Larry Kart

Recently picked up a set that combines two Jazz Couriers albums, a Hayes Quartet album, and the Hayes tracks from Jimmy Deuchar's "Pub Crawling." Mostly unfamiliar with vintage Scott (I know him best from the Clarke-Boland Band) I was surprised to find him (IMO at least) to be a somewhat more interesting player than Hayes in their Jazz Couriers days. Not that Hayes was any slouch, but Scott's lines are longer and tend to have more continuity, and his phrase lengths are usefully less regular.

Speaking of dictionaries, how about that other great Clare Fischer album, Thesaurus!!! Aside from Warne's solos, I'm not a big fan of "Thesaurus," though it sounds much better in its later LP version (Discovery?) than it did on Atlantic. I much prefer "Extensions."

Toys are fine, as are words, but though they can be played with, words aren't toys.

Words are toys -- oh boy.

Jim -- OK, I don't like "advocacy" either as part of ordinary speech. But "pimp" and "hype" are better off in any context I can think of if they still retain some sting instead of being more or less neutral. For one thing, if you do want your "pimp" or "hype" to have some sting to it, how then do you convey this? Through intonation and rhythm? If so, give me a hint of how that might sound. Or do you say, "You're a f------ pimp," or "That's f------ hype."

Jim -- You've got a sister. Someone asks if you'd suggest that he ask her out on a date. You say, "Sure -- you're a nice guy, she's a nice girl: I think you'd like each other; have a good time." If I said that you had just advocated that the guy ask out your sister, that would be a fair description? If I said that you had just pimped your sister, would that be a fair description, too? I would think that in a fair number of informal dialects, saying that "You just pimped your sister" might get you in a good deal of trouble.

Another dictionary definition of "hype": "excessive or misleading publicity or advertising." Again, I don't think that JLH is delivering either of those, nor does Jim's "proactively pimping your wares" seem right to me. (My emphasis) I think Jim's later "advocacy" fills the bill.

Yes, but what it is is not "hype." And if you're going to retreat to the "or extensive publicity" part of the dictionary definition of the word, I don't think it's been extensive here in the sense that JLH keeps harping on stuff annoyingly, like a carnival barker or pitchman. Rather, he's keeping us informed about the progress of matters that a good many of us seem to care about.

No big deal, perhaps, but, a post up above referred to JLH's "hype." To me, and I know to some other copy editor types, "hype" is a disparaging term that implies one is exaggerating to serve one's interests. JLH hasn't done that IMO; rather he's saying exactly what he thinks; his enthusiasms are genuine.

About the "always be of service" goal, as opposed to (if indeed it is) Pete C's "the only question an artist needs to ask is, 'Am I making something that would please me if somebody else had made it.''" "Always be of service" would seem to call for one of two things (and maybe more): that the artist be able to read the audience's mind, or that he regard applause, ticket and recorded music sales, back-patting, etc. as the primary determinants of what he or she should be doing. And a secondary question: if the artist could read the audience's minds, how does he balance out, say, nine people who thought the results were so-so and one who thought they were life-changingly brilliant versus ten people who thought the results were good. Also, in that first sample, who is this tenth person? Is he Jim Sangrey? Chuck Nessa? Me? Charlie Parker? Duke Ellington? And who are the nine others?

It's Copland.

Email I sent to friend: Bought a copy of this 2-CD set: http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-At-Philharmonic-Seattle-1956/dp/B005EN4JKK/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1329508816&sr=1-2 after I saw it extolled by Dan Morgenstern and others, and so far am pleasantly surprised. Both the Swing and Modern sets are very good (Roy is both excitable and often on fire in the former, and Jo Jones takes a long interesting solo; Dizzy is in stunning form on the latter, with Stitt [on alto] and Getz also quite intense). The MJO set, very well recorded, as is the whole concert, is not routine. The Krupa set is a loss IMO aside from Dave McKenna (can't stand Eddie Shu, couldn't back then either), haven't yet heard the Peterson and Ella sets. Side one is worth the price.

Line from an old Second City parody of "Family Feud" -- one member of a family that has lost turns on another family member (the one who was the inept final contestant) and screams: "'Blue' is not a fruit!"

I have the Bolcom too on LP but haven't compared them.

Just picked this up: http://www.amazon.com/Milhaud-Piano-Madeleine-Alexandre-Tharaud/dp/B00000148Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1334844416&sr=1-1 So far it's magical and often quite jazz-like (i.e. the Saudades de Brasil) , or at least it swings -- this thanks to both Milhaud and Tharaud's lovely playing.

Just ordered it

Sorry for the apparent rudeness, but I deleted the semi-duplicate thread on this topic because (damn it!) I've been unable to merge threads for some months now -- used to be able to, but no more. In any case, will people please look to see that there's not already a thread on a topic before starting a new thread yourself.

I too have the Barshai box, and that is good enough for me (though much of the music IMO is mediocre/banal, you name it).

$30 million in a town of 15,000?! What Chuck said.

I'm glad that Herbie acknowledged Chris---who was my friend and whose playing I adore---and that Chris got some play behind Herbie saying he studied with Chris. But I never heard what Herbie got from Chris. Ever. They're both very discursive, rambling, and with great harmonic ears but so, so different. Chris leaves a lot of space, especially in his rubato playing, and to me is a more authentic bluesman, even if he dips in and out. Burt Eckoff, a fine pianist who knew Chris longer and better than me, swears that he has recordings of Herbie where you can hear Chris's influence. I'd like to hear that. I think it's the Chris of the mid to late '50s that Herbie learned from. It's my impression, having heard CA some in-person back then and on the recordings he made around that time, especially the VeeJay album, that he was playing rather differently then than he was in his later "very discursive, rambling" years, fascinating as that later manner was.

Bud Powell?

Mr. Galbraith:

Puma took one of the most beautiful solos on "Body and Soul" changes I've ever heard, on a duo album with Chuck Wayne (who plays his ass off there too), originally on the Choice label: http://www.amazon.com/Interactions-Chuck-Wayne/dp/B006I01KFA Not the track I was thinking of but pretty impressive IMO (Wayne I believe is playing the lower-register "thrumming" figures early on; from there it's up to you): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEanhqHKkuk

As for Green just "punching in some 3-note chords behind" Willette, as Steve Martin used to say of comedy, "It's the tie-ming."

Sure, there's a difference in kind but not necessarily in quality/effectiveness/contextual fit. In fact, I can't imagine John Collins, Mundell Lowe, Jim Hall, etc. playing as effectively behind Willette as Green does. Barry Galbraith anyone? Billy Bauer? Let a thousand flowers bloom, as we/they used to day in the '60s. Or was it the Cultural Revolution when they said that, just before they sent you off to the countryside to be re-educated.