JSngry

What about the Comedy record categories? Do the still make comedy records? Do people still laugh?

Start it just a little before the 12:00 mark, let it play out, and then decide for yourself. Mind you, I kinda like that type of thing, but have no illusions otherwise, etc...

Word! There's a part of me that likes playing old trashed (within reasonable parameters) LPs...like, I got an original copy of Face to Face, and it's had some "social wear" to be sure. But that's comforting to me, because if I ever found a copy of that album in pristine condition, I would be said, thinking about how this was one time that Face didn't get heard, or at least probably didn't get heard in full Face-ial circumstances. As it is, I hear the hiss and occasional pops (never like skips, though) and I think, alright, this record was used for some getting down, FACE-MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, and that makes me happy. Of course, that's just a part of me, and god knows when I get some older DG album or the likes, I'm like, there was no getting down going on here, there was just people who didn't take care of their records, although if somebody can conjure an image of getting town to a DG record, hey, I'm open for that. It's those Goodwill-level Easy Listening records I'm not sure about...is this Jerry Vale record so noisy because it was used for some heavy bedroom action over the decades, or by some depressed drunk housewife who just let it play over and over all damn day, or was it some peoples who had no sense of proper record care, or just what, that kind of uncertainty can be troubling. As far a the young 'uns, though, consider that part of the thrill for them about vinyl is the whole tactile experience, the enjoyment of the object itself at least as much as the contents. So maybe it's that they can get the music in pristine virginal digital all day long, but they got THIS, they gonna touch it all over and make love to it like that. The music condom comes off. Just a thought.

Some restaurants here are eliminating tipping, hiking prices, and raising wages. It;'s a good idea if it works, I think. http://www.eater.com/2014/6/9/6210631/why-a-kentucky-restaurant-eliminated-tipping http://www.eater.com/2014/4/7/6247629/tipwatch http://www.eater.com/2015/1/6/7504725/restaurant-eliminates-tips-gives-employees-35000-salary http://thepricehike.com/post/52308734397/nycs-sushi-yasuda-eliminates-tipping-gratuities One restauranteur's experience: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2013/08/tipless_restaurants_the_linkery_s_owner_explains_why_abolishing_tipping.html

Right, but I heard the "Basie swing" thing made well into the 1970s when chatting with the band on breaks...it just seemed weird, because that band had developed their own "versions" of all of those later grooves, as well as perfecting - or at least modernized - their take on earlier internal ones. What they might have lacked in distinctive soloists, they made up for in ensemble groupthink, which by now I've come to admire a lot more than I used to. The reference was also used frequently in the Lab Band program (aka Attempted Junior Varsity Kentonia), but there it was like a trap being set with a false choice, kinda like, ok, you can play that old fashioned Basie swing or YOU CAN JOIN US...it was like this weird tunnelvisioned Either/Or thing. Funky.

Now back in stock and available to order.

Oh, Julie London, I LMFAO-ed a little while back, Was doing the Netflix series-watch thing with Emergency, and of course got into doing a little web research about the show, cast, etc, and found this thing where the guy who played either Gage or DeSoto said something like, yeah, Julie London took us all under her wing, we were green and she had all this experience, and she always told it to us straight, she's a BROAD, ya' know? hellyeah!

Can't say that I know Phil Gilbert...but I do like Amlotte's notions, even if I don't care for Richards' writing. What I do find "interesting", though, is how this notion of "don't all have to be Basie-type swing" keeps coming up in the Kenton Conversation, like, that's their ongoing reference point for "swing"...bebop swing, hardbop swing, Elvin swing...it's always "Basie swing", and although in the early-mid 50s, that made sense, sort of...I just don't know. And really, don't care. That was a world all to its own, and so be it. They had their own thing, and more power to them for so doing. But this Buddy Childers guy...there's a story there...

Karlsson is an excellent musician, actually, no worries there. Probably not the most "original voice" you're going to hear, but a damn fine pianist. And to be fair, Tony Hakim does have a nice room. But, uh...I got a first run Elementary coming on this evening, and Lucy Liu is calling my name a little more compellingly than is Eddie Gomez working as a single. But those who go should not have a bad evening, if you know what I mean.

Buddy Childers, perhaps? Now there's an unsung hero, right there, a guy who could and did play lead in any band...and considering that he played Toshiko's charts, which were no picnic, whatever he says about anybody's parts, pro or con, I'd not argue!

None, if any...but the point was that who can sing those songs today and hit the depths they richly deserve? All the "popular favorites of today", maybe not their fault, but those songs have reached the point of being "programmed" into us, we already have/know Sinatra (and others, hello Jimmy Scott, a truly sad song), we're supposed to, damn near can't help but, bring that to the table with us as listeners, and the singers have that to play on/with. The young kids of people today, it's a different thing. Sad now, or just a timeless presentation of sad? The exceptions prove the rule, but how many real exceptions are there (and I'll leve it to others to have fun on that hunt). But you hit this "I've Been To Town Thing", nobody's got THAT song ingrained into them, the lyrics are a little...disarming when you here them, it's like, is this guy wistfully ruminating or is he some permanently damaged goods, can I hug him or is he warning me that he'll strangle me once we get alone? Just what is he exactly, and to what degree? Still room for staking a claim on that one, as many claims as their could be singers. Those older songs, not so much. And I'm with Clemmoms about Watertown, at best a nice try, points for trying, but the concept is ultimately failed by the execution, at least that's my current opinion. I'm still open to reopinionating to it as time marches by.

Now added: Eddie Gomez tonight @ Kitchen Cafe wStefan Karllson & Mike Drake. Here's what I'm being asked to believe: Uh....cool,

Have you read Arnold Shaw's Honkers And Shouters? That's exactly the kind of book you're looking for, or would be if you'd want it to be about the early days of R&B...a lot of stories about the Bihari brothers, though, and if Crown don't fit into the Southern Western Coast Of California Jazz Overview, then...I'll send that over to Chewy for arbitration! Liberty, yes, nuts. I found that Steve White thing in an East Texas "bargain barn" back in the 1980s...how it got there is probably more interesting than the record itself, although not the cover, which is still UBER-messed up. Stayed away from White's Nocturne sides for years because the Liberty side left me kind of...dis-motivated. My bad. I trust that you've heard the Julie London NSFW outtake tape? Liberty!

Do they still have the Best Liner Notes things?

Cost of eating out, yes... Taco Bell has cheap bean burritos, and it's hard to fuck up a bean burrito. In this part of the world, there's still a few old-school mom and pop "cafe"s, occasionally called "diners" which is not what that term might mean down east or up west...and if you drink water (which I always do, do NOT get me started on the benefits of proper hydration, nor about the horrific lack of it in the general population), you can still eat a good meal (of that variety) for under $10.00. Also, in my town, the still-increasing Asian (including Indian) population ah led to a significant uptick in the overall quality of the once advisedly-avoidable buffet. Be selective, and you can till get a good plateful or three for around $10. But be very selective. And this place here, although not a buffet, more a "cafeteria", but jeez, they load you up like it might as well be a buffet, net effect and all, and food is always fresh and good: http://www.fadiscuisine.com/ Get the lamb shanks for $2 extra.. Trust me on this one. And also trust me on this one - that narrator chick is nowhere to be found, ever. So thank you, Fadi's.. Everybody here has their swear-by neighborhood Tex-Mex joint (and mine is the best, ahem/ofcourse/lol), and you can go basic entree for around $8, get "fancy" for under $15. Appetizers...nachos are for suckers, not necessarily so, queso blanco and some fresh flour tortillas. We got a good fish house here, and you're looking at the 10-15 range on the average. From there, we don't do "chains" for anything other than Whataburger (and that's strictly for me). Next step up is Fearing's, and there, an appetizer runs 10-25-ih, entree runs between 35-50, and yes, you get both if you know what's good for you and your tastebuds. Don't eat out as an event more than about 3 times a month, and then, try to stay local, because I like keeping it in the neighborhood if I can keep the foo in me (hahalol). When it comes to LTB, yes, Madame CAN burn, so..the ultimate local, that is. I used to love trying different restaurants, never a foodie, but I liked to play, now I just like a good meal with no drama.

I just think, "that's the reason why you never find a clean copy of an Argo Ramsey Lewis or Gene Ammons Prestige record."

Have always never confused Rugolo with Richards, nor thought of anybody else for Cuban Fire, bet on that. I just have a hard time handling most of Richards' work, period (consistent exception being Adventures In Time). But I don't ever really hear "formula". Rugolo, though...I bought the 40s Kenton Capitoal Mosaic a few years ago as part of my desire (successful, I think) to "make my peace" with about Stan Kenton, and...I'm just not at all convinced that Rugolo's charts from for that first Kenton band weren't a whole lot of copy and paste of a few equations onto a lot of different songs. Enthusiastic and sincerely motivated, I'm sure, but just...transparently devicical (built for 18). But on the part of the set that hit the "Progressive Jazz" band, that was when my ears perked up. It was like all those cool parts on "Machito"...suddenly all that cool shit had some room to walk its own walk.

All apart from all that, that's not a bad idea. I think more singers should cover this song, it's got a potentially helluva lot more resonance than all the retro-stuffy-turkey "interpretations" of "standards" by people looking for questions to answers in songs that have already asked and answered themselves endlessly numbers of numbers of times over and then some more. But no, who wants to sing about reality any more? Hello, jazz people - LIFE IS NOT HAPPY ALL THE TIME, (in fact, if you break even over the long haul, hey, you win, more or less) THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT LIFE AND NOT PERPETUAL ORGASM. Ok? I mean, fuck "Frank Sinatra", just give me Frank Sinatra when he's being real. Bob Dylan, same deal, and Bob Dylan should be able to be real about on this song.

Gioia Gioga Gioga, FTW.

Full quote (context the end of the "Artistry In Rhythm" band and the new "Progressive Jazz" outfit): (Adding the paragraph which immediately follows that one, just for grins) . As somebody who thinks that as a strict "jazz arranger" Rugolo was, at the end of the day, an extremely high level formulaic device-dependent hack but who when working elsewhere had some good ideas, as somebody who loves "Elegy For Alto" (especially the live version on The Kenton Era, and has somebody who finds Cuban Fire to be damn near unlistenable because it's just too "too much" (of EVERYTHING), I'll say that I don't particularly agree with Mr. Gioia here. Rugolo or not, though "Machito" is just one HELLUVA great work. That shit works! DAMN! I Got 15 Horns And I Know How To Use 'Em!!!!

Big difference between having a "school" with your name on it and an entire coast ceded to you due to an increasingly obsolete tunnelvision!

Here ya' go.

Curious to hear how he handles the bridge on "I'm A Fool To Want You". That's no place to tread lightly...

Z-HA! Just placed my order.

I think he does a good enough job delineating/discussing what these "institutions" were SUCCESS - Record labels with very open-minded owners. The earliest Mingus and the earliest Ornette were documented by LA-based labels. Contemporary recorded Vernon Duke's classical works AND Cecil Taylor, Dick Bock did those Shank/Almeida things, Koenig did the Shelley Manne free sides, both early in the 1950s. Tampa, Mode, Dootone, how many others, if you could play, you could get a date, it seems. Wasn't it Chewy who said that Tampa(?) was primarily distributed at grocery store? Seems to me that such an environment served whatever "sanctioned" social segregation was in effect by creating enough outlets for everybody that if one wants to get a balanced picture, one can. FAILURE - Lack of nationally syndicated press based in the area -Gioia really makes the case, I think, that a lot of the negative preconceptions about this music(s) were due to a critical inability to grasp the region falvor, and therefore also, perhaps, the true "essence" of the music(s), which in any of their forms were neither wholly removed from nor identical to the "East Coast" manifestation of esssence (s). Result - not complete picture painted, full appreciations not given, lots of peoples getting easy-answer stereotypes instead of the rich tapestry that is actually there. I'm not rereading the entire book, but it also seem to me that somewhere in his discussion about Eric Dolphy, he points out traits that Dolphy had that were quintessentially "West Coast", things like classical knowledge/studies, an interest in doubling, an eagerness to alter standard forms, things like that. Never mind the socialization aspect (only some of which would have been voluntary), there's a case to be made that this stuff was just "in the air" in LA at that time, that even if any given individual did not "go there", that it was still known to them and and was a factor in how they did go where they did go. Also, regional flayva - Frank Butler swung like mad, but he did not swing like Philly Joe, nor did LeRoy Vinegar drive the bus like Paul Chambers did. those guys had regional flayvah as well. Note also - Art Farmer. Won't say it's a perfect (or perfectly-written book), just that I took away from it things that I see to reason to let go of. Basic premise stated and delivered very well, imo. Past that - how the hell do you read an almost 375 page book overnight? I couldn't do that even back when I read better than I did anything else? Color me boggled! Bottom line, ultimately, glad you lost the reparations nightmare. I just did not see where that was coming from.