JSngry

Much appreciated, still, all. Just finished dinner, and hey, LTB knows the ways to (and of) my heart. Life is good when there's love in the heart. Maybe not every single moment of it, but...close as any reasonable person can hope for. And all but the most unreasonable!

A composition is a recipe - delicious ingredients in intriguing combinations and proportions do not result in uniformly tastily prepared final dishes. Not just knowing the details of the ingredients, but being able to extract the most flavor out of them, that's where interpretation comes in. The same recipe can - and often does - get two totally different results. Thus the importance of interpretation, and thus the interest in "how did you like it" feedback. Sure, at some point a pot roast is a pot roast is a pot roast, and if you like pot roast, yeah, unless it's totally botched, go ahead and eat it. But by the same token, if you've had enough pot roasts for it to not be that big of a deal that it's just a pot roast, then, yeah, how's this one? Because, you can get average - or even "pretty good" - pot roast just about anywhere, ya' know, so you don't really want any more of that. And of course, that's all subjective. But subjectivity is what's being sought here, because if I'm going to go out for pot roast, I want to have a good feeling about the possibility that it'll be worth my time. Especially since my wife can wail on some pot roast. And she's a vegetarian! And so far, I've got one "this guy's just a propper-upper" and one "might be useful as a re-gift". Anybody else got anything to say about the performer/performance itself instead of just proper retail etiquette and/or what is or isn't the proper consideration of interpretation? Please?

Thanks, this is the kind of input I was looking for. Subjective but informed. Well, there's that too!

I do consider that a possibility, yes. It's happened before.

Well, none of it really "means" anything to me, but there is a bit more personal inconvenience involved in returning the item than I'm ready to accept w/o any consideration, so if some people I trust say, "no, check it out, this guy really brings something special to it", then I'll be much more inclined to keep it than if the feedback runs towards "eh, just some guy keeping it propped up, nothing I'd get excited about", then, yeah, ok, I need that even less, then. The only reason I'm even considering keeping it is because it's already here. I'd never have bought this one my own, ever, just because. Not at all looking for "approval", just suggestions from anybody who's familiar with the disc. So with that in mind - have you heard the disc in question, and if so, would you care to offer your opinion of the performance?

Something from this, maybe? http://milestrees.blogspot.com/2012/03/miles-in-belgium-tree-announcement.html

Ordered used Brubeck-smith Near Myth from an Amazon Seller, got Rafal Blechacz Sonatas (on DG) instead, and a new, sealed copy at that. All I can get is a refund, and I have to pay return shipping at that. Is this guy such a magnificent interpreter that I should just keep it, crack it open, and consider it a happy accident or is it not so great as to make no never-mind? I'm not at all in the mood for having even more ultimately inconsequential material on my shelves, but I really don't like getting incorrect merchandise, and I really, really dislike having to leave the house and pay money to make up for somebody else's mistake, so...I'm weighing the options here. Serious recommendations will be seriously considered. Thanks!

Thanks again, everybody. Haven't even had lunch yet and already feeling like I'm at a banquet! (just hope it's not being held at the Friar's Club... )

Thanks for all this, everybody. I just woke up...great start to what will hopefully be a great day!

Why yes, it is! Hot Ptah is going deep on the obscurities!

Samuel Plank, the Clever Carpenter Samuel Larsen Don Larsen

I get that, but there was actually some talk last year about how the Angels were looking to take over the Dodgers market, that they were getting kind of aggressive about it. Not living there, I don't know how accurate all that was, but it sure would explain why both teams are, imo, overpaying for talent. Especially the Angels... Arte Moreno supposedly keeps worrying about his budget, but he does love them splashy signings...and Hamilton for five years, coupled with Pujols, for, like, what, 37 years? And giving CJ Wilson a deal like like he's 26 years old? That's for sure splashy. Oh well, splash away!

I saw some rumors of some temas interested in Hamilton for 3-4 years only, which, if I'm a GM, seems reasonable. Beyond that, you're paying top $$ for a guy who's 35+ with a brittle body and other problems. Then again, Shane Victorino got 3years/$39 mil, so maybe reason is gone from baseball for awhile. It's so odd to me that the Yanks are sitting on the sidelines while everyone else(including some who criticized the Yanks for spending big) is spending $$ like drunken sailors. But the Yanks need to get under the magic $189mil mark to avoid a huge luxury tax. Angels went 5/125. Yes - five years. Good luck with all that. And tell me they're not feeling the glamor-heat from the Dodgers... Not sure how glamorous an old Hamilton and an ancient Pujols will turn out to be, but the first year or two might be...interesting.

Bobby Orr Walter Knott Robert Ripley

Hutterites http://www.hutterites.org/ Hittites Gordie Howen with the hattutemppu http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordie_Howen_hattutemppu

Popo Pogo Danny Polo

Magic. Bike. Close enough.

The Virgin Mary Virgil Gonsalves Pacific Gas & Electric (who knew? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_%26_Electric_%28band%29 )

I thought somebody once said that we are all Satchmo's children?

Regarding Ayler, just listen to Spiritual Unity & Vibrations...there's some passages in there where he plays very fluent lines that are "traditional" in nature, like lines from etudes or some such. He plays them with an ease, a fluency, that only comes with hard work - i.e.- dedicated practice. Pharoah's ESP side is revealing too. Made before he joined Trane, it's all change playing of varying inspirations (within the same solo, even!). But again, you can tell that the skills are there, that the work has been done to get control of the instrument. What you can also hear in both of them is tone. Good, big, strong, controlled tones in all registers and at all dynamic levels. That type of control is not accidental, it's impossible to get there without putting in the time to develop the physical tools needed to execute like that. What I won't say about either of them is that they were demonstrating great mastery of any type of "playing the changes". You can learn the instrument really well and still not develop change-based improvisational skills, especially if you feel a calling to do something else (like both did - Pharaoh was good, but still green, and Ayler seemed like he was primed from jump to go where he went). But the difference between Ayler, and, say, Giuseppi Logan, as far as who has really learned the traditional mechanics of the saxophone and who is just using the saxophone to their own expressive ends with no real concern for traditional mechanics is pretty obvious, I think. Not that one way has any more intrinsic and/or immediate value than the other. "Ragged but right" is a fact of life. But there is a difference, and it plays out over time far more often than not.

George Cates George Gobel Alice George (not old, but kinda spooky) https://twitter.com/allyallyawol

Big George Wally George Big Wally

It's taken me years to begin to really hear Toshiko's orchestral writing in what I'm beginning to understand as her own voice, but it's been worth the time.

PM sent. Enjoy!