Milestones

It's well known that Miles had trouble with Monk comping behind him. All I can say is Miles did some memorable stuff with "Straight No Chaser," "Well You Needn't," and "Round Midnight."

You can refashion Monk in so many different ways. That's the beauty of it.

So Miles was not very good at playing Monk? Thad Jones? Many others

Like it or not, Monk is the Mozart or Beethoven of jazz, and everyone ought to take a crack at some of his music (not necessarily full album tributes)--and most have. Hell, half of Steve Lacy' long career was playing Monk.

"Timeless"--title track of John Abercrombie's first ECM.

I liked King Crimson too. I should add some of their stuff to my digital collection. Also big on groups using some jazz elements--Traffic, BS&T, The Doors.

That's a tough one. I came up as a rock lover, though I was very young (age 4) at the time of the British Invasion. I basically followed two paths: 1) Beatles and offshoots; 2) Dylan and rootsy Americana stuff. I also favored for some time the "art rock" groups, of which only Jethro Tull still stands high in my favor (pretty different, though, from Pink Floyd and Yes). Some favorites: Sgt. Pepper--Beatles The "White" album--Beatles Who's Next--The Who Bringing it All Back Home--Dylan Basement Tapes--Dylan/Band Aqualung--Jethro Tull Into the Music--Van Morrison

The general feeling seems to be that his first three albums (along with his appearance on Hancock's Quartet) are his best. I would agree with that assessment. Still, he has real talent, and I don't understand those who dismiss most or all of his career.

I haven't really bothered with new Marsalis releases in the 15 years since, except I did like the meeting with Willie Nelson. Also, he has a fine feature on "Picasso"--on a big band record under Ted Nash's name.

OK, my formative years in jazz coincided with the rise of Marsalis, so I bought into the Downbeat covers, the TV appearances, and everything. I did learn soon enough he was not the Second Coming. But some things caught my eye even later on, such as the Monk record (1999). Every halfway decent jazz musician can do something with Monk—and despite what the detractors say, Wynton is much better than halfway decent. He had some good musicians at the time, such as my man Wycliffe Gordon and Eric Reed. I like the ensemble size (septet), and many tracks emphasize the higher sounds—soprano sax and trumpet in upper register (through not shrill). I don’t know what Marsalis thought of Steve Lacy (or Lacy of Marsalis), but having the two together in an ensemble of this size would have been intriguing. I did listen to this record not long after it came out and found some tracks to be very good while others were quite underwhelming. Now in checking it out again I find that most of it works. I especially like the tracks with smaller groups—a trio of soprano, piano and bass; a piano trio. Wynton certainly does not hog the limelight. But when he gets a spotlight feature on “Ugly Beauty” (a duet with Reed), he really shines; in fact, I think this is one of his finest ballad performances ever. It’s basically a relaxed and fun record. But that's just the point. Wynton never was (or will be) the great composer/arranger he aspires to be. But let him explore Monk...and the music is pretty fine.

At or near the pinnacle of all 2nd-half of 20th Century music figures.

John Surman. Not that I was completely unfamiliar, but I didn't have much of his work. Now I want to hear a lot more. And I want to investigate Wadada Leo Smith.

Good to see plenty of fans. Certainly Surman has his own set of very distinctive roots, and I agree that he 's made relatively few straight-ahead jazz records. But I find his difference and his eclecticism appealing.

I’ve been getting into John Surman lately. He made a big contribution to McLaughlin’s Extrapolation. I recently picked up The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon, a duet with Jack DeJohnette, and I love that one. I’ve heard Brewster’s Rooster, and his fine contributions to Abercrombie’s November. I know he has worked a lot in a more ''European" vein...a lot of associations with ECM. I find he is a quite a master of the big horn (baritone); the straight, high one (soprano); the bass clarinet; and other stuff. As far as overdubbing goes, he strikes me as the best in jazz.

Is Jarrett a hippie dude at heart?

WTF

I find this to be one of the best vocal albums I have ever heard. I've heard some other stuff by Karrin, and all of it good--but this record is special.

A couple of those Astaire/Rogers movies produced a lot of fine standards.

Sadly true.

Like Jazzbo, I must mention Philip K. Dick. Only 53 when he passed, but he put together three decades of prolific writing. He is my favorite SF writer, and one of my favorite writers of all time.

I'm 54 now, which means I have outlived Shakespeare by a couple of years. In jazz, I have outlived Bill Evans by 3 years. I'm creeping up on Mingus. Needless to say, they all accomplished plenty with their time on earth.

Piano? I'm no musician, but it seems to me that piano has tremendous range/ability to control. Tyner, for all his thunder, can be amazingly quiet. Randy Weston goes from delicate to booming. If one likes quiet, we just lost two great masters of that art--Jim Hall and Charlie Haden. But I guess the original post is dealing with larger groups--at least a quartet and usually bigger. Obviously, the bigger the group, the trickier the dynamics.

Have we gotten around to discussion of Dylan's new record that is a tribute to Frank Sinatra?

I always have MLK off Some people get off Columbus Day. If memory serves, we had separate days off to commemorate Washington and Lincoln. Then it became one day: President's Day. Now I don't think it's even a holiday.

I agree on the popcorn sold by Boys Scouts. That is good stuff, and would be my second choice after Orville.