JSngry

I like the word "exorcism". Started listening to this one when I was 17 and had a lot of demons. As I got older,I accquired more demons, and this album always helped. Now that most of the demons are tamed, it remains an old and trusted friend who's shared things that most of my musical friends haven't. Or, more to the point, couldn't. Comparisons are inevitable, but ultimately useless, because this music differs in intent & in execution from any other Mingus work, including his other big-band work. Very little here in the way of explicit, fully composed themes, just a little sumphin-sumphin to get the vibe in place, and then it all comes tumblin' down, as if in the midnight hour. The closest thing conceptually would be "Folk Forms No. 1", but that one is a train to a totally different town.... The amazing thing to me (although maybe it shouldn't be), is the amount of splicing in this album, and that Mariano's solo interludes were recorded seperately, far from the maddening cloud of the rest of the session. Although you can hear the studio constructionism of the whole thing (especially after you know it well), there's a constant flow of emotion across it all that could just as easily come from a non-stop live performance. Technically, that's the mark of a good editor/producer, but spiritually, that tells me that everybody was in a zone on this project and that with skillful enough chops, it could have been spliced together one note at a time & it would still have the same vibe.

Sorry, but Patrick Roques usally does it a lot better, imo. Those King covers lack the unified design of the real deals, especially in the colors. Sorta seems like a rock band doing a Duke Ellington song, or something like that. Personal preference/taste, however, is all it is. But I still maintain that althought the full covers of the LT series were "quaint", no doubt due to budget constraints, the actual photos used were usually very good, appropriate, and, often enough, provocative. But maybe you had to be there.

Is there a difference between "particle board" & OSB, or is OSB just the preferred term in the industry?

There's different grades of particle board, determined by how compressed it is. The good stuff will hold up, not as long as high quality lumber, but at least as long as lower grade. Veneer is important to. You put a cheap, thin veneer on top of particle board, and you're wwasting money. But a good veneer on top of good quality particle board is nothing to sneeze at, and it won't be "budget priced" either. I've not bought from IKEA, but I have bought both solid wood & quality particle board/wood veneer furniture. If you're looking for something to last for generations, go for the solid wood (but it better bee good wood well constructed). But if you just want something functional that'll easily last for 15-20 years, then the other way is more than good. The way a lot of people move & redecorate, it's probably best to hold off on the "heirloom" quality stuff until you know you're good & settled. And truthfully, quality particle board/veneer is going to last you longer and better than lower grade solid wood with half-ass construction. I got off the solid wood kick a long time ago after seeing stuff fall apart due to flimsy construction techniques and/or cheap wood. Doesn't matter how good the wood is if it ain't built right, and vice-versa. Particle board is a lot like plywood (or as it's know in it's better incarnations, "pressed wood"). There's been so many low budget uses of it (with low budget results) that it's gotten a reputation for being an intrinsically cheap medium. It's easy to overlook the fact that both products come in all grades (and price ranges). A smart consumer can get some pretty good furniture w/o having to pay exhorbatant prices.

I thought they used high quality particle board, which when coupled with a high-quality wood veneer makes for some damn solid furniture at an affordable price.

I'm a fan of the LT covers. They scream low-budget cool. Some of those photos are really appropriate. Most are, actually. Dance With Death is a favorite, as is Thinking Of Home. The King covers, however, look kinda cheap to me.

Mitchell Ayres Little Jack Little Big Tiny Little

King Karol Carole King El Rey del Mambo

I was thinking Van Dyke Parks, but that works too.

The Brotherhood of Breath Whitney Houston Betty Everett

What the france?

Not that I've read.

Miss Barbara Stanwick Miss Toni Fisher Frank Thomas

Hey - Charlie Rouse played with Monk. Gotta respect that.

They'd have to find out about it first...

See?

Get Burnt Weenie Sandwich, maybe Weasels Ripped My Flesh + the two Filmore albums w/Flo & Eddie, the video of 200 Motels + the documentary of the making of it, and then quit while you're ahead. I realize that mine will not be a popular opinion.

He was a true jazz connoisseur and host of "Jazz at Lincoln Center" which can be heard on many NPR and other affiliates. The man knew the history of the music inside and out. And that's the source of my comment. Nobody who really knew the music inside and out would tolerate reading the simplistic, insipid, and quite often perilously close to wrong drivel that he read. The narration script for the Von/Griff show was damn near insulting. But I don't hold that against him, even if he wrote it himself (and I don't know that he did. I hope he didn't...). Not saying that he wasn't a fan, or even that he wasn't even a somewhat knowledgeable fan. Just that my respect & admiration for him was always based on his journalism (although I've long wondered what he might have wanted to bring to the table that the mainstream American media couldn't handle. I think there was more to him than what we got to see on Caucasian-centric Broadcasting Syndrome), not his enthusiasms in music and the displays thereof.

What's your gig these days? You've been talking like a man with some disposable income!

I'd tell you how she started smoking when she was 14, but I'm afraid you'd have a Nica-teen fit.

Hm. That is a fundamental divide that I had never really put my finger on. Kind of like: "There are two types of people in the world..." It works in this example, actually. I think you might have nailed something that I had never boiled down. There are two types of trapset players. Well, yeah, and I think that's what Whitney Balliet meant with his ill-informed comment that Max didn't swing. Max swings like a mofo, but his is not a dance swing, although you can certainly dance to it. It's just that Maxhas always been more about the focused purposeful task-driven determination of the march than he has the recreational ritualistic result-driven relaxation of the dance. And even that doesn't fully get to the crux of the matter, but you already know what I meant anyway, so hey.

It's sexier, but I don't know that it's more functional. Fine for trickin' but once you've become a regular john like us, it's a little unnecessary.

Doubt that NBC would have a kinescope, but I'm wondering what holdings are lying around Allen's estate. Pretty sure he collected at least some of his old work, and there might be some jazz treasures there that nobody's bothered to look for. Somebody oughta get in touch w/Jayne Meadows before something maybe goes horribly wrong.

Spent about four hours last night letting this one repeat, and it got better every time. Cromer's way with a song is pretty damn convincing, and pretty damn musical. The cat is (was?) inside the songs in the way that only gthe best singers are. He understands how melodic contours need to be shaped in conjunction with harmonic and lyrical changes in order to make a pop song into a meaningful musical and emotional experience (and further listening revealed that chick's voicings and voice leadings set him up perfectly). The cat just knew how the shit needed to go. Repeatedly I wanted to shout out SING IT MOTHERFUCKER! but I was at work, so.... Anyway, I've become convinced that no matter how obscure he was, and no matter how deeply indebted to Eckstine he was, that Austin Cromer was one helluva singer. Mike, you got yourself a steal of a deal! Now, speaking of nifty little reissues for the deep connoisseur that'll never happen but should, how's that Earl Coleman Love Songs side on Atlantic? Put that together with the Cromer and you might have something, Billy Taylor or not... Did Dorn produce this one too? It's got "I Wish I Knew", as does the Cromer side, and as also does another Dorn-produced side, Jimmy Scott's The Source. Say what you will about Dorn, if he picked/suggested the songs for his singer's dates, his taste in material was pretty damn good.

Fear not. Mike Wallace is only 175 and just reaching middle age... Seriously, I don't know how "hip" Bradley really was musically, but as a journalist, he always gave off a good vibe and seemed to neither knowingly tolerate nor tell any lies. He will be missed.