JSngry

Jim's been sleeping! Not much to add here, except that having jazz as an accoutrement in a fine® dining establishment creates an inherent conflict, and that just because it's "jazz" doen't mean it's good - something that a LOT of musicians seemingly refuse to accept.

What's the deal with the John Bubbles?

If we can go back in time to apply our dislike to players we once liked but no longer do, I'd list the first Dreams album. I really don't care too much for either old or new Michael Brecker these days, but that opening solo on Side Two is one for the ages, even today. Simularily, I'd put Horace Silver's ...27TH MAN on the list. Not TOO many players on that album that I dig too much anywhere else, but that's a damn fine record. A credit to the strength of Horace's musical personality, no doubt.

If we're talking straight composition here, I go "Lazy Bird", no contest. LOVE those changes and the way the melody lays inside them. A great melody it is too, very lyrical. Seems like this one's gotten short shrift in the cover department.

PanArt was a premier label, some say THE premier label, in pre-Castro Cuba. They recorded the full spectrum of Cuban music, from the sweet crooners to the primal Santeria. There are some some stone classics on the label, like the Cachao-led Descargas and the Charanga of Hector Fajardo, as well as some gems that, unless you're a real expert in the idiom (which I'm not), it would be real easy to pass over, like Orquesta Banda Rumbavana. I only got those because of my "If you see a PanArt, BUY IT" rule. Pan-Art is beginning to be available on CD, but for years, you had to get lucky. In the 70s, the label was still available in facsimilie copies at anyplace that sold Latin music in quantity. I got most of mine at a Cuban grocery mart in Dallas (and when looking for "ethnic" music of ANY kind in America, rule #1 is to ALWAYS check out the grocery marts), but I got my copy of Cachao's "Cuban Jam Session In Miniature" (one of the COOLEST covers of all time, and Chombo Silva predicts Sonny Rollins' 70s phraseology by 15-20 years) at the Disco-Mat in Manhattan (on 7th Ave? It's been over 20 years...). Bottom line - I've got about 10-15 Panart albums, and there's only one suck job in the bunch (a thing by crooner Orlando Vallejo that is too sweet for ANYBODY'S good). Meeting deeper Latin collectors than I, I've mangaed to hear a fair cross-sampling of the catalog, and I'm convinced that PanArt is one of "those" labels, the kind that you buy on sight, because your odds of getting burned are very. VERY low. This is also the opinion of collectors and many Latin musicians. I don't run in Salsa circles much these days, but when I did, just mentioning that I had some PanArt sides and was looking for more got me in some doors, musical and personal, that I would have had a MUCH tougher time getting through for various "social" reasons. You gotta remember though, this is CUBAN music, made in Cuba, by Cuba, for Cubans (and also remember that not all Latinos are Cuban, and also remember that there is an element of historical friction for reasons I don't comprehend between Cubans and Puerto Ricans). This music is not an attempt to appeal to a "crossover" market, and it's not music that reflects a desire to become Americanized. The "Cuban Jam Sessions" albums are just that - CUBAN jam sessions. Nobody plays any Bird licks, if you get my drift. But the shit is STRONG, it is POWERFUL, and it's NOT IN ENGLISH, which means that you miss the story of the lyric (unless you learn a bit of the language, which is recommended just on general principles), but it also means that you have the unigue opporunity to groove on the PURE SOUND of a language without having to be distracted by processing the meaning of it, which is a REALLY cool thing. At least it was for me. So, yeah - PanArt is the shit. Go for it!

Well, yeah, but so what? These are not the times for being "all that", these are the times for just being yourself humbly yet fully and not becoming a whoreclone. THAT is what these times desperately need, and you, sir, are doing it splendidly.

EVERYBODY can do the Monkarena. It's FUN!

You're in charge of Monkarena Merchandising!

Indeed it is!

Name your price. I'm serious - NAME YOUR PRICE. You understand the concept TOO well. Name your price.

See? There IS a market!

Ok, so... I'm driving home from work this morning eating a McGriddle (the syrup's BAKED IN!, and DAMN is it good, in a McGriddly kinda way) and all of a sudden it hits me that America loves nothing more than a good dance craze. Well, that's as it should be, right? After all, we ARE a nation of dancin' fools. Americans love them some dance crazes allright. But - Americans DON'T love them some jazz, and that, Dear Friends, is WRONG! As in Wrongadelphia! So I'm thinking to myself, how to get America in touch with its inner jazzdom AND make them dance AND profit shamelessly from it in the process (gotta make this a definitvely American deal). And then it hit me (and yes, it DID feel like a kiss!) - The Monkarena! Yeah, take that little shuffle step Monk did, simplfy it and stiffen it out JUST enough so that people without any rhythm whatsoever can do it and feel the giddy pseudo-ecstasy of pseudo-copping a groove, get a clever little novelty # to go with/define it, and BINGO - watch what happens! I'm thinking that the song ought to have a lyric about a "far-out cat" who "lives in his own little world", a man who has no name but "Monk" and who "never says a word, all he does is grin" while he does his dance, which "the only folks who know him" call "The Monkarena". Ok, the Macarena is still fresh enough in everybody's stool sample that it might be a few decades before we can pull this off, but if we get all our ducks in a row and patent/copyright all the shit, including, ESPECIALLY including, Monkarena Merchandise, we can all reap the benefits when the Craze finds its moment. It's a gamble sure, but whatcha gonna do - count on Social Security? I don't THINK so! Since I came up with the concept, I own it, ok? Let's get THAT straight right off the git-go! But anybody who contributes to the final product gets points, and I'm a fair guy. I don't want ALL the money, just most of it. I'm entitled too - it's my idea. I just hope I'm still able to participate in the worldwide festivicles when The Monkarena hits big. I'm ESPECIALLY looking forward to going to Philly (where I INSIST the dance be introduced on the local teen danceshowparty showdance, so I can have the distinct pleasure of saying, "Thank you, you...PHILADELPHIANS!" That would only be right. Whaddya say, we can ALL get rich, and just because I'll get FILTHY rich won't mean that everybody else won't get SOME rich. Like I said, I'm as fair as the day is wide! So let's all practice saying, in our MOST hyped up sexually ambiguous (but nevertheless non-threateningly aroused) voices, "COME ON AMERICA, LET'S DO THE MONKARENA!!!" McGriddles for the house!

No tellin' where THAT meat's been...

Damn straight!

Tequila?

What's up w/the John Bubbles?

Where do thee two sessions fit chronologically with Stitt's stint (hmmm..song title?) with the Giants Of Jazz? I dug CONSTELLATION more than TUNE UP!, seemed "deeper, which is why I took an offer I couldn't refuse for it aways back. I'd like to have it back, though. A buddy of mine found the Muse CD in a cutout bin a few months ago, so maybe there's some more out there.

Want a 50s label to "discover", one that'll mess you up good? PanArt. There. I've done my good deed for the day. G'night.

Moreso on tenor than violin for Chombo.

Nor about Chombo Silva.

But not about Pigmeat Markham!

Just kidding about Tomita...

Tomita

Tapscott indeed!

Bernard Herrmann