JSngry

Mostly, yeah. Although there is an album he did with, get ready for this, 101 Strings that is pretty damn dark, believe it or not. It's one big silent scream, that one is. The thing about Riddle is that sure, there's a lot of fluff there. But ther's also a lot of "tranquilized screaming" going on, particularly in his voicings and reharminizations. Check out the second A-section of Sinatra's "Night & Day" for a particularly pungent (and blatant) example of the latter. And there's a chord he uses on Ella's "The Way You Look Tonight" that is just so out that it's hard to construe it as anything other than a colossal FUCK YOU directed at nobody in particular. And, of course, there's the entirety of Only the Lonely which is about as dark and brooding as mainstream white people of that time (or almost anytime, really) were/are able to get, and is where/what Scott Walker picked up on, I think, that one and Rosemary Clooney's Love. But even in his "lesser" work, Riddle usually found a way to put some little something in his charts that either mocked the lightness that he was helping to sell or else outright called it a lie. It's very much a critique "from within", and if there's an underlying element of acquiescent impotence to it all, hey, that just adds to the poigniancy for me. Because the tragedy of the "American Dream" as sold in its commercial form isn't that it's hollow, empty, and based entirely on consumption/consumerism, it's that in spite of all that emptiness, once you're in, the only real way out is to go all the way out, and that no matter how uncomfortable it ends up making a lot of people, the perceived results of escape are even more uncomfortable than staying in. So a lot of talented people stay in. The real losers are the ones who go ahead and die inside. Cats like Riddle, who choose to remain trapped but still go about the business of letting their desperation be known, albeit in relatively oblique ways, fascinate me. Because there's still a struggle going on, even if it is a struggle where the final outcome is a forgone conclusion. If you never got in, as it appears that Tatro hadn't at the time of this recording, then noting/mocking/whatever the emptiness of it all is relatively easy and, as is the case for me with much of Frank Zappa's work, runs the risk of combining angst with a certain level of envy. That's not a combination that usually works all that well for me. The combination of keen insight told with a primarily mocking attitude is undercut by the sense that those guys really "want in" at some level. Make up you mind one way or the other, live with the consequences, and "take it like a man". A silent scream hits me a lot harder than does a silent whine, even if the scream is one which we know is not going to make one bit of difference to the final outcome. I just don't hear that silent scream in Tatro's writing as presented on this album. Not quite a whine either, but definitely not a scream. Riddle, otoh, was all the way in and knew there was palatable no way out for him. If Tatro was writing "about" Faust, Riddle was Faust. Graettinger, otoh, was the hopelessly guileless head case of a relative you take in for a little while out of sympathy and/or fascination who has neither the skills or the inclination to be less than totally honest about what they see going on in your house. There's a reason why mental institutions are full of people put there by their relatives...

Who did the arrangements?

Hey, it's later than you think. When will we see Pepsi House?

Doug Hammond Doug Sahm People Who Play Dig Dug

IMO, 2-liters are best consumed at once (preferably by a group or at a belching contest), or not at all. Those things never do work out otherwise. (( cents on sale? Hey, great price. But then you're stuck with some flat, nasty shit before too long and then how good of a deal was it? Not very, that's how good it was.

I got the Teo Macero thing and dug it. I'd only really heard Teo play at length (from this period) w/Mingus, and this is like that, only "looser". He's a very "studied" player, but his lines are always interesting, not a lot of BS in there. Not unlike Warne in some regards, but Warne was a whole 'nother thing entirely... Anyways, it's a rewarding listen. Recommended.

tx has indeed listened to Scott Walker and likes him quite a lot, although not to the degree his more fervent followers do. But tx does know what yer talkin' about and agrees.

The cell phone is a great invention. Too bad that a lot of the people who use it aren't.

My sister loves that band. Please post her cell number for interested parties. Not after the last boyfriend. Drama, eh? Not much fond of the drama myself...

Lots of code words there, maybe, but the bottom line is this - it wouldn't have mattered if he had joined them in their "outside stuff". It still would've been what jazz tenor was supposed to be all about, just because it was Dewey, and Dewey was what jazz tenor is all about, supposedly or otherwise. We were blessed by his presence on this planet, and we will be lessened by his absence.

Those who like Jeanne Lee might want to check this out. I'm not saying she's "the next Jeanne Lee" or that she's "the heir to Jeanne Lee" or any bullshit like that, but she is working in a vein that will not be uncomfortable for those who were fans of Jeanne Lee. 3 saxes, bass, and the occasional "vocal instrumentalist". Two standards, a few originals, and one improv. Endorsed by Bernard Stollman, fwiw. Jeanne Lee was a giant. Devorah Day is an adventurous young talent. Where she goes from here remains to be seen. But I'm willing to give a listen. This is good stuff. http://www.abatonbookcompany.us/devorahday.html And hey - she might or might not be a flake: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=511 But she sure can sing.

This is what I get.

What, no votes for the Sybian?

Alfred Apaka Neil Sedaka Mother Faka

Pure, joyous energy of the moment coupled with high-caliber musicianship and an unfettered sense of purpose. Can't go wrong with that combination.

Vernon & Irene Castle James Reese Europe Reese & The Smooth Ones

The world is one beautiful spirit poorer.

Fat Albert Rerun Larry Mondello

Here's a Reid Miles "crowd" (collage is more like it, I suppose) photo that made the cover of Time.

http://www.expectingrain.com/dok/who/m/milesreid.html

YMO YMCA YWCA

Ok, I won't.

He receives credit for photography. Bob Cato is listes as "design consultant". I met a commercial photographer about 20 years ago, and I asked him if he had ever heard of Reid Miles. Of course he had, but he was completely unaware of the BN work. When I showed him some prime examples, he was amazed that it was Miles' work. Apparently, Reid Miles went on to great renown in the commercial photography industry for his "crowd scene" work, of which this cover is but one example. Who knew?

The Jackson In Your House The Jackson 5 (who had a house in Gary, Indiana) The Chicago 7 (not too far from Gary, Indiana)

Bob Dylan & The Band Movin' & Groovin' it ain't...