Rooster_Ties

Hadn't realized this (or I just plain forgot)... President and Mrs. Clinton applaud Johnny Carson and other recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors during a ceremony at the White House in 1993. President George H.W. Bush also awarded Carson the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1992.

Not unlike church pipe-organs...

Been ages since I've read Szwed's Sun Ra book, but I too remember it being very good. (And I'm not just saying that cuz I'm mentioned on page "xii" of the acknowledgments section (hardcover edition), fourth full paragraph, 3rd name. B-) Hey, cut me some slack -- it's my very own 15-nanoseconds of fame. ) Szwed's book on Miles Davis is one of the best-written jazz bios I've ever read (something of his I've read more recently), and I've been meaning to go back and reread his Sun Ra book. RE: Szwed's Ra book being well researched -- I do know he worked on it for something like 10 years.

Hey, what's wrong with being a pig sometimes??

Oh shit, last time I checked - I thought I was BFT#25. Crap, I don't have everything picked out yet, though I do have a good pile of about 40 discs I had narrowed things down to. Sorry to be slow on the uptake here. I participated in the first few BFT's, but then never got the time to properly respond to a couple, and decided it was best if I didn't send off for any more, if I didn't have the time to fully participate. (And then I've been pretty much out of the BFT-loop ever since.) Can you bump me to #25, and I promise I'll get stuff picked out by then?? What, that'll be like 6-8 weeks from now, right???

PS: I heard from a good 2nd-hand source, that at least one or two of the guys in Holland's regular quintet (the most-recently recorded/released version) think Holland's big-band writing/arranging/leading chops are a bit substandard (to put it politely), but that he's got it in his mind that that's what he wants to do (and he convinced a record company to go along with him on it), so what can you do?? [i probably shouldn't mention who I specifically heard say what.] Much as I love Holland's most recent quintet recordings ( ), I really do think his big-band disc is much less interesting than it really could or should have been. Frankly, some of the arrangements are (IMVHO), pretty B-grade. The players elevate them somewhat, but hell -- if I remember right, there's one track where Billy Kilson plays a pretty straight ride-rhythm throughout, not even mixing things up hardly a bit. [Track 2, I just dug out the CD to check.] Perhaps he's grown with these new tunes and/or arrangements. I'm sure I'll check out the new disc, but my hopes won't be quite as high as last time, that's for sure.

Jazzmatazz says... Dave Holland Big Band - Overtime (Dare 2) Feb 22 (Link goes to CDUniverse, and gives Alan credit for the source of the click.) Hope it's better than the last Holland big-band disc. Not that it was all that bad, but it was nowhere near as great as I was expecting it to be. As a big-band tribute to Holland, it was good (meaning if anyone else had turned in that recording) -- but from Holland himself, I was really expecting a 5-star album -- and it only seemed to hit about 4 stars at best (and maybe only 3½, actually, at least on some tracks).

Just to be sure, is the "Booker Ervin: unreleased Blue Note session" that people keep talking about, the same date with Woody Shaw that was released as a 2-fer in the 70's (and name of which I dare not speak)??? Or is there some other as-yet-still-unreleased Booker Ervin session that people are referring to?? (Wouldn't want to take any chances --- we are talking "Blood On The Fields" here. )

There's a nice live recording of Art Blakey and the JM's in 1968, with Billy Harper(!), Hardman, Julian Priester, Ronnie Mathews, and a bassist I'd never otherwise heard of - Lawrence Evans. AMG says it was on Laserlight, but my copy is on LRC. (Both issues are called MOANIN'.) Anyway, this recording is really far more interesting than most other "Laserlight/LRC"-type things (or at least those I've heard). Sound quality is surprisingly top-drawer too. It's definitely recorded live, but the audience doesn't intrude one bit (not even clapping after solos - EDIT: they do clap after many of the solos, but the applause is pretty distant, again like it was in a big hall) - so it was probably not a in club. My copy says it was recorded "in Europe", with no more specific date than "1968" (anybody got better details??). Harper's obviously the biggest draw here (at least for me, and I'm guessing for most of us), but Hardman gets in several great solos too. The up-tempo ones have some of that "bite" in the tone that I like in so many other trumpeters, like Lee Morgan, Woody Shaw, Charles Tolliver, etc... Recomended... Especially since you can usually find it for about $5 or $6. (I think I got mine at Barnes and Noble, maybe Borders.) Listening to it now.

Could have sworn I saw Joe Henderson on The Tonight Show in the early, early 90's. Can't remember which album he was out in support of, but probably the Strayhorn tribute (or maybe the Miles one?). The first and one of the only times I've ever seen any footage of Joe. (Might have it on tape still, though lard only knows where.) I think the only other footage of Joe I've ever seen was some "Jazz at the Whitehouse" special on PBS in the early 90's too, probably early in Clinton's first administration. Pretty sure I saw Herbie, Wayne, Ron, Tony, and Wallace Roney too, within a few months after Miles died --- though maybe that was on Leno (can't remember for sure).

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this, Chuck, as I'm sure many of us would. Thanks!!

We ended up getting this Panasonic unit, after we figured out some complicating factors with getting the other cheaper Panasonic, and adding a el-cheapo VRC to the mix. Nebraska Furnature Mart was having a pretty damn good sale too, and we ended up paying only about $330 for this whole unit, which included 5 speakers plus a powered sub-woofer. This was only about $65 more than our other option, which didn't include a sub-woofer -- which would have cost at least that much or more to get separately in the long run. Link: Panasonic 600W 5.1-Ch. Home Theater System w/Progressive-Scan DVD/CD/MP3 Player/VCR Pretty good deal for $330, all in all -- and the unit also includes an AM/FM tuner -- which is another plus. (They were out of stock, so we actually get to pick the thing up in about 10 days or so.) Another plus is the fact the speakers are quite a bit smaller on this unit -- so they won't take up as much bookshelf space (more room for books!!).

Me three...

The Booker Evin date with Woody would seem to be nearly a lock (best known as half of BACK FROM THE GIG) -- since we damn near got it in Oct. 2004, 'cept they couldn't afford to do a new cover for both it, and Dance With Death. Might we perhaps see COMPULSION?? - though that would mean three Hill conns in as many years, plus the Select, plus the Black Fire RVG last year -- so maybe that's bordering on market saturation. (Whooda ever thunk there'ed be a "market saturation" possibility with Andrew Hill!!! ) Dare I even mention NATURAL ESSENCE?? - with THE TRAINWRECK tacked on for good measure??? I'd say CONTRASTS, except three Larry Young conns in three years seems pretty unlikely too (probably as unlikely as three Andrew Hill conns in three years). Maybe SMITHVILLE?? Been ages since the last Louis Smith conn, so why not?? Seems like a pretty reasonable and/or "logical" choice. And come to think of it, it's been ages since the last two Don Cherry conns, so maybe there's a good chance of seeing WHERE IS BROOKLYN. In fact, I'd say it's maybe just as likely as BACK FROM THE GIG. (And the Cherry Mosaic's been OOP for some time too.) And how about IT'S TIME, since it's been a bit since Jackie had a conn, and since this is one of the last remaining classic BN dates with Charles Tolliver that hasn't ever been available (domestically) as a disc all unto itself (though it was part of the Mclean Mosaic).

Uh oh!!

So, are we gonna get any Rare Grooves in 2005???

I was just thinking the very same thing...

Hey, wait just a minute!!!

Nothing?? Not one damn thing??? The man's posted almost 750 times (which is no proof of anything, mind you --- after all, my own post-count on this board is living proof of that!! )... ...and he's never said anything of ANY value in any of those posts?? (Or nothing of any value to you, Dan, to be more specific -- wouldn't want to misquote you.) Not to pile on, but I do think you are making this too personal, Dan. And what do you really hope to gain from all this?

Just listened to both CONTRASTS and HEAVEN ON EARTH just now... (And note: I don't ever listen to either of vocal tracks (with Larry's wife), so I don't even include them in my assessment of the albums.) Some observations on CONTRASTS A bit under rehearsed, perhaps, but them's the breaks sometimes. Bothers me not one bit!! This is some DAMN exciting music. ( ) I'd forgotten there was a guitar-player on this date (it's Eddie Wright), and he adds some great texture to what is a fairly free group ("free"-leaning at times, anyway). Provides some nice grounding to the "free"-ish tunes he's on - as if to remind us of the context of where this music comes from. Eddie Gladden is on board too (drums). I know some people here (Chuck? - if I remember right, perhaps others), find fault with Gladden -- but I'm definitely NOT in that camp. To my ears, Gladden often sounds like a cross between Jack DeJohnette circa 1969, with a good dash of Rashid Ali circa 1967. (And for the record, I'm NOT saying that Gladden has all the talent of DeJohnette or Rashid -- just that he definitely gets in the same ballpark, and has some of the same energy/vibe.) Or another way of saying it --- there's plenty of drummers that were more rock-solid than Gladden, but less creative -- and I'll take "creative (and still relatively solid)" over just "rock solid" any day. I wish there were more drummers like Gladden in the late 60's, really. Tyrone, and Herbert Morgan -- what can I say?? For me, they improve almost any date they're on. Both these guys knew what they were doing, bumping up to chaos, but not succumbing to it entirely. And those sometimes (so-called) "nearly-incoherent" solos of theirs -- are music to my ears (and I say that as someone who ISN'T enamored with every bit of "free" music I've ever heard). The jazz world is a lesser place for both of these guys' obscurity and relatively lack of recorded material. Hank White (flugelhorn) works here for me too. Not enough organ dates with interesting ("free"-leaning) brass-players on them, so this is valuable in that regard too. White might not be the star sideman on the date, but he doesn't detract one bit either. Overall, it'd be a crime if this one didn't get the Conn treatment someday. I'm officially upgrading my assessment of this album to a solid "B+". Some observations on HEAVEN ON EARTH: An uneven date, by any measure, but with its moments here and there. About half the date is MUCH less interesting to me than practically every other Larry Young BN leader date --- probably because of the more mainstream approach of some of the tunes. Don't know if this is entirely because of George Benson, but I suspect he's a big part of why. (I'm not a huge Benson fan, sorry.) But more importantly, overall, the group doesn't quite gel like you might want them to. One or two tracks are pretty solid and mostly worthy (the duo track is great!! ), but the rest don't quite measure up to the high bar Larry set for himself (as evidenced by the rest of his leader dates for BN). Overall, probably a letter-grade of "C+". (A couple of the tracks are definitely worth a "B", but as many or more are probably closer to "C-" tracks.) Overall, it just doesn't 'click' much for me. ========== Overall, I'd probably rate Larry's BN leader dates like this... 1964 - INTO SOMETHIN' A 1965 - UNITY A+ 1966 - OF LOVE AND PEACE A- 1967 - CONTRASTS B+ 1968 - HEAVEN ON EARTH C+ 1969 - MOTHER SHIP A

I rather like "Contrasts" -- quite a bit actually. It may be a bit rough around the edges -- but seriously, I'll take it over a lot of other organ dates that are much less exciting, but better rehearsed. And, hey, it's got Tyrone Washington AND Herbert Morgan -- two of my favorite "obscure" tenor players from the late 60's -- so it scores pretty high in my book for that reason alone. (I'd probably give it a solid "B" if I was handing out letter-grades.) "Heaven on Earth" is probably my least favorite of Larry's last four BN dates, but like "Contrasts", it also has Herbert Morgan, who didn't record much. (So, there's maybe some value in the date from that perspective.) Maybe I shouldn't say "least favorite", but rather "least exciting" -- in terms of innovative playing, all around. (I'd probably give it a letter-grade of "C" - or maybe a "C+".) Whether the whole set is worth $140 or not is a personal decision, but that's a hell of a lot less than the upwards-of-$200-or-$250 I've seen it go for in recent years.

My "media room" is gonna have a 10-15 year old TV in it, plus (probably) the $204.00 DVD/Amp unit two posts above this, plus an el-cheapo VCR that'll probably run me $60. And I'm sure I'll be reasonably happy with the results. Nothin' fancy, but certainly adequate for my needs – at least for the next 5 years or so. By then, there’ll be some new “mega-DVD” format, and HDTV’s all over the place (and much cheaper ones too, at that) – so I figure why should I invest a whole lot in bleeding-edge stuff now.

Yeah. I think the very first series of Conns (1-6), came with white CD trays. Then the Collector's Choice re-"pressings" were sometime later, and those had white CD trays too. Hence the confusion.

'nother thread, check it out...

Agreed, but it's been dog-dead-slow for the last two days. Three quarter's of the time (or more!) it won't even come up at all. And when it does, the response times are like 30 seconds or more.