JSngry

Happy Birthday, Tony.

Damn, does EVERYBODY have a birthday this year?

I think it was the Rev. John Gensel (????) who called Prez a "poet of profanity" or some such. Carse his lnguage may indeed have been, but he was one of the very, very few who used such language in a totally non-abrasive manner. At least that's how it strikes me. I'd have like to have heard Prez with a smaller string ensemble myself, something nice and intimate, nothing overblown, some soft and inviting strings and a nice, mellow rhythm section. For that matter, Prez with Chico Hamilton's first quintet, the one with Jim Hall and Fred Katz, might have been all the sympathetic stringage the man needed. But as much as the man dug listening to Jo Stafford & Frank Sinatra, I'd think that in the right hands a strings date could have been darn successful.

I'm not a Buddy Basher, by any menas. I saw him live once or twice w/his big band, and the power of his music and personality (same thing?) was undeniable. I think he ahd a hard time finding players who could meet him head-on when he was fully unleashed, which is why he so often seems to be overpowering, I think. He was, but not necessarily due to his lack of "taste". He's going all out, compromise be damned, and not too many players were either technically or emotionally equipped to match him. Not that I find the results appealing, because as a rule, I don't. A bit "tunnel vision"-y for me in terms of focus. But I respect the hell outta him for both his chops and his musical integrity. Interestingly enough, a date where he impressed more than the hell outta me was the Groove Merchant date w/Lionel Hampton that resulted in "Psychedelic Sally" et. al. I first heard it on a cheap CD w/no personnel, and besides noticing that Hamp was in peak form, I couldn't help but notice that the drummer was totally kicking the whole bands' ass, and in a GOOD way. When I found out it was Buddy Rich, I was surprised, but only for a second. And, Hamp, btw, was meeting him head-on. That session reinforced two things that I always try to remember, even when it ain't easy - 1)never, NEVER underestimate Lionel Hampton; and 2)Be careful when dismissing Buddy Rich with "incredible chops, just not very musical"-type comments. They may very well be true quite often, but not always, and "not always" is what'll get you thrown in jail in the wrong county, if you know what I mean.

It is!

It is?

The difference, for me anyway, is that those dates were done several years earlier when the "swing to bop" thing was the vibe of the moment. By the time this date was cut, that vibe had already passed, and the playing of the three principals had subtly but definitely changed to the point where you notice Rich's anachronisms in a way that you don't Cole's or Big Sid's, mainly becasue they weren't anachronisms then.. Which perhaps leads to an interesting question - there's plenty of examples of older players successfully fitting in with more "modern" rhtyhm sections, but how often had the reverse succeded, of even been attempted? Gonna have to put the thinkin' cap on for this one, if I can find it...

AMG lists a Moody Muse CD called JAMES MOODY & THE HIP ORGAN TRIO, or something like that, which seems to be NEVER AGAIN coupled w/the organ tracks off of TRYPTYCH. Anybody ever, EVER, seen this? And somebody asked me a while back who the tenor player was on the Marvin cut. It's either Charles Owens (an intriguing figure in his own way) or Fernando Harkness, about whom I know nothing other than he's got a cool name.

Minnie had also been a significant voice (no pun intended) in the Rotary Connection, if you remember that wacked out crew. A major talent indeed, and somebody should post that album cover of hers where she's holding a melting ice crem cone in her hand while grinning the slyest of grins in th e Babe Thread as a tribute, except that that doesn't really pay tribute to her talent, but what the hell, we know what we mean, right?

Yeah, I thought that Bessie had been ruled out too. But that doesn't look like Bessie to me.

Guess it depends on intent and placement. Interludes, seques, etc. work for me if they're part of a well-planned overall form. Sort of like a transition shot in a movie. Or if it's a "gag" cut, one played for laughs, it usually works best at the end of an album. Of course, the pieces themselves have to work as intended, or else they're merely an annoyance. Either way, small doses of the technique is all I care for.

Thanks for those kind words. The Chicago thing really happened accidentally, but I myself became aware of it after finishing the final mix and began listening through the discs for the first time. I guess I've got an empathy for the sounds that have come out of that city over the years, perhaps related to me being a Texas jazz musician, another group that seems to all to often get relegated to "second-tier" status in terms of where people reflexively think to look for to find quality jazz that is a little different from the New York mainstream. I might even go so far as to say that although New York was unquestionably the center of the jazz world for a very, VERY long time, and still is the center of the jazz industry, I think the vast majority of new jazz that I find interesting and/or important is soming from somewhere else these days. Of course, the "seasoning" one gets from living and playing in New York is still nothing to sneeze at, but as far as producing new jazz (and not just of the "avant-garde" variety) that has personality and individuality to spare, a good, albeit far from automatic, case could be made that the action is really happening elsewhere today, especially in Chicago.

http://www.tantra.com/index.html

http://www.ideas4.co.uk/ideadetails.asp?idea_id=302&

Ma Rainey?

Dude, my book is well into Volume Two...

I made sure earlier to differentiate "light" from "lite", which is where I think Andre Previn, et al would fit for me, for the most part, at least in those more conspicuously "lite" settings. "Light" is ok by me!

It called Karezza. You don't actually download anything, you just sit there and let the music flow through your body...

As fate would have it, I found ART OF THE DUO, with Waldron, in the cutouts at a Hastings in Enid, OK a few weekends ago. Beautiful stuff. For a long time, the only Jim Pepper I knew was the PEPPER'S POW-WOW LP on Embryo, and I didn't like it at all. Too unfocused, too "stoned" for me. But about 20 years ago, somebody played me a private tape of Pepper & Jack Walrath playing in Boise, Idaho, of all places, and it was extremely compelling music, incredibly daring and quite intense. Since then, I've heard Pepper on other recordings, and dug him every time out. Definitely a talent deserving wider recognition.

Maybe Harry Allen was brought in to play uncredited bass or synth-bass. Or both! The "voyeur in the closet" for us listeners, if you will. I gotta rationalize the kink SOMEHOW!!!

I've heard the organ, but it never really registered. DOH! The woman continues to mess with my mind...

"Life lessons" highlighted in boldface. Proof that truth is where you find it, I suppose... Nude Man Pulled From Chimney on Christmas Dec 26, 10:09 AM (ET) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A naked man got stuck in the chimney of a bookstore early Christmas morning. Don't worry, it wasn't Santa Claus. The 34-year-old man was treated Thursday for bruises and abrasions at Hennepin County Medical Center after being found naked and lodged in the furnace flue at Uncle Hugo's Bookstore. He was expected to be charged with attempted burglary on Friday. "He was lucky," said police Lt. Mike Sauro. "He was only stuck in that chimney for a few hours. It's kind of a happy ending, because if he had been in there until that store opened Friday morning, it's my judgment he would have died. "He doesn't appear to be a hard-core criminal, just stupid." Police suspect that the man was drunk when he climbed atop the one-story building and removed all his clothes to help squeeze into the chimney. He then started to slide down the 12-by-12-inch chimney shaft, Sauro said. "He's not Santa Claus," Sauro said. "He's a really skinny guy. And he's lucky he didn't get cooked." The man told police that he entered the chimney about 1 a.m. Thursday to retrieve keys he accidentally dropped down the shaft. A passer-by called police around 9 a.m. Thursday, after hearing screams for help coming from inside the store. Firefighters broke into the chimney with sledgehammers and freed the man. "The store is pretty well torn up," said owner Don Blyly, who came in Thursday to hang up signs for a sale to begin Friday. "This is not what I came in here for today, but that's what I have to deal with."

Well, the very name "blindfold" test has an intrigue all its own... And is it just me, or does Carla Bley just have an intinsic kink stimulation factor built into her image? Not to dismiss her musical accomplishments, which are at the very least formidable, but outside of that, the woman's appearance and persona gets my imagination going down some pretty, uh, "interesting" avenues, and her musical brilliance just heightens the allure. I'm busted, I know. But am I the only one?

Reputed NY Mobster Shoots Man for Heckling Singer Dec 26, 7:22 am ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - The scene in one of New York's fabled Italian restaurants would have done "The Sopranos" TV scriptwriters proud -- a reputed mobster shot a man dead for heckling a woman singer. Police said Broadway chanteuse Rena Strober was singing "Don't Rain on My Parade" at Rao's, an East Harlem restaurant, Monday night when a patron, Albert Circelli, criticized her performance. Reputed Luchese crime family associate Louis Barone told him to watch his mouth but when Circelli swore in response, Barone pulled out a .38-caliber revolver and shot him in the back, police said. A second shot fired by Barone hit another diner, Al Petraglia, 57, in the foot, police said. Barone dropped the revolver, walked out of the restaurant and was arrested by police officers. Circelli, 37, died of his wounds and Petraglia was treated in the hospital, police said. Rao's is a 10-table restaurant that accommodates only 40 people. It has a reputation for exclusivity and a Mafia mystique, but police said the shooting was not a mob "hit." Barone, 67, has a record of arrests for gambling and weapons possession dating back four decades. He could be a character in "The Sopranos," a popular cable TV show about an organized crime family in neighboring New Jersey. Barone appeared in Manhattan criminal court Wednesday on charges of second degree murder, assault and weapons possession. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life. New York tabloids had a field day."Songfella" read the front page of the Daily News, "Bullets Bolognese at Rao's as wiseguy whacks a wise guy who insults singer." The New York Post headline was "Swan Song" and "Diva diss sparked geezer's gunfire."

Family Sues After Dad's Head Found in Shed Dec 28, 7:53 AM (ET) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The children of a cancer patient who donated his body for research filed a lawsuit after learning their father's embalmed head was kept in a tool shed for nearly 11 years. The head of Osie K. Whitten, who died Dec. 24, 1990, of colon cancer, was among 150 pounds of human cadaver parts allegedly removed from the medical center at the University of California, Davis, by a former autopsy assistant. David Lawrence Beale, who worked for Pathology Support Services Inc., which managed the medical center's morgue and autopsy service, was arrested last summer after the remains were found among his belongings. He pleaded not guilty to charges of receiving stolen property and possession of methamphetamines. Police say Beale told them he used the remains to hone his dissection skills. The medical center, Beale and Pathology Support Services were named in the lawsuit filed by Whitten's children. The medical center said it could not comment; it previously said it had changed the way human remains are handled. Pathology Support Services said Beale's activities were not part of his job.