Larry Kart

Among other things, there's no way Von could be gone without it being all over the Chicago newspapers, which I see every day. And from there... So I'd like to know how the hell this Steven Briggs guy could have said that. I mean, he didn't even do a Google search?

Irresponsible nonsense.

That was really nice, David -- and I mean nicely done as well as generous. "Jazz a la Kart," though -- eek! On the other hand, there is a 1941 Basie recording "Feather Merchant" (a very good one IIRC, comp. by Jimmy Mundy) that was meant to be a play on Leonard Feather's name (it also was a pre-existing slang term for someone who likes to sleep a lot). Please pardon my penchant for terrible puns (and that one was conscious, as opposed to the many that tumble out of my mouth without thinking), not to mention jests--any possible second volume of your superlative criticism would be worthy of a far better title. Re: "Feather Merchant" (which I've not heard), I'm a bit groggy now from combined cold/afternoon nap/insufficient caffeine, but I think there were a # of instrumentals from the 1940s/50s era that had punning titles along those lines...especially odes to DJs, a topic I once covered on a Night Lights show after Oscar Treadwell passed away. Another one was Sir Charles Thompson's handsome "Robbins' Nest," for DJ Fred Robbins. That post-Lester 1941 edition of the Basie Band (with Don Byas on tenor) was so fine -- "Harvard Blues," "Fiesta in Blue," "Down Down Down," "Feather Merchant" et al. BTW, has there ever been much examination of Jimmy Mundy's work? "Feather Merchant" and "Fiesta in Blue" are both his. Born 1907, died 1983, Mundy wrote a lot of fine stuff for a lot of bands (Goodman, Hines, Basie, James, et al.), but I don't have a good sense of what it all amounts to, probably because he mostly wrote for other people (he briefly had his own band), and I think he did so for a rather long time. Among his compositions is "Travelin' Light." I see now that Schuller refers positively to Mundy in many places in "The Swing Era," but I'd still like to see a comprehensive estimate of his work and style.

Yes, they're different, but both are worth hearing.

Gotta ask, Larry, how did this stuff strike you in "real time", late 60s/early 70s? I mean, in the midst of Trane, Miles, AACM, and all the other "forward" music being made (and all the "stationary" music still being made quite well), wasn't a Buddy Rich big band sort of..."besides the point" for somebody with your vantage point? And I mean no disrespect by that, because even though this was the time of my "awakening" to jazz, and all that/this plus more was already out there and it really did seem like "all the same music" then (and GOD what a beautifully messy crowded pool it was!), it didn't take too long to prioritize personally, and yeah, I too am being a little pleasantly surprised at how, now that the stadium is mostly deserted and the standings pretty much finalized, some of this stuff is still hanging on to play a few more innings before retiring to the clubhouse to empty out the locker and go home, even though its hard to say why. Truthfully, I heard almost none of this stuff at the time for just the reason you give -- "in the midst of Trane, Miles, AACM, and all the other "forward" music being made (and all the "stationary" music still being made quite well), wasn't a Buddy Rich big band sort of..."besides the point" for somebody with your vantage point?" I wish that it weren't so, but we all have our limitations, and/or we pay for not paying enough attention. I'm sure that if I had heard the band much at the time, I would be reacting to it as I am now. I wasn't the only one, though. I recall a vintage Litweiler review of something or other in which in passing he heaps disdain on the Woody Herman Phillips-era band, referring to it (I'm dimly paraphrasing here) as a virtual ghost band that was blatantly defacing First and Second Herd material. I'd say this was a version of the attitude (very common in some elistist circles -- see Max Harrison in particular) that found the '50s/'60s Basie band to be a vulgar betrayal of the '30s band, with the added edge that the Herman Phillips band was, or might be thought of as, playing to audiences made up mostly of older, nostalgic-minded white people. It was a hard time to remain sane, at times; there was so much "sheep versus goats" stuff in the air. BTW, I mention Litweiler's jibe not because he was prone to making such remarks (he wasn't at all) but because I remember that one and it startled me at the time. Geez, when I was young and snotty I said something snotty in print in passing (in passing is often how those things happen) about Gigi Gryce's alto playing that I expect I'll have to account for at the edge of the River Styx. The thought that Gryce himself may have read it makes me cringe.

Sangery's "My Organissimo Life" takes precedence.

That was really nice, David -- and I mean nicely done as well as generous. "Jazz a la Kart," though -- eek! On the other hand, there is a 1941 Basie recording "Feather Merchant" (a very good one IIRC, comp. by Jimmy Mundy) that was meant to be a play on Leonard Feather's name (it also was a pre-existing slang term for someone who likes to sleep a lot).

Shoot me, but I always thought that Chick's use of this device was among the silliest things imaginable, though I didn't and don't feel that way when it's a guitarist. In part it's because it sounds so cheesy on a synthesizer (if indeed that's the correct term for what Chick is playing here), but it's also that for me there's such a vast difference between bending a string and twisting a dial, especially when Chick would scrunch up his face and shoulders body while doing so.

Thanks, Allen, but you're making it difficult for me to leave the house anymore.

This one is just sick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rm-A6bGhiE...feature=related One of the tenor soloists here is Pat LaBarbera; anoyne know who the other guy is? Loved the video with the B-3. Looks like I've got a lot of PJ Rich albums to catch up on.

Some very nice James here, "A Taste of Honey" from the Ed Sullivan Show: I love to watch James play, a quintessential trumpet guy. Swinging drummer, too -- Tony DiNicola.

I'm knocked out by the sound of Buddy's drums on these clips and obviously that could be just because he was miked nicely. But I suspect it may be more than that, so does any drum maven know whether or how much Rich switched brands over the years and what he was playing at this time (the Pacific Jazz albums era). In the back of my mind, I remember Rich print ads for Ludwig in Down Beat.

Can ya' help a slow-witted bruther out on this one, Dan? Sultry...

Thanks for bumping this thread up... I definitely have to find a copy of this book. Copies are easily found at low prices : http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/030...2462&sr=1-1 I believe the Jazz Record Mart also has a bunch at a bargain price. Mike: Glad you liked the introductory chapter. I wrote that last, in a somewhat intoxicated (by the fumes of my brain going up in smoke) state.

Absolutely. At times Philly Joe and Buddy sound like they're marching and swinging at the same time.

Enjoying this thread and this particular post... Funny, when I saw that clip, the first thing I thought of was how much he sounded like Philly Joe at times. The explosive attack.

I second the recommendation of Tatro's "Jazz For Moderns." Don't miss what for me is the most West Coast album there is, the Shorty Rogers-Andre Previn "Collaboration." Yes, it may be bit too clever for its own good, but it is damn clever. And the playing! I don't think there's an ensemble around today that could execute these pieces as well -- a whole different sensibility is at work here, plus these charts are tough.

I caught Harry and his band in the late '70s, on a bill with Frances Wayne. He still sounded great.

There's at least one Moody tenor solo with Dizzy from the late '40s , maybe from the Pasadena concert, that I felt pretty sure had some influence on Ornette. It's like Moody shifts an entire slab of the changes free from its moorings in pursuit of a momentarily compelling melodic and/or rhythmic impulse.

That's some demonic drumming. And the band is pretty demonic too.

Probably these guys at The Hungry Brain: http://www.myspace.com/ballrogg If anyone else will be there, say hello.

I spent some time with Dan (my boss then at Down Beat) and Ira in the late '60s (though not with Schlitten and Himmelstein). Ira in the right social setting is one of the great joy-spreaders, and he certainly had that effect on Dan (and me). Also, I had the feeling that by that time the connection between them and Schlitten and Himmelstein was a bit frayed, though I'm not sure why.

Harry James at his best was a very creative player and a helluva player of the instrument too. Interesting in this later period how he's assimilated some Navarro and Clifford Brown, though no doubt he had some influence on Navarro initially. Last night I was listening to a Doris Day collection that includes two ballads with her and James and a small group from 1950 in conjunction with "Young Man With a Horn" -- "The Very Thought of You" and "Too Marvelous For Words." Lovely playing and singing; Day was so good. From that same era, her performances of ""It's Magic" and "That Old Feeling" are remarkably sexy and IMO as subtle time-wise and timbre-wise as, say, Stan Getz on "Early Autumn."

The Hi-Los' insane, immortal "April in Fairbanks": http://www.box.net/shared/xyuh7yoobt

That is an amazing piece of writing. Working backwards from it alone, you could reconstruct an entire ruined civilization. I particularly like "cutting musical works that straddle the line between art song and stand-up comedy." Makes your knees spontaneously lock together. Also, wasn't it Rose Marie who straddled that line most effectively?