JSngry

Nowhere to go from here but down.

Have we made it clear? Bebop spoken here!

If Gibbs tries to install Interstate batteries in his running backs, you'll know he's been away too long. Otherwise, I'd think he's still a force to be reckoned with. The guy always had his act together, and that kind of character should not be taken lightly. Look at Dick Vermeil, for instance.

SOMETHING has to be, doesn't it?

So do I! Perfect accompaniment for the bermudas...

Not bad. Keep in mind that the days of this kind of music being "new" for these guys was long gone even then, but staleness had yet to set in. It's a work of "refinement" rather than "discovery", but refinement holds many delights of its own.

Found a copy of Ms. Carroll's first 70s BN LP (w/inner sleeve punch-out send-in form to get "Blue Note Hits A New Note" merchandise fully intact, btw. No expiration date, either!), and was decidedly non-plussed. Sounded like Bill Evans with all the Bill Evans removed, or something like that. Yet, I know this woman's playing has a positive reputation in some circles. So what's the deal? Has she always been one of those players that have an adoring circle of fans but everybody else goes, "So what?" or was she once a player of some substance? Or - is this a good album that I just don't get?

They need to be out for histroical reasons, definitely. Musically, I'd rather see the "Silver 'N' X" series, I think there's more meat there, I think, but getting the USOM trilogy out on CD is a necessity, imo. It was a project near and dear to Horace, supposedly, and although I can guarantee that a lot of people won't like it, that's life. I've got mixed feelings about it myself, but bottom line - it's Horace. And "Total Response" is one of the funkiest tunes BN ever released!

Patton's Nilva LP is the "missing link" as well as da'BOMB!

More of the latter. Woodard's a good player whom I like well enough. Horace's tunes are such that I enjoy them interpreted either with lots of grit (ala the vets) or lots of spunk (ala Joe, Tyrone, etc). The classic Silver front line of Blue & Jr. had both, as did several of their immediate successors, but cats like Woodard, although fine players I enjoy in other settings, don't bring enough of either to really satisfy me in this setting. Although, to be fair to them, Horace hired them, so he likes it, which is what counts, right? And like I said earlier, if what I hear is right, when you take Horace's gig, you play it his way if you want to keep the gig., which is the way the world works, right? Guys like Miles or Mingus who damn near demand that you push them are few and far between. Still, I'd sure like to hear what somebody like Shelley Carroll could bring to the gig. Or Fathead. Or Marchel Ivery. Or all three.

Various West Coast cats, including Paul Horn & John Pisano, a.o. The later stuff gets into some "free" type music w/Robert Campbell (?), and the most recent thing I've heard by him (released on some kind of Grateful Dead-related label) is kinda "trance-y/electronica". These days, he's no longer "fun" as much as he is "whimsical/mystical", and he does it quite nicely, I think. And then there's the Levi's and Taster's Choice commercials!

Anybody ever heard Oliphan's Prestige stuff? Has that been on CD anywhere? I'm curious. All I've heard is THE GRASS IS GREENER, and I like it quite a bit.

Love the voice, love the perspective. The Word Jazz stuff gets a little cutesy at times, but when it's good, it's great. And the post-WJ stuff is REALLY interesting, especially COLORS. "Middlebrow" all the way, but I'm cool with that. Ken Nordine is all right with me. How are things in your town?

What's the password?

Rhetorical question, btw.

Why does Japan get all the good shit?

Good question.

Domestically? I've never seen them before. Are they issued as a two-fer, or individually? Prima had his own label in the mid-late 60s, and I think his daughter might be reissuing the releases. Don't quote me on any of this, though. I could be wrong. But I seem to remember seeing THE KING OF CLUBS in a used LP bin once upon a time. Sam Butera has also been releasing things under his own name for quite some time now, too. What I've heard of them has been nice. "Light", but nice. The guy's a better player than you might think, and a consummate "entertainer" in the best sense of the word. I hear his health is beginning to falter, but he's still out there gigging. Lena Prima (the daughter) has her own web site http://onestientertainment.com/pages/lena_...lena_prima.html and apparently a schtick of her own. Kinda creepy if you ask me, but everybody's got to be someplace, right?

You got me there. For me, Tony's thing was an actual band working on some new music (agreed about Tony's maturation as a writer, btw) over time, a very "organic" process. And Roney, well, I hate him becasue he's married to Geri Allen , but besides that, his status as "heir apparent" to Miles based on the Montreaus thing, something he might not have asked for, but something he certainly didn't take any noticable steps to dispel, certainly didn't work to his favor in these Tribute band. I mean, nobody could replace Miles, but at least Freddie had a character of his own, which he brought to the VSOP muisc. Roney just seemed to be "role-playing" (even if it might have been a role which he came by naturally), as did everybody else involved. I think a lot of people expected more from those guys than role-playing. I know I did.

If anybody can make those admittedly, uh, "idyosyncratic" lyrics work, it's Andy Bey. I just wish that Horace would lose the "neo-con" horn players and either go with vets (the sessions w/Red Holloway and/or Eddie Harris work just fine for me, and then some) or young guys who feel a little frisky. But he knows what he wants, I suppose, and his unease w/the Shaw/Washington front line, as well as the later Brecker brothers front line (I've heard a private tape where Michael, who I really don't care for as a rule, is just SCORCHING, but the word is that Horace put the kibosh on that kind of thing, which led to a parting of the ways) tells me that what he wants is not too much, if any, pushing of the envelope, even though his music is more than capable of standing up to some pretty extreme pushing. But hey, it's Horace Silver, ya'know? It's all good.

Agreed, but I think the song selection and pacing was intentional. sort of a "mood" album ala those of Tina Louise & Julie London, to use two totally disparate examples. Her singing is tentative in spots, but at times she shows a really good ear for harmony and phrasing. Like I said, far from perfect, but overall, there's been worse made by better. AND by worse that's been released. I'm just wondering if the decision to withold the album was for musical or "political" reasons. If her biographer doesn't know, who would? Oscar Peterson, perhaps?

Not to my knowledge.

Well hey. The first VSOP had the "they've been playing fusion, how has it affected their jazz playing?" allure, as well as the "you know, a lot of this stuff never really got played live" thing happening. Plus, it was "Freddie 'fronting' Miles' band, how's THAT going to be?" All of which, I think, were legitimate issues for players and listeners alike. But by the time this last thing rolled around, all those dynamics had played out and been resolved for all concerned. Now it was like "Miles died, let's get Wallace Roney and do the album/tour TRIBUTE thing" which is not even remotely the same dynamic. I've got a promo "interview" CD that was put out in conjunction w/the actual album, and it's the biggest bunch of nothing you'll ever hear - cliched soundbites clearly made to create a consumer-ready "image" of Miles and this music. Ho-fucking-hum.... It's not "bad", really, it's not. It just reeks with the stench of whoredom, and although that's a fact of life in the music biz, this is music I'd rather not have tainted by that kind of reality. But good luck on that one.

That's no limb, Dude, that's the trunk of Absolute Certainty!