Jim Alfredson

Randy and I had the opportunity to play with Corey Christiansen up at the Interlochen Fine Arts Academy last December. We barely made it up there... the snow was outrageous! Corey barely made it, too. That was the week that St. Louis was hit by that horrible ice storm. But we had fun. Somebody in the audience must have video-phoned us, as Corey found this little vid on YouTube and emailed it to us:

If the price is right!

Night Lights community? And no organissimo?

Honestly, I can see the connection for Ludacris. Less so for ZZ Top, but they can play the blues and are a good band. But really... Rod fucking Stewart?! PLEASE!

They should hire these guys:

You mean as contrasted with Ludacris and ZZ Top? Ludacris and ZZ Top are both from the south, so I guess... I don't know... but Rod Stewart!?!?

Rod Stewart. Blech. Hasn't he had enough? Why does he have to horn in on jazz festivals, too? Christ. So what does Rod Stewart have to do with either jazz or the heritage of New Orleans?

Your loss. Goldings is a much better player and composer than Palmer.

Keynote Speaker. I still haven't picked that one up. But I love Stewarts playing, and his composing is actually pretty high quality stuff as well. As can be witnessed in his criminally OOP Blue Note discs (which are still two of my most prized discs). Yes, that's the one. And I think he did three discs for Blue Note. Telepathy, Snide Remarks, and Think Before You Think. All are great discs, with Stewart's humorous and wacky compositions taking the fore. I highly recommend Keynote Speaker. It hardly ever leaves my car. In fact, I think I'll go grab it and rip it to my harddrive now so I can listen while I work.

Go for it!

don't know if that makes you feel better, but it's not entirely a French phenomenon... Check to see if the artists have ads in the magazine touting their product. That would be a dead giveaway that the review might not be totally honest. I never said I didn't like Lifetime. I said some of it is great, some of it is cheesy as hell (like the stuff Jack Bruce and Tony Williams sing on). You haven't even heard Sausades, so how can you say you don't like the "new one"? That's completely dishonest. If you don't like the concept of the new one, that's one thing. But you're dissing something you haven't even heard, which means you have no credibility to diss it. You should be sorry because if you think Goldings stinks, you're missing some really great music. He's a fantastic musician and jazz composer as well as being an individual voice on the organ. His last few records on Palmetto have been very, very good and different from the standard organ trio fare. There's also a CD under Bill Stewart's name on CDBaby with Goldings on organ and Kevin Hayes on electric piano and piano filled with wonderfully off-kilter music.

organissimo is super gay. Somebody should report us.

Just to confirm: You've been to our myspace page, right? http://www.myspace.com/organissimo

I can just imagine the conversation: DeJohnette: Hey Sco, you know how we can go totally commercial and make crazy bread? A Tony Williams Lifetime Tribute band!! Sco: Yeah, we could sell, like, 500 CDs! DeJohnette: Yeah!!! Totally awesome!

They are expanding on it by taking that "aesthetic" and applying it to their own originals and other tunes that Lifetime didn't do. They are not trying to re-create it, but rather take it from a certain starting point and add their own thing. I think it's worth hearing but I also think Goldings is one of the pre-eminent modern jazz organists (and bristle when people compare him to Larry Young... he's got his own distinct thing going on). And Scofield has never sounded better, imo. I have all the Lifetime stuff. Some of it is great, some of it is remarkably cheesy and pretentious. But them's the 70s in a nutshell.

Oh shit, I was thinking of the one with Jack Bruce on it... which one is that? McLaughlin's not on that... right? I have all those records. The sound quality is crap, which majorly detracts from the music. But yeah, Emergency... there's really not much of a comparison between Sausades and that.

My good buddy Louis wanted me to post this for those interested: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHRISTIAN HOWES AND THE JOEL NEWTON SITUATION perform Friday, Feb 2nd, at Schuler Books and Music, 2660 28th Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI, 7:30 pm, free. Violinist Christian Howes and guitarist Joel Newton will be performing during an 18-day tour through the Midwestern U.S. with a NYC-based jazz quartet featuring Aviv Cohen on drums and Walter Fischbacher on keyboards and organ. The group's performances feature original works by Howes and Newton. Howes, originally from Columbus, Ohio, has garnered international renown over the past 10 years, regularly touring both the Midwest and overseas, often featuring special guests such as Rez Abassi (NYC), Federico Lechner (Madrid), and D.D. Jackson (NYC/Ottowa). Says the violinist, "I've known for a while that I needed to expose audiences to guitarist Joel Newton. He writes and plays with a sensibility that American audiences will love. He combines rock energy with metropolitan witticisms and brings out a side of my playing that listeners have really responded well to." Described by Strings Magazine as "a force of nature…one of the best young jazz violinists in the world," and by the Minneapolis Tribune as "the most intriguing young violinist in jazz," Howes has performed and/or recorded with such notables as Les Paul, Greg Osby, David Murray, Dafnis Prieto, DD Jackson, Bill Hart, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Turre, Frank Vignola, and Bucky Pizzarelli. Additionally, Christian is a skilled and devoted educator, running fiddle camp programs, conducting university seminars and workshops, and teaching students of all ages how to become improvisers and how to bridge connections between different music styles, from bluegrass to Bach. During the tour, Howes will be promoting his annual Columbus, Ohio-based music camp, "The Creative Strings Workshop," to a growing number of young string players interested in improvisational music. ~~~ Moving to New York City in the early '90's, Joel Newton began a busy performing, composing and recording career as a leader and sideman, earning him a secure place as a contributor to the City's ever-changing, cutting-edge "downtown" scene. His music reflects his broad-based background in its hybridized stylistic variety. All About Jazz describes Joel's music as "a new angle on jazz-rock… with intergalactic travels… irony and contrast aplenty… and introspective quietude interspersed with explosive energy" and ranks him "on a par with seminal players like Bill Frisell and Ben Monder." The Joel Newton Situation, described by the Village Voice as "a sort of Medeski, Martin, and Mahavishnu," made a name for itself at New York City's Knitting Factory in the late 90's with a long-running residency, delving deep into the outer reaches of sound and groove exploration. Since then, Joel has lead jazz projects involving many of New York's jazz luminaries, such as Dave Binney, Donny McCaslin, Matt Shulman, D.D. Jackson, Adam Klipple, and Dan Weiss. He has toured the States and Canada with his own groups and others'. An educator as well, Joel is an ardent proponent of playing by ear and offers his unique brand of ear-based guitar training to students of all backgrounds. ~~~ Howes's and Newton's co-lead quartet unites their visions for eclectic, original modern music: well beyond strict jazz, audiences will experience a bold, forward-looking synthesis of influences that have shaped the two artists, from blues, rock and funk, to folk and classical. Come see what all the fuss is about! ~~~ For more information about the February tour and about Chris and Joel in general, please visit www.christianhowes.com and www.joelnewton.com plus www.myspace.com/christianhowesviolin for audio downloads, cd's, charts, production services ("Strings on the Fly"), educational programs ("The Creative Strings Workshop"), and more... Also: www.walterfischbacher.com; www.myspace.com/avivcohen ~~~ PRAISE FOR CHRISTIAN HOWES "A force of nature … one of the best young jazz violinists in the world." STRINGS MAGAZINE "Not since Jean-Luc Ponty has a violinist ranged from pure classical to fuzz-tone rock to convincing jazz with such authority." CHICAGO READER PRAISE FOR JOEL NEWTON "… striking skills … performs on a par with seminal players like Bill Frisell and Ben Monder." ALL ABOUT JAZZ For interviews and more info, please contact Chris at chris@christianhowes.com / 614-332-8689; or Joel at joel@joelnewton.com / 917-576-7982 Schuler Books and Music: (616) 942 2561; www.schulerbooks.com

no i don't intend on ever hearing it. i can listen to the real thing on my "emergency" CD. Sorry man, but that is a really stupid statement. Or at the very least incredibly closed-minded. And this from the person who was just recently bemoaning my lack of participation in music threads? Close-minded is probably a better term. My post is a little too harsh, which is not my intention. But really, to comment on something you haven't heard is just a wee arrogant. For one thing, I'm pretty sure Emergency doesn't have a rippin' guitarist on it. For another, Larry Goldings was contacted by Tony Williams himself to do an organ trio thing. Unforunately Williams died before it became a reality. Thirdly, they are taking the concept from "Lifetime" and expanding on it in a major way, hence the name "Trio Beyond". If anyone is worthy of doing so, it is those three. It's a great record.

no i don't intend on ever hearing it. i can listen to the real thing on my "emergency" CD. Sorry man, but that is a really stupid statement.

Not at all. Everyone is entitled to run his/her piece of the 'net the way they want to, of course, but I don't see how it helps anything to be secluded.

That's exactly how I feel. The jazz community needs to be close-knit and supportive instead of divided and paranoid. I harbor no ill-will towards any other jazz forum. Michael Ricci and I have a good relationship and I am fully supportive of what he's trying to do over there. Some people get rubbed the wrong way and that happens... you can't please everyone all the time. I've made my share of mistakes over here as well. It's a learning process. But to not be able to even mention the other boards... well, that's just a bit silly.

Don't think of it as losing. Think of it as voluntarily giving the government your money.

Uh... did you have the volume up?

That's news to me.

And at this same time last year, the Pistons had a better record than everyone, including those teams this year. And look where that got them.