JSngry

Found the Williams/Edison disc Saturday, bought it, and listened to it twice yesterday. I was expecting/hoping to like it. I didn't. Boring. Trite arrangements, with every gap filled by these predictable little scored licks instead of an instrumentalist adding some personality, few to no solos, and WAY too "light and polite" for my tastes. Nobody's best, or even remotely best work. Sweets is on EXTREME autopilot (although there is one passage on OPEN horn), and Joe is doing his best supper club act. A few (literally!) good bars of Jimmy Forest here and there, but that's it. I might pull it out again in five years and be blown away by it, but it will be AT LEAST that long before I find out. A major disappointment for me, I'm afraid.

How can one be a minor AND be a man, at least legally? I'm confused. Maybe he meant "miner" instead - they come in all ages! Or maybe he was really saying "My Norman". Maybe it's the latest in hepcatjivetalk and the rest of us just aren't gone enough to dig his crazy lingo. That darn Stanley - always saying stuff!

Oh, one more - who, if anybody, was considered the "direct heir" to Ike Day? Wilbur Campbell?

Doesn't sound THAT far-fetched, Mike. Well, ok, maybe it does, but you never know... What was Von doing in Vegas? Gigging? Wonder if he crossed paths w/James Moody out there (for those who don't know, Moody spent the early 70s doing pit band work in Vegas, having become disillusioned with having any more of a career in jazz). How long was Von out there? Was Chico with him? How many short annoying questions can I ask at once?

If I nominated "Take A Look At Those Cakes", you'd think I was kidding, but I'm not.

Hey, if MY kid was crying and had to go to the hospital, I'd be DAMN sure to hold out for the Hello Kitty Cab...

53? Damn... Happy Birthday, SIR!!!!

I'd like to know how active Von was w/the early AACM cats. I remember Larry, I think, telling a story about Jarman sitting in w/Von and Von playing in Jarman's style, and I definitely hear a Vonish thing (or is it just a Chicago thing) happening in the AACM tenor players to this day, but was Von actively supportive of these guys, openmindedly interested, or just bemusedly tolearant? Seems to me like he could appreciate a lot of what they were into, based on hiis own concept. Also, did anybody hear Amina playing with Jug? How active in the AACM was she? And finally, part three (or 2B), on a somewhat unrelated note to what's been under discussion so far, what was the scene like with Jug's local gigs? Over the years, I've talked to three different African-American males of roughly the age who frequented Jug's gigs. None of them knew the others, but all three began to shed tears when reminiscing about those gigs. There seemed to be a lot of love in the general community for the cat. Just wondering if anybody here got a taste of that scene. I went to college w/a cuppla white guys from Chicago, and when I asked them if they ever checked out Gene Ammons, they just said simething about being scared of the neighborhood. I'm wondering if these guys were just chicken, both socially and musically. Obviously, and not surprisingly, different people have different stories!

I wonder if we'll get a complaint from The Well like we did with the golf site?

Emmitt seems to have punked out, which saddens me to no end. The ONLY sad thing about the game, though...

There's only voices on one side of the CAPRA-BLACK LP. Side One (entitled "Capra") is purely instrumental and contains the title tune, "Sir Galahad" (ELVIN ALERT!), & "New Breed". Side Two ("Black") has the voices, and it is beautiful. Two tunes - "Soulfully, I Love You/Black Spiritual Of Love", and "Cry Of Hunger!". If you only know the latter form its appearance on Gil Evans' SVENGALI album, know that this version is a lot, a WHOLE lot, closer to what I sense as the "intent" of the piece (and I dig Gil's version muchly). I'll reprint Billy's notes about this composition, because I think it'll give you a good idea of what to expect, and a good take on Billy's overall esthetic. 2. Cry Of Hunger! Contrary to that condiditon that most men describe as obligation, or desire, or exigency, when in fact, it is really greed, I am speaking of a hunger justified by true and honest need. This is a composition that expresses with its projection as well as with its form, the sound of hunger - be it the hunger of love, lust, security, revolution, excitement. peace, unity. It states the hunger that most men have, and to be more explicit, the hunger that lives within "the struggle". The Cry begins in turmoil until it builds to an abrupt release, then the struggle starts again. This cycle is repeated with release and the finishing strife, then comes a section of peace and faith..."There'll be e-nough some-day." After the calm, comes the strife and struggle again, because man will make it so. And still again, as the composition dictates...perhaps: "There'll be e-nough some-day." You probably got to hear it to get all that, but it's a pretty strong piece of music, and the voices are superbly effective in conveying the message. It moves me deeply every time I hear it.

Oh geez...I never noticed the hint of a moustache. I was looking, uh...."elsewhere". But that would explain a LOT of things.

Wow. I never figured it to be such a "strong" word. Thanks for that info. Another question answered thru the Internet. THESE are the good old days!

As I slowly but surely get answers to every unanswered answerable question ever I've had over the years courtesy of the Internet, it is now time for this one to step up for consideration. In the movie "Alfie", Michael Caine's title character settles into a happy relationship for a while, but soon gets ribbed by his buddies for looking "poncified" (at least that's how I hear it). My queston is a simple one - exactly what does "poncified" mean, and what is the derivation of it? Is it a general usage term, or peculiar to one particualar group? My guess is that it means a bit flabby or fatty, as in comfortable, settled, and well-fed, but it's a word I've never heard outside of this movie. So help a poor, uneducated, provincial Yank out here, will ya'? I'm going to bed now, but as always, thanks in advance.

Stacy seems to pop up in a LOT of these pictures. She's a totally lovely young woman, which makes one wonder what the hell she's doing spending so much time in a cheesepit like The Well. I bet Stacy's got a story. And I bet it ain't pretty...

Love ya', Pudge. Miss ya' too.

Same question here. I know he royally botched the SUCH SWEET THUNDER reissue, but what about Newport? I know about the Clark Terry solo flap, but what else happened with that one? That was enough!

Air could do no wrong. If Chuck Nessa did wrong with his recordings, he kept it to himself from what I can see. This is a great record folks. Order it now and listen to it often between now and then. It might need some time to "sink in" for some of you, but give it that time. Some of the music might grab you immediately, and some of it might not reveal its charms until after a few listenings. But I tell you - this was a group of immense talent, vision, humor (LOTS of humor), originality and soul (LOTS of soul, too). Just because you might, MIGHT not hear it the first time out don't mean it's not there. It is. If you end up not liking it, that's cool, dufferent strokes. But I think a lot of you who haven't heard Air WILL dig them and this album. Check'em out.

Hmmm... "Kid Laura", that's got a NICE derogatory ring to it!

More Max w/voices, and perhaps more "accessable" than the Atlantic:

No image of "Between Two Kings" available, but that's one of the best piano trio albums of the last 20 years, imo. Bertha is the real deal. All her stuff bears checking out.

Same question here. I know he royally botched the SUCH SWEET THUNDER reissue, but what about Newport?

$20 CD (w/a portion going to a good cause) HERE.

$15 (American) sealed "new reissue" LP copy HERE. I can't vouch for any of these sellers (other than Dusty Groove), btw. But it seems to be out there for you if you do vinyl.