Milestones

Wow, a 45 of "Brownskin Girl."

You can argue all you want, though I have to say I don't know what you are arguing about. Well, 1951 is not "early" when you figure Duke had been in business for at least a quarter-century by then--and he was over 50 and CT was about 30.

Just that several posters said, "So what is Sonny going to learn from so-and-so?" So, sell a few magazines. My god, how many copies can Downbeat be expected to sell per month? I'm glad to see it' still afloat. And if it offers any exposure to Sonny, that's a good thing.

OK, didn't Duke record with such young punks as Coltrane, Mingus, Max Roach, and Clark Terry? I don't know what you are reading into my posts, or those of others, but I would be the last to dispute Sonny's greatness, the last to question his musical decisions, and the first to agree that any blindfold test will do nothing to change perspective on the man/musician.

OK, these last few posts I have read seem to be coming awfully close to saying that once you are a jazz great you are simply a god-like entity who is entitled to ignore those who follow and try to add to the jazz continuum. And do you believe that the point of the blindfold test is for the subject (Sonny in this case) to learn something in very practical and personal terms from the musicians who are played?

Ok, I sort of get the gist of this...can't say I follow all of it. it may be worth noting that it is perhaps unusual to feature such a long-time veteran for the text and play music of relative youngsters. The piece from Jazz Times worked differently, since they were playing people like Coleman Hawkins, Louis Jordan, and Jo Stafford. But what about the whole thing of the veteran artist who not only knows the work of the next generation or two, but who is it very intent on working with them? We could start with the most obvious: Miles Davis. We can see it in Jackie McLean, Chick Corea, Stan Getz. We could go on and on.

JSngry, what's wrong with Heath, Lovano, Brecker, and B. Marsalis? In the "Before and After" Sonny said he knew Motian, Lovano, and Frisell (though not that particular piece).

Yes, I too have heard that Sonny doesn't listen much to recorded jazz, and apparently does little to follow young (and middle-age) musicians. And I'm sorry, but that does seem odd. As influential as he is, you'd think he'd want to be familiar with the work of those who have learned from him. Not that he is obligated to be up on these musicians. He did the test and had plenty of good stuff to say; and, as someone said, he seemed quite engaged. But why do a blindfold if you're not a follower of the next 2-4 generations?

Why is that? He has been known to work with some younger guys (at the time): Roy Hargrove, Stephen Scott, and Branford Marsalis.

I had a look at the newest Downbeat and the blindfold is test is with Sonny. I was surprised he didn't recognize anyone--not Lovano, not Brekcer, not Branford Marsalis, not James Carter, not even Jimmy Heath. What's up with that? He did, however, have a lot of nice things to say about the music.

Much as I love Lennon and McCartney, they added nothing truly truly great to the Christmas canon.

Yeah, "Twelve Days" is somewhat annoying, though nearly as bad as many others. I also must add "Feliz Navidad," although there is a version by Michel Camilo that is not bad.

Jazz to the World is pretty good as jazz collections go, most especially John McLaughlin's rendition of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and Chick Corea's "What Child is This?"

Good choices. I suspect we'll have a lot of pop songs from the last 60-70 years. There are a lot of bad ones and a few good ones: "The Christmas Song," some of Vince Guaraldi's stuff.

Thought it would be interesting to see what people say on this one. By and large I enjoy Christmas music, and I also like a fair amount of the jazz stuff (and, to be fair, jazz is not all that suited). I do mean songs that always sound irritating/annoying. We all know that a good song can be butchered by various singers/musicians. Here are some I really can't stand anymore (pretty much always could not stand them): "Rockin' around the Christmas Tree" "Jingle Bell Rock" "Grandma got Run over by a Reindeer" "Santa Baby"

The Knicks somehow manage to play the Cavs very well. I thought they would win their second against the Cavs last night (and only fifth overall). The Cavaliers did manage to squeak by and win in the end. Cavs won't win many games when they score 90, but I doubt they will have many more games where they score only 90.

Nature Boy is probably the Jackie McLean record I spin most often.

IMHO one of the greatest guitarists--one of the greatest figures--in jazz.

"A Ballad for Doll"

I have to say that "A House is Not a Home" and "Nature Boy" are just great Jackie McLean performances and stand right beside his greatest work.

I'm sure the discussion has been had here, but it is interesting that so many jazz fans resent artists who become commercially successful. Not that this unheard of in so many other spheres, but is seems particularly common in jazz. I should say "successful" even to a modest extent, and in some fashion--like just getting your life together, as noted above. Sometimes it seems nothing beats a jazz artist who is hungry, desperate, and suicidal.

I think we can say that most great musicians are questing, and once they achieve a measure of success then that feeling of the quest largely vanishes. That explains for me why there is very little Bruce Springsteen of the past 30 years that appeals to me--he usually sounds like a parody of himself. It's no easy thing for artists like Bob Dylan and Sonny Rollins to continue to operate at peak energy and creativity (arguably Dylan has done it better than Sonny). Yet most latter-day Van Morrison is fantastic. But bottom line, never cross a great artist off your list. And I have to say that I personally find McLean's Nature Boy a fabulous swan song.

Thanks for the link to the Giddins piece. It's very well-written and totally on point about the greatness of Jimmy Heath.

It is, of course, really tough to get a good movie on jazz out of Hollywood. Even Bird was pretty much slammed (sometimes for good reasons), even with Clint Eastwood being the biggest jazz fan of any major Hollywood player.

Throwing out some names...I won't swear they have not been mentioned already (I skimmed): Emily Remler Tony Purrone Mark Whitfield Ted Dunbar