king ubu

enjoying that it seems my huge package (including Stitt, Chu Berry, Chambers Select and a pair of singles) has finally arrived... will have to wait for Monday to pick it up (feghing commies! )

Hey, sure, but Brötzmann isn't innovative at all either... maybe he was in his early days, but that has long ago stopped. He is playing the same old, same old... As for Holland on disc vs. Holland live... I've heard plenty of live dates (radio, never saw him in concert as I mentioned). I can see the difference, but I still don't like his live sets much better than his discs. It's just mostly music that doesn't really move me, grabs my attention, makes me stop whatever I'm doing and listen more closely. (That again, of course, has more to do with personal taste than with the amount of "innovation" found in the music.) As for your point about my statement on innovation: ok, ok... not sure if irony is called for, but here's a nice little bit of Karl Kraus, from "Der Fortschritt": What I'm saying is not that "innovation" and "progress" are the same... but that the whole concept is very difficult and honestly I'm not capable of making to-the-point sensible statements about it right now.

Why should they pull the plug? They're gonna milk that cow to the last drop... Complainin' because as a good customer/fan/collector who owns all these releases, you'll have to pay *a lot* to get these deluxe sets in order to get a disc or half a disc of previously unissued material. That IS a nuisance, in my opinion.

Gee... I heard of it a few days ago, and the inclusion of the live material obviously makes this interesting. But how silly is that trumpet idea? A replica of the mouthpiece? A replica? What's the cost of a trumpet mouthpiece, why not just included a real one? Or is a replica a real one built *like* the original but built newly? Anyway, silly silly silly... I have all the boxes and like them a lot (except for disc 1 of the BB set being unplayable, friggin Sony Switzerland maroons sent me a CDR and thought I'd have to be very, very, very extremely grateful to them for that...). Oh, and do they have a metal spine version of the Cellar Door box? Really? And they're not even able to list the 8 boxes chronologically, either... (neither by date of appearance nor - what would have made more sense - by date of recording)

Saw Gianluigi Trovesi's electric quintet last night (Gianluigi Trovesi as,alto-cl,e-flat cl, Massimo Greco tp, Roberto Cecchetto g, Marco Micheli b, Vittorio Marinoni dr) Quite good, not a big relevation or anything, but very enjoyable! Not hearly as "electric" as the band name made me expect, Cecchetto was always felt and present but never loud or overpowering, Greco was ok in the first set, then had a beer at the bar and took a second with him back on stage and was loose and godo in the second set. Trovesi was his usual self, full of ideas and melodies, and highly virtuosic when it was called for. I enjoyed the folksy stuff a lot, and as encores, they did two of their New Orleans staples (second encore was "High Society", first I recognised but can't tell what it was... also in the opening number of the second set Trovesi and Greco had a call and response thing going on with the lick of a corny Bert Kaempfert tune, I think... ha!)

Happy Birthday!

So let me be the first this year! :party: Your gift will come soon... And the duplicate Alela & Alina has also finally arrived, so everything will be settled soon!

I think think I saw a few in stores - they had that blatant boot-look, but I didn't look close enough to see if there was any info given about anything...

Lenny Popkin Lennie Tristano Catherine Deneuve

just read this elsewhere... well, main thing they already know it "makes history"

Hey, I'm pretty excited about the Jamal. I held off buying any spanish boots for years, and I continued reading about a Mosaic for years, too... and I - after all - lived well without all the music for years, also... yet I'll be getting this... hopefully before it goes OOP, it'll be a pricey basterd!

I guess the above is the gist of your point - and that's an interesting and probably true observation. Possibly all artists ought to die before being able to get back in line? Not sure what to answer in seriousness. I certainly don't disagree, but I hope and wish many musicians will sort of stick to their ideals and visions or whatever it is that's guiding them... and will go on being explorative in their mindsets etc. And that, I do miss with Holland. On the other hand, someone like Wayne Shorter came back in full glory, playing awesome and challening music after a long while (well, I don't want to be unfair... I don't know late WR and most of what Shorter in those years from about 1977-1997 or so).

Take it easy, guys! Holland is certainly one of the bigger names in today's jazz scene, no denying that! I don't care much for his more recent music, regardless if it was recorded in studio or live (and have hence never been willing to pay 50-100$ which would have been what it had taken to see him live here). Anyway, I don't want to debate what's "mainstream" and how "innovation" can/should/must be defined. But Holland, to me, certainly has not been innovative for several decades by now. His quintet with Wheeler/Priester was kind of great though, but what has followed since, I guess, can indeed be described as mostly "playing it safe". And there's nothing against that - he can do as he likes, and if he enjoys a good life thanks to that, that's good for him and I'd be the last to judge him on that! But the main point is that he seemed to have quite some promise early on, and for some longtime jazz fans (and more than mere fans), I guess his development as a whole can be viewed as a disappointment. Again, there's no judgement in that... he may do as he likes, but there's no obligation on our side to continue liking what he does - it's all a matter of taste, in the end.

Yes, of course there is! Hey, I was the only one to mention Doug Watkins, too... if this would be a "who are you're favourite bass players"-thread and not a poll, people would have posted longer lists (I would have, for sure).

Played the entire Haden Black Saint/Soul Note box this afternoon. As expected, the O&ND albums were fine (I've heard the first one before but never owned it), the album with Allen had lots of great bass playing, not bad, the one with Chet I'll have to revisit... and the final one, same trio minus Chet (Pieranunzi-Haden-Higgins) sounded very good again. Will revisit that one soon, too! Now into the second album of the Pieranunzi set (sort of logical to listen now, as Pieranunzi was on the final two Haden discs). Some good hardbop on the first, I thought the few spots by Massimo Urbani outshone most of the rest though, Farmer didn't sound that great here (hey, he's always good, he was a pro! But didn't sound "on" to me here).

Fatty George Slim Gaillard Shorty Rogers

Ah yes, Dyani and Miller! Didn't think beyond US when posting yesterday...

favourites, off the top of my head: Oscar Pettiford Charles Mingus Doug Watkins Paul Chambers Richard Davis young Gary Peacock and yes, Charlie Haden also! weird, a poll about bassists and Ming and Pettiford missing...

bonus added to reissues from the series? so they finally get in line with the usual silly practices we've been used from the music business in the past years? what an annoying thing that would be!

Do you usually do? I saw a DVD (off european TV) which I enjoyed a lot, recorded in Burghausen, Germany, on March 20, 2009. Mighty fine concert, too bad I never had a chance to see The Cookers live! But at least I have that DVD! (In case anyone wonders: Craig Handy was on alto then, not Azar Lawrence, and EJ Strickland on drums.) [...] As for the other comments, I don't know what to say. It's interesting what people read into things. We recorded a CD right after these gigs that will be out in the Fall in Europe and next year in the US. I think it came out great and one can listen to it (and hopefully enjoy it) without being distracted by one's lack of stage presence. Interesting discussion there! On the DVD I mention above, that never even occurred to me. I guess there's plenty of variety as far as expectations to jazz musicians go... I can kind of take it all, from aping around nervously or a gentelmanly conferencier (Benny Golson, telling the same stories over and over again...) to the most introspective kind - as long as it seems to be natural and in line with the personality/character of the performing artist! Never thought anything was weird about your behaviour on said DVD, David!

... bring us the effing Horos!

Mine too. Don't know if it has been "silvered" as they used to say. Yes it has! That's how I've owned it for many years! Seems it's only available as a download (or rather pricey used disc) now, though. http://www.ecmrecords.com/Catalogue/ECM/1100/1122.php?cat=%2FArtists%2FRava+Enrico%23%23Enrico+Rava&we_start=0&lvredir=712 http://www.amazon.com/Enrico-Rava-Quartet/dp/B000024I7W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1272155709&sr=1-1

I think my top Rava still remains "Quartet" on ECM, with Roswell Rudd, JF Jenny Clark and Aldo Romano!

Yes, I played the first four discs in a row! Then time ran out... very good! Not so sure about the second and fourth, but the first one with its funky beats and guitar was great, and I liked String Band a lot, too! The second was at the same time a tougher "jazz" date as it was also a venture into more hymnic, post-Milesian, ECM-expressionist territory, which kind of went on with "Secrets". Not that I disliked either of these, not at all, just found them a bit less fun, so to say. The first few tunes I heard of "Electric Five" sounded like a motherload of fun though, looking forward to play it in full tomorrow!

loved that first album from the box! not quite as convinced of the rest of the box, but that one is really fun... Just playing that first one... fun indeed! Will report elsewhere how I'll like the rest...