Rooster_Ties

Joe Chambers’ “Hopscotch” (side 1, track 2) is a total blast, imho. Even if it is a bit of a “Freedom Jazz Dance” knockoff — but the execution is fantastic! It always makes me want to get up and dance actually, maybe even more than any version of “Freedom Jazz Dance”, come to think of it. Here’s a nice guitar+drums cover of it to, which also floats my boat similarly. One more, for the heck of it, also excellent. What the hell, one more (same flute guy, but this time with piano)...

A sure sign of the coming of The End Times, if you ask me — lard help us all.

There are many things I like — even love — about Reddit. But the software does NOT effectively allow for lengthy conversations over time. EVERYTHING on Reddit is really ephemeral. It all exists and is searchable for years to come — but it’s impossible to have much discourse (on a particular topic) that lasts any longer than about 12 hours — so conversations there are like planting seeds, seeing them sprout, only to never be seen again (or never have any more input again) barely 24 hours later. What i dearly love about forum-type boards (such as this one, the old BNBB, AAJ, the Hoffman forums, etc) — is that you can have long and winding conversations on a particular topic literally FOR YEARS. Whatever its other positives are, Reddit ain’t like that (in terms of discussions over time). Basically the ‘problem’ is that replying to a thread doesn’t make a given thread any more ‘active’ than it was before you (or anyone else) last replied to it. Here, any reply to any topic bumps it up in the list of recent replies. On Reddit, where there’s (usually) WAY more users, thread activity does lengthen the time a thread is more prominently visible — but eventually (always within 24 hours, or maybe 48 hours on much LESS trafficked subreddits) a given topic will just slowly slide down in prominence. If you find a great topic from a week ago, the ONLY person who really has any idea that you’ve contributed (more) to the conversation, is the one and only person to who you’ve replied to (whose prior post you ‘hang’ your reply off of). Its great for a lot of things, but not everything.

I understand it’s easy to programmatically download data from the site. For instance, there are literally dozens of homemade (3rd-party) apps as alternate front-ends to access the site. Likewise, there’s a lot of homemade add-ons available as well (to the standard desktop interface). It’s (apparently) trivially easy to select all the words of every r/jazz post ever made, and then one can study that dataset, to see how it compares to other subreddits. The’s a nifty subreddit devoted to all sorts of elegant graphs and other wild ways to display data (often in animated ways — called r/dataisbeautiful— and there are often comparisons of subreddits, or demonstrations of how one particular subreddit has changed over time, etc.

FWIW, the main jazz subreddit seems to skew quite a bit younger. What’s the median age here, 55? It’s maybe 25-27, or definitely ages 21-30 BY FAR on r/jazz Here’s a recent poll there from just this year, like a month ago... https://www.reddit.com/r/Jazz/comments/lcrfbg/how_old_are_the_wonderful_jazz_fans_of_this Shoot, the actual poll results aren’t visible unless you’re logged in. I’ll type them out here then. (total votes) — age range (47) — 14 and younger (849) — ages 15-20 (1,563) — ages 21-30 (549) — ages 31-40 (191) — ages 41-50 (170) — ages 50 and older

My favorite ‘modern’ flute player would have to be Gary Thomas — though I don’t think I’ve ever heard more than 2 tunes with flute on any of his albums or sideman appearances (98% of the rest of the time he plays tenor, and very occasionally soprano). Gary has the distinction of being the only flute/reeds doubler I’ve ever heard, where I can specifically hear a lot of similarities in both his flute and tenor playing (specifically in his rhythmic approach, and dark tone). Fun fact: when I complimented his flute playing the very first time I heard Gary live — backstage after seeing him in Herbie Hancock’s band, circa 2006 — he said he actually started(!) as a flute player, and only moved late to tenor. I’d buy an all-flute Gary Thomas date in a heartbeat. Here’s a random example from YouTube (not a lot of his albums are there, so I’m not even gonna try and look for specific cuts - this is just the first one I found). Found a couple more good examples of Gary on flute...

Wish I could find the video on YouTube (I know I've seen it years ago), but there's a fun 10 minute clip of David Bowie and his live band from about 1995 iirc -- and they're on tour, and stop at some truck-stop god knows where (Bowie in a trucker hat, making him a little more incognito)... Anyway, they find one or maybe even BOTH of Bowie's Tin Machine albums in the cassette spindles near the cash register, for about $3 each -- and Bowie threatening to complain to the guy at the register that it's overpriced, or some such nonsense.

Am I crazy for noticing that Sal’s almost(?) non-swinging, regularly articulated eighth notes here (more visible to me in this transcription), remind me of Gary Thomas’ frequent use of fast, regular (non-swinging) fast articulation?? Their basic sound (timbre) isn’t as similar as say Thomas and Billy Harper (Harper being one of Thomas’ single biggest influences, I only just learned a couple years ago). Also (related), I very distinctly remember the very first time I ever took any note of Sal’s playing (maybe the very first time I ever heard Sal, for all I know) when I heard a fast tune from the Bee Hive Mosaic just a few years ago, from Curtis Fuller’s Fire and Filigree. My wife and I were on a weeklong road-trip with my then 91-year old Dad -- and I'd just got the Bee Hive box a day or two before we left, so I brought the whole thing to listen to in the car that week. Heard just ONE up-tempo solo by Sal (from that Curtis) album, and I immediately had my wife dig out the liners to tell me who the hell THAT was (while I was driving). I'd never really even heard OF Sal before, far as I know (other than probably having seen his name on this board, never having any idea who he was). Anyway, is what I’m hearing as a semi-similarly (at least here) with Gary Thomas’ core rythmic approach way off base?? I'll have to find that Fuller track with Sal, and post it here too -- I think the articulation might have been that sort of same "fast, non-swinging" sort of thing, very punchy -- the kind of thing that makes my hair stand up on end (in the very best kind of way).

The top half, for sure. But in the right hands, I rather like the bottom half (meaning everything below where you have to use the register key). I could do without the top half — and then there’s like a whole NOTHER half (the altissimo register, which truly is above what I call the top half) — which I find excruciatingly difficult to listen to. The bottom of the bass clarinet is usually divine, and even the rarely played alto clarinet’s lower register is very nice (taking about the standard alto, not the contra-alto).

Jeez, can anyone believe that in 2 short years, it’ll have been 20(!) years since this board sprang into being?

That 20th Anniversary edition really is light years better than the original. The sound quality (mix, whatever) on the original was practically halfway unlistenable — and the new mix is like a complete breath of fresh air. Quite nifty that the bonus material is sequenced at the beginning of the album too — which (at least in this particular case) was a great programming decision, where it serves as a tasty appetizer to the ‘main course’ of the album itself.

Just seeing at that link, that there’s a 2CD option too!! YIPPIE!!!!! (Until just a minute ago, I was under the strong impression — because no one could say otherwise (in the ongoing Sun Ra mega-thread on the Steve Hoffman forums — that it was going to be 2LP’s or download only, NEITHER of which I was especially interested in, even for something as tempting as this.)

If you ever run across any picture of Hiromi (or the lovely couple), please share them here! Would be nice to see, is all.

My cousin in Evanston, IL (Chicago inner-ring suburb) send us a Xmas card the week before Dec 25, and we on got it here in DC on Feb 25 (and it wasn’t postmarked either) — so two whole months! Re: the open order I have with Dusty (that closes next Monday) — I loath paying 3x or even 4x as much for FedEx (vs. media mail), but it’s almost temping.

Thanks Chuck. If you could expand any — even with what I realize may be only your vague impressions by now — I know a bunch of us would be interested. And/or can you clarify roughly the timeframe of your exchange(s?) with Mal? I have to admit my only impression about Mal, the person and his personality (other than my imagination looking at what a snappy dresser he was, at least from the 70’s on — perhaps the influence from his 2nd wife, who was Japanese), is nearly entirely from the documentary below. (And BTW, my googling has turned up nothing of the name of his second wife, nor (roughly) when or how they met and/or when they got married — nor any pictures of the two of them. Given Mal’s often dapper appearance, and what I’d consider to be chiseled good looks, I can only imagine they were a handsome couple. Can anyone confirm my assumptions? — especially with any photos?)

An interesting take on live jazz renditions of Japanese videogame music (and j-pop).

I just put in an order last night, but am keeping it open for 10 days — a very nice feature, for those of us who try to bundle stuff into less shipments. Over the years, I practically always choose media mail, but I’m wondering if priority (usps) is really worth the extra $3-$4?? (and there’d have to be even more of a usps meltdown than we’ve seen thus far, before I spend more than double on shipping on FedEx).

I can’t fathom how an ever increasing world population (of humans, to be specific) is in any way sustainable. My wife and I are child-free, and the world could do with a LOT more families who willingly chose to have only one child (or less). And maybe if the birthrate mysteriously dropped, that wouldn’t at all be a bad thing in the long run (realizing that younger generations are often saddled with paying healthcare and some retirement costs for those in their last decade or two — so there are some nontrivial issues in the short run). Still, overall — looking one- and two-hundred years from now — life would have to be better for more (as a percentage of the total world population), if we all somehow learned to procreate less — especially or if our collective virility were to somehow take a hit “naturally”(?) — like as a byproduct of whatever forces are causing these lower sperm-counts and testosterone levels. I don’t begrudge anyone in particular for having 2 or even more kids — but it would be great and far better if birth replacement rates were somehow (again “naturally”) kept to an average of less than 2 rugrats per couple. Even 1.75 (remember, we’re taking overall averages here), would make a big difference over time.

I’ve heard enough interview footage with Ornette and others similarly talking about his music (not tons, but at least a handful of different clips of Ornette himself), that this Tone Dialing promo piece was very much in line with the sorts of things I’d seen/heard before. I agree, little of it makes any sense — in terms of describing the inner logic or ‘rules’ of Harmelodic music. But strangely enough, there is a sort of similar quality (or flavor, if you like) to the types nebulous statements being said. No, none of it makes much actual sense — but (strangely) there is similar “sense” to it all. It reminds me of Sun Ra’s descriptions of his own music (and “Music” with a capital “M”) — except Ornette’s explanations feel more consistent, more “interlocking” if you will. Again, I don’t know how much of it really can be made sense of — but Ornette’s world seems like there’s a bit more of a conceptual-continuity or “through line” to it (as opposed to Sun Ra’s rhetoric, which feels a bit more theatrical). Ornette’s seems more like the interviews I’ve seen with John Cage, who I always felt was as much or more a philosopher, as a composer. Clearly Ornette was a very strong composer, but I think there was some kind of philosophical component to Ornette’s approach too. I do NOT pretend to understand it, but I do have a strong sense that he was describing something that actually made sense to him. Maybe Ra’s rhetoric made sense to him too, I don’t know — but Ornette seems to have bought what he himself was selling (at least to those interested in buying) — not unlike Cage. None of that is meant to disparage Ra. But I always felt as if Ra’s spiel came with a wink and a nod, but Ornette’s didn’t. Good video, as far as it goes. I didn’t expect any more than I got, though I too would LOVE to get a more detailed analysis of the actual musical theory behind Harmelodics — because it sure FEELS like there could be one, even if Ornette can’t (or at least wouldn’t and didn’t) ever talk about it in any concrete ways.

Nothing yet on the Mosaic website.

If the 8cd set was affordable (less than $75, even less than $70), and IF the sonic upgrade was notably better — I’d be tempted. But I’d by lying if I said that just sticking with the 3cd set I already have wasn’t also pretty “temping” too. If I said I’m ”torn” (which I’m not), that would make it sound like I’m pining for the 8cd set, which is really not the case. It’d be nice to have, sure! — but a lot of things would be nice to have — but that doesn’t mean I’m “torn” between getting them and not getting them. That said, a notable (noticeable) sonic upgrade would help grease the skids, some.

For the longest time (until a couple very recent previously-unreleased concerts), Woody Shaw's In My Own Sweet Way was pretty strongly my #1 favorite of all of his 80's output -- a really fantastic album, top to bottom.

One thing's for sure, that'd be the best way to target you specifically.

Yup, it's shockingly heavy!! -- almost like it was pressed in some process (or equipment) more akin to 78's than 33 &1/3rd's. I know practically nothing about the differences, but all I do know is that this Dial 2 (orangish-red cover) from my uncle seems in every way imaginable like a 78 -- other than it plays at 33. Never seen anything like it, though admittedly my experience with vinyl isn't vast.

That sounds maybe exactly like all 5 leader-dates plus the two Kenny Dorham ostensibly co-lead-dates — plus a small handful of previously unreleased takes (at most), I would guess. If nothing else, it’ll surely at least have the alternate 9:29 version of the title track from “Mode For Joe” — only recently released in Japan for the very first time in 2015, on this disc... https://www.discogs.com/Joe-Henderson-Mode-For-Joe/release/11227057 FWIW, this alternate is pretty close to sublime, and quite varied from the master take. Probably not worth the entire price of admission, but it’s not just “any old” alternate, imho — and I’d love to hear what anyone else thinks of it.