Larry Kart

Some additions and alternatives: Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Callas, Gedda, Von Karajan Wagner: The Ring, Clemens Krauss, Bayreuth 1953 Wagner: Tristan, G. Treptow, H. Braun, H. Knappertsbusch Wagner: Parsifal, C. Krauss, Bayreuth 1953 Wagner: Meistersinger, Stewart, Konya, Janowitz, R. Kubelik Verdi: Rigoletto, Callas, Gobbi, T. Serafin Debussy: Pelleas, D.E. Inghelbrecht (Disques Montaigne) Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutti, Seefried, E. Jochum (DGG) Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutti, Price, E. Leinsdorf (RCA) Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier, Crespin, Donath, Minton, G. Solti (London) Mozart, Der Zauberflote, K. Bohm (DGG) Beethoven: Fidelio, Bohm (DGG) I know -- Leinsdorf and Solti! Forgive me, but they're great casts, and Solti was having a very good week (or however long it took).

Lots of self-consciously stylish touches in terms of camera position and movement (many oddly angled close-ups), but for my taste there just was not much "story" there; the facts of Dillinger's life were draped over a semi-void. In particular, much was made of his ties to his main squeeze Billie Frechette -- a scene between her and the G-Man who killed Dillinger concludes the movie -- but while neither the actress who played Billie nor Depp were at all off-key in their roles, the movie gave me no idea as to why Dillinger supposedly thought she was that important to him. It just felt like one of those hooks a screenwriter comes up with because he needs some hook. Christian Bale as G-Man Melvin Purvis was kind of annoying, so closed off and clenched, though I suppose that was the concept. The John Milius "Dillinger" from 1973 with Warren Oates as Dillinger and Ben Johnson as Purvis is worth tracking down; Johnson is just incredible, a force of nature, and the relationship between him and Oates is elemental, a whole plot in itself. Interesting how a guy like Johnson, who was then age 55, seems much older (as in more grown up -- albeit in fairly dark and mean ways), than any actor now on this planet. Oh, maybe Jack Nicholson or Clint Eastwood, but there's nothing charming or old-coot-like about Johnson; it's like he could dig the Panama Canal with his bare hands or bite off a chunk of the moon.

Statius's "Thebaid." Sounded like fun. http://www.amazon.com/Thebaid-Thebes-Maste...8946&sr=1-2

When I was youngster at Down Beat in 1969 I got them to obtain the rights to reprint this in the issue that was closest to the anniversary of her death.

Yes, that's it. Sorry -- that's not the first time I've touted something and failed to supply the link. I must be ladoxic ... err, disphobic ... lexmanic?

while looking for and failing to find there a decent one of IS's Octet -- the two of those on YouTube are a) utterly hopeless and b) bland/lifeless. This is the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, conducted by R. De Leuww. Interesting how the way the players' physical relationship to their instruments aligns perfectly with their insight and involvement.

It wasn't exactly funny, but watching Maynard's band on a Birdland All-Stars tour in (probably) 1956 or '57 I saw altoist Jimmy Ford have a brief fit in the middle of a solo, one arm suddenly flying away from the horn and well above his head while he continued to play -- all in all like the leg of spasm-struck flamingo. In fact, Ford may in that moment have been seeing flamingos or have thought that he was one. In any case -- and this reminds me of an incident that Chuck witnessed in college that he mentioned here recently and that I don't recall right now -- at that moment a certain door of experience began to crack open speculatively for me. It helped, too, that Ford sounded the way he did -- hot, drenched in Bird and kind of wild/anguished.

They tune into some decent stuff. In the jazz guitar vein, I've heard a fair amount there from the Poll Winners trio (Kessel, Brown, Manne), some Kenny Burrell, etc. Occasionally an extra little bit of something catches your attention, like the harmonic intensity this guy (whoever he was) poured into his "Odd Couple" solo.

No -- no sax on what I heard, but that's just about the right tempo. No -- no sax on what I heard, but that's just about the right tempo.

No meal for me, thanks, but the sandwich itself is a darn user-friendly (in every sense, including "taste") item if one want/needs/chooses to scarf while driving. Well, that one of the reasons my local Mickey D's is so good -- the fries are always hot and crisp and never too salty. Can't resist, but also once a week is about my limit.

Yes. Dinner at McDonald's, Larry? Is that really the best you can do? If I'm in the mood, there's nothing better than a double quarter-pounder with cheese meal, and chipotole sauce instead of ketchup to dip the fries into. I also like the medium chocolate shakes, but never with the double-quarter pounder with chese meal; that would be insane. A shake is for odd times of the day and for medicinal purposes (mood regulation). I remember telling a friend of mine, who's a topnotch food writer for the Chicago Tribune, that the McDonald's in my neighborhood is the best one I've ever found. She looked at me like I was crazy or was maybe putting her on. I could be crazy but wasn't putting her on. None of the tracks on the AMG list is what I heard, I'm pretty sure. The Malone is close, but it hits me as I said above, though I'd have to hear his solo to be absolutely certain.

While dining at my local McDonalds tonight, I heard a very swinging, surprisingly creative recording of "The Odd Couple" theme -- guitar plus piano-led rhythm section, both guitarist and pianist solo, maybe four to five minutes in all. For a milli-second I thought Barney Kessel, but the guy (or girl) was harmonically almost in Pat Martino territory, thought I don't think it was Martino, and Google searching doesn't produce a Martino recording anyhow. At first glance, all I could find to listen to on the 'Net was a bit of Russell Malone's recording, but I don't think that's the one -- Malone's tempo is bit more "down" than what I heard at Mickey D's, and the player I heard sounded more inventive than what I recall from Malone. Any thoughts?

The sound of the vintage Hopkins band on these CDs is quite unique, I believe -- so delicate, and delicately shaded.

BTW, and not that there's anything wrong with that, but was Herbie Nichols gay? For some reason that I can no longer recall (perhaps it was something Roswell Rudd said in the Mosaic booklet), I once thought that there was reason to think that he was. If so, that might have played some role in his not fitting in among his peers as well as one might wish.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4336907,00.html This link from Ted O'Reilly

OK -- cancel my flight to Buenos Aires. Argentina, the land of practical criticism. Would it help if I said I'd once interviewed Borges?

Your point about possible "limitations of the form itself" cuts right to the heart of it. See, the "learning process" and/or the "remembering process" never ends. My first thought is the blues, specifically the so-called Delta Blues. The style and its various musical moves and emotional/dramatic flavors would seem to be no less (maybe much more) limited than those of the Tango. Yet I find the best Delta Blues artists to be endlessly fascinating and quite individual in relation to the styistic waters in which they swim and the other artists who swim in them. So, just for the sake of argument, we have the Tango and Piazzolla over here and, say, the Delta Blues and Robert Johnson or Sleepy John Estes over here. My consuming interest in the latter and my relative lack of response to the former no doubt has a lot to do with me, but I still think that the pervasively spiced cuisine analogy of my previous post is suggestive. However limited the style of Johnson, Estes, et al. may be, it furthers the development of strikingly individual figures who speak to us in quite varied ways, emotionally and dramatically, beyond (an equivocal term, I know) the apparent boundaries of that style. However gifted AP may be, what I hear is a sophisticated (the degree that tangos and milongas permit sophistication) elaboration of the style itself. In fact, based on my memories of some recordings of music in that style that were recorded in the relatively distant past (can't recall the names), the whole genre for my tastes might have been in better shape artistically before AP and others arrived to sophisticate it. Not every style or form that has deep "folk" roots (again a loose term for the sake of argument) has an equivalent musical/emotional richness and/or can successfully bear the weight of expansion/sophistication. In that vein, my introduction a few years ago (via our old friend Clem) to Rembitekka (sp?) was a revelation -- akin to the blues in its ability to generate varied individuality and hair-raisingly intense dramatic impact within seemingly narrow stylistic boundaries. P.S, The Piazzolla recordings I encountered first and remember best are the ones on American Clave LPs.

Because the initial poster asked for recommendations, that's the only legit response? I think that any thread that brings up someone's music opens the door for free commentary on it. And I didn't only say that I "can't hear" the music, I offered (briefly) specific reasons why. On the other hand, contra Allen, while we all have track records, I don't think anyone should pay attention to what I say just because I said it. I'm only trying to talk here the way I'd talk to any group of friends/acquaintances who have common interests, and I'm always prepared to be told I'm wrong, if I'm told why. The learning process never ends.

I'm pretty sure that I have heard it, and by "wallpaper" I didn't that his music is without zest, pep, swoop, etc. but that it's so narrow in range and/or predictable harmonically and rhythmically that I tend to nod off because it seems to me to be all pretty much one kind of thing. It's like a cuisine where, this side of dessert, certain pungent spices pervade virtually every dish.

Argentinian wallpaper for the most part, IMO. Useful if you have trouble sleeping.

Check mailed Friday.

My father was one of group of investors that put some money into Westfall's first (and only?) film, "The Golden Gloves Story." I remember her show and its predeccesor, "The Bob and Kay Show." . Maybe I'm sick, but doncha want to just do her on that breakfast table? I mean, she's SO friendly.

Duane Tatro

Check is coming. Organissimo is cheap compared to other forms of psychotherapy and a lot more fun.

Check out, if you can still find it, Rosnes' Blue Note CD, IN THE MOMENT. She takes an absolutely terrific solo on the opening track, "Summer Night" that also features a marvelous solo by Joe Henderson. Ever since I heard that, I'm more interested in what she has to say than her hubby, Bill Charlap. Also preferable to Charlap is Rosnes' prior husband, drummer Billy Drummond, a latter-day Kenny Clarke. Charlap has his moments, but his "Written on the Stars" album from a few years back is really strange -- sounds like an attempt to limit his vocabulary (harmonic vocabulary in particular) to what might have been played at the Hickory House in 1955. Producing this neo-dinner music seems to place Charlap under much strain, as though he had to consciously restrict himself from bar to bar. Anxious blandness.