JSngry

The Mudville Nine The Chicago Seven The Jive Five

Steve Miller Reggie Miller Mrs. Miller

That's a good observation. I mean, you can fly around on the instrument, guys like Rosolino, Watrous, & Ray Anderson have proved that, and I dig Anderson big lots, Rosolino quite a bit, & Watrous I respect. But yeah, you gotta work harder on the bone to do what's already hard. There's definitely other ways to approach the instrument, ways that are more "intrinsic" to the nature of the instrument, and overall, it's the cats who hit it that way that I tend to gravitate towards. Just like I tend to prefer bass player who play a bass like a bass rather than a like a guitar. It's all good, ya'know, but I do have my personal preferences. Sue me. The thing I've always dug about Grachan's playing and writing is the high degree of specificity, the total lack of superfulousness. And that's not equating "high-density" with "lack of specificity" either. It just means that when your playing and writing is as totally devoid of "filler" as Moncur's has been over the years, you damn well better be able to say exactly what you want to say. With a few exceptions (notably some things from a few years ago where it sounded like his chops were pretty much gone), that's what he's done, and the clarity of communication of vision that's resulted has been something that I very much appreciate. No ambiguity of intent, no foo-foo, no licks to kill time waiting for a real idea to pop up. In short, no "diversion" from the core expression. "Shortest distance between two points" and all that.

Jim Adler Brian Loncar Dr. Booth

Julia Duffy Duffy Jackson The Jackson In Your House

Love is strange.

1 - What was the documentary about Newark that he was shown in? 2 - Recollections about his tenure w/Ray Charles 3 - Frequency/other details of live gigs w/McLean 4 - His personal philosophy about composing 5 - Does he feel that "jazz in general" today is "about" the same thing(s) that it was in his younger days?

George Dickel George Gobel Jorge Ben

Tried (and failed) to stir up some interest in this one a while back: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...l=raymond+scott

Jimmy McGriff Jack McDuff Eugene McDaniels

http://www.dustygroove.com/jazzlp3.htm#39876

Cassius Clay Lew Alcindor Bobby Moore

The wildest Sharrock w/Mann is on the Hold On, I'm Coming side recorded at Newport/NY in 1972. That's one of the better Mann sides, period.

Same here. Besides, how many people named Grassella Oliphant could there be?

Mr. Clean The Ajax White Knight Josephine the Plumber

That's some BAAAAAAD shit! For that matter, check out Air's "The Jick" from Open Air Suit. But again, that too is a different kind of free and a different kind of funk, if you're splitting hairs, and I swear I'm not.

Robert McCollough on the live version of "Super Bad". After that, almost(?) everything else sounds like wishful thinking, including Jimmy Parker's noble effort on "Escape-Ism". Robert McCollough solo on that cut is the ne plus ultra of Free Funk. Case closed. "Blow me some TRANE, Brother!" Although, Roscoe's & Lester's work on Melvin Jackson's Funky Skull is/are the exception(s) that prove the rule. That's a different kind of free and a different kind of funk, but who's splitting hairs?

Spoonie G The Sequence Super Wolf

A wise decision!

Nikola Tesla Pepsi Auer Doris Day

Mike Sexton Bill Saxton Coleen Sixton

Try this instead: The original Blair's Death Sauce is my favorite hot sauce, bar none. For my pallate, it's the most perfect blending of heat and flavor on the market. There's apparently a market for what I think of as "stunt sauces", stuff that's hotter than almost anybody can handle, but hey - if it ain't got flavor, what good is it as anything other than a gimmick? But this original Blair's, man, it's perfect!

Kid Thomas Valentine Buddy Bolden Bob Belden

Geez, dude, didn't you just have one of these things last year?

No shame here either. If it was the birthday of a dead guy who I didn't think about every damn day of my my life (literally) and I needed a "special commeroration" to assuage my guilty conscience, then yeah, I'd feel guilty. But Duke, man, that cat is in there, if you know what I mean. EVERY day is "Ellington Day" in my life in some form or fashion, and not just when it comes to music. I'm not much for commemoration by commemoration. I am into commemoration by actualization, and if there's anybody who's actualized themself more into my core being than Ellington, they're going to be on a very short list.