JSngry

I am working on one now, which might take a week or several months to complete, depends on if I have free time. But hold a month open for me, whatever works. It will get done.

George Howard's cover of There's a Riot Goin' On, (on Blue Note!). Grover's Winelight - a wonderful mood record. Joe Sample's Invitation - harmonically rich Dave Sanborn - Pearls -again, mood music, superbly played. Keep away from anybody making this music after it became codified as such. It will almost certainly suck. But look for people with music, not product in mind,...it will still mostly suck, but not almost certainly. Dare I say Chris Botti? I neither have nor want any of his records, but what I hear of them...he's a guy who can play, he knows music, and his product seems both well-made and well-informed, even if it does have all the edges removed and all the contentions eliminated.

Helluva run, RIP.

"Freedom over fear"...this sure looks like a fear of masks to me. Project much, protester?

It's real music, close enough.

Thanks to jojazz for stepping up and in. Let's see what we have here. TRACK ONE - "Big Alice", Don Pullen's tune, from here:https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Johnson-Gravity-Gravity-/release/1872593 Howard Johnson has played a lot of music with a lot of people, and for a long time. Nothing but love here for Howard Johnson. TRACK TWO - "Blu-A-Round" by Sahib Shihab from here: https://www.discogs.com/Sahib-Shihab-Jazz-Sahib/release/2239330 Beautiful record, beautiful playing by all, especially Shihab, who has been damn-near criminally under-looked in the annals of jazz, one of the more distinctive voices on his or any instrument. Also, although I've been very, uh, disdainful of what both Phil Woods and Bill Evans' playing became over time, this is not that, this is wonderful music, period, Whatever they turned into, before they were that, they were this. Never forget that. And hello Benny Golson! TRACK THREE - Sounds like some good weed! TRACK FOUR - Had to do some sleuthing to find this one: https://www.discogs.com/Ari-Brown-Groove-Awakening/release/9507998 Ari Brown is a serious MF, and although this cut is not exactly "representative" of his overall ability, that sound tells you all you need to know about what else lies in wait. And I really like the pianist! TRACK FIVE - Somewhere between Kenny Dorham and Johnny Coles, meaning a lot of thought and detail - and no cliches. Actually sounds somewhat like Coles, but I don't know this record if it is. Marvelous music, though, and a special shoutout for the nice, crisp drumming. Nice tune too, moves to some "extra" places in the changes that shows, again, thought, Want to know more about this one! TRACK SIX - Ah, George...I love this guy, especially when he plays "unexpected" material. That's a really good song, imo, The lyrics are deeply human, too bad that the "usual" treatments go for the "drama" rather than the "truth" of it. But not, George Adams, George Adams was a humanist, a jazz humanist. I miss having him around to tell stories like this one. TRACK SEVEN - is this a Stevie Wonder song? No idea who it is, and not sure if I'd go for a full album, but this one here is very enjoyable. The guitarist has the touch of Adam Rogers, at least as I have heard him on various Monday Michiru records. Good cut. TRACK EIGHT - hmmmm....fluent, but not necessarily succinct? Can't argue with any of it, but would like to hear a little less "groove"...sounds like it's forcing people to breathe in a more regimented (symmetrical) pattern than they might in a little "freer" pocket. That sounds weird, hope you know what I mean, though. These are some serious players though, SERIOUS, just would like to hear them a little looser. Looser might have brought more focus. Funny how that works sometimes... TRACK NINE - Ok, I'm wanting to say Flip Phillips and Charlie Shavers playing Body & Soul, but there's no such record...no matter, that's a RudyPiano TRACK TEN - Oh my! That sounds like a John Lewis composition stretched out into a percussion ensemble piece (although if you think about it, MJW WAS a percussion ensemble...). Pretty damn delightful! M'Boom? I need to revisit them...I love this one. TRACK ELEVEN - "Nothing But Love", a great Frank Lowe composition, surely it has words? Don't know this version/record, but I like it a lot. I like how it stays within itself, knows what it wants to say and says only that. It's long, and doesn't go off into a like of machinations, but that's what makes it work, it stays on-message. Surely there are words! A delightful mix here, and once again, thanks for stepping up/in here. Superb!

Here's the good friends, tonight is nothing special.

I'll say this for him, he dresses like he sounds!

Ok, Max brokered the deal, then. I know he was in the mix somewhere.

Yes. I may be wrong, but I think they came from Max. Him & Bruce Lundvall haed a good relationship that carried over to Columbia.

No, on this one it's "Love Walked In". Lover is on this one: Pitch is so bad, sonny sounds like an alto. But still sounds like Sonny, so it's ok, as far as that goes.

Get your pitch corrections tools ready to work overtime, but worth it. Brown/Roach/Rollins, there are broadcasts.

Waitresses? Cigarette girls? Anybody left alive (other than Carla Bley?)? Anybody know who those people were? Some of them were, I'm sure, there more regularly that the musicians. Bartenders? Sometimes you want to go where you know everybody's name.

God, young people used to be so skinny.

I had only heard Frank Strozier on a Don Ellis record and an Oliver Nelson record when I read this article and had NO idea about too much of anything about him, but I remember even then thinking, ow wow, this poor guy...

Feather's point was that the Racist Negro Jazz Musicians In Action would say, oh, it's really all about who can play, not race and then Feather would say, well, what about Frank Strozier? and the Racist Negro Jazz Musicians In Action would say, well, he's an exception, he can play, but there's a social element here as well, and then Leonard Feather would say, oh, so it IS about race and then the Racist Negro Jazz Musicians In Action would say, no, it's not racial, it's social, and on and on it went with NOBODY talking about Pepper Adams and such, it was just one big hot mess of Leonard Feather Leonard Feathering, interested in controversy and readers and pandering rather than any kind of a serious nuanced discussion. Don't know if Mingus was on the panel, but Max sure was, and this was just after We insist & Straight Ahead, and, you know, what the hell did you THINK Max was coming with? Leonard Feather is in hell, and I for one am not coming to get him out any time soon.

Not all tobacco smells the same...nor is all ventilation created equally.

Oh, but Leonard Feather thought he was white, and pushed him as such. And none of the musicians pushed back otherwise.

Mike Fitzgerald had that at one time, didn't he?

Nor should it not unless the instruments are vintage also. Seriously. Why do you think all the geeks go looking for that stuff?

Just before my time, but in retrospect, no doubt...when did he take over? to the point about research value - If you want to see how truly deplorable Leonard Feather was, go find his "roundtable" about Crow Jim. Max Roach, maybe Migus(?) was a participant, i forget who else, but it was a mess. Feather refuses to listen and poor Frank Strozier gets held up as an example of Racist Negro Jazz Musicians In Action. The equally egregious "anti-jazz" interview with Coltrane has been reprinted often enough, but this one, maybe not so much?

Can't argue with that. I would not stop with DB though...unless you want to look at what they were doing at the time with the time, in which case, yes, straight to the source. But for musical insight...not so much until maybe early 60s-middle 80s, probably narrower than that. When Dan Morgenstern was editor, they were very good, imo.

Yeah, $25 is bad enough...Ansermet was a badass, but JEEEEEsus, Duke!

Where are the women? I see one, maybe? And yeah, that shit gonna oderize the experience. All them crowded up suits and hats too, they will be pretty sound absorbent, so probably a much deader room sound than we today would get. and that's probably all to the better, imo. Then again, low ceiling (is it covered at all?), and what's on the floors? And that mirror...where is the bandstand in relation to that mirror? Like I said, I love good pictures. But if the goal of this book is to get you to "hear" what those rooms sounded like, you're just going to tell yourself something based on what you think you know about what you see, which is ok, but...no illusions, ok?