JSngry

Toughing? OUCH! OUCH! InDEED!

Yeah, they told me that too, and I BELIEVED them. They told me that God loves everybody no matter what they do, who they are, or what color their skin is. I BELIEVED that too. Then when you get older and go out into the "real world", you find out that, well, ok, maybe it's true, but it's not really relevant any more, that what God's all about and what we're all about are two different things, that all that kid stuff was good in theory, but it won't work in the "real world". Well, I DIDN'T believe that! Don't tell a kid something you don't want them to follow through on into adulthood, because every so often there's going to be one too dumb to realize that you're supposed to get disillusioned and just "settle", or that that stuff they told you as a kid was just "idealism". My parents and relatives always used to ask me where I got all these "crazy" notions about God and all those "wacky" ideaas about joy and human equality and all that "liberal" stuff. "In church", I'd tell them in all seriousness. Flummoxed, they were! Verily! Myself, I see the rise in reactionary fundamentalism as a response to the, uh.... "discomfort" that a segment of society feels about the logical consequences of confronting the ideologically evolving revelations from the notions of eternal omnipresent joy and the universal equality of ALL humans in relation to the creator/creative. Don't like the graduates? Change the curriculum...

I prefer respect to fear. Now, whether or not you need to go through fear to get to respect is a question with no one absolute answer, I think. But respect is motivated out of love, and fear is motivated out of a self-ish desire not to get your butt whupped, literally or figuratively. Love grows a person, fear shrinks them. Which do you think is the healthier motivator? (and btw - I was taught as a child that "fearing God" did indeed mean respect and love. The word has many different meanings apparently. Nuance and all that stuff.)

I know, it''s easy in theory. But I've got a coordinational disconnect with this, it seems. I can't even do the straw-in-the-water thing, not continuously. After much practice, though, I CAN walk and chew gum at the same time with only a minimual amount of stumbling.

You're no doubt aware of Cybil's 70s sides, one of which featured Stan Getz? "Jazzy" more than "jazz". Are they good? well, uh...yeah, sure! Why not? But they're not horrible either. She's a saucy wench, that Cybil Sheppard is, and if she's not a "good singer", she's in no way a bad one either.

Never could get the knack of it, but never tried too hard to do so. I'm a fan of space, usually. I like playing that breathes. But there have been times when I'd like to have been able to do it. And as an "effect" (in the good sense) it's undeniably effective.

Wow. That's all I can say - wow... Thanks for posting this.

71 is kinda starting to get old, so I took a few minutes to listen to Wayne's "The Elders" from MR. GONE. Wow.

http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/watts_alan/ Now, that's enough about that!

Did Kylie get her stomach pumped?

Nah, I'm feelin' kinda Zen today.

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/AZ

Seriously, there are great, truly great, players whose vibe I'm just not into, and Grappelli is one of them.

Get the album w/Gary Burton and Have A Nice Day!

In many ways, my favorite Mingus album. (HATE the CD "bonus" cut though - BOO!). In a class by itself, really, and Snooky Young's finest hour. Charles McPherson's too, maybe. A grossy neglected masterpiece, imo.

Jones was miscredited. That's James Moody!

Happy (in a lot of ways) to see that people are responding favorably to this album. I'm looking forward to hearing more too!

71????? Damn...

That tenor player on "Things" is driving me crazy - I know that sound but can't call the name. Fuck. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! DAMN YOU, GOULD!!!!

Just read Dan's opening post, and there's a theme, eh? I'm tempted to say it's ssomething big-band related, but darned if I can say exactly what. Especially if that's an Odell Brown cut... No matter, if it's no cigar, it's close!

I've not been participating in recent BFTs for no reason other than I don't have the time these days to get into them 100%, which is the only way I care to participate. But Dan prevailed upon me to listen to his stuff, and to post my guesses/comments. I still don't have time for the detective work and intense analytical listeningthat makes these things so much fun, but hey... (BTW, Ray (RDK) sent me his test too, and I fully intended to do the same w/his as I'm doing here, but I had even less time then than I do now. Sorry, Ray. It WAS a blast, though!) Ok, listened to both discs one time on Sunday night, and am listening again to Disc One while posting. Haven't really looked at other's comments. TRACK 1 - "Girl Of My Dreams". Tenor player had me stumped at first, "unfamiliar in a familair kind of way. But after the piano solo, the longer it went on, the downward bends on the notes, the phrasing, and the tone (ESPECIALLY the tone!) revealed itself to me. Ike Quebec, 1940s/early 50s. Have no idea who anybody else is. I've probably got this on soemthing somewhere, but maybe not. If it's BN or Savoy, I do. How do you not like this? TRACK 2 - Ben. Sounds like a late 60s/early 70s live recording. Ben was apparently feeling a little less smooth is a bit more brusque than normal for those days, which is nice. You can really hear what Archie Shepp got from Ben on this cut. How do you not like THIS? TRACK 3 - "Chelsea Bridge". Sounds sorta like Griff in the beginning, less so as it gets into it. This guy has really got control over the finer points of the tenor. Lovano? I hear little tonal things, mostly in the subtle pitch alterations, that suggest it might be. There's still enough references to other people's playing (but much fewer as the years go by) to keep me from totally swooning over his playing, but damn if I''ve got anything but the highest praise for what I hear here. There' humility and humanity aplenty in his playing, as well as a genuine love of music, and what more can you ask? TRACK 4- "Things Ain't... " Little bits and pieces of Houston Person, but not consistently enough to make me think it's really him. But it might be! Nice performance, although I'd like to have ehard it developed more. Sounds like an old guy, though. TRACK 5 - "The Preacher". Have no idea who it is, but the drummer's got his pocket where Blakey had his. That's a STRONG backbeat! Otherwise, a very competent perfomance, lots of subtle command in the pianist's voicings and touch, but not something I'd go out of my way to hear a whole album of. But this is not some soul-jazz hack, whoever it is. Too much nuance for that. TRACK 6 - "After Hours". I do believe I hear Hank Crawford. I love it when that happens. Sounds like another old guy on tenor, the way he takes his time and puts the flayva on one note at a time. I love it when that happens, too. Although this is not a great solo, I still get a feel for the what kind of person it is who's playing it, and that's quite often more important to me than whether or not it's a great solo. Meat and potatoes, this stuff is, nothing spectacular, but it'll kepp you healthy and well fed nevertheless. TRACK 7 - KD (or maybe CT in disguise - their tones have more in common than one might think...) and somebody on...valve bone? Baritone horn? Peck horn? Thinner and punchier than the usual slide bone, that's for sure, at least out of my speakers. Maybe even a french horn, but the range goes down too low, I think... Great bass player, both walking and soloing. My obvious guess is PC, but I'm not listening carefully enough to say so absolutely, but thoise walking lines sure favor him. Kinda sounds like Philly on drums. Like the way the whaterveritisist takes the mouhtpiece just a little bit off his mouth on that last note. That's character! Not at all familiar with this cut/album, but it's a good'un! TRACK 8 - Interesting tune, kinda "Woody Shaw meets 70s Horace Silver". Solid playing by all, but there's an element of "new changes to play the same vocabulary over 20 years later" quality to the trumpet playing that keeps it from getting too involving for me, even though the pacing is very mature. Like the pianist better, he seems to come to the piece more organically. Is it his tune? Cedar? With a more "reaching" horn player, I'd like it even more than I already do. TRACK 10 - "Highest Mountain", Clifford Jordan's big band. What can you say? Far from perfect ensembles, but hey - it sounds like life. I hear personalities caught in the act. Good enough for me! TRACK 11 - "Maiden Voyage". This is nice. Very low-key, and they do it well like that. Two tenors, organ, Odell Brown? The tenors both have that R&B underpinning that you can't fake. A very pleasant take on what is today a bit of a cliched tune. Yeah! TRACK 12 - Slide Hampton? Don't ahve a clue really, but this is very nice. Sounds like a late 60s thing with a mix of American & European players, that vibe where hard bop confronted Trane and found much that it liked, and even needed to stay vital and alive. Spirited, probing playing by all, and a perfect closer to Disc 1. Good stuff, Dan!

May-Walsh looked pretty darn dominant their ownselves. I confess - I got into watching beach volleyball for the women's uniforms. But really, after having watched the GAME, the 2-on-2 action on the smaller "court" amkes for a game that makes regular indoor volleyball seem at once cluttered and cavernous. Beach volleyball is a pretty darn good spectator sport, no matter what the uniforms are!

Aren't we all?