JSngry

That ain't shit. I'm the Urban Spaceman!

I like Drives well enough, but of his BNs, it and Turning Point seem just a little less focused than the others. Just a little. A totally useless bit of trivia - Down Beat gave this one a very enthusiastic ***** review, and used it as a "free gift" for new subscibers ca. 1971. Imagine that - subscribe to Down Beat and get a free Blue Note!

Yep.

I'll believe that they invented it for themselves, but as far as I can tell, Bird's rhythm was his own, and more or less intuitive to him, roots in Lester Young aside. You can hear the difference in Diz' phrasing pre- & post- Bird, and the difference is significant. In fact, Diz has said more than once that he brought the harmony & Bird broght the phrasing. No doubt that's a bit of an over simplification, but it's true enough. Bird was truly one of the freest players ever. The closer you listen to his internal rhythm (where the phrases begin & end, and how the accents bob & weave within each phrase), the more mind-boggling it gets, especially on the live stuff. And you don't have to be a musician to hear it. Not at all. You just have to have a good feel for rhythm, and you just have to be conscious of it, that's all.

Those are two good, not great, albums. I don't know if I'd buy this set just to get them, but they're certainly not a reason not to get it either.

RIP to a true soldier of the music.

For people who have come to jazz in the last 10-15 years or so, Julius Hemphill may well be a name that's been heard of more than heard. If that's the case for anybody here, I'd like to humbly suggest that you're missing out on one of the more satisfying players & writers of the last quarter of the 20th Century. Somebody mentioned the Moers album. Although it frequently is indeed a gasp-inducing affair, it's not really representative of the WSQ in general. The story is that the band got together for that gig w/little if any rehearsal, just showed up & blew, & Moers recorded/released it. As a result, there's not much in the way of the finely-crafted composing/arranging that for me was always what set the WSQ apart from a lot of the "loft jazz" of the time. And if anybody's looking for a "gateway" into the band (especially since Black Saint doesn't yet seem to have become "easily" avaialbe again), the Ellington side on Elektra might do the trick. Certainly not their "best" album, but the songs are familiar, and if you've heard Ellington/Strayhorn's more harmonically "out" writing for sax section, then the album shouldn't shock you nearly as much as it did Phil Woods....

B.L. Lacerta Lou Lazer Dr. Booth

If for no other reason, the WSQ was a valuable as a showcase for Julius Hemphill.

Clara Bow Arrow Bullzye

A very good record!

Still listening to the CJB set. This is good stuff, "corniness" and all. The band had spirit. And Gene Allen on bari is the non-soloing hero of the band, I think, outside of the rhythm section. Ok, Nick Travis on lead trumpet too. Aw hell, Gene Quill on lead alto while we're at it. But that's your tops and your bottom, and that's where the ensemble flayva builds from. Big bands don't play like this any more. Long story, to be sure, but...

Just as a listener? How's about as a human?

Eric Burdon War Edwin Starr

Is there anything between Point A & Point Z? I know you can do better than that... Based on what has come out about Richard's "personality", I think the odds are less that he's a "Racist" in the sense of being a White Supremacist, card-carrying KKK type as they are that he's spent his life so wrapped up in himself that he's failed to develop any type of empathy for all but a select handful of people. That's a situation that a lot of "creative" people find themselves in, and although it's necessary up to a point for the creative process, if it goes on too long & too unchecked by the reality past the end of their nose, it ends up becoming a type of generalized misanthropy. It's not "racism" per se, but it's definitely every bit as fucked up, every bit as hurtful to/for all concerned, and every bit as much in need of a smackdown. Perhaps even moreso, since the list of potential victims of such a mindset extends to pretty much everybody.

Over the years, I've come across more than a few devotees of Hard Bop (players & fans alike) who've said that the first+ genertion of bebop sounds "nervous", "jerky" or other such things. While I can certainly relate tht to some of the music, I myself think that with the exception of early/mid-50s Sonny Rollins and some Mobley from the same time, nobody had such a refined & loose grasp of internal rhythm as did Bird, Diz, & Bud, that everybody else had to "simplify" the music in order to make it a viable community expression. That's not a value judgement or anything, just an observation. Interestingly enough, I've also gotten the same "nervous", etc. reaction to dance music styles like Drum 'N Bass & Broken Beat. Myself, I love that type of spreading the beat's legs apart and working it until all concerned are drained, sticky, and satisfied in both this type dance music & bebop. But it doesn't seem to have "mass appeal". Again, not a value judgement. I think that it's possible that for people who are more "wired" towards hearing/fealing a "beat" that, no matter how hard it swings, retains as its essence a forward-moving steadiness (as opposed to a forward moving breaking apart/coming back together) might not feel (literally) bebop to the extent they do Hard Bop, "greasy" Soul Jazz, etc. Yet again, not a value judgement. Make no mistake, Bebop as played by its originators is not a simple/predictable music. It's actually some of the most complex music of the 20th century (the rhythmic aspect in actuality, the harmonic aspect by implication). But only a handful of people had the capacities to play it that way, so it almost had to get "smoothed out" sooner than later. And if the music was that hard for the players, imagine how much harder it must be for the "general listener". In either Bird or, say, Sonny Stitt, you get the same basic vocabulary, but with Bird that vocabulary's going to be spoken in a significantly more variated (that's a Don Pullen word, btw) manner. So I can see how Stitt (or any number of other players) might be a more "comfortable" listen than Bird for many people. Again, and in conclusion, not a value judgement. But not an excuse either.

Except on the McLean Mosaic, iirc.

Lois Hi Dot & Ditto

Nor was mine, when I had it. I gave it to a friend when the CDs came out. MG Sorry. I meant "slick".

The first 3-4 WSQ sides on Black Saint are classics of the time imo. After that, things got less consistent, but never uninteresting.

Mean Mister Mustard Polyethelyne Pam The Plastic People

I'd like to hear it. I actually LOVE the Jackson 5. I think Michael was a force of nature when he was kid. Pity his brain eventually melted... Volume 1 (strongly recommended): http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=534...p%3Bincl_cs%3D1 Volume 2 (less strongly recommended, but very enjoyable nevertheless): http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=kk6...p%3Bincl_cs%3D1

Well, no, not exactly. I mean, not all were reissues of two complete LP's (nor was all of the material previously unreleased, but I know you didn't say that... just pointing it out). The Stanley Turrentine was not entirely comprised of previously unreleased material. The hard-to-get material I referred to (with Pearson arranging) was in fact previously unissued (and most has not been reissued since on LP or CD). The rest of the tracks on that twofer came from previously issued BN LP's ("Hustlin", "A Chip Off The Old Block", "The Look Of Love", and "Always Something There") and a few tracks were also issued on "New Time Shuffle". Similarly, I remember the Dexter Gordon twofer in the same series being a compilation of tracks from different sessions, most of which I believe had been released previously. Jim, you're talking about the very first series of the 2-fers, the "dotty" ones. That was just one set of releases. TTK's talking about the later "paper bag" series of 2-fers. There was a Turrnentine set in that series (although it had a glossy cover) - Jubilee Shouts, I believe it was called.

Yes. Back in the day I'd picked up a number of twofers in the tan with orange type series; and orange/brown with top green banner series. (For all I know, this may have been the same series with a packaging change). Anyway, a number of these twofers were comrpised of 2 unreleased albums. The McCoy Tyner and Stanley Turrentine sets come to mind. Being that each set had 2 albums, but one title, I'm assuming that, say, the McCoy Tyner albums weren't subsequently released on CD as "Cosmos Vo. 1" and "Cosmos Vol. 2." And I know there are a lot of Blue Note experts around here who could answer the question in much less time than it would take me to enter each TRACK title into Google (being that I couldn't guess the CD titles). Hence my original question... The McLean sessions have been noted above. I can get back with you on some of the others if somebody doesn't beat me to it.