Joe Christmas

Haha! Please tell me that's a fake.

even still, though, my pick is for "bop".

No, I'm sorry Dan, you're fine. I just defensive when inclusive jazz discussions come about that look like they ignore free improv and far out avant stuff. But then labels drive me crazy anyway, which makes me even more wishy-washy. My list would have included free stuff, European improv (at least music with jazz roots) and other fringes from the 70's until now.

Looks Like Ken Burns himself thought up this poll.

Have you spent any time with Alms/Tiergarten or any of the duo/trio sets from the same month in Berlin? Taylor hardly dominates any of that music.

Is that photo posthumous? RIP

Is Masterhit in hibernation?

Actually it's Eliot. And I loved this movie for no particular reason that I can muster. I think it was the blood. And Uma's feet. And that dishy little Gogo.

Oh, but I'm VERY excited. The last two games were huge tests on this team, one on the crunch and one of tactics. They passed both with flying colors.

Roger that!!!!!

Hey Vint. Can't say I'm too interested in hearing this one. I've been burned out on Ware for a while and I've heard nothing really positive about Threads, aside from Jurek's slobber at AMG. The new Tim Berne on Thirsty Ear, on the other hand, SMOKES.

Cheyenne

Soul Stream, recommence discovery. Start with this one:

I haven't read this whole thread, but, why not have everyone directly e-mail Tony their answers and then he can post the answers/comments collectively at a specified time?

We're not going through Santa Fe (we WILL hit Santa Rosa, Bandelier and Chimayo) on the upcoming Christmas Family Tour of the Western US With Beagle. Any more comments about burritos and chili might warrant a change in the itinerary though.

Double no shit! Last year it was Disneyland. This year it's a three-week trip in an RV. Next year it's pudding with a candle in it, so help me Moses.

Shame on you, Jim. Surfing the web on your daughter's b-day and with your mom in town.

Right on! This is audio inspired by an Onion story from Our Dumb Century. I almost pissed myself the first time I read it. Hearing it almost yielded the same results.

Wow, Noj, these are fantastic! You are very talented. I don't know the first thing about visual art, but your technique seems (from this limited vantage point) consistent in all the right places, especially in the features of the faces. I have the feeling if I became familiar with your art that I could recognize one of your paintings just by looking at the people. I like the colors too. I think my favorite is the big guy with the little head standing before the mountain. The confidence in the guy's face seems bigger than the mountain.

Really? Could've sworn it was you. Anyway, I know you built that wall yourself. Lots of records. LOTS. It's the shelving for your electronics I'm interested in. And I'll give you a sawbuck for that turntable if you're selling.

Panther piss, yes. A Bud Jones original. I'm a little spikey because the current AOW isn't worthy enough for pinning. What was that good lovin we drank in Mystic? Mystic Pale Ale or Mystic Ale or some shit. Good stuff from the tap, nonetheless. Moose, that was shrugs with the Sammy Winter Welcome thread. Right around that same time, Mrs. Christmas won WIFE OF THE MILLENNIUM for bringing home -- unannouced and unexpectedly -- a CASE of the big bottles. I actually wept. My current fave is an IPA called Bridgeport, brewed in Oregon. Heavy on the hops.

I failed miserably. Got a 6. But then I don't drink any of the panther piss that's listed. Some of em were no-brainers, like the Mich, Fosters, Grolsch, Heinken, Guiness.

I remember on one of the boards that you posted a link to a place or two that makes custom stands and cabinets for stereo equipment. What where the names of those places?

I just remembered (and was able to locate) this classic review of COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN by Kevin Bresnahan from the old Speakeasy. It made me laugh the first time and made me laugh here again. Very honest though (and brave) considering Kevin's general taste in music. _______________________________ Long post warning!!!!!!!! As required by Jazz Corner law... or the law as interpreted by Jimmy Cantiello... here is the required review of Joe Maneri's "Coming Down The Mountain". As much as I hate to do reviews, especially if I can't say a lot of good about the date, I am bound by my acceptance of this CD to do this review. I apologize in advance to Steve Reynolds, who I know holds this music in very high esteem and who already e-mailed me a long time ago to tell me what to expect. Quite frankly, he didn't expect me to like it and he was right. Now before this thread breaks out into the expected "free Jazz sucks"... "No it doesn't"... "You're not a musician so you don't know pianissimo, I mean shit", I must warn readers that I haven't played in band in well over 18 years now and even when I did, it was John Philips Sousa rather than John Coltrane. I am not a musician and I wouldn't know a pianissimo if it hit me over the head. You can read this or ignore it. I'm just doing it for Jimmy. Remember Jimmy, you made me! :>) Joe Maneri Quartet Coming Down The Mountain Joe Maneri - reeds & piano Mat Maneri - violin Ed Schuller - bass Randy Peterson - drums Recorded 10/28/93 at Ruach Israel in Needham, MA 1. Swing High - 6:20 Maneri enters by himself... very weakly... almost as if he's warming up. Mat, Schuller, and Peterson enter after this introduction (?) and add body to the sound. They start out sparse, with Mat doing some interesting off beat fills... well, that's not true. "Off beat" would imply the drummer is keeping time. Mat's fills are between the spaces of Joe's sax playing. There is a distinct lack of time keeping in the drumming so far. Mat's up next for his "solo". I like this section. It has Mat and Schuller playing off each other nicely. It's like they're having a conversation. Peterson joins in and again doesn't add anything coherent. I do miss a "beat". Mat picks up the tempo and Schuller gets a little crazy with it. Peterson still sounds like he's trying to hit each part of his drum kit in succession. Joe re-enters, still sounding tentative. I still can't get over that it sounds like they're warming up. Sloppy slurs by Joe here. It must be what he's trying to do. I do not like Peterson on this. It just ends... abruptly. Weird. No resolution at all. Makes me think my original premise, that they were simply warming up, was correct. 2. Swing Higher - 11:04 Solo intro by Schuller. He bends the strings a lot to get that crying sound. Not a bad thing. But, anybody who knows me, knows I'm not in love with this by any means! A bass solo (shudder). Here comes Joe warming up again. I would have thought he was warmed up by the end of the first track. Still so tentative sounding. Haunting sounds... very quiet. Is Joe playing a clarinet or a sax?? Clarinet? This kind of noodling goes on for quite a while. Joe mews a note (and "mewing" is a good descriptive term to describe a lot of the sounds Joe gets) and Mat holds a note. Mat is impressing me a lot more than Joe right now. Mat seems to play off Schuller a lot. Mat and Peterson duet for bit. Not bad, until Peterson remembers he's supposed to hit every piece of his drum kit or he's not "doing his job". Can't this guy ever *accidently* keep time? It gets up before Joe comes in at his fastest tempo so far. Hey, they can play fast! :>) Why I'm supposed to be impressed by Joe's playing is beyond me at this point. He sounds so tentative. I guess if one wanted to put a positive spin on it, you could say he is "probing" or "searching" but to me it just sounds weak. Schuller solos again. At least he's now at a much quicker tempo... now why the hell does Joe have to come back? If Schuller had simply soloed on out and ended the tune, there would have been a feeling of completeness. Instead Joe comes in, "mews" a few notes and they simply stop playing. It just leaves you hanging. 3. Coming Down the Mountain - 11:23 Very quiet intro... almost inaudible. Again I can't help but feel like I'm in a haunted house. Nicely done, if that's the effect they wanted. Schuller's really leaning on the bow. This is actually pretty good. As usual, it's Mat and Schuller that seem to play off each other. Joe comes in and keeps the mood. I'm still not happy with Peterson at all. This guy is on my "to avoid list" right now. Mat's playing some nice stuff right now. Joe sounds like he's trying to imitate a fire alarm. :>) Now Mat echoes him. Not bad. Get out of there Peterson! You're wrecking it! I must be missing something here... who's coming "down" and where's the "mountain"? No descending going on here. Pretty flat actually. This stuff goes on forever. Not very cohesive. Very annoying drums. A crescendo! Wow, they actually resolve something! Some more mewing with Peterson still trying for the world's record of playing the drums without ever keeping time. And then... it... ends. No feeling of completeness. No tying up loose ends. They simply stop playing. 4. Joe's Alto - 1:49 Joe solo... on alto I assume. :>) Very tentative as usual. He just doesn't come across to me as a very assured player. His tone is very unusual. I don't know if it's nasally or muffled. It sounds to me like a lot of sloppy slurs. As for the ending, see above. There is none. 4 tunes still no ending. 5. Say It All - 15:07 Joe's at the piano. Nice intro, but slower than molasses in January. Joe should stick to the reeds. He plinks and plunks without saying a whole lot. Mat and Schuller seem to be listening to each other but Joe seems to just play what he wants. Peterson starts out with the mallets on this one, but switches over to sticks rather quickly. I wish he had stuck to the mallets. This is one of those pieces that isn't a piece. There's really no way to find a common thread among the 4 players. Wait a minute! They all follow tempo! Maybe that's it. When one speeds up, they all do. I'm sorry, but this piano is terrible. Plunk. Plunk. Plink. I think he's playing with his forehead. I'd like to hit "skip" but it's only 4:18 and the thing is 15:07 long. Ahh, here's Joe solo at the keys. A little stride here. Disjointed stride piano. Interesting. This I can dig. Unfortunately, the band joins back in. At this point I'm wondering if they'll finally resolve *one* tune. Mat holds a note for a painfully long time and then I swear Joe begins to sound like he's trying to play "Chopsticks"! :>) Things settle down a bit after a an up tempo section... no wait, they don't. Whew. It gets really lively here. Now it's calmer. As I said above, at least they match tempo. Nope. No ending. There were quite a few nice openings where they could have had a real ending but they chose their usual, "let's play and just stop all at once". 6. To End Or Not To End? - 8:29 Well, this is surprising. A slow tune. ;>} I think I'm falling asleep. Mat still impresses me as "the player" here. He's playing some nice fills behind his father's sax. Thankfully, Peterson hasn't shown up yet. I can see a little better where they're trying to go without Peterson. Joe still sounds tentative as usual. With the title of this piece, I'm wondering what the end will be like. Incredibly weak-sounding sax playing by Joe near the end. He has to be trying to sound this weak! And, finally... an ending! Joe plays breathy, note-less sax keys to close it out. Well, there you have it. No, I won't be keeping it, but it isn't all that bad. It's just not good enough to these ears to warrant frequent playback. This would never bump Hank Mobley off the CD player! :>) And what's with these song titles? I can't help but think I'm being laughed at by these guys. You know what I mean. I get this mental picture of them listening to the playback and saying, "Man, is this slow. What do we call this?" Another band member says, "I know! How about 'Swing High'?" Someone else, "Ha ha. Yeah, that's rich! Let's call this next one that's even slower 'Swing Higher' ha ha ha!" So, Mr. Nagel, you're next. E-mail me with your address and I'll send it off. I hope you can get your review out quicker than me. And lastly, sorry for the delay. With the recent house move and the holidays, it's been tough. I actually wish I hadn't opened my mouth and asked for it. Later, Kevin

Mule, thanks for that link! Very cool. Listening to "Paniots Nine" right now. I'll be ordering it myself, shortly. Word of warning based on the recommendations you have received: "Paniots Nine" is nothing like what he's been doing the last 20 years. There are no "changes" in his tunes, for example. Nor conventional scales. His playing is primarily focused on the free aesthetic and he gets there (most of the time) by way of microtones, from the traditional Eastern 72-tone scale all the way to some of his own that he's created in the triple digits. Complex shit, like I said. But good shit.