JSngry

"It took some doin', but the doin's been done."- said at the completeion of a longer than expected "sitting session", but appropos of most anything, I'd think.

Exactly! Thank you for saying what I was trying to say with an equanimity that I was unable to muster. Oh right....that's what you were trying to say. Yes, it was. I just wasn't very cool about it. Dig?

Somewhere I've got the Wilson/McCann album (original cover). If I find it, I'll post another lousy webcam pic or two.

A portion of the back cover.

Useless, probably.

Back cover of EVERYWHERE

Cool dude!

Inside. Sorta.

Back

These are pretty lousy, so keep looking.

It was the era of Close Encounters & Star Wars. It was kinda "in the air", no pun intended.

I love to play for dancers of all types. It's an incredibly natural experience as long as there's not an air of "demanding" in the air (as in "we only want to hear one thing played one way all night long"). Then it gets to be a drag. Fast. I wish I could dance really good, because I feel it. But there is a disconnect between my sould and my feet, no doubt hampered by some weirdass congenitality from my knees downward. Still, the dance impulse is something that I feel very strongly in both music and life. It's fundamental, I think. At least to the rhythm that I prefer to live my life in. Not the pound-pound-pound beat of "dance", but the natural, graceful, and ever mutating yet ever staying the same pulse of life. I've played for dancers of all different ilk, and I tell you, the flow thing that gets going when everything is honest and true is profound, and I try to bring that with me to everything I play, including (ESPECIALLY including) music that is not intended for dancing. I want it to be someting that makes you want to dance anyway, even if it means doing a dance that only you can do! And a dance that only I can do IS the only dance I can do, or so it seems...

Exactly! Thank you for saying what I was trying to say with an equanimity that I was unable to muster.

Caveats: I've not yet been grabbed enough by either the Dorsey stuff od the Columbia stuff to explore it at length; I've gone out of my way to get all the Capitol/pre-retirement Reprise albums I can find, even the less-than-stellar ones. So, having said that... Essential Sinatra albums AFAIC: SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS/SWING EASY IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS SONGS FOR SWINGIN' LOVERS COME FLY WITH ME WHERE ARE YOU? ONLY THE LONELY NICE 'N' EASY SINATRA AND STRINGS IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SWING + the Jobim collaboration you already have and the one I've already suggested. You'll also want some "Greatest Hits" things or something similar, mostly because A)the "hits" on Capitol were released as singles, not as parts of the "concept" albums and B)the Reprise albums are inconsistent (ex - the absolutely stunning version of "The Way You Look Tonight" is found on an otherwise disposable (imo) album). But the above list contains albums that stand up wonderfully as a whole, and although you'll probably get some arguments for things NOT on this list, I doubt you'll get any AGAINST the above. Except from those who do not care for Sinatra, of which there are a few in these parts.

Both are here: It's an album with only a few dogs and many more riches.

Think that this one first came out on Elektra (!), and somehow ended up later on Savoy. Don't know more than that.

Finished reading it (I usually read books like this only in the bathroom, so it takes a while). Lousy scholarship (seems very much "cut and paste"; some pretty "obvious" names gotten blatantly wrong; very weak musical analysis); yet an "entertaining" read which has sent me back to Zawinul's music, music that I am continuing to for the most part find strong and inspirational. Even prompted a purchase of the Syndicate's WORLD TOUR CD, and that has proven to be a good thing. * for literary merit, **** for entertainment/holding interest. Sad that the dichotomy exists, but there it is. It would have been more appropriate to do a "Joe Zawinul Reader" type book, but I guess there's no ego boost in doing that... Borrow a copy, or see if your library has it/can get it.

So banks are like hookers then, right?

Another one for the list.

Without going too much into detail, I've gained the impression that Nistico kinda "lost his way" once he got off the road regularly. He's not at all unusual in that regard, since there are certain guys who were just BORN to be road dogs, and Sal Nistico may very well have been one of them. They often come to hate it, but it's really what they were put here to do, and they ineveitably do it better than well. I've got video footage of Nistico playing w/Basie (I understand that he went into that fold once or twice as a "vacation" from Herman) , and he fits in like he's been there all his life, even when trading fours w/Eric Dixon (iirc). One of the definitive "big band tenorists" of the post-WWII era. It's a whole 'nother gig than just being a "jazz tenorist" - you gotta be able to jump in and jump out at the drop of a hat, be able to play in and around ALL kinds of backgrounds (written and improvised) of various styles (not all of them - to put it mildly - sympathetic to the soling you're trying to do) without losing focus (in fact, it's your job to make those backgrounds sound like they're spurring you on when in fact they might be doing just the opposite), PLUS you gotta be able to make a meaningful ballad statement anytime the leader sees fit, often inside an arrangement that is even MORE unsympathetic than the uptempo ones. So it's a lot of "going against the grain". In other words, it's a job for somebody who has the balls and the chops to just walk right in, say "fuck it", and just PLAY THE GIG without any hesitiaton, faltering, or self-doubt. If that sounds like it's not easy, well, hell - it's not! Yet there are guys who thrive on it, and there are guys whose playing gets bumped up a notch or three when everything IS clicking. And Sal Nistico was one of the greatest practitoners of the art. Check him out on "Keep On Keepin' On" from Woody's otherwise all-pop LIGHT MY FIRE album on Cadet - this mofo is phkkin' BURNING in the most intense way. There's an interview w/Sal and Tubby Hayes somewhere on the Net, and in it I can sense that Sal was already getting a little tired of the "routine". And of course, he eventually left it. But like I said, I think he might have "lost his way" after doing so, because on "freelance" sides like EMPTY ROOM the Half Moon Bay thing, I really feel a guy who's standing up there playing his heart out waiting for the big band to kick in. And it never does. And, yes, I think he misses it. You get into certain playing habits playing ANY kind of a gig night after night after night, and I would suspect that Sal did what he did so well for so long that he may very well have gotten a little "disoriented" when his life became one of not having to do endless one-nighters ranging from cornball dances to hip club dates, not having to sleep on the bus, not having jump in real quick and get off 32 or 64 bars of kickass tenor and then get right back out, of not knowing that no matter what you play or how you play it, there's eventually going to be a bunch of horns chiming in behind your ass so proceed accordingly, of not having a lot of things that he probably took for granted on a subconscious level being there w/o thinking about them. That kind of fundamental lifestyle change can mess a man up.

Yeah, add that one to the list too. It's a killer.

I stand by in defense of the brothers Gonzalez. As for the North Yorkshire salsa/merengue scene & 18 year old Brits who proceed to dress for the rest of their lives in tweeds, checked shirts, flat caps and twills, I cannot and I will not comment, since I: have never been to North Yorkshire have been 18 more more than than 2.5 times live in a climate that is generally unfavorable to tweediness, save for a few weeks in winter In other words, I wouldn't know what the hell I was talking about.

Yeah, but I'd rather hear Andrew Hill's imperfections than a lot of people's perfections. The lyrics I'd reference in this regard in order to make my point are those of "Then I'll Grow Tired Of You".

It's wild and wooly, raw and ragged. Nothing like you'd expect. Or maybe EXACTLY what you'd expect. Joe Bob says check it out.

Is this the Charlie Parker label stuff or something else?