JSngry

Not to be flip, but 50 years is but a blink of the eye, really, once you remove "yourself" from the picture. Try 500, 5000, or even more... Having said that though, we got stuff preserved in a way that past generations didn't. Look at how much "classical" music has survived simply due to its having been preserved in written form. Even though the standard repertoire is a relative fraction of what survives, the other stuff is stll there when/if somebody wants to get to it. We have actual recordings, not just printed facsimiles. And I can guarantee you that somebody is going to keep a big bunch of them around in some form, even if tragedies like the Universal & Atlantic warehouse fires cut back on the totality of it all. So I'm confident that the recodings will survive, somehow. Now as to how many people are actually listening to them, well, who knows. The cool thing about sampling is that it allows for voices (vocal & instrumental) to keep popping up in constructs far, far removed from their original settings. So, yeah, in 50 years, you might well still be hearing Bird, or Trane, or damn near anybody, just as a "voice" in some whole other environment. Purists will be outraged, but I think that's a good thing, since a "voice from beyond" that speaks to you too literally, too clearly, too right-in-your-face-ish is kinda....creepy.

I mean, "When I Grow Up To Be A Man" only sounds "happy" until you actually pay attention to it (musically & lyrically). Then it gets kinda, uh....tense. Brian Wilson, as we all now know, was a pretty disturbed cat even in the best of his times. I know that mileages vary widely and wildly on this, but even early on, with that irritating "dip" that he'd use to slide into pitches (which in retrospect sounds like the musical equivalent of try to duck a punch thrown by your father...), I'd always felt some sort of...something in his music, some kind of...depth of perception (and relative to his peers, any depth, even the most superficial, would be a difference...), that was totally lacking in other bands, like The Hondells, or Jan & Dean, or...you name 'em. And once you get to and past The Beach Boys Today, the whole "surf music" ethos pretty much becomes a non-issue. Ok, I spent a few hours Thursday night playing Pet Sounds, trying not to get emotional at the same points I always get emotional at. I failed. Sure, the pain of lost innocence is pretty dumb to those who never had much (or any) to lose. But if you did, it's not a happy thing, ever, even after you grow up and realize that that's just how life is. Not for nothing is the theme of "paradise lost" one of the eternals.

And up until mid-1965/early 1666, that generalization would be accurate!

FLO IS NOT THE COMEDIC GENIUS!!! THE CUSTOMER (PLAYED BY MONICA CREEL) IS!!!

Yeah, that damn "Caroline No" is just one bigass carousel ride...

The live tracks of Sinatra's Duets, the ones where they turned his half-senile ass loose in a studio with a big band & a mike, just like in a live show, and let him roam the room to sing it for real, post-productionize it later, let's get this much right now. Based on what I hear through the finished results, they probably had to pitch-correct like a mofo, but that phrasing appears to have been out in near-full force one last time, and that would have been something to behold, the lion's last great roar in a studio. Hell, forget about beoing there, Ca[pitol should just release it like that. Lose all that horrid duet shit and give us the real deal. Pitch correction optional, depending on how bad it really was, but let's hear the old man working the room one last time.

Blaze Masters at Work Joe Claussell

Is it my imagination (or lack of it?), but does Martino have a stronger lower register tone than most of his "ilk"? What is that, heavier gauge strings?

City Of Glass, maybe. Just to watch the engineers.

Thanks to Durium for the invitation to join in. It's been a while, but as usual, the traditional thanks and disclaimers remain firmly in place. And now, on with the show. TRACK ONE - Not from my neighborhood, if you know what I mean, but I can hear and feel the fun, as well as the superb skill involved. Plus, a lot of information in less than thee minutes. That's kind of a lost art in many parts of the musical world. I enjoyed it. TRACK TWO - Frank Morgan? Sounds like something I have by him but haven't listened to in many years. What can you say? There's a mature lyricism there that is really beautiful. Sure is a short cut, though? But then again, it leaves nothing lacking, so it's all good there. TRACK THREE - "Django" underwater? AH! It's gypsy-like strumming, NOW I get it! Can't say that I'm particularly moved by this rendition, but that's not to say that those who played it weren't. I would hope that they were! TRACK FOUR - "People" and, I'm assuming, Bill Evans. Not a huge fan of either song or pianist, but I do dig the reharmonization he does here. And I must say that my lack of passion for Evans is over the long-term. An occasional exposure here and there always works nice, Only now that we get into it, I'm not so sure that this is Evans! Either way, I like the reharmonization, but find the soloing quite pedestrian. TRACK FIVE - Don't know the songs or the players, but everybody plays well, and they seem to mean it all, so hey, it's all good for me. TRACK SIX - Is that a ukelele? A tiple? Whatever, kudos for execution on what is probably a smallish fretboard. That's gotta be a labor of love. TRACK SEVEN - Well, yes she is, but sometimes the more you know her, the melody changes from major to minor, from sweet to discordant. C'est la vie! Not really my cup of tea, but no fault to be found either, not when the playing is as good as this. TRACK EIGHT - Electric bass? A somewhat anachronistic choice, but it works (or else my speakers don't!). Don't think the playing itself is working for me, though....doesn't seem "real" to me in some form or fashion. sorry. Trumpet almost sounds like Wynton, which would indeed be high irony, but I don't think it is, TRACK NINE - I recognize, I think, "Dippermouth Blues". And enjoy it well enough as presented here this one time. TRACK TEN - Something like this was circulating amongst local musicians' emails a while back. I forget who it is, but I dig it, and not just for the novelty. I mean, why not? TRACK ELEVEN - Always glad to hear the Shiek (watch out though, there's been rumors out of Vegas that he'll sneak into your tent naked as a jaybird!)! Perfect mid-40s club fare, I should think. A little goes a long way, but in that day and in those places, that's what the purpose would have been, right? Beyond that, it gets wearying pretty fast, but no need to worry about that on a BFT, is there now! TRACK TWELVE - "Solitude", of course. I love this tune. Bassist seems to have been touched by Mingus (which is not necessarily the same as having been "influenced" by him). That fatass tone puts me in mind of Red Mitchell, who was one of the kings of fatass tones (at least on records...) Or maybe Ron Carter even? Ah, clarinet...a kinda stiff player, on this little hearing... Yeah, definitely Ron Carter, w/a 2nd bassist. Ron Carter has gotten (and deserved) a lot of shit over the years, but when the guy comes to play, he plays. I'm diggin' this one. TRACK THIRTEEN - Great drumming (and great drum tuning) on the intro. After that, it's good enough. Interesting altoist, sounds like he's pushing himself to not just play licks, with inconsistent results. But that's the risks you take when improvising (and that's also a reason why few people truly improvise) But really, that drum intro is enough all by itself! TRACK FOURTEEN - Ok, I think it's Bird tune, but the name escapes me. I've heard better, I've heard worse. At this point, I look at stuff like this as documents of where people were on their way to someplace else - either this zone only more fully realized or else some other zone altogether that they had to go through this one to get to. Or. occasionally, on their way out altogether. My hunch is that with this player it's one of the first two. But it's almost like you can hear/feel how the weight of trying to channel, hell, just remembering, Bird's/Bud's vocabulary is weighing on them, almost like a 250 pound weight on your stomach, yeah you can support it, and yeah you can still breathe, but not like you could if it wasn't there. TRACK FIFTEEN - Great song, "With a Song In My Heart"! Very in the Brown/Roach/Rollins bag, and very cooking too...sounds to me like they come by it honestly enough. Tenor playing occasionally betrays some "schoolboy" lickage, but hides it very well. I could almost go George Coleman on this one, actually....almost. If there were more examples of this, the "it doesn't matter how old a style you play in" argument would be easier made! KUDOS TO THE DRUMMER! And the pianist's comp. These ain't no kids, and they ain't no Dictaphones either. TRACK SIXTEEN - "Our Love Is Here To Stay", Not sure that the "duetting" is working for me as well as having them play separately might have. Mr. Piano Player is a treat, though. Roger Kellaway? Roland Haana, even? Nice! TRACK SEVENTEEN - "Evidence". Went from not caring for it to liking it about halfway through...Funny thing, once they get going, if you could isolate the pianist's right hand and the drummer, what you'd be left with would be not at all out of place on an early fusion record! That whole motivic/pentatonic thing that sprung from Trane went into "straight ahead" & fusion jazzs both, and now they've kinda come back into one thing for many players...Kenny Barron used to play a lot like this, but I don't think that this is him...could be, though... TRACK EIGHTEEN - Not a tune with which I've ever shared much passion...and I'm afraid the same holds true for this rendition, as fine as it is. I'll take the Sinatra/Basie version and be done with it. Thanks anyway! TRACK NINETEEN - But of course! All told, an enjoyable collection of heretofore unknown and unheard titles. Thanks for inviting me in, Durium, it was fun!

Face To Face. No question.

Sommy Meets Hawk. No question.

Geez, Joe, that's kinda like wanting to take seconds on the Immaculate Conception...

Lots of people. To what recording are you specifically referring? FWIW, Dexter did a version on Prestige.

East Broadway Rundown. No question about that.

The whole point of taking drugs is to get to where you don't need to take drugs anymore.

And get your hat! Leave your worries on the doorstep!

Same name, but different label. This tCB was an American cheapo thing from the mid 1970s.

Peanuts Hucko Henry Questa Skeets Hurfurt

Here we go, uninterrupted, if with some sync issues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5FvTYKeFuc...feature=related

The real mystery is the overdubbed sting synth on the Andrew Hill side...

The TV news.

Trudy Pitts' comping behind Martino on every cut is reason enough. Reason enough for what, you might ask? Hell, just reason enough, period!

Yeah, El Hombre just feels different than the other Martino-led dates I've heard. Not as , for lack of a better term, "edgy" in terms of consciously trying to "move forward", or something like that. This stuff is just... playing in the moment, no real apparent agenda than to play it for real and play it really good. No real "exploration" other than right then, right now. Right on. It really doies feel more like a club date than a record date, which might not always be what you want as far as "career development" through recordings, but hell, that's a whole 'nother story there, and don't get me started, please. And re:Trudy Pitts - I only have her first Prestige date (and her cameo on Rahssan's 1st WB date). She shows a side, another "gear" if you will, on this Martino date that she does not show there, and that is not particularly surprising, really. I mean, I get the impression that she was attempting to build a "popular" niche on that side, but that she can (could?) play was implicit in how she went about it there, and explicit in what she lays down here.