Rooster_Ties

Guitar Froms? Froms & Sounds?

Hey Chuck, I don’t really have any super-specific questions — not really sure if I know enough to know what to ask — other than rummaging around Discogs, I’m noticing a fair number of Japanese and French (anywhere else I’m overlooking?) reissues of various Nessa records over the years. Seems to include some semi-contemporaneous LP reissues, as well as some later CD reissues (possibly some being the first time any particular titles having been issued on CD). How’d that all work? — and work out? — for you. Any interesting stories to tell, or any observations years (decades) later? Not even sure what else to ask, but surely some other folks here can come up with some more interesting questions on the general subject. Maybe it was all cut and dried, and nothing worth telling — but I suspect there’s at least something to the process and your experience of it that a number of us here didn’t know, and wouldn’t think of to guess. A topic worth exploring, maybe? Thanks!

To make more money, if you ask me. The 2CD set will do just fine, for me.

I had both those Art Yard titles (Disco 3k and Media Dream) back 10-15 years ago, but ultimately found them a little too wild and unstructured for my taste. I had been incredibly interested in them (on paper), given my love for the 2 quartet titles on Horo (New Steps and Other Voices, Other Blues). But ultimately I found the ‘still-rather-free’ Horos a little more structured (and I guess a tiny bit better ‘restrained’), more to my liking — and I sold those particular Art Yards a few years after I got them (in the great purge, before moving out here to DC from KC ~10 years ago). In they move I thinned out my Sun Ra on CD from almost 50 discs down to maybe 25, and really discovered how much more I liked/loved what I kept, not being ‘diluted’ by the titles I merely found ‘interesting’ but not as rewarding to actually listen to. I’ve discovered some joy in trying to better curate my collection, so there’s a bit more rhyme and reason to what I have vs. what I don’t (that I either had, or have heard several times online, and made a conscious decision not to get in the first place). Got rid of a lot of “good” music, sure, but little that I was especially enthusiastic about.

Seems like a lot of unreleased Wes* has seen the light of day in the last 5-8 years. Question: Is that as much (or more) because he’s thought of (or hoped to be) a more viable “product” that might open up more wallets, than some other less bankable names? *lotta Bill Evans too, come to think of it. Maybe “a lot” is stretching it, but comparatively so — as compared to horn-players (not named Trane or Miles). Not a complaint, so much as an observation. (Ok, ok — half a complaint, if I’m being honest.)

Bingo!! His Wikipedia discography is far from complete, but both dates are listed here... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Ranelin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Loves_a_Winner https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers_(album)

Afraid not. Last hint: It’s a horn player.

No, not James Taylor (who as far as I know, has no RHCP connections). A few more hints: our mystery musician played on a number (quite a number?) of 1960’s Motown recordings (uncredited), including with Stevie Wonder. By my count, I own ~15 CD’s with our mystery man, well over half of which are leader-dates under his own name (or as co-leader).

First I’ve ever heard of Ornette and Redd ever having done anything related — though from that thread, it’s not at all clear that they actually ever recorded TOGETHER. And regardless, I don’t know that Flea and Ornette appearing on-stage together once (together) counts either. No, I was thinking of an entirely different person — and both times this person recorded with Freddie and Flea, it was for regular studio sessions (released as regular albums, both on major labels in fact).

No guesses at all? If it helps any, it was a jazz musician.

Also — alas!! — here was an actual one that sold on eBay recently... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Guitar-Rarities-Volume-One-1934-1946-Various-Artists-RARE-Great-Condition-/174675998484?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292 Have you set up an auto-search to email you whenever a new listing of one pops up?? Looks like this one sold just about a week ago (3/11/21).

Speaking of Flea — can anyone name a musician who recorded with BOTH Freddie Redd and also with Flea?? And can some kind soul post Flea’s story here? I don’t have an Instagram account — and it’s making me log in to see the whole thing. Thanks! (Maybe that’s even what it’s about— but I’m guessing probably not.)

This may genuinely (seriously) be the most brilliant thing I’ve heard in over a year... Somehow, with this new stunning choral arrangement (below) backing the original un-retouched soloist — this choral quartet has actually “fixed” the entire performance, into something gobsmackingly beautiful — and no longer any sort of sonic clusterfuck at all. Still weird, yes, but it now sounds bloody intentional, filled with bold shifts in tonality — but ones that now sound WAY “more natural” — if (still) not quite “normal”. I can’t technically explain the finer points of voice leading, or modulation — but these guys clearly know their shit, and have turned a sow’s ear into one of the finest silk purses ever. But don’t just take my word for it, hear for yourself. This is the total opposite of a “train wreck” — and might be better described as an “anti-trainwreck”.

Special Guitares Vol 1 1937 to 1945 CD (Item 980045) EMI (France), Late 30s/Early 40s — Condition: Used $5.99 ... CD https://www.dustygroove.com/item/980045 Alas, so close! - but no cigar.

How did you find that? / find out about that? If you go directly to the Mosaic site, I can’t for the life of me get it to come up under any of the categories of choices on the left-side. Not as a single, or as a box, or under any of the genre searches. If there’s a way to know that they’re selling partials — or even just one partial — it must be like a needle in a haystack to find.

And with.... Set Design by none other than..... Frank Gehry! Could be, well, interesting! -- I'd imagine. I'm certainly not a fan of everything Gehry's done, but he's nothing if not imaginative -- and some of it I quite like.

I wonder who the lineup is on that new Alex Norris date? (I don't suppose it happens to include Gary Thomas, by any chance? -- Gary was on that one other recent Norris CD from a few years ago.) Though, regardless, I'm curious -- Norris is a great player.

Dr. Lonnie Smith -- "Track 9" (aka "Track Nine") I think I first heard the "original" version of this tune maybe 15-18 years ago, I forget exactly when -- but it was back well before I even realized it was a whole tune separate unto itself (let alone that it even had a separate title even). In its "original" 1971 incarnation, it functions as a breakdown(?) of sorts, in this MUCH longer, side-long version of Sly Stone's "Stand" from Lonnie Smith's 1971 album Mama Wailer. And the song(?) actually has no separate writing credit (as it appeared in 1971), other than the whole side is listed as being by Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone). Specifically, listen starting from 8:20 here (really thru the end of the track, for a good 8+ minutes, although the last minute is just unstructured winddown). I think I've got this first YouTube clip cued up to 8:20 (set with a time-index), but if not, just start it there... OK, then imagine my utter shock when several years later I discovered this from 2004... And then a few years later still, this LIVE version from 2013, with a horn section too!! And yes, for whatever reason, the tune is simply called "Track 9" or "Track Nine".

I presume Bob Brookmeyer played too much piano / too often to qualify here?

One of the things cutting into the availability of vaccine here in DC is that to date, something like 40% of doses here (given inside the District, out of the District’s allotment) has gone into the arms of residents from MA and VA (i.e. suburban DC). All you (they) have to do is work in DC, and a TON of people throughout the metro really do live outside the District (but work in DC). Anyway, those of us who live in DC are ‘competing’ for shot reservations from a pool of people potentially twice as large as just those who live in the District proper. And no, they’re NOT asking for verification of employment location, nor of residential address. Also, you do NOT have to provide SNY verification of underlying medical conditions warranting being in an earlier group (or job function). Best as I’m aware, it’s all on the ‘honor’ system — so I’m sure there are lots of people cutting in line (human nature, I realize). The other thing we’re seeing anecdotally is a clearly disproportionate number of white people getting shots in heavily African American DC wards — but I think that’s more a function of the super-crappy signup process they had for 4-6 weeks, before the new ‘lottery’ system went into place late last week. The old system rewarded people with the tenacity to push past the page time-outs, and false Capsha challenges (you would have to answer 5 more more different Capshaw questions - all of which would fail no matter if you answered right, because the Capsha widget-plugin they used would hit its maximum threshold something like 80% of the time, all the while serving up new Capsha questions that appeared to fail even when right, because it kept hitting a maximum user limit, with no error feedback to end users). In short, you had to hit refresh a LOT, and push through all the false negative “I’m not a robot” challenges. And, let’s face it, there were a lot more affluent people who were able to navigate that fucking obstacle course (more like a mine field, really), and the “winners” (NOT seniors, I can tell you that) were gobbling up all the spots. The new lottery system is MUCH fairer, even though you can still game it (somewhat) by lying about underlying conditions. So while perfect, it’s at least better than the utter disaster they had before since January or early February (whenever it came online). I’m not complaining for myself — my number will come up whenever it does. Just describing the evolving situation here. Also, given the near 90% rate of mask-wearing here in the district — I’m sure there are few vaccine-a-phobes here — making the pool of people enthusiastically wanting to get vaccinated about as high as probably anywhere in the country (I would guess).

No, not directly anyways. Shots seem to either be available only through the city’s registration (and now lottery-based) system — although some (many?) of the vaccination locations do seem to include at least some pharmacies in certain grocery store chains (some Giants, some Safeways). Also, my wife got hers when her doctor’s office system flagged her for being in a slightly higher risk category, and she went to a healthcare system location (not a pharmacy). DC has been struggling, until only very recently, to have anywhere near enough vaccine to even begin to meet demand. But that appears to be starting to change, only just this week.

My wife got her first shot last Sunday here in DC, and my 93 year old father got his on Tuesday back outside of St. Louis (both of them got Pfizer). I’m still waiting on the brand new lottery system here in DC, which only just started on Friday (after an earlier online signup process that crashed almost every day, and was completely ill equipped to handle a demand that was literally 20-30 times the available supply). So I could easily be another month or two before it’s my turn (or my name could get drawn tomorrow — so just no tellin’ when). My wife’s parents parents both got both of their Pfizer shots already (back in Kansas) in early Feb and early March. I’m betting whenever my time comes, I’ll get the J&J variety, but there’s no way to know.

With John Gilmore in not only a suit and tie, but button-down collared shirt too! I’d seen this 30+ minute video of Blakey numerous times (below) — also with Gilmore (Lee, Hick’s, and Spoles) on the BBC in ‘65 — but I had no idea there was another hour of that band on video/film in Paris that same year (above).

Also, Rouse’s playing on the title track (side 2, first cut) is like primordial Steve Coleman to my ears, and tasty as hell! A bit of that same vibe comes through about halfway thru the last cut on side two too (in the fast shuffle(?) section, when the tune finally gets going, after an admittedly boring opening section that goes on much too long). All that faster section’s great (and ALL of the title track), especially Rouse’s skittering playing — which, frankly based on what I’ve heard of him with Monk — was a TOTAL revelation. Hell, I still can’t believe Charlie Rouse(?!) can play like he does on the title track, à la Steve Coleman. The opener (Bitchin’) of side 1 ain’t too shabby (overall) — and I especially like the super-tart timbre of the guitar (tart as persimmon!) — and the sound out of that (electric?) cello could cut glass!! It’s not a fantastic ‘cohesive’ album — but a lot of it really hits me well, and always has (for 20+ years).