JSngry

very nice...got a lot of hype (Ray Charles is BACK ON ATLANTIC) and synced up nicely with that EPIC SNL gig, but I think people have slept on it ever since. It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good. And when it's great, it's GREAT.

That Chico Hamilton record is really good. Solo percussion (not just "drums") and vocal narration (an imaginative version of "oral history").

Bud Spangler clearly announces that it was 3 sets/night. I thought I heard him imply that they would be broadcasting the first two, but maybe that's not what he meant. Either way, those are not "alternate takes" as anybody would define them.

You can accept all that. You don't have to live with it as anything except records and history (which of course, it is). Trust me when I tell you that it's not the same thing. It's a totally different reality (and yes, I do believe in multiple realities). Look at the new Netflix thing about Johnny Cash playing for Nixon, and then look at Elvis playing Secret Agent with Nixon. Johnny Cash was for real. Elvis was a fantasy, even to himself. Always was, always will be. 50,000,000 Elvis fans can be wrong. I'm taking this one to the grave, whenever that comes, so let it be noted by future generations that I testified for the real when I had the chance. This is not Elvis:

Lonnie Holley - I Woke Up In A Fucked Up America

It's not at all a dumb question. If anything's "dumb", it's calling them that!

I've always heard a bit of Johnny Griffin in his tone, which is more or less somewhat the same thing.

Newport: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Lorillard Kool:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-to-propose-ban-of-menthol-cigarettes-1541795941?mod=e2fb On the one hand, fuck cigarettes. Period. I'm a recovering smoker, and yeah, that. On the other hand, why just menthol? This is a war on jazz. Jazz and penguins. We must fight back. #20thcenturycoffs

The Camp Fire burning through the town of Paradise, Calif., as seen from space on Nov. 8, 2018. Photo: NASA

ReMastered: Tricky Dick & The Man in Black | Netflix Johnny Cash & Richard Nixon. One more reason why one Johnny Cash matters more than 50,000,000 Elvises.

Go figure how any of this happened. But it did. Has the reading of "Monologue" here been issued anywhere? I think it's the best ever.

Who says you can't dance to Stan Kenton?

1957 was the year that Norman Granz recorded and released a buttload full of Newport stuff for and on Verve. I'm wondering now if but that he didn't record the entire festival?

Seconded.

Yes, at least one time. After that, ymmv. But it's nice to hear people talking instead of just reading it.

"gathering string" - nice phrase, haven't knowingly heard it before. are you up for preorder on amazon yet?

Awwww....I think I mentioned that a while back I got a barbershop shave, and the guy who did it was Robert Shy's nephew. Found that out by ordinary barber chair conversation, one thing lead to another, next thing you know, the guy's saying I got an uncle up in Chicago who plays jazz, just a local guy, you probably never heard of him...so maybe not, try me, what's his name? Robert Shy. Oh, yes I have heard of Robert Shy! The guy's face lit up, I could tell he was happy that somebody had heard of his uncle of whom it was very apparent that he was very proud. RIP to a guy that by all accounts spread the love.

I knew him a little, played with him in the "alternative big band" that was happening then. I would be shocked if he remembers that, though. But yeah, one of the nicer, more generous spirits of NT Land at the time. And probably not coincidentally, one of the more "real" players as well, always looked to tell a story instead of flashing all those choplicks. And definitely not coincidentally, smiling a big smile far more often than not, in fact the first thing that came to my mind when you called that name was him smiling. Glad to hear that he's alive and well!

I knew Mike Davis from UNT. He was a nice player and an even nicer person. No idea what became of him, though.