JSngry

Gene!

I'd take it as the matter had already been resolved...

Well, yeah, she's beautiful. Very beautiful in fact. But her music is great, period. She could look like Sophie Tucker and I'd still be gushing about it. Look - I've been around, personally and professionally, more than a few beautiful female musicians. Some had skills and looks, and some just had looks. but none of them have had the skills that Monday Michiru has. The closet would be Pat Peterson, who never really decided to go where she could have gone if she had really wanted to go there). If all That Monday Michiru had was good looks and "decent" skills, I'd be saying, "hey, this is some really cool pop music" and let it go at that. But it's more than that. There's some songwriting skills here that are pretty damn deep. And some producition skills to go with it. Teena Marie kinda comes to mind, but Monday's a helluva lot more developed (musically & spiritually) than Teena Marie ever was. Teena Marie never got past the "super hip white funk chick" thing. Monday's into the fuckin' world, man, and she's not afraid of music - any kind of music. Yeah, she's a stunningly beautiful woman. But she's also a stunningly beautiful artist. I'm old enough to know the difference.

Oooooooooohhhhh.... Could we consider the possibility that the pulse he fucks with (sorry, my * key's not working ) is entirely internal, and that the rhythm section is (mostly) just there to provide "context" for the listener? I think we could!

Yeah, Sipiagin definitely seems like an arranger to be reckoned with. I'd love to hear him do some more arrangements for some other projects, maybe even other singers. But I don't know of too many singers who could hang with his charts. He makes some significant contributions to Routes as well, as both player and arranger. He and Monday make a helluva team. Between her songs (never mind the production & arrangements, they're great songs, period) and his arrangements (never missed when they're not there, but when they are, they stand out immediately, in the best way), this is a team that is making some significant music. But ultimately, it's Monday's show. The woman has skills, if you know what I mean, and she's got a spirit. She's indeed "reminiscent" of a lot ot things, but I really dig how she ultimately adds her own twists and upgrades and ends up sounding not at all "retro". Whatever she starts with, she ends up turning it into her own. Case in point - 1994's Maiden Japan, from her club/acid-jazz/whateveryou callit days. Probably more electronic/techno/etc than most here would feel comfortable with, but it's still an incredibly musical album. This ain't no "diva" being propped up by artifice and cast as a idealized "object", this is a woman with something serious to say saying it in her own way and on her own terms. Ain't no bullshit going on here. America, wake the hell up!

This one's been discussed before, but let me say again that afaic, it's essentially a recording of Sonny practicing. What you get or don't get out of it will probably depend on whether or not you'd like to hear that. Not for everybody (to put it mildly), but to dismiss it out of hand as worthless or some such is wrong.

Just got into Optimista, and if there's been a more purely delirious album of Brazillian/Latin/Jazz-Pop made in the last 20 or so years, I've yet to hear it. Monday Michiru is rocking my world.

As if eating the soul wasn't already enough...

Gorgeous George Blue Serge El DeBarge

Like him a lot. Flayva.

Fred Flintsone Barney Rubble George Slate

I guess the lesson is that there's a difference between style and substance, and that the latter can turn up damn near anywhere if you're not blinded by considerations of the former.

Nah, you're just a lot younger than I am. You kids go for that kinda thing.

No doubt. Damn straight. Especially from 1940... Not so sure that that's not Prez' working band of the time, or at least parts of it.

I'm thinkng that that "still-anonymous Philadelphia musician" might be Jimmy Oliver? Hey - you want to talk about "extended techniques" on the saxophone, specifically the use of alternate (aka "false") fingerings to either color the tone or make a harmonic, you go back to Lester Young and then, to the best of my knowledge, stop. Lester was the source of the honkers as well as the "Brothers".

Don't have it, but I've heard it more than a few times and I like it just fine.

Waymon Reed Fred Wesley Wayne Henderson

Sal Nistico was a player.

Sandler & Young Jones-Smith, Inc. The Groove Merchant

All we can do is let people know. This place is as good as any.

Love at first sight here too. Literally. I was playing with a "show band" in Albuquerque, December 1980. Already had a girl in that port, but when LTB came up to me out of the blue at the end of the night and invited me back to her place, there was a look in her eyes that told me right then and there (and I do mean instantly) "no more calls please, we have a winner", that this was it. It was, and it still is.

I do. If you already have some solo Hill I don't suggest this is a priority. Put it this way - you'll know if you need to have this. That said, I see it goes for reasonable prices. I'd caution against a sealed copy, as the rice paper inner sleeve which these AH LPs came in has a tendency to stick to the LP if stored under pressure. But if you're into "collecting" (and we all are to some extent or the other), don't get a used copy unless it's got the booklet with it. Nothing really "essential", but it does have two lead sheets and a nice interview.

Somewhere in the world today, there's a copy of this album that somebody bought from the Longview, Tx Treasure City cutout bins ca. 1972. Sorry to say, but it wasn't me. It was going to be, but somebody beat me to it. I've yet to hear it, but I think I know exactly what you mean, and I thank you for the respect you've shown me.

Remember The Last Poets? Jayne Cortez? Gil Scott-Heron? Well, that spirit of no-nonsense, no-holds barred social commentary that is as intellegent as it is "militant" is alive and quite well today with Philadelphian Ursula Rucker. Unlike those artists, though, Rucker delivers her messages with a decidedly understated delivery, a sexy whisper actually, over electronica/acid-jazz backgrounds that are deserving of attention in and of themselves. She's very much the proverbial "iron fist in a velvet glove". Plus, unlike the aforementioned, I never get the impression that Rucker would "hate" me, a middle-aged white male, upon first meeting. She definitely hates what my "type" has done and is doing now, but she seems to be hip enough to recognize that a lot of "us" hate what "we" are doing just as much as she does. I like to think of this as The New Militancy and I'm all for it. Rucker has three CDs out on the German K7 label. All are inprint and available for reasonable prices. All three are highly recommended, but for the sheer brillaince of the musical backings, I'd suggest starting with Silver or Lead. People who dimiss all "electronica", "acid jazz", "techno", or whatever as musically uninteresting repetitive machine music need to hear this. There are more than a few passages that are breathtakingly beautiful, truly startling, and supremely musical. This is true of all three of her albums, but Silver or Lead is above-and-beyond. For Rucker's poetry, though, all three are strong outings. The languance is blunt, often graphic, and the messages pull no punches, but never is there any sense of it being "over the top". The shit she talks about is totally real, and so is her take on it. You either gotta deal with it or ignore it. Ain't no in-between. And tell you what - "Untitled Flow" (from Silver or Lead) deals with the same issues as the recent Kenny Drew Jr. "what's wrong with Black Music today" screed with what is, afaic, 1000% (at least) more credibility. Over the last year or so, most (not all, but most) of the truly uplifting new music I've heard has been made under the leadership of women - Jill Scott, Monday Michiru, Geri Allen (that Zodiac Suite thing is DEEP), Carla Bley (ditto for the last LMO album) and now, Ursula Rucker. We live in a time of "masculinity" gone wrong in so many ways (and not just the convinient "White Male" way - 50 Cent & George W. BushCo both have a special place in hell reserved for them, to say nothing of the freaks running Iran and Al Queda and thelistgoeson...). Make of that what you will, but these women and the music they're making are, for me, key ingredients of the current "best hope" for the world to get back on track. The Dead Jazz Men are certainly worthy of our respect and love, but that stuff will only get you so far once you leave the house and the CD player behind. These women are doing it now. Ignore them if you choose, but don't say nobody ever told you about them.