connoisseur series500

Hi Ron and welcome! I believe we exchanged a few posts on AAJ. I no longer post over there so I'm happy you've decided to check us out over here.

Are we out of topics now or what? Now we are discussing weather? Are we all Englishmen or something?

I lived in Bangkok, Thailand as a young man between the age of 24-35. Had my share of adventures, and I could relate a lot about my various neighbors. I lived in the "penthouse" of a 13-story apartment for many years. When I went out on my balcony, I could see the roof of a whorehouse. This whorehouse was only about 4 stories tall, so I had to look down to see it. Those girls would be out there in semi-dressed states washing their clothes by hand and hanging them out to dry. Our apartment had a maintenance man who would spend the late afternoons on top of the apartment roof. I became friendly with him and I used to follow him as he unlocked the door which led to the roof. We used to chat as we surveyed the landscape of this great city. On one side of our apartment was this whorehouse, and the maintenance man would bring out his binoculars and pretend to scan around. It was clear the direction in which the binoculars tended to focus. He would put down the binoculars with a grin on his face and say, "pooying," and hand them to me to check out the whores. On the other side of the apartment was a small temple or wat crematorium. We would see the smoke come out of the chimney and would sometimes catch the smell of bodies burning. I lived on the thirteenth floor and shared it with only three other rooms. All of them were occupied by homosexuals. I used to stop by their rooms all the time and we would watch television or party. It was fun. I am not homosexual myself, but I learned to love socializing with them. They were great people. The apartment building itself was full of whores and drug addicts, and paedophile foreigners, and people of all races and sexes, as well as those who had changed their sex. There were also many interesting foreigners. It was fun. Glad I'm out of that madhouse now though. :rsmile:

Grant Green was one of those incredibly consistent musicians. My personal favorite is "Street of Dreams," but there are many others that are great as well. To name a few: "Solid," "I Wanna Hold your Hand," "Born to be Blue," "Complete quartets with Sonny Clark," "Matador," "Grantstand," "Talking Bout." The list is endless.

Name some jazz players who are instantly recognizable by their sound. To me, John Coltrane is instantly recognizable. So is Andrew Hill. Grant Green, as Soul Stream mentioned on his thread. Jackie Mclean has his own very identifiable sound. Louis Armstrong. Gene Harris is very recognizable. Let's hear some other names.

While I agree that Coltrane has been a HUGE influence on guys all through the 70's and 80's, I'm really looking for who is the biggest influence NOW, and over the last 10 or 15 years or so. All the guys you mention, Conn500, are all well over 40, and half of them are over 50. (I don't know how old Salim Washington is, afraid I'm not familiar with him.) But I looked up all the rest on AMG, and they're all older (or even "much older") than what I'm looking for. The cats who are 30 and under, or 35 and under --- those are the guys who I'm most currious about who their biggest influences are. I can only think of so many names, but Chris Potter turned 32 this year. There's Mark Shim, he's young enough. (Ravi Coltrane is creepin' on 40, so maybe he's outside of my range.) Joshua Redman is under 35. I'm not saying Coltrane isn't an influence still, but I think his influence is reduced somewhat from when it was THE dominant voice that everybody seemed to be reaching for in the 70's, and even the 80's. I voted for Joe Henderson. I hear him in Shim, Ravi, and even some in Potter (though less than the other two). I wish I could think of some other tenor players under the age of 35. There have to be some I'm totally forgetting. Oh, Mark Turner - he's another one who's got to be under 35, who I also hear some 'Joe' in, though I hear 'Wayne' in him too I think. I think you are right, RT. I guess the 40-50 year old ternormen are "young" to me. I am not familiar enough with the younger crowd. Have to go out into the old folks pasture and listen to my cds. At least I'm not as old as Catesta or Moose. Those guys are ancient!

I've got this session as part of the 4-cd "Bossa Nova Years" Getz box. Can't help but discuss it in connection with the other cds. My favorite of all is the beautiful "Jazz Samba Encore." Jobim's tune, "O Morro Nao Tem Vez is indescribably beautiful. These bossa nova sessions served as my introduction to jazz. They are part of me like my body organs are part of me. I came from the Caribbean orginally and was brought up on Latin rhythms (though I still dance like a white guy ) This stuff flows naturally to my ears like honey to the tongue. I also love the Astrud Gilberto story. The producers needed someone who could sing in English and Giao's wife was asked to sing though she was "just a housewife." She became a giant hit and history was made! I think of tropical shores and laid back and sensual people with meridional rhythms whenever I hear this stuff. It is my youth.

To me a 3-star review is bothersome. Why? It leaves me with the feeling that many of the sessions with this type of rating aren't critically judged at all. If the reviewer doesn't have the time or inclination to really listen to a session, it is so much easier to paste it with an average 3-stars. In other words, he is taking a pass on the session. At least the reviewer takes a stance with 2-star ratings. There may be those who disagree but at least the reviewer can claim he listened and rated. Of course, there's got to be a lot of sessions that are genuinely worth 3-stars, but one gets suspicious when these are liberally doled out, especially with no accompanying text review. The critic is taking a pass on the session.

I've got both volumes but have only listened to the first one multiple times. I like it very much. The new drummer is great. It's not quite the classic Sounds but Gene Harris was on that evening. Will have to listen to the second volume. Picked that one up recently, and haven't spun it yet. I'd go for it!

Expect to be house-poor like the rest of us homeowners!

Surprised you can't comment on some of the ratings on Three Sounds sessions, Dan. Many of them are given only 3 stars. Which of those do you feel deserve more?

Although I voted for Sonny Rollins on the other tenor poll, the clear winner here is Coltrane. I see his influence all over the place with younger tenormen. Carter Jefferson springs to mind immediately as an example. Roland Kirk doesn't fall into the age category neatly, but there are others. Kenny Garret; Salim Washington; Billy Harper; Branford Marsalis; even Michael Brecker himself! Could probably think of a ton of others if I had the time. Coltrane's presence is overwhelming.

Wow, SS and me on the same wavelength. There's injustice out there! Jazz fans, UNITE!!

As I've stated elsewhere, AMG is all messed up on Big John Patton's stuff. They give "Blue John" 5 stars and "Let em Roll" 5 stars while only giving 3 stars to: "That Certain Feeling" "The Way I feel" "Memphis to NY Spirit" "Accent on the Blues" "Boogaloo" This is unpardonable. Those later Patton sessions represent some of the greatest examples of Rare Groove sound in the Blue Note discography.

Been posting infrequently lately owing to duties elsewhere. Still have time to wish Lon a.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

They ask Dan Gould. You mean Johnny, don't you?

Glad AB is back and writing sensible posts as usual. Agree all the way. I don't think people will accept the money and they will simply feel welcome in the church. It will help bring people together.

If anyone can do it, it would be you Rooster!! Go baby!!

Blame it on my headache .... I asked B3-er to edit, but he found out he can't do it: now here's the first flaw in this brilliant board software. Who cares anymore? I'm just going dizzy watching your avatar go round and round and round!

Great story, Joe. Grant Green holds a special place for me. There was something about his music that vaults him above the others. All the others are great too, but Grant Green was unique. He was a terrific storyteller. BTW, guys. Thinking back, I really liked your version of "Mellow Mood." Make sure you play that again when I come see you! Great tune for your band. Joe plays that well. Also, think about adding "Laura" to your repertoire if it isn't there already. Check out Jimmy Smith's version on "Master II." Soulful beauty!

Chrst! At my age I'm still dreaming of chicks! Just kidding! Long past that actually. I don't have time to dream; no REM sleep. I'm awake it seems so quickly after I am asleep. Used to have recurring dreams when I was younger, and not in the declining stage of life.

No need to explain, Jim. The review does more good than harm. The only thing is that readers may question the judgment of the reviewer after the rather gratuitous Grant Green comments. Otherwise, it's a good review.

It would be "Conn500s entire jazz collection on one very long cd!" Sorry, RT, this is simply just too painful to think about. It would be like imagining myself locked in solitary or having to sit out a six year stint in the Hanoi Hilton or something. I am happily listening to Stanley Turrentine's "Jubilee Shout" right now as my mind deftly avoids this question. B)

A great session is "Appaloosa" oops, I mean "Mustang!"

"Most greatest?" Ouch! the liberty taken with the grammar hurts the ear! Impossible to pick just one from this bunch. Like Rooster, my favorite is Joe Henderson, but I had to go with Newk. Sonny Rollins was the most gifted tenor player I have ever heard. Hawk never impressed me that much. Coltrane was pure genius. Figured he'd get all the votes, but this hasn't proven to be the case. To me, Sonny handled the instrument with a facility that no one else has ever matched. Joe Henderson is just pure class on the instrument.