Larry Kart

That date includes a lot of Chicago Symphony string players, including the orchestra's co-concertmaster Samuel Magad, its harpist Edward Druzinsky, cellist Leonard Chausow, and its vaunted principal bassist his (name is mis-spelled in the credits) Joseph Gustafeste (he was the teacher of the brilliant AACM bassist Charles Clark, who died at a sadly early age of a brain hemorrage). Also on bass, Johnny Frigo. The Chicago freelance music scene was quite yeasty. BTW, I would love to read a history of Chicago's very vigorous jingles scene, which Chuck mentioned. I think it was Art who told me that the reason so many jazz musicians were prominent there was that could they were inherently flexible and imaginative and could think on their feet in a business where getting things right and on time was essential. In particular, the guy in charge, the client's representative, often was a guy from an ad agency who might have little musical knowledge. One of the scene's many talented composer-arrangers, say Dick Marx (longtime pianist at the London House), might have written the jingle, but if it was a jingle for, say, a breakfast cereal or a shampoo, the ad agency rep might complain, "No good -- it's not crunchy (or foamy) enough. Make it crunchier or more foamy -- you've got five minutes." And guys like Art or bass trumpeter Cy Touff (another jingles mainstay) would put their heads together and come up with more crunch or foam just like that. Some of you may know the Bonnie Herman story. THE female singer on that scene, and also the angelic female voice of the Singers Unlimited, Bonnie was the voice on the famous State Fram commercial "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There," which earned her a great deal in royalties over all the years it ran. The story is that State Farm's CEO was looking over the balance sheet at the end of one year saw that Bonnie had earned almost as much that year in royalties as he had in salary. From that point on, State Farm had a new jingle and new person to sing it, with a very different contract.

!!!

that a friend of mine wrote the other day: SILVERBACK Comes an evening you wander away From the women and children. No fault, You'd drink with a friend were one Nearby, dispute a decision or snarl At a rival, doze shoulder to shoulder When rain turns trails to mush. But all that talk? No more. You wander off where it's quiet, Tired of advising the indifferent And aggrievèd young. Don't play With snakes. Don't strip the bark. Freeze at voices, run from guns. Don't fight over girls: mate For one moment, mother for life. Your reach was long, your roar Shook bats from treetops. Now no one wants to listen. Let them learn the hard way. A tooth of moon sinks into a hide Of fading gold. You wander alone, No hurry, nothing left undone, A whole long day to remember. No need to leave word You've gone to the far side of the mountain.

No, not Art. When I traveled to Belgium and Germany accompanying Mike Reed's band with Art, Julian Priester, Ari Brown, Greg Ward, Jason Roebke, and Frank Rosaly, Art's friendship (he knew my wife had died a few years earlier) meant a great deal to me. A gentle giant indeed.

I'm pretty sure that's what the writer meant. If so that's pure French blinders-on snotty battiness IMO, from a number of points of view. Given the number of whites versus blacks in this country and the wealth and power that the former group command, that's asking for a genuine race war. And WHY is fairness necessarily a zero-sum game? Given that we're all jazz fans here, I'm sure that all of us have interacted with any number of black Americans on an equitable, genuinely friendly basis across the board and without straining in the least to do so. No need to get starry-eyed about this; it happens all the time. Do people like us represent all of white America? No. But are we exceptional? Also, no. Further, I should add, people like us are typically well aware of the interplay/overlay between black and white culture and black and white life in America in general. I'm not saying that we're all one; that would be sappy, but discrimination in the dictionary sense of "this is us" and "that is them" in an exclusive or exclusionary manner is contrary to all sorts of obvious facts of history and daily life. Let me recall an anecdote -- sappy though it may be -- from my childhood. At age three or so, my parents hired a baby sitter for a while to look after me some during the day.time She was a young African-American, probably not much out of her teens, and she had quite a "bounce" to her, so to speak -- I would guess, thinking back, that she spent time hanging out at the Regal Theater or similar venues, listening and dancing to big bands. All of this, plus the pleasant way she treated me, I very much liked; and at one point, liking to draw with crayons, I asked her how I coi capture her rather cafe-au-lait skin tone. She explained that you take a yellow crayon and lay down a light layer and then add as much crayon on top as needed. What struck me -- and I know this sounds way too precocious for a kid of my age to have grasped -- was the utter relaxed insouciance of her response to my question. On the one hand, I think, she felt that at the root of my question was a recognition of difference and a sense of affection -- I wanted to create an accurate representation of her as a kind of from-me-to-her gift. But again, not only was she completely at home in her own skin, so to speak, she also swung with it. Cal this memory an example of white privilege at work if you will, but whatever that interchange really was, I'd say that it was both more than benign and mutual. We were bating the ball back and forth across the social/racial net -- in effect playing the game of life, or one of the games of life, to our mutual benefit.

'"discriminated against" is what Figaro meant here?

For Quincy Troupe and/or the drones who transcribed Miles' interview tapes for Troupe to confuse Sonny Stitt with Sonny Rollins is not a stretch at all.

That lineup played the Sutherland Lounge. Didn't hear it myself, but a friend of mine did. Rocky Boyd was an interesting, albeit rather stylized, neo-Trane tenor man who recorded with Kenny Dorham IIRC. Frank Haynes was another such.

after Mobley left?

Self was the "voice" of the mothership in "Close Encounters." I've got this album and at least one more by him, very much a jazz date for medium-sized ensemble., with a lovely setting of "Maiden Voyage." Also an album of classical pieces where he plays his transcription for tuba of Debussy's famous solo flute piece "Syrinx." It's at at once amusing and very beautiful.

I think Richie's wife was behind the wheel.

I thought the point was that the leader was a guy you'd barely or never heard of and where the gap in quality between the leader and his sidemen was vast. Neither element was in play with Woods and Kloss. Fine player.

He's playing an Albert system clarinet, which may be why he sounds so New Orleans-ish.

Via Bill Crow: "Al Cohn was driving Zoot Sims home from a record date. Zoot had fallen asleep in the back seat, and alongside Al in the front seat was A&R man Jack Lewis. Lewis had a cast in one eye, while Al has lost an eye to an infection some years before. Zoot suddenly comes awake and peers between Al and Lewis. "What's up?" says Al. "Nothing," says Zoot, "Just wanted to make sure that you guys were keeping both eyes on the road."

the latter

No -both Woods and Kloss were for-real players. Until proven otherwise -- for the win! And from several point of view.

Larry Sonn. Trumpeter led several big band albums for Coral in the late-'50s with Phil Woods and the rest of the usual NYC suspects of the time. Haven't heard them for decades but recall that they were tasty of their sort. Pretty sure Fresh Sound has put them out again.

A favorite Brahms 1 for me and for many others too. Unfortunately his Brahms 2 is something of a disappointment. Don't know why he didn't make a bigger splash.

Sonny Cohn

solid gold -- two unissued Norman G. studio dates from '60, '61. ben and rabbit in great form, fine original pieces (Hodges' no doubt), and don't miss Lou levy's comping.

listened to it today. a great recording, i think. Schoenberg as MUSIC, not "modern music," if you know what I mean.

yesterday t got the new Desmond Toronto set. Third track is Johnny Mandel's Emily, a song I have no taste for, though many jazz musicians disagree. I thought ‘ah well,' but Desmond turns it into something close to sublime. How I think I might know after several hearings, but I may not have the words. First, the whiny aspect of the song —the descending figure that goes with the insistent (too insistent I think) repetition of the title name — is pretty much purged from paull’s theme statement and wholly from his solo line, which pretty much goes on forever. And while there certainly are sequences in play here, as often is the case for Paul, it’s almost though they’re being used to keep the IMO mawkish aspects of the song at bay. In effect one of paul’s own softnesses, if you will, his penchant for seqeunce spinning, is being used here in the name of a kind of strength, even toughness. And Bickert! btw speaking of the song's in my view too Insistent to the point of being nagging title phrase, I'm reminded of an encounter I once had with Sylvia Syms. she sang" Here's that Rainy Day,' a song that i also find rather nagging for its arguable overuse of the initial pickup phrase that goes with the word "Funny..." and comes back several times. But when Sylvia sang it, the song was strengthened/tranformed, and at first I couldn't figure out how she'd done it. I asked her about this, snd she said, 'There are too many damn "funnies" in that song, so I took some of them out." LK

maderna!!! irrc that version (I may still have that lp) is on the slow side but loving and very musical,

maybe I've been lucky, but my choice of mate (if indeed she, or rather they, didn't chose me as much as anything (btw my first wife of 36 years. passed away in 2007, so I've done this twice) involved virtually I think say I can say honestly no rational calculation. it was like one of those cartoons where a safe falls on your head.

great to see paladin again. but doesn't a lot of this come down to "subject matter"? One can't decide to bomb Cambodia out of love, and while one could marry and have kids on a "cost benefit" basis, such choices if made are, given the subject matter or subject area, not likely to lead to much satisfaction for anyone of those who are perforce involved, including oneself.