JSngry

No serious dis to DeFranco intended, Larry. I know his earlier work, and appreciate it much. It's just one of those "indelible images" things that I've yet to fully get over. And you should, if I may be so bold, check Scott's Philology stuff. Pretty damn breathtaking in more than a few spots, and not too much at all like his 50s stuff.

No, I mean Buddy DeFranco. Definitely. This was right when Thad had split w/Mel and nobody was sure if it was temporary or permanent. I'm thinking 75-77, somewhere in there, not sure exactly when. DeFranco briefly went on tour w/the band as a "guest artist". Historically significant player, I know, but this mix was a definite case of "wrong place, wrong time". DeFranco wasn't all that far gone from having fronted the Glenn Miller band for more tahn a few years, and his jazz chops were not as au courant as they once were, to put it mildly. He looked like a used car salesman, and sounded decidedly "unhip". I know that's not a fiar assessment of his overall "place" in the music, but that's the first thing I think of when I hear "Buddy DeFranco" - a greasy haired used car salesman playing totally "square" clarinet in front of a band that did not seem to be thrilled to have him doing so. That's not "right". I know, but like I said, it was a powerful image.

There was a Howell cut (from the album w/Maupin) on a BFT that stumped almost everybody.

I was forever traumatized as a college lad by seeing Defranco front the Jones-Lewis Minus Jones band back in 197?. The band (and most of the audience) was the raggy-looking assortment of jazz hippies that it was in those days (Dick Oates was in sandals and a dashiki, and John Mosca looked like John the Baptist), and here, after a few numbers on there own, comes Buddy DeFranco in Plaidus Maximus Polyertera and hair that indicated an endorsement form Vitalis rather than LeBlanc. They did a few bop-type things that the band obviously wasn't too keen on, and then took off on a "Afro"-ish modal number that was most unfortunate from a DeFrancoan standpoint. A kid remembers stuff like that. Really though, I couldn't understand why DeFranco was on the list and Scott wasn't, since both are still alive and, as far as I know, active. Scott's Philolgy sides, although inevitably containing moments of histonica, also contain some of the most daring and soulful, I think, readings of melodies that I've ever come across.

Bravissimo!

Coleman got into a rut when his M-Base thing started getting too "mechanical". But rather than abandon it, he stuck with it and has been working with players who genuinely FEEL that stuff now, and for my money, it's some of the freshest music being made today. It breathes now, and it feels totally organic. And it's about time afaic. I had just about given up. Of course, w/o a major label contract in America, you gotta go to European labels to hear it, but it's there to be had, and it is GLORIOUS!

Well, there you have it. As I read it, the buzz began w/WORKTIME, and continued throughout the 50s. Sonny had become a "major jazz voice", and all his records were anticipated by those "in the know", which meant, of course, musicians, the hipper critics, and the hippest fans. When you get a buzz like that, and enough quality records to back it up, the "general" fan base is quick to catch on, or at least it was back then. Mind you, I'm not talking about the casual fan or those who were totally into another bag, just the type of fan who kept up w/what was going on w/the general "hard bop" scene of the time. Dig - COLLOSSUS was released in mid-1956, right? It was part of a lightening-fast run that included WAY OUT WEST, the VV date, NEWK'S TIME, VOLUME 2, +4, and the Brown/Roach BASIN STREET album. People WERE paying attention. Gunther Schuller's famous essay about "Blue 7" was published in November of 1958 (who knows when it was actually written? No matter, you're talking less than 2 years after the fact, max), and the fuss IT created messed Rollins up so bad that he swore off reading his press, period. Good or bad. It's easy to lose sight of just how significant, not just "important" or "inflential", but truly significant, a figure Sonny Rollins was in the 1950s. I think a lot of people today view him as "just" the ultimate hard bop tenor of the 1950s, or something like that. But like I said - talk to players who were coming up then, and read the contemporaneous press (for that matter, get Larry Kart to talk about it). Whitney Balliet, who was never big on the whole hard bop thing in the first place (read his liner notes to TWO DEGREES EAST, THREE DEGREES WEST) wrote that WAY OUT WEST was "...a clear indication of a striving toward an improvisational approach that is revolutionary..." It becomes obvious that Sonny Rollins was quite the focal point in those days (in fact, the rumors still persist amongst the "old timers" that the reason for the "sabbatical" that began in 1959 was caused by jealousy/fear/whatever by Newk that Trane was stealing his thunder, both musically and publicity-wise. Only he knows for sure). You can believe it that when an artist that people are paying that kind of attention to puts out that kind of a record that it's going to be noticed. The buzz didn't need to be "created" - it was already there. You can argue that not everybody immediately got just how heavy it was (but that's usually the case outside of musicians and the more musically astute fans/critics), but hey - people noticed.

I prefer Steve Coleman to Osby.

Read the contemporaneous press, and talk to some guys who were around then. You're not as right as you think you are!

And Milt Buckner gives musical vulgarity the good name we all know it should have already had! Seriously - the cat's bass lines are nasty in a way that doesn't exist anymore, and we are all poorer for that.

Yes, it is, because the clarinet is an instrument that does not look kindly upon only occasional playing. I hate it that way... But I'll take what he almost (and there's no "almost" when his chops are up on it) does on the instrument over what the people on the above list actually do 100% of the time.

Looks like "The Comeback" is a CD Bonus Cut.

That's it! Muchas gracias, y'all. HIGHLY recommended btw.

When I'm moved by Chris Potter, it's to put something else on.

Beg to differ. There was nothing temporal about the recognition. It was quite instantaneous. Nearly every jazz fans who heard the LP raved about it. That one plus the BN Village Vanguard LP. I'm speaking from the European perspective. From everything I've read/heard, that was the American perspective as well.

No Tony Scott? No Bill Smith? I'd vote for John Carter but he's dead. Byron's a good enough player, but much heavier on the concepts than he is on the content. DeFranco? Who cares at this point? Not me. Daniels? Yeah, I LOVES me some tuxedoed perfectionist clarinet! The guy should've stuck to tenor. Peplowski I like for what he does. No pretense, just good solid playing. Not particularly exciting, but hey... Vandermark? Yeah, sure, whatever... The others on the list are not relevant to my lifestyle at all.

I hate today's Yankees as much as anybody, but not THAT much!

Seriously, though, I looked around a few places to see if it had been on CD, and counldn't find it. But geez, is that just about the only Black Lion thing that's not been on CD? Wierd...

The smart money's on the "or what".

Should I take that as a "no"?

Hey, the presence of Iyler alone would get my attention, but throwing in an Egyptian turntablist seals the deal!

Oj yeah, absolutely. That's why I added the "how/if" qualifier. Definitely a "we'll see" guy for me, although THE FLOWS caught my attention and kept it, qualifiers and all. I do fear that an over-reliance on "the system" and/or a steady gig w/Harry Connick might freeze him, but you never know...

Ed Wilkerson. Hands down. For these chronoparameters, nobody else comes close. The guy's got everything I like in terms of spirit and fundamental facility, and doesn't sound like yesterday AT ALL. Helluva player, helluva composer, and helluva bandleader. Truthfully, the first Ethnic Heritage Ensemble album w/Wilkerson & Douglas Ewart on the front line (THREE GENTLEMEN FROM CHICAGO, on Moers) hit me pretty powerful, the way those aforementioned great albums of yore did. I much dig Ricky Ford, too. I think he must be clinical or something, but I love what it does to his playing. That side he did w/Yusef is some of the most delightfully WACK tenor playing I've ever heard. Yet he can play changes too! I was intrigued by Ned Goold on THE FLOWS. Don't know how (or if) his things going to develop, but it's at a pretty interesting place now. We'll see... Also, don't know how old Mario Rivera is, but he made an impression w/a Tito Puente band about 20 years ago that still remains. No-nonsense playing, plenty of information in his playing, none of it cheap. Can't say that I've heard too much of him, but that one night still sticks. David Boykin out of Chicago shows promise. Keep an eye on him. James Carter is somebody to watch (and I am), but whether he's a player or a freak show has yet to be determined. In the old days, he's still be working sideman gigs in road bands, and getting the worst of his tendencies beat out of him the old-fashioned way. But like somebody said, it's a different time. Which is not necesarily a good thing, even if it is the reality of the situation.

How old do you want me to be?

Get the Frank Hewitt disc, definitely. And check out some of Teo Macero's stuff.