After that he pretty much took himself out of the guitar hero game, or tried to, although "Double Trouble" from Just One Night" has a lovely solo that he couldn't/wouldn't have played earlier. If he'd died right after Layla (as he easily could have), he'd be as revered as Hendrix and rightfully so. It's not that he's the fastest, freshest, furthest out, etc.; it's that, for me, when he's 'on' he's just 'right'. Kinda like Grant Green in that regard; it's not a meaningfully quantifiable thing. Perhaps we should start a thread on the producer of the Atl Freddie Kings mentioned above, the great King Curtis who also sought the right thing, not the hip or new thing... tangentily yours, Dana

As detailed in Straight Life, he was in prison for much of this period but there is an unissued session done for Contemporary that supposedly shows the 'Trane influence at it's height and there are bootlegs but I'd have to check what I have before making a reccomendation on these...

Larry, Insightful post, as usual, makes me really look forward to the forthcomming book...

No offense to anyone here, BUT I find all this dissing of Eric inanely, sophmorically kneejerk, almost ritualistic and quite literally reationary, as if y'all have a deep need to prove that you are (no longer?) one of those taken in by the hype. High school level politics aside, Eric was a great synthesis of a wide range of influences (pretty much the full spectrum of blues guitar). It's also quite funny that it's his guitar playing that's being slagged here; his singing, songwriting and bandleading abilities are better candidates for distain. Certainly, he was never a radical innovater, never wanted to be one either. And just as certainly, his guitar work has on the whole fallen off since peaking about '66--partly due to his perfectly valid choice to emphasize singing and songs more (the Big Pink revelation, although he should've got this from the blues which is fundamentally a vocal narrative), and partly due to the corosive effects of various self indulgences like cream's endless solos, drugs, alcohol, Patty Harrison, etc. Layla, at least, was a better album than it might otherwise have been precisely because it turns away from the dead end of guitar heroics to use the quitar playing in support of the songs. Something I rarely if ever see mentioned is the bad effect (sic) the wha-wha pedal had on his playing by obscuring its real strengths: a razor sharp attack and finely nuanced phrasing and dynamics. Yes I am familiar with and love Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Freddie, Albert, BB, Buddy Guy, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Mike Bloomfield, etc. (Not Albert Collins, totally one dimensional to me). Also Grant, Kenny, Charlie C., Django, etc. Please add a little sugar to this if it's too cranky/bitter for your taste!

So when do we get the deluxe re-reissue of Carryin' On with bonus tracks of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Whitchitah Lineman"?

I think I may have posted before about hearing Pepper at yet another Portland club, the Kingston, which still exists but which was only a jazz club briefly. My strongest impression was that local hero (the late husband of Nancy King and son of Saunders King) Sonny King ate him up and spit him out. But that comparison is perhaps a little unfair since they were playing bebop standards which wasn't really Pepper's thing. If they'd been playing peyote chants, presumably the tables would have turned.

Shrdlu, If you really think Lester's use of language is similar to Aric's you are insulting the former and unduly flattering the latter. Lester was much more articulate and inventive; the fact that they bopth used slang is trivial in itself... Not to make a tempest out of a teapot, you're certainly right to call attention to Lester's language as interesting.

I have no particular prob with v. short tunes per se. I can find it annoying if they seem ARTIFICIALLY short, but no more so than if the're ARTIFICAILLY long. In general a tune/performance/recording should last just exactly as long as it needs to in order to get the job done that particular time, no more no less.

Staying in Oregon this year, going to the inlaws on Xmas day. Used to take the train to Saskatoon back when I had more time than $ (now I have neither). The train takes forever, but if you fly you can go from +70F to -100F windchill in about a minute. It's like being smacked upside the head with a giant icycle! Now we drive there in the summer, which is good too, but it's not the same... Underground, What takes you to Newfie-land?

Happy Holidaze!

Oh, and how could I forget, B-3 bass pedals too--Larry Young and John Patton were better 'base' players with their feet (yes, I know it's left hand too) than most bass players are with their hands!

I agree with the 'it's the player, not the instrument' contingent here. I would go even farther (further?) to say that if I do have a preference here it's for bass as a role, i.e. to provide the 'base', and that I don't care if it's standup, fender, tuba or bass sax. In this sense Adrian Rollini was a great base player, as is the tuba/sousaphone(?) player in the Dirty Dozen, but that Jaco P. and Scotty LaFaro, while great at what they did, weren't base players at all... I hope this is clear and nonoffensive to all.

Lon, did you get that saxcello pic from cybersax.com? A great site (just watch the spelling!) and where I bought my Conn C-melody...

My Fav Mosaic? Why, it's always the next one I'm gonna get, of course!

I just wanted to add that, IMHO, "Shake" & "Ain't That Peculiar" on this fine albu show that R&B tunes can work on a jzz album, on hyphens or apologies needed...

I've recently managed to pick a couple of duplicate LPs 'cause I couldn't remember what I already owned (too many, obviously). Matbe we can trade... Have: Stanley T - In Memory Of (BN rainbow) Woody G - Dust Bowl Ballds (RCA 60's winerack reissue) Want: Stanley T - Dearly Beloved, Jack Wilson - Easterly Winds, Sam R - Contours, Big John P - Oh Baby!, Lou D - Mr. Shingaling, WHY?

This being AOTW caused be to listen to my Liberty-era pressing last night (I gotta get a better copy!). My first reaction was "what's not to like?" Eric and the usual suspects... but then I thought maybe what puts some people off this session (other than impossibly high expectations) is a 'neither fish nor fowl' syndrome--instead of being too out, it may be not out or in enough. Let me try again: When this was issued, a successful inside/out session probably seemed like quite the high wire act but to listeners comning to it for the first time now (I first heard it in the early '70s) it may seem like someone walking the wire when it's laying on the ground, i.e. no bitg deal. I love Out to Lunch but sometimes have an analogous reaction to soul jazz sessions that strike me as neither jazzy nor funky enuff, just kinda luke warm...y'all know what I'm saying? I agree with the posters above, the compositions are key; it's NOT a blowing session...if that's what you want Eric did lots of those for Prestige.

Thank you.

I run somewhat hot and cold on Mr. Shepp; Four For Trane, the first side of Fire Music, the title tune of Mama Too Tight (even if it sounds v. like JB's "Money Won't Change You" to my ears) and occassional other tune on Impulse are all hot, IMHO. I also v. much like the duets with Horace P. (Going Home and Touble In Mind) even though they are too meditative to be acurately described as "hot". But everything I've heard since then (20+ years) has shown evidence of severe embachure (sp?!) deteriation, odd since he does seem to work pretty steady nonetheless. And he always seemed to have an extramusical agenda, like he was more in love with the idea of being a sax player than interested in the work it took to actually be one. But when he was on, it really was the Fire (Music) This Time...

I haven't received my discs #4 yet either (I'm in Portland OR), perhaps I should talk to the Post Office or were they sent by another carrier?

I'm sure you didn't mean the empty Quote boxes as symbolism, but the're too perfect... Oh and I have listened to a little bit (as much as I could stand) at the listening station at Borders, some of Madlib's Bluenote thing too. Didn't do nothing for me.

It (Jim Hall Jazz Guitar 1st pressing) goes for that much because a really clean copy, in effect, is the master--it's the only way to get the unedited takes and the only way to get one tune at all.

I knew someone once who did them by record label and in catalog # order! But then I knew a guy once who carried around photo's of his record collection to show off like they were his kids...

As far as the 'collectability' of Pacific Jazz goes, a copy of PJ-1227 Jim Hall Jazz Guitar recently went for $308.96 on eBay (item #2577494553). Considering that it was a first pressing and only the edited 2nd pressing masters remain, I'm surprised it wasn't more. Unfortunately I can't afford to bid that high!