JSngry

A yo, what a fine two albums these are! William S. Fischer, now there's somebody who may or may not have been doing something different. I'd like to have heard the inner voicings better. But as elsewhere, he's got a semi-drone thing going on with his string writing that adds flavor. Plus, there's some stuff on ...Facets... that's...not really "commercial", like "Shiloh". All in all, the stuff that is "commercial" is above and beyond, and the stuff that isn't (like, how "commercial" is it for a player like Fathead on an album like this for a label like Atlantic to play a ballad like "That's All" and never really even hint at the melody? I mean, it wasn't until the bridge that I was really sure that it was the same "That's All...) is just gravy. Thanks for the tip y'all. Slippy's WELL pleased.

Indeed.

Warrior? I thought they were Spartans, but to be honest, I don't really know. He was born in 1918, did they change mascots or something? I still have his old letter sweater, though, somewhere. Yellow & blue. Next time I go visit my mom, I'll try and look at his old yearbooks. Ont thing I definitely remember though, was that his had a good buddy back then named Orlo Spatz, which to this day is one of the coolest/weirdest sounding names I've ever heard anywhere.

Not even slightly. But being "alright" was not the game he played. His game was ideology over anything/everything, and he played it quite well, thank you. People like that don't exist to be "alright", but to put spme shit out there that you gotta confront on your way from Point A to Point Z. If you walk around it altogether, you're a slacker. If you get stuck in it and can't move out of it at all, you're a sap. But if you confront it an are honest, you can't help but come to the conclusion that no "pure" ideology is worth a damn as a practical application, and/but also that that sword cuts both ways and that the middle is nothing without the opposite poles which define it.

FWIW - my Dad (from Sterling, Illinois, btw), told me several times about how their HS basketball coach urged them to take dance lessons to improve their on-court coordination. Also that the coach had to plead with his team that "dancing isn't for sissies". My dad took a few lessons, and learned later on in life that "the ladies" enjoyed a man who was a good dancer. But a man who played too much to the ladies, hey, what was up w'that? I'm just sayin'...

Of course, but if you do have these skills and don't "do" athletics but do dance at a more than "functional" skill level, then you've got some 'splainin' to do. And if you have even average skills and don't really dance too much at any level, nobody thinks anything of it. As you said, the nature of American society, which was kinda my point.

I got it too. Like 'em both very much, but I'm kind of a "fanatic" about Lacy/Waldron duets & Max/Anybody duets. The interesting thing to me about the Max/Waldon is the relatively late date as far as Max duets go. I hear less "FIRE MOTHERFUCKER, FIRE!" and more playing "inside the music". Of course, with Waldron, that's almost a necessity (and perhaps age has become a factor at this point), but still, it's something that Max does quite well, and it makes for a provocative contrast to some of his earlier, more celebrated duets.

I'm quite sure that Don Lentz (that was my father-in-law's name) was never regarded with suspicion by anyone along those lines by any "regular" white male; he being one of them quintessentially, in the good sense. There was an almost genetic tradition in that family of being good on your feet. Don was a meet-winning high jumper in high school; Well that.s what I mean. A Good Athlete and A Good Dancer was A Total Package. A Good Athlete alone or A Good Athlete And An OK Dancer was....normal. But A Good Dancer, or especially A Damn Good Dancer, with no other "traditional" c.v.s...hey. I'm not saying that White Guys Never Danced, or that Social Dancing Was Never Really Popular or anything like that, just that the "tradition" of White American Men Not Embracing Too Much Elegance For Fear Of Compromising The Perception Of Their Manhood is not a relatively recent phenomenon.

Yes, never occurred to me but that also rings true. MG Another factor for the reaction against Disco is is that Disco was above all dance music. A large segment of the white male audience doesn't dig dancing and hence went more for the metal, punk, etc where the dancing skills were minimized. Actually I think many of the people who like Smooth Jazz and Smooth Soul also liked Disco. IIRC "The Quiet Storm" programming on Radio was really a precursot to the "Smooth Jazz' statiions. No more calls please, we have a winner. And re:the dancing thing - I think you'll find that there was a cetain "elegant" quality to Disco/disco dancing that only partially translated as "gay" to a lot of "blue collar" or otherwise "primal"-oriented white males. In the Swing Era, even, to have heard my Dad tell it, a really good dancer was looked upon with a combination of envy & suspicion by the "regular" white males of his time. They fifured the guy was either a "wolf", a hustler, or secretly gay - until proven otherwise. In the African-American & Hispanic-American communities, though, there (largely) wasn't this divide between "elegance" and heterosexuality. In fact, being a good dancer was (and often still is) a point of m"macho" pride. And women dig it. In the White communities, the preferred of dancing by moist males in the Rock And Beyond Era is a less elegant, more "overt" expression of...whatever you call it, tension, angst, raw sexual agression, whatever. I find it interesting that now, as the Baby Boomer generation is aging, there seems to be a bit of resurgence in interest in "ballroom dancing". That may be mostly female-driven, but maybe guys are fuguring out that now that they're older, it's a good idea to show your woman your sensitive/elegant side as well as how much of a badass you are (or can be). MAybe a case of your residual testosterone memory wrting checks that your body no longer can cash at will? Better late than never, perhaps...

A Select is probably cheaper than Lunesta! Between generics and mail-order 90 supplies, hmmm... that may or may not be accurate...

Having had two (and trust me, it doesn't stop at 3 years old, my 17 year old thinks nothing of waking me up for no reason other than "Hey Dad!) ), you have my fullest and deepest sympathy.

I understand that he moderated some of his earlier, more odious views as he "got out in the world", so to speak. Nevertheless, he was still/frequently all kinds of wrong, but he made you think (often hard and well) before coming to that conclusion. That, I respect, and given that there will always be fundamental differences of opinion as to the role and nature of the different modes of societal organization, kinda dig. And let me say that the 1968 Buckley/Vidal convention debates on ABC were nothing short of electrifying in real time. I've not seen the likes since. And not only did he support the legalization of marijuana, he openly admitted to using it, although on his own yacht, outside of US territorial limits in order to avoid breaking the law. Although one wonders how he got the stuff in the first place... Wrong or not, that kind of shit is something which I cannot find it in me to not smile at.

Buks speek. My freshman year in college, I had a buddy from SF, a really fine pianist, who was really into Zeitlin. So I was always borrowing his Zeitlin Columbia sides to see if I could get into it myself. The problem was, and I kid you not on this, was that I would always, and I do mean always, fall asleep halfway through a side. Didn't matter which album or which side, about halfway through the 2nd tune, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Finally, after about 6 months of this, I gave up, took my buddy at his word, and let it go at that. So gee, I'd like to get this and check it out again, but I dunno if it makes sense to pay for sleep, especially at this point of my life.

Oh yeah, At Large. Love that one.

For two consecutive games in 1938, it was Johnny Van Der Meer.

Jazz radio in some cities was already focusing on the Butler-era Blue Note/CTI/Other Poppish Things/Etc bag before "Smooth Jazz" became a "official" format. So it was just an evolution (or devolution). As I've said before, I have no problem with the notion of "easy on the ears, lushly produced, 'jazzy' music". You can do that and still make tasty, creative, engaging music. But that's not what most "smooth jazz" ends up being. I hear that some labels actually have "formulas" as to what notes a soloist can or cannot play, how often, and where, in the course of a record. That's just....evil.

Oh come on, everybody's doing it!!! No no no... Google is our friend, because Google leads us here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUuPY2zz9SU

You been Rick Rolled!!!

I saw Larry's comments on Focus but am I missing something on Mickey One? I used to have that one but got rid of it years ago as a generally forgettable, barely serviceable soundtrack. Exactly, although there was a little bit of From The People Who Brought You Focus hype about it for a quick minute...

both

Those pld Unity sides are cool. He's kinda the "weakest link" in his own bands, but I always got the vibe that he was at least as much about showcasing the talent of others as he was his own on them, so that's cool with me.

Pan-Art RULES, btw!

I discovered Chombo w/Cachao, then w/Mongo, and he's remained a favorite. I also have a Tru-Tone album by some charanga band where he's on violin. Versatile cat!

Sincerest thanks for all the comments! Looks like I'm gonna gamble w/Vista and lots of RAM, probably 4GB. This is gonna be a new system w/all newly loaded software, so backwards compatibility, system or software, shouldn't be an issue. From the sound of things here, people w/amped and new systems aren't having but minor issues, if that. We'll see how it goes...