JSngry

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.

Yes, but you're thinking of Barry Miles.

Kitty Carlisle Bud Collier Bill Cullen

Bobby Durham & Butch Miles.

And so is Freda Payne: http://www.beautyinmusic.com/artist_pages/freda_payne.htm

Hell, I saw 360 Degrees of Oprah, and that was too.

Y'all gotta realize that Miles came from success, was raised to expect nothing less, and once, he got (ahem) "clean", insisted on it. And got it. He had a business acumen that went beyond mere dollars and cents, and he wasted none of it. "Marketing"? Yeah, he was marketed. But don't think for one second that it was against his will or that he didn't give the marketeeers something to market. His "image" was cultivated as much, if not more, by himself as it was by anybody. Smart. Very smart. Besides being an incredibly gifted and unique artist, the cat was shrewd in the way that few "modern" jazz musicians have been smart. We're usually so caught up in our own subculture(s) that we can't even begin to think about anything resembling "mass appeal" as anything other than a fantasy or a one-shot deal. Miles, otoh, saw it as not just a distinct possibility, but as an entitlement (providing that he did the work to gt it), both for him as a person and as an artist. He was right, and he did what he saw would work to get all of it he could get on his terms. More power to him.

The phrase refers to any singer who woefully oversings their material. Sort of the the vocal equivalent of "all dressed up and nowhere to go". Sort of...

Perhaps not wrong, but definitely unfortunate: http://www.beautyinmusic.com/instument_pag...nst_sackbut.htm

Or right. Hell I don't know. Guess it all depends. http://www.beautyinmusic.com/index.htm

Carlo Ponti Jean-Luc Ponty Bonnie Pointer

I'll buy some sunglasses.

It was a CD-R with "professional" packaging. Original plans were for it to be a bare-bones "street-level" release - just a CD-R w/no packaging other than a paper sleeve with hand-written labelling a la some of Sun Ra's things. But that idea didn't last long.

Wow, thanks for the interest. I had no idea... Yeah, the website is pretty much useless these days, but that ain't my area of responsibility. Glad the rants are appreciated, though. Now to the task at hand... Welcome To The Party is still copiously available, thanks to an accidental overpressing by the manufacturer which they were nice enough to let us keep at no extra charge. We'll probably be bequeathing the inventory to our heirs... Live At The Meat House, however, was a truly small-run presing and is all but sold out. The decision as to repress or not is not my call, since I'm not the "money man" of the band. Someimes I hear that a second run will be made, sometimes that it won't. If y'all want to do the burn route on this one, I'd say no harm done if - and only if - you go ahead and get a legit copy if and when Lyles decides do a second pressing. I'll post here if and when that comes to pass. Just don't ask me to do the burning. $15.00 will get you a copy of Welcome To The Party. That'll include postage for domestic orders. Anything else, including foreign orders, and I'll dialogue with you to get you what you want/need. When orders were coming in somewhat regularly, I was able to ship once a week, usually on Saturday. Having been thrust somewhat unwittingly into the role of "band businessman" (everybody wants to sell CDs, but nobody seems to know how to make a damn package or find the freakin' Post Office, so I get to be the pimp...), that's the best I can do. Send me an e-mail @ musicaconcarne@yahoo.com if you want a copy of Party. For a variety of reasons, I've been very lax (and unmotivated) about checking communications lately. But if I know you're coming, I'll bake you a cake. And please, no PMs - as soon as I get some room in there, it fills right back up again. One of these days I'll can get around to emptying it out completely and starting over. But for now, just send e-mail, if you please. The last few years have been a bit, uh..."challenging" for Quartet Out, but like all things that are too ignunt to know when to die, we're still around, and the future actually looks....like it's there.

Bought this on LP back in the 70s, played it once and was not particularly enthralled. Not what I was looking for at the time. Files it away as a necessary part of an ongoing Blue Note Quest and let it go at that. Pulled it out on a whim several years later and was enthralled. Not much in the way of "creativity", but damn, the groove will just about kill you with goodness. Works for me. Still prefer Think, just because of the Lee/Fathead tandem, but oh well.

Art Blakesley Sonny Stitts Wayne Marsh

Wait until I find the ad hyping Larry Ridley's modeling chops...

Will there now be stickers?

And, to a lesser extent, Korea.

Bobby Thompson Ralph Branca Edward John Smith