Milestones

There will always be Sonny! Sonny endures! I've been listening to Road Shows Vol. 4 and Sonny Rollins & Co. (from mid-60s). The latter is a real find, with Sonny doing some very interesting takes on standards (songbook and jazz), and it's good to hear more stuff with Jim Hall in the band.

Anyone familiar with this one? It's basically Diana doing the Great American Songbook, and to these ears she slides and glides right into it--lovely vocals and great arrangements. This is about as it gets for this music done by someone who is NOT KNOWN for this music. Yes, she did Billie Holiday material too, though I'm not familiar with that. I liked The Supremes, who were constantly in the air/on the air when I was a lad. But I did not know Diana Ross was capable of this record: Blue. The kicker is that Motown left this record in the can for a good four (4) decades...insane.

I don't quite get home field advantage in baseball. Didn't we just have three games in New York? That means 3 games for them to 2 for the Astros. Yes, final two in Houston, but they have to win them both--and it may take just one more game to end the series (in favor of Yankees).

Wow, some obscure stuff indeed. I've been listening to jazz for 36 years, and most of the records listed are just...obscure. How about New and Old Gospel by Jackie McLean with Ornette on trumpet? I know I had heard about this for a long time before I finally found it, and it may be pretty obscure again. There was no letdown for me. This is very interesting and enjoyable stuff.

You just can't figure out what will go on during the post-season. A short time ago, Cleveland would lose 3 games in an entire month. Now they lose three straight to the Yankees. With the bats going ice cold, the defense going to hell, and their best pitcher being godawful--I guess we were lucky to have won two games. And I'm a home town fan.

Actually, this makes me think that aren't many pianists around these days that I really follow. Plenty of good pianists, but how many are distinctive and great? I still get the most out of veteran Randy Weston.

I haven't been looking too closely at the other series in this round, but the Indians/Yankees have been quite a match with lots of dramatic and sometimes controversial stuff.

Monk is great at 100, and for that matter at any age, time, or place.

And the Tribe wins in 13 innings. A lot of work (and luck too), but it's a win--and that with their ace looking completely awful, as well as nothing from usually reliable hitters: Ramirez, Brantley (though admittedly the latter is still finding his rhythm after extended time on the DL). It's the Indians' year. It's clear the Yanks don't have a prayer.

I don't mind applause, but on the Jarrett records it seems to go on forever. Maybe it was great and the crowd clapped endlessly, But I can't recall such sustained applause on other records. It's as if he wants to present proof that he's the greatest musician on earth.

Yes, but anyone would go into a state of panic and a stampede would result...no way around it.

Very sad...must be a case of pure evil or pure insanity.

It runs nearly 90 seconds on Somewhere.

I'm sure many of you have noted the very long period of applause found at the end of every Jarrett live album, which is most of his records. It's weird how this craving for applause has to be documented on the recordings. I'm sure sustained applause could be included on many live albums, but the producer makes the decision to cut it off after a reasonable time. In the case of Jarrett, it's just annoying. Thank god you can hit "stop" so easily with digital music.

Twins? Seven women (bunnies) at once? I guess it floated his boat.

Kluber is pitching today. I wonder who wins that game?

I like the Indians in this series--for that matter, in any series. What happened to Pujols? He had a a 10-year run of hitting over .300 (sometimes way over), but he's nothing like that the last several seasons. He has a .242 average this year and pretty low in home runs too--by his standards, at least.

I have to say Aja sounds as jazzy as anything that is classified as Rock music.

And the winning streak may still be going.

Tribe has officially tied A's for longest winning streak in American League history! Kluber is the greatest pitcher I have ever seen in an Indians uniform.

Obviously a great time to be a Tribe fan. Hell, it's plain MLB history at this point. Most nights they make it look effortless. Witness the 11-0 destruction of the Tigers tonight. I'm figuring on Win #20 with Corey Kluber taking the mound.

Listening to John's last ECM record, Up and Coming. The opening track is oddly melancholy for having the title "Joy."

Good group, though I never collected much. I did have the first album on vinyl, and I taped Aja off the radio. I've also heard Two Against Nature, their comeback album. You have to like a group with that much interest in jazz and who hired the likes of Wayne Shorter and Chris Potter.

Yes, quite true, I gave this only a few seconds' thought. But consider all the major ones among us, though many have not been with ECM for years/decades--Ralph Towner, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, Gary Burton, Jan Garbarek, Charles Lloyd, Chris Potter, Eberhard Weber. And that's just sticking mostly to American musicians.

Not sure about that, but they have released some many, many years after they were recorded: Sleeper by Jarrett's European quartet, Hamburg '72 by Jarrett trio (Haden had recently passed), and Carta de Amor by Magico. For that matter, how many big-name ECM artists are deceased? The only ones that come to my mind now (besides Abercrombie) are Lester Bowie and Charlie Haden.