Rooster_Ties

OMG. How shallow is that!! Man, you'd think if somebody was gonna write a whole book about an entire label, that they'd at least try to listen to most of the albums by damn near every person on the label during it's core years. For BN, that's clearly everything up to 1970. Maybe not every Horace Silver record, and not every single Grant Green or Lee Morgan record. But to completely ignore some of the artists who recorded less frequently, is pretty amazing. If he skipped the Moncurs, then what the hell else did he skip?? Probably Tyrone Washington, for sure. Probably a few of the Andrew Hills. Almost certainly the Eddie Gales. Maybe one or even two of the three Don Cherries?? Possibly one or two of the Ornettes?? Maybe a Sam Rivers or two?? Probably some others I'm forgetting too. Maybe one or both of the Tony Williamses?? Probably one or both of the Cecil Taylors. You know - I heard the recent full intervew with Cook from the NPR website (quite a bit longer than what was on the radio), and he pretty much said and thinks that "Sidewinder" was the beginning of the end for the label, and that once it was sold to Liberty, that there was little merit to many (possibly "most"??) of the material recorded by Blue Note after 1966 and '67. Suppose "The Prisoner" was not considered too, maybe. I know, I'm putting words in the guy's mouth - when I haven't even read his book. Still, to have not even listened to the Moncurs, and then bragged about it - when that aspect of Blue Note is nearly as important (historically speaking, anyway), is really a shame.

Fascinating selection for an AotW. When I first heard this (as part of the most recent Rare Groove releases), I thought it was one of the strangest pre-1970's Blue Note albums I'd ever heard. And really, I'm not sure I've ever heard anything else like it - not even remotely. This should be a good discussion, on lots of different levels. I’m looking forward to revisiting this one, and participating in the discussion.

Hey, I just had a crazy thought... What if Aric and Hardbop are actually one in the same guy, sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of thing???

You don't have to understand the question, you just have to understand Aric!!!

No shit!!! And you know, I'd seriously pay good money to read a lengthy post from Aric in response to him listening to a bunch of Nancarrow. And, you know what else?? - I think Aric could actually kinda half-way get into Nancarrow --- maybe with a little chemical encouragement, perhaps.

Where's "Trumpet Guy" when you need him???

Perhaps Aric needs a good dose of some of this. Nothing will fuck you up as much as... In particular, Alban Berg's Lyric Suite, for string quartet, along with his earlier String Quartet, Op. 3 --- were two of the most eye-opening experiences in my entire musical life, along with the two.

My wife and I saw "Whale Rider" yesterday. I think she liked it better than I did. I still thought it was very good, and we both thought the performances were generally outstanding, all the way around (the girl, especially). But (to mention another film already mentioned in this thread), I probably liked "Rabbit Proof Fence" quite a bit better. It wasn't that "Whale Rider" was lacking in any particular way. It's just that there were several plot-points where I had some serious trouble suspending my disbelief (I won't mention them here, for the sake of not giving away any of the plot). And I think my inability to suspend my disbelief, was in part because most of the film is so low-key, and 95% of it is totally believable, without any suspension of disbelief required. Anyway, it's a good film, to be sure - but probably not on my top-10 list for the year.

Chris, is there an interesting story behind how you acquired that record? I've read that there's only one copy known to exist in the world. Yes, what's the story here??? Both about the recording itself (which I know nothing about - only one in the whole world???), and also about how you came to find it, Chris??? Do tell!!!

Anthony Davis - "The Ghost Factory" (Gramavision, 1988); found it used on CD, for only $3!! I've had my eyes out for this one for about 3 or 4 years. Not that I've been searching high and low for it, but I was always just curious to hear it, because it is essentially two long-form 'classical' works - a violin concerto, and a piano concert (with Davis at the keys). Aside from my obvious curriosity about anything that could be remotely called a "jazz piano concerto", I was also interested because these works were recorded with our own Kansas City Symphony. Probably at least 1/3rd (maybe even half) of the musicians on this 1988 recording are still in the orchestra today, and I probably know a handful of them personally (I sing in the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, for the past 7 years).

I missed this the first time, but thankfully NPR has so much archive material available on-line. Here's what might be a more direct link to the interview, which I'm listening to now. http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?displ...Date=07/01/2003 Thanks Chris!!

A friend and I saw this movie about a week ago, and we both thought it was quite good. Neither on of us usually ever go to 'horror' films, but I had heard several reviews, including thoughtful ones on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning(!) - of all places. I didn't take my wife, as she never goes to horror films, and normally has zero interest in them. (Well, that probably describes me too.) How can I put this. She avoids them like the plague. (pun intended!! ) On a side note, I thought the soundtrack music was quite good, and fit with the film very well. I'm not sure I'm gonna run out and buy the soundtrack, mind you, but I though the music worked well.

Wow!!

Henze - Requiem: 9 sacred concertos, for piano, trumpet & orchestra Sony/58972 (first recorded in late 1993, written between 1990-93) with the Ensemble Modern Ueli Wiget: piano Hakan Hardenberger: trumpet And you know... - I think I see this recording in your very near future, Chuck.

Getting slightly off track (the composer I’m about to mention isn’t an American)... Hey Chuck!! - by any chance, are you also a fan of Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926, German)??? I'm not nearly as up on Carter as I should be (I can never seem to find anything of his in stock anywhere, and I have to confess that I just haven’t made the effort to get his stuff on-line). A friend of mine is a Henze nut (and so am I), and he keeps recommending Carter to me, on the basis of my Henze fanaticism. ===== Getting back on topic, another American 'classical' composer I really love is... Roger Sessions - perhaps the greatest serial composer of the middle part of the last century. His symphonies keep me coming back, again and again and again. Difficult stuff to get one's ears around, but not at all just "noisy, for the sake of being noisy".

A subject near and dear to my heart. I'll do a little thinking about the subject, and post more to this thread soon. I'll start by saying that there is a relatively new and EXCELLENT series of CD's on the Naxos label, devoted entirely to American composers. And since it's Naxos, all the CD's are available very inexpensively, usually $7 or $8 per CD, at most. I own probably 60%-75% of what's been released in the series already (probably about 30 discs), and nearly every one is a winner. Some quick names to throw at you... Arthur Foote, a Boston composer from the late 1800's spanning into the early 1900's. An excellent composer of chamber music, much in the style of Brahms, but somehow with an American flair. Three string quartets, a piano quartet, a piano quintet, and two piano trios -- all of which are excellent. (My wife and I had the scherzos from all three of his string quartets played at our wedding, as prelude and/or postlude music.) Oh, gotta run. I'll post several more names later... One more, quick... Carl Ruggles!!! And another - Samuel Barber!!! (His concertos and symphonies are all pretty incredible neo-romantic works.)

Hey Dmitry!!!!!!!! http://shit.ru/forum/index.php

Understood Chuck. For what it's worth, I haven't said a word about any of this, to anyone - except of course within this thread. No e-mails have been sent, nor have any phone calls been made - - - at least not on my part. Cool!!! Thanks!!! -- Rooster T.

You know, I was just about to ask the very same question. I'm getting my first WCC disc next week, via a trade on this board, and I wondered what all the other ones were. I too think I missed out on some good stuff. Here's the one I got commin' Curtis Amy: Katanga!

Has this ever come out in Europe?? - meaning the new issue, with the bonus tracks??? Just wondering... -- Rooster T.

Heard this Chick Corea album from 1981 for the first time yesterday. Mighty fine Joe to be found here. In fact, it's cool to hear Joe in such a challenging context (post-1975), yet on tunes that aren't his own. Whether you like Chick a lot (or not), this is a great album to get just for Joe's contribution - and the whole band is pretty tight too. What other of Joe's sideman appearances (after say 1970), really stand out as being top-drawer performances??

Just thought I'd bump this topic up (since it came up in another thread), for some exposure, and to plug "Conflict" for future consideration as an "Album of the Week". I listened to it again a couple weeks ago, and was still blown away. If anybody doesn't have this one yet, then go out, right now, and get it. Go on!! I'll wait here...

I'm not sure how obscure these are, but I've been enjoying them both recently, and thought they fit the bill in terms of this thread... Kenny Wheeler - A Long Time Ago (ECM, 1999) - scored for Wheeler on flugelhorn, plus John Taylor (piano), and John Parricelli (guitar), along with a full brass band (4 other trumpets, two trombones, and two bass trombones). Quite beautiful, and lush - but still not sappy, at least not to my ears. and something similar, and probably more obscure... Florian Ross Brass Project - Lilacs & Laughter (Naxos, 2000) - scored for a similar sized group, all brass, plus piano and drums. Really outstanding, in a sort of "Gil Evans"-ish way at times. (It's on Naxos, so you can pick this up, brand new, for only like $7 or at most $8 - so there's no excuses to not getting this one, if you're at all interested.) Anybody already have and like these???

if it fits in a shoe..., what????? (Never mind, I don't want to know.)

ROTFLOL!!!!