Rooster_Ties

Got these three shirts yesterday, and they all turned out to be anywhere from “pretty good” to “pretty darn good” — definitely worth the $59.54 total I paid for them (incl. shipping, from the UK no less, with that coupon code) — so $19.85 each. The Grant Green was the best, very nearly as good as the earlier “Big Fun” shirt I got off eBay (and both of those were just as good as the Uniqlo shirts). The other two were good too, it’s just that the Donald Byrd and “Birth of the Cool” designs had some slight (inherent) contrast issues (very, very slight — and I’m probably being overly critical in even mentioning them). The transfers were all excellent, and seem perfectly centered. T-shirt quality itself was great — all the same Gildan brand t-shirt as the “Big Fun” one — and the sizes all ran true. Perhaps just slightly more snug than some other XL shirts I’ve owned — but not as snug/small as the Uniqlo shirts run. For that price, I’m quite happy with all of them, and would buy three more shirts in the future from them (long as I had a similar coupon, which was seemed to be only good on 3 shirts) — assuming the right sorta new designs ever came up. We’ll see if they last 10 years. Gonna only ever wash them in protective mesh bags (for ‘delicates’), only dry them on super-low for 20 minutes, then air dry them on drying racks (which we do with jeans anyway, and the tons of sweaters my wife wears). My wife has a lot of KU Jayhawk basketball t-shirts too (every time they make it to the final four), and those get the extra careful treatment too (I’ve done all the laundry for 20+ years, always have).

Did they half-ass it in 1999 somehow? Or maybe it’s necessary to take away Wynton’s to truly correct the wrong.

Give it time.

Goodness, Allen, my heart goes out to you — and I wish you all the strength in the world. As to your point about free improv, I get what you’re saying — but as just a listener myself, I’ve found that it’s still relatively rare to find jazz and new-music musicians who can improvise freely in a collective context… who can effectively (both) generate a stream of imaginative ideas AND effectively listen and react to what their fellow musicians are doing as they attempt to do the same. Maybe half(?) of brilliant playing is deep listening (in the moment) by the player — and responding to what is heard. That’s not only true in free-contexts, but really all of jazz — but (I’d argue) doubly true in free contexts. I’m reminded of a Wallace Roney gig I went to in Kansas City ~15 years ago — that was filled with spirited playing by most everyone on the bandstand (and I can’t remember who most of the players were)… but it was clear to me that as effortlessly(?) as the ideas flowed from everyone on that stage, really only ONE musician up there was actually listening to what everyone else was doing, and trying to respond to what he was hearing — and have what he heard inform everything he played (probably mostly rhythmically, as much as anything)… …and that was the piano-player (who might have been doubling on Rhodes) — Gary Versace — who I later found only on the break between a couple of their sets, was a ‘sub’ in Roney’s band for that gig. So, naturally, he was listening like crazy just to keep his head above water. I complimented his playing, and told him how much I really appreciated how much he was listening, and I tried to diplomatically say how (clearly) that was elevating his playing that night, in a way that I wasn’t hearing from anyone else on that stage. Roney and most of the others were ripping off lines like crazy, but it just didn’t seem like they were working as a ‘group’ — except for Gary. Gary thanked me, and that’s when he revealed he was a sub. And I told him, again, how wonderfully his playing was specifically being more integrated into the rest of the context (to the extent he could, at least). Allen, don’t sell yourself short because playing free comes easily to you. You’re probably employing skills you’re not as conscious of — along with similar skills (listening, and responding) by your co-conspirators on stage. It’s not just what you play, but when and how you play it, and what you DON’T play that matters (and I’m not just talking about leaving space). Anyway, I’m not sure my observations here are perfectly relevant to your original post, but I hope they mean something, and are at least somewhat related. And, as always, hang in there Allen.

Long ago, we decided cats were our limit.

My wife and I have always said we would love to be grandparents someday. It’s just that intermediate step (us having kids) that always scared the bajeezus out of us!! ()

Still says I have to log in. Maybe I need to be on my laptop or something… …cuz I can’t seem to get anywhere with this on my iPhone (11).

Ok, can do that ok — but how does that get me to the Facebook article?

Not trying to be obtuse or anything, I swear!! But when I click on that, and tried to scroll down even slightly (more than a page’s worth on my phone), I suddenly got a blank page that said this… See more Tweets from Blue Note Records When you log in you’ll be able to see every Tweet from Blue Note Records.

A couple months ago, I heard told of a biography of Andrew Hill that’s in the works. Perhaps something will emerge from that. Maybe I shouldn’t say too much (I barely know anything myself).

Didn’t work for me at all, on mobile at least. I tried every button on the entire page, and every one is a hard-stop of some sort, and the story never appears. Log-in button gets me “The email or phone number you’ve entered doesn’t match any account. Sign up for an account. and the “create an account” and “forgot password” buttons are no better. Not seeing anything at all about Twitter (on that page, or any of the subsequent ones).

Anyone got the deets, for those of us not on Facebook?

Yes — and Complete Communion, especially, is an absolute stone classic.

“noodling”??

I barely fit in their XL. But it did get XL, to motivate me to get my lard-ass off the couch more.

Hey!! I resemble that remark!

Couple weeks ago I saw a skinny black kid, all of 16, wearing an Out to Lunch shirt out on the street downtown, not far from where I work. Gave him a nice shoutout, and I think it startled the fuck out of him. He was in a group of about 4-5 of his age cohort. There’s a UNIQLO store in Union Station here, where I had my order shipped (free shipping!), and I’m sure he got it there. I got two (2) Judgement shirts, and just one Out to Lunch —all XL— back when they were $15 each ($5 off the original price), so I timed my procrastination perfectly, saved $15, and still got my size. The Judgement shirt might just be the best quality graphic T I’ve ever owned, because they only had to print the part of the cover with colors — and the black background (in the cover) is just the black t-shirt material. Same idea with the Big Fun shirt. But Out to Lunch had to print an entire square block of the entire cover (none of the shirt color itself ‘shows thru’ as part of the representation of the cover. AND, I’m similarly hopeful that Green Street, Electric Byrd, and Birth of the Cool will all let the black fabric ‘show thru’ for the large percentage of the image (cover) that is black in each one. Fingers crossed!

I got the “Big Fun” shirt in the mail today (that I got off eBay). And for what is surely an unlicensed product — I’m pretty impressed. Maybe an 8 on a 10 scale? (in terms of quality)… and in reality, a 10 probably isn’t even possible, so maybe it’s more like an 8.5 then. The size actually ran petty true (XL), and the quality of the t-shirt alone is maybe an 8/10. Not quite as heavy as it could be, but certainly not thin. For $29 including shipping, I think it turned out pretty good. We’ll see how it holds up over time.

That rings a bell.

Yup, and isn’t one of the Duke Pearson leader-dates one too?

I’m really wondering which “one or two”.

A little bit, but I understand they don’t confirm to what I think is called the Redbook standard (if I remember my terminology right). I have one or two “real” CD’s that are just slightly over 80 minutes — the Lou Blackburn two-fer that BN put out (of his Imperial sessions) is one, and I’m not recalling the other. Also, iirc, some CDR’s can be pushed to record slightly more than 80 minutes — before rereading your post, was gonna say up to about 82 minutes — but maybe it’s slightly higher than that too. I’m absolutely certain there are one or two threads on the subject over at the Steve Hoffman Forums — probably extensive threads — and when I get the chance, I’ll see if I can find them and post some links.

I’m ok with that. The actual verbiage isn’t particularly obtrusive (or nauseatingly effusive) — and they’re transparent about it being a sponsored ‘article’ — and it’s all short and sweet at the end of the piece. Looking for new ways to enjoy music at home? A Marantz CD player is a great option for making the most of your compact discs. Published in partnership with Marantz.

I’ve heard electric cello a few times — sometimes it worked great, sometimes not. Or maybe it worked for other people in the room, and just not me. I’m definitely open to such things, but the actual success of such endeavors is specific to each one.

I’m reminded of a classical pianist friend of ours back in Kansas City — a performer of the highest order (she was the primary pianist for the 20th Century chamber ensemble newEar for a number of years). She refused to play any keyboard instrument that didn’t have REAL ‘volume action’. As a rule, she never played any electronic keyboards (or harpsichord), not even the electronic keyboards with fake ‘volume action’ (or whatever it’s called). But Leah would and DID occasionally play Fender Rhodes — because she said it had a natural form of ‘volume action’. That it really was a keyboard that was essentially just an “amplified acoustic event” (if somewhat distorted). That always stuck with me, when detractors of Fender Rhodes dismiss it simply because electricity is involved in the sound production. She would also play celeste on occasion too. In addition to newEar, I’m also remembering she was the house “orchestral pianist” for the Kansas City Symphony for 6-8 years too. She’d play any keyboard with a “real” action to it, and Rhodes qualified.