JSngry

I think we headed back for FW around 1:30 or 2:00. No later than 2. Mssrs. Andrew Griffin & Greg Waits were the last to go. Mr. Goldberg proved himself no mere civilian in this regard, and is unquestionably "one of us" (not that there was ever even a hint of doubt), a distinction perhaps more dubious than distinguished, but a distinction nevertheless. And yeah, Spillers. I'm gonna be representing the OG with pride now. It's all their fault. The original Bastids!

I hope they took pictures elsewhere, because we totally forgot to take them here...dammit.

Enjoyed having you here, Alan. Would that there were more time (days, really...) to get everything in. Another time, hopefully! That's perversely comical that you got home on-time after all the worry about the volcano, and then get hung-up on the highway on the way home like that. Unbelievable! (btw - Kristina really digs your haircut. "So charming!" is how she put it. So work that do, bro!)

Yeah, when you're young and inexperienced, you can easily be led into believing that "this opportunity" is the opportunity and put up with damn near anything to not lose it. Sometimes it is, sometimes it ain't, but sooner or later you gotta realize that if it's truly an opportunity and not just an exploitation, then it's a two-way street and you deserve some respect too, so by god, if it ain't readily forthcoming, command it then! Of course, that's a life-lesson that some learn earlier than others, and some never at all. As for Ra, I've not heard about any violence, but they did live in relative squalor & deprivation for quite a while in order to "serve", so that might well have been a "cult" too...although I'm not one who thinks that "cults" are intrinsically evil...sometimes its the only way for a group of like-minded individuals to keep their principles alive in the face of overwhelming hostility and/or indifference. But the leader of the cult accepts tremendous responsibility, too much for any one human to ever administer "fairly" in a fail-proof manner. But such is life, eh?

Hey... But just for the record...Joel Dorn & Creed Taylor were coming from - and going to - (almost) totally different directions/places/POVs/etc. Joel Dorn would never have recorded Deodato, much less gotten a Number 2 Pop Charts hit out of him. Not really...took a week off work & caught a freakin' cold. Just sitting around doing nothing... For the record though, I probably have more total ECM records than CTI, and probably by a very large margin...not too many past the early 80s though. So it's not like I "hate" ECM or anything. Far from it. I just think that it was, in its own way, a populist/popular label just as much as was CTI. Eicher knows his audience every bit as well as he knows his vision, I'm sure, and no fault whatsoever in that.

Is the human voice not the most magnificent of all instruments?

Yeah, that sucks alright. Although I do gotta say, that any time you put up with that much bullshit for so long, the time comes when you gotta look at why you put up with it, not why somebody else did it. Because a motherfucker can get up and walk away and stay gone if they really feel the strong-enough compulsion to do so. At some point you gotta find out what part of you is willing to tolerate that, and fix it. Still, that sucks. Bandleaders are all crazy and manipulative SOBs to begin with (and I mean that in a good way, really I do), but throw in massive quantities of acid whatever "creative demons" were there anyway and...yeah, that's not pretty. What would we say about Sun Ra?

By Chicago I meant, here, some small-instrument style percussion, a multi-instrument approach, and use of 'space'. None of the pure surrealist whackiness of some paragraphs of early Art Ensemble, but a connection all the same. I'd say a commodified version of space/silence became one of the ECM trade-marks, and I had in the back of my mind John Litweiler's argument that the Art Ensemble migrated from its early and radical emphasis on space as it became more percussion (and entertainment) driven. I was reminding myself how early ECM was not yet 'ECM' and that these early Garbareks belong to the same label-world as Afternoon of a Georgia Fawn and The Music Improvisation Company, and I am making a suggestion that the evolution of ECM in some way occupies the same history of loss of an avant-garde moment in ways we sometimes lose sight of. I'm a cultural historian, what do you expect from me? Yeah, a lot of people only know the "ECM sound" once it had become that. But before that, the label released some really intense music, still recorded in a spectacular manner though. In fact one might make the case that there for a while, ECM & CTI were the yin & yang of post-free/post-rock "popular" jazz, with at least as many similarities as differences? What, pray tell, are the similarities? ECM has been in existence for 40 years. Did CTI make 4? Eicher never pushed an artist to record music he/she did not want to record. Look what Creed Taylor did to an artist like Jimmy Smith when he took over Verve. This type of stuff continued into the CTI years, unfortunately. The 70s were a time when jazz tried too hard to copy the commercial success enjoyed by rock. How did that work out? What it did was spawn labels like Muse, which while its heart was in the right place, produced some pretty crappily recorded sessions. None of these problems have ever affected ECM. Eicher, for all of his naysayers, has always stood by his vision. For that ECM deserves to be applauded, as it is now the oldest ongoing "creative music" label. Slow down there, Ricky, save some room for dessert! Not sure that the concept of yin/yang (complementary opposites) is being understood here, but ok, let's play anyway. What, pray tell, are the similarities? A company of star artists who were synonymous with the labelA distinctive, shocking, even, recorded sound dictated by the producerA distinctive visual lookA musical output that appealed to other than strictly "straight-ahead" jazz buffs of the time - in fact a music that frequently repelled them.A "musical vision" ultimately guided by the producer more than the artistAn audience who - in the heyday of each respective label - would buy an album just because it was on the labelAn eye towards more "pop" markets - KUDU = Pat MetheneyAgain, the concept here is complimentary opposites - doing the same thing in daimetrically opposed ways. ECM has been in existence for 40 years. Did CTI make 4? Easily, but that's not the point...I suppose I should have stipulated "early to mid 70s" as the "for a while" being referenced, but even so, the demise of CTI was almost entirely business/management related. The influence of the label's "sound" lives on even today, as does that of ECM. Eicher never pushed an artist to record music he/she did not want to record. Hmmm....George Adams, Sam Rivers, and a few others might differ with you on that...perhaps not in terms of repertoire but definitley in terms of "interpretation". Adams in particular was unambiguous that the "feeling" of his ECM date came about through Eicher's insistence and in spite of Adam's expressed reservations. For that matter, Alfred Lion exercised control over repertoire as he saw fit, as does damn near every label owner/producer. That's part of the gig. Look what Creed Taylor did to an artist like Jimmy Smith when he took over Verve. What, find a framework for them to play like they always played that resonated with a broader segment of the public, which gave the artist a higher profile, and gave both the artist and the label a shot at more successful careers than they might have had otherwise? This type of stuff continued into the CTI years, unfortunately. Yeah, selling records and getting better gigs as a result really sucks. The 70s were a time when jazz tried too hard to copy the commercial success enjoyed by rock. How did that work out? Pretty nicely, actually, even though that premise is so much Marsaillisian bullshit. The 70s were a pretty damn good decade for both commercial and creative jazz. And there were times when the twain actually did meet, more than today, for sure. What it did was spawn labels like Muse, which while its heart was in the right place, produced some pretty crappily recorded sessions. CTI spawned Muse? Are you serious? Try Prestige, Cobblestone, Joe Fields, & Don Schlitten, rather than Verve & Creed Taylor. Although, the success of CTI certainly gave "soulful" jazz a "broader profile" than it might otherwise have had, so in that regard, CTI was a definite plus to the overall jazz scene of its time. Can't argue with the "crappily recorded" part though, even if there is a nostalgic charm to hearing a 50/50 (at best) ratio between reverb & actual notes...pity that the same guy who recorded the CTI albums couldn't have also done the Muse ones as well... None of these problems have ever affected ECM. Eicher, for all of his naysayers, has always stood by his vision. For that ECM deserves to be applauded, as it is now the oldest ongoing "creative music" label. No argument here. I have a lot of respect for Eicher & own/enjoy quite a few ECM records myself. Alth0ough...how does one reconcile Eicher standing by his vision and never exerting control over his artists?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/19/penguin-cook-book Oh really...

Ok, what kind of abuse are we talking about?

Dusty Rhodes Dirty Dingus McGee Filthy McNasty

By Chicago I meant, here, some small-instrument style percussion, a multi-instrument approach, and use of 'space'. None of the pure surrealist whackiness of some paragraphs of early Art Ensemble, but a connection all the same. I'd say a commodified version of space/silence became one of the ECM trade-marks, and I had in the back of my mind John Litweiler's argument that the Art Ensemble migrated from its early and radical emphasis on space as it became more percussion (and entertainment) driven. I was reminding myself how early ECM was not yet 'ECM' and that these early Garbareks belong to the same label-world as Afternoon of a Georgia Fawn and The Music Improvisation Company, and I am making a suggestion that the evolution of ECM in some way occupies the same history of loss of an avant-garde moment in ways we sometimes lose sight of. I'm a cultural historian, what do you expect from me? Yeah, a lot of people only know the "ECM sound" once it had become that. But before that, the label released some really intense music, still recorded in a spectacular manner though. In fact one might make the case that there for a while, ECM & CTI were the yin & yang of post-free/post-rock "popular" jazz, with at least as many similarities as differences?

Nap Lajoie Sleepy Andserson Crash Craddock

Not only did the sex happen, there were..."unintended consequences"...

Carl Hubbell Christy Matthewson Rube Marquard

Who is that model on the Cigar Aficionado cover, and can we pretend that it's a Sexy Album Cover and have a copy posted there, please?

Indeed...

File that one deep in the "Don't Know, Don't EVER Want To Know" file.

Nor McCartney. I can remember waiting with absolutely baited breath for McCartney to be released. The first post-Beatle Beatle album, How much better can it get than this? Well, unfortunately, a lot better. Maybe I was so amped up that realization couldn't possibly have matched my expectations, but, in a word, I was disappointed. The first of many such let downs when it comes to Sir Paul. I stopped taking him seriously after Ram. Yeah, I hear you on that, but, really, although those were understandable expectations then, a time when it seemed like everything was going to keep getting better forever and ever (so much so that there was a kind of a hush all over the world), they certainly weren't realistic, eh? I think it stands a good-enough-for-the-long-haul album with a few very real gems thrown in. Although I will stipulate that "Teddy Boy" is on of the steamiest piles of shit that anybody who has ever made even semi-decent music of any genre has ever produced. You using tube or solid-state?

Henry Benson had the blues but then forgot where he had put them, thus discovering/inventing/stumbling upon/whatever the new genre of Post-Blues Blues, a genre which upset (and continues to upset) more generations than one. It's about time that somebody provides an in-depth, accurate, well-researched, and (hopefully) agenda-free look at this seminal figure. Keep us posted, please!