Cali

Of the three albums in question, I have only heard LISTEN HERE, and I like it a lot. Another great album IMO is the one he made with Cal Tjader on Verve, EL SONIDO NUEVO.

Please, please, please, anyone who attended these performances, could you give a (detailed) description of the tunes, personnel and highlights for the unfortunate ones of us who could not be there? Thanks.

What a race! BTW I met Allyson a few years ago at the California State High School Track and Field Championships where she broke several records. She's a very polite, classy (almost regal) and humble young lady.

Bring the three three minutes round instead of a 4 round fight where the last one involves the leader running around. Instead of only giving points with judges hitting simultaneously their buttons, why don't they take a page out of diving, take the cumulative scores and take away the biggest and smallest score. No wonder, you rarely saw guys use their freakin' jab, judges never gave points for them They also completely discount body shots. It's all about short term stuff. I agree on all points. There is talk of an investigation of corruption in the scoring and discussion about throwing out the current system of computer "game" scoring. They've completely destroyed Olympic boxing and if they can't do better than this, just pull the plug. It's unwatchable.

It's about time. I don't get this comment. Hasn't U.S. track traditionally done very well? For several Olympics the 4 X 100 relay teams have been ragged. The days when the U. S. could just throw their 4 fastest runners together, without regard to these 4 practicing together as a team and still dominating the event, are over. The men's 4 X 1 relay team has won only twice in the last 24 years. The women haven't won the 4 X 1 since 1996. Despite, usually, dominating the individual sprints, poor execution has caused defeats in the men's and women's 4 X 100 relays which require more coordination than the slower 4 X 400 relays. See this: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug...p&type=lgns

It's about time.

She set a new world record of 16' 6 3/4", which is spectacular but nowhere near eighteen feet.

I don't agree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and that's coming from an artist's point of view.

That works, too. I don't recommend it but it helps me relax.

Yeah, but why hasn't PJ released LOOKIN' AHEAD, their second album and to my ears one of their absolute best? I've been confused by PJ's choice of re-issues for a very long time! Cali: That is in included on the Mosaic Box Set, along with Freedom Sound, Tough Talk, Heat Wave, Stretchin' Out, The Thing, Uh Huh, Powerhouse, Give Peace a Chance, and bonus material. So all that is left for single releases from this period (at least until the set sells out) are the live recordings. Thanks. Still it would be nice to buy my favorite recording by them without springing for the whole box.

Yeah, but why hasn't PJ released LOOKIN' AHEAD, their second album and to my ears one of their absolute best? I've been confused by PJ's choice of re-issues for a very long time!

Once again Happy Belated.

Me, too.

Excellent post, ghost. FWIW, this type of of chatisement of people of color who dare to present their feelings about insensitivity is the main reason I rarely post on this board these days. I find it arrogant in the extreme to tell someone who has suffered racism how they should respond to it.

I really hope he does. There is no excuse for this omission.

Black artist aren't laughing: Today's SF Chronicle has the remarkable story of the exclusion of Black folks from jazz. The problem of race in this country is deeper than we imagined. JAZZ FANS DECRY EXCLUSION Few African American musicians booked for Berkeley festival, none on Yoshi's anniversary CD By Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, June 1, 2007 This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle When Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland released its much-anticipated 10-year anniversary CD last month, local jazz aficionados were outraged that no African American musicians were included. The tension grew days later when the Bay Area's jazz community learned that the Berkeley Downtown Jazz Festival had invited only six African American musicians to perform at the five-day event in August. Together, the two revelations upset musicians, club owners and fans, some of whom say racism is at play in the local jazz scene. Anna DeLeon, owner of Anna's Jazz Island in Berkeley, complained to organizers when she learned who was scheduled to play at her club during the festival. "There were 17 musicians in four bands, and none were black," said DeLeon. "It is hard for me to imagine how this could happen, how they could not notice." Word spread quickly as people voiced outrage via e-mail over a problem many said had been simmering for a long time. Jazz professionals met to plan a response. Club owners and musicians went on Doug Edwards' "Music of the World" show on KPFA-FM on May 19. A week later, Susan Muscarella, who books the jazz festival and runs Berkeley's Jazzschool, appeared on the same show to respond. Muscarella says the situation is being overblown. She said she hasn't finished booking the festival but has so far confirmed four African American acts, and it was coincidence that none would perform at Anna's. Last year, 30 percent of festival performers were black, she said. "These allegations are outrageous," Muscarella said. "Diversity has always been at the top of my list. I hold African American heritage in high esteem. But I do choose quality and not ethnicity alone." Many artists said that holding black heritage in high esteem is not the point. Inviting six African American artists to a major jazz event that includes dozens of performers and excluding black artists from a selection of 10 performances at the East Bay's most prominent jazz venue is simply unacceptable, they said. "It is like going to a Chinese restaurant and there are no Chinese people," said Howard Wiley, a local saxophonist. "It is very disheartening and sad, especially from Yoshi's, which calls itself the premiere jazz venue of the Bay Area. "I mean, we are dealing with jazz and blues, not Hungarian folk music or the invention of computer programs." Jazz grew out of the African American experience, and many historians call it the most significant contribution from the United States to the music world. Well-known jazz artists, festival organizers and academics say the two incidents show how African Americans are being squeezed out of the art form more broadly. "This is stemming from a much larger dynamic with regard to jazz and what is becoming a legitimized and institutionalized lack of inclusion of African Americans," said Glen Pearson, a music instructor at the College of Alameda and a full-time musician. "Jazz was once looked at as inferior music from an inferior culture, and now it has become embraced socially and academically, so there has been some revisionism." Pearson said some music critics believe the African American roots of jazz and its black contributors are sometimes featured too heavily in education and portrayals of jazz, such as in Ken Burns' television documentary series. There were complaints that the PBS series, "Jazz," focused too much on African Americans, Pearson said. "I am comfortable saying that every significant white contributor to jazz studied from someone of African American descent," Pearson said. "So for a world-class jazz venue to not include an African American performer in a 10-year tribute is just so sideways." Over the years, countless prominent African Americans have performed at Yoshi's, including Joshua Redman, Branford Marsalis, Howard Wiley, Abbey Lincoln, Mulgrew Miller, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Shelby, McCoy Tyner, Shirley Horn and Elvin Jones. Peter Williams, Yoshi's artistic director, said the exclusion was an oversight and that the club does not have the right to record all the performers that appear there. "We apologize to anyone who feels slighted by the omission of African American artists on this project, as that was never our intention," he wrote in an e-mail to concerned supporters. "This compilation CD was meant to celebrate a milestone for us in the Bay Area and not necessarily meant to be a representation of all the artists and music styles ever played at our club." DeLeon said she and others angry about the CD do not suspect that Yoshi's conspired to leave out African Americans; they are upset it happened without anyone noticing. "The Bay Area is a jazz mecca, considered one of the top three or four markets in the country, so for its premiere venue to leave out African American artists is amazing," said Herve Ernest, executive director of SF Noir, an arts and culture organization that highlights African American contributions, and a co-founder of the North Beach Jazz Festival. "From what I have perceived and what I've witnessed, there is a certain whitewashing of jazz both locally and nationally," Ernest said. "I think it is done from a marketing standpoint and is a response to the largely white audiences that patronize an establishment." Ernest said one of the reasons he founded SF Noir was that he noticed the jazz festival audiences were 90 percent white, and he wanted to try to appeal to a more diverse crowd and put a stronger focus on black contributions to the art. "It really gets me upset that people like Norah Jones (who is white and East Indian) get pushed through with heavy marketing when there are dozens of African American female jazz vocalists who, in my opinion, are 10 times better," he said. "I'm not sure if the exclusion is intended or an honest overlook, but we created jazz and we are still playing it, so we should not be overlooked." Local jazz artists said they see the discussion as positive in that it is offering a chance to address an issue that has been stewing for some time. A desire to organize has been lacking, said local jazz singer Rhonda Benin, but now a number of musicians are ready to take action. "It's an ongoing problem that was brought to a head by these two events," said Raymond Nat Turner, an Oakland-based jazz poet. "That set in motion a chain of e-mails and unleashed an energy that had been dormant for years. "People who had not been communicating have started talking and networking," Turner said. At a forum at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music last month, about 35 people discussed how better to support black-owned venues and artists and recruiting more African American children into the world of jazz. "We are becoming the minority as Europeans and Caucasians take over," Turner said. Those who attended the forum plan to meet again Sunday to develop a long-term strategy. "This is an African American art form, and they are excluding the very people who created it and continue to play it," said Benin. "It's a travesty." The Equal Justice Society (www.equaljusticesociety.org) is a national advocacy organization strategically advancing social and racial justice through law and public policy, communications and the arts, and alliance building. Equal Justice Society, 220 Sansome St, 14th Flr, San Francisco, CA 94104, Ph (415) 288-8700

It was already repressed once. RVG without copy protection?

Sure would like to order a re-pressed version of BASRA when it's available.

There are 6 episodes so far. www.traneumentary.blogspot.com/

A friend sent this to me today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XQfWAfJvhA Enjoy.

Heard he's coming to the World Stage in Los Angeles this month.

Did you make it? I was there for the first set. Missed him on Friday at Charlie O's, so I was pleasantly surprised when Azar showed up! Yes! Caught the second set. Surprised to see/hear Azar and Nate Morgan for second set. Nate said he played with Arthur Blythe Sat. night then came to the World Stage to play with Eddie during second set.

Last night, Arthur Blythe. Tonight, Eddie Henderson at The World Stage.

Tribute to Horace Silver at Disney Hall. Great concert in a beautiful venue. Performing musicians: Bennie Maupin, Joe Lovano, Charles Tolliver, Tom Harrell, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Randy Brecker, Cedar Walton, George Coleman, Andy Bey, Christian McBride and Roger Humphries. Horace, with his son Gregory, was in the audience. The great man sat right behind my left shoulder. Got to talk to him backstage. What an honor. I'm still jazzed.

Yeah, the intensity; on a scale of 1 to 10, last night was an 11.