JSngry

I'd hazard a guess that staying local for so long, and then going from that right into a leader's role (and always being on the road as such) gave him little opportunity and/or inclination to do a lot of sideman sessions.

Same. Signed, The Silver-Tongued Devil

Not much to go on, but for 2), I'd speculate on Jimmy smith's "Walk On The Wild Side".

Don Byas is hugely important to the evolution of jazz tenor. "Convetional wisdom" has it that his early expatriation led to an underestimation of both his abilities and his contribution. My favorite single recording of his is the "Stardust" done at Minton's, found on the Esoteric side, the one w/Charlie Christian (but not on that cut). Perfect, that's what it is. Absolutely perfect.

Yeah, I know about that (and some other stuff too). I should say that the public Max Roach is a hero of mine.

Seriously, I remember it as being more of an "urban" thing. I grew up in a small town. We didn't even HAVE elevators. There were a few smaller "cities" (between 30-50 K population) that had muti-storied buildings with elevators, and the REALLY fancy ones had music in the elevators. You went into someplace like Dallas, and most of the office building and department stores had it.

Yes. Especially on trips lasting more than an hour.

I don't know, but it gathered dust in a local Half Price for about 5 years before I got really hip to Vick. Then, when I went for it, it was gone. STOOOOOOPID!

Death? That's an easy, but, IMO, not convincing explanation. John Hammond (who admitted to "discovering" Christian after Mary Lou Williams pointed him out), often spoke of having recognized his "genius" immediately. Well, John also had the power to do something about it, besides placing Christian with his brother-in-law. Why didn't he? Why did he not give Charlie Christian sessions of his own? I once asked him about this and he hemmed and hawed before giving me some lame explanation that had to do with the difficulty of interesting a record company in an unknown artist. That, of course, was a lot of BS. Christian was o the NY scene for some two years, which would have given John (or someone else) ample time to recognize his uniqueness and give him the prominent role his artistry deserved. That's an equally easy explanation. And a helluva lot more convincing!

Well, if there's only one man (and apparently there is, since Boney is THE man), wellsir, that leaves me with only one question... Who's the woman?

Sorry, but those eyes have a "do not disturb" look to them. Old folks get that way when they're in the process of checking out. I've seen it more than once... I'm a big believer that the eyes are indeed the window to the soul. Literally. But whatever. Max has been a huge hero of mine for many, many years, and it hurts me to see him like that. Then again, whatcha gonna do 'bout death, huh?

Something about the look in his eyes...

Death?

Brian Eno's not yet composed music for elevators?

A Club Supreme..... A Club Supreme..... A Club Supreme..... More like A Chicken Supreme!

Kenan Thompson is a comedic talent to keep an eye on, and has been ever since his days on Nickolodeon's "All That". His partner from that show (and for a while afterwards), Kel Mitchell is equally gifted. Wonder what he's up to these days?

I've heard "Freddie Freeloader" in a Kroger & Sonny Rollins w/Jim Hall in a Jack In The Box, but never more than once apiece.

90 minutes? That's enough time for me to eat it, take a nap, and wake up refreshed to see you finish yours! BRING IT ON, Cabesa de Aguacate!

An interesting album, to be sure. The participations of Gil Goldstein & Peter Levin gives it a strong late-period Gil Evans flavor, which makes for an interesting intersection w/Wayne's contributions. Arrangements by Lennie White & Goldstein Think about it - in one meeeting, you get a combination, in one form or another, of several of the major compositional strains of the electric jazz movement ("fusion" seems wholly inadequate and/or inappropriate) coming together. Some of it is ultimately a little lightweight, but there's some very intersting things going on as well. The arrangements were by Lennie White & Goldstein; think of how the particpation of Marcus Miller, then farily fresh from his work w/Miles, might have bumped the potential for "summitry" up another notch or two. Glad to see that this is coming back out again. Don't think it was real "high profile" the first time around. If there was a buzz, I missed it. Not that it's necessarily "great", but I do think that has a lot of interest in terms of displaying some directions for composing/arranging for electric jazz, showing as it does that the pyrotechnics and hyperactivity that became the albatross around the neck of "fusion" was indeed only one side of the electrical coin.

Try making it w/cream cheese mixed in. I learned that trick from some of the locals when I lived in Albuquerque. Deadly, but delicious.

I've got it on Amiga, which seems to be a bootleg, but it does have the original cover.

Yeah, it kept Ed Blackwell alive longer than he would have lived otherwise.

Very late 70s or very early 80s, when Max had signed a distribution deal w/Bruce Lundvall's Columbia.

Well, yeah, exactly. Amazing, really, how people you might know, or work with, or live next door to, or, as with my daughter, share a house with, can lead lives so totally removed from each other's and still function as a society. I mean, if somebody offered to resurface MY face, I'd take it personal. Yet, there's thousands of people on the phone lines to get it one to them. And if some of them were to hear Jimmy Smith and Tina Brooks come on the alarm radio, they'd probably think they were being attacked or something. Life. What a trip it is.

There's a Valerie Wilmer photo of a looking-about-twice-as-old-and-broke-down-as-he-already-was Don Byas weakly grinning and holding up a shot glass that's pretty arresting.