Rooster_Ties

Silly Billy, *IF* Bitches Brew is a 70’s album (not saying you said it was!) — then Miles’ Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970: It's About that Time is a 2001 album. Maybe it’s a factor of my only getting into jazz starting in the late 80’s — but when particular albums were released is really quite a secondary data-element, though I’ll admit it can be interesting to look at the history of the PUBLIC’s experience of someone like Miles, through the lens of when THEY first got to experience particular albums — particularly when they came out 2-3 or 5+ years after they were recorded. But that’s an entirely different lens than when/how/why things actually got recorded at the time, and what preceded and followed what, and by how long — weeks, months, half-a-year, etc. And what tours might have interceded between the ventures into the studio — particularly with someone as “evolving” as Miles.

I realize Bitches Brew was released in March of 1970, but the album is a “1969” album in practically every way anyone steeped in Miles would and surely does think of it (recorded in Aug, 1969). I always recoil a bit when I see Bitches Brew listed on “best of the 1970’s” lists.

I’m sure I’ll end up getting this sooner or later (within a year). I’ve bought nearly every ‘new’ Hendrix release over the last 15 years, though some were a few years after their release. I think the only thing I’m lacking is the most recent (nearly)-Complete Band of Gypsies box — which I’ll get around to sooner or later too, I’m sure. Hendrix was my very, very first really DEEP musical love, who I first discovered around my sophomore and especially my junior year in high school (circa 1985) — and by the time I left to go to college in the fall of 1987, I had something like 45 Hendrix titles in my collection, half of them bootlegs. My interest in Jimi waned a bit by 1990, but picked back up again around 2005.

PM sent!!

Long shot I realize, but bump.

Greatly enjoying this show as I’m typing this. A Word From Bird is all I have by (or with) Teddy Charles, and I really do need to track down more. I’ve been listening to a bunch of Tristano/Konitz/Marsh lately, and Teddy Charles is definitely pushing a lot of those same buttons for me.

Just saw the list of Biden’s Covid team (just announced this morning), and one of the task force members is a friend of ours! — who sings in church choir with my wife (a ‘fellow alto’ who my wife often sings/sits right next to) and me. (Of course our choir hasn’t been meeting/singing in person since early March.) We don’t envy their task, but are relived to see an impressive team being assembled. (Our friend is Executive director and president of the Global Health Council, and she previously served in leadership positions at the American Cancer Society.)

And now... Eric Long: “Pennsylvania On My Mind” - Live at Sonoma Broadway Farms (2015)

Brother Ray’s in this one too, as the sun rises... on a new day.

...as I’m waking up this morning...

I’d also never driven a stick shift (car) before — so my first ever experience learning to “clutch/shift” was on that behemoth of a bike — all while trying to keep the damn thing upright. Still have never properly learned to drive a stick either, but that’s another story for later...

Back in college, my roommate my sophomore year taught me to ride (drive) his motorcycle. I never got licensed, but I could almost pass the obstacle course test outside the testing station (painted on the pavement, access 24/7 so you could practice on your own time). His bike was the very FIRST motorcycle I’d ever even been on the back of, let alone driven. And, oh, I should also mention that it was a Honda Goldwing 1000(!!!) — which was a HUGE bike to have to learn on from scratch (I never had/have been on any other motorcycle, before or since). I understand it would have been orders of magnitude easier to have learned on a dirt bike, or smaller model first. I was never great, but I did drive around in small-town traffic on city streets now and then that year, always with my buddy on the back. This was back in ~1989.

Mask wearing is about 90% here in Washington DC. Not sure about the wider DC metro (my wife and I live in DC proper). Maybe 85% — I’ll fully grant that my sample is largely what I’m seeing, and hearing news reports of (probably also anecdotal). In any case, though, the positivity rate here (last I checked), was less than 2% — and has been that way for a couple months. We’re still in Phase 2 now (have been for months and months) — and never opened under phase 3, despite having met the guidelines for Phase 3 a number of times (we may be meeting them now). They’ve moves those “guideline” goalposts a few times, in order to justify staying in Phase 2 — which I think has been smart. Business/employment might be a tad higher under Phase 3, but only for 6-8 weeks, after which I’m betting cases would be back up again, and we’d have to move back to Phase 2 again (or we’d need to, and there’s be a massive pushback against closing down again). I’m not sure of all the technical details, but I think we’re a little more open than when we were first on Phase 2 back in June and July — so it’s likely a modified Phase 2, to enable some more business/commerce, but the violations have been relatively few and far between, at least here in the city (far as I’ve seen in the media, anyway).

All three of the Yo Miles! cd sets are pretty phenomenal, so there’s a good chance this will be pretty tasty.

Before much of my first real exposure to real (actual) jazz, I took a beginners modern dance class in college (free half-credit, and I took all those I could). Pretty sure I heard Grover Washington’s Mr. Magic (the whole album) close to a dozen times over about thirty 90-minute classes that semester (circa 1989, iirc). I’ve never owned a copy, but it’s a good spin every now and then online, every 2-3 years or so.

$285, with 14 hours left to go... https://www.ebay.com/itm/MILT-WARD-VIRGO-SPECTRUM-Self-Titled-TWIN-QUEST-LP-VG/313271029400 Edit: this is not my copy for sale — I’m not turning loose of mine!

Resht in Peash

I’ve only recently started to get bitten by the Tristano School bug — just in the last 4-5 months really — and realizing I’m way too late to the party. Looking for a CD set in good condition (doesn’t have to be perfect, but the discs all need to be Ex-, or Vg+ at worst) — and that won’t completely break the bank. I do have Larry’s excellent book (that includes a reprint of the liners), so I’d even entertain a “disks-only” situation, for the right price. I have an auto-search set on eBay, and I can be pretty patient. Ideally, not much more than $120. I got outbid on the last one that sold on eBay at the very last second (I’d bid 5 seconds before the auction ended, but unfortunately the winner’s ultimate max-bid auto-bid more than me — shame, as it came in a hair less than $100 — and I really should have bid $10 more than I did, though that might not have been enough either). Anyway, if anyone has any leads, or a copy they’d like to part with, I’d be super appreciative. Thanks!!

Black Lion on CD here. I’ve see 1-2 other covers on LP only, and the Black Lion cover is the only CD version I’ve ever seen ‘out in the wild’ - so to speak. Not a fan of the Black Lion cover, and if any other options could be had cheaply ($15 or less), I’d probably upgrade to any new/different cover, and ‘gift’ my Black Lion copy to someone else here in DC (I’ve got a few local friends who aren’t deep collectors, who I wish I could give a lot more of these great titles to - dates that really shouldn’t be so darn obscure and hard to find).

I gave Connect a couple spins yesterday, and really enjoyed it (evidenced by the fact I gave it a second spin). Sure, not every moment of it is Tolliver’s strongest playing ever (technique-wise). But it’s clear his ideas are still there, and he plays more than well enough to make that clear. And I don’t think he embarrasses himself either. While it’s not the first Tolliver date I would recommend to someone, I will say that if you already own half or more of his entire recorded output (as I suspect many of us here do), this new one is well worth checking out. The glass is way more than half full, and I will always cherish the one time I got to hear him play live last February - the very last jazz gig I got to hear in person, before all the Covid shutdowns started a few short weeks later.

Sonny Stitt is ‘alright’ with/in Miles quintet in 1960 — at least based on the two documented Stockholm concerts on Dragon (first one with Trane, then with Stitt on the groups return visit). Ok, but what IS notable is how much stronger/more fiery Miles’ playing is with Stitt (vs with Trane). I’ve said this for many years, that at least on the uptempo tunes — I’d honesty take Miles’ playing with Stitt (over Miles w/ Trane) in a heartbeat. I can take or leave Stitt’s playing with Miles (though I do prefer Stitt’s over Hank Mobley’s playing with Miles in 1961 — and I don’t think Miles is especially better with Hank, as he was with Sonny). Many factors at play when comparing these groups - not just the playing of the 2nd horn / foil to Miles.

Yeah, the earlier quartet date doesn’t hang together as an true “album” really, even though the lineup is consistent on all four cuts. But there is quite a bit of lovely playing throughout. It just doesn’t fit together, in terms of pacing and sequencing. The later album with Sonny Fortune is uniformly excellent, and definitely stronger.

I do too! - just found one on eBay (a seller out of Hawaii, of all places), just a couple months ago. Best of all, only $17 including shipping! And I’d been looking for an affordable copy for over 10 years. It’s both quite a good date, but NOT (quite) a stunning/fantastic date. The whole thing is on YouTube, iirc, if anyone wants to check it out. Most of it’s a solid “B+“ though I’d maybe give one or two tracks a “B”. (Given the players, though, I probably had my expectations set a little too high.) A pretty solid date though.

Hope it sees a reissue on CD too - not that I need one (I’ve got one of those Bellaphon CD issues from the early 90’s — the very first CD that I ever bought on eBay specifically from overseas, from the UK iirc). It’s a fantastic date, and a rare appearance by Nathen Page on guitar (and no piano) - and he did spell Nathen with an ‘e’ (though you often see it misspelled as “Nathan”. *IF* it were to see a reissue on CD with any bonus tracks, I’d order one in a heartbeat. It (Compassion) — and the first Music Inc big band -/ were the only two CD’s I had Charles autograph for me back in February, the one and only time I ever have seen Charles live (up in Baltimore, with Bertrand). Page is a fascinating player, who had an atypical nonstandard picking technique of some sort (a finger-pick on his thumb, iirc). It limited his dexterity a bit, and some might argue his technique is a bit clunky, or even homemade sounding. But I love Page’s unique (weird) sound, and wish he had recorded more. His sound is obviously night and day different, but I’ve always wondered if maybe a parallel player (in terms of weird sound) might be Neil Young’s soling technique on electric. Light years different, but somehow equally outside the norm. Anyone who doesn’t have this date, and if a more reasonably priced CD of it emerges, should definitely check it out.

I’m not on Prime. What’s the gist of his private life? - in a sentence or three. Thanks!