JSngry

Reading it in small bits and am indeed enjoying it. The guy comes across as a "hip cornball" who loved the music from the gut, and always knew his place in things. I like how he never lost his old-school "Yankee" work ethic no matter how much of a degenerate he tried to be. The thing that comes across is how much he wanted to play, had to play, and went ahead and worked and worked and worked so he could play. The scene/culture has been fundamentally/irrevocably changed since then...the gigs aren't there, and the focus of what it means to "be a player" has changed so much since then. He talks about taking any damn type of gig just to be playing, and how on even the crappiest gig, you always brought your A-game, because, you never knew who else would be in the room - or on the gig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ1nOGPqpsU

NOW you tell me!

Definitely a top-shelf university! Definitely a cult! Certs!!!!

Right - he "returned" after making just one album, like, 30 years before "returning". If he did another one for Atlantic (which he did do), it would be a true "return". to Blue Note, not really a "return, because he was never really there, except for that one-off of a one-off.

1985 - How soon we forget!

A Tone Poem from the Tone Poet - how poetic! I like how they're saying that he "returned" to the label. He did, what - one record for them, and that was for the "new" Blue Note, right? I like Lloyd a lot, but the presence of Frissell has steered me clear of being in any hurry to hear the BNs of his.

Oh my, A&M...talk about a cult masquerading as a top-shelf school...assuming that it's the main campus in College Station... Good to see Rolf back, although...Italian Whites? Haven't they caused enough trouble already?

Texas? Faculty job? Ups AND moves?

Gotta get busy on that one...

Now, this disc of the Solo with Text stuff....this is REALLY fucking me up...I thought that stuff like this only existed in my head...I know that sounds...whatever...but the voice(s) and the horn and the sound effects (when used)...wow. amazing to hear this, like this.

I was 18 or so, and I did.

If you're old enough to have watched The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman when it first aired...unforgettable. RIP

I'm significantly behind the curve on Ursula Oppens, seems like she's made a LOT of records and I've heard but a few...but that's what time is for, right?

Disc 4 (Chamber Music) is very nice, especially the Ursula Oppens performance. Not sure if the Daedelus Quartet was the right choice to play the arrangements of Mingus tunes, but hey, you get a chance to get played by a group of that stature, you take it. More invigorating music!

White Italians?

I've been able to fall asleep - eventually - at around 90, AC went out, windows opened, etc. Plus, you know, I'm old enough to have grown up in times and places where heat was common and home AC wasn't, etc. But STILL - you gotta be acclimated to that shit, and acclimation if you're not born to it...the AC will get fixed before the acclimation occurs.... First World Problem, as they say.

I'm actually very open-minded about possibilities and interpretations - but only from those who display a real base/core competency in objective truths. Otherwise, you're just like one of these finger-wagglers who can't play shit past the way your undisciplined fingers can waggle...I mean sure, it feels good to you, masturbation usually does, and I know it means something to you, but what the fuck am I supposed to do with it? You've told me about you, now tell me what comes next? You again? Better have something more than before or else your one-trick pony just got put down out back, rest in peace L'il Rider. Having a Point Of View and having an honest to god valid, actionable POINT got nothing in common except the word "point".

Yeah, I'm into Disc 3 right now, listening to each disc twice before moving on to the next, and concur in every regard. Also, haven't tried to read thru it yet. but the accompanying documentation/annotation seems to be very high-level. Par for the course for New World, in my experience, those folks tend to not fuck around.

I feel bad about doing that, because I "cheated", using Shazam.

I guess I can put Paul Plummer out there...

The Hemphil/Wadud duets disc is nothing short of badass wonderful. Is Hemphill kinda fading from memory these days? Tragedy if so....

I like Song Cycle, it's Gonzo Amphetamine Pop in the extreme. I don't expect other people to, because...it's Gonzo Amphetamine Pop in the extreme. Is it too clever, yes, of course it is. But could anybody else have done it? Not ever close. Not sure where clever crosses over into genuine eccentricity, but I think he might be on that other side. Sometimes, anyway. Besides, he got Smile finished for real where Brian couldn't, and that in itself earns all forgiveness (or at least most forgiveness). Brian did/does not have the skill set to put that whole thing together like Van Dyke did. Nor does/did he need to. Just saying, though, no Van Dyke, no finished Smile. Just a lot of unshaped brilliance with a lot of shape but no form. Tell you what - if you ever have the right moment, sit down with an age appropriate crowd and watch Follow That Bird, he wrote some gorgeous songs and score on that movie. All that aside, if this isn't a hoot, what is?

Family Circus mom was hot. Can't pin that on Antifa!

How is that Van Dyke Parks 45? I'm almost afraid to ask...