Milestones

I remember seeing this come out over two decades ago; I spotted it at Borders (remember Borders?). I didn't get it then. I have it now, as I have come to appreciate the players. I was already into Abercrombie decades ago, but the others were little known to me. But now I do know Patitucci and Erskine, and I'm coming to know Mintzer. The latter is a virile player with a sound like Brecker's. These guys are serious about the gig--they play very cohesively and they are fired up. All the tunes are originals, divided democratically. Mintzer and Abercrombie provide the most striking tunes, but the others are more than solid. I really slept on this one. Go get it to hear players who work the tradition, with much of that tradition being the richness of their own legacies as players and composers.

Fingerpainting: Music of Herbie Hancock is not bad: Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton, Mark Whitfield. It is rare to hear trumpet in such a small group with no drums. There's also Parker's Mood: McBride, Roy Hargrove, Stephen Scott.

A good one is Spirits in the Field: Arthur Blythe (alto), Bob Stewart (tuba), Cecil Brooks (drums). There's a track on Strange City (Herbie Nichols Project) that I really like: "Blue Shout." This has Ted Nash (tenor), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Matt Wilson (drums) News for Zulu: Zorrn (alto), George Lewis (trombone), Bill Frisell (guitar) Jimmy Giuffre is the master of this, especially the early trios: clarinet/reeds-guitar-bass & clarinet/reeds-trombone-bass.

As for drummers, Joe recorded and performed with many greats--most notably Elvin Jones, but also Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, and Al Foster.

I would definitely say that Smiley was better than Rose when doing interviews with musicians (of all sorts).

Wow, Scofield led looking pretty snazzy in suit and tie! I kind of doubt that Charlie Rose is a genuinely big jazz guy, but give him credit for interviewing Joe for 10 minutes. It's unfortunate that Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley went down in disgrace. They were probably the only guys on TV who would interview a jazz player for 10 minutes and allow a performance more than 3 minutes long. Near as I can tell, those days are long gone.

There is much flexibility in matters of intonation and such in jazz, but I (on limited experience) hear Henry as someone sounding, at times, out of tune and struggling for command. The Jackie McLean comparisons are interesting, because I have enjoyed and been moved by virtually everything I've heard by Jackie--and that's a lot records and solos.

Welcome back. Hoping you will be as good as new!

I've turned on several people (most with no interest in jazz) to Benny Golson's "Gypsy Jingle-Jangle."

The Adderleys created some serious earworms!

Really there is so much jazz music that can appeal to just about everyone, either through lovely ballad performances, catchy melodies, or amazing grooves. Who would not like? "Someday My Prince Will Come"--Miles "Central Park West"--Trane "Ask Me Now"--Monk "Strange Meadowlark"--Brubeck How about Sonny performing a calypso? How about the insane catchiness of "Hottentot" (Scofield) or "Cross the Heartland" (Metheny)?

Shades of Pat Martino.

That's interesting. I didn't think Joni was able to perform these days.

Some good solo records, long-running collaborations with Dave Stryker, occasional meetings with Joe Lovano, contributions to Mingus Big Band. I find him to be highly underrated. Much to be enjoyed--just my opinion.

If the group was a "novelty" and "designed to attract attention," did they actually attract much attention?

Why weren't The Leaders bigger? This was the group with Lester Bowie, Arthur Blythe, Chico Freeman, and an impressive rhythm section. They were leaders indeed and should have been a high-caliber collective force. But their albums were on several different and very small labels. Their records have been quite hard to find. Are they still around, with largely different players? Did anyone see the band live in its prime? I have just two albums. One is Mudfoot--recently acquired and it sounds quite good. The other is Slipping and Sliding, which is notable (to my ears) for two ballad-like pieces: "Everything Changed" and "High Summer." But otherwise it just seems average. Was it a group with great potential that wasn't quite achieved?

Most jazz musicians don't retire until they're dead or physically can't play a solo longer than 20 seconds.

Great writers usually piss off the people who are their raw material.

I was pleasantly surprised by Agent Running in the Field--a rather fine work for so late in his career. I heard that Silverview was written a few years back and Le Carre felt it wasn't good enough to be published. Yet here it is.

Having Ornette's quartet back you (on one track) perhaps counts for something. But actually I do find myself enjoying some of her songs on Double Fantasy. Here they are considerably less avant garde than what she usually did.

You have to be in a certain mood to listen to Stanko, or at least I have to be. He very much typifies the "ECM sound."

Mostly Coltrane--Steve Kuhn, with Lovano prominently featured.

I think there were six albums by Weather Report in the 1980s, although most seem to prefer their earlier work.

R.I.P., Grachan. I very much agree that he was greatly underrated. In a fair world, he would have made 8 or 9 records as a leader for Blue Note (rather than two) and about 50 albums overall (rather than 10).

From what I can tell Connelly has a Frank Morgan obsession. Nothing wrong with writers inserting their jazz obsessions. Peter Straub seems to be a jazz fanatic.