[Lee Morgan]

Live at the Lighthouse might be my fav Lee Morgan and opened me to a very different side of him after having first heard his long string of hard boppish, occasionally formulaic Blue Notes of the 60s.

His final detour from Blue Note to my knowledge and one of my favorites that I haven't seen mentioned here is Take Twelve. Killer front line of Lee and Clifford Jordan. I highly recommend it.

[Herbie Hancock on Miles Davis]

TTK, I can't recall ever reading something about Herbie that did not mention that he played with Miles.

Well of course, but you could also flip that statement and say that you can never read an article about Miles without it mentioning all of major, major artists that got their starts in his combos over the years. That is certainly an essential aspect of Miles' oeuvre that has propelled him to such legendary stature. For what it's worth, I have never thought of Herbie or any of those guys simply as Miles' sidemen, and I really haven't at all gotten that impression over the years. I realize that your experience may be different.

I am guessing that a fairly large percentage of the universe that's familiar with Herbie Hancock does not know that he played with Miles Davis.

Agreed. Herbie Hancock is one of the few jazz musicians whose name is familiar to many people who don't listen to jazz. I can say that he's one of no more than 5-10 who I'd heard of before getting into jazz, and I didn't know at that time that he'd worked with Miles.

When I type Herbie Hancock into the google search bar, it suggests Rockit, Chameleon, Headhunters and Watermelon Man, in that order. I'd throw in maybe Cantaloupe Island and, for better or worse, the keytar. Not a scientific study by any means, but I think that paints a pretty accurate picture of Herbie in the public consciousness

[This will make you fly! Really! I don't believe you can do]

Well ok, I'm very happy with this work so I can't stop myself presenting it in an enthusiastic way

Hard to argue with that. Anyway, I enjoyed it..

[The Grateful Dead Dark Star]

I'm not about to scour these 79 pages to check if this has been mentioned before so I apologize if this is old news, but in reading about the recently rediscovered acoustic tapes I came across this fantastic blog I think dead fans around here will enjoy:

http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com

it's pretty much what its url implies. Check it out.

[What are they worth]

i hear vince guaraldi was rolling in peanuts dough

[Abdullah Ibrahim]

I love Abdullah Ibrahim. Good News from Africa is one of my favorite albums of all time. African Portraits is another good one I haven't seen mentioned here. It's a solo performance from 1973. That's about all I know about it, but it's really beautiful and worth checking out if you can find it. I love the ruminating feel of his solo playing.

[Modern/Avant New Releases: A running thread]

Anyone who's a fan of Mary Halvorson's stuff over the last few years will probably like her new album. It's kind of more of the same -- not a bad thing in my opinion. I've had it for a couple days now and I'm really enjoying it. She's definitely one of my favorites these days.

[Max Roach Biography?]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

[Max Roach Biography?]

Hey all-

I've never posted before, but I've been lurking for a couple months and have really enjoyed a lot of the discussion going on around here.

I have a simple question -- does anyone know of a good Max Roach biography? He's a guy I've always wanted to learn some more about, but I've never come across a biography. He's certainly a worthy subject. Thanks in advance.