JSngry

More than.

Archie Campbell had his moments...

Da Bomb.

http://www.dr.dk/musik/jazz/anmeldelser/an...1256E1C008031E8 How is it? How old is it? Where can I get it? Sorry to be so lazy, but it's Sunday and I've been reorganizing my CDs all week. Give a man a break, ok? (BTW - that Danish Jazz Radio is pretty good!)

"Yes" to all of that!

Sure, I agree with that. A thing like "Until I Die" is pretty damn haunting, and I've gone on record as nominating "Caroline, No" as the saddest song ever written. And "For Once In My Life" But I still feel that underneath all the sadness and despair is a BELIEF in the joy, even when it cannoit be found, a refusal to go all the way over into a disbelief that there is joy to be had somewhere, somehow. Some call it hopelessly naive, but I find it inspirational, and not out of line with my own feelings. A fuckin' cock-eyed optimist, I am! As for "Forever Changes", I assume you mean the Love album. I'm embarassed to say that I've hear OF it for decades, but have not knowingly heard it in full. The time will come, for sure.

Yeah, the board's been running slow - it took me three days to get on!

Getting to know Chombo Silva will make you happy. Otherwise, go to www.descarga.com and dig in

Depends on what you mean by wiseguy....

Because the bass player is turned up so damned loud! Seriously - unless it's a style of music or a venue where amplification is either traditional or necessary, I'd just as soon do without it. I'm a Texas Tenor - I don't NEED no stinkin' microphone!

Your book gone to press yet? THAT'S a great story well told.

I hear you about Williams, Larry. I dug him a lot more when I was an impressionable teenager too. Serious vs "Serious" indeed! Still, the guy did a LOT of good stuff at the Smithsonian. Fault can be found, but when is that NOT the case?

THIS one?

Kevin - if I'm playing regularly, it's no problem. Blowing keeps the lungs elastic, or so it seems. If I'm not, well... Tom - I don't know if anybody else has denigrated R&B roots in a jazz musician, but you sure as hell won't hear me doing it. For one thing, it would be extremely hypocritical! The "dirty little secret" business merely meant that Concord hyped Hamilton as somebody who was coming purely out of the Swing Era, and Hamilton himself played along for quite a while. So the phrase is being used in reference to all the P.R. machinations (not too many Swing Buffs of the type that favored the Concord ouvre get a hardon for gritty R&B, although it's GOT to be for more than musical reasons), NOT the music itself. If anything, that's a "plus" for Hamilton in my mind - he really DOES have a good feel for the blues, a natural feel, unlike the "other guy" of this thread. At least that's how I hear and feel it. Individual mileage does indeed vary.

This one?

Featuring Frankie Tromboner on C-Meddling saxophone and necktie selection? Sure, all the cool kids have! Cigarette?

Just 3? What a pussy.

Larry - My commments about Martin Williams were based on non-specific rememberances of several critics' comments of the time coupled with a very specific rememberance of hearing Williams speak in 1980 as part of a panel before a Fred Hersch trio gig at some bookstore in NYC. Williams was absolutely LIVID about Hamilton, threatening to go into a John Cleese-like apoplexy at any second. It was freakin' HILARIOUS. I mean, I'm hanging out here on my first trip to NYC, getting ready to catch some free jazz by an up-and-coming young pianist whom I had been casually conversing with thanks to the introduction of the guy I was staying with, who had jammed w/Hersch a few times, and in the middle of it all, there's this old man, not just any old man, but MARTIN FREAKIN' WILLIAMS, about to blow innards all over the walls over this young tenor saxophonist that nobody I knew thought of at the time as too much more than a laughable novelty (at best). It was surrreal! Hamilton (or maybe, again, Concord) kept his R&B background well under wraps for quite a while. but little by little stories came out in dribs and drabbles, even from the man himself. What progress he's made over the years (and I might be one of the few who hears it, but by crickety, I DO hear it), seems to me to quite plausibly be from dropping the charade of being a Swing Kid and just shutting up and playing some blues, regardless of what tune (or type of tune) it is. That's good advice, more often than not...

CIRRUS HEAD ON KNUCKLEBEAN ACCENT ON THE BLUES

Whatever works is good with me. Which is nowhere as simplistic as it might sound...

I was talking to Sonny Stitts and Art Blakesly the other day, and they said that they told Tom that Organissimo was where it was at. I tried to get in touch with Hank Mobberly to get his opinion, but his service said he was out getting cigarettes and that he'd call me back. So far, no word, but keep your fingers crossed.

Actually, you got me on all three ... but when I was growing up, we were all into Bruce Springsteen as the patron saint of disaffected suburban teens ... "Tramps like us, baby we were born to run!" Well, there you have it. "Brian Wilson" and "disaffected" are antonyms. Which is really curious when you ponder the dysfuntional, abusive household he grew up in, as well as all the bullshit (a lot of it self-imposed, admittedly) over the years. I guess the thing that I empathize with in him (and in the spirit that I feel in his best music) is a refusal to let darkness totally overtake. Sure, I can get REAL dark sometimes, and I'm no stranger to disaffection. But those are both places and things that I end up at/with. It's not where I start from, never. Nor is it what I cling to as my defining elements. It's real, and I don't run from it, but there comes a time when you just have to let all the bullshit go and bask in the joy, whether it seems to have your name on it or not. To me, that's what Brian's best work is all about - not letting the darkness overtake the joy. If the darkness gets insane, so does the joy. Some people cry when things get too painful. Brian just adds another layer of voices and lets them fly away. Both ways work for me as long as they get you to the other side. There's fun fun fun to be had in life whether or not daddy takes the T-Bird away. This is a transcendant truth for the duration of one's life, not an inane teen anthem. This I do believe.

I've been looking for solo organ Gospel records for YEARS, but with very little luck. More information, please, including how to order this material! I will have to make an appointment with my storage unit to search for a remaining LP from the CGP records days. The name of the albums: Nostalgic Trip Vol I and II. I'll let you know what I find, although it will take a little while to move the mountain of belongings. At your leisure, sir, but know that you have a buyer (or possibly buyers!) any time you wish!

The thing about Hamilton that I think bugs/bugged some people (and DEFINITELY bugged Martin Williams, who as I remember it, was the most vocal exponent of the "he's not understanding the language" criticism), was that Hamilton appropriated the surface of the older style, but showed no real interest, not that I could hear, in it's finer points. So, yeah, if you were expecting a thoughtful examination of the essence of Ben Webster, et al, he was not your guy, contrary to the hype (which I think that he himself bought into for a while). What was Hamilton's "dirty little secret" (or perhaps it was Concord's) was that Scott Hamilton's REAL roots weren't in the Swing Era, but in R&B. This explains a lot of things about a lot of things, especially why Hamilton didn't really dig deep into the vernacular which he was appropriating, as well as why those who WERE conversant with it found him sorely lacking. A real ear-opener for me (and possibly a sigh of relief for Hamilton) was Duke Robillard's SWING album, a collection of music that was "jazz" in surface but R&B in style and intent. Hamilton seems to have felt a LOT more comfortable playing this stuff than he did trying to channel the then still-living Flip Phillips. Ever since then, it seemes like a bit more relaxation has crept into his playing, and a bit more stylistic signifying has crept out. Although he's not on my "favorites" list, I do find him to be an enjoyable listen on the radio, at parties, in restaurants, etc. Pure "entertainment", if you will, nothing more, but nothing lesseither. I like entertainment when it's right, and over the years Hamilton has gotten right to my ears.

The review should be written by Andy Kaufman