JSngry

Tatu Pele Judie Carne

Marlon Brando Maria Schneider Bernardo Bertolucci

Did Ra do just the one spot? I can't remember...

Just had a listen to Cannonball's Accent On Africa, a 1968 Capitol side that Axlerod produced and arranged. Definitely more of an "Axelrod Project" than a Cannonball one, which goes to Chuck's poiints. Other than a few moments here and there that show, as per another thread, the ongoing Cannonball digesting of Coltrane, he sounds like a guest on his own album. Still, it's a musically technically interesting album. Axelrod paints in broad strokes that are bright but never florescent (his writing in the big band passages - assuming that it is his writng and is not ghosted - suggests Kenton without at all recommending him. a pretty nifty trick in and of itself) and there's a layering of textures and dynamics in the mix that is definitely the work of somebody with both a vision and the chops to pull it off. Maybe not my cup of tea from a personal standpoint, but I gotta respect it nevertheless. It's "Technicolor" yet controlled, not at all an easy a combination to pull off. The "studio as an instrument" approach to making albums applied to jazz. Not sure what, if anything, jazz gets out of the deal musically, but like I said, the technical interest (in terms of the production/recording/assembly process) alone is something I can't deny. It's definitely "a commercial" approach but not at all "lowest common denominator" musically. Too many ingredients! Not at all familiar with his work as a leader, but if it's mostly productions like this one, I can definitely see the attraction, as well as why this online reviewer of Stan Kenton's Hair album referred to that album's arranger Ralph Carmichael as "the Christian Axelrod".

Dewars. It was a "Dewars Profile". Braxton on Arista, Sun Ra & Ornette on SNL, Threadgill pimping Dewars, yeah. Those were the days.

I'm guessing that they're referring to the conscious inclusion of the entire continuum as equivalid grounds for inclusion and exploration instead of just playing in one basic "style".

K.D. Lang Jim Lang Bob Eubanks

Brian Wilson has indeed come back, but he's undeniably suffered permanent brain/neurological damage from all the blow and relies on a rather strong and devoted support system to function in the public arena. I'm heartened that he does, but let's face it, left on his own, the guy would have have difficulty. Beleive me, I love, truly love, Sly. He was, at his peak, one of the true geniuses of Popular Music, but unless he's got such an elaborate support system as does Wilson, I'm not particularly optimistic about any comeback. Cocaine, as Rick James so aptly put it, is a hell of a drug...

Yeah, maybe not the right forum, but definitely the right board! What's the deal with Sam Brown anyway? I've been trying to "get a handle" on him forover 30 years and still haven't been able to. Was he a jazzer who couldn't make up his mind? No disrespect, great player on a lot of classic sides, but I've yet to get a real sense of who he was, if you know what I mean. We can start another thread about this if you like. Just glad to hear that Eddie Diehl is alive and playing!

I think that MYH documents this type of organ jazz in a more purely "social" function than does Mazambique, which seems to have been performed in front of an audience with a little bit more "jazz saviness". Although, maybe not. Who knows what else the band played on that gig that didn't get recorded? Nevertheless, comparing the two is apples and, if not exactly oranges, then pears. Different functionalities at play, and the music shifts accordingly. Both are prime examples of what they represent, imo. I'd not go so far as to call Drives terrible, but I was underwhelmed on first hearing and remain so today. What's funny is that when I first started reading down beat (it was all lowercase then...), they were offering it as a premium for subscibing, quoting their 4.5, possibly even 5, star review of the side. I didn't get it (got Jimmy Heath's The Gap Sealer instead), but kept it in mind as something to look for. When I finally found somebody who had it, and I finally got to hear it, I was all like "BFD", ya' know?

http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/20...sa_records.html

Meditate on it.

I'd not overlook the Moacir Santos.

Rain Pryor Wally Post Chris Doering

We'll see...

Isadora Duncan Marie Antoinette Wayne Shorter

Mrs. Olson Josephine Madge

Well, no disrespect to the man personally, he came through Dallas a bit in the 70s for some reason (maybe when Ella was working the Fairmont, I don't know, I didn't have the money for that scene anyway) and frequently sat in with Marchel Ivery at The Recovery Room and he's a nice guy and all that, but.... And speaking of Marchel and the Bobby Durham 2 & 4 thing, I heard a little while back that a young drummer who was sitting in with Marchel starte doing that on something up, "Dahoud", I think, and that Marchel stopped playing, turned around, and said, "You're stabbing me in the back, man!" Right there in front of everybody! I guess that since Bobby Durham was a "peer", Marchel never did that to him. But the sins of the father were definitely visited upon the son!

Ok, I don't really "hate" Butch Miles, I just think of him as Buddy Rich wthout the soul and Sonny Payne without the organic swing. Other than that, beautiful player... And Bobby Durham I only really hate when he does that 2 & 4 snare rim thing on uptempo tunes. Which is more often than not... But Bob Buhl...

I still say that a big factor in Miles' being successful was that he expected to be successful, and "acted" accordingly. He had this instilled in him from the day he was born, and the lesson took. The original question, why was Miles so successful, is as much a "psychology of business" question as it is anything else, and Miles was a helluva businessman. No way around that. His music had "mass appeal" (relatively speaking) simply because he himself saw no reason for it not to. He understood the importance of image and how it intertwined with product (as, btw, did Mingus, who is more of a "household name" that most jazz musicians) and worked it, and not in a disingenuous way. The image was essentially a reflection of the man - that of somebody who knew he was right and dared you not to agree. You can market the hell out of shit like that. That's not an intrinsically bad thing either. After all, what is "charisma" other than, at root, exactly such an attitude? The thing is - can you back up such an attitude with the goods to justify it, and therefore sustain it? Miles obviously could, and the factors that Lon so accurately described are how he did it. But the goods wouldn't get too far out the gate without the attitude. It goes beyond gimmickry and manipulation, it goes to the crux of the matter - how do you see yourself in relation to the rest of the world, and what are you going to do to see to it that you achieve what you see as your "rightful place" therein? What you're going to have to do to make it to the level that Miles did is A) refuse to settle fo being put in a niche, personally and professionally; B) not run away from or otherwise be intimidated by "the man", but rather shake hands with him in a mutually benefical deal that negates neither sides' essential interests; C) once you make the deal, never back down from your essential sense of entitlement to the rewards thereof, nor lose the realization that you're entitled to the rewards only if you continue to deliver the/your goods at the highest possible level(which in Miles' case, I believe translated as delivering continuosuly relevant creative music -not pap - that spoke to more than a niche audience - again, see Lon's comments) . That's a very "upwardly mobile middle class" attitude/strategy, but hell, that's who Miles was. His unique position as an African-American Creative Genius gave him a sense of spirit and depth of perspective that most upwardly mobile middle class people don't have, but that's the gist of it as I see it. He understood how this particular game was played, and the game he understood was not working around or for "the man", but with him, each to get what they want, even if each had little use for the other once their respective monies were in their respective banks. Most "jazz musicians" can't/won't/don't operate from this perspective, and for a variety of reasons, some of them honorable, some of them just plain ol' paranoid and/or self-destructive. But Miles was not one of them, and that's ultimately why Miles was so successful.

Bob Buhl.

Goddard Lieberson.