JSngry

Way Out Willie Lance Rentzel Ray Wetzel

Geez, it's really a bitch for some of you guys to joyfully affirm life, ain't it...

Yeah, that download doesn't do too much for me either. Why that's the one being offered, I don't know. But there's a lot more to what she does than that one song...

I dunno, green usually works just fine...

Foster Grant Ray Ban Man Ray

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