JSngry

Speaking of Mose Allison, I picked up a copy of HELLO THERE UNIVERSE (his only Atlantic album not yet on CD) and found it to be a collection of really, REALLY dark material, moeso than usual for Mose, and often lacking the sardonic wit that usually balances out his darkness. I'd call it a concept album in the Sinatra-esque sense of there being a unified mood and theme running throughout, but not in the post-PET SOUNDS way of there actually being a discernable (if often loose) narrative. No matter - it's one HELLUVA "interesting" album.

I ordered this from Dusty Groove (the bastards!). Don't know if it'll be in this week or not. Who produced this one?

Christmas albums are a sub-category of concept albums, right?

A twist on the "instrumentalist pays tribute to singer (or songwriter)" conceptual trip:

Could we call TIAJUANA MOODS & THE BLACK SAINT AND THE SINNER LADY concept albums? If so, they DEFINITELY work for me.

Several of Wayne's BN albums could qualify as concept albums in the way that MAIDEN VOYAGE does. SPEAK NO EVIL, THE ALL SEEING EYE, & ODYSSEY OF ISKA all "tell stories" if you choose to believe Wayne's comments in the liner notes, and I see no reason not to. Verve in the mid-90s was the KING of concept albums. It seemed as if every one of their albums had a theme of SOME kind. I reached the point with them where I just wanted to hear an old-fashioned, Prestige-style, round-some-cats-up-and-let'em-play-for-3-hours blowing session!

Vol. 29 No. 8 August 2003

Pet Sounds.

Well, we don't have Photoshop, but the lovely and talented 12 year old Kristina Rae Sangrey has worked wonders with a few paint programs! She says she doesn't like jazz, but that's ok. Supposedly Reid Miles didn't either! [Kristina talking here] I hate it. X_X Gah...I made a smaller version, but he won't upload it. >< So I did. ^^ I don't like the bigger one, really. I don't think i smeared it enough. But gimme a break. I'm 12. -Laughs.- I don't like jazz...but hey; YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH IKE! XD No, I listen to it every day. -Points at her dad.- Courtesy of him. Lol, I get used to it. ~Kristina Tony, she's 12.... Bon Chance!

Can somebody w/Photoshop or some other such make this work, if you get my drift?

Archie Shepp - FOR LOSERS (Impulse, not yet on CD) Because it is what it says it is, and lovingly so. With Clarence Sharpe, Wilbur Ware, Cedar Walton, Cecil Payne, Woody Shaw, and many others. Everybody loves a winner. 'Specially when he's thinner. Up and down, Like a clown. Who gives a damn For losers?

jazz1, I wasn't being sarcastic when I asked you what you WEREN'T hearing in Haden. I was genuinely curious. Maybe you're looking for something that's not there. But there is plenty meat in his playing - great tone (an understatement!), great time, great swing, great lyricism, as well as a rural, "hillbilly" influence that is VERY real and might account for why he and Ornette (another cat who at his roots is about as "country" as you can get, and beautifully so!) gelled so well together. If you're looking for flash or ultra boppish drive ala P.C., Haden's not your man. He speakshis own language in his own voice. But it is a mighty strong voice, and a language that speaks to many. If you don't "get" it, don't sweat it. But please - be careful with that word "overrated". That's a VERY loaded term.

You might want to dig a hole in your back yard and see if you strike oil... http://www.indiana.edu/~aaamc/radio.html

They did that for the CHARLIE PARKER label??? What's the story THERE?

I can't imagine Ms. Jolie being the type of person whose "had" would go unnoticed....

The Olympia '61 discs are as good as it gets. The Fresh Sound broadcasts they put out under Lee's name are pretty happening too.

INSTANT PARTY!!!!

Nabbed this puppy used a while back and have finally gotten around to checking it out in depth the last few weeks. AMG gives it 2.5 stars, but that's just wrong. Despite his notorious flamboyance over the years, Hamp could flat-out PLAY when the time came, and in this loose-but-together, informally structured (and very well-recorded) 1953 jam session, the time came. Divided between vibes/bass/guitar trios (Buddy Montgomery & Billy Mackel) and larger groups (which include, a.o., Jimmy Cleveland, Mezz Mezzrow, & Clifford Scott), Hamp is an endless font of ideas throughout. Quiet as it's sometimes kept, Hamp was one of the more harmonically advanced Swing Era players, and his playing here is rife with alterations and substitutions, as well as a seemingly endless rhythmic flow. No bebop from him, but so what? Ideas and swing know no genre limitations. In fact, on this session, he plays with a freshness and inventiveness that many more "modern" players would be hard-pressed to match. He just goes and goes and goes and goes, and the results are never cheap or boring. The larger groups find everybody in excellent form also (Cleveland in particular seems fired up and good to go). French tenorist Alix Combelle, a new name to me, is a real treat, playing gritty, hard-swinging tenor in the Hawk-via-Ben manner. A VERY solid player he seems to be, and I'd like to hear more of him sometime. His playing really seems to get to Hamp, who is heard offering him noticable calls of approval and encouragement. Not a "landmark" disc, or anything like that, but certainly one that many here will find to their liking, and one that might well surprise those who know Hampton more by his reputation than by his playing. This is damn good stuff. Check it out.

Angie say. "Go 'head, big guy. GO 'HEAD!"

Kitten On The Keys?