JSngry

Larry Kart!!!

You get an uneasy feeling...

It's a sound that does not really "confront" the ears ("the next best thing to silence", remember). but again, that's about the recorded sound, not the music that is being presented with that sound. "Easy on the ears" is not the same as "easy listening", which generally speaking means "easy on the mind". Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Hasaan had considerably more to say than did Valdo Williams, at least to/for me. And that's not a knock on Valdo Williams, it's just that Hasaan had that rhythmic thing that really worked from deep inside the music. In that regard, it was very good indeed that he recorded with Max.

I'm kinda the same way with memory - if I have an internet at my disposal, how much do I really need to remember? Some stuff, the character-shapers and the life-protecters, obliviously, but the just everyday facts and figures, places and things, uh....that's mental hard-drive space that can be cleared unless and until.

Bill Freehan Jim Northrup Mickey Stanley

Ah, the old "like to dig deeper" reflex. Been known to have it myself. Still a reflex, though, as is "I either get it or I don't, and that's that". Some guys go for the easy chicks, some go for the challenge. I think it's all "wiring" in the end, the "character" element arising with how we handle our wiring in relation to that of others, not o much what you go for as it is what you do with it after you get it. Definitely think that there is an ECM esthetic, part of which manifest itself in the "sound" of the recordings, but also in who the label chooses to record and how much/little "guidance" is needed in production. Don't think that's a bad thing, hell, it's smart if you ask me, a sound business practice that leads to brand identification and loyalty. Those are good things, since the label is ultimately a commercial enterprise and not a philanthropic one. Also think that the "retro" labels have much the same thing going on and that it is also a good thing for them, and for the same reasons. Not liking the "sound" of anything is perfectly valid, but equating sound quality of a recording with the quality of the music it represents is a sort of logistical synesthesia that is properly applied to some things (like pop music, where a "good record" and a "good song" are two totally different things, but in the end, not necessarily, not in terms of delivering on intent) but not to others (like evaluating the quality of an actual composition or performance, like some crappy-sounding Bird bootleg that is so freakin' brilliant that you can hear the music no matter what). So yeah, reflexive dismissal of all things ECM does strike me as being a too holey to carry water, but a reflexive dislike based on the "sound", that seems fair enough, and if people don't get hit by the "challenged to dig deeper" reflex by it, even though it might well merit such, oh well. People are less prone to go into a room when they don't like the look of the door. I'm like that with liver, myself, so I understand.

Important point, that, and one tht I myself hve understood "intellectually" long before being able to actually accept it w/o some kind of reflexive "pushback", because their sound is not my sound, and I personally find that whole bag to not be going where I want to go. Not even, not usually. But - there is great skill and no small sincerity involved in these musicians and their music. As much as they don't have to worry about me crashing their party, I should at least that much not be aggravated by them having that party. If at my party, we're running low on everything, including attendees, it's not their fault. OTOH, it's a helluva lot easier to blame it on everybody who's at that other party, why, they wouldn't know a good party if it bit them in the ass! They should be at MY party, it's so much....better! Or so I'd like to think. That, more than the possibility that maybe I'm an outlier in the world of humanity, and always will be. No, it's gotta be somebody's fault, ya' know? Like somebody's gotta be right, and since that somebody is me, then the other stuff, the other ways, the other people, they're wrong. That's so delightfully...Newtonian! Largely but not wholly parallel universes of Pavlovian proclivities, I'll sign up for that, no problem. Make mine non-Newtonian!

Most people just like music that sounds like what they think that "type" of music is supposed to sound like, be it "in the tradition" or "forward thinking". The longer I live, the more I look around, the more it seems to me that "music appreciation" is by and large a Pavlovian reflex. We like what brings us the stimulus we enjoy, and don't like that which doesn't. Damn near all "music fans" are essentially "pop fans". Give them something that doesn't present an esthetic that gives them the warm-fuzzies (even if for them a warm-fuzzy is cold and sharp), and they find all kinds of reasons not to like it. Which, I guess, is ok, I mean, why should you like something you don't like, but arguments for inherent "superiority" of any music over another just fall flat with me these days. There's a story behind everything, ya' know, even the crassest and lamest bullshit, and stories, like shit, happen irregardless of their "merit". I'm to the point where those stories matter to me more than the "music", which, after all, is just another skill set, albeit it a potentially highly refined one in its application. In other words, fly me to the moon, and let the little dog laugh at the spoon, who sooner or later will be back, with or without the dish.

Been there, done that (with a wide variety of bottles", still like it "as is". That's a damn good record, no matter what you have or haven't consumed.

Some things go better with coke. ECM isn't one of them. Opiates, otoh, ahhh...there's a pleasurable mix.

Steve Canyon Michel Legrand Le Grande Orange, Rusty Staub

More people would like ECM releases if there were no other options available.

Charles was all-encompassing in his ministerial positions, I'm sure. Albert Flasher The Guess Who Mystery Date

Wally Cox Underdog Sue Mingus

What's the acceptable number, and who do we decide to take out in order to get there?

Mungo Jerry George Gershwin George "Goober" Lindsey

Yeah, thinking that the label releases quality music and not always liking the sound of the recordings of that music as the label releases it are not at all conflicting POVs, unless one hears that sound as actually being the music itself, or vice-versa.

Jean Turner Bake Turner The Muffin Man

Wiggin'!

Like, not just women, dig?

Girl got faces!~

Pops & Chops Poopadeaux, with one-eyed grandson Cyclops Poopadeaux II ready to join forces once he finishes his obligation.

Harder still being a Rays fan...at least these rays fans...