xybert

I quite liked Boiler Room back in the day, apparently it is loosely based on Jordan Belfort as well.

Not to mention playing videogames, which is a billion dollar industry which last i heard had officially eclipsed the movie industry earnings wise. From housewives playing casual games on smart phones to hardcore PC gamers, people are in to gaming. And unlike music they're willing to spend money on it. People will spend thousands on consoles and games; that's a large slice of the disposable income pie right there. Jazz is not that popular but i think the age of traditional popularity, household names etc, in pretty much any genre, is largely over. It was a blip. Having said that, i think if promoted in the right way jazz could at least reach more of the young/alternative audience. At the end of the day jazz is a different language to what most people grew up with. What motivation does anyone have to learn a second language if they don't need it? Also, it's a fact of life that factors other than the music itself come in to play = for most people jazz is a faceless, contextless music. When we pick up an album and look at the personnel we sense the history of the players and everything that comes with it: "whoa i wonder what Dude X will sound like with Dude Y on bass prior to that period of his playing." For most people however the personnel are a list of random names that carry no weight whatsoever. I've often thought that if a listener listened to an album not as a 'jazz' album but as an experimental album from one of their favourite alt bands it would be a mind opener. I'm 33 and starting getting in to jazz at around 25. FWIW here's what i thought pre-indoctrination: - In general i disliked brass. - The saxophone is the least cool instrument on the planet. In the eighties when i was growing up it seemed like every horrible pop song and cheesy sitcom theme featured a corny saxophone solo. - As a hip hop fan, i'd often check out jazz due to enjoying songs with jazzy samples. It always felt like it was missing something without the beat. Vacant, lacking. - Beats. I can't stress enough how used we are to hearing a strong kick snare four four beat and how wrong it feels to not have it there (in hindsight this is weird as i dug film music and other stuff that didn't have a beat). - That 'tss t t tss t t tss' and walking bass line thing made me want to slit my wrists. - Sometimes i'd enjoy the heads but i found solos to be completely tedious. Listening to Kind of Blue it was like a switch when the solos would start, like the carpet was being pulled out from under my ears. - Beats. No beats. No good. - Funny thing is i don't even remember consciously thinking that jazz was old or dead or whatever. People don't give it that much thought.

Finally saw this on the weekend and really enjoyed it. The scene where the guy is cleaning the fishbowl was a little too close to self parody: get a guy that looks like a jerk, have him wear a bowtie, have him cleaning his fishbowl at his desk in the middle of the office on an important day, have Jonah Hill go up to him and calmy but with a hint of seething incredulity ask what he is doing. Have Jonah Hill be all like "yes, that seems reasonable enough" and walk away before turning around and going off his nut at him Scorcese movie actor style. Anyway, this scene was what i thought the whole movie would be like, but it wasn't. I'm almost convinced that this scene was some sort of meta thing, it was just too perfect.

Have listened to both discs a few times and this is a quality, quality product all round. Not that i think a release of this nature would be a 'cash-grab' by any stretch you can rest assured that this is not scraping the bottom of the barrell/vault material. On the flip side it's probably not "OMG if this had been released at the time it would have been spoken of in the same breath as Kind of Blue or A Love Supreme," but if you're a Giuffre fan beyond the fifties it's definitely essential. Buy with confidence, as they say. Although it is on the free side it is quite accessible (more so than Free Fall if that is scaring anyone off).

Yes, we are spread thinner than ever. Back in the day i'd guess most people would have a record collection, however small, even if they weren't all that in to music. Nowadays you don't need to be a music fan, let alone a jazz fan.

On Friday 6th June i saw Chick Corea and Gary Burton perform at the Wellington Jazz fest. The whole thing was really surreal. I've never been to Wellington before, or flown domestically; landed in Wellington at about 5:00pm, in theory had plenty of time but in hindsight i wish i'd gone for an earlier flight to give me time to acclimatise to the city. Anyway, it was already getting dark, found my way to the hotel i'd be spending the night at. Show started at 8:30pm, felt at a bit of a loose end. Decided to go find the venue so there was no last minute "where the fug am i supposed to go?" shenanigans and then try to find somewhere to eat. Found the venue, didn't want to venture too far and get lost, found a burger king near by. Nothing much to do, decided to go back to the venue and just wait. People started milling in slowly, not sure if it's a Wellington thing but they all seemed a lot more dressed up than i was in my jeans and grey hoody. Felt a bit awkward waiting there alone, wasn't feeling that great to begin with; had a semi-bad head cold and cough and was feeling nervous and self conscious about coughing during the show (in the end i was okay). Anyway, finally it was time to go in and get seated. Great seats, second row fairly close to the centre. It was very surreal, wandering around a strange city and now sitting in front of a grand piano and vibes that Corea and Burton would soon be playing. Sorry for the ramblings. The show was amazing. They kicked off with Love Castle which was fairly high on the list of songs i wanted to hear so right from the get go i was on cloud nine. They played for about two and a half hours including an intermission. They informed us early on that this was their first time playing together for a while, but you wouldn't have known it. I was pretty much buzzing out the whole time. They played a mix of things, a lovely version of Waltz For Debbie, three or four songs from Hot House, a version of Crystal Silence that got surprisingly intense at the end, a Monk tune that i can't think of the name of but i can hum it for you, you know the one... throughout they were both relaxed and seemed to be having a lot of fun. For the final encore they did Armando's Rhumba with the two of them starting out by humourously dueting on the vibes... i figured there was a bit of practiced schtick going on, and i found an almost identical performance on youtube from 2011 (see below). Anyway, an amazing show, i was pretty much grinning from ear to ear the whole time. Some of the best playing i've heard from either of them, so many "oooh, that hit the spot" moments throughout. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRSjLkj0VMw

A few names, throwing practicality/probability to the wind: Adam Lane Ben Allison John Zorn John Hollenbeck Darren Johnston Eri Yamamoto Jim Hobbs Joe Morris Harris Eisenstadt Nicole Mitchell Matana Roberts

Hey man, i haven't had a chance to catch up with my friend that went... he's not a full on jazz/improv head but knowing him i'm sure he would have loved it. Here's a review with some pictures from a local blogger: http://www.elsewhere.co.nz/livereviews/6315/peter-brotzmann-silo-park-auckland-may-3-2014/ I actually felt pretty down about missing the show, wish i hadn't been so casual about it. It prompted me to go all out and book everything i needed to book to travel to Wellington and see Corea/Burton play on this coming Friday night. Couldn't stand to miss another once in a lifetime type thing.

Cheers Ethan. I don't think anyone needs to justify having reservations about Corea, you'd pretty much be a fool not to. He's pretty much the epitome of a soft target, though. Anyway, i don't think anyone would accuse you of being the type who indiscriminately disses other artists willy nilly.

I know people don't rave about it but i've always wanted to get the Joe Pass set... I usually only get Mosaics that i can't live without as i pay the courier fee because, having paid for an expensive set, it's worth paying the additional expense to make sure they arrive safe and sound. I wan't the Pass but not enough to pay the courier fee on top, maybe with the 10% off, i'll just pay standard shipping and just hope for the best.

It's funny how that works. I haven't heard enough of his stuff outside of The Bad Plus to consider myself a fan of his but i like what i've heard and i am a TBP fan and a Do The Math fan, and i admit to feeling a bit butthurt when Iverson would take pot shots at Corea (being a fan of Corea's). I know Iverson isn't a unique snowflake in terms of not being a fan of Corea's, but yeah just one of those human things where, i mean, i've been around long enough to not worry about it but i can't deny that i get a twinge when he disses Corea. It's a twinge that instantly disappears, i don't really care, i don't need for one guy i like to like another guy that i like, but... So yeah, the point i'm trying to get to is that there's been at least a couple of interviews Iverson has done where the subject has praised Corea and i've been like "Yayeah! Suck it Iverson!" in my head cause he ain't got nothing to say! I intend this in the lightest/only half joking-est way possible.

I use Mach 3s and definitely find them to be expensive, although as someone noted if you do the math it's probably not too bad. Always seems to stand out when you do a small shop/just grab a few things: i do a double take/"i didn't get that much stuff" at the check out counter and then remember "oh yeah, i picked up some razor cartridges, that'll be it."

Just Shoot Me re-runs, waiting for The Simpsons re-runs to come on.

Not a major but Peckin' Time is included in the Mosaic set. The Mosaic is indeed great.

Not to get all "duuuuuuude" about it (well, that's pretty much the level i operate on) but man, the concept of Melody is pretty mindblowing. Monk just blows my mind; at times i wonder where the melody ends. From another angle, if i listen to a solo saxophone free improv song, you can think of the song as one long continuous melody. It's long, but if you listen to it enough you can 'know' it.

Great link, and yeah i really liked her whole demeanor. Seems like a cool lady.

No, never been on CD, although i believe some of the material is/was available on the Early Circle CD release (there was some discussion in the Re-issue Wishlist 2014 thread). I want this and Song of Singing, please, Blue Note. I will pay you money. Edit: I think i got Circulus mixed up with Circling in, in terms of the material that was on the Early Circle CD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circling_In

Corea's new solo piano album, Portraits, can be heard in full on Spotify. It's available on Amazon US as a quite expensive import and you can preorder a more expensive import; not sure if an official US release is pending (also not showing up on Corea's website yet). I ended up ordering a copy from the same Amazon seller that i ordered the new Jimmy Giuffre double disc from, Avatarmusic. Anyway, it's a nice album. He pays tribute to Monk and Powell, among others. I question the need to include the Children's Songs, but they don't really detract from the album.

Threads like this always blow my mind when it comes to Sonny Rollins. I have quite a few of his albums and really enjoy them, but he's never been a favourite and based on the comments in this thread i think a lot of what he does goes way over my head. I'll be honest here at the risk of revealing my ignorance, even on the Monk records, i dig his playing but i just always felt that he was 'lesser' than Monk, just not quite worthy! I know i'm wrong, but it's almost like a prejudice i have, a half formed opinion that exists outside of the facts, or something, that i need to shake. Anyway, someday when i'm in the mood and am feeling receptive i'll need to do some listening.

I like Ribot, but he's quite the chameleon, and i think in a weird way that makes it harder to embrace him. I love the Zorn Ipos album, where Ribot does like a surf/klezmer/Doors type thing, and then there's The Sun Died, where he does a bluesy/noisey/Hammond B3 sort of thing... then there's that Ayler tribute album... i love albums that he plays on, and his playing on said albums, but i definitely don't feel like i know him at all from what i've heard of him.

My enthusiasm hasn't wained; the music on these four discs is by far my favourite post Bitches Brew Miles. I guess mileages will vary, but man, this has really hit the spot for me.

Latest drop from Clean Feed is out, among them the new Tamarindo album from Tony Malaby. Tamarindo is a hole in my Malaby experience, never listened to a full album so i'm looking forward to getting in to this.

Not sure if i've missed something (didn't you post earlier in the thread? Now deleted?) but anyway yeah, i love it when JD Allen pops up on Field Recordings. I'm trying to find a way to say this that doesn't sound lame but as a fan of both of you guys i'm actually really happy that you've worked together.

Just pre-ordered Scofield's Blue Matter and Chick Corea's Light Years from Amazon Japan, both are out July 23rd. Never ordered from Amazon Japan before, hopefully all goes well!