Rooster_Ties

Oct 5-9, 2017. Mrs. Rooster and I are headed up on the train after work that Thursday night (10/5), back Monday evening (10/9). I'm scouting for stuff to do, including live jazz (or even interesting classical) either Fri, Sat, or Sun. We're probably going to catch a Broadway (or off-Broadway) show too. Plan to see the Highline, and a number of museums, and take in some architecture. Open to any/all suggestions, including interesting restaurants. We're staying a little less than a mile due north of Penn Station, fwiw. I've been to New York for business (few very brief work-related trips, since I moved to DC in 2011) -- but we haven't gone to just do stuff for close to 20 years (back when we lived in Kansas City, just a couple years after we met). Ever since we moved to DC, it's been the mountains of central and northern VA, West VA, western Maryland -- or central PA, plus also Pittsburg and Philly -- and also the beaches around the Del-Mar-Va -- that have been all the places we've headed for our out-of-town down-time. (And two trips further north, to Buffalo and all around upstate NY -- and also Rhode Island.) I kept saying I'd go to New York when some specific jazz thing called me there, but I finally decided just to go and finally visit a hell of a lot of Museums that I should have seen years ago -- regardless of who's playing (or even if anyone's playing). Many thanks in advance for any advice.

I think I've got about 70% of Hino's pre-1976 output (maybe closer to 60%, if there's a bunch more I don't know about). About 18 maybe 20 CD's? - if I include sideman appearances. And it's all REALLY damn good! Some days, I'd rank him right up there (almost) with Woody Shaw and Charles Tolliver. He's THAT good. And if I could find a really comprehensive discography, and if his Japanese CD's were so damn expense (some of them), I'd gladly search out practically all his 60's and 70's, every last session maybe. One of the 2 or 3 most underrated trumpeters I can think of (or maybe 'under-known', at least here in the US).

I think I probably ought to pass. Must confess, every system I've ever owned has been a unit that already came with speakers. So I'm not even 100% sure I could use these speakers with my current (modest) book-shelf system that I currently have in the bedroom -- let alone whether they'd work with a new system I haven't even bought yet. Easily 8,000+ CD's (and maybe 1,000 albums) purchased over my lifetime (collectively, half of which I don't own any more) -- and horror of horrors, I don't know the first thing about stereo equipment. (Well, maybe the first thing (just barely), but definitely not the second thing.) Ever since my bookshelf multi-disc player in the living room died (after 10 good years of use), I've been playing CD's through the DVD player hooked to our HD-TV (using the TV's speakers for sound). And I have a old thrift-store turntable Spontooneous got for me, along with a similar tiny amp and separate speakers. It's really pathetic how little I know about stereo rigs, to be honest. And yet, my gut tells me this is a pretty sweet deal that I'd probably love the results of, if only I could pair them with the right sort of (modestly-priced) system.

How do they connect, RCA-type phono jacks? Or bare wire? I'm needing to purchase a new bookshelf type system, and I suppose I could be tempted by these (even before I've identified the system I'm buying). Thx!

Was he rushing or dragging?

I met both Michael Ray and June Tyson at the only Arkestra show with Sun Ra that I ever saw (in around 1990/91, in Chicago). Both were very friendly, and VERY gracious. Got both their autographs. I'm sure Ray was on one or two of the Arkestra shows I heard after Mr. Blount's passing, but I thInk Ms. Tyson had left us by that point, unfortunately. I count them as two of the most amazing voices in the entire Arkestra, right up there with John Gilmour and Marshall Allen, far as I'm concerned. Not quite their longevity with the band, of course, but every bit as impactful during their years in Sun Ra's orbit.

I recently got the Bee-Hive set too, and although I was a little trepidatious about doing so, I did break off two (2) teeth on each of those inside spindels, with a pair of needle nose pliars, and it works like a charm, perfectly. Two teeth alone still grip like a mofo, but it's WAY easier to get the discs out. With the needle nose, it took about 2-3 minutes total to fix all four boxes. No regrets, and quite as easy solution.

I have to admit that McCaslin is bit of a puzzle to me. (But -- confession - I haven't heard many of his leader-dates yet, something I'll surely get around to one of these days -- and I'm streaming his latest album here at work, now, as I'm typing this.) His approach (and his tone) is nothing like the tenor-players I like best. I was initially, not so much "put-off" by his playing on David Bowie's Blackstar album, as I was just intrigued that here was an "inside/outside" approach -- something that (in the abstract), I really espouse and love. And yet, his particular language seemed entirely foreign to me. Of course, after 10-20 spins of Blackstar, I absolutely fell deeply in love with the album (in general), and 30-40 more spins later, I also love McCaslin's playing on the album (which I now think is incredibly beautiful). THAT SAID, his approach is not a style I'm instantly drawn to (or at least not yet). I heard the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra several months ago, here in DC (first time hearing them live), and best as I'm recalling, a LOT of the reed-players had an approach not entirely unlike McCaslin's (or maybe my ears aren't discerning enough to say how their approaches differed a lot). Maybe there's an inner logic to his style that gets better with repeated exposure. I seem to remember spinning (streaming) a couple of his more recent albums ~8 months ago, and my initial reaction was either ambivalence, or puzzlement. But now, as I'm typing this and spinning his 2015 album Fast Future, I'm connecting better with it than anything I'd tried last year. Maybe all the repeated exposure to Blackstar (along with Maria Schneider's most recent CD), is also getting his sound in my head. There's a simplicity to his approach, that's very melodic, and chromatic - but one that isn't afraid to bend damn near every note a bit. And his sense of time is elastic, to put it mildly - but his attack isn't especially hard-edged either. All just a very different approach than what I'm more used to. He's playing here in the DC-area (at UMD) in December, and I'm pretty sure I'll end up going (though it's a pain in the ass, cuz I probably need to rent a zip-car to get there).

I'm temped too, and in retrospect I should have gotten one with the Bee-Hive box I ordered back in May.

As acerbic as Dolphy's tone was on alto and bass clarinet (and I don't mean that negatively)... ...I think it's astounding how pure his tone and technique were on flute -- arguably as good as anyone outside of a handful of upper echelon classical players. Three wonderful flute tracks on the less-well-known (posthumous) Other Aspects (Blue Note, 1987). Here's the first one:

This clip of Glen covering the Moody Blues song "Question" popped up in a prog music forum (subreddit, actually)...

Andrew Hill big box and the Hill BN Select (probably), off the top of my head. (Was anyone surprised?) Next, maybe the Larry Young? Jackie McLean is up there too. I'll have to look at home, and see if any more jump out at me.

Again, come hell or high water Jim, you've gotta see the Obit documentary, on the NYT's obit department.

I do too -- as well as the Jordan Mosaic box now. Looking for a good home for the P-Vine CD version, though I haven't really been shopping it around or anything.

Uptown, maybe, perhaps. But I cannot see Blue Note releasing this material, I'm afraid, unless it was download-only perhaps. There were quite a number of other unissued takes from the same nights as the already 3CD release of live material by this band. It would seem unlikely that BN would release other material by this same band (same year), unless they had already exhausted what they already had in their own archives. Don't mean to be negative, I just wouldn't chase the Blue Mote option until my dying day.

Happy B-Day‼️ ???????

Probably, yes. But yet, I know there have been countless theoretical "proposed" Mosaic sets discussed here (and surely elsewhere). I'm sure I could easily come up with every specific ideas for 10 sets I'd personally buy myself, and another 10 I'd at least be tempted to buy. (None of which are probably the least bit commercially viable now -- and may have never been, perhaps, either -- even if they'd been more seriously contemplated 15-20 years ago. A hell of a damn LOT of their mission was certainly accomplished, but I'd say that if market demand (and market forces) were difference, they could have been as much as TWICE as many sets that could have been produced (total) -- meaning AGAIN as many yet unproduced, as has been Mosaic's entire output to date. That is in NO way meant to be a criticism (in any way, shape, or form). Not suggesting for an instant that any "in our wildest dreams" sets were ever really possible. But in a different universe, where there was many twice as much interest in jazz overall (among the general populace), coupled with a continued interest in buying things on physical media (like CD's), one could certainly conceive of any number of great sets that 'could have been'.

It's a promotional device, to draw traffic to their website and sell stuff. Labor of love, perhaps, but it serves a business purpose first and foremost, I'm sure. I too have scrolled through the Gazette having to look for things -- that's just the way it works. In the process I've often stumbled on things I hadn't expected, or overlooked the first time. And I've spent more time on the Mosaic website as a result, sometimes reminding myself of what their current offerings were (and checking out what's on the running-low and last-chance lists) -- all of which is the whole point of it.

Somewhere I have a CDR (audience recording that I acquired from gosh only knows where, as I honestly can't remember)... ...of just Geri and Wallace playing as a duo -- interpolating nearly the entirety of Birth of the Cool album -- from a performance at a Museum (iirc), some 20(?) years ago, give or take. Will have to dig it out, as a recalling it having been some really inspired and very creative playing by both of them. And "interpolating" is really the best word I could use to describe it, as it was really quite a free-form (and sometimes very "free-leaning") performance, iirc. RIP.

Goodness. I'm seeing she just turned 60 a couple weeks ago. Thoughts and prayers.

Holy cow, this is billed as "Max Roach and Northern Colororado University Big Band Montreux 1971", and the comments also mention George Cables. But (uncredited) it's none other than Charles Tolliver(!) conducting (and playing some, I now see too), and supposedly it's HIS tune/suite (according to a YouTube commenter). Am at work, haven't had the chance to listen super-closely to this yet (to see if I recognize the tune) -- and I'm now reposting this (from a few months ago, still haven't had the chance to really listen to this). Most of the brass section players are ID'ed in the YouTube comments too, FWIW.

Speak for yourself, cuz I'm definitely 20 lbs heavier than I was back in the 1990's.

Hmmm, I was only aware of the Sunday Gazette (which seem to come 2 or maybe 3 times a month).

Here seems to be a live version. Very nice!! (And I know this tune quite well, having owned (and loved) Seeds of Time on CD for a good 20-going-on-25 years.)

How deep/good is the late 60's coverage in this book? If there's much about Speak Like a Child -- and The Prisoner (especially!) -- I may need to get this. (Just finding out about this book now, searching for Prisoner-related stuff, to contribute an all-Herbie thread on the Steve Hoffman board.)