JSngry

Don't remember exactly. '77 or '78, I think. Maybe '79. Played w/Prime Time, and it ROCKED. Milton Berle was the host. Don't know if this is still the case, but when the original cast episodes first went into sydication and were made available for retail sale, this was the one episode that ws witheld, due to Berle's incessant and obnoxious hamming and piss-poor adlibbing. Vintage Uncle Miltie is a treat in it's own way, but this is not pretty. Too bad that Ornette got caught in the middle. Betty Carter was on in either the first or second season, and THAT was something to both see and hear. Hope that gets included, as well as the first appearance by Elvis Costello. Hell, the ENTIRE Ray Charles as host show should come out in a separate volume. THAT was some shit! Now, when is NIGHT MUSIC going to be made available?

Sorry, I guess I remembered your e-mail address and transposed the "s". My bad. Do you have any of those albums Leo Wright did w/Oscar Castro-Neves? I'm wondering if this might not be from one of those. The alto tone suggests Wright, or even Robin Kenyatta. The studio and piano sounds suggest Atlantic, but I find nothing in their catalog to lead any further.

Like I said, is there an English translation available?

Yes, as a matter of fact! Is there an English translation of that thing Claude posted available anywhere?

"Yes" now leads "Yes" by a margin of 4-1. You gotta wonder if there might not be a voting booth irregularity in the precinct that shows only one "Yes" vote since it's a traditionally "Yes" stronghold. This could be a story to watch...

If the question is if the distortion is on the original issue, the answer is yes. Don't think that this was "professionally" recorded, so some distortion was probably inevitable. I can live with it.

I see that "Yes" is leading "Yes" by a vote of 3-1. Too close to call right now...

You don't hear Irv Cottler in too many small group situations either.

Some good Pony here. in the front-line company of Lee Konitz, Leo Wright, & Phil Woods.

A totally lovely turn of phrase Larry. Mind if I use it sometimes when nobody's looking?

I'm pretty confident about #s 5 & 10. Don't know the tunes, but my origianl guess as to artists have only been strengthened by further listening. What's REALLY beginning to bug me now is #7. That altoist sounds too familiar for me not to know him. The more I listen, the more I think there's somebody Brazillian (or at leas South American) involved, perhaps the pianist, and possibly the drummer. Mr. Rowans, ye olde Brazil Nutte, any ideas?

Well, as long as it's not the Chordettes, I can live with it.

Well, if you're looking for Hard Bop Sonny, this ain't the one to get, that's for sure. But if you can handle some really masterful manipulations of tone, time, and nuance in a decidedly non-melodic fashion, then check it out and see what you think. The later 60s found Rollins in another one of his periods of personal and career dissatisfaction, and after this album, he went to India to study Yoga (but not before playing a mind-blowing gig in Denmark that was captured on a private recording and issued by Moon on 2 CDs). You can sense that restlessness pretty strongly on EBR. In fact, the Down Beat review of the time refered to it as a "disturbing" record (although the reviewer gave it 5 stars, if I remember correctly). I can agree, in a sense, with those who say that Sonny sounds "lost" here, but only on a personal level. The musicianship he displays here is astounding - the control of all the variances of his tone has seldom been better displayed, and his time and rhythm, arguably the most flexible and detailed in the history of jazz, is to the fore here in the service of him telling his story. So for me, "lost" is sort of the point here. If that's where he was, then that's the story he should tell, and tell it he does. But, like Homer's Ulysses, the adventures of a lost Sonny Rollins make for some pretty intense tales, masterly told. If they are not necessarily "pleasant" tales, then so be it. They are nevertheless real, and they are definitely gripping and suspenseful, at least for me. The closest thing to it in Rollins' "official" discography is the version of "Green Dolphin Street" from ON IMPULSE, where Sonny is there, but not there all at once, like a shadow. I've mentioned in the past how Rollins' interest in the metaphysical comes through in his 60s work (this is just my opinion however), and the whole "shadow" concept ties into the higher levels of Yoga and Zen - you aim to "become" by "ceasing to be". I can definitely hear this going on in "Green Dolphin Street" and all of EBR. Interestingly enough, I can also hear it on his Riverside recording of "Shadow Waltz", a performance TOTALLY unlike anything else Rollins was doing at the time (at least that's been documented on recording). The "shadow" thing seems to have had a deeply personal meaning for him, because there's a near-perfect example of it on EBR - "We Kiss In A Shadow", where Sonny damn near literally sounds like a shadow. There might be all types of personal and socio-political relevance and symbolism in these cuts (and others. like the RCA "Django" & "Travellin' Light") and they may or may not be conscious, or there may be none. All I know is what I hear and how it makes me feel in relation to what little I know. For most of his career, Rollins, like Bud Powell and Lester Young before him, has been faced with listeners who want (and sometimes expect and even demand) that he tell a certain story in a certain way. When he doesn't do it, these listeners often feel that what they're hearing is, if not necessarily inferior, then at least somehow lacking. And for them, it is. Fair enough. But sometimes, SOMETIMES, the story that is being told has a power of it's own if one is willing to adjust their perspective and more importantly, their expectations. EAST BROADWAY RUNDOWN, in my opinion, is a perfect example of such a story. It's puzzling at times, frustrating at times, scary at times, quite frequently brilliant, and always, ALWAYS, totally real. What it's NOT is "conventional" in any manner, save for Hubbard's role. It is what is is, and although I can completely understand the feeling of those who are either put off or puzzled by it, I can't agree even slightly. Hey, like I said earlier - I love it!

CASSETTES?

Lost in the middle of all this fuss is a question for which I've yet to recieve a satisfactory answer - Where's Mark?

I'm liking the titles of those originals...

That Frank Stallone stuff actually got some airplay on our local "E-Z Listening" station here (before it changed formats), and I must say that it left me , in a way that very little music does, with an overwhelmingly oppressive sense of "Why?".

Love it.

You should find it much to your liking then. The book is over half pre-bop, and like I said, the photos are cool.

Not sure what you mean, but I'm refering to the countless succession of Clonetranes, those players who keep thinking that if they just try a little harder to do it JUST LIKE TRANE DID, that they can get to where Trane was, and by missing the point entirely, they get further, not closer. The result is several generations of players who pretty much sound alike in tone and vocabulary. Generic Trane. Yuck. You hear them everywhere all the time. THAT'S what I was referring to.

They link directly from the Dragon site: http://www.dragonrecords.se/

For $5 no less! Carpe diem!

Wanna try Sweeden? http://www.swedishmusicshop.com/CDA/CDs.ns...4E?opendocument

The Dragon thing, In Stockholm (1959), is fairly common (or used to be at least) and comes highly recommended. Check it out!