JSngry

A list without Samoas is no list at all...

Geez, I don't even know what an eightball is...

Ragin's got the best of both worlds - the harmonic fluidity and traditional instrumental command of an "inside" player, and the free-spirited explorativeness of a "free player. Not that the two qualities are mutually exclusive, far from it, but Ragin (and to a little lesser extent, Bakida Carroll) has both in spades, and puts it out there in a "niether/nor" manner that is as powerful as it is natural.

Not to belabor the "show" aspect of this album, but I suppose it's worth noting that Lester Koenig was a Hollywood screenwriter before he got blacklisted and started Contemporary. If nothing else, I think it could fairly be said that he brought a sensibility to recorded music that reflects a certain similarity with his previous craft, namely an awareness of scripted drama as opposed to spontaneous emoting, attention the the finer points of sensual detail, and the importance of gesture and nuance. Don't want to dwell too much on it, because I don't think that the "cinematic" aspect of WAY OUT WEST was in the forefront of everybody's/everybody's mind when they made it (if it was there at all...), but hey - the elements were there. And they didn't have to be captured like they were, nor put out like they were. Sometime things happen that you're not aware of while they're happening, and this might be one of them. Certainly the circumstances of the recording had a built-in drama - the man who at that moment was THE "man of the hour" in jazz was in L.A. at the peak of the "East Coast vs West Coast" controversy. This man, an admitted movie junkie as a kid, was probably getting a kick out the whole Hollywood thing. So three guys, to a man with East Coast roots, come into a studio after their gigs and make a classic record that's the epitome of cool, composed, and confident wit and intellegence (has Sonny ever played cooler and more composed on a record?), seemingly oblivious/indifferent to the "controversy" that the results would stir - tell me that's not the stuff of drama, a drama that is only heightened by its participants refusal to overtly submit to it. To stretch the point to or beyond the breaking point, but if Cary Grant had been a cutting-edge African-American jazz tenorist, he might have been Sonny Rollins on WAY OUT WEST. A stupid conjecture, to be sure, but think about it... I get a lot more out of this album than this analogy, but this is an angle that is really fun to explore, at least for me. Another way to look at it - only Sonny Rollins could have made this record, but only Lester Koenig could have made THIS Sonny Rollins record. I'll let it go now.

Not much time to pontificate (besides, I've done it at great length in similar threads ), but the word that comes to mind is "malleable". Not just his tone, but his time, his concepts of structure, damn near every element of his playing seemed to be going about being in multiple places simultaeously, shifting at will, and refusing to be any one thing long enough to become trapped; sometimes not being anywhere concrete and just existing as a shadow (another thing mentioned in other threads). Very metaphysical...

Do numbers go that high?

Before they had actual, tangible merchandise to sell/ship, they advertised and took orders (and money!). I bit on the Monk BN set, waited nervously for what seemed like an infinity while "production issues" were worked out, breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't been scammed when the package finally arrived, and went into a state of stunned ecstasy when I opened it up and saw/heard what was enclosed.

How often did Miles and Blakey share bills during the years in question?

The net benefit of my aforementioned cannabis-clouded encounter with this album was an appreciation for the programming of it. This is lost on the CD, where the alternate takes disrupth the original flow of the album (programmable out, out course), and not having to flip the record over. But listening to the album as a record reveals many aspects of what else makes a great record a great record besides great music and great recording. Programming matters immensely! Look at the symmetry of the record - on both sides, you start out with a cowboy song (with Shelly setting up a "western" ambiance both times), then a ballad, and then a "jazz original". In a sense, the same record on both sides. EXCEPT - the second side moves slower, tempo-wise, and even though not all the songs are longer, they seem longer because of the slower tempos. This creates a nice effect of the first side setting the ambiance, and the second side really drawing you into it and exploring it in greater detail. Note also how the endings of each song set up a perfect seque into the beginnings of the next, and how both sides end with an air of inevitable finality (the first side virtually screams "We'll be right back!" & the second is a nice quiet "Thanks for listening, see you next time, good night"). There's an arc from the beginning of each side to its conclusion, and not too many jazz albums provide that as pefectly as this one does. I don't know how much, if any, of the sequencing was Sonny's idea or how much was Koenig's, but it works, and it works magnificently. The notion of hearing/seeing this album as a series of visual "skits" no doubt seemed laughable to some of you (if you even thought that I was serious, and not just goofing), but I tell you - the brilliant (and MUSICAL) symmetrical sequencing, the sparse instrumental texture, and the superb recording of it (the more I listen to those Contemporary dates, the more I get into Roy DuNann''s recording style) add up to more than just a "record". What you get is a "program", in the fullest sense of the word, a program that is structured sublimely and effectively to create and explore a specific series of events in a way that provides context, contrast, continuity, and detail into each event individually and provides a collective, unified, singular sense of same for the album as a whole. A two-act show with three scenes per act, and an intermission in the middle. Given that, I think that this album plays to Sonny's oft-noted sense of "drama" in a way that very few albums of his have done - it actually creates a conscientiously dramatic setting, a "show", if you will, for his internal drama, and plays with and off of that in an equally conscious way. Pot-induced vision or not, there is definitely an element of "setting" to this album that offers a strong parallel to TV variety specials/dramas and their ilk. I'm a TV Baby, so TV is how I saw it at the time, but you can use any traditional "presentation" medium as a parallel, I suppose. And this as well plays to another element of Sonny's character - not only did he love Western movies, he also loved Western movies. So he went to California and made one, or something much like it. The cast and crew were all at the top of their game, the script was tight and well-crafted, the cinematography and editing seamless, and the result is as much a treat for the "eyes" as it is the ears. if you are so inclined to slip into that frame of mind by whatever means you choose. Of course, in the interest of promoting Family Values and such, I feel compelled to offer the caveat that it was undertaken by a trained professional, and in a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away, and that you should NOT try this at home. Especially with a CD! But if you got the LP, and some quiet time alone...

Good thing Rosemary Woods never got around Dean Bennedetti.

Good idea. Let us turn our sharecroppers into plow swords!

25? Wow... Actually, I thought she might be our mutual friend Terri Denton coming in to play. She kinda looks like her. Terri's 45, I know, but I was trying to be flattering.

From the looks of her picture, she's in her early-30s, maybe even 35, so you'd think she'd be used to guys acting like pigs by now. But maybe not. Oh well. Life goes on.

More material by the same band was issued in the late-70s on Trip, and then reissued in the early-80s on Everest. Those albums list the time/place as August, 1968 @ Slug's.

You did, now that you mention it.

This is shaping up to be the most winding thread I've ever read... Carry on!

It's my understanding that Miles had been trying to steal Wayne away from Blakey for several years before he finally succeeded.

Stan Getz, w/Terri Lynne Carrington, doing "Autumn Leaves", IIRC, ca. 1990. Short, but VERY sweet. Wasn't Sonny on when Bill Cosby was guest-hosting (another great tradition lost!)?

I've managed over the years to accquire some original Philles 45s and LPs, and the one thing I inevitabley notice is how much more "Wall Of Sound"-y these originals than any reissue I hear. A glorious noise indeed, and not just from the crappy vinyl! So, having learned more about record mastering on this board than I had ever know before, this leads me to ask a few questions: Does anybody know the "who"s and "where"s of the mastering of these records? Does anybody know if Spector himself was actively involved in the process? I'd imagine he was, but you never really know until you ask. Any ideas as to why ALL the reissues are so wussified (thanks, Kinky!) in comparison to the original issues? As a speculative side note, was the crappy, noisy vinyl strictly a matter of saving money, or did Spector perhaps view that as part of the total end audio picture? I mean, you've never really heard "River Deep, Mountain High" until you hear it on an original 45. I had heard reissues of it, and kinda got what all the fuss waas about, but when I finally heard an original 45, I GOT it. Amazing. And don't get me going on the Christmas album! I realize that this is a non-jazz matter, but I trust the folks here more than most "experts" elsewhere, at least for a first attempt to gather info. As always, thanks in advance!

by any chance?

Indeed.

Truer words have never been spoken. Especially that last one.

Although, how many schools have a Ran Blake (a.o.) on the faculty?

Never knew of that one! w/Leonard Cohen on "Night Music", yeah, but not w/Garland Jefferies on PBS. Now all I need to find is that version of "I Told Every Little Star" that Sonny played as the theme to some short-lived ABC sitcom. Got any leads on that? GREAT video, btw. Especially how whenever the guy who the song's somewhat of a tribute to has a feature spot, they cut away to some footage of Garland Jefferies walking on the streets. Classy! Art Blakely (more than once!) inDEED!

There's a joke for Johnny Carson in here somewhere...