JSngry

Glenn Campbell was a career-minded totally badass player and singer from the country who went to L.A. to become a star. That may or may not be "noble", but I think it's plenty authentic, because as far as I can tell, he never pretended or projected otherwise. We freely acknowledge (sometimes to the point of fetishism, imo) the "divided spirit" between secular and sacred of African-American pop artists of a certain era, but that conflict cuts across cultural (and chronological) boundaries, and it extends into the any culture's realms of "crossover" vs "native". Whatever the reason, I think Glenn Campbell was a soulful cat relative at least to his own world, and quite often outside of it. I don't think you can be any more soulful than to be all of who you are, no matter what that ends up being. Be profound, be cheesy, just tell no lies.

George Washington Giovanni da Verrazzano The Golden Gate Quartet

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/AaronDavidMiller1 or thorugh Amazon some kind of way. Stumbled across this music through an involved set of personal circumstances, no need to go into all that, but what I will go into is what delightfully original, quirky compositions and performances these are. Apparently the guy's a conservatory-trained church organist in Minnesota...but he also composes and records original material like this. Pretty weird to think about juxtaposing that gig with this music, although, Bach, right? The liner notes are brief, and understated, but revealing: “Two years ago I was demonstrating a pipe organ to a kids’ group. For events like these, I have a collection of discarded pipes and parts for a ‘hands-on’ approach. I had disassembled a reed pipe and handed the boot of the pipe to the boy next to me. He accidentally dropped it on the tile floor. It made a fabulous noise! This inspired me to write a disk of music using discarded organ parts in unconventional ways. I started collecting scrap organ parts to use with percussion mallets. On the disk, these sounds are combined with the natural sonorities of the organ.” - A. D. M. The disc also credits Miller with "percussion performance and programming", with Linh Kauffman credited as vocalist (on some cuts). Recorded on July 22-24, 2009 at Augustana Lutheran Church, West St. Paul Minnesota. Keeping in mind that YouTube audio will not fully reproduce all the air in the sound of a pipe organ, standout cuts for me are: They're all of a piece, though, so if you like one, you should like 'em all, and vice-versa. Pipe organ itself is not something I really get into, but the quality of these compositions and the understated combination of tradition and "homemade" really appeals to me, and continues to after repeated listening. Just thought I'd share, and hope that somebody enjoys as well.

The only "negative" observation I have is that her internal dynamics are a little flat-lined. She's not learned/heard how to ghost notes to varying degrees within the course of a line/phrase. That's what makes bop-family phrasing so gripping, the bobbing and weaving that comes from some notes being more implied than actually sounded, and then notes really popping when they are. It's not just her, it's a whole "thing" over the last 40-50 years. as players got more chord/scale-y and more even eights in their phrasing, the boppish bob and weave seemed to no longer be a consideration. Too bad, because for me, that a deep part of swing. But listen to Hank, his lines have all kinds of dynamics within them, he very much bobs and weaves.

Dr. Daniel Teet Texas Pete Dixie Pig

I've been to malls before. I see what people do there.

We had two Virgins here, one in Dallas, which was kinda blah on a mega scale, and another one out at the Grapevine Mills outlet mall, which was a freakin' treasure chest, both in their regular stock and, especially, in their cutout bins, which is apparently where a lot of their "international" inventory went to die (or else be bought by people who said, hey, wtf is THAT cover, i'm buying it even if i can't read one word on it!). The best record stores for me nowadays are online places like Berkshire Record Outlet, where you get an email saying, ok, we've gotten some new things in, here's a link to what they are, click here, and I don't recognize ANY of it, but this one here sure looks like it will be good, lather, rinse repeat, next thing you know, oh shit, I gotta put some of this back...that's how a real record store operates, by making you put stuff back for the next time, and yes, there will be a next time.

Kites are fun. And Richard Dais plays on at least one of these.

Y'all done forgot how to have fun at the movies. Wait til it comes to your neighborhood drive-in, you'll be all up in it then!

Dem Batterds ain't got it out yet either. I suspect that promos are out there, though.

You mean like, if you take her to the mall and have her go over the plan if y'all get separated and can't find each other?

Reviewing the competition, who else was a serious competitor? Barry Manilow? Seth McFarlane? Bob Dylan? Josh Groban? Consider the nominees for Best Jazz Vocal Album, which, from the sound of things, Bennet's could have just as easily have gotten nominated for: Find A Heart-Denise Donatelli Flirting With Disaster-Lorraine Feather For One To Love-Cécile McLorin Salvant Jamison-Jamison Ross Many A New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein-Karrin Allyson Nothing here that makes me want to go out to Barnes & Noble, ok? Although, Jamison Ross, singing jazz drummer, filling the too-long vacant Karen Carpenter/Grady Tate void, perhaps? Have a snack every now and then dude, ok?

I'm looking for that unconventional clothing myself.

So is conversation! But no, nothing out of the ordinary in terms of song selection.

The Roosevelt Wardell side is a good one if you like checking out "fringe" players who speak the language with no new vocabulary but some personal inflections. The titles hint at a NOI consciousness being in the mix, so that perhaps focuses the music in a little different direction. Not overtly, but this is not another generic soulbophappyjazz piano trio record, it definitely has a little flavor of its own. Our Good Friends At Fresh Sound have complied it with the Riverside output of Evans Bradshaw, who is perhaps not as "flavor-rich" as Mr. Wardell, but whose records also are pleasant to experience.

So, it's, like, all standards, correct? Any "little known gems" on there?

Because this is anecdotal research, not scientific. But hey - free long distance, gotta love free long distance, right?

Paramus Barnes & Noble- the one with the big(ger) jazz selection) 765 Route 17 South Paramus, NJ 07652 201-445-4589 Same thing - I can order for you, but for home delivery only. Although, this guy did say he could "take a chance" on ordering a store copy, but if he did that, he's have to be sure of an almost immediate turnover. But as far as placing an order, prepaid, of course, for store pickup. Nope, couldn't happen. I don't know what the Paramusstore is like, but around here, I've seen stock on the B&N shelves that's been there 3-5 years. But at least this guy offered a theoretical possibility of The Epic being on his shelves, even though he didn't act like he wanted it to be. Fear of the unknown, perhaps? And again, this "I can order it for you to have it delivered to your house:...I can do that myself, why do they think this is something I'm gonna get excited about, them offering to do this for me?

More to the immediate point, though - I buy a "lot" of music, new and used, online and "in person", but if you were to use my consumption at Barnes & Noble as an indicator of anything, you'd think I had the same collection now as I did 4-5 years ago, that I've just gotten old and given up. My wife no doubt wishes it were so, but, sorry baby, when you pick your battles, don't think I don't consider it a blessing from above that you never pick this one. So, all anybody got to do to get physical product to an audience without resorting to this megachain silliness is just find alternative outlets, where your audience hangs out, and place the product accordingly and proportionately. One thing hasn't changed since the goodolddays - you can still buy records at some unconventional places - I bought some Oum Kalsoum stuff at a freakin' buffet restaurant, came to eat, went home with a feast. "Independent" anything, start looking there, and the more ethnic- or age- or art- specific it is, look all that much harder. Because a lot of people don't go to Barnes & Noble to get what they want, nor do they really need to. And really - word of mouth and a good server...you can have a hit and nobody will hear about it other than the people who know about it.

Borders got to be just as bad, I kept going into the Plano store for new releases and they were like, we don't have it here, but they do have it in Dallas. So I'd schlep down to Dallas, supporting "local" stores and all that, besides, I like car time. Then in Dallas it got to be, well no, we don't have that, we don't have the shelf space for that, but we can order it for you, and then was when I got all, well, fuck that, I can order it my own damn self, what do I need you for? The financials of Borders & B*N apparently were very different, because obviously only one survived, but, really, I'm the type of shopper that getting me in the store is the real battle, once I'm in there, I'll surely find something to buy, a freakin' Louis Armstrong bookmark or an Albert Einstein memo pad, something.. But sending me the message that not only am I too dumb to order off the internet, but you'd just as soon I not come in to look for what I want, what, I am not welcome to come into your store of my own volition and out of my own curiosity, just stay home and we'll send it to you? A place like that, I cannot laugh hard enough if/when it finally goes under. I laugh in these people's faces when they tell me they can "order it for ya'!", because hey - the internet is its own middleman. You bring no value to this equation sir or madam, and I will not read your book, not any more.

Apparently there are a few odd items here and there which they can order only if the customer agrees to not come into the store to pick them up. Surely this is not an attempted effect, but just as surely, it is a real one. At that point,, I'm like, you know, fuck going in there, what do they have that I can't get anywhere else?

Is it just me, or does the beginning of Monk's solo, waaaay up on the high end of the piano, does that seems pretty unique in Monk's output, starting up there, and up there like that?

Maybe a couple more?

Not liking this very much. Seems like much musical ado about very little music.