JSngry

Definitely relevant: Last cut on the record, "Lee's Tribute To Bach And Bird". A Bach chorale, and then Bird's Wichita "Honeysuckle Rose" solo played by the section, and then some blowing. It's the one cut on the record that really hits a zone. The rest does not really gel. Fun to listen to, but...not that much. Lee looks cool as shit on the cover. Whatever phobias he has about hipness did not extend to his attire during this period.

Yeah, "he had a lot of girlfriends", that's hilarious. I recently read something where Desmond said something to the effect that playing to get chicks was one of his primary motivations (taht's not a quote, ok?), and if Konitz would ever admit to even thinking about having that thought, I'd be shocked. But, hey, that Bach, it gets into that zone, and yes, there is some rockin' and rollin' implicit in it. Where and with whom and to what end up for grabs, but it's there, and it's ill-served when it's not.

Yeah, I think the Bach thing is at the musical core of it (remember how Lennie used to open a set with a Bach invention "to show people where we're coming from"), but so much more comes into the mix by nature of geography, chronology, sociology, just every -ology you can think of pretty much. And both Desmond & Konitz (especially Desmond) when uninspired or whatever, could fall back into some really superficial "noodling" of patterns/sequences/whatever, a Sonny Stitt-ish autopilot, if Stitt had been founded in Bach instead of Bird. But of course, he wasn't, and they weren't completely, but, just saying, you can tell a lot about where a player is at when they're uninspired or for any other reason is coasting. Sonny Rollins, same thing, he's into his air column, making it as full and large as possible. If you don't get anything else out of Rollins, you'll get air being put into/through the horn at a size and amount that is beyond gigantic. Etc. But yes, Desmond & Konitz, their divergences are great, but when there's a convergence, that's really, really cool, I think, because the whole concept of "pure melody" can be used as a battering ram for all sorts of prejudices, predilections, and presumptions, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the meta-sense, and when those guys hit that zone, there it is, in that iteration, and hello Lester Young, no matter where we go, there you are, world without end, amen. I thought I had Desmond "figured out, geez...30 or so years ago, but have recently returned for anotehr, deeper, round of exposure, and am quite often finding a lot more there than I had first settled on. The whole thing is deceptive, because Brubeck and the other surroundings he had around him) do not necessarily stimulate the "deeper impulses" (Jim Hall being a notable exception, and Brubeck is kinda sneaky too, he'll be going on yadayada forever, and then really hit on something for a second or two, and then goes back to the yadayada, so you have to decide if it's really worth it, and I guess that's the difference between listening for information and listening for recreation). But yeah, Desmond with Brubeck on Fantasy and the early Columbias (up to the time Joe Morello joined, coincidence or not, I don't know), very often was in a zone, a real zone. After that, different steps on the same wider path, but on that earlier stuff, zone out the ass. for real. Not always, but very often. I'm a self-admitted "tenor geek", but my last six weeks or so of listening have been almost exclusively Roscoe Mitchell, Jackie McLean, & Paul Desmond. Go figure.

Marlin Perkins Patricia Gerkin Eric Pickles

They're wholly unalike...except when they're similar. which happened often enough for Desmond in the early/mid-50s to be noticeable. As time went on...well, no. Paul recorded for CTI, Konitz didn't. And so forth. Did either one of them go on record of what they thought about the other? Because Konitz was definitely "there first" in terms of general tonal color (general color, there's no mistaking the two, although some people with aural musical prejudice seem to insist that they sound "alike") and the whole Bach-based (that will be my assumption, anyway) rhythmic/harmonic impetus that drove the longer lines, yet Desmond had a noticably and totally different aesthetic about what "it" was going to end up "being". I don't know if Konitz quoted as much in one year as Desmond did in one solo. and, again, so forth. Two different men in almost every regard, yet, in the time I'm talking about, when both got "freed up" their lines flowed in very much the same way. The tipping point for me was listening to Desmond on "Pennies From Heaven" on Brubeck Time, just about as purely a "melodic" solo as can be played, and I found myself thinking that if Konitz was playing instead of Desmond, it could have potentially been pretty much the same solo coming out. Any thought, either by them or about them about this?

Tina Brooks Tina Louise Hilton Jefferson

Peter Paul Reubens Mary Travers Sean Combs

B-Side is a full Brubeck solo edited into a Desmond last-half-of-the-melody statement to take it out. Probably missing is some improvised counterpoint or some such. It's an ok performance, definitely the lesser of the three version, but they're all three pretty different in terms of content. This band really improvised more than it might have seemed, and not just Desmond. This 45 take is almost cocktail-y in vibe. Almost. And/So....in spite of what Avakian(?) claims in those liner notes, it does not sound like a concert recording, it sounds like a club recording, quite possibly at Storyville, in which case that recent 3-CD EuroMusiPorn collection collection of Complete Storyville recordings with all the buttloads of seemingly genuinely previously unreleased (at least they're not listed at http://www.jazzdisco.org/dave-brubeck/discography/ ) Storyville performances would still be short one track. Crazy, Chris!

The 45 arrived today, 30 minutes ago. So far, have only played the A-Side (Brubeck intro + Desmond solo), definitely a different take than the JGTC & Storyville:1954 versions, at least for the A-Side, going to assume the same of the B-Side. Discographers, take note. Also take note that the Storyville take is in need of pitch correction, going back to the original LP.

Grandma Moses Bob Moses Pat Oliphant

It's my favorite Pharoah record of that "type", thanks to Sonny Sharrock.

Leiba Ber Tuber Billy Root The Home Team

Donkey Kong Don Quixote Quisp and his Quazy Energy Cereal

China Girl Young Girl Gig Young

Lex Luthor Lothar and the Hand People A Cat Named Way-Out Willie

Also of interest to me is the photography credits. Other than Charles Stewart, none of those names really jump out at me as familiar. Not taht I'm hardcore about noticing that, but, but for so much of this era of this music, the visual iconography has been kinda locked down by certain images of certain photographers (and not without good cause). Abd/But, it might be refreshing to see these people through a different eye/lens. Or not, you know how that goes. And maybe/probably these were the same photos used in the American issues. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,897546,00.html

Yeah, John wrote that landmark (imo) article.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Down-Beat-jazz-magazine-Japanese-Edition-Nov-1961-Horace-Silver-cover-/331630675736?hash=item4d36ba8718 http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=767 http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=768

Japanese DB appears to have been monthly, American DB was published, what was it called, "fortnightly" (except for one month a year)? up until the late 70s..

Is really good, yes. It's the Rocky Boyd album.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/julian-bond-charismatic-civil-rights-figure-and-naacp-leader-dies-at-75/2015/08/16/8c7eebaa-4424-11e5-846d-02792f854297_story.html A great American...and, less notably, one of the all-time great SNL hosts, ever.

Shirley Manson David Manson Pat Manson

Not sure I do either. But it happened.