Rooster_Ties

Here in DC (central DC proper, about 3 miles due north of the White House) — I haven’t the foggiest idea where to buy an individual issue of Jazz Times out in the wild (or Down Beat either, for that matter). There were last Borders Books locations downtown about 5 & 6 years ago. There might(?) be a couple out in the ‘burbs, but I have no idea where — and I would bet not more than 2 or maybe 3 in the entire DMV (greater DC) area.

Hey John, if you ever happen to see Cray is playing in DC or anywhere in the DMV, I’d love to go hear him sometime, we should go! As I said, I’ve always had in the back of my mind to catch him someday, but just never have (or he’s been at venues that were too much of a pain to get to without having to rent a car).

Yeah, Cray’s False Accusations is great too! I also remember the one before that too, Bad Influence, being tasty too. (Side note: Eric Clapton covered Cray’s song “Bad Influence” quite nicely on Clapton’s August (1986) — which Clapton recorded like 6 months before Cray’s Strong Persuader and the single “Smoking Gun” broke nationally for Cray in late, late ‘86 and early ‘87. I’m not a huge Clapton guy, but I have a soft spot for his 3 big MOR albums from 1985-89.)

Gary Clark Jr. maybe? — don’t own anything by him (yet)… …but every time I’ve seen him on TV (Austin City Limits, for one, maybe a couple other time too), I’ve been both impressed AND intrigued by what sounded like a willingness to break blues forms. Surely someone else here knows better than me, and can weigh in.

I picked up most of Robert Cray’s catalog in the dollar bins between 12-20 years ago — without really trying. I’ve always found him to be a little outside the norm, but the real deal never the less. (Do I dare say: he’s not cray-cray, but he is Cray? ) Thing is, he doesn’t follow blues forms religiously all the time — not in the way that Bob Dylan (or Robert Johnson) both drop and add measures willy-nilly… …but his own forms (though all pretty ‘regular’), simply aren’t strictly blues. (That said, his form alterations aren’t that radical, and may not be what you’re looking for. But he’s willing to go with some static harmony (pedal point bass), and/or alternating chords (iirc) a fair bit, which I like because it builds tension — just like in a LOT of the jazz I like too!) I don’t spin him all that much (nor any blues artists) — but I’ve always liked him, and always meant to go hear him live. The album that put him on the map was Strong Persuader (Mercury, 1986) — but I don’t think anything of his after that is sub-par. Anyone else here like Robert Cray?

Hindemith. Happily, mind you (all CD, not LP). The classical composers I have the most of are Henze, Ives, and Hindemith (and Grieg, because of Mrs. Rooster’s interest there). The Henze and Ives I sought out on purpose, and with wild abandon. But the Hindemith happened over 10-15 years, and much more haphazardly.

Kinda surprised there was no Lee Morgan — less surprised that Joe Henderson was overlooked (seems he was overlooked for the first 75% of his career). But was Lee really on essentially the same level of importance (as Joe) in 1970? He’d had close to 15 years of leader-dates by that point — and 23(!) albums that were released by 1968 (I tried to leave out all the posthumous releases). I get that Lee wasn’t Miles, but neither was he Blue Mitchell (but I guess if Diz was left out, what can you else can you expect).

???

And, unfortunately, not unexpected. (You may notice my sole post here so far has been to add a “+1” of agreement to a quoted moderate “middle-ground” comment made by someone else too — NOT that that makes me any ‘better’ — but I say that only to that I’ve been resisting with all my might to gnash any of my teeth about this.) One thing I have wanted to say is that I wish Chinen had stated a goal more like wanting to hire one Black writer for every non-black writer, in an effort to achieve something closer to a 50/50 mix of contributors — or something along those lines. That would have been a laudable and measured goal — that wasn’t more easily taken as an ‘absolutist’ stance by others (and wouldn’t have been ‘exclusionary’). Or there may have been other similar approaches that aimed to achieve the same sort of goal… of better racial representation within their staff. Full disclosure: I’ve practically never read Jazz Times (or any jazz magazine other than Downbeat). And to be honest, I’ve never even been a subscriber to Downbeat even — though I used to buy individual issues on the newsstand between 1995-2010 (maybe 3 issues a year). (Which is to say I’m not particularly infested in what Jazz Times does, or doesn’t do — since it affects me not one bit.)

Shit, is that already OOP?

+1

This is such a fun record. I’d forgotten that Reggie Lucas actually gets in one full-fledged legitimate solo! — and a fairly long one at that, starting about 1:25 or 1:30 into the track (Track 4)… Plus later in the track, there’s some sort of collective improve of Lucas, Stamm, and Eddie Bert (trombone). Stamm and Bert get some space on the last (5th) track too. I really dig this whole album, top to bottom.

Larry, I know Kind of Blue wasn’t ‘unpopular’ when first released — but didn’t its notoriety grow more (but steadily) over a number of years? (Meaning, I don’t think(?) it had any truly extraordinary sales right from the git go.) For instance, wasn’t “Take Five” (and Time Out) a legitimate ‘hit’ in its first year or two? — whereas I thought KOB took a few to several years to gather steam. Maybe Evans’ role on KOB helped elevate him — but I’m not totally sure (or else maybe more over time?).

How have I gone like 6 years or so, and I never noticed that Mal Waldron(!) plays on Teddy Charles' brilliant Tentet album?? -- which I just noticed for the very first time yesterday! I think I actually do know why... here's the back of my 1988-issued CD of Tentet -- which includes 3 bonus tracks from Word from Bird. Because the players are different on each session (several, anyway) -- look -- they've ALPHABATIZED the different players listed on each instrument. So on piano, Hall Overton is listed FIRST (on top), even though he only plays on the last three bonus tracks. So at a glance, I assumed Overton was the main piano guy on Tentet. And from having owned Word from Bird first, I already knew Overton played on that album. So if I ever even noticed Mal's name or not (and I don't know that I ever did, or else I instantly forgot it) -- either way, I naturally just assumed Overton was the guy on both dates. (More accurately, I'd never heard heard of Overton before -- couldn't tell you a thing about him to this day -- and I just never really took note of who was on piano, except that it was somebody I didn't know.)

Supersonic Jazz (1956), Sun Song (1957), and Sound Of Joy (1957) New Steps (1978) and Other Voices, Other Blues (1978) — the two rare quartet dates with Michael Ray, and John Gilmore. Lanquidity (1978), Strange Celestial Road (1979), On Jupiter (1979), and Sleeping Beauty (1979) — Ra grooves (kinda). God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be (1979) — Ra’s only(?) piano-trio album. Live at Pit-Inn, Tokyo, Japan (1988), Blue Delight (1988), Purple Night (1989), Somewhere Else (1988-89), Mayan Temples (1990) — late-period (and well recorded). OK, I know that’s 15 — and, yeah, I left out a bunch of really important stuff… But off the top of my head, those are the Ra dates I’ve returned to the most over the last almost 35 years (out of about 60+ Ra albums I’ve owned over the years).

Channeling my inner Chuck, to say… ”Sigh…”

Might make for a HUGE set, unless constrained somehow. Somethin Else is an entire ‘sister-label’ to Blue Note in Japan. Many, many titles here… https://www.discogs.com/label/73732-Somethin-Else

Yeah, I have that concern too. Heck, how many users — to say nothing of lurkers — don’t even know the board is back? Yes, a Google search on “Organissimo forum” does get you here — but if anyone just searches on “Organissmo” only, it looks like we’ve gone the way of the dodo.

Now the YouTube app on my phone must be suggesting things based on my having played this. Like for instance…

Now up for pre-order, via The Bastards™ https://www.dustygroove.com/item/142903/Jim-Alfredson:Family-Business

Benedetti / Parker wasn’t a limited edition. Mosaic owned that music, far as I’m recalling, and weren’t contractually l limited in the number of sets they could sell — iirc.

My wife and I were always fans, as were my parents — especially my mom, who also loved Tom Lehrer (and she had all Lehrer’s albums). Anyway, Mark Russel’s PBS specials were nearly always appointment viewing (or we sure tried not to miss them whenever we stumbled across them on the schedule). His brand and style of political wit seems to be in ever shorter supply with every passing year for about the last couple decades, give or take… Sharp (well, often) and funny (sometimes very) — but the kind of ‘funny’ that brings a broad smile (and often) rather than much genuine LOL laughter. RIP political funny-man. You’ll be missed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/03/30/mark-russell-satirist-pianist-dead https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/30/arts/mark-russell-piano-playing-political-satirist-dies-at-90.html https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/political-satirist-and-comedian-mark-russell-dies-at-90 https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/mark-russell-r-i-p/

We both feel a fair bit better today -- not quite half better, but close. And we got a bunch of Altoids, mint gums, and spicy hot candy (Hot Tamales) in our order from the store last night — so that metallic taste is now pretty well in check.

I bought my first set in 1995, and very steadily right after that — a couple a year, on average fairly quickly — starting at age 26. That was 28 years ago — where does the time go???!!!!!!