7/4

That is strange, somehow you might have been double shipped and maybe even double charged. The shipper should take it back.

ooooh, sexy. since it's a recording, they could also assemble it in the studio. they didn't have to record it all at once.

Charlie Haden and Paul MotianDecades of Rhythms, Tensing and Stretching Still

May 9, 2008 Music Review | Charlie Haden and Paul Motian Decades of Rhythms, Tensing and Stretching Still By BEN RATLIFF, NYT The bassist Charlie Haden and the drummer Paul Motian, both in their 70s, have their methods of mellow provocation. Mr. Haden looks for a kind of simple major-triad vernacular, and an uncomfortably plain-spoken feeling passes through his playing, giving it friction. Mr. Motian sketches rhythm on drums and cymbals, avoiding the usual combinations; a steady pulse is always somewhere inside, but obscured by open space. They have played together a lot in the last 40 years: with Keith Jarrett in the 1960s and ’70s; with Mr. Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra; with the pianists Geri Allen, Paul Bley and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, among others. Ethan Iverson, the pianist from the Bad Plus, entered their weird force field at the Village Vanguard this week. He’s half their age, and a provocative player, too. When the others seemed to draw close to inertia, he fought to find the right balance; as with the others, you could sense the chapter breaks in his solos as he moved between discrete ideas. Still, Wednesday’s early set wasn’t easy work. It began with a low-key version of Ornette Coleman’s “Broken Shadows,” and Mr. Iverson ran through a solo that ended with dissonant high notes, like raindrops arriving in disjointed pairs. The inherently dramatic standard “This Nearly Was Mine” didn’t really crest; it beamed out on a level plane of projection, with Mr. Haden’s short notes and Mr. Motian’s rustles and rumbles. Charlie Parker’s midtempo bebop blues “Visa” unspooled smoothly and ended abruptly, and the tumbling melody of Mr. Motian’s “Byablue” felt more somber than necessary. Finally, it took some ballads to engage their mood — first “Blue in Green,” from Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue,” and, even more, Mr. Haden’s “Silence.” “Silence” was a slow procession of straight, tolling notes from the bass and Mr. Iverson’s left hand. Mr. Motian dryly indicated the pulse on cymbals, without the long sizzle that the song seemed to require, but which would have been too obvious for him. Mr. Iverson started elaborating. He played dissonant improvisations with his right hand, delicate and rubato, using a sustain pedal, and their tipsy, reckless motions fought against the even walking of the bass. Finally, here was the narrative tension the set seemed to promise from the beginning. It’s generally unwise to play a set made entirely of ballads, but it would be fascinating to see this trio try.

May 8, 2008 Frank Zappa's widow supports plans for Baltimore bust By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 9:33 a.m. ET BALTIMORE (AP) -- Frank Zappa's widow is on board with plans for a bust of the eccentric rocker in his hometown of Baltimore. Gail Zappa tells The Associated Press that she supports the project, which was spearheaded by Zappa fans from Lithuania. Baltimore's public art commission has accepted the gift of the bronze bust, which will sit atop a stainless steel pole. It's a replica of a bust that went up in 1995 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Zappa writes in an e-mail that the creators of the bust ''have gone about this in the right way, with total respect for the composer.'' She hopes Baltimore will benefit from commemorating its association with her husband along with other famous artists associated with the city such as Upton Sinclair, Edgar Allan Poe and John Waters.

May 7, 2008 Baltimore offered native Frank Zappa bust; will they accept? By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 2:41 p.m. ET This undated photo provided by Saulius Paukstys, shows a cast used to create a replica of a bust of musician Frank Zappa in an art studio in Vilnius, Lithuania. The original bust, which typically sits in a public square in Vilnius, can be seen in the background. Paukstys, longtime president of a Zappa fan club, was in Baltimore Wednesday May 7, 2008, to pitch the Zappa bust to the city's public art commission. (AP Photo/Saulius Paukstys) BALTIMORE (AP) -- Frank Zappa, who sang about ''Plastic People,'' has been cast in bronze. Again. In 1995, a quirky bunch of Lithuanian artists and intellectuals managed to erect a bust of the eccentric rocker in downtown Vilnius, the capital of the former Soviet republic. Now, they want to place a replica in Zappa's hometown. Saulius Paukstys, longtime president of a Zappa fan club, was in Baltimore on Wednesday to pitch the Zappa bust to the city's public art commission. ''It's carved already, and it's ready to be shipped to the U.S.,'' said Arturas Baublys, a public relations consultant and Zappa admirer who made the trip with Paukstys. ''Whenever Baltimore says, 'OK,' and gives us an address to ship it to, we pack it and we ship it on our costs. And that's a nation of three and a half million giving a present to the United States.'' Before the initial sculpture was erected, there was no known connection between Zappa and Lithuania. The mustachioed, antiestablishment musician was born in Baltimore to an Italian immigrant father and died of prostate cancer in 1993 at age 52, never having visited the Baltic state. But his music was popular among the Lithuanian avant-garde, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the country's independence in 1990 from the Soviet Union. Paukstys, an art photographer, launched the fan club and even set up an art exhibit with imagined correspondence between himself and Zappa, whom he had never met. The club commissioned the bust from Konstantinas Bogdanas, a respected sculptor who cast many portraits of Lenin during the Soviet era. And members managed to persuade the mayor and city council to place it in a public square, in front of the Belgian embassy. ''It was just four years after independence,'' Paukstys said through Baublys, who translated from Lithuanian. ''The opportunity for this Zappa statue was also like a trial for the new system and the newly established democracy, if that (was) possible or not.'' Paukstys and Baublys hope for a similar friendly response from Baltimore, where last year Mayor Sheila Dixon proclaimed Aug. 9 as ''Frank Zappa Day.'' Vilnius Mayor Juozas Imbrasas sent a letter to Dixon asking her to accept the gift. ''I hope that replication of the original statue of Frank Zappa in Vilnius and bringing it to Baltimore will perpetuate the memory of one of the greatest artists of the (20th) century,'' Imbrasas wrote. Baublys estimated the cost of creating and shipping the bust at $50,000. The city would be responsible for installation and maintenance at a yet-to-be determined location. He said the project has the blessing of Zappa's widow, Gail, who as head of the Zappa Family Trust has been protective of her late husband's image and music. Gail Zappa's attorney did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment, and an agents for two of Zappa's sons, Dweezil and Ahmet, did not return phone calls. Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for Dixon, said the mayor had no objection to the bust but would defer to the judgment of the public art commission. He noted that Zappa belongs in the pantheon of Baltimore's famously offbeat favorite sons and daughters. ''Like John Waters and a lot of artists we're proud of,'' Clifford said, ''it's a big deal that Frank Zappa is from Baltimore.''

February 27, 2008 Music Review Finding Their Way Home, or at Least to the Garden By JON PARELES, NYTimes Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton performing during the concert Monday night. Back in the 1960s some of the most promising British musicians aspired only to sound as good as their collections of American blues and R & B records, or perhaps some Saturday-night gig along the old chitlin’ circuit. The careers of Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood would go on to full-tilt jamming, psychedelic fusions, pop hits, rootsy rock and middle-aged soft-rock. But when they got together at Madison Square Garden on Monday night — for the first of three shows there that, Mr. Clapton hinted, may lead them to “do a bit more” — they still paid homage to their cherished old Americana. Half the set was American songs, from old blues to J. J. Cale’s “After Midnight” and an extended version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile.” Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood did play four of the six songs from the studio album that came out of their last collaboration: Blind Faith, the supergroup (with Cream’s drummer, Ginger Baker, and the bassist Rick Grech) that existed for only part of 1969, including a chaotic show at Madison Square Garden. Monday’s set started with “Had to Cry Today,” which declares in its first words, “It’s already written that today will be one to remember.” Yet Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood carried themselves modestly, without bravado: just a couple of musicians doing their job. They were looking for the mysterious spark that transforms capable, proficient blues or rock into something startling and exalted. It wasn’t always there. Old blues songs still came across as the work of skilled, dutiful students, chugging steadily through “Crossroads” or easing back for Mr. Clapton’s near-homages to B. B. King, Albert King and Buddy Guy in “Double Trouble.” Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood were serious about songs like “Sleeping in the Ground,” which Blind Faith performed in 1969, with raspy vocals, splashy barrelhouse piano from Mr. Winwood and a stinging, Chicago-style lead from Mr. Clapton. But it was musicianship, not alchemy. Fitfully, they found it: in a slow, aching version of “Georgia on My Mind” by Mr. Winwood alone at a Hammond organ; in Mr. Clapton’s Blind Faith song, “Presence of the Lord,” with two very different vocal approaches from Mr. Clapton and Mr Winwood; in the Traffic instrumental “Glad” topped by a frenetic raga-tinged solo from Mr. Clapton; and in Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” which built to a searing guitar solo by Mr. Winwood. If anything, it was Mr. Winwood’s night; his Blind Faith song “Can’t Find My Way Home” held both anguish and camaraderie as he and Mr. Clapton let their guitar picking entwine. Whatever broke up Blind Faith 39 years ago seemed well behind them; Mr. Clapton also sits in on Mr. Winwood’s forthcoming album, “Nine Lives.” They shared many songs, trading off vocals on verses and sometimes playing simultaneous, overlapping lead guitars. The band was Mr. Clapton’s, with Willie Weeks on bass, Ian Thomas on drums and Chris Stainton on keyboards. It kept the songs earthy, helping Mr. Clapton put a bluesy bite into Mr. Winwood’s old Traffic song “Pearly Queen” and making Hendrix’s “Little Wing” sound as if it could have been a song by the Band — until Mr. Clapton’s guitar solo, spiraling skyward with wailing melodic lines and bursts of speedy filigree. It was, despite all the musicians’ experience, the first full-length set together in decades for Mr. Clapton and Mr. Winwood. Understandably, they sometimes fell back on reflexes. The chitlin’ circuit toned up bands through steady work, something the Clapton-Winwood band could try for itself.

May 7, 2008 Steve Winwood - A '60s Rock 'N' Roller Turning 60 By REUTERS Filed at 1:46 p.m. ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Turning 60, Steve Winwood is starting to believe rock 'n' roll may be a younger man's game. Maybe. "I think to be a musician (at 60) is fine, but to be a rock 'n' roller at a ripe old age is maybe slightly questionable," said the singer, guitarist and organist who played with 1960s rock legends the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith. "If rock 'n' roll is, indeed, what I play, I'm not sure whether it is, as I try and combine bits of folk and jazz. "The music I write, I feel, is not the kind of music for a 25-year-old," Winwood acknowledged in an interview. Half a lifetime ago, Winwood was aware of the contradiction of an aging musician playing essentially youthful music. "'Cause my rock 'n' roll is putting on weight/ and the beat it goes on," he sang on his 1980 album, "Arc of a Diver." Winwood has been performing for 45 years -- as long as the Rolling Stones, who are still playing well into their 60s. Whatever the definition of his music, Winwood has played his share of genres, from backing blues greats like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, performing with Eric Clapton, arranging English folk with Traffic and recording artfully produced 1980s hits like "Higher Love" in the early years of MTV. His new solo album, "Nine Lives," just came out. Asked how he felt about turning 60 on May 12, the youthful-looking Englishman was philosophical. "I'm OK, I'm lucky to still be doing what I love to do. "I might slow down a little bit after 60 but I'm going out on a long tour this summer with Tom Petty and I still enjoy playing live. So as long as people want to come and hear me or buy the record, I shall keep going, I think." Winwood, whose father was a dance band musician, burst onto the scene in 1965, with his older brother "Muff," in the Spencer Davis Group. They had hits with "I'm a Man" and "Gimme Some Lovin"' featuring Winwood's driving organ and distinctive voice. While still at high school, Winwood was playing and singing in church and also clubs in Birmingham, even playing with U.S. blues and R&B greats when they toured Britain. It was his love of the blues that he shared with fellow Britons Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Clapton, Robert Plant and Jeff Beck, that got him kicked out of a music school. "It's an often-asked question, 'Why did all these spotty white English boys suddenly start playing blues in the '60s?' "It was recognized as this kind of vibrant music and when I first started playing in a blues band I just wanted to bring it to a wider public who hadn't really heard it," said Winwood. Jazz and blues were not readily accepted in 1960s England. "I got thrown out of music school for even listening to Fats Domino and Ray Charles," said Winwood. "I was asked, 'What kind of music do you like to listen to?' and I said, 'Well, I do like Paul Hindemith and Igor Stravinsky but I also like Fats Domino and Ray Charles and they literally said, 'Either forget about that or leave.' "I was doing a few gigs around town so I said, 'Thank you very much,' and I was gone." Reuters/Nielsen

or Black Sabbath (although the Amps should be Randalls) Oh yeah, I didn't think of that!

Missed the movies, but Ellen Page is a really cute woman. Makes me wish I was 21. .

Maybe not clavinet, but clarinet?

CDUniverse is listing: Topics Challenge Jazz CHR 70137 Personnel: John Abercrombie (guitar); John Ruocco (Clavinet). which doesn't seem right, clavinet? 1 Embraceable You (George & Ira Gerhswin) 2 Slides (John Abercrombie & John Ruocco) 3 Sometime Ago (Sergio Mihanovich) 4 Phrases (John Abercrombie & John Ruocco) 5 I Can’t Get Started (Vernon Duke & Ira Gershwin) 6 Trills (John Abercrombie & John Ruocco) 7 I Hear A Rhapsody (George Fragos, Jack Baker & Dick Gasparre) 8 Mutes (John Abercrombie & John Ruocco) 9 How Deep Is The Ocean (Irving Berlin) 10 Moraz (John Abercrombie & John Ruocco) 11 I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (George Bassman & Ned Washington) 12 Fast And Slow (John Abercrombie & John Ruocco) DESCRIPTION John & John: searching...listening...finding…hearing. Just a few hours, right here at the house, mumbling a song title, telling a joke. Two seasoned musicians: the context was the concept, the individuality more than strong enough – improvisation. The longer you listen, the more you hear. Subtle interaction - musical conversation: The sound gets in and stays. John & John. Thank you. A better definition than these poetic liner notes by Hein van de Geyn of this intimate chamber music-like jazz is hardly to give. The instrumentation brings a reminiscence to the famous recordings from the sixties by Jimmy Giuffre with Jim Hall. A similar heritage but the musical context is totally different: more introvert, lyrical and half a century more modern.

I like Flag Day, freeish with Motian. .

I've been thinking about picking up the new CD by this group, but the 'all standards' approach suggests it might be a little sedate or overly familiar. Have you heard it? Sure have. I don't think it's sedate. I don't have a problem with them playing standards. I think I like the *private recording* better, but I'm still listening and checking them out.

Perfect for the musician totally into Clapton/Bruce Cream! I think it's time for me to do a little vintage guitar shop safari, it's been a while.

Yeah! That blond/natural finish is beautiful. Here's the description from the dealer: Rare Blonde ES-150, none are listed in the factory production tables, however, here it is, all original instrument with a strong P-90, gorgeous highly flame'd sides, 17 inch lower bout, manly 1 3/4 neck, old rock solid neck set, comes with a gretsch style period hardshell $3,850.00

and another, this one has the Charlie Christian p/u like Raney's gtr:

I've never played one, I'm curious. Here's two of 'em:

1950 ES-150

1953 ES-150

Stewart Copeland, Into the Classical Arena, in the Spirit of a Jam Band