Nate Dorward

Hey, thanks for all the trouble--that's exceedingly helpful. He sounds like an intriguing character, too.

Ubu--thanks--yeah, if you could dig up those obits ASAP I think I can squeeze the listing into the next Cadence (I was told "by the end of the week"). Otherwise it'll have to wait till the Sept. issue I guess. I have the birth & death dates now via the Altrisuoni website (30.12.1943-30.05.2006), but no cause of death or location.

P.L.M.: wake up on the wrong side of the bed today? I'm glad that the original artwork's tucked inside the booklet (& I've refolded it on my copy), but of course that doesn't change the spine, the CD label, catalogue entry, or the bad taste left in the mouth about the altered credits. It would have been nice to have an upfront explanation for the change in the liners, too.

I hate lawn-mowing. BBQing on the other hand...

He sounded friggin' great sitting in with Pharoah Sanders a few weeks back in Toronto. I have my hopes up high for the Tyner tribute.

Someone just told me that the pianist Fredi Luescher died "a couple of weeks ago". I'd like to get his obit into Cadence but have no further info (websearches turn up little, & nothing in English). Anyone know the date of death, cause, city, & the pianist's age? (I believe 63, or 62 if he'd not reached his birthday.) I've mentioned Luescher before here but now's the occasion to remark that he was a consummate player. Participants in my BFT will recall that his version of Carla Bley's "Sing Me Softly of the Blues" was on there.

The debate rages over The Topography of the Lungs: http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001305.html Aside from the question of the revised credit, just thought I'd draw people's attention to the disc, as (despite the odd naysayer) it seems to me fully deserving of the "legendary" tag.

Hey jc--was just trying to download your files via younsendit.com & it says the file's expired.

Well, the liner notes do specifically mention the Young/Chambers album... but I'm not sure if the musicians themselves (rather than the note-writer) wanted to make the connection. Yeah, a forum devoted to organs would be great!

Started a thread on this one on Jazz Corner last Sunday & so far it's had 18 views, including my own. Typical of that board nowadays, so I thought I'd repost here. Anyway, I'm sure the organ-players & fans here will be a lot more knowledgable about Ludwig than I am but in any case I thought it worth plugging this small but worthwhile album. * One of those albums which really isn't great but which is definitely, as they say, "very playable". It's an off-the-cuff date from 2000 recorded in a bit of spare studio time after Brooks & Ludwig finished work as sidemen on a Jimmy Ponder album. I didn't know Ludwig before--I'm not really that up on contemporary organists--but he's a 68-year-old veteran who's worked with Pat Martino, Arthur Prysock & Sonny Stitt (I'm cribbing from the liner notes here). Despite the album title, which is a reference to Larry Young's last album, it's an older Jimmy Smith tradition he's referencing--indeed, to my ears mostly "early Smith" (of the 1950s, with more of a cute Errol Garnerish approach) rather than the later work. (In particular the treatment & choice of B-3 setting on "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" is strongly reminiscent of Smith's version--cf. Grooving at Small's Paradise.) -- The choice of tunes is nice: some cheesy standards ("Cute", "Tea for Two", "On the Trail"), a couple lavish/swooning ballads ("You've Changed" & "Serenade in Blue"), Stevie Wonder's "Bird of Beauty" (great charging drums from Brooks here BTW) & a blues for the title-track. I found the blues a little disappointingly tame, but the rest is choice.

A poem by Peter Riley (from Author, though I'm quoting from his selected poems Passing Measures): for Syd Barrett Voiced consonants buzzing through Suffolk to a dark road white houses when I knew the cost I had no language, My death spreads over the fens, love predicates a real future or burns to nothing like a white leaf. My hands felt like two balloons. Did you yes you did, see the great flocks of Scandinavian wood pigeons and Plovers on the ploughed fields, hundreds, in slowly dimming winter light wearing a question to be proud of, bending To the day's end calling where is the river where is the course of us where is the bridge of flesh? Not here, or worth knowing in a society that reckons care by tenths. The sheen of their wings Makes a sea of the field and a person's age is a grateful fact sailing out in it with you Sitting in the car in a dark road white houses bookshop open answer closed fruitful company in a closing world. I have to believe what the earth so distinctly says. Settle noisily honourable birds onto everyone's food.

Yeah, I gather Hawks often paid his writers to hang around on-set in case they were needed to rewrite a scene on moment's notice. I don't know the details about who wrote what, though. The one thing I regret about The Big Sleep is that because Bacall was the female star, her character's psycho/nympho sister gets little screen time.

More from the Star. (By the way, the new jazz reviewer at the Globe JD Considine seems to be ignoring this story entirely--so far all I've seen is a tiny announcement by Guy Dixon in the Arts section). ************************************************************************** `Little problems' doomed jazz club Recent lost dates, low turnouts sapped Montreal Bistro Owner shut the door because he couldn't make July rent Jul. 7, 2006. 07:01 AM ASHANTE INFANTRY ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER Lothar Lang says he's down but not out, and was as surprised as everyone else at his need to suddenly close the Montreal Bistro & Jazz Club. The 59-year-old German native, who moved here with his Swiss wife Brigitte in 1973, says he is out of work and on the brink of declaring bankruptcy. The couple are faced with the legal implications of walking away from the last 18 months of their venue's five-year lease. Still he hasn't lost his renowned sense of humour. "We finally have time to clean the house for a change," he quipped in a phone interview yesterday. Well, barely - the Langs have been inundated with phone calls and emails since news got out Wednesday that the end had come for their 25-year-old club, a full-time jazz destination since 1991. Lang made the difficult decision Sunday after reviewing the books and realizing he wouldn't be able to pay his July rent. "The last three months have been extremely tough for business," he said. The Bistro had managed to stay afloat through the business decline wrought by SARS in 2003 and the departure of nearby recording studios, but Lang said they were finally done in by a recent series of setbacks: A local power outage on the Victoria Day weekend that knocked out Saturday - their busiest night. A diminishing audience, especially among jazz fans from France who usually started showing up in April and May. Three sell-out shows by pianist Jay McShann were cancelled in May due to the Oklahoma elder's illness. Lukewarm turnouts during their just-ended Toronto Jazz Festival dates, despite packed shows for some acts such as pianist Cedar Walton and saxist George Coleman, who was the last to grace the Bistro's stage Saturday night. "Do I blame it maybe on too much jazz?" mulled Lang. "I don't know. Maybe people are getting tired of it. Maybe people (in outlying areas) are looking in the paper and seeing there was another shooting wherever in the city and wondering if it's worth it to come in. We don't know." With the traditionally slow summer weeks looming, Lang decided to bail. "Yes, I could've called the landlord up like in previous years and said, `Can I split the rent up in half and pay the rest later?' But you dig yourself deeper in the hole. "Before all the little problems started, I approached the landlord several times to find a solution - to either reduce our space or give us a rent reduction. We just couldn't come to an arrangement ... but he has been as helpful as he possibly could be, under the circumstances." Looking after the Sherbourne St. site for the unnamed owner is Mary Jane Lawson, director of commercial property for Colonia Treuhand Management Inc. She said yesterday they were "deeply sorry (Lang) was not able to continue." "He was a great tenant," she said, adding that everyone was still "shocked" at the closing and no decision has been made about the future of the premises. "I guess we'll be looking for a restaurant to replace him." While considering filing for bankruptcy, Lang stressed that the Bistro staff of 20 have all been paid. He said that after a break, he and his wife will be "looking at another opportunity," preferably in a location with a lot of foot traffic. "We'd like to get back into jazz. Yes, we're looking for another place, we're definitely looking for investors. "We're looking for the next generation who wants to do what we started 25 years ago; then we could be mentors."

Wow, that was amazingly abrupt -- with the Senator there was plenty of lead-up, but in this case there was no forewarning at all. -- It was a great venue, though I found the programming increasingly conservative/sameish in recent years. I'll miss it especially for its zero-tolerance policy about noisy patrons & its good piano & discreet amplification. I think the last time I was there was a little while back, for Randy Sandke + Dick Hyman. Most memorable gig was when I scooted over to catch the last set of Dave McKenna's last night in Toronto (what turned out to be the last time he played Toronto before his retirement). McKenna's touch & harmonies were especially lovely that evening, & he was very gracious when I called out a final request of "Tickle Toe" (at the point when he was actually planning to stop playing for the evening). -- Oh yeah, I remember seeing Jack DeJohnette sit in with John Abercrombie & a local rhythm section when Jarrett's trio was passing through town. Barry Elmes came back on stage after & he looked both chastened & exhilarated as he returned to the kit. -- What else? Barry Harris chiding & teasing the Toronto pianists in the audience from the stage & forcing them to come up & play an original of his. Jessica Williams appalled when between sets I mentioned that I had her first album (not one she's proud of). A two-piano duo between Don Thompson & Fred Hersch. One of Ralph Sutton's last Toronto gigs. Harold Mabern doing "Black Orpheus". Kenny Barron doing "Caribbean Fire Dance" for solo piano, not a tune I expected to hear in that context. Ellyn Rucker & Ed Bickert doing "In Your Own Sweet Way".

Apparently the flirty horse-race exchange was actually written after the film was already completed in order to spice it up (& in order to insert it they removed some necessary plot exposition, making the already arcane plot completely unintelligible).

It was a review copy, but you can get it from Tom Djll -- it's on his Soul on Rice Productions label. (If you do, check out his solo CDRs on the label too.) Contact info here: http://www.bayimproviser.com/artistdetail.asp?artist_id=137

Re: Jack Wright--been listening a lot to his collab with Tom Djll, Road Signs. Great stuff, in particular the 23-minute middle track with Tim Feeney on percussion (the first one's good too; the last one seems a little less interesting). Some of the "driest" improv since the SME's heyday, in the good sense (light, high-pitched, very matter-of-fact, & filled with nuance--in fact, for all the minimalism, quite garrulous & diverse).

Is your house devoid of rulers?

Re: Little Huey, I don't know it very well. Raincoat in the River is the only one of the discs that passed through my hands, & while it's OK there's a lot of Parker noodling to no great effect on shakuhachi & bombard &c. -- Eloping with the Sun is dullsville.

Maybe with the proviso: "as long as he's playing bass".

Writeup I did is here: http://www.ndorward.com/music/august2005_misc.htm It's a good album albeit in a genre I'm not myself that interested in (I ended up giving my copy to Pete Cherches, who's more into that sort of thing). If it is your sort of thing, then yes check it out. He also works with DD Jackson, though I found the album in question (Sigame) a mixture of the cloying & the garish in the usual DDJ manner.

Mike--thanks for the details. Aha, Jerry Granelli. Mixed feelings about him, speaking as someone who's seen a fair bit of him because I lived in Halifax NS for many years (Granelli is part of the Dharmadhatu Buddhist community there). Sometimes he's fine, but increasing I found I just couldn't stand going to his concerts because of his demeanour onstage (I've never seen a player so palpably in love with his every move--the least little tickle of a cymbal prompted extraordinary grimaces & moans of pleasure), & sometimes the bands he assembled were more interesting on paper (with players like Julian Priester & Bill Frisell) than in practice. The track on the BFT is nice stuff, though, although it's mostly the guitars that grab the attention.

Not a minority viewpoint at all, but it does seem to get a range of responses. Incidentally, anyone noticed that the cover art on each disc is littered with typos? My favourite is "Little Poetic Tootie".

Yep, it's there, although it's actually a cameo appearance of AVS's wife Aki Takase on toy piano!

I don't have any problem with rappers, but they just went on and on and on and on..... and meanwhile one barely got a taste of Coleman & the trumpeter (never caught the name--would it have been Alessi?).