robviti

it feels like i'm having a flashback to my arranging class at berklee in the 70's! btw, i ordered two copies. thanks for the recommendation.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... Well, a look at the new Blue Noted Regattabar schedule appears to confirm both the hopes and the fears of many of us who have enjoyed this jazz venue over the years. As I had hoped, it some acts that would regularly play NYC but skip Boston will be making the sojourn to Beantown in the future. Alas, it's going to cost more to enjoy this music (including a $3 per ticket handling charge). Not sure if the Rbar will also institute a per set drink minimum too. Here's a sample from the website Regattabar schedule 7/22-24 Clark Terry Quintet featuring Hank Jones $25 8/5-6 Ray Barretto $22.50 8/17 Bill Charlap Solo $20 9/9-11 Another Kind of Blue: The Latin Side of Miles Davis $20 9/12 Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier & Jeff Ballard $20 10/7-9 Jazz Tribute to Frank Sinatra $25 10/16-17 James Moody Quartet $25 10/27-30 Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Allstars (feat. Randy Brecker, Jackie McLean, Slide Hampton, Mulgrew Miller) $30

i'm surprised aric hasn't weighed in on this discussion yet, given the frank conversation about his idol. then again, it took him a month to discover steve lacy had passed away.

yes, it can be argued that the artistic potential of people like freddie and stanley was at a high point during the late 60s and early 70s. but to conclude that what they recorded for cti is the best they had to offer is, imo, nonsense. there were a few gems, to be sure. however, even these recordings carry the mark of producer creed taylor that makes them sound dated. in the end, i predict the majority of cti's output will be doomed to relative obscurity, and rightly so.

are you referring to this 1998 effort: or this 2001 release from allison's band medicine wheel?

don't mean to be picky, but it's Such Sweet Thunder.

www.birdsource.org http://www.audubon.org cornell lab of ornithology

Aldo Romano's To Be Ornette To Be

i don't know if we share the same idea of what's exciting, but here's a list of the shows i'm planning to attend this weekend: Birdland – Lew Tabackin & Randy Brecker Upover Café - Anthony Wonsey Quintet Smoke – Harold Mabern Trio Fat Cat – Tim Armacost Sweet Rhythm - Ray Anderson & Wycliffe Gordon

i'm looking forward to seeing ornette at the newport festival in august (hope it doesn't rain!). dmitry, did you ever make it to the maria schneider show?

no one's mentioned this gem yet, with clifford jordan, cedar walton, david williams, and billy higgins.

it's no mistake. bernard mckinney also played the euphonium on cool sound of pepper adams and other jazz recordings by sun ra, donald byrd, yusef lateef, and james moody.

i've done extensive a/b comparisons, and i can say without hesitation that the xrcds are 7.6254 times better. honest!

i think you just proved my point. in this male-dominated society, we insult guys with words that sound feminine or denote a lack of masculinity, and we deride women with an "unfeminine" word for their own body parts. it's really pathetic when you think about it.

i've always been mystified and dismayed by the fact that in our culture, the worst thing you can possibly call someone is a slang term for the female genitalia. this could only happen in a male-dominated society that holds such confused and frightened views on sexuality.

did you make it to the show dmitry (or anyone else)?

a while back i picked up his debut at overstock.com for just a few bucks. it's quite nice.

yes and no. the earlier tocj jewel case reissues are different from the newer, lp facsimile cardboard case jrvgs. confusingly, the newer jrvgs also carry a "tocj" stock number. i believe "tocj" stands for "toshiba cd jazz."

you could be right. i just saw chris potter's new band (w/ adam rogers and craig taiborn) and again, i was left feeling dissatisfied. i'm not giving up though. i'm looking forward to my trip to nyc in two weeks, where i plan to catch a few good acts.

i suppose one could say he goes a little overboard with the hairdryer, but honestly i don't know what the big deal is.

Sound basses Les Paul exhibit opens in Cleveland By DENNIS A. SHOOK - GM Today Staff March 11, 2004 WAUKESHA - They were rockin’ in Cleveland ... Sue Baker was part of the celebration at that Ohio city’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame last weekend, when the exhibit honoring Waukesha native Les Paul was opened for the first time. Baker was excited by the event but as the executive director of the Waukesha County Historical Society and Museum, she is used to being close to history. Paul, soon to turn 89, is certainly a major part of the history of rock ‘n’ roll music. "It was called, ‘Les Paul - The New Sound,’" Baker said of the exhibit. She noted he still goes by the nickname "The Wizard of Waukesha." Paul was there to greet Baker, as the pair have been working to put together a much larger exhibit to honor Paul at the museum at the Old County Courthouse, 101 W. Main St. Baker said Monday the two exhibits will not rival each other and could actually complement each other. She said people visiting the 400-square-foot Cleveland exhibit might be advised once the 5,000-square-foot Paul exhibit is ready in Waukesha. "That will be in about two to three years, depending on the level of contributions," Baker said of the plans for the Waukesha exhibit. Some common threads The Cleveland exhibit and the Waukesha exhibit will share some artifacts, like a model of his first electric guitar, the small model of a microphone he invented and examples of his then-revolutionary multi-track recording technique that eventually became the trademark of his records with his wife, Mary Ford. Yet the Waukesha museum will feature much more in the way of artifacts and an overall musical experience. "We’re talking to different providers to bring a real technological side to the exhibit," Baker said. "So we will be asking people if they can build what we are looking at, and how much will that cost?" The plan is to allow for a hands-on musical experience, she said. "He is real excited about the Waukesha exhibit," Baker said of Paul, who is helping plan its design. "We’ll tell his story a completely different way. We will start with Les in Waukesha and move on to his inventions." More Les During the weekend, Paul and his backup trio played for groups of about 45 people to nearly 500, Baker said. Paul’s was a long journey from the corner of Wisconsin and St. Paul avenues, but only blocks from where his legacy will be housed. "(Paul) said the ‘new’ part of the old courthouse was not even there when he used to ride his bike past it as a kid," Baker said of the 1938 addition to the original structure. His musical inventions soon took him to Chicago and New York and away from his hometown. but Baker said it is downtown Waukesha that he wants as the repository of his many artifacts. The area on the second floor is already being cleared to prepare for the new exhibit. Baker said it will be the largest permanent exhibit in the museum, taking up nearly a fourth of the courthouse building. The society is working on securing more donations from various musical companies and individuals worldwide, as well as Waukesha County benefactors, she said. Donations of $1,000 and above will be recognized on a Les Paul donation board, Baker said. Baker has previously estimated the museum cost at about $1 million. The hope is that the museum will become an attraction with international appeal. In a previous interview with the Freeman, Paul said he is giving all of his major memorabilia to the society for its exhibit. "I told them they can back the truck up to my house and take it all," Paul told the Freeman about a year ago. And "all" that is going to make for a significant exhibit of Paul’s career and his creation of what is likely the most influential musical innovation of the past century. Among the artifacts will be most of the approximately 2,000 records Paul played on or produced, countless piles of original sheet music, the harmonica that was his first musical instrument and even the telephone earpiece that served as his first makeshift speaker for his electric guitar experiments. This story appeared in the Waukesha Freeman on March 11, 2004. Les Paul Trio with Bing Crosby 1946

For those who didn't know, Gary Larson is a jazz fan and a musician. He retired The Far Side at the height of its popularity in 1994 to pursue his love of jazz guitar.