Rooster_Ties

MOOSER!! Well, Moose has got the most number of posts in "Politics"... But there's somebody else who's percentage is mindbogglingly high, for number of posts in "Politics", vs. his posts elsewhere. Think about it - it's not very hard to figure out...

OMG, I thought the "highest percentage in Politics" winner was gonna be Son-of-a-Weizen, with 542 posts in "Politics', or 70% of his total posts on the entire board... But there's somebody else who's got him beat by a mile. And yikes!! - his percentage is almost not to be believed!!!!

Hint: The forum I'm most active in is "Miscellaneous Music", with 252 posts to that forum, which is 19% of my total posts on the entire board. Jazzmoose is most active in "Politics", with 673 posts to that forum, which is 52% of his total posts on the entire board. BUT, that's nowhere near the highest "percentage" for some posting to the "Politics" thread... Hmmmmm.... Who could it be, and how high is that percentage????

How do you look up this kind of stuff? Actually, maybe the more interesting question is this... Who has the most posts in Politics, as a percentage of their total posts (from among the top 25 posters on the board, meaning from the very most active posters on this board). Anyone care, not only to guess who the top person is (based on the percentage of their posts in "Politics")... ...and maybe even more shocking, what that percentage is????

Wonder who's on the Peterson disc -- Jeremy Pelt perhaps???

Yeah, enough of Rooster's bitching. What's his problem anyway???

I agree, that standards - in and of themselves - are not the problem. Well chosen standards are always welcome. But hearing "All The Things You Are" or "How High The Moon", and exclusively those kinds of tired warhorses, is what I'm refering to. I honestly think "Green Dolphin Street" would even be out of character for many of these more 'tired' acts to play. And certainly you'll never hear "Round Midnight". I will admit that probably most of the bands - actual groups that have fairly consistent line-ups from gig to gig - are usually half-way decent (and sometimes even excellent - a couple local groups come to mind). But half or more of what passes for jazz in this town are free-lancers who put together gigs with 'pickup' guys, a different guy every gig, for every chair - until they cycle around back to the front of the rolodex. And then they only play what, collectively, that group of 3 or 4 musicans happens to all know how to play. Which, way more often than not, turns out to be lowest-common-denominator tunes, the likes of which are what you pretty much exclusively what you hear on the Jam-Session things on Saturday afternoon, for the old folks. You know, tunes played as faster "midtempo" things that pass for heat, when they barely generate warmth. (Getting to Soul Stream's point about "Energy"!!!! And specifically about a complete lack of energy - which is what I hear all the time.) And, how about playing a cheezy keyboard on stage, on some generic "keyboard" setting (or pseudo-"piano" setting), even when there's a frickin' grand piano on the same stage and everything!!! (The guy was too lazy to move over to the piano, and he wanted to play the "organ" settings on the keyboard for some tunes -- Yeah, it's the same guy I bitched about above in an earlier post -- and (although I won't mention names), he's one of the 3 or 4 best-known local piano-players in all of Kansas City.) Anyway, I think you hopefully are starting to get the picture. There's about a dozen quality cats in town, and the rest are just plain boring as hell... ( Or at least this is based on the guys who are actually getting gigs. Maybe there's much better, but (maybe) younger(?) guys out there? - who just don't network enough, or who don't network with the right people? - in order to get gigs? I don't know what the problem is. All the guys I'm bitching about are in their 40's and 50's, or 60's. Mostly guys who gig several nights a week, and are "well known" in the Kansas City jazz community - for better or worse. )

I know I've heard a live version or two of "Blue Train", on what were some European boots from the early 60's, and probably the same version that's on "Live Trane: The European Tours (1961-63)" - which I haven't ever heard. He may have covered it at other times too, in concert.

Where's Jim?? This thread needs JSngry's input... The rest of you, all pile on too - I don't want this to just be me ranting on about things. Either ya got the same problem in your town, or you don't. But either way, you oughta have somethin' to say about it.

I think Aric has Lou's phone number, if you need it.

(With notable exceptions here and there), On any given night in Kansas City, with any given group - about 80-90% of what you're going to hear is standards, and mostly conservative ones at that. And the only attempts at anything 'hot' are typically over blues changes, or "Rhythm" changes, or almost always something similar. Even a great like Bobby Watson, who now lives and teaches in Kansas City, is more often than not playing local gigs with this same kind of material. (Although, clearly, he plays at a level that's way, way above the norm.) Still, when that's the norm --- program-wise, content-wise --- then it makes for some pretty snoozy listening opportunities. Tired be-bop is still the norm around these parts, and standards that have been standards since 1960 or earlier. Really, you'd be amazed at the number of "professional jazz musicians" in this town, who are mostly playing slightly higher-quality versions of the exact same thing that gets played at all the Saturday afternoon "jam session" gigs (of which there are still one or two left). Really half-assed stuff, with no hint of craft or creativity, save for the occasional accidental lapse when a ballad turns particularly poignant, and usually unintentionally at that. ( And I admit that there's the possibility that I'm speaking a little bit out of turn here. I don't get out to hear these people all the time, clearly, so I'm speaking from what periodic but only occasional experience I've had, listening at random jazz clubs around Kansas City, over the last 8-9 years. Maybe almost every night I caught over the last 8-9 years (3 or 4 times a year? - for the half-ass acts), all just happened to be a 'bad' nights. But, somehow, I kinda doubt it. ) And, for the most part, THAT is what the public around here think's is Jazz. It's not so much Kenny G. that's the problem, as I see it, but rather lazy jazz musicians who don't bother to put any effort into - Soul Stream just said it - who don't put any effort into CONNECTING with the public. And for me, playing the same, tired old shit, decade after decade, is just killing the music. There are some exceptions, and I patronize them every chance I get. But most of the cats around town (probably 60%, maybe 70%) aren't even worth the price of gas to get to their gigs, let alone a $3 cover.

Several Gil Scott-Heron discs there (full albums, not just comps), and a couple significant Ellington discs too (also not comps). A few Lonnie Liston Smith titles, and Sonny Rollins discs too - also not comps. Don't overlook pages "11-17", be sure to hit the double ">>" button, after you look through pages 1-10. Also, from the fine print... "Qualifying purchase transaction must be made between 12:01 a.m (CT) 7/20/03 and 11:59 p.m. (CT) 8/9/03. Limit: 3 per title per customer. No dealers." But since shipping is free, you can just get three for yourself, and have your neighbor get another three, and your coworker get another three -- at not extra shipping costs.

Obviously I'm no expert in Calculus, or Mathematica - so my appologies if I was speaking out of turn (which I probably was). In any case, the moral of the story is that I discovered that 'pure math' wasn't the life for me. I can appreciate some aspects of higher math (or at least I remember a time when I was able to), but I'm afraid I just couldn't "get into it" with anywhere near enough of the enthusiasm necessary, in order to really pursue "pure math" as my life's calling.

Part of the problem, at least in Kansas City, is that frankly; most of the time the jazz scene here is boring as hell. Well, at least 80% or even 90% of it is. Half the cats might as well be phoning it in, and it's like pulling teeth to get them to play anything that's in any way challenging, or creative. (And I mean just playing with fire, and I’m not talking about doing anything “out”, or “free”.) There's a core group of very talented musicians, who sometimes play in creative contexts, and can make it happen when they do... ...but the rest of the time, they're about as exciting as multi-grain whole-wheat bread (which is better than plain white bread, but still). And, there’s several relatively well-known guys (well-known in the Kansas City area) who I believe really haven't done a truly "creative" thing in over 20 years. I mean, playing "Footprints" is a big stretch for them, and they've been known to fuck up the changes on that!! (I know, I've heard ‘em do it). Now, there are a few (maybe as many as a dozen or so) active Kansas City musicians around – real musicians – who normally play anything from 'well', to 'pretty well', to 'pretty darn well', to 'hot damn!!' - depending on the context they're in, and how much freedom it allows them. But most of the time, there’s not that much freedom to be had. For instance, to the best of my knowledge, there are NO active organ trios in town, or even bands with a B3 (there was one a few years ago, since broken up). And there's one guy who plays some half-ass synth keyboard with a B3 setting, but he's one of the guys I bitched about in the second paragraph of this post. I, for one, am rarely motivated to go out and hear any live music in this town - cuz there's only about one or two shows a month (3 tops) with all local guys, that are ever even worth walking out the door for. And there's only one club in town anymore that ever brings in outside acts (Greg Osby a couple months ago, Greg Tardy next month, usually one or sometimes two great out-of-town acts per month). There have got to be better scenes than this in other towns, cuz if this is the future of jazz - then jazz is on life-support, and it’s dyin' fast. (Not that I think it really is dyin', overall -- but the scene here in K.C. is way more "shit" than it is "the shit", and I fear the same for anything short of New York, Chicago, and cities of that kind of size.) HEY, YOU, that guy from K.C. who lives like less than a mile west of me!!! Get in here, get registered, and get in the game. I know you lurk here all the time (and used to lurk back on the BNBB), and this thread - if nothin' else - needs your input.

That Bastard!!! Great story!!!

From the Kansas City Star "stuff around town 'gossip' column" (for lack of a better descriptive term) on Sunday...

Most certainly. Definitely!!

I was originally going to be a Math major in college, because I got a 780 on the Math section of the SAT (and at the time, there wasn't any way to get a 790 - so that means I only missed one question on the whole math section). So I took "Calc I" my first term in college (term = 1 quarter, sorta - weird system at the college I went to, don't ask for any more details, too weird to explain). I think I got an "A", and then I took "Calc II" my second term in college, and probably got another "A" or maybe an "A-". The I got to "Calc III", which was subtitled "Multi-variable Calculus". All this was pre-Mathematica, around 1987, although I think we had an early beta-copy of Mathematic at the college at was at, so we could all see what was right on the horizon. So then, every term, week after week, we kept learning new (and "exciting" ) ways to integrate different kinds of equations. Yeah... We got some theory, and we had to do proofs (which I didn't care for much), but 75% of what we were doing was learning dozens and dozens of methods of integration. Lord if I remember now, but I think we had learned something like 70 or 80 methods of integration by the end of the 2nd term (each term was 10 weeks long, about the same as a quarter - although as much was packed into our "terms" as other college's "semesters"). Then I get to "Calc III - Multivariable", and it's like the 3rd week of the term, on a Friday morning, 3rd hour (meaning the class that runs from 11:10am to 12:20pm), and I'm half-asleep, and the lecture topic of the day was "third order partial derivatives in multidimensional space", and in a dream-like state (I said I was half-asleep) the heavens opened up, and it said in bright purple neon lights... THIS ISN'T ENOUGH FUN!!!! And I called my advisor that afternoon, and changed my major to Computer Science that very same day. True story, honest to god. Now I'm not sure I even remember the Quadradic formula (although I think I could pick it out of a line-up.) I mean, come on!!! With Mathematica, can't you just integrate like ANY equation, no matter what kind it is, though "sampling" techniques - and to hell with all the methods of integration. Right???? It all seemed like a huge waste of time to me, and nobody I actually knew (other than other Math majors, and some Physics majors) even had any idea what the hell any of it was all about. I mean, it's not like you can explain even the simplest of concepts of higher-math to even the most intelligent non-Math majors (other than Physics geeks). If you've got a burning passion for it, I say more power to you... I didn't, so I bailed out. Turns out I'm not so happy with Computer Science as a career either, so what the hell do I know?? ( FYI, I'm currently trying to figure out how to change careers, after having been laid-off as a business analyst in Information Systems about six months ago. I sucked at programming, always have, and in IT these days, it's pretty much only the techies that are getting hired - if even that. Reminds me that I need to start a thread here (on this board), about how other people have gone about radical career changes. I'm currently looking at areas related to Urban Planning, Historic Preservation, Transportation Planning, Architecture/Engineering/Design, Museum Curatorships, some sort of Archivist role (in music), Institutional Planning and Research (at the University level), and Not-For-Profit Work doing something like grant-writing. I have two B.A.’s from a strong Liberal Arts college, in Computer Science, and also in Music. )

I've nuked the "20pt" type in my previous posts – sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure you saw my questions, since they were directed towards you. I think we're more in agreement, than disagreement - though I might still quibble with the finer details of, well, the semantics of things. I am strongly pro-women's rights and gender equality, but there is a wing of academic feminism (not all of academic feminism, but part), that has taken to labeling all men (meaning "every man") as being a potential rapist that hasn't yet actually committed rape. And they believe that majority of men think about rape all the time (sex = rape), and (for a few of the most extreme authors) for whom sex between a man and a women is, by definition, a kind of rape. I was in a round-table discussion group around men's issues for a number of years, several years ago, and when I hear anything that sounds like it's going down that road... Well, let's say that I was good this time and didn't start flaming away. I think it's probably best to recognize that we probably agree more than we disagree on this point, and I should probably just leave it at that. Peace.

I just wanted to point out what a mega-cool word "Organissimosiosos" is... I had to say it out loud like 6 or 7 times, before I could even come close to pronouncing it. The stress is on the second-to-last syllable, right?? Organissimosiósos

I'm, sorry... What were you saying???

Horace Silvers' "The Jody Grind" is certainly one. I'm told that the U.S. CD issue was mastered off an LP, and I think I've verified this personally, with the volume turned way up, and with some headphones. Don't know what that means for the master tapes (lost?), but in any case - this one sure needs help. I've also generally thought McCoy Tyner's "Tender Moments" and "Expansions" could both sure use some help. I'm normally not too overly critical of the earlier U.S. CD issues, but there are a few others that need help too. I'll have to skim through my stacks of CD's, and see what comes to mind. Joe Henderson's "Mode For Joe" was another one, but it's due out this fall - thankfully.

FYI, I just started this exact same poll as a thread over on AAJ, just to see what the results are like over there. I predict that Lee Morgan will win the poll over there (over 25% of the total vote), with Hank Mobley running a close second... ...and Andrew Hill and Larry Young will each get less than 10% of the votes (or less than 20% for their combined total).

And so was Zappa!!! (a big fan of Varese) Varese kicks ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it depends on whether you favor progressive stuff, or less progressive stuff. (I only mean that descriptively, no value judgement implied.) There's a lot of Andrew Hill fanatics on this particular board, and possibly as many or more Larry Young fanatics. Lee Morgan and Sam Rivers are mighty high on people's "all-time-best" lists too. But, I suspect you could run the same poll on AAJ, and get some entirely different results. In fact, I think I'll pop over there right now and do just that...