Joe G

Kenny Werner also teaches the playing of random chords as part of his Effortless Mastery exercises. I highly recommend that book.

Uh-Oh, we now have two competing April Listening threads. Three, if you count the one started by Bev Stapleton!

Too often am I reminded of the old saying, "Nature can provide for the needs of man, but not for the greeds of man."

Pat Metheny, Bob Marley, Edgar Meyer, and on the first really warm summerlike day, Iron Maiden. Really, anything with an energetic and joyful sound.

Wynton Marsalis is no longer regarded a jazzer?!?!? Oh, I get it--irony.

Put me down in favor of The Cure. The ballads are very moving, and the rest of it burns. I forgot about Facing You; I need to pick that up.

:rsmile: :rsmile: :rsmile:

My friend has a copy of East Meets West on vinyl. It's interesting as a novelty item, but the rhthym section leaves a bit to be desired. If I remember correctly, it's all Japanese players. Just two days now until the Sco show in Ann Arbor. I'll be sure to post a review. I've heard rumors that Pat and Charlie are planning a sequel to Missouri Sky. I hope they get around to that soon. Really wish I could see them live. "P.S. - I guess couw doesn't know what Maultaschen is" That went over my head too.

Could have fooled me!

I took my wife to see Vince Gill a couple of years ago, with Patty opening. I admire Vince as a singer and guitarist (for sure), but it was Patty that impressed me the most. There was just something in her music that seemed to speak to me in a way. It was kind of nice, actually. Haven't heard her bluegrass album; I imagine it's good.

Excellent. Don't forget the easter egg hunt.

Big Al, I'm waiting on the Grant box set too. I got the "your order has shipped" email mid-week. It usually doesn't take long. I have to say that I've been pretty happy with BMG's service. Haven't had too many screwups. Columbia House is the one I've been doing battle with, and I'm not even a member! They called me up out of the blue and said that as a member in good standing, I could choose one free cd. Well, long story short, that wasn't the case, and they wanted me to pay for it, in addition to them enrolling me in--you guessed it--the Latin Music Club! What is it with that shit???

Interesting, Michel. I'll give Gould's variations another chance. Man, last year I went crazy and bought every Bach CD that Perahia put out. Just couldn't get enough. The Keyboard Concerto No. 1 floors me.

I didn't know that about the Shania cd. How absurd. I hate the way Mutt Lange produces her stuff. Not that it's great material to start with, but they just make it sound so robotic. Jim was telling me about the idea that all those Grammys going to the O' Brother soundtrack was someone's way of trying to send a message to Nashville. Obviously they missed the point.

I haven't heard Tureck's version of the Variations. My favorite is Murray Perahia. The Gould I've heard is the one he did around 1980. I don't like at all--especially the sound quality. I heard that Glenn disliked Mozart, but I liked what he did with some of it.

Sorry to hear that Soul. I take it it's a room that needs a drummer so you can't do without. Jim and I did a drummerless gig last night. That's a bit of a challenge actually, when you are so used to having it there. Well, I hope you don't have to go with the swing era guy again.

Re: Metheny, I LOVE Speaking of Now, and the tour in support was spectacular. But that's just my fanatical opinion. Missouri Sky is gorgeous, one of my favorites. Frisell is great, but I've drifted away from him in the last few years. I liked Nashville quite a bit (I'm a big bluegrass fan, and actually knew of Jerry Douglas long before I heard of Frisell), but just haven't kept up with his output. There was an album he did with Paul Motion, Lovano and Marc Johnson called Bill Evans that is one my favorite examples of Bill's playing. He is certainly one of a kind. And getting back to Sco, I imagine you have heard Bass Desires, with Frisell and Marc Johnson? Classic stuff in my opinion. The guy that engineered our CD saw that group live. He said he was seated in the front row, but had to move back because Bill was just too intense! But yes, John has had an amazing career in terms of all the people he's played with. Literally a who's who!(Do you have that album w/ Dave Liebman?) What?? Another Texan?!?! There's almost as many of y'all on the forum as there are Michiganians! (This is a Michigan based site now, after all.) My dad was stationed in both Texas and Germany during the Vietnam era. He was just telling me last weekend how much he liked Germany. I don't remember a damn thing, though I do hope to go back someday, ideally on a tour with organissimo! With a name like that, they might think that we're native sons!

Well, I think it's safe to say that I like both the funky and the straightahead work from John. I haven't heard ScoLoHoFo, and yet I'm more interested in the upcoming J.S. Band release, which they were to have recorded in January. So perhaps I do have a slight preference for the funky shtuff. However, for a long time my absolute favorite album was Grace Under Pressure, a mostly straightahead date. In comparison to Bill and Pat, I think it's fair to say that John's output isn't quite as varied as theirs. Especially Pat's. (Just think of the difference between Song X, Secret Story, and Beyond the Missouri Sky, for instance). That doesn't make Sco any less artistic or interesting, it's just that the more variation there is in a musician's catalog, the less likely it is that one person will like it all. But I agree, John's albums are all high quality and fun to listen to. He was a huge influence on me when I first got into jazz, and continues to be. That 2 disc set sounds interesting. There's some slammin' stuff on the original release. Although, I always thought that the keyboard tracks were unfortunetly quite weak. No matter; just listen to the rest of the band. Did you see the instructional videos that John made with that band a few years ago? (Jim Beard replaced the guy that was on Pick Hits). They actually sounded better than when they were originally together! And they looked like they were having a blast! Bireli Lagrene is incredible. The only album I have is called Duet, with Sylvan Luc (on the Dreyfus label). If you don't have it, get it soon. It's very cool. Do you know of Sylvan? He is one hell of a beautiful guitarist. Another guy that blows me away is Kurt Rosenwinkel. His playing to me sounds so beautiful and free. The Next Step is the disc to get. I'm anxiously waiting for a new one from him; Next Step is over two years old now. C'mon, Kurt!! The other bummer is that he rarely plays outside of NYC. A good friend of mine and Jim's, who is an excellent drummer, was telling me about seeing Kurt at the Village Vanguard. He said they were totally killing. If I may ask, are you a native German? I don't detect anything in your writing that would indicate that English is a second language for you, so either it isn't, or you just learned it very well. My dad's mom was the only one in our family who spoke German,and she didn't pass it on to her kids. In the years following WWII it just wasn't a fashionable thing I guess. Come to think of it, to a lesser extant, it's sort of that way now.

Joe! How dare you! Yeah well, never mind about that. I was always a lightweight. Too uptight to enjoy it for long, I guess.

Maybe you just couldn't understand the concept he was laying down! Actually, that reminds me of a similar experience I had with a drummer whose ride cymbal technique was referred to by Bill Heid as "poking the gopher." Someone called off West Coast Blues, and though the guy did manage to play it in 3/4, by the end of my solo he was just bashing away like a maniac! The organist and I exchanged a glance that said, "I don't what the hell he's doing either, but let's land this thing quick!" Luckily, no one was injured.

You and me both. Guess there's nothing we can do except teach by example.

Another rarity that I once had on disc was a duet with Albert Mangelsdorf recorded live at a German jazz festival. They played some cool shit on that. Don't know why I got rid of it. Doh! You're in Stuttgart? I've been seeing my birthplace in the news lately: Landstuhl. Don't ask me anything about Germany though; my family left when I was a wee lad.

Right. Namely, a jam session.

I was just going to quote the same line as Jazzmoose. Recently I was out in Cali visiting a friend, and for some driving music we decided to go with Iron Maiden. That was my favorite metal band at the end of the 80's, but after listening to guitarists like Scofield, Metheny and Mclaughlin, the boys from Maiden sound pretty weak. Granted, the album we chose wasn't their greatest, but still it seemed so much more involved back in the day. (Must have been the weed!) Still, I'm glad I've got some metal in me!