JSngry

No....

Jeez, Jim, if you knew exactly what you were looking for before you asked people what it was, it would be so much easier for everybody!

Most likely is. That was their first album. Bought the LP when it first came out. I was in high school, and thought it was cool shit, which in many ways, it was. Sold it a while back, though.

There are peoples (and foods) in between the coasts and outside of Chicago, you know... Around here, it's a Mexican (puro Mexicano, btw) thing, that's how I got hip to it, but as our Asian and Indian populations grew, it soon became obvious that this was an herb with global implications, and tasty ones at that.

I thought that it was "nice" those 25 or so years ago, which is why it went unlistened to for the interim. A lot of the textures are very "soundtrackish", and at one brass segment sounds like a twisted version of the "Mayberry R.F.D." them. I heard the surface but payed no attention to the details and the "message", and just thought, "Oh, this is like that Pat Williams stuff". Now, Pat Williams is one HELLUVA writer, and if I want to hear interesting jazz-informed "commercial" writing, he's definitely on the go-to list. But I can't say that I'm in the mood for that kind of thing all that often, ESPECIALLY back in the day, when I was a Jazz Gestapo, going through phases of considering myself a miserable, failed human being for liking Benny Goodman and The Sex Pistols even a little bit. And this didn't seem to me to be as well-integrated or structurally sound as Pat Williams' work, either. But either I've decided to accept my failings as a human being (very plausible), or else my perspective has broadened a little bit over the years (which, come to think of it, might be a result of accepting one's failings), because when I heard this last night, I "got" it almost immediately. Weird... Definitely agree that it's not a "must have" item, not even slightly. But I do think that, those long Gale solo sections aside, that it's a pretty unique statement. Of course, "unique" does not equivocate with "profound", or even "enjoyable", but I do think that after having heard McFarland's early work and his later "soft-pop" stuff that this album occupies a unique place in his discography, and its a piece that, although neither fish nor fowl in terms of musical orientation, ultimately makes a musical statement that deserves a hearing today, at least by people who might appreciate waht McFarland is up to with this thing. It's just that there are so many qualifiers to make. It's a stylistic mish-mash, but it's thematically unified, so you gotta look at like something other than "regular" jazz/pop/ez-listening/jazz-rock/light modern classical/etc., because its all of those things at one time or another, yet ulitimately none of them. It's not "great", but then again, in it's own way and in it's own realm, maybe it is. I don't know. I do know that there's enough really distinctive writing in some kind of "style" that anybody who can make sense of my ambiguity in recommending this probably would enjoy it. How's THAT for a litmus test?

As is Billy Butler...

Give a hint. Was it a musician? Yes, but not necessarily a "pure" jazz musician. Although, at the time of this statement, the person in question (a singer) was enjoying a realtionship with jazz, and continues to do so to this day, although not as obviously as they did then. And no, it's not Joni Mitchell... It might be worth adding that the quote was offered up with the typical dry sardonicism that this person has long been known for

No...

No. Not Billy Larkin, either.

Long story here... I bought this 1969 Skye album 25 or so years ago because it had a bit of a "reputation" to it in ceratin quarters. Listened to it once or twice and put it away. In those days I wanted JAZZ and nothing but. That, this was not. Still, there was this one haunting theme from the album that would come back to me at the oddest times. So I kept the album. Just never listened to it. Ever. Literally. Until a few hours ago. Don't know why, just decided to pull it out and play it again. And...I liked it a LOT more that I did 25 or so years ago. So much so that I played it a second time. And a third. And, yes, a fourth. Now, this is in no way a "perfect" record. Far from it. A fair portion of it is taken up by fairly uninspired "rock" soloing by Eric Gale, from the days before he discovered(?) that glorously distinctive tone and style that he'd use to such great effect later on. OTOH, most of this soloing is accompanied by Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie, and Purdie in particular is a gas. Still, these solo sections don't do too much for me. However... There is some magnificent scoring for strings and horns on this album, and plenty of it. Taut, dissonant, and very melancholy, a resigned rage, if you will. OCTOBER SUITE is the closest McFarland use of this type of dissonance that I can refer to, but this is not really like that one. And that theme that has stayed with me through the years turns out to be one that McFarland bases almopst the entire piece on. He turns it inside out, over under and sideways. You can hear it even when it's not there. To me, that's a mark of a statement being made. And this is definitely a "statement album", a "concept album". The concept being the ongoing destruction of the American environment by greed and shortsighted "convinience". And McFarland does not seem to have been particularly optimistic that thing were going to get better even for a little while. For 1969, that was somewhat counter to prevailing trends... I recommend this album to people who like "that kind of thing". What "that kind of thing" is, though, makes this a "hesitant" recommendation. The music often resembles high quality film scoring, a genre that I definitely dig, but one that might not have too many fans on this board. But the moments of glory on this album are plentiful enough and strong enough that I can say if you go into with an idea what not to expect, that is, definitely not "jazz", and definitely not the "soft" sound that McFarland is somewhat famous for; as well as an idea what to expect, that is, highly programmatic music that is liable to draw upon any number of sources to make its particular point at any given time, music that "presents" itself rather than "reveals" itself, and music that is more often than not biting in its interior even when its "sunny" on its exterior; then this might be an album you can enjoy more than a little bit. Like I said, flawed, but worth exploring for those so inclined. Guess it's OOP now in it's DCC CD issue, but used copies seem to abound on net-stores. And Da' Bastids had a Japanese version in stock last I looked. But I don't know that I'd recommend spending J-bucks of a price for it when used DCCs are around for significantly less. 25 or so years after I got this album, I finally GOT it. More proof that life is for living, I suppose.

Sorry, but no.

"Alfred Of The Amazon"? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0185281/ From http://ctva.freewebpage.org/US/Comedy/VacationPlayhouse.htm it appears that this was a one-time airing of an unsold pilot, but the description fits: Vacation Playhouse: ALFRED OF THE AMAZON (Unsold Comedy Pilot) 31Jul1967 CBS Monday Produced by Arne Rosen, Gene Reynolds starring Wally Cox as Alfred Paul Hartman as Dr. Schwimmer Mako as Simba Allan Melvin as Willie Susan Odin as Jennifer Leon Askin as Herr Futterman The exploits of Alfred of the Amazons, a bumbling jungle adventurer and plantation owner who fights injustice in his spare time.

Is it at all possible that Cox was in the commercials but not the show they appered with?

You googled yourself some bonus points. Those are indeed the albums in question. The first by Reuben Wilson, the second by, of course, Marvin Gaye. Now, the final frontier (and I'll answer it myself, since ON BROADWAY is a pretty obscure side) - the final Trevor Lawrence/Marvin Gaye/Blue Note "loop" (such as it is). ON BROADWAY feature Lawrence on a take of Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar" (in an arrangement strongly modeled after John Patton's on GOT A GOOD THING GOIN'). A few years later, Lawrence pops on on Gaye's TROUBLE MAN album, being featured throughout the album as soloist/obbligatoist. One of the tunes on that album is "Don't Mess With Mister T", which is covered as the title tune of a fairly successful CTI album by former Blue Note star Stanley Turrentine in an arrangement strongly modeled after Gaye's & Lawrence's version. So you can draw a direct line from a specific Marvin Gaye song to Blue Note (twice, in fact...) back to another specific Marvin Gaye song back to somebody who was a prominent Blue Note artist not too long before (and who might well have recorded the tune for Blue Note if he had stayed with the label...). Like I said, ultimately meaningless, but nevertheless interesting, albeit in a totally geeky kind of way. But hey - what are we if not geeks? Now, how many more degrees until we get to Kevin Bacon?

I've never been to Mass., but when I finally get there, I definitely want to stop by and drop some dinero. Welcome, Jack. Your reputation precedes you, and as Mike implies, it is a good one indeed.

Up for the night shift. Bonus points await!

Nothing saves a poor salsa like some fresh cilantro.

Wally Cox was the voice of "Underdog" ... 1968-70 seasons ... "There's no need to fear -- Underdog is here!" And "Underdog" was on NBC. But didn't it start earlier than 1968?

Ok, here's one. When discussing jazz in 1976 or so, this person said: "Everybody I like is either dead or not feeling well."

Great indeed. I'd have never guessed Calloway for #17. Need to go back and relisten. that one's FIERCE!

Here it is: http://www.jazzmanrecords.com/guitaralbum.html AMG Review

Here kitty kitty kitty kitty!

I'll ask again - could videotape manufacturers now make audiotape? How big of a tweak would it be?

Bingo! Now, for bonus points, name both albums in question. AND... For even more bonus points, weave the tale of interrelation between Lawrence's recordings and the Motown artist's songs as they relate to BN! (Hint: it starts with the BN album in question and continues beyond the BN label proper). This is one of those coincidental things that falls into the category of "meaningless yet fascinating", or-vice versa.