JSngry

John Blair John Blake John Bubbles

Can't say that I heard "restrictions" as much as I did "restructurings" and/or "redistributions". Never heard him sound less than himself.

Good Thing Sweet Thing Wild Thing

What Cyrille brings to Barron's subtly tricky quirky originals is beautiful. For my overall money, the best drummer Cecil ever had, and that's saying a lot.

John Handy Handy Dan Mister Fix-It

Little Boy Blue Little Girl Blue Blue, who gives clues

I think it's also quite tongue-in-cheek.

I think you answered your own question!

Joe Raposo Kermit Ruffins Little Miss Muffet

What do nasty BMs have to do with board activity? Wait a sec, I can see a connection...

Hank Ketchum Hank the Cowdog Batgirl

Does he have any (embrochure) chops left?

Start diggin'. If you can free the Atlantic Trios, I'll wash your car and paint your house!

Now see, that's what I'm talking about, learning something new. I never knew that kazoos had reeds. Puts everything in a new perspective!

Haven't read it in a few years (or longer), but the reviews in Jazz Times seemed to be built around that principle. There was no such thing as a bad record, and we all know that's bullshit, especially when it's some middle-aged local songstress and/or lounge pianist trotting out another round of The Songs You've Come To Loathe, or A Man Who Has Practiced Other Peoples Music All His Life, of which there seems to be an endless supply of in these, the Last Days Of Jazz, when everybody who has nothing to say is finally getting a chance to say it. Personally, I think it's built around not pissing off potential advertisers. If you review an album that's not so good but paint a picture of it being "pleasant enough", especially if you include one phrase or sentence that can be extracted for an advertising blurb, you become "advertiser-friendly". Not that there's anything wrong with that per se, but that means your reviews are going to be, like my old man used to say, god bless him, as useless as tits on a boar hog. I believe I might have broken some rules with the above expression of personal perspective. Oh well, fuck it.

Heading down the home stretch... You'll laugh, you'll cry, not necessarily in that order. I'm end 'til the end.

The Basement Tapes!

Not sure that I see the need for including the mutilation. Do a good LP dub if you have to & digitalize it in. that can be done, can't it?

Yep.

On the later Impulses!, Pharoah seemed to be on autopilot sometimes/lots. But there's usually some good stuff going on without him, so... To that point, though, I've heard passing mention over the years that Pharoah went through a period of "disillusionment" in the mid-70s. Don't know whether it was personal, musical, spiritual, or what. But I can hear it in his own playing on those later Impulse! sides, and it might put the Theresa things in a better perspective. Anybody know about this?

Is there mutilated tape on "Russian Lullaby"?

Same here. My favorite of the bunch, actually. I've heard that The East had an unofficial "no white folks" policy. Not enforced, but vibed. Don't know it that's true or not, but geez, between this one & the Mtume Strata side, it sure seems like it was a good idea.

Am listening to this right now... the sound on this is GREAT! Some wonderful playing all around, and Monday's voice is captured nicely on this recording. After hearing some of her work on CD, I wondered how well she would sound live. Well, I got my answer... this is some damn fine stuff! I'll definitely be looking for her the next time she plays in Southern California. Cheers, Shane Downloading this now. I'm very eager to hear this since despite all the praise heaped on her I've yet to see/hear a lick of her recorded work. I got the gift from DanLon and was digging it all last night. It's great to hear how she lets her band loose. Not too many singers have the kind of ego (or lack of) to go that route. And the arrangements are all significantly different from those on the records. Again, much love for that. But.... You need to hear the records. That's where her brilliance really comes to the fore. She's on record many times admitting to an insecurity with pitch (and again - so much love for that, because I've never known a singer to cop to this quite common trait, much less as matter-of-factly as she does), and you'll hear it here, as well as some really great moments as well. Yet by here own admission: Read the entire interview here. It's refreshing to hear somebody be so honest about themself and not go all ego-tripping out. But I've never read anything by her that's otherwise, and in the few e-mail exchanges we've had, that same, for lack of a better term, righteous humility comes through. Such a beautiful spirit she has! Anyway, the point is that she's one of those artists for whom the studio is a genuine tool of expression. Now, some might cry "SHAM! If you can't do it as good live as you do it on the record, you're a fraud." Well, yeah, ok, whatever. But really, do we expect great playwrites to be great actors? Do we expect great authors to be dynamic public speakers? Do we expect great photographers to be great painters? Of course not. There's still a school of musical thought that resists the "studio as instrument" esthetic. Again, yeah, ok, whatever. Sure, it's a marvellous tool for polishing turds, but it's also a marvellous outlet for people with visions that can't be fully realized (if at all) otherwise. Monday's studio work (especially once she really began to hit her stride around the time of Delicious Poison, which, ironically, is a "live in the studio" affair) is about as deep as any pop music I've ever heard. the woman's vision is staggering in its combination of musical breadth, sophistication, and spiritual intuitiveness. If she needs the studio to get it all out, goddamit, give her the studio! Because with her, it's ultimately about the vision, and for my money, it's as beautiful a human vision as any I've encountered in quite a while.

Agreed. Didn't mean to put down musicians' opinions in any way. Thought that I was careful to do that, but I guess that I wasn't. Just wanted to point out that the two sides (or more) exist. No man, you're cool. I hear you, believe me. I've had more than a lifetime's worth of ears-glazing-over conversations w/players who can only hear the technique(s). ARRRGH! I feel sorry for those folks when I'm not plotting ways to stick my foot up their ass. I understand/dig craft, but it's a tool, not an end. And if you can't recognize that about the work of others, odds are you don't recognize it in yourself. Life is short. Play hard, but more importantly, play well.

Exactly. Anybody who's worked in a corporate environment eventually figures out that most policy/procedure manuals aren't written to get the job done right, but just to get it done. And that the people who religiously abide by such manuals aren't living to get right, but just to get (which begs the question - why such an unwillingness/fear/whatever to depend on somebody else to provide for your validation?). It's a living, I suppose, but it sure ain't a life, not in my book. Nothing personal, much love to all (sincerely) in spite of, but there it is.