JSngry

Cavett today, in retrospect, strikes me as somebody who back then knew what he knew, knew what he didn't know, tried to figure out what he should know, and proceeded to put it out on air accordingly. Worked for me then just fine. Charlie Rose? Sorry. I think he's a clown.

I'm still kind of...stunned that CD Baby is carrying the Johnny Reb stuff and marketing it as "satire". That's not cool.

Put me down for Texas Twister, too. That bad boy cooks! Although - the BNs are of such different intent that it's really not fair to comapre them straight up. Also, if you only hear one w/o hearing the other, your impression of Don Wilkerson is going to be woefully incomplete.

Here's the most complete accounting I've seen so far as to Monday's various recordings: http://www.mondaymichiru.com/discography.aspx Some of this is compilations, but a lot of it is not. And some of it is going to be (and some of it already has been) a bitch-and-a-half to track down.

Damn, neither of those "Right Time" remixes are on Alternate Routes, but the guy who did them is the same guy who did the long one that closed out that disc. I kinda want to hear what else he's got up his sleeve... As for those other things, "A Calmaria" has been done live (it's on those live downloads she offers) and, I think, better (more spiritedly anyway) than the version offered here. Otoh, that Kyoto Jazz Massive side - a "tribute" album that features both the that band and other artists - that it's on is a monster, is often avaialble thru DG, and is highly recommended to those wanting to hear what can happen when worlds collide. "Moving Shadows" & "Laid Back & Eazy" are both guest spots she did on albums by 60 Channels, which is one of many projects done by The Angel, who did that great, trippy remix of "Just Another Day" on Adoption Agency. The only one of these I have is "Moving Shadows", and it's very much a "for deep fans only" type things. Monday lends her voice, maybe some vocal arranging, but it's very much The Angels's trip all the way. Which is cool, but... So yeah, those downloads are all "not bad", but they don't give a true representation of Monday's own music. Oh well...

Hey, cool. That would be a good thing. I've been putting together a collection the old fashioned way, and it ain't been cheap, let me tell you!

Well, for that matter, Monday's done very little that could be looked at as "pure jazz" either. Ain't nothing "pure" about her music but the spirit!

Don't know what those cuts are, Ray, but Monday's done very little that is actual "dance/house music" in pure form (remixes excepted). She has done work based in that form, but usually adds things to it to set it apart from being "just" dance music. She did do a lot of "Acid Jazz" during her stay in Japan though, and her work in that field might well be the apex of that particualr genre. Not busting your chops on this, just trying to give clarity. You know, you start talking "dance/house music" to "jazz people" and shit starts getting weird...

Gonna be hard to beat that RCA set, even in terms of packaging and annotation. Impossible, maybe, even. That was done about as well as it could be done. But if you don't have/can't get that one, yeah, this is going to be one to have no matter what.

All I have of this material is dubs of Onzy's two LPs as leader, so I can't speak for the additional material, but based on those albums, I will be buying the select at some point. The music is fine, "smooth" in the old-school, non-pejorative sense, and the soloists are all "names you can trust", especially in this context. The music only goes as far as it goes, but where it goes is a very nice place. My hunch is that a lot of people are going to be "pleasantly surprised" by this set.

Not sure that "not being offended" is a "right"... Geez, if it was, I'd have sued half the motherfucking world by now!

Yep, that's the one. And yeah, a fine song it is.

CD Japan link for those who go that way: http://www.cdjapan.jp/detailview.html?KEY=GNCL-1126 I've ordered often enough to give them an unqualified

FWIW, I saw a lot of the old Charlie Chan movies on local TV in the early 1970s. At that time and place, there were virtually no Asian people, -American or otherwise, in our "real world" of teh Piney Woods of East Texas. But I was old enough and smart enough to see Hollywood stereotyping up front, and Charlie Chan got to be a hero of mine rather quickly. Why? Because I was very much an "outsider" in my environment the way that he was in his. He was always having to deal with people who thought him a "curiosity", as was I. He was always able to see through these people's bullshit a mile away, as was I. And he was always right in the end, as was I....sometimes. Now, Number One (or whatever # it was) Son, that was kind of embarassing, but then again, it kinda made the point that assimilation into America at the expense of one's own Mother Wit maybe ain't such a good deal after all. Who's gonna argue with that? Not me. So as far as I was concerned, Charlie Chan was a hip motherfucker, a "media persona" who gave me reassurance to go against my native environment and to be more than what was "expected" of me with the quiet assurance that to do less would be simply, fundamentally wrong.

Does Sally write great songs too?

Do such people really exist? Well, just in case they do...

I'd not recommend the new covers album as an "introduction" to her by any means. For that, I'd think that her original material would be much more enlightening, although you never know, really. But for people who are already fans, this new one should prove pleasant-to-more-than-pleasant listening. The repertoire is interesting, ranging from Blondie to Milton Nascimento to Brainstorm to...etc. Very eclectic, and very few of the covers are done as you'd "expect" them to be done. The highlight for me is a Latin-Jazz remake of the S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good To Me", which Monday reworks from the inside out, the result being one of those things where you wonder why it seems so damn hard to rethink any kind of music, and all the answers point back inside. This bad boy grooves like a mofo, and if you don't know the original (or the Beats International club hit/remake), you might well think it was an original and a standard-in-the-making. Seriously. The album was pretty much recorded in a hurry, on a very tight budget, and, much like Episodes In Color (which it resembles in "spirit" I think), uses that in-the-moment energy to its advantage even when there's an occasional - very occasional, as these are all pros doing pro's work - performance/production "imperfection". As always, Monday lets the band play, and as always, she seems to be providing everybody a spiritual "boost" along the way. The back-and-forth exchange of energy between her and the band is palpable. And although there's not a lot of post-production, there is enough of her miraculous layered vocals throughout to justify a recommendation just to hear them. She really is on a level w/Brian Wilson & Marvin Gaye when it comes to doing this type thing imaginatively and musically, and those who know me know that that's about as high a praise as I can give for that particular thing. This is not an album to make me throw out 4 Seasons, Routes, Delicious Poison, etc. But it is a very nice listen. And in "Just Be Good To Me", it contains one of the most invigorating performances of any type music I've heard so far this year.

It is.

http://www.cleanishappy.com/ They stole my idea! For years now, I've been joking about a "bidet for the booty.Call it a Boo-det." Well, here it is, and what a website it has!

http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/post-no-bil...-gets-groovier/

Not sure if I'd call "Europa" great -- it sounds canned to me, a slick and soulless sequel to "Samba Pa Ti". Gato Barbieri gave the definitive reading of this one. Seriously.

Thanks for that clarification about the lyrics. The literal transaltion is, I believe "as I like", and that...just doesn't have any 'oomph". But yes, the desire for reciprocality may or may not be implied in the overall lyric, and is probably best left out in the transalation. I agree.

This is it? O....k.... I'd file this under "unfortunate", and then because it's Johnny Mercer singing it. There are lots of "unfortunate things" about Johnny Mercer... But is the song itself intrinsically racist? Not that I can see, especially being written by Clarence Williams and all.. Mileages vary, and I resepect individual feeling, etc. but... Context, as "they" say, matters. Now - if you really want to be offended, keep reading. If not, stop here. I'm serious. Whever I think of racist, offensive lyrics, my mind goes back to a road gig I once - and only once - took as a sub in a "wedding band" that was populated by Southern Good Ol' Boys. One of them pulled out a cassette of songs by one "Johnny Reb", who was somebody with whom I was totally unfamiliar. Well... Here are some of the lyrics of some of the songs on that tape. Again - THESE LYRICS ARE EXTREMEMLY RACIST: http://forum.thiazi.net/archive/index.php/t-83121.html http://forum.thiazi.net/archive/index.php/t-83303.html I do not exaggerate when I say that hearing these songs, especially in this particualr company, nearly made me vomit right in these people's car. Literally. I filed the whole experience away under Yet Another Example Of Why White People Can't Be Trusted until I saw this thread, which I read with interest, and was frankly underwhelmed (sorry), hearing as I have some unambiguosly racist lyrics that can under no circumstances be ascribed/interpreted as being anything but. Then I got to wondering if this "Johnny Reb" crap has been documented on the Web. Well of course it has... Well, ok. Turns out that there was a whole series of these type recordings, done for a single label, ran by one of the leading songwriters for Excello Records: http://www.dodoempire.net/discography.asp?...=1&label=46 Ok, you say, a relic form an unfortunate past. Not so fast there! http://www.johnnyrebelrecords.com/ And guess what? The same CD Baby that carries so much fine music of all types, including Organissimo, also carries this shit: http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnnyrebel With sound samples, no less. Again - this shit is full bore racist asswipe bullshit. Don't listen if that's going to unduly upset you. Please excuse me if Johnny Mercer's quasi-genteel forays into faux-"negritude" offend/bother me far less than does this shit.

Nat or Joe?