JSngry

The Jordanaires were a very legendary Southern Gospel group. quite apart from their long association with Elvis. Whether or not you can get into that type of thing or not (and for me it\'s a tste I\'m still acquiring - slowly). All I\'m saying is that to know them only from Elvis is to not really know them at all, if not necessarily that to know them is to love them.... And also, post-comeback Elvis used the Sweet Inspirations, not a group to dismiss. But I don't think you're including them.

Here's hoping that your middle name is Chris, or that you have at least once pretended that it was!

Right up there with the Kennedy Assassination leading to the Beatles on Sullivan!

Yeah, I understand all that "intellectually". But it's never translated into particularly enjoying the actual music. Really, Jerry Lee Lewis was a lot more formed from jump, I think. And there were others who were much more "there" musically than Elvis but nowhere near as capable of being "molded". All I can see Elvis really contributing from a strictly musical standpoint is...nothing. Sociologicallly, hell yeah - he made the world safe for Leonard Skynard, god bless him. Sure, he changed the music business forever, and that in turned changed the music forever. But let's not overlook that there were plenty of people who did it the other way around. And really, I'd rather not get into a lengthy back & forth about Elvis (or Bill Evans, or anybody generally beloved figure towards whom I am ambivalent at best). I'm not looking to convince anybody that I'm right and they're wrong. I just want to every now and then let whoever know that, no, not EVERYBODY feels the love, just because.

I've heard some of the Hayride things, and as sociology, yeah, I find them important. But straight-up musically, I'm still not convinced that it's some Southern "white guys" trying to play some things that they don't quite yet know how to play the way they think they might want to play it. I'm thinking that some Western Swing was a lot further along this same path than these guys. If not for Elvis, they'd sound pretty lame, and even with Elvis, you got more "energy" than you do music. And yes, sociology and music often intertwine to a point where they become inseparable. No question. but the whole idea of Elvis as a significant musical figure, apart from a purely social one, is just lost on me. the guy did have a voice, but he really had no idea what to really do with it until he started having hits, and then he did what he knew would sell. The Sun stuff is raw, but it's just...unformed to my ears. Not just the band, but the whole thing, including Elvis himself. That's a difference from most "important" nascent musical breakthroughs like, say Armstrong w/Oliver or Bird w/McShann. There, you get a sense that these guys knew what it was that they wanted and that they knew what they were going to have to eventually do to get to it. With Elvis on sun, what I basically hear is a guy who knows he wants something, and who knows that he can do some things pretty well. But that's about it, really. I don't hear any real "point of view" if you know what I mean, and I think that's a big part of why he became what he became. HE didn't "lose his way" nearly as much as he never really had a "way" of his own to begin with. Just my opinion., and again, I know I'm in the minority. But Elvis, virtually any Elvis, just does not...satisfy me at all, and so much other music does.

Yeah, those tracks was just as you say, if not worse! But there was some other material on there not that bad...

I remember one called Spooky. I remember that it was released shortly before the Classics IV's recording hit the New Orleans airwaves. I remember Let It Be, one about movie themes, and one w/Legrand, but not that one. What about Spoonful Of Jazz, was that one straight up "easy listening" or more of a "jazz" date?

Yeah, there's a few of the records over the years that I like, namely "Little Sister", "A Fool Such As I", and "Burning Love", but overall....ehhhhhh. The Sun stuff, I can abstractly grasp the "importance" of it all, but other than "That's All Right....", it mostly seems more sloppy to me than anything else. Not even sloppy so much as just lacking a groove of any sort. Even the RCA stuff, after they knew what they were going for, it just lacks a pocket to me. And I do recognize that different people have different types of pockets. But jeez, listen to "Teddy Bear" or "Return To Sender" or any of that "classic" stuff, and there's just no...SWING there, anywhere, other than what Elvis is able to bring, which is enough to make it not sound like Pat Boone, but hell, if THAT's all it takes to be a Rock & Roll God, then, uh, I picked the wrong line of work...

Tell me more.....Tell me more.....

I've heard it -all the Sun stuff, all the hits, too many of the soundtracks, the gospel stuff, the comeback and beyond things, pretty much all of it, and I remain unimpressed and unmoved. Obviously I am in the minority on that, but oh well about that. I grew up Southern, like plenty of "white" artists, and have no problem whatsoever with "hillbillies" or Pop or Country music, so I'm not demographically predisposed to reject Elvis on principle. I just don't connect with Elvis at any level and personally find all the fuss about him....puzzling. Sociologically it makes some sense, but musically...nah. Not for me. But to those for which it does, hey, party on!

No, it's not that for me. I just don't think the cat was anything much more than a reasonably talented Southern guy, not some GREAT ARTIST or anything. I never "got" Elvis, still don't, and truthfully don't really care if I ever do. That has nothing whatsoever to do with race or politics or anything else. The guy has just never mattered to me one way or the other. Ever.

I only recently came across this one, and although I don't know if I'd go that far, it was certainly not what I expected, and in a good way.

How many overt "easy listening" records did he make for WP? California Dreamin', Michelle, A Girl In Love, & what else?

It says he retired. Maybe he fishes a lot, plays cards with his buddies, and works part time as a greeter at Wal-Mart. Hey, why not?

Diana Krall was on Letterman last night, w/Bob Hurst, Jeff Hamilton, and a guy who looked but didn't play like Eric Clapton on guitar. I guess that was Gerald Wilson's son Anthony. Any wya, they played "Corcovado", extremely competently but somewhat...hollowly, save for Wilson's voicings, which were extremely tasty, and Dave, never even a slight "jazz" fan was seemingly thrilled beyond belief. And then Elvis Costello came out from back stage and punched him out for coming on to his wife. Well, ok, that last thing didn't happen. But the rest of it did.

Oh, htat's one of the later Prestige 24000 "two-fer" series". Sometimes thise things would add previously unissued material. This one did not.

It also goes back to "Rue Chaptal" from a 1946 Kenny Clarke/Kenny Dorham date. I learned that a few years ago right here on Organissimo from Mike Fitzgerald!

AAAAARRRGH - halfway through posting and hit the wrong something, DAMN! Oh well. Shorter answrers this time. Ambien's kicking in. TRACK ONE - Crabby Chick dodn't dig the band. No time for that. But I found her CD online anyways. TRACK TWO - Billy Higgins on drums, Has to be. Interenet suggests a 45 from a Teddy Edwards session. But that IS Billly Higgins on drums. TRACK TRHREE - An this one really bugs me, I should know the singer, Really well known, West coast cat, I think, and damned if I can call him. I've got some sides ny him too...not Charles Brown, I don't think, but somebody who came in Brown's wake. I really shpuld know who this is dammit. TRACK FOUR - Sounds like Don Wilkerson on tenor, beyond that, I have no call. From the live Houston club tapes? TRACK FIVE - When did this happen and why am I just now hearing it? TRACK SIX - Johnnie Adams and a most distinguished cast of genuine characters. No problems. TRACK SEVEN - Tightness. The good kind. Junior Cook on tenor? TRACK EIGHT - Junior Parker. I still play this song regularly, and people still dance to it. The people have spoken. TRACK NINE - Yeah, ok. Something "foreign" seems to be in there, not sure what. Sounds like a warmup cut, early on in the show and review. Plenty of time left defore Star Time gets here, TRACK TEN - I like Otis' live version & Grant's version better than anybody's. Nut this one seems to be trying to be friendly, so no need to step on it. TRACK ELEVEN - Sorry man, can't make it. My tux is in the cleaners. Love to Nancy, ok? Great, maybe next year. TRACK TWELVE - I. B. Puzzled. Noah Dih. Toot Inners. Maybe some very late in life Griff? TRACK THIRTEEN - Sweets. I think. Can't go wrong. Otherwise, hey, lord knows it could be far worse. TRACK FOURTEEN - I like this.Frisky! Not particularly revelatory, but well-played and pleasant to listen to. TRACK FIFTEEN - Expository! I think I like it. I sure don't dislike it! Ambien's kicking in, will need to revisit again, but sure sounds ok now! Gracias beaucoup, Dan, looking forward to Dixc !! ASAP!

Just the one cut that I know of, official or otherwise. Trane was actually a little disappointed, felt that Rollins was toying with him rather thna coming at him head on. But hey, the both did what they were doing at the time. But you can hear Rollins play "Naima" in Copenhagen, 1968, on one of those Moon things.

YouTube ain't the whole show: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=tami...emb=0&aq=f#

Hell, hardly any white or black folks got Warne in his lifetime. I think way more people are hip to him now than when he was alive. And yet Anthony Braxton "got" him better than anybody outside of the original(-ish) Tristano-ites, rightfully placing him in the "white mystic tradtiion" (or something like that) and digging him precisely because of that. Then again, Anthony Braxton "gets" more things than most people, period.

I'm telling you, the very best house music (and it's waaaaaaay underground, btw) is so damn chock full of information as to be the only true (ok, "truest") "music of now" that I've heard. But it ain't about "songs" nearly as much as it is about sound, texture, and peacefully and prosperously populating multiple layers of a sonic landscape. I believe you and anticipated such a post when I started the thread... I definitely need to check more of said music out. Music (in general, as a response to the circumstances around it) doesn't die; people do. Were you planning to fork over any names, Mr. Sangrey??? No, not really. Been down that road here before, very little interest, most people seem to reject the very notion of the music, never mind the specifics. And fair enough. Besides, this stuff is so underground, so scattered, so generally unavailable, that unless you really want to find it, it's more trouble than it's worth. And it's been my experience that one either gets it or one doesn't. No in-between. So I hesitate to recommend something that somebody could quite possibly spend a fair amount of money on only to say "what is this shit?" To really get at it, you either got to go to a club with a great dj (& that's so not going to happen with me, for any number of reasons) or just poke and prod and download various mixes like crazy, and then get to know the names you like and then go from there. It's not like the past, where there's an established body of acknowledged can't-lose classics , this is shit still happening in real time. Remember - it took 365 days for 1959 to happen in real time, but if you got the day off, you can pretty much relive all that matters from that year in 24 hours or less. But... Here's a site that has regular podcasts: http://www.routesinrhythm.com/ You might get one really good tune per 'cast, or you might get several. Rarely do you get none, but it does happen. You never know. Or if you don't get the music at all, you'll get a headache everytime out. C'est la vie. And here's two mixes that a few of my fellow middle-aged jazz musicians have enjoyed: http://karmyda.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2008...T21_54_49-07_00 & http://karmyda.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2008...T23_04_47-07_00 Why these one in particular, I have no real idea. Really though, I think you have to want to like it to like it. By that I don't mean discarding all preexisting sense of self or anything like that, I jsut mean that you gotta like the notion of music that is built almost entirely around/from rhythm, texture, and repetition and the creative use of gradual evolution of same. If you need a constantly changing melodic line, or a constantly changing anything for that matter, this stuff will only piss you off. It's there, but only sometimes, and it ain't the driving force of the music.