Christiern

About 17 minutes.

Larry, thanks for posting that link. This is only the musical portion of the movie. Great to have it available, and it is the most important part, but I hope someone uploads the complete film.

Here's hoping that we can have a happy Fourth of July soon. First, we need to do some house cleaning and free ourselves of those who would blemish the document Dan posted. Well, it had already turned political, hadn't it? Seriously, our country is under siege by an appointed neer-do-well regime, so I see any celebration today as a celebration of the past and a hope for restoration--I raise a glass to that.

Not my idea of "fun." It is the watermelon-eating contest dressed up and perpetuated with typical American excess. The fact that some people take delight in these exhibitions of overindulgence is rather telling, I think. Would it not be nice if the people who arrange these things, and the press that covers them, instead put some effort into feeding those who really need it?

This has always been a disgusting "event" and it is made even more so in this age of gross over-eating.

If I "outed" Diz, it was only to those who didn't already know. Be that as it may, your point re our exchange is well taken. So the pressing stops here, too.

Herbie H. once showed me his Vocoder and wanted me to sing into it. I told him that I couldn't sing. He said that was all the better, because the Vocoder could make one sound like a singer--it worked for him, he added. I didn't try it.

Perhaps for the same reasons I enjoyed Ken Burns' Civil War and Baseball series: I did not know enough about the subjects to detect (and be bothered by) the many errors and omissions. It was different when I saw his Jazz series--that opened my eyes to his sloppy approach, so I went back and read reviews of the other programs--sure enough, I had missed the flaws. Guess ignorance can be bliss. Note to "fasstrack": Do you find bisexuality to be demeaning? That's the impression I get from reading your remark re an old Diz post of mine. I don't recall that specific post, but it was certainly not meant to be a criticism of any sort. Hope you haven't read my biography of Bessie Smith--in it, I mention her bisexuality--should I bow my head in shame? Perhaps we all ought to stick our head in the mud and pretend that there is not a real world out there!

Get out on the wrong side of the bed, did we?

garthsj: "Having studied Hollywood for most of my life (it's what I do for a living!), I think that we can thank our lucky stars (pun intended) that this movie was ever made at all! If it had not been for Clint Eastwood's personal emotional attachment to jazz (and his close friendship with Lennie Niehaus), who is heaven's name would ever have "greenlighted" a major motion picture production about a 'black, junkie bebop musician'?" Garth, Hollywood may well shrink back in horror at the thought of devoting a biopic to a white junkie, but they obviously accepted Eastwood's production even though he emphasized Bird's drug life. Also, remember that horrid attempt at depicting Billie's life--it dwelled on drugs, too. As a matter of fact, Warner Brothers may we have turned down an adaptation of my Bessie Smith biography because she wasn't on drugs. Here's an excerpt from the revised edition of my book.: Film studios rely on outside readers for initial evaluations of new books. A 1972 Warner Brothers reader’s report on Bessie, gave a summation of Bessie Smith’s life as the book depicted it, but concluded that this was not recommended film material, because “Bessie Smith was not on drugs, and this is not the five-handkerchief stuff that ‘Lady Sings the Blues’ is made of.”

Unfortunately, Clint Eastwood relied heavily on Chan for the story when more reliable sources were available. Let's hope that a honest film on Bird (as well as Billie, Goodman, and countless others) is made someday. Chan was a confused, alcoholic woman with an agenda that did not include getting the right story out. Like her daughter, Kim "Parker" she was an opportunist who shamelessly milked her association with Bird for all that it was worth. The music involved overdubbing.

I am about halfway through this biography of John Hammond. So far, I was glad to see that the author has not totally tried to whitewash John, but he does avoid much of his less appealing side. That may not be deliberate, for it is obvious that Prial knows little about the music business and that he is working in the dark when it comes to jazz history. Still, at least from what I have read, there is a lot here that John Himself left out of his autobiography. Considering some of the people he interviewed, I find it difficult to believe that he wasn't told some of the things I know--things that ought to have been in this book. I'll come back when I've read it all, but not here--someone already started a thread on this book.

You are stating the obvious. What is your point?

This is a book I must read. I'll get back with my take on it. In the meantime, let me just quote a remark John's secretary made as people filed out of St. Peter's following a memorial service at which various people went overboard telling the usual Hammond stories of "discovery" and "ear." Speaking almost to herself, she was overheard by Hank O'Neal (chiaroscuro). "They bought the story." I hope Prial didn't.

Goo-Gone works beautifully, but it takes a long time before its awful small is gone, too.

Thank you Dan. I knew Carl Jefferson and he was no racist--he loved the music and contributed mightily to it without regard to anyone's ancestry. To even imply that his label's artist roster indicated otherwise is unfair, absurd and ignorant. But this thread is about Concord's loss: Terri Hinte.

Don't mind Dan, he's just being Gould.

Wikipeda is amazingly up-to-date: Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 - June 25, 2006) was a renowned Turkish-American music producer, who worked with a wide range of artists, across many different styles and genres of music. He was born in Istanbul, Turkey. Arif Mardin was born into a renowned family that brought up statesmen, diplomats and leaders in the civic, military and business sectors of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic. His father was partner in a petroleum gas station chain. His sister, Betül Mardin is the "grande dame of public relations" today. After graduating from Istanbul University in Economics and Commerce, Arif Mardin studied at the London School of Economics. He was influenced by his sister's music records and became a self-professed jazz fanatic, as well as an accomplished orchestrator and arranger. But he never intended to pursue a career in music. However, his fate changed in 1956 after meeting the American jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones in a concert in Istanbul. He became the first recipient of the Quincy Jones Scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston after Quincy Jones was so impressed from Mardin’s compositions that were recorded on a tape and sent to him. In 1958 he and his shortly married wife Latife moved from Istanbul to Boston. After graduating in 1961, he taught at Berklee for one year and went to New York City to try his luck. Arif Mardin was later made a trustee of the school and awarded an honorary doctorate. Mardin began his career at Atlantic Records in 1963 as an assistant to fellow Turk Nesuhi Ertegun, the co-founder of the company and a legendary jazz enthusiast, whom he met at the Newport Jazz Festival. He rose through the ranks quickly, becoming studio manager, label house producer and arranger. In 1969, he became a vice president and later served as senior vice president until 2001. He worked closely on many projects with co-founder Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, two legends who were responsible for establishing the "Atlantic Sound". Arif Mardin retired from Atlantic Records in May 2001 and re-activated his label Manhattan Records. He maintains ties to the Turkish music industry. He produced countless hits artists including Carly Simon, The Young Rascals, Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Patti Labelle, Average White Band, Anita Baker, the Bee Gees, Judy Collins, Phil Collins, Culture Club, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Hall & Oates, Donny Hathaway, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, Melissa Manchester, Manhattan Transfer, Modern Jazz Quartet, Willie Nelson, John Prine, Scritti Politti, Queen, Dusty Springfield, David Bowie and Jewel. In his career of more than 40 years, he collected over 40 gold and platinum albums, over 15 Grammy nominations and 12 Grammy Awards. In 1990, Arif Mardin was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. Arif’s widow Latife is a playwright. Their son Joe, also a Berklee graduate, is a producer and arranger while the daughter Julie is an avant-garde artist-photographer. Mardin died at his home in New York on June 25, 2006 following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. He will be buried in Turkey.

His body will be flown to Turkey for burial. That's all I know, so far. A significant producer whose work touched many of us, I think.

Nice of you to defend Concord, Dan, but firing Terri is just the latest in an ongoing dilution process. I wonder of Norman Lear knows what these idiots are doing to the company. I saw the same thing happen at Stereo Review--I'm afraid it's a sign of the times.

As I posted on AAJ yesterday... I second everything Doug Ramsey writes about Terri. They don't make PR people like her now and, perhaps they never did. As for Concord, I still get angry when I think about how that label treated Susannah McCorkle. It would never have happened when Carl Jefferson was alive. It's sad to see the record business taken over by uncaring, tone deaf fools. I hope Terri does more writing--she is very good at it--and I wish her the very best as I join the many people who will miss her as a contact.

The only Red Rooster I know of in Harlem was a little bar (two steps down, bar on the right) that I used to go to in the 1960s. It was a favorite hangout for a number of well known Harlemites, including Adam Clayton Powell. I don't recall hearing jazz played there, except on the jukebox, so there may well have been another Red Rooster at another time.

How does one relaunch a label that never un-launched, as it were?

Can't find the original post re the greed of the ML King family, but the problem has been resolved. The king papers will be available and the pathetic family gets its money.--CA King Papers Go to College Instead of Auction by Joshua Levs NPR.org, June 24, 2006 · PMorehouse College in Atlanta is looking for a site to house the private collection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. following a deal that will prevent the papers from being auctioned off. The deal was announced late Friday. Under the deal, Morehouse -- King's alma mater -- will own the collection. But the thousands of historic papers and manuscripts might not be housed on the school's campus. Morehouse said it is working to arrange temporary housing and to find a permanent location in Atlanta where the papers will be available for public access. A private coalition of business and civic leaders bought the collection from the King family following concerted efforts by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Mayor Andrew Young. Terms of the deal are being kept under wraps, but Sotheby's had said the auction set for June 30 could fetch up to $30 million. The collection includes items ranging from canceled checks, to a term paper he wrote as a student at Morehouse, to a draft of his most famous speech, "I Have a Dream," delivered at the 1963 March on Washington.

Sad to say, pap sells.