JSngry

You guys are fucking clueless. Totally fucking clueless. Stick to what you know.

Rudy's back!

Greg Phillinganes, yes. Huge contributions.

All sounds are dated, or will be. Embrace the sound, and let the worriers "date" it!

Mr. Morrison Sr., I know it's difficult for you to recognize it (although it shouldn't be) that what Jones did on Jackson's albums was coordinate and provide direction. It's no secret that others handled a lot the specifics, but once it was on the floor, Quincy directed traffic and guided everything home . It's not like those albums involved just driving into town, renting a studio, and hiring old folks to play for a few hours. These kinds of albums are like making a movie, and you know how many people there are on a move crew. Hell, the director doesn't direct everything you see on screen. There's a lot of input from a lot of people (how much can be measured by the abdominable lengths that credits run now...). But the director has the final say, and the director can rightfully take the credit (or blame). If you don't think that Quincy Jones riding herd over those sessions and those albums made a difference, you only need to look at what happened with Bad (and beyond). Or do you not even care about Michael Jackson albums and just want to get pissy about Quincy Jones? Sometimes I feel this stuff devolves into the talks I used to have with my older relative who swore to never buy a Japanese-made TV because of Pearl Harbor. Yep, those sneaky Japs, they bombed us, can't trust 'em, no Japanese TVs for me, no sir! In the 2000s, none of that shit matter but to people who just won't move on and get over it. Carry it to their grave they will, and think that they're teh only ones who know what the deal is. Yeah, whatever. Tempis Fugit.

'I am absolutely heartbroken at the news of Whitney's passing. I always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her. She was a true original and a talent beyond compare. I will miss her terribly.'" Geez Mr. Morrison, get a grip.

It usually surprises me when people do! Seriously, not that many fans are willing to move along with their favorite artists (the ones that keep moving, that is). You can make a list of people (and start it with Art Pepper, sonny Rollins, & Wayne Shorter) of players who have a lot of "fans up to a point". I'm with you, though. Giuffre is one of those guys I went with, no matter what. It was never boring, never insincere, and never thoughtless. I'll take that!

Dude - the guy produced the two biggest-selling pop/R&B albums of the 20th century. Michael Jackson will always be Pop Royalty because of them, and unless and until he takes a horrible fall, Quincy Jones will always be Industry Royalty. The foot's past in the door. And what pop/R&B producer would not have wanted to work with Whitney Houston? Not just commercially, but for a chance to work with that instrument? Assuming her functionality at the time, it would have been a pleasure and a privilege and a probability of a massive commercial triumph. Truthfully, if Quincy could have gotten done what he did with Michael Jackson, that would have been A Very Good Thing. I don't know about you, but Off The Wall & Thriller both work for me very well. Now, if you want to see something that should give you pause, shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you the program from Whitney's funeral (don't ask...I got friends who got friends, etc.).

In both cases, I think that Giuffre and Shorter have more than earned the benefit of the doubt! Which is just to say that I'll try to understand their POVs in the hopes of broadening mine. Don't have to "like" something in order to eventually "love" it, and vice-versa, if you know what I mean. And when you can tell that the people and the intent are serious, then like I said, if you've earned the benefit of the doubt, I'll give it to you.

Still, glad he's going to the NL. He's the kind of guy who might just snap back into shape once out of New York, and I'd rather he do it with the Pirates than the Angels... Then again, maybe not. He might just be fork-ready, period.

I saw her live once too. Blues Alley in DC (1981), got there about 10 minutes before the hit, got to sit behind the band, Saw what was going on when she turned around, all of it. Scary as hell, believe me but enjoyable as hell too, somebody that into it, not letting the band go anywhere but where she wanted them to go. And where she wanted to go - and went - was crazymad badass GREAT, Not just some "chick singer", but a freakin' improvisor of the highest order. Then again, maybe it was just a really good night. And I don't know that it always translated to record (but her duet w/Geri Allen on "Memories Of You" sure does...). But seeing it all go down, and seeing a vocalist's backing group paying uber-attention like they were all a James Brown drummer, hey, it was a rare treat.

That's really, really wanting him gone...

What's weird about that? Whitney was an exceptional talent, and Jones has worked with many exceptional talents. I think it's more weird that he didn't think to get the rights to a photograph. That's like OJ getting by with murder and then getting busted on some punkass thug shit. Just flat-out stupid.

Giuffre was open about his admiration of the textural variety achieved with synths by Zawinul in Weather Report, saw it as a totally valid compositional/orchestration tool, and that's what's going on with these albums, using the synth colors as just another sound. The idea may excede the execution at times, but Giuffre himself is playing great (I think), and the compsotions themselves are all fine. For me, it's the bassist and drummer on these albums that bugs me the most, espceially the drummer. They're just so INTERACTIVE. ALL the time. If you know what I mean. But also keep in ind that Jimmy Giuffre in the 1980s was in no place (economically, or in all likelihood attitudinaly) to get all "production" oriented. He seemed to be more about having fun exploring new ideas with people he was comfortable with, and more power to him for that. These albums are weird, but I thnk it's more the weirdness of a sort naivete (I mean, fusion clarinet? GIUFFRE clarinet, at that? Really!?!?!?!) than it is anything else. I've grown to be quite fond of them, as this kind of willingness to just...DO stuff and not worry about whether or not it "makes sense" to go there (although he always ends up making sense) has always been a big part (again, to me) of what makes Jimmy Giuffre so much "more" than a person of his time, place, and skill set could have been. These are the Giuffre sides that nobody talks about, and I suppose his embracing of fusion/electronic textures is a big part of why. Mr. Quiet gets NOISY!!! And no, the band is not the best he's ever had, so, no, it's not as fully realized as, say, the trio w/Brookmeyer & Hall, but different time, different place, different people, different world, ya' know? It's still Jimmy Giuffre, and nobody else could make music like this, so...hey. Enjoy it for what it is!

Enough for a Mosaic set? On 6" yellow plastic 78 RPM records? Please?

Puss In Boots Boots Mussuli Nancy Sinatra

Here's an alternative:

Could be...and to take it to the next phase...

OOPS!

Jo Jones Jerry Jones Jimmy Jones

Fred Waring Fred McMurray Fred Flintstone