HutchFan

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!!

A double-dose of Charles Mingus: Let My Children Hear Music (Columbia/Sony) and Changes One (Atlantic)

duaneiac, be sure to share your impressions of those Staples Singers records. I've only got their Greatest Hits compilation. But that big set looks awful tempting!

Yeah, I hear you. You gotta be consistent one way or the other. Either release date or recording date. With my blog, I chose to go with recording date. Because my intention is for the blog to be retrospective in nature, looking back on things from the perspective of the present. In other words, I'm taking full advantage of the benefit of hindsight. My blog is NOT an account of how things were to listeners and musicians who were experiencing 70s jazz at the time. If that were my intention, I would have chosen release date instead. (Plus I would need to take into account factors like the availability of records, the popularity of records, how "relevant" or "important" certain records were perceived to be, etc., etc. ... That's precisely the sort of history that I'm free to ignore on my blog -- if I want to.) That make sense? EDIT The stuff that I wrote above made me think some more about those Jazztimes lists. Perhaps my beef with them is that they're more focused on what was perceived as important or popular back then, rather than using the opportunity to re-contextualize what was happening from the viewpoint of the present. An analogy: Think about a film like "Vertigo." When it was released, it was a flop. Nobody -- neither viewers nor critics -- seemed to get it. But, with the passage of time, it came to be recognized as a masterpiece. Time should give us all a clearer -- and at a minimum a different -- perspective. Likewise, those Jazztimes lists should NOT be exactly the same as if they had been compiled in 1980! More than forty years have passed! What was important and relevant then might not be what's important and relevant now. Today, most critics think of "Vertigo" as a classic. There's been a profound shift in the way people think about the movie, both its value and its importance. On the other hand, the jazz critics' perceptions regarding 70s jazz seem to be immobile; they're no different now than they were back in the day. ... That bums me out.

Love everything about this. The composition, the way they've transformed it into something very different from Coltrane's version of the tune. The arrangement, how all of the musical elements seem to come together in an "interlocking" groove. And, of course, the wonderful contributions from each of the musicians. Each individual is WAY UP there, flying HIGH -- but they're also playing together "as one." Just tremendous.

Cedar Walton - Eastern Rebellion (Timeless, 1976) The first -- and best? -- of Walton's Eastern Rebellion series.

Disc 3 - Originally released as Green Shading into Blue in 1978. Excellent!

Yep.

After asking about this record yesterday, I'm now giving it a listen via YouTube: Sounds good!

Very nice ride, Dmitry! Long live manual transmissions! That's tough that your roof got smashed so soon after you bought it. Hopefully, the repair shop did a good job fixing it up.

I don't get it either. If I had to guess, I think it might have something to do with the fact that those RCA Harry Belafonte recordings are highly prized in some audiophile circles. I'm wondering if that's what drove up the price. Maybe they're rarities. It also looks like the ebay dealer caters to audiophiles. They're called "High-End Audio Auctions." Just speculation on my part though.

I'm with you, Rooster. It feels like a bit of a cheat. That's why I chose Live at the Fillmore East, March 7, 1970: It's About that Time as my Miles selection for my blog. OTOH, if I were to make an argument why Bitches Brew SHOULD be on 70s jazz lists: The record was massively influential on SO MUCH music made during the decade (and after). ... So I guess I can see both sides.

More fodder for discussion. Yesterday, Jazztimes published their "10 Best Jazz Albums of the 1970s," as selected by CRITICS. (The earlier polls that we were discussing were based on readers' votes.) Here are the critics' ten picks: Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Freddie Hubbard - Red Clay Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame Chick Corea - Return to Forever Herbie Hancock - Headhunters Dave Holland - Conference of the Birds Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert Wayne Shorter - Native Dancer Pat Metheny - Bright Size Life Weather Report - Heavy Weather Sheesh, there are hardly any differences between the two lists! Adding Holland's Conference of the Birds is a nice touch. Good to see Anthony Braxton & Sam Rivers represented, even if it's just as sidemen. On the other hand, I dig Wayne's Native Dancer. Sure, it's a nice record and the Brazilian fusion thing is cool -- but is it really a more impressive record than Odyssey of Iska ?!?! ... Not in my book. Er, blog rather.

Thanks very much, Al. I'm glad that you're discovering some new-to-you music! The project has been a lot of fun.

Thank you, sir!

John, what do you think of that disc? I've never heard it. It certainly looks interesting. That's the same trio backing Tate that backed Paul Desmond on Live (and the recent Mosaic set), right? EDIT: I just checked Discogs, and I see that Bickert and Don Thompson played on Desmond's Live and this Tate date. But Terry Clarke is the drummer for Tate and Jerry Fuller plays on Desmond's record. ... So two-thirds the same.

Yes. It's special.

Last night and again today:

Yep. Provenance is a HUGE factor.

Yep. As long as it's old enough, it doesn't matter what it is. (Not sure whether it's 20 or 25 years.) Like you, I've seen plenty of ratty old junkers with those tags. It makes me laugh. I want to watch the International Ella Day parade. Sounds more fun than the Macy's parade.

I may have told this story before. If so, forgive me. But it's a good Waffle House story. ... My freshman year at the University of Georgia, my dorm roommate Linn had some connections. He could get in events -- concerts and such -- as an usher. He managed to score us an ushering gig at the Atlanta Civic Center where the Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran fight was being shown via closed-circuit TV. (This is way before pay-per-view.) Turns out, this was the famous "No mas" fight where Duran was so humiliated by Sugar Ray that he quit. An incredible night, historic bout, and I even picked up a couple bucks as tips for seating folks. Afterwards, Linn and I are driving back to Athens, stop in a Waffle House, late at night. Maybe 2:00am. We're both college students, not much money -- but we're both really hungry. No dinner all evening. So, after sitting down, we literally pile all of our money on the table, both bills and coins. And it ain't much. The waitress comes up, and we say, "Bring as much breakfast as you can for this much money. Be sure to include your tip because this is ALL we got." We don't even tell her what to bring! We don't expect much. We just want some food. A few minutes later, we were both eating enormous breakfasts. I mean the works. There ain't no way that our money covered even half of it. ... The perfect capper to a memorable night. I've loved WaHo ever since.

Oh man. That's a bummer. ... Maybe with vaccines on the horizon, it'll be rescheduled in the future. I had a chance to see Lieb & Beirach in November last year at Mezzrow in NYC. Some pix of me being a goofy fan with two of my musical heroes. ' It was a memorable night.

Listening to Mwandishi and Crossings from this set. So much to admire about this music. ... I've said it before but I gotta say it again: Buster sounds ridiculously good here.

Very nice. Similar story: I met Dave a few years ago after a concert and he signed Pendulum for me. It's another cover with cool artwork by Eugene Gregan. While he was signing it, Dave mentioned that this music had been reissued by Mosaic. I replied, "Oh yeah, I have that too."