JSngry

I know what you mean about that doubt (btw - was it you who wrote the Down Beat review of EAST BROADWAY RUNDOWN, the one that described it as brilliant but ultimately unsettling? Very perceptive, I thought, whover it was), and I hear a LOT of it throughout the 70s and 80s, which makes the triumphs all the more thrilling - it's like "YES! The battle's being won!". But I listen to a live set like the grey-market "Just Once", or a studio album like +3, or something like "Did You See Harold Vick" on THIS IS WHAT I DO, or the thing he did with Leonard Cohen on the old Night Music Show, or his performance on the Dizzy Gillespie tribute that aired on PBS, and I'm left with no choice but to believe that in spite of all the doubt, that cat still knows. Maybe more than ever, because you don't really appreciate what you can and do have until you find out want you want but can't have. It's the tension between the knowing and the doubt that keeps him relevant to me, becsue how many great jazz players have been that open about it for so long? Most, even the greatest ones, find a comfort zone of sorts, a place where they can "do their thing" in a relatively worry-free zone (see Miles in the 80s), or else they die. People wonder what would have happened if Trane of Bird had lived. Well, I think it's probably best that they died (from a purely musical standpoint). "Bird wanted to study with Varese! Imagine what he would have come up with had he lived!" some people say. Well, I've tried imagining it, and frankly, I just can't hear it. Bird was a genius all right, and most certainly superhuman in his ability to take in everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, and play it back in real time, but he was still a human, and humans have their limits. Even superhumans. Same thing with Trane. What else could he have done? Not what else was there for somebody ELSE do do, what else could HE have done? In all honesty, I think the answer is nothing. But Sonny, Sonny has refused to die. That has been both his blessing (from a non-musical standpoint) and his curse in a most profound way, I think. His choice to live (and he talked about that, albeit rather circuiously with Terri Gross on a fscinating Fresh Air interview a few years ago) meant that he was going to have to confront reality in a way that those who play straight through to the exit sign never do. I think his lenghty obsession with funk rhythms throughout the 70s on into the early 80s was the equivalent of Bird studying going into Vareseland - he desperately WANTED it to work (your "street corner" reference is dead-on imo), saw no reason why it SHOULDN'T work (and there are tantalizing moments on THE CUTTING EDGE where it comes so close to working that you can't blame the guy for continuing to try), but he finally had to face the fact that, no, it WASN'T going to work. Goliath had met his David. A grey-market item called FIRST MOVES reveals the ultimate fruitlessness of this stubborn attempt, and the horrifically titled THE WAY I FEEL was so desultory that it me thinking that maybe Sonny was regretting still being alive (or at least alive and playing). I think it was then that Sonny began to realize that you can't have it both ways, that you can't be both infinitely broad AND infinitely deep, and that if you want to hold onto your know for the duration, you're going to have to develop your knowhow. And I think that that entailed a certain ammount of surrender on his part as far as the marketplace went. This whole "World's Greatest Living Improvisor" thing, a tag that is hyperbolic and condescending all at once, must be a cruel joke to him, because I'm pretty sure that he knows his failings and ultimate limitations better than anybody. That's part of the know, and that's something that we ALL have to come to grips with if we live long enough and honestly enough. If Sonny ran faster and jumped higher than most for longer than most, the fact remains - he eventually hit the wall. But I think, no, I believe, that Rollins survives to this day with his know intact, and that if he is perhaps neurotic about shielding it, that it is still what keeps him going, and a source of joy, strength, and power to him, if for no other reason than he now knows what ir REALLY is. I've been "accused" before of somehow "projecting" all this into Rollins' carrer, that it's really as simple as that he lost his way and never got back. I refuse to accept this, because even if the triumphs have come (or at least been documented) with drastically less frequency than they did in the Glory Days, they still exist. But, for the sake of argument, if that scenario is true, that Sonny Rollins is a study in tragedy, of fallen and destroyed greatness of epic proportion, we still have to consider the fact that it's still an ongoing saga, and that in order to get the full meaning of the full story, we're going to have to give equally serious consideration to every chapter of that story, to view it as a whole, and go from there. The old man still has stories to tell, and even if we don't necessarily like them (or if they're not even particulary GOOD stories), they're still stories that nobody else could tell, so I'm going to listen now and sort it all out later. There's still some lessons to be had there, and for me, those lessons are worth taking. I mean, would be be having this discussion about Benny Golson?

Here's to life!

Yeah, that's a big part of it, but even more noticable to me is the way the whole band seems to be thinking and breathing together, like it really is one mind at work rather than a collection of individuals playing together. You can sense it from the first cut, on "Up From The Skies" - that phrasing would defy all but the most intricate notation (and maybe even that!), but it's TOTALLY Together. And relaxed. And loose. All at once. When I talked in the Andrew Hill PASSING SHIPS thread about feeling that something is together at the highest level of intuitivity (is that a word?) possible, this is the kind of thing I was referring to. There was so much improvisation in Gil's later bands, and sometimes the results were outright sloppy, or at least a little awkward, as it seemed that not everybody was moving towards the same place at the same speed. That's the risk of working without a net. But there's NONE of that here. "Subway" scared the shit out of me the first time I heard it, and has given me chills everytime since. It's a seamless performance that keps building and building, yet it never loses control. And, all the improvisation, in both the solos and the ensembles, is towards a single end, perfectly in sync, and that's something that did not always happen with this band. Or ANY band! "For Bud And Bird" is just freakin' RIDICULOUS. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've not heard a big band combine written and improvised playing with this much unity, this much sheer fun and joy, and this much swing since the early Basie Band. That's as good as it's gonna get, and this is in the same league. I kid you not. It's magic, I tell you, pure magic.

Larry, although I came to know Rollins in the 70s, that's exactly how he struck me then, and stll strikes me now. The key phrase for me is he knew EVERYTHING that mattered, or at least more than anyone else--accumulated novel wisdom plus the authority of an on-the-edge-of-the-horizon explorer. That's something that I've always gotten from him, even through the quite uneven last 30 years of recordings. On nearly every one of them, there's at least ONE cut where I hear what he's doing and reflexively think, "this cat KNOWS". I can only imagein how bleak those albums must sound to somebody who came up with him in "real time". Hell, a lot of it sounds bleak to ME. But the one time I heard him live was a near mystical experience, as are some of the live shows I've been able to collect and the few TV appearances I've seen him do. I often get the impression that he knows more than is useful for functioning in the jazz world of today, so he pulls back into a zone that is private to the point of impenetrabilty, and just drops little hints here and there of what's REALLY going on inside. This surely frustrates a lot of people, and understandably so. But I grant him that, because the hints that he drops are more than enough to keep me pondering. Others do not feel that way, obviously. On the other hand, the cat is still alive, healthy, and fully functional musically, a little hollowing of the tone over the last few years notwithstanding. Considering the environment that he came up in, and how many of his peers he has outlived in both chronological time and musical fecundity, I gotta allow for the possibility that his "pulling back" is intentional, that after all the senseless death and premature burning out that he witnessed first hand (and probably came too close for comfort to being a part of), he made a conscious decision to stick around as long as possible by any means necessary. To that end, I think that the reason we don't really hear anything "new" out of him anymore is that he's already found all the "new" that is his to find. Can anybody REALLY go past his boldest explorations of the 1960s and still stay within the conventional frameworks of "jazz", of playing "songs"? That's not to say that there's no new areas left toe xplore, just that Rollins must have come to the conclusion that wherever he went, he would already have been there. So now, I wonder if the adventure for him is not in the discovery of the new, but instead in the pursuit of that zone where it all happens naturally and without hindrance. In other words, where the joy comes not from climbing those mountains, but from just being there and humbly enjoying the view, a view that none but a handful have ever seen. That might explain a lot of things, especially the records. Doing it live is one thing, but once you put it on record, everything changes, as Sonny found out in the wake of the "thematic improvisation" frenzy of the 50s. There went his neighborhood... Some people say that Rollins has lost it these days. Some say that he coasts. I say that there's GOT to be more to it than that. What that "more" is, I'll probaly never have as much as a clue, but I refuse to be convinced that it's possible to lose all the "know" that Sonny Rollins once displayed frequently and freely. A sleeping giant is still a giant, and lest we mock him for sleeping so much, we should ask ourselves what kind of dreams he might be having that entice him into such slumber. And DEFINTELY listen to him when he talks in his sleep. Besides, I think he sleeps a LOT less than some people think he does.

Dude, if you been taking notes the last few years, you should win MVP. You done heard all my good stuff! Well, ALMOST all of it...

Yes, and I'll contact you (and the others who asked similar questions about participation and distribution) next week. Right now, I'm going to hang here for a few minutes, go to bed, sleep until I wake up, and then proceed with an exteremely full weekend.

Dude, if you say what's on your mind, that's interesting enough. I myself feel challenged to play the "identify THIS" game, but that's just me. Personally, I think that anything that anybody has to say is interesting, as long as they're reacting honestly, and putting some thought and feeling into what they're saying. You mught get roundly disagreed with, but go with that. Nobody knows how a piece of music hits YOU better than you. So speak out, and speak honestly. Ain't no way to be "wrong" when you do that!

No, but George Coleman is a distinct possibility. On alto, of course...

No need for anybody to worry. I'm planning on including selections of nearly every level of "difficulty". There wil be some that almost everybody should get, and some that maybe nobody will get. My "plan", such as it is, is to use the test to expose musicians that I think more people might have an interest in if they only knew about them, AND to present musicians that are fairly well-known in such a way that you, the listener, will be forced to "think outside the box" of the usual stereotypes of these players and focus on the individual sound of the player rather than coast along on overall context. You want a theme upfront? There is is - "People You Probably Know In A Way You Might Not Expect, & People Who You Might Not Know But Might Want To, Approximately". Dylan would be proud. There will be some attempted mindfucking, but it's not going to be a "hey, I so damn hip look at what I got!" kinda way. Any "tricks" will be done for the purpose of focusing on a musical point. Don't worry about if I'm a musician and you're not. Big whoop. This ain't gonna be no theory class, ok? It's going to be about LISTENING, and enjoying. Nothing more. Hopefully, what you find out you know, or don't know, will help clarify where you do or don't want to go in your future musical explorations, in terms of both specific artists, and, maybe, in how you go about listening. There will be music to please most every taste, and there will be music to offend most every taste. But I'm not trying to change anybody's mind. I'm just trying to get some stuff out there to give y'all a taste of some stuff you might not know about. I'm not Mister Au Courant by any means, but as some of you all have been kind enough to say, I have a musical base that is both broad and deep. I'm nowhere near being as broad or as deep as some, but I'm working on that, and hopefully, some of y'all are too. Whatever "knowledge" I have (and it's debatable if I truly have ANY), didn't come all at once, it came by constantly keeping an open ear and an open mind and paying attention whenever somebody knew about something that I didn't have a clue about. More to come. It's going to take a few weeks to get the music and distribution together, but I'm looking forward to sharing some of my favorite pleasures with y'all. Let's have some BIG fun with this!

I'm sure that somebody will suggest you try a Mac. They seem to NEVER have problems....

George Adams cutting loose on "Little Wing"... People, if you're so inclined, grab these things NOW. You won't regret it.

Do you mean you have it with the text horizontal? I have only ever seen it with the text vertical. Wow... I bought this on LP back in '74 or so, and have seen it in older editions, including, I think, 5o-whatever Street (maybe even Lexington Avenue, I dunno, I'm not a stickler for that kind of stuff) versions. The text has always been horizontal. Never seen it any other way! Maybe they did it differently outside the U.S.?

Not that I've ever seen.

Well, I guess he'll be closing his eyes when he gets his lips kissed NOW... Sorry, bad joke. R.I.P.

I see that Mr. Wilkes is introducing yet ANOTHER Fred Jackson to the jazz world! http://www.coreywilkes.com/sightssounds.htm

The costs would be all mine. All assistants would be reimbursed. The reason I ask, is that I havw a LOT of good BT test material that runs in the 9-12 minute range, and could do a really good job with a 90 minute or so test. But if the desire is to keep it to a single disc, I can certainly stay within that parameter. I got stuff that works that way too.

Used to have a few of these when I was a kid and collected coins... Well, not 1913s, but other Liberty Heads.

They tried building a mint near Three Mile Island, but...

Perplexed as to why you money disappears so fast? Well, wonder no more!

Currency-induced identity crisis, real or imagined? Here's one little fella who says "REAL!!!"

Be with y'all shortly. I got a turntable supposed to be in either late this week or early next. This week is hectic here at home, but I think next week will be calmer, so plans should begin to come into focus then. One question up front - is there mass adamant opposition to a test that runs longer than a single CD-R?

Well, in fairness to Dr. Soup, all he says is that Blakey showed up and a fight ensued. He doesn't say that Blakey actually MURDERED Bird. So maybe, like, they had words, maybe a punch or two got thrown, Blakey left, and then Bird's body just stopped working. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'm still not buying it, but if any of you think that Blakey was a saint or some such, and would never hurt a fly or a Bird, you've heard substantially different stories over the years than I have. 'Nuff said. What I find more intriguing is the notion that Sun Ra killed Trane by putting a curse on him for stealing a lot of Ra's concepts without really "understanding" them. This is a story related to me by somebody who spent a good deal of time hanging out with Clifford Thornton (yeah, I know...) in the early 70s. Supposedly the heat on Ra after Trane passed was a major factor in his relocation from NYC to Philly. This is a story that some musicians of the time and place will admit to having heard, although they will neither confirm nor deny their belief in it. Do I believe that Ra was actually responsible for Trane's death? No, not even a little. Do I believe that Ra was talking a lot of shit about Trane, and maybe even DID put a "curse" on him? That seems quite plausible, as does the possibility that Ra got some heat after Trane's death from some quarters.

That's a drag. Hang tight, bro. They can hurt us, but they can't kill us. Only we can do that.