JSngry

I get what he's saying, but to me his tone sounds like somebody who equates complaining with having better taste.

Take hearing Ornette or Jimmy Lyons, not as "Bird-like" in moments, but as Bird, i.e. - no, that's not them, that is Bird, and extrapolate it out as far into life as you enjoy, making the necessary adjustments to keep it true, if not always real (truth in this case being not the first casualty, but the ultimate outcome). Of course, reality has no choice but to intervene, but as we all come to learn eventually, "reality" in non-Newtonian matters is as much about what you're able to reference in interpretation of data as it is the content of the data itself. Of course, if you put The Shape Of Jazz To Come on your turntable, it will never be Bird With Strings that comes out of your speakers (pretty sure this can be proven with mathematics or something like it). But that's not the point here. What I think might be unreachable is hearing Previn playing the songs from My Fair Lady as Standards Live, but I still have, hopefully, many years left to hear many kinds of musics in many different ways, and I've lived long enough (so far) to never rule out anything ever happening, if only abstractly. So, you just never know!

Hell, this is the way I live my entire life.

A friend sent this: I've no doubt that the man had to have had a lot of bitterness/rage/etc impulses. Who wouldn't? But the true mark of character imo is not what impulses we have, but how we process them, and when the impulse to pass along hurt and hatred and damage is resisted and ultimately denied, that's one less link in the chain of human degradation and one more link in the chain of human dignity. Nelson Mandela created enough of the latter links to be a whole chain unto himself. His was a spirit of constructive survival, not destructive succumbing. Life's odds certainly seem to be against the progress of dignity, but sometimes the odds get beat, and then we have something to inspire. RIP, sir, and here's hoping that your spirit lives on, again against the odds.

Yeah, John Jenkins, that's who it was. Sorry for my confusion, they were both guys who (imo) got so into Bird that their identity and his became like a Mobius strip, if that makes any sense. And that's meant as a compliment.

There's a nice example of Mel Powell's post-jazz work here: http://www.berkshirerecordoutlet.com/search.php?row=0&brocode=131709&stocknum=&text=&filter=all&submit=Search It makes for a seriously refreshing, warm, and delightful contrast to the other works on the disc.

Wow, I knew about the Wardell Memorial album, but didn't realize that it was part of a series ("mini" or otherwise)! Vaguely remember the one with Rouse but...maybe not. Found the Gildo on a blog within the last year, but the others are definitely new to me! Looks like Fantasy redid the art (no pun intnended) on this one to make it new-ish, while still keeping the old catalog number. That's an economical way to change!

Per that blog: Pretty sure the Sharpe is on at least one Clifford Jordan Big Band side as well.

The sixties? The 24000 series began in 1972, was there anything of note before then? I see the moderator replaced a better and more thorough message. Bummer. I came here to praise the original message. Not sure what you mean?

Angelina Anglican Geometrician

If you don't mind Christmas music with religious lyrics, this one is hard to beat:

Well yeah, but Bobbi Humphrey was not Jackie McLean, and Donald Byrd wasn't Donald Byrd...and George Butler sure as hell wasn't Alfred Lion, or even Duke Pearson. And the whole "Reissue Series" & LT issues were more or less stealth operations, very much Cuscuna & Co. trying to get away with as much as they could while they could. They (all of them) kept the "Blue Note" name alive, and a large-ish portion of the catalog stayed in print because they made a lot of really good records in the first place, more than a few of them iconic that people kept wanting to hear. And with artists like Horace & Herbie & many others, the mega-hits justified keeping the lesser selling items in print, because enough people were curious enough then to say, oh, this Song For My Father thing is really badass, let's see what this Horace-Scope album's all about, etc., or what this new one, You Gotta Take A Little Love, this looks groovy!But as the later CD reissue programs would prove, what stayed in print all those years was not nearly as much as was issued and then went OOP. Even the big names didn't have their entire catalog continuously in print. So, they make good records that sold well, they build brand recognition, and people wanted to buy the brand when they decided it was time to sell it. As far as how they stayed in business up until then, hey - they were good businessmen, Lion & Wolff were. They knew their market, how to play to it, and they also knew what might not sell but would still want/need to be heard. They weren't in the business to get rich, but they weren't in it to lose money either, if you know what I mean. Just good business people with exceptionally good taste.

What if i don't live that long? Not everybody will, and I might be one of them. How is that fair? I'd like to speak to the manager, please. But now wait - I can get this now!: http://www.amazon.com/African-Piano-Dollar-Brand/dp/B0000260C9 So I guess this is at least half-fair, in which case, I will speak with the half-manager, please.

Amazon often refunds part of the pre-order price based on competitor prices and in this case they reduced the price by $1.99 after shipment. Yeah, I figured there would be a deal like that after it came out. But that original asking price (which ended up being too close to 20 for comfort) made me feel somewhat fuquitous, so I hrrmphed on it. When DG popped it up at their price, I said, yeah, this is more like it. And they whisked it on over, like they usually do. Sometimes I don't mind stuff like that, sometimes I do. Since Amazon claims to "know" me so damn well, they should know that, too!

Ah, an ass now instead a douche, as he was when we got him. Most befitting of somebody on the exiting end of their career!

But you got AJ (who will be great, except when he's not, and at the end of the season, you'll say, well, wasn't THAT average!), geez, what else do you want? I'll miss Craig Gentry, who was fleet of foot (he got an inside-the-parker a few years ago against the Twins (iirc) that was epic in its sheer speedocity) and super keen of leather I will thrill to the leapingdivingrunning nabbing every time, and Gentry was always good for those). But this Choice guy they got for him from the A's is touted as being not quite as much of each, but younger, surer of bat, and ready to stay for a while and not be as injury prone. If so, so long Kittenface, and hello People's Choice!

And I was worried about who I might have given too much credit... I feel good about my characterization of Frankie Newton, although bad that I didn't get him (and embarrassed that I didn't get James P.) but - who the heck is Jess Pickett? A pseudonym for James P.? "J.P."? No matter - That's an interesting composition.

Bond James? Agent 700?

The Amazon preorder price seemed too high to me, so I waited for Dusty Groove to get it at a price I liked more, which they did.

For the sake of goodness, let's say that your love of Lester Young = your love of caramel apples, while the caramel is still soft warm and gooey. It then follows that this album will be to you like bobbing for apples, big plump juicy apples, in a washtub full, neigh, endlessly deep yet still/and overflowing with soft warm and gooey caramel. It will get all over you face and all up in your ears and in whatever else parts you let fall into the soft warm and gooey caramel along with the big plump juicy apples, all in pursuit of the craving, not the satisfaction as much as just letting the craving have its way with you, and you will delight in that like a big dog. That's how much the spirit of Lester Young (or more truthfully, the Immortal Spirit Of Our One True Lester Young) is all up over and inside and coming out of all this music. And it's live, live, all the way live. Some might scoff, but it really feels like being in the presence of this band in its time/place and being in the presence of Chuck Brown in his probably weren't too different. There's that feeling of...consenting adults fully trusting each other that you just don't hear that many places. Shadow Wilson, btw, between this and the 1943 Basie airshots & anything for that matter live with Shadow Wilson on it, hey, there is no doubt.

I wonder how many stars of that era really did exactly what they wanted to?

Here's another cut from the same album. Nobody who would even think about thinking about buying a Perry Como record - any Perry Como record - would not need, much less actively want to hear these chords voiced like this, or this tenor solo played like this. And yet, there they are. Somebody decided, hey, let's do this instead of that. People who make decisions like that, those are my kind of people. Especially when they got the skills to do it.

All kidding aside (and yes, tongue was partially in cheek by posting this, but only partially), there is much in the Como version that rewards repeated/focused listening, not the least of which is Como himself. He might have been a singer with a casual style, but he was never a casual singer, much less a careless one. His phrasing and inflections here, especially on phrase endings, are wonderfully unpredictable (and/or, if you like, inconsistent), sometimes caressing and elongated, sometimes clipped and harsh, it's like he's responding to something besides the literal in the song, and there really is no pattern to how he does it, but not once does it seem clueless and/or accidental. Very few singers will give you that, especially in this kind of setting. And never mind how he negotiates all the key changes. Skills. Major serious skills. And what about that setting, eh? Can't say that I've ever heard anybody take this...aggressive an approach to the tune. Not just is everybody playing inside the percussion rhythmically (it's definitely more "NYC Studio" than "authentic Latin", but a pocket's a pocket nevertheless, no matter whose pocket it is or how it manifests itself), there's plenty of nifty harmonic elements, from the flute trill on the intro that is voiced in half-steps (I think, can't tell for sure, but it's got a bluntly dissonant sound to it, for sure), to the counter-melody behind the bridge that hits all kinds of "boppish" notes (and in a reversal of the usual protocol, is played by strings the first time and saxes the second!), to the ending, where, after there's a few Tadd Dameron-esque changes and a whole-tone-voiced run, the syncopated pattern that's been running (and being passed) all around all arrangement long is suddenly turned into quarter note triplets (ok, that's a rhythmic element, not a harmonic one). You can hear Como actually getting excited(!) and he lets out a little off-mike "whooo!" before it's all over, like, yeah, that was it, motherfuckers, that was IT. And none of this had to happen. None of it. It's a freakin' Perry Como record for crissakes, and even on a record called Como Swings, hey, the expectations bar could have been safely placed much, much lower than this and still satisfactorily hit the market-target. But no, these peoples went ahead and brought a little something extra to the game (the whole album's full of overtly "boppish" touches in the arrangements, some really WTF? moments relative to the context.) and then did zero-nil coasting, actually at times (as here) going ahead and laying it all out there. Totally unnecessary, and for me, totally appreciated. Like the song says, didn't have to do it like you but you did. And I thank you. So that's why this is, for real, a "reference recording" for me - content trumps context. motherfuckers giving a whole lot more of a damn than they needing to, and not just going for it, but doing it well - and freakin' enjoying it. Nothing happens without decisions being made somewhere, so make some good decisions, not some bullshit decisions. Plenty other people will make those anyway, it's not like there will ever be a shortage of bullshit decisions being made. So, yeah, reference the good decisions!

Spirited!

Van Heflin Ralph Ellison Roy Harris