Christiern

"...but from his writings, he seemed A LOT hipper than Martin. (i could be wrong.)" Martin was in some ways eccentric, but I never thought of him as anything but "hip." He had an interesting, eclectic group of friends, and I had the impression that they reflected the breadth of his intellectual curiosity. I recall one Sunday afternoon cocktail party where I saw Ornette and Rudi Blesh (who believed jazz came to a dead end in the 1940s) engaged in deep conversation in one corner and Amir Baraka (then Leroi Jones), holding a baby in his arms, making small-talk with Charlotte Moorman. These are the people I recall, but the gathering was more intriguing than my specific recollection indicates.

Wasn't he the outspoken born-again homophobe?

Words fail me on this one...--CA Dad Puts 3 Sons' Presents On EBay Associated Press Sunday, December 26, 2004; Page A16 HOUSTON, Dec. 25 -- The kids were naughty, Dad put the presents on eBay instead of under the tree, and Mom's been crying ever since. Now, even the tree is down. Saturday morning was sure not to be very jolly for three brothers -- 9, 11 and 15 -- who did not straighten up when their father told them Santa was not pleased with their fighting, cuss words and obscene gestures. Dad and Mom had warned their sons that the Nintendo DS video system -- and the three games that go with it -- would head for the auction block if they did not get their act together. "No kidding. Three undeserving boys have crossed the line. Tonight we sat down and showed them what they WILL NOT get for Christmas this year. I'll be taking the tree down tomorrow," the man announced in his eBay posting. "If you don't buy them, we'll return them to the store," the seller known online as magumbo-2000 reported on the site. Thursday night, the auction wound down with bidding at $465.01 -- below the price the man had set. He said he would probably list the items again. A single day of particularly bad behavior set the Christmas crackdown in motion. "These are normally really good kids," said Dad, who asked the Houston Chronicle not to reveal his name. Dad even admitted that he and Mom were partly to blame for being too lax at times. But enough was enough. The warning of an impending sale came earlier in the week at a sit-down between offspring and parents. "We told them they were destroying each other and the calm and peace in the household. It had to stop," said the man, who did tell the paper that he works as an information technology specialist and lives in Pasadena, Tex. The boys pledged to be nice but were back to their old ways the next morning. That night, Dad announced that he would indeed be putting $700 in video console and games up for sale on eBay. The oldest boy double-dared his dad to make good on his word. Son should not have done that. Dad said Mom has been in tears since the showdown. "I don't do it outwardly," he said, "but I'm crying on the inside." And my favorite gift this year... It prints great 4 X 6 glossies and works with or without my Mac.

Great recordings, Dmitry, but not worth it unless they did a radical remastering job. The original release of this set was abominable as far as the sound was concerned.

Bob Fass!

"A friend of mine who was a student at Washinton University in St. Louis said that the jazz history course is not taught by Prof. Gerald Early (who is an English professor there)" Judging by his appearances in the Burns series, that is probably a good thing.

Here's the proof...

Martin wrote well and had important things to say about the music. I did not always agree with him, and he could be difficult to deal with, but there were also times when he was a joy to be with. Sad to say, Martin passed away a few years back.

I agree, this book is truly amazing and so full of fascinating details that one can make new discoveries each time one peruses it. The price might seem high, but there is a wealth of good stuff in the 780 12" x 8" pages!

Allen, I am looking forward to Robin's Monk biography. Curious to hear why you are wary of his review, BTW if the "other book" is Daniels' Lester Young bio, I have to saythat I have very mixed feelings about it. Sure, it is full of interesting data, but I found instances where Daniels accepted stories far too readily, and obviously did not check them--this makes [i[me wary of that book, in general.

I don't know if you ever visit the "Wire"site, but it contains a lot of interesting background info. Here's a sample: Dominic West's Audition Tape The casting surpassed all expectations. Only the role of McNulty gave us fits, until a bizarre videotape landed in Baltimore, shipped from a London address. On it, an actor was tearing through the orange-sofa scene in which Bunk and McNulty jack up a reluctant D'Angelo, search him, find his pager, then walk him away in handcuffs. Unlike every other casting tape ever made, however, this one seemed to be the merest suggestion of a scene. The actor, a squarejawed, Jack-the-Lad sort named West, was reading the McNulty lines, then pausing in silence, reacting to emptiness where the responding lines should have been. With several weeks of fruitless searching for a lead actor weighing on our souls, the tape caught us off guard. Bob and I watched this weird half-scene for a long moment, then fell out of our chairs, laughing uncontrollably. Hearing us, Clark Johnson, the Homicide veteran who was directing the pilot, entered the room, watched a few moments of tape, then joined us on the floor. "What the hell is this goofy motherfucker doing?" The audition tape may have been comic, but the performance itself — when we gathered our wits and began to concentrate on what the actor had going — was impressive. A week later in New York, Dominic West explained that he couldn't get anyone in London to read the scene with him, and he didn't have access to a casting office to put himself on tape. His girlfriend had tried to help, but her full English accent kept making him laugh, throwing off the scene. Best she could do was keep quiet and hold the video camera steady. "I didn't know what else to do," our McNulty confessed, "except say my lines and leave spaces where the other lines are supposed to be."

I was wondering how they would tie up the many loose ends in the season's final episode. I thought they did it rather well, and left us enough carrots for the next round. Looks like that will center around political battles. I like the way each season focuses on a different aspect of Baltimore's behind-the-scenes goings on. I doubt if we have seen the last of Barksdale and I hope there is more of Omar.

My favorite recorded performance of "Blue Lou" is the one from Gene Norman's April 1947 Just Jazz concert. Wardell Gray, Howard McGhee, Erroll Garner, et al. Terrific performance by Gray. I used to have it on a Vogue 78, and I believe I wore it out. I have yet to hear "Blue Lou" played in a more exciting way.

He was a player.

Photoshop is a great program, isn't it?

So...

Doesn't look familiar to me...

Is it silent? What happens when it needs to be oiled? Guess it's a voyeur's nightmare!

Marcello:"Okay, Okay..... But more than once I sept in the same hotel room/suite with him and no touchy feely! Never saw a pass at a man or boy although I saw him nibble on more that one woman's ear lobe!" Don't mean to belabor this, but, hey, at no time when I was alone with Dizzy did he even flash his knife....so? Gay people, like heterosexuals, do not feel compelled, nor do they have the urge, to become intimate with any and all as soon as an opportunity to do so arises. What you seem to regard as proof of sexual orientation is, perhaps more accurately, evidence of naïveté. I'll make it a point to acquire and read "The Life and Times of John Birks Gillespie" so that I can discuss it. After all, this thread took a turn to the man's darker side because I wondered how honest a biography it is.

I don't think he means all the classic articles, just that all the contained articles are classic. I think even down beat would need a book to contain all that has been worth reading since the 1930s

Brad:"...ended the whole thing with Bird saying something like he thought that Don Byas would have really cut him." Hence "Carving the Bird"???

Marcello:"Birks was a hetrosexual all the way, for sure!" Marcello, I gather that you were not his type --at least you did not know him as well as you might think you did. The fact is that Dizzy was bisexual, regardless of what you wish to believe. Like I said, nothing wrong with that, although your insistence indicates that you think otherwise. Sorry, I seem to have burst your bubble--it was not my intention. The truth is that homosexuality/lesbianism is more prevalent in the jazz community that most people think and, sadly, this is still regarded by some as a negative. And let me correct you on one thing--Rodney Jones was cut by Dizzy, but he is not the one who told me that--other musicians did. But we were talking about a book, weren't we?

MartyJazz, if there is one thing these board exchanges do readily, it's opening us up for misinterpretation. I now consider this to have been one such case, and I hope others will agree, but thank you for apologizing.

Oh great, now I'm being lectured. Am I supposed to rejoice at the news that Diz, Miles, Gary Burton, etc., have engaged in gay activity? Tolerance I have in spades without getting into a "some of my best friends are..." type of argument. But I always find that kind of unexpected news disappointing. I can't be hip enough to say, "hey, that's cool". I am sorry to see that your remarks were not meant as "parody." No one suggests that you rejoice, but your reaction indicates shock and your outrageous analogies veritably drip with bias against gay people. Pedophilea and cruelty to animals have nothing to do with being gay, so your bringing them up in this context is both insulting and ignorant.