JSngry

And Beyonce can sing. Don't let the show fool ya'. the lady DOES have skills.

But the 5th Dimension was NOT crappy! That was one helluva good song and a GREAT Pop record! Jimmy Webb during that time? Freakin' In The Zone. But that's not why it won, trust me. Here - see for yourself, Record Of The Year, year by year, winners and nominees: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Record_of_the_Year You got your music, then you got your music business (getting the music made) then you got your Music Industry (selling the music that gets made), and then you got your Grammys (celebrating the selling of some of the music that gets made). Don't get me wrong, I still have an abiding love of Pop Music (it seldom loves me back these days, but it's entitled, as am I), but the last time - literally - that I watched or "cared" about the grammys was 1969. I kid you not.

If those cuts are any indication, they recorded drums really well in Detroit back then, for real.

1968 nominees for Record Of The Year: Up, Up and Away (Winner) By the Time I Get to Phoenix My Cup Runneth Over Ode to Billie Joe Somethin' Stupid In 1968! Now, I'll take the 3 out of the 5 (4 if I can allow for the Frank/Nancy trivia, which I can maybe once every five years or so), but if we're gonna look at it in "industry" terms, what the hell does any of that have to do with 1968 other than they all were safe records that sold a lot to people who liked safe music? You got Ed Ames holding hands with Jimmy Webb. That does not happen if anybody's main priority is giving a fuck about "quality music". Especially in 1968! Besides, look at the Top 100 songs of 1968: http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1968.htm Take away what I like as Ear Candy and what's left is a fair amount of good R&B (but nowhere near as much as was being made) and...more Ear Candy (just not for my ears) and Empowered Young People Music... Which is still what you get in Pop Music today - Ear Candy & Empowered Young People Music.

Yeah, Steely Dan sold as many records as they did for the same reason Chuck Mangione did - it was a time when "sophistication" was "hip", and, for that matter, when "hip" was hip. Most people did not know any better/different, and really, should they have? Was it a better time for music that aimed to be "different"? Sure it was. But that's not because "the industry" was sitting up there thinking, hey,. let's make this a better world through music". Oh HELL no! Let's look at "Rock Era" pop music - Early R&B/Rockabilly wild men get co-opted by prefab teen idols & virginal girls (and, thank god, some not so virginal girl groups!), aples back in applecart, and then UH-OH, here comes Beatles & Dylan & Hendrix, WE'RE GONNA RULE THE WORLD, only before too much longer (and it took a little longer because the drugs got different and then cut back on and then replaced with mortgages) you got Corporate Rock unitl Punk comes along, but oh NO, they ain't gonna let THAT happen again, so Elvis Costello becomes a "star" by image, not sales, and tehn, ok, the New Wave side of punk got standardized enough to be manageable, but then Hip-Hop comes along, and NO WAY were they gonna let that bust out until the whole Gangsta thing came along, and, oh, cool, Negroes Killing Negroes, we can live with THAT, we can sell THAT to White Folks, and so on and so on and so on. Point being simply when you have Good Pop Music (whatever that is, I mean, geez, how subjective can you get?) it's because people find it, want it, and by god The Industry WILL see to it that you can get it. And when people DON'T want Good Pop Music, they'll not look for it, and The Industry will see to it that you can get something else. Always. Because that's what they do. And whenever anything "different" is popular, you can take it to the bank that it will get standardized and de-volved and sold like a cheap whore on New Years Eve - and that there will be plenty of takers until at least January 5th.

Yeah, the difference is that back then, the industry wasn't sure what would sell to the "youth market" or what wouldn't, so they put damn near anything out, good or bad. For every "classic" there were at least 1500 turds (and if I'm exaggerating, it's on the conservative side). Of course, selective memory has it otherwise, it always does, but look at everything that was released and everything that charted and everything that didn't chart (and how many "lost classics" there are now that sunk like a stone back then). Not all that much was too much more than ear candy for the day's sweet tooths (and that has not changed one bit - "ear candy is the point of pop music, always has been always will be. And for the record, yes, I like ear candy!). The industry was just throwing any damn thing out there to see what would stick. Now they know, and they really have since the mid-late 70s. It's just taken this long to really consolidate everything. ABC didn't support Steely Dan because they were really musical, ABC supported Steely Dan because they sold records and kept selling records. Let's not confuse luck with intent.

Paul Chambers Select.

Yeah, I remember how my folks really dug all the pop music I listened to because of the focus on musical quality and the lack of sex and glamor and dance. In fact they encouraged me to take control of the TV, the car radio, and to turn my phonograph up louder that I really thought was healthy, to be honest. Where did it all go wrong?

I guess I'm gonna have to try harder on the Mizell stuff. I just can't feel it hitting the deep groove that so many others do. And believe me, I have no problems whatsoever with the notion. I just don't feel that the notion and the outcome end up being the same thing. Oh well...

Wow, that building looks cool. That's why I sometimes enjoy doing a little research on personal stuff ound on used albums. Never can tell where it'll end up!

Yes it is. Composed by Leon Russell, too, fwiw. And recorded by the Carpenters (and released as a B-Side of one of their hit singles) in 1973, several years before Benson got to it, in a version that has more than a hint of jazz flavor to it. And let's not forget that Breezin' was composed by Bobby Womack & debuted by Gabor Szabo!

Oh, that I can love with. (...it was either that or an ecm joke...)

Have you called Fred to tell him "you're welcome!"? No, because Terry called me Pat So who's Fred? He's thanking somebody! Evidently a Jazz DJ. I wish Fred was still on the air waves here in Phoenix. I'm a former Chicagoan and no nothing about him. I came across this and a handful of other Jazz lp's at a thrift with his stamp on it and the Terry lp was one of them. Anyways, I like Fred. Not to get weird about it or anything, but...I often wonder about the "who wee they" whenever I pick up a used LP with somebody's personal information on it. And in this case, there might be something you cn use, because googling that phone # shows it belongs to Associated Distributors, Inc. in Phoenix, and that they fit the category of "Records Tapes & CDs Wholesale and Manufacturers": http://411.info/business/Arizona/Phoenix/ASSOCIATED-DISTRIBUTERS-INC/18219943-30897306.html http://www.manta.com/c/mmfx8zb/associated-distributors-inc http://www.yelp.com/biz/associated-distributors-inc-phoenix-2 So...unlikely as it is, they might have some old shit in the back that they forgot about or something and you might be in for a treat...stranger things have happened!

Potential bummer about King Felix: http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2013/2/10/3974098/felix-hernandez-deal-with-mariners-in-jeopardy

Geez, I'm not even so much as implying that Wayne got his mojo from Moncur or anything remotely like that. I just found it interesting that two guys of about the same age who grew up in the same town found musical zones that share some conceptual similarities. Why is that interesting to me? Hell if I know, but it is. Maybe Moncur was inspired by Wayne. Or maybe they were both inspired by Alan, who was older than either of them, ya' know? Or maybe it just ended up that way. Either way, I like this: http://jazztimes.com/articles/14176-grachan-moncur-iii-some-other-stuff

And I don't know but that he went to his grave feeling badly about it, knowing full and damn well that he fucked up. Or maybe not, maybe he was a total prick who didn't give a damn about music at all. Kinda doubt it, but you never know, especially with workaholics. And has the story ever been told about how the album came to be, what the actual mandate was, what the lead time was, what the budget was, what came in versus what was deemed by the producer to be practical enough to get down w/o too many takes, things like that? I don't know myself, I'm just saying that there's a lot of things that would have gone into the album, and maybe Oliver Nelson bringing in perfunctory framing charts wasn't all Oliver Nelson's doing. Or maybe it was. But after hearing about the weirdness that went into the Sinatra/Ellington project, I now kinda hesitate to assume anything about one-off projects involving logistics and "eccentrics" and business-people. The only thing I know for sure is that it was a bad idea to release the album & that I don't play it, ever, because it pisses me off so much.

Which means that at some point all that will be left is black holes and then what?

Deadlines can fuck you up, especially if you have too many of them for your own good. That;s why I try to avoid them!

That's always been my theory. The guy was a notorious workaholic, especially after he moved to L.A. and started getting TV assignments. There's plenty other things he did where it was obvious that he was turning in competent but not really inspiring work in return for a competent but inspiring-enough paycheck. But hey, such is life, no? And when he was inspired, whoa.

Have you called Fred to tell him "you're welcome!"? No, because Terry called me Pat So who's Fred? He's thanking somebody!

Byrd is also the guy who encouraged Herbie (and others) to demand control of their publishing. Not an insignificant move, that.

Yeah, I've been keeping an ear on his work for 5-6 years now. Really interesting mix of ingredients in his work...but I've been a little disheartened by his last few projects, sounded like he was giving up and going for a more or less "sure thing" in terms of a commercially viable dance sound, He just produced a project for Sy Smith that sounds like he did the best he could with what he had, but...it just didn't have that spark. And then THIS thing comes along...I'm on record somewhere in the bowels of this board as saying that I don't hear any reason whatsoever why serious players shouldn't be able to play all over this this broken beat stuff, it swings like a mofo, and reactions ranged from seriously? (yes) to why don't you do it yourself? (because I'm old and don't have the connections, personally or musically), and now, well, here it is, with the treat I didn't really see coming of some really perceptive charts by leader Johan Plum & a band that is voiced like Gil Evans and executes like Stan Kenton and who aren't at all "distracted" by any of the "outside" elements that de Clive-Lowe's music brings o a "traditional" jazz environment. If anything, they sound energized by it. Didn't see this one coming. What a very pleasant surprise!

He spoke a common language, but language is to voice as basic ingredients are to a finished recipe.

Also Esoteric: Wayne was already getting to where he is now in terms of group sound at least as far back as Super Nova More Than Human!