JSngry

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Another Ozone issue:

Well, yeah, same here. But since this next one will be #49, it'll also be my last one. At 50, I'm not having any more birthdays, because I hear that they make you older. Can't have that!

As long as the heart is true. Be your own judge on that one.

Good stuff, this is. Golson, like James Moody, remains an extremely fluent saxophonist who has kept his ears (and mind) open and has continued to grow harmonically. He still plays "like" he did back in the day, even if he plays very little of what he played back then.

Go Luke!!!

Ok, I thought that when you said that you meant that you were born in 1972. My bad, and indeed, enough of that.. Now, ask Jesus to give you the strength to pick up that Frank Hewitt CD!

I've told the story before, but to amplify this comment, I'll tell it again. Somewhere around 1976 or so, I went to see Ray Charles at the Lonhorn Ballroom here in Dallas. It was a full 4 hour gig, and there was nobody else on the bill, so Ray's orchestra, a full sized big band, served as one of the "opening acts" and did a full hour set by themselves. The book was a mix of funky jazz (Herbie's "Butterfly" still rings in my memory), ballads, and straight ahead swing. No bullshit, just a variety of solid big band type stuff. The soloists stretched out at lenght, and it was a very satisfying experience. Come to find out years later that amonst those soloists were Don Wilkerson & Johnny Coles! For that matter, when I do a "chitlin' circuit" gig, the opening numbers, before the main vocalist comes out, are always instrumentals, usually a shuffle blies and a couple of funky, Grover-esque type numbers. The players aren't always "jazz" musicians per se, but they can play this stuff just fine, and they enjoy the chance to play "beyond" what's going to be coming up for the rest of the night. Truth be told, the people dig it too - it's a bit of "class" and variety for them as well, something that gives the overall experience of the evening a bit of texture and puts the night on a curve or arc, so to speak. The tradition lives on.

I was involved in a project here in Dallasabout 25 years ago w/Ramsey Ameen, the cat who played violin w/Cecil Taylor back then. He had worked as an aide at Bellevue in the early-mid 1970s, and he mentioned that Monk was a frequent patient/resident there for exactly that reason. Said he wouldn't talk to anybody, just sit in his room and paint pictures of the sky when he did anything at all. Ramsey seemed like a straight-ahead enough kinda guy, and he wasn't trying to outhip anybody by presenting this information. I believed him then, and believe him more now. If you can believe Gourse's bio even further, this depression/whatever was related to indiscriminate recreational drug use throughout the years. Maybe yes, maybe no. I seriously doubt that this was the sole cause, but if Monk was already leaningthat way for biochemical reasons, it probably didn't help him any. I can certainly understand why this information hasn't been widely discussed. The stigmas of both mental illness and recreational drug use are still mighty potent, and it would be all too easy for the more sensationalistic elements of society (including "fans") to glom on to this as excuse to denigrate (or celebrate, for that matter) Monk for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with his deep and inate musical brilliance. Monk was a genius. Period. The rest is secondary.

MAJOR fan here, dude. You DO have EXTENSIONS OF A MAN. domn't you? errrr, no.... We'll save that one for the next order from the bastards. Don't delay. It's one bad muthafuhyuh.

He got sick. And tired. And sick and tired. Can't fault him for the latter.

Ya know, some of y'all I know real well, and some of y'all I hardly know whatsomeever, but my schedule these days means that sometimes I can sit here long enough to look at every thread and some nights I sit doen long enough to pop out a quickie or two before I gotta split, so sometimes the birthday things get past me, which I regret because, hey, we're all family here, right? so let me be the first to just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to each and every one of you in advance. Love ya'! 'Prechiate cha! Don't take it personal if I miss your individual birthday thread! I'm trying! Keep swingin', Gates!

That's not how you spell it?

BLUES IN ORBIT is also a favorite of mine because of the textures. I like the voicings for the instrumentation. It's characteristic Ellington but through a deifferent lens, so to speak. The solos are all fine, but everybody's been more "memorable" elsewhere. No question about that. But those arrangements and the specific textures they produce, if not exactly "one of a kind" in the Ellington ouvre, are still unique enough to set it apart from other lEllingtonian mid-size group efforts. Pie Eye!

If you don't have a turntable, you're liing in the past.

Media, always. The Bastards get it here just as fast for less money. Your mileage may vary.

MAJOR fan here, dude. You DO have EXTENSIONS OF A MAN. domn't you?

I have a Kirk @ Scott's private recordng. Don't know if it's the same one or not.

I dig how Ray retained his C&W-esque affection for tasteful and understated jackets to his dying days.

Oh HELL no! That stuff's da' bomb!

To say that Tony Williams turned into Billy Cobham is akin to saying that Charlie Parker turned into Sonny Stitt. I've always had the impression/suspiscion that Tony was goint through some personal changes for the better part of the first half the 70s, especially . He just kinda dropped out there for a while and hardly popped up at all. Thing is, Tony ALWAYS bashed. You think there's no bashing on those Miles sides, listen again. But those were not the yellow drums he was using back then. It must have been tough being Tony Williams - he was a kid who by all accounts really did have a heavy-duty rock and roll heart, but he was blessed/cursed with one of the keenest jazz drumming sensabilities of all time fromt he time he was just a kid, and that's how he grew up - as a jazzer. I've always felt that his various crash and bash projects were attempts by him to get back to the garage band youth that he never had the luxury of living for himself. Can't fault him for that, not really. ROSEBUD

The one with Theresa Brewer is kinda unfortunate... Buy that's not the same as bad.

Right! Charlie is my 18 year old son. He like that screaming kind of alternative rock, and stuff like Jaga Jazzist, Erik Trufazz, Antebalas. And Maynard Ferguson. Quite an eclectic, the boy is.

I was getting them as early as 1972, I believe.

The trio album is the only one I've not had on lp for quite a while, and I'm thrilled to finally get it. Duke's piano work grows in fascination for me every year (well, truthfully, every day...), and this is one "spotlight" album of him as pianist I've never heard. I expect to wear the grooves out of this cd! But I ordered all three - the combination of Mr. Larkin's site, all the new material, and those sick CDUniverse preorder prices made it impossible not too!