JSngry

The KD thing was originally a "unified" 10" iirc.

Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat Alvin Queen Alvin & the Chipmunks

But who the hell was Jordan Ramin?

d w/dl 2

That's a great song!

Beating the heat and recovering from last night's bowling, the first since 7-8 years and about 50-60 lbs ago, with the usual thanks & disclaimers in place. TRACK ONE - "Skippy", but it ain't skippin'...sounds like a Gay 90's SundayAt The Bandshell version of Monk, if such a thing is imaginable...and you know Monk wouldn't have been allowed on that bandstand in that time, so this is what you'd get instead. Just doesn't feel right to/for me. That trumpet player...great chops, zero feel, imo. Same for the pianist...too crowded, all of it. I mean, it's a crowded tune to begin with, but the object is to get comfortable inside the crowdingness, not...get sucked in by it. FAIL! I'm guesing this would be it: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:avfyxz9aldfe TRACK TWO - The tune reminds me of mid-60s McLean, not so much the playing...somebody take a breath, ok? I mean, it's cool where they're going, but I'm kinda (or more) "been there, done that" with this whole bag. Frankly, the altoist seems to have limited facility,at least in his/her thinking - really facile with what they play, but I don't know that I hear any hint that there's anything else they could play...not so much the trumpeter, who I'm liking pretty well - space, rhythmic variation, a relaxation inside him/herself that allows for both thought and reflex, which, really, is the object of the game, no? Bassist is highly facile (and there's two of them it seems!), but really, at this point in time...it's preaching to the choir rather than taking it to the streets, and...I can't get too terribly enthusiastic these days about people repeating answers to questions that have already been both asked and answered. TRACK THREE - An ersatz Elvin band?!?!?!?! Tenor sure sounds like Dewey, but....not quite, which to me is usually an indicator that it might be Lovano, but this ain't Lovano. Who it is, I don't know, and....they're kinda pissing me off the longer they play. GET YOUR OWN SHIT GODDAMN IT!!! I can't finish this one, sorry...the trumpet player and how the drummer is "interacting" has me wishing them ill, and that's never a good place to be. This shit is just too damn "cute" for me, the jazz equivalent of a bad power-pop band, the "gesture" entirely replacing the "meaning", never mind the goddamed CONTENT. BOO! TRACK FOUR - Ok, this one I can feel...ain't nuthin' "new", but it doesn't feel forced in any way...no matter how overt the surface energy/urgency/whatever, mature music is supposed to (in my opinion) have some kind of implicit control behind it. Sounding like you're desperate is ok, but sounding like being desperate is the only option you have on your instrument isn't...definitely has the AEC/AACM thing going on and everybody's a player for real, so hey. This shit FLOWS. The tracks before haven't. A river flows. Vomit doesn't, and therein lies the difference! Oh, yeah, this is good! TRACK FIVE - Somebody has heard Ornette...but they can play too! Yeah, they can play. Glad to get here, because at first I thought I was just in one of my fuck everything zones and was going to not like anything offered, but now I see that it's not me. Good! Is this Sonny Simmons & Barbara Donald? Barbara Donald was a freakin' incredible trumpeter, chops of iron and fingers of mercury..much love for this one too, it's some for-real music. TRACK SIX - Kinda old-fashioned but still good...very fluent, thoughtful trombone playing...the obvious guess would be Ray Anderson, but this is a tad more reflective than I'm used to from him. It's fumnny, I keep hearing the odd/occasional intervallic movements that put me in mind of "Skippy". On the whole, like I said, it seems kinda old-fashioned to me, not sure I'd want to hear it again, or even the entire album, but that's just me. Certainly nothing wrong here, and plenty is right. TRACK SEVEN - Not bad. On my computer speakers, it sounds like a Van Gelder piano. That flute vibrato is pretty distinctive, almost Fathead-y. Could this in fact be him? Whoever it is, there's enough passing moments that betray that it's most likely a double for them. TRACK EIGHT - That's Odean! Odean's a baaaaad man! Don't know if I've heard this one, Odean's been doing a lot of recording lately, some of it a bit under the general radar, but I got a buddy who tries to get it all to me sooner or later. Personally, some of it would benefit from more/better planning/production/etc, and this sounds like one of them, but still, Odean Pope is a serious man making serious music. Planning and such only makes it easier to discern that (in my mind) unmistakable fact. TRACK NINE - ooooohhhhh...homemade....and some trouble on the low end...and some (very) occasional finger-glitching...but some nice ideas and some sure-footed execution as well...that's how homemade goes, usually...I'll love it for the charm, even though it's...charming. TRACK TEN - What's that tune on Rollins Plays For Bird..."Kids Know"? That keeps coming back, and in between is...kind of a pastiche of licks, effects, and actual ideas. Can't fault the technique, or the intent, just not sure if there's either some programmatic intent that I'm missing or that might have been better communicated/conceptualized...oh well, no harm, no foul. No sale, either, which is too bad, because this sounds like a fine player. TRACK ELEVEN - Not sure I see the point, but they seem to, so hey. Saul Goode. TRACK TWELVE - Oh, bouncy! Good! Not really my bag, but a lot of things aren't, so...has a kinda "poppy" feel to it though, should get some airplay on the straight-ahead stations that look for anything remotely resembling "popular appeal". Are there any? TRACK THIRTEEN - See track 11. I will say that the tune itself gets into that Odean-ish intervallicishness as its own reward bag, and that the energy seems to be pure, true, and mature. It just feels like...you know how you got some neighbors sometimes, and they seem like really nice people and all that, and they always have people over and they seem like really nice people too, but for some reason you just don't have any desire to meet them and get to know them? This music is those neighbors for me. But I'm all for peaceful coexistence! TRACK FOURTEEN - SPIRITUAL!!! That sure sounds like Gene Ammons! And that is indeed quite spiritual. Truthfully, the more I listen to this, the more intrigued I become...the rhythmic groove is a lot like Sonny's band w/David Lee & Mtume, a groove that I think was quite nice. The trombone seems(?) to be the leader, and I don't know of Jug doing a sideman date for a trombone player during this time, so...I'm lost. Lost, but intrigued. This is not bad at all! TRACK FIFTEEN - That is wholly beautiful. Really. If it's not Ra (and I don't think it is), then I have no idea. I'd halfway expect to see Lynn Hope materializing out of the ether...Those drums sure are tuned mighty nicely, and the drummer knows how to extract the sound out of them. Listen to the last hit that ends the piece, how full-bodied the attack, and more importantly, the decay, is. That's some rare skills on display, fersure. Is it Jo Jones? All told, and interesting ride. Appreciate the non-obvious selections, for sure. Thanks!

Herman Lubinsky Reese Witherspoon Ellis Marsaillis

is that a skiing technique, a food, or just what, exactly? (and yeah - welcome back!)

Spelled doggies, pronounced dough-geez. Just like "wire" is pronounced "war", at least in some parts. You think American English is jacked compared to British English, try Texas English... Bertie Wooster I don't know, but if it's Woo, you want, this is the guy to see: Bernie's not from Texas, but he's definitely dressed for the heat. 103 F (39.4 C) where I live right now, liable (pronounced "libel") to hit 104 before long.

John Wilkes Boothe John Charles Daly John Cameron Swayze

"dowgies"? Dowagers, or doggies, but not both!

That's the only reference I can find of him, is in connection to that one film.

Jordan Ramin? Who?

Bill Stapleton Tony Klatka Bill Byrne

Yes, I did.

Why so glum, chum? She's trying to lei ya'!

Wow. I only know "Danny Murtaugh" as the old Pirates manager...

Bill Berry Bill Bailey Lassie

Talk about baggage...

Herschel seems to me - feels to me - like the kind of guy whose personal esthetic was entirely built on playing live, in front of people, in "social situations", and as such that he was probably just intrinsically hard-wired to build it up as he went along. Not even a small group 78 allows for that to really flower into full bloom. Lester, he could compress and adapt. Herschel...doesn't seem like he could, or even that he was interested in doing so. If it's out there, I'd really like to hear him over the course of two, three, maybe even more, full choruses, because that would quite possibly be a thing of splendorous gloriousness. No such thing as too much splendorous gloriousness, not in this world.

That seems a bit harsh. The Elgart(s) band(s) certainly don't not swing...which is kinda like saying "yeah man, I really dig what you're trying to do", but still... All things considered, it's proven to be a fun (enough) band to listen to. That "cool", unison sax style gave it a "modern" (enough) sound. Never cared for Ray Anthony myself, though...too "schmaltzy", even when it wasn't supposed to be. Of course, I wasn't there in real time, so maybe my perception is skewed.

2 Live Crew 2Pac U2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGjXo-3AjCc Really, really good section playing here, for those who are entertained by such things. Chart has its uber-corny moments, but also some that are anything but. If you're "of a certain age", the opening minute or so is indelibly etched into your memory. But there rest of the chart...not so much.