JSngry

I have this on the Collectables 2-fer which reissues the HARMONY IN JAZZ (?) reissue and doesn't include any personnel other than "The Marty Paich whatever-tette". I seem to remember reading that Jack Sheldon was on here, which suits what I hear (marvellously witty playing), but that's it. A quick listing would be greatly appreciated. Nice side - not off the wall, but round, firm, and fully packed. As always, thanks in advance!

I seriously doubt that. Believe it or not, it takes a great deal of practice and embochure strength/control to have as much control over the production and shading of those altissimo ("squeaky") notes as McPhee displays. Same thing goes for the strength and full-bodiedness of his tone. Just so you (and anybody else) knows. Ain't nobody's two year old gonna get it like that!

The differences in Sam's 1975 and 1997 stories are certainly, uh.... INTERESTING!

Another consideration is that there are any number of different wasy to play "out" (which, like "avabt-garde", is one of those terms that has merit in general conversation but no real musical meaning). The way Sam player "out" and the way Wayne did it were two different beasts, and Miles obviously preferred Wayne's, at least for his band (and I think Lon is right about the "non-musical" reasons, and I think that that came into play as far as Miles' reaction to Sam as a member of his band as opposed to as a musician in general). I also think that Miles was going to gat Wayne whenever, whereever, and however. That's pretty obvious from the various anecdotal histories.

Is it one of those "minimum security" units?

I'm LOVING Von on this one, but not the rhythm section. OTOH, I didn't buy it to hear the rhythm section, so fuck'em. Still, I hope that Premonition has greater aspirations for Von than to cast him as an eccentric, octogenarian Houston Person. Houston Person is the only Houston Person we need (in a good way, mind you), and Von Freeman is the only Von Freeman we have, so hey. Keep it prickly!

Airshots of the Earl Hines band w/Bird & Dizzy.

The final notes of the ending of "Touch Me" ("stronger than dirt") were stolen from an Ajax Laundry Detergent commercial of the time.

My guess would be that he'd have been uglied to death.

Thanks for that info, GA. I'll look for that. Ghost, as far as the Starlite (my spelling was off originally) stuff goes, there is no complete collection as far as I know, but the set that I have is a frustratingly good/incomplete compilation. It's this one: and should be readily available. Although, this one was supposedly reissued in 2003 on Universal U.K. No matter. Given your appreciation of the Miller AAF band, I think, hopefully, that you'll have no problem whatsoever in hearing this stuff the same way I do. Not as "jazz" per se, but as something else, something that refers to jazz, but isn't really it. Whatever "it" may or may not be, however, there's no denying that Gene Puerling's vocal arrangements on this stuff are more often than not nothing short of audacious, both technically and creatively. I'm tempted to say that in terms of having a total lack of concern for the "meaning" of conventionality while simultaneously using and exploiting all of its elements, he ranks right up there with Joe Zawinul of the middle-period Weather Report era. But if I said that, it might create a false sense of expectation. Nevertheless, let me go on record that if Zawinul had been a commercial vocal arranger in mid 1950s L.A., he and Puerling would have been most kindred spirits.

From Robert Palmer's 1975 liner notes to INVOLUTION (BN-LA453-HZ): In 1964, Rivers went on the road with blues guitarist T-Bone Walker. "T-Bone and all the other blues artists who hired me just wanted to to play the blues to the best of my ability," he says. "They weren't talking about stand up there and honk. They were talking about stand up there and play the blues." In the middle of the tour with Walker, Rivers recieved a telegram from Tony Williams... "Come to New York," the message began, George Coleman...split. Miles wants you to join his group." Williams had played Davis tapes of the Rivers quartet from Harvard Square and the trumpeter had liked what he heard. Sam stayed with the Davis band...for six months, touring Japan...and the U'S. "Miles was still doing things that were...pretty straight", he recalls. "I was there, but I was somewhere else too. I guess it sounds funny, but I was already ahead of that. I kept stretching out and playing really long solos, and that's probably why I didn't last. We recorded an album in Japan, and then when we got back to New York, Miles got Wayne Shorter." For a revealing (from several perspectives) glimpse of how Rivers might have sounded with T-Bone, check out his solo (and composition) on "The Elder Speaks" on the 12-14-61 Tadd Dameron date included on Blue Note's THE LOST SESSIONS. As far as the "transfer" to Wayne Shorter form Blakey, please remember that "transfer" and "exchange" are not the same thing.

A favorite of mine. Visionary, and if the widespread fullfillment of the vision was more by osmosis than by direct/blatant influence, so much the better.

Used to love the Lakers back in the Kareem/Magic/Worthy/etc days. But this crew has been everything I don't like about celebrety sports. The sooner they rebuild into a team, the sooner I can go back to liking them.

Found this little tidbit while casually researching the career of arranger Frank Comstock: FP: For Warner Bros., you did an unusual concept album with an outer space approach. You had the regular orchestra augmented with some rather unique electronic effects. Tell us about PROJECT COMSTOCK. FC: The outer space album was really a ball to do. We had one electric organ and several repeating amps that they were starting to use with woodwinds. For example, a flute player might play a short phrase and it would repeat constantly until he would play the next phrase. It would do the same thing. We employed a few little tricks like that. We didn’t have any synthesizers back then. When I wrote the scores on paper, I’d take the last note and put it first and vice versa. The bottom line there is when somebody played that note, there was no attack and it came out backwards. Think about it. Any note, whether soft or loud, has an attack on it. In this case, the accents were all in the back. We recorded them that way, and played the tape back three or four times faster making the trombones sound like trumpets. The stereo era was just beginning and the labels were trying to come up with crazy sounds to help demonstrate the new left/right effect. We were playing nice songs that everybody knew, but we also threw in some pretty far-out items. I think that Lowell Frank, the engineer, went mad trying to find all of the parts as we cut them apart and pasted them back together again. The album must have sold three copies. Sounds pretty "Space Age Batchelor Pad"-ish, sure, but I'm cool with that. Comstock is a writer with any number of tricks up his sleeve, from total schlock to pretty damn hip, so I might be interested in checking this one out. Anybody know this item?

I did not know that the Hi-Los recorded for MPS! This must have been some "reunion" album in the wake of the Singers Unlimited success? Thanks, Brownie.

Did they ever do a studio version of "Lazy Afternoon"? I heard something on the radio that sounded like them, but couldn't be sure. Pretty damn amazing, whoever it was. Who played lead trumpet on their Starlight sessions? I'm guessing maybe Conrad Gozzo, but whoever it was, was NUTS! I ask here because I seem to remember the noble M.I.A. hero Bill Fenohr answering a Hi-Los question on Board Krypton. Whether he did so from memory or from discographical consultation, I don't know, but if it was the latter, then there's hope here! As always, thanks in advance! (P.S. The very least that Mosaic can do to make amends to the Musical Gods for that abominable Four freshman set is to do some kind of Complete Hi-Los Starlight set. I think it would make a Select, sizewise. Forget the Hi-Los on Columbia, that shit's a relative drag for the most part - music for Singers Unlimited fans, if you know what I mean. The Starlight stuff, otoh, is WACK. Uncomfortably androgynous, insufferably "cute" at times, and undeniably "white" at all times, but all that's more than compensated for by things - usually in the same song! - that are just plain gonzo!)

Exactly.

And the rest of America is laughing its ass off!

So, what kind of "prison" will she be doing her time at, anyway?

InDEED.

The best thing about gigging is finally getting to be yourself, doing what you're supposed to be doing with your life, if it's a gig that allows for that. Even if it's not, it usaully (but not always) beats the HELL out of having to do something, anything, else. I'm currently doing a "straight" job, as well as gigging. The people on the "job" are all nice folk, and I'm treated with respect and all that, but IT'S NOT WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE DOING WITH MY LIFE. If I could make all the money my family currently needs by playing gigs, I'd do absolutely nothing else. I tell you this right now, as God is my witness - when the kids get fully grown and taken care of, I will never work another straight job in my life. May God strike me dead if I do. Seriously.

yes Can you figure out whom I had in their first? Just a wild guess...

The reissue is out NOW! At least, my preorder arrived yesterday. It's darn good, same as the original album. But a tale of industry skillduggerty exists. For a few years now, this item http://www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/cmcbride2.htm has left me wondering. Now, this item http://christianmcbride.com/mythang3.html?id=39 comes along and explains it all. Yet more reason to distrust the corporate music world (and dig the "leak" that Verve doesn't remix their reissues!). I'm gonna have to add a wing on to my house to hold all my bad feelings about shit like this (although what I'd really like to do is build wings on my ass to get the hell away from it!) Still - a darn fine album. I'd call it "great" but that would be my personal feeleings. Objectively, it's pretty darn good, and recommended to general jazz audiences.

All thngs considered, I'd give it 2.5-3 as far as the "general public" go. Just remember this album the next time anybody has fantasies of being a fly on the wall during a legend's (any legend's) practice sessions, with or without another legends presence (like when Sonny & Ornette practiced together). Practice and performance are two different things. I suspect that Sonny knew that when he gave the concert knowing that it would be recorded, but that's enough about that.

Dude, you know how many posts I started and then stopped because Little Debbie is a minor? They could have at least made her 18...