JSngry

Relaxin' At Camarillo?

I went through a tunnell in a carpool once. Never again...

This is one of the few times I can actually choose "a" favorite. I'm with Geoff - "Stablemates" is it for me. Killer (in several ways ) changes, and a beautifully lyrical melody (with an almost subliminal allusion to RITE OF SPRING that may or may not have been intentional). The lyrical quality usually gets obscured because of the tempo most cats play it at, but I had occasion to hear Jon Hendricks 3 nights out of a 5 night club booking back in the early 80s, and every time, he did "Stablemates" with what I guess were his lyrics, and he did it at a nice MEDIUM tempo, drummer on brushes, all that. The beauty of the melody just came alive hearing it like that, and I've been intoxicated by it (and a few other things...) ever since.

Well, I'd like to know this - who was doing stuff like "Chameleon" (the whole piece, not just the "hit" part) & "Vein Melter" before Herbie did HEADHUNTERS? Sure, you can break it down into "this came from here, and that came from there", but that still leaves out the Herbie factor that put it all together into a unique whole. Like it or loathe it, I sure as hell hadn't heard anything like it when it came out!

Yeah, that one kills! It was used in a movie, right? Check it out indeed!

As is this one: Worth the cost of admission for Luis Ortiz' (whatever happened to THAT cat?) total reimaging of "Tu Y Las Nubes" alone, but the be much more delight to be had. And if you can find it, get this one: Side 2 is more of The All Stars' woefully misguided, totally suckass attempts at disco, but Side 1 is primo mid-70s salsa, and a highlight is Cruz' rendition of "Isadora", which, believe it or not, is a tribute to Isadora Duncan and features some really nice solo work by Eric Gale (!!!!). The first time I saw Cruz was in the late 70s in Dallas. The venue was an abandoned supermarket turned Latin dancehall, and the place was freakin' PACKED. I worked my way to the front of the stage. She was backed by Sonora Matancera, who by then must have had an average age of 127. Or older. You look at these guys and think you're at a salsa Chuck E. Cheese or something, they don't look real. Until they started to play. THEN the shit got heavy. Those old men were jamming like music was all that was keeping them alive and like they didn't plan on dying anytime too soon, which for all I know might have been EXACTLY what was going on. Celia was regal, La Reina Suprema, and she rode the music and worked the crowd in a way that was beyond masterful deeply into intuitive communality. Them Cuban cats don't really care how long a groove goes (hey, it's a GROOVE for Crissakes, why would you WANT to worry about how long it lasts, hmmm?????), and even the boleros were extended. But the guaguancos and the other uptempo things were where the action was, and they just locked into that groove and held it. Trumpet great Chocolate was on the gig too, so between Celia, Sonora (GOD, I can still see that sqareheaded piano player who looked older than life and had hands the size of a preschooler playing those montunos...) and their coro, and him, there was no need to be in a hurry to get anything over with. The dance floor was packed like the proverbial sardine can, but their were no collisions. Everybody was dancing in their own space, yet the room and the floor was moving as a single organism, with Celia the goddess who was calling the shots. We older jazz folk like to refer to the whole call-and-response thing like it's a jazz thing, but it's not - it's an AFRICAN Thing, and Cuba has got those roots probably deeper than anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. It's quite the improvisational art, that singing the responses to the coro's calls is, and Celia just RULED. She had no limits and knew no fear (but why WOULD she?). This was music in its purest communal form performed at its highest artistic peak. If I hadn't experienced it myself, I'd have never believed the vibe if somebody hadda tried to describe it to me. But it was RIGHT in a way that very few musical experiences are, and I was blessed to be there. One of the most beautiful nights of my life, that one was. I even danced. A LOT. Not particularly GOOD, but I danced. I wanted to. I HAD to. It would have been blasphemous not to. Gracias, Maestra. MUCHAS gracias.

I heard an unmastered, unEQ'ed tape copy, and it sounded just fine. Remember, it was recorded using Town Hall's in-house, professional quality(?) recording system at 78 RPM . It's not a homemade thing that some fan captured on the sly using low-grade portable equipment. Fidelity is quite good overall. A tiny bit of surface noise is there, but what do you expect from acetates that have been God knows where for the last 55+ years? Balance wavers occasionally, but the hall sound comes through quite nicely. It's definitely a "live" recording, not a studio one, but unless you're fatally anal about sound, there should be NO complaints. I'll say it again - this is going to be onee of the most important historical releases in quite some time, and the good sound is just icing on the cake. If you believe in miracles....

Is having your wife/girlfriend/favorite waitress/whoever massage your prostate while you (or her, for that matter) masturbate good or bad in terms of overall prostate health? Does the study say? Don't tell me - they haven't done THAT study yet. Another case of belaboring the obvious and getting paid for it.

Chuck also brought along tapes of the Cherry/Grimes/Blackwell & Lacy/Brown/Higgins trio sessions for Atlantic. the ones that are unreleased. The ones they won't lease him because it's not a big enough deal for them to bother with. The ones that are going to be the cause of some stupid dipshits spending eternity in the fiery torments of HELLLLLL-LA if they never, ever get a chance to be heard by the public, in even a limited release. The music is everything Chuck has said it is. At least everything, maybe even more. Life is a crapshoot, and jazz perhaps even moreso. This great music, this beautiful music cannot be heard even though it is owned by a mega-corporation and even though there is a man willing to pay them real American dollars, the kind that spends(!), for the right to do so. God knows if the music will EVER be released. Then out of nowhere, a stack of acetates show up in a flea market and we've suddenly got a window on one of the key musical developments of the 20th century ready to be released in a few months. Go figure. The point is - make noise when and where it can do some good. The new Uptown release can either cause a sensation or remain one of those "duh, I almost bought it but it seemed kinda, uh..., OLD, and I wasn't sure what the SOWND KWALITY would be like so I passed on it, but now that Blue Moon is offering it for $1.75 I guess I'll take a chance on it, besides, I've got the Verve Parker studio masters and that's all the Bird I think I really need" kinda things that make it nothing short of miraculous that some of us haven't just walked around killing everything with two legs that moves by now. You think I'm kidding, don't you.... We all have choices in this life. Get ready for the Uptown. And FREE THE ATLANTIC TRIOS!!!!

No Devil whatsomever. LONG ANSWER: This is a profoundly important jazz document, and if I can do anything to stir interest, maybe even help create a little pre-release buzz, then I'll gladly and willingly do it, and of my own volition. Here we are in 2003, the 21st century, and although most jazz fans know who Charlie Parker was, they really don't appreciate him for the true genius he was. They feel warmer towards Dizzy because he lived a long time and became a charming elder statesman, but most don't realize just what a powerfully dangerous force he was. For that matter, very few of us can have a grasp of just how intense the earliest bebop was, because we weren't there. I know I wasn't. Sure, there's plenty of 78s that HINT at it, and there's airshots from a little later on in the game that are waaaay cool, but they're also sorta like "we now join our program, already in progress". This is 1945!!!! This is MAX'S FIRST RECORDING WITH BIRD!!!! And, this is live. No studio constraints or vibes, no broadcast sensibilities, this is the underground beginning to peep up into the sunshine, and boy, are they shooting to kill. And their aim is true. After 60 years of imitation, re-creation, and all the other -ations that serve to blur the reality of history, this document is like a slap in the face and a 50,000 watt shock at the same time as to what bebop was REALLY about in it's early days. Look, in a just world (never mind a simply sane one), the release of this music would be given the high profile that it deserves - numerous articles would flood all the media outlets and every musically aware fan would get a copy ASAP. But this ain't that kind of world. I was blessed with the opportunity to hear this music pre-release, and I feel an obligation to pass that blessing on in the form of alerting anybody and everybody I know that this thing is coming and that it is essential - not "essential", but essential, TRULY essential music. If there's any justice in the world, this release will win a Grammy or two for best historical issue or whatever the categories are, sales will far exceed anything else in the Uptown catalogue, acclaim will be worldwide, and the item will turn a more than handsome profit for years to come. But who knows? I think it's that big of a deal, but I'm nobody, not really, dig? But fukkit, life is short, and when the chance comes along to steer folks in the right direction, I'm gonna do it. Y'all are invited to do the same - talk it up amongst your peers, alert whatever media might have an interest in so genuine American musical history coming to light after being discovered in a flea market nearly 60 years after the fact, tell your local jazz DJ(s) what's in store for them. In other words, DON'T LET THIS MUSIC LANGUISH AND EVENTUALLY DIE LIKE SO MANY THINGS DO!!!! I've been called "enthusiastic" (and worse!) before, and, yeah, I am. I love the music and I'm not ashamed of it. But this goes beyond my personal love and excitement. This really is a release of historical import. Folks need to know. Spread the word. SHORT ANSWER: Because it's THAT good!

The world I know is becoming more and more one I don't... Sad. I saw her live a few times, and she had charisma out the wazzoo, to say nothing of being a powerful and truly gifted singer. Not for nothing did she rule the roost for decades. R.I.P. Reina

Much beauty. Congratulations all the way!

1-3 have a Warne Marsh connection, and all but Mosca are/were Californina-based for quite a while, as of course was Marsh. Want more Mosca? Try this one:

Chuck can tell it better than me, for obvious reasons.

I'll leave the details about how and when to Chuck, but the story of how the acetates were found has to be heard to be believed.

When Chuck came to visit, he brought some tapes. They were all SERIOUSLY deep, but one is going to be issued on Uptown, and it's the kind of thing that defies adequate description, and believe me - no matter how hard I hype it, I'm understating the case. Believe me. What we're going to be getting is a just-discovered recording of a 1945 Town Hall performance of The Dizzy Gillespie Quintet with Charlie Parker, Al Haig, Curley Russell, & Max Roach (his VERY first recording with Bird!). Symphoiny Sid emcees. The recording was apparently done in-house at Town Hall, and the acetates were just recently stumbled across in one of those stories that is too damn wierd to be true, but nevertheless is. This is a document of many things, very early, fully-formed bebop finally and totally stripped of all residual Swing flavor being one of the most significant. Al Haig's comping throughout blew me away - some quite interesting chord choices he makes, and Bird & Dizz are on them like white on rice. Can't say that I've ever Haig accompany so boldly ever before. You get guest atars too - Don Byas (more about tthat later), and a rvelatory extended solo by Sid Catlett, who sits in on "Hot House" and offers final proof that yes, he IS Max Roach's daddy. Sid kicks the band off and accompanies the soloists in a thoughroughly boppish manner, but the real story here for me was his solo. I don't know if Catlett's been captured on record doing a long solo like this, but if he was, I'm unaware of it. This is one of the deepest drum solos I've ever heard - it goes through so many changes and is so perfectly MUSICAL, and in it I can hear Max, Chico, Blackwell, Sunny, Rashied, in short, EVERY drummer who came after who approached the drums as a wholistic musical instrument and not just a set of metronomes. This is truly a stunning performance. And then there's Bird. Of course . Part of jazz legend is how Bird would always be late for a gig and come in the door playing, much to the collectively rising rapture of those present. But for most of us, legend is all it is - we've never heard that on record. Until now. As the recording begins, we hear Symphony Sid rapping with the clearly restless crowd. The show appears to have be late starting, but it's now going to begin, and with Don Byas playing. Bird is not there, and you get the feeling that at least a few folks came to hear Bird, if yu get my drift. So anyway, they open with "Bebop", and Byas is fluffing the head pretty badly, but gets off a good solo. All of a sudden, you hear a ruckus coming from the crowd, a rumble that grows in intensity to a bit of a roar, and you know what happened - Bird just walked in, presumably right off the street. I say that because he begins to blow almost immediately, and his horn sounds just a little cold. But JUST a little, and he warms it up REAL quickly. By the time of the third tune, he's FULLY warmed up and blowing as good as anything I've everh heard by him, and better than most of it. Byas, mysteriously, vanishes, and doesn't even play the head out. The crowd goes wild, and frankly, it would have been impossible not to. So how's Diz? Well, put yourself in his shoes - he's the leader of a band playing what is still a new, basically underground music, he's got a booking at Town Hall, and his star soloist is late to the gig. How do you THINK he is? He's fired up and playing at that level that it seems like he hardly ever played at except when Bird was next to him. Diz in his youth had probably the most amazing chops inthe history of jazz trumpet, and most importantly, an imagination to go with it. He's at the VERY top of his game, and sparks DO fly. Jesus Christ God Almighty do they fly. I've made iit a point to track down and absorb all the Bird/Diz pairings I can find, live or otherwise, and I kid you not - this onehas a vibe to it that is unlike ANY of the others, even Carnegie Hall 1947, which for my money is at times some of the most frightening music ever captured on record, especially "Dizzy Atmopsphere". Massey Hall has always been a Sacred text for me, but that's a "mature" record. THIS shit is fire-eating, flame throwing early bebop in it's purest form and live, dammit, LIVE, not on a 3 minute 78. I only heard it once. If I'd have had even a lick of sense, zero integrety, and a shot or two less of Jack, I''d have had the sense to have surreptitously run a recorder of some typ to have someth9ing to tide me over until the real deal gets issued. But that's not me. Once, one time through, was enough to tell me that this is going to be one of those historic issues that becomes an instant histroical landmark and a reference point for generations to come. I almost wish I HADN'T heard it, because now I gotta wait, and I don't WANT to have to wait! I'll be blunt - if you dig bebop or beyond, have the money, and DON'T buy this when it comes out, you gotta be kidding me. Seriously. No shit. I kid you not - this is the REAL shit in a way of REAL that only gets caught on record, like, almost NEVER. You can cut my nuts off if I'm wrong. Get ready. It's coming.

They's both lyin' - I know for a fact that they both drink

which album ? never heard it THE TENDER STORM I got it on that 32Jazz (THOSE guys again!) 4-on-2 set GREATER THAN THE SUM OF HIS PARTS. WELL worth the hunt!

Anybody remember the Yamaha Electric Grand?

Well, no one "favorite" here, but anybody who hasn't heard Eddie Harris' version of "A Nightengale Sang In Berkely Square" is missing a real gem of a performance!

Oh, one more thing. Does Kynard look more than a little psycho on the cover photo? Talk about your scary mofos!

I dig this one too. The gospel stuff is cool with me becasue I've been investigating "real" Gospel music foe a few years now, and it makes perfect sense to me, musically and culturally. But it's NOT "real" Gospel - for one thing (and a crucial thing at that) real Gospel swings harder (and by that I don't mean that it swings MORE, just that the time is in a pocket that is very different and more physically forceful than most all jazz). But Kynard gets the flavor all right. and honestly too. The album in many ways flows like a church service, especially how the penultimate tune bust outs into a handclapping/footstomping. Get on up church, let's go home! I really like looping the CD and playing it sever times in succession, because the way the first track comes out of the last one really drives home the underlying Gospel flavor of not just this album, but so much of the entire genre. Clifford Scott, yeah! I've only recently become aware of his "pure" jazz stuff (thanks almost entirely to Dan ), having known him almost exclusively from his days with Bill Doggett (and not just that legendary solo on "Honky Tonk" either). The cat's in no way an "innovator", but that's not what this kind of music is about - it's about playing professionally and soulfully in a way that relates to people directly, no interpreter needed. Scott's R&B work w/Dogett was nearly an archetype in this regard, and his jazz stuff shows him playing with a bit of a larger vocabulary, but still delivering the goods emotionally. When the time comes that I can no longer appreciate that and groove on it it for what it is, somebody come and lock me up. I'll have gotten too uptight for my own good. So yeah, a very nice album indeed. Maybe not one that I'd automatically reach for without being reminded, but definitely one that gets played more than a few times once it's on. Gotta love THAT! (Oh, btw, Clifford Scott can be heard pre-Doggett on LIONEL HAMPTON IN PARIS, a BMG/RCA VICTOR/Vogue thing that hasn't been OOP all that long. Well worth looking for, and not just for Scott!)

Or one of her famous uncle, Pez Prado (no relation to Don (Juan) Pardo).

Sorry Chris, but archive ASAP. I figure it'll be at least a day or two before anybody from Krypton checks out the suggestions, if they even do (yeah, uh....), but if/when they do, "Bite Me, Corporate Pig-Dogs" is probably not too high on the list of things they''ll enjoy seeing.