JSngry

Please allow me, a by no means avid Rich fan, to recommend this big band side as a good starting (and perhaps finishing) point: Of all his PJ big band sides (and I've heard them all in-depth, since they were very much "in the air" when I first got into jazz as a high schooler), this one, overall, has the best charts, and most tasteful readings. Swings like a mofo on more than a few occasions, too. Good stuff, and I've even thought about rebuying it.

Bill Kenny J.C. Penney Jack Benny

Yeah, I forget who the singer was (Jeri Southern?), but Red heard a side of hers and brought the tunes to Miles. Or so the story goes. Hell, Red set the template for the "different backings for each soloist" thing that would really distinguish Miles' bands for the rest of his life. What the Second Quintet got into in this regard is a direct offshoot of the First Quintet.

I hear ya'. And it's on the uptempo stuff that the different nature/intent/procedure/whatever of the Columbia sessions shows. That shit is tight there!

I do have it.

Dodo Greene Dudu Pukwana Dee Dee Sharp

Big distinction between the two Prestige quintet sessions & the Columbias in terms of "intent". The Prestige sessions were "contractual obligations", ones where the band showed up & blew through a few sets worth of material. The Columbias were more "carefully" planned affairs.

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=14366

Yeah, there's times for me when Understanding feels to me like a duet record, so tightly entwined are Patton & Walker. Sax & organdrums. Amazing music. And Jim - I do have Jump. Have yet to find the other Ponder. Just a matter of time.

Somebody, maybe Dave Liebman, once told me that your best playing is nearly never as good as you think it is, and your worst is nearly never as bad. Which is simply a way of saying that you pretty much play how you play, all things considered, so relax and get on about doing it. Makes sense to me.

Funny you should use the word "difficult". I remember, back in my college days when I was just discovering Patton, thinking at first that he was a simplistic organist with a good groove. Then one night, it hit me - the individual components of what he was doing were relatively simple, but how they all fit together, not just on his instrument, but with the entire group, especially with the drummer, were actually pretty darn involved. Not obviously "intricate" necessarily, but in no way simplistic. There was a lot of thought going on, and more importantly, an overriding vision to how the the totality of the music was going to sound. The degree of specificity involved was (and remains) pretty amazing. That's the kind of music I really dig, regardless of "genre" - they type where everything that everybody plays is exactly what it needs to be to create a specific final result. No wasted motions or grandiose "gesturing". Just make a point that's as direct as it can possibly be. That's not a function of "style" or "technique" either, because I've heard highly specific music that is alos very "busy". What it is a function of is clarity of vision, and John Patton certainly had that in abundance. To that end, the Nilva side, where he hooked up with another master of specificity, Grachan Moncur III, was a match made in heaven!

I graduated high school in 1974. If any or all of this is true, things have done a complete 180 since then. But I'm not surprised, really. Playing video games non-stop and being hopelessly gadget-obsessed don't exactly prepare you for college...

Bobby Goldsboro Jiminy Crickett Arthur Godfrey

Yeah, I knew that. And his hair's really no problem. I was just satirizing the "confusion" felt in some circles when Keith Jarrett's "perceived ethnicity" changed from African-American to Caucasian. That was some funny shit, really. Who knew? Who cared?

"Footprints" was new at the time. Of course, it's since been reissued. And somebody who's in touch w/Alvin Queen tells me that he (Queen) is in no hurry to reissue Nilva LPs on CD. That's a bummer.

Garth Hudson Garth Brooks Garth Algar

Ok. The hair says, "Now that everybody knows that Keith Jarrett is white, it's my turn to confound the masses!" (if you weren't there back in the day, please don't be offended...)

Googness, I just noticed the byline on this story: Selmer, Tennessee. Looks like somebody was playing an UnBalanced Action.

You're preaching to the choir. So watch out for your wife, preacher.

Barney Fife is a hero.

Realizing that it's just a record is more than half the battle, I think. Of course, it might turn out to be more than just a record, but it probably won't if you think that it is.

Not at all a fan of the Waltz myself... The Child is better for me, but once every few years is about right. Myself, I find that the "expression" of wonder is one step removed from the real thing, and that's one step too many. Call me cynical.

Because it speaks for itself!