Milestones

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.

One wonders what may be in the vaults at ECM. Abercrombie did spend 4+ decades with the label. Maybe some live recordings. I was able to find a few live Abercrombie and Towner tracks on the Internet, and they sound even more sublime and wonderful than the studio recordings.

John Abercrombie and Keith Jarrett must be the two Americans with the longest and most impressive runs on ECM. I did read on the website that Jack DeJohnette is the most recorded musician on the label. I suppose so, but it's helped by his many appearances with Abercrombie and Jarrett.

The first Gateway is a classic. But just as good, I think, is Homecoming from the mid-1990s.

Sad news...something I did not expect, though I had heard he was not well. Just sad. He leaves behind an amazingly diverse and large body of work on ECM, most of which is in my collection. Great work as a sideman with Tyner, Lloyd, DeJohnette, Palmer, Copland, Dr. Lonnie Smith.

Few people seem interested in the fact that Jerry Lewis died two days ago. Everyone ought to see The Nutty Professor, The King of Comedy, and at least one Martin/Lewis film.

Let me check that out. Yes, indeed, and it's a fantastic performance! But it is a very lengthy track--about 20 minutes.

I find it curious and disappointing that he did not play flute on the Five Spot sessions.

And a good thing. I generally prefer Old and New Dreams over Ornette's Prime Time.

Can someone list all or some of Dolphy's pieces on which he plays flute. The man was an absolute genius on flute, and he did't record it often enough. I'm particularly interested in pieces from the Prestige recordings.

Happy birthday, indeed! Mr. DeJohnette has played with EVERYBODY, and he's produced an awful lot of great sets as leader and co-leader.

He made a very fine contribution to Getz's Billy Highstreet Samba. R.I.P.

There must be a lot more of these.

Of the records I've heard, I like Witchi-Tai-To the best. Jan does not seem very active of late, with only three records in this century--and the last in 2010.