JSngry

Berio is always some serious shit. Berio and voices...seems to always be an extra-exceptional occurrence.

How old do you have to be before they let you be 40?

This is the room. Literally, a room. That empty space in the middle was pretty much all piano. Made it down for this last night, ended up sitting front row to the right hand side of the piano, about even with the dampers about 3 feet from the piano played by Ran Blake, who is now 81 and gets around with a walker. Seems that he had been in Houston for a few days, and had visited the grave of Jean Tierney while there. Was able to hear the instrument fully from both above and underneath it's soundboard,, as well as watch the pedal work. Believe me, it was as close to total immersion in Ran Blake's music as you can get in a public performance setting. Two sets, solo, the first one continuous medley, the second broken by a quite startling stop to allow him to stand up and rotate around the room to say hi, thanks for coming out tonight, now we'd like to play, all while really twisting his legs around while holding on the the chair, it was very dramatic. And then he sat down and played the rest of the set, again uninterrupted.and SRO crowd in a very small space, plenty of body heat warming up the room, and this old man is playing piano with a full size knit scarf/muffler/whatever it is wrapped around his neck. Beside Autumn Leaves & Laura, he also played Let's Stay Together & Never Can Say Goodbye, and at the merchandise table in the lobby, besides the usual merchandises for sale, they were giving away free uninflated balloons with the Ran Blake "black bag" logo on them. "Take as many as you want" they said. The concert was free, started at 5 PM, and although the capacity of the seating looked to be about 125-150, there was still overflow crowd, literally SRO. Even with stopping for dinner on the way back, we were back in Dallas at 11:30. It was a very powerful, impactful evening. Ran Blake is a very weighty proposition no matter what, but live, at this age, in a venue like this...wow.

Did you get that press release in that form from ECM or from Newbury?

ECM (and/or Newbury) should read the amended law (bold added): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1570 Not knowing Newbury in any fashion apart from online CD shopping thru amazon, I guess maybe they really do still deal in comics? Even at that, are they "principally in the business of selling, or offering for sale, collectibles"? And of course, this exhibition of possible nomophobia raises the possibility that maybe those autographs really aren't real..."offer valid while supplies last"...how many is that going to be, exactly? And autographed by whom, exactly? The whole band? Just Abercrombie? Whoever is handy at the time? "Limited to 5 per customer"? I know jazz don't sell shit, but even at that, it sounds like they're ready to move these out in some vague, non-fixed quantity, so order now and order a lot, get ready resale market?!?!?! "Nardis" aside, the ECM cover ethos isn't the only fuzzy thing going on here, at least looking at the facts at hand...

Ward Bond Burt Ward Ward Wardy https://www.facebook.com/public/Ward-Wardy

EXACTLY! It's one of those tunes where certain "types" will go to the greatest imaginable lengths (and some unimaginable ones when they've exceeded those) to play everything that everybody all already knows, only because it's "Nardis", you're supposed to think/feel it's "creative", or "searching" or some equally projective bullshit. Don't believe the hype, etc. I'd like to blame Bill Evans for it, but full props to him, he got started on it and did his best to finish it (and truthfully, probably did). But Bill Evans is dead, right? And ain't nobody that I've heard played anything new on "Nardis" for decades. And yet they not only try, they PRIDE themselves on it, look at that blurb, OOOOOOHHHHHH, NARDIS!!!! EXOTIC-SOUNDING!!!! IN THE SPIRIT OF BILL EVANS!!!! No, I'm not genuflecting, I'm on my knees barfing. I'm kinda like, fuck "Nardis". Seriously. Find some other tune to do that on, I mean, ok, that's what most people do on ALL tunes these days, but "Nardis" is like, wow, Bill Evans, exotic song title, we can VENTURE on this one, and no, you can't. Stop trying, please. And see, it's not just old white guys! DUDES! Buy a Chico Hamilton record from, like,,,,ANY time past 1962!

Or maybe it's because the band has a few gigs in California and expect enough of a turnout that they'd rather sell the merchandise themselves while there? Or maybe Manfred Eicher hates surf music and is making a point. Or maybe ECM is working on a deal with another California record store? Or maybe California has a defensive missile shield up against ECM, and who wants that kind of excitement these days? Who knows, and in my case, who cares? They're playing "Nardis", gag reflex fully stimulated. Old white guys playing "Nardis", it's my nightmare scenario, and it's gonna come true more and more as time goes on.

Can I have your records when you die?

Bob Turley Your Uncle Everybody's Favorite

The Nutty Squirrels ACORN Pecan Patty

Conoco Cowboy Marlboro Man Wrangler

The Supremes David Justice Chief Bender

Ethel Waters Zyon Dobbs Bradley "Sparrow" Parker

The Clef Club Club Med Mickey Finn

Bobby Gentry Billie Joe MacAllister That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/01/nyregion/second-avenue-subway-opening-upper-east-side-manhattan.html?_r=0 and of course, no picture of Braith or his mosaic. Plenty other pictures, though! Not even in France! http://www.lapresse.ca/international/etats-unis/201701/01/01-5055943-les-new-yorkais-decouvrent-leurs-nouvelles-stations-de-metro.php Fresh produce in Brooklyn with George Braith present, but no pictures! http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2016/6/7/bensonhurst-greenmarket-opens-season 2012...did we miss this one? http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/crafting-a-sound-thats-all-his-own/

Bags Larry Teal Donald Sinta

Carrie Fisher Sarah Creel Stringer Bell

Floyd Tillman Jolly Rancher Swinging Shepherd

Tubby Hayes on subbing in the Ellington saxophone section: http://www.jazzwax.com/2017/01/tubby-hayes-paul-gonsalves.html

Woody Herman The Woodchoppers Hal Woodeshick

Cappy Dick Nat King Cole Charles Bronson