DrJ

I remember The Alarm being compared to the Clash, but never really heard that at all - I guess the vocals were a bit Joe Strummer-ish, but I always heard them as more in the Big Country/early U2/Waterboys camp, the "big sound," heart on the sleeve crowd from the UK. Obviously all these bands had their own sound and were far superior to The Alarm, mind you, but I tend to view them as operating within similar territory. In another bag altogether: oh yeah, SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE is a fine album, all the English Beat's (few) albums were really good. General Public was all good fun but I was always deeply disappointed at how much of a comedown that gig was after the Beat. Probably my favorite, oddly enough, is still WHA'PPEN? - probably their most maligned. The first one is of course a party classic, hard to beat in that regard but not necessarily what I sit and listen to these days. SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE has probably their best tunes but also quite a bit of filler. WHA'PPEN? just has a weird, other-worldly vibe, more of a reggae than ska feeling, and I think Wakeling's lyrics are remarkably rich within the confines of 2-3 minute pop tunes. It was also the Beat album that was the least overplayed/overexposed on the college stations, so it still sounds fresh to me. David, I also saw the Furs on the MIRROR MOVES tour, at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. That was an excellent show...by that point their albums were becoming overproduced in the worst 80's pop way, but the songs were still quite strong and they had a lot more room to breathe (and a great deal more intensity) in a live setting. Butler was quite a front man. Excellent band, particularly their first three albums.

I like her, most of the time. Sometimes pushed it over the top, no question, but there was a method to her mannerisms most of the time. FINALLY is a great album... "The Sun Died," well whoah doggies, that's the vocal jazz STUFF.

Wow, didn't know about this one...will look for the vinyl for now and hope for CD some day.

The MAN. Happy Birthday, hope Dex is celebrating "very saxily" somewhere. Just listened to DOIN' ALRIGHT recently, still my favorite Dex. So full of good humor, relaxed yet still with an edge to the improvisations...and one of the greatest jazz ballads of all time in his rendition of "You've Changed." Will be listening to THE SQUIRREL this weekend, far too long since I've dug that one out.

Like my wife always says: "Yeah, maybe you COULD get $300 for that 4 disc Mosaic set, but it's not like you'd ACTUALLY EVER SELL IT!!!" She's on to me...

Patton and Bennie Green Mosaic Selects Complete Verve Anita O'Day (fantastic!)

Sorry, but I can't stomach Gibson's personal politics or religious views. He's fully entitled to 'em, of course, but that don't mean I want to be repeatedly assaulted by them in the form of a lengthy, over-the-top religious fanatic's vision. The graphic depiction of Jesus' torture/suffering isn't the issue for me - though I don't particularly want to watch that, either - but rather the not so subtle underlying messages that the movie (and the surrounding press hysteria, much of it stoked by Gibson himself) is sending us. Lon's interpretation is right on target here, I'm afraid. Just to prove I'm fairhanded here as pertaining to Gibson the "artiste" - I actually love the LETHAL WEAPON movies, normally loathe "car chase/explosion" movies but will watch these over and over, a total guilty pleasure. Big, over the top, stupid, violent, you name it - but loads of fun. That's where someone with the lightweight talent Gibson has thrives. He was pretty good in the (totally implausible and equally inane) CONSPIRACY THEORY too, another guilty pleasure. But he's unbearable when he tries to get all "serious," laughably so.

It's a personal preference thing to me, Shrdlu - cool that you like the TOCJ's, but I have over the past few years traded many of the TOCJ's in for US RVG's as I much prefer their sound. Way more detail and separation, greater sense of presence. Maybe a little less "warm" than the TOCJ's but not harsh sounding to me at all. They're cheaper, too!

Haven't yet had a chance to grab it - but WILL BE soon. Can't wait.

Must admit I could never stand The Alarm the first time around, though can't comment on this recent development since I haven't heard it. They made my teeth ache - always struck me as having all the pseudo-political pretentions of U2, but without any of U2's gift for anthemic pop craft.

I had preordered my KABELL YEARS box from CD Universe, and mine arrived last night already! Listened some in the car this AM...wow, this is really great music, at least Disc 1, not just good, GREAT. According to All Music Guide, the original LPs weren't well pressed and so the recordings sounded lo-fi...well, that's not an issue here. Tzadik has done a remarkable remastering job, this stuff sounds fresh and very "true," lots of overtones on the percussion instruments that are supposed to have overtones for example. Great sound. I hadn't had time to even glance at the liners, and I'm listening to Disc 1 in the car on the freeway, bathing in Smith's huge, enveloping trumpet tone, basically in heaven...then this incredible percussion passage begins and just keeps going and going, building momentum, layering on sounds, really unique. I'm racking my brain trying to figure out who the percussionist is, but can't come up with who it might be...well, a bad mother whoever. Finally I get to my destination and finally safely dig out the CD notes to find out and...geez, it's WADADA LEO SMITH! What a musician. It's like that old Warner Brothers cartoon - "Bugs Bunny, first base; Bugs Bunny, second base; Bugs Bunny, third base..." Wadada is everywhere! Seriously, this is some of the most riveting percussion work I've ever heard, in a jazz context or otherwise, totally and utterly musical. I cannot wait to hear discs 2-4. Those of you waiting for this box are in for one big treat.

Whoah, what's the Chambers book? Nice anecdote, I'd like to read more!

I was posting at the same time Jim Sangrey was - so there's some repetition here, but... Well I think you're right there, partly. I do think Miles came up with far more than his fair share of TRUE innovations - one reason why he's in the jazz deity class. But no question he was also a great opportunist as you indicate, and he chose his associations not only based on musical merit but also with an eye toward being on the cutting edge. But still that's ultimately an incredible gift or talent - to be able to get it right in predicting who's going to be one of the movers and shakers in the future, almost without fail, every single time. For example, there were a host of great tenor players in the mid-60's, but Davis didn't choose just anyone, he chose Wayne Shorter - arguably the greatest mind on his instrument to emerge from that era next to Coltrane. It simply CAN'T have been luck or "being in the right place at the right time" that could explain him coming up with so many bandmates who were only later recognized as all-time greats. Again, remember that when Wayne and Herbie and Tony (and Coltrane and Garland and Chambers and Philly Joe and McLaughlin and Holland and Corea and Jarrett and...) joined Miles' groups, they had some regard in the inner most circles of jazz but were certainly not considered giants. That came after, and while it can't all be attributed to Miles, their being associated with his bands not only gave them cache but more importantly kicked their own playing and thinking up many notches. He also had impeccable influences - e.g. the brilliance of being able to listen to someone like Ahmad Jamal and his trios and then pick up on the space thing and incorporate that into the hardbop quintet configuration, which was until then immediately identified by so many as having to always sound "hot." The brilliance of recognizing the distinctiveness of Gil Evans' approach to orchestrations and how complimentary it would be to his own conceptions. So OK, he didn't de novo invent everything - but nobody ever did. Still, these other attributes I mention are typically almost nonexistent except in the most highly regarded. jazzmen. Most jazz players, IMHO, develop a nice technique, but then maybe or maybe not develop any kind of identifiable sound, are marginally successful in finding even one group of people who can play their music in the way they invision, and almost never come up records that sound like records rather than a collection of tunes strung together. In my view, the technique issue is WAY overplayed in the context of these other factors, which are the things that ultimately really compel me to listen to an LP or CD.

I have to add some more: Listen to Miles' unbelievable facility with microdivisions of the beat, with crossing bar lines and making 4/4 sound like freedom. I am 100% sure this is something he never practiced or worked with (at least in later years - maybe woodshedded earlier, and perhaps also a case of learning from "the" master in this realm during his stint with Charlie Parker) but largely just had in him. To put it another way - when you're only playing 2 or 3 notes in a several bar stretch at either a blisteringly fast tempo OR a dead crawl (two notoriously difficult ends of the tempo spectrum at both of which Miles was a flat out master), not only had those notes better be well chosen in terms of harmonic implications but they damn well better be PERFECTLY placed in rhythmic terms if there is going to be a sense of movement and forward propulsion (in the case of slow tempos) or an illusion that one is either playing at or floating above the pulse (in the case of fast tempos). Miles almost never failed to get the placement just right in either case. The "indirect" proof of this is obtained by listening to how his rhythm sections responded reciprocally to his playing. If nothing else, just listen to Tony Williams. Yes, Miles was stoked and reinvigorated by Tony's playing (and all his other musicians' work), but the converse is also true in spades - there are times during the 2nd great quintet years where you can literally hear Tony Williams stop and take notice and turn on a dime in response to some little rhythmic idea of Miles'. Check it out. As a related point - one other reason why Miles' versions of tunes are often still considered definitive has to do with having a knack for selecting perfect tempos. Miles used way more relaxed, mid-tempos (particularly in the 50's/early to mid 60's) than just about any other trumpet leader I can think of - when everyone else was "Off To the Races," Miles was mixing it up, with a good variety of up tempo, mid, and ballads. But "mid-tempo" is a HUGE basket - within that range, one can really fuck things up by choosing a pace that is too hurried or sounds lagging. Miles almost never missed. In fact, I defy anyone to point out an instance in which the tempo he went with was wrong - I'm sure there are some cases, but DAMN few given the size of his discography. Think of it another way - you know how Miles loved that snare "clack" thing that Philly Joe apparently came up with and he later asked Jimmy Cobb to do all the time? Imagine how terrible that would sound if the tempo wasn't right. Never happened. So more examples of his mastery that go WAY beyond tone and the mechanics of fingering and blowing the trumpet but are at least as important in how I view someone's "technique" (if not more so).

Entering late here. Cool if people don't like Miles - but make sure you know why you don't like him. Don't just skim the surface, listen past the unconventional tone (not saying anyone here IS skimming, just urging those with more casual acquantaince to give him SERIOUS consideration). No question in my mind Miles was a truly GREAT trumpeter when he was "on" his chops and in good health. As others have said, not a "classic" sounding jazz trumpet tone a la Clifford Brown, but then again nobody has ever out Clifford Brown'd Clifford Brown - dig? Miles could PLAY - make no mistake. A true musician, not a technician - parsimonious with his note choices (that's almost become a cliche, but a very TRUE cliche, a master of space in the class of Jamal and Monk), and never afraid to use unconventional sounds/slurs/devices in the service of the song or solo. Listen to his playing on a tune like "Circle" from MILES SMILES - holy crap, are you gonna tell me that isn't some of the most spine tingling ballad artistry EVER? Herbie Hancock's solo on that one is justifiably the stuff of jazz legend - Bob Belden just about starts speaking in tongues describing it in the boxed set liners - but if you listen carefully you'll hear how Miles' superlative solo sets up both Herbie's and also Wayne's solos, acting as a launching pad and fertile garden of ideas for them to pick and choose from. Let's also not forget Miles' many other attributes, beyond his trumpet playing too - when you listen to a Miles Davis record, you're also hearing fantastic band leading and selection of musicians, great compositions and arrangements, top notch production and recording (usually), and all the other related thought and effort that went in to producing RECORDS rather than a series of blowing vehicles (particularly in the Columbia years). One last piece of food for thought - I sometimes forget, as a younger and later comer to jazz, about the issue of chronology - who started what, who did what first, etc. If you go back and reconstruct jazz history by looking at session dates and the like, you'll realize how many times Miles was first on the block to do things - from coming up with arrangements for tunes that were so definitive that everyone since references them (to the point that very few people even BOTHER trying to go back and come up with something new based on the original harmonies or melody); to incorporating electronic instruments in a truly original, thought out, and organic way; to using the studio as an instrument; to breaking away from the "hot hard bop" mold in which just about every prior East Coast trumpeter was cast; etc etc. You put all that together and I have to admit it is pretty mind boggling that some just miss or don't get it. But again, more power to ya - it's surprising to me to look back now and realize that it took me many years to warm to and finally "get" Charlie Parker, now one of my ultimate favorites, so who knows? Give it time.

Chuck, you're dead on - THIS AMERICAN LIFE is a killer show, and that Sedaris bit is a classic. I posted about the Sedaris piece some time ago (may even have been back on the BNBB), just about wrecked the car one Saturday afternoon while listening during a drive with my wife. ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY is a fantastic book, full of stories many of which are almost as hilarious ("Don't Fuck With the Rooster," which is about his younger brother, is one of my personal faves). I love the way THIS AMERICAN LIFE is put together, with the music interludes during Glass' pauses. Really atmospheric.

This IS a fine record...brings me back to my college days. Jim, I know you're just teasin' and not makin' fun - so I'm not trying to "defend" it or convince you of anything - but it's actually one 80's pop record you might be interested in hearing because there's a VERY strong Brian Wilson/Beach Boys influence in the writing, and I know how much you are a fan of Wilson. Basically, a lot of their best tunes sound like good quality Brian Wilson tunes put through a post-punk shredder - or another analogy would be like listening to said tunes on a transistor radio picking up an AM radio station that's just about out of range. While as you might imagine this type of formula was BOUND to wear kind of thin quickly, it's great fun taken in this small vinyl dose.

Thanks for the tip Larry, never heard of Chase...for others intrigued by this prospect, both of the Chase albums Larry mentions are carried by Cadence, for around $12 (they list the label for PHOENIX as "Jazzproject," in case you're doing a search on their Web site).

Overall a very nice review. The reviewer is kind of hard on Columbia / Legacy re: no new material...but rather than the label being chintzy, I wonder if it's maybe simply a case of there not being anything of sufficient quality left in the vaults to add, and/or if perhaps Brubeck himself didn't want anything added to the original albums. Regardless, I'm personally quite excited about this one...I have had TIME OUT and TIME FURTHER OUT in (well worn) vinyl format for years and have been waiting for a package just like this...will be nice to have them in CD remasterings, plus the three recordings in limbo for so long.

Both sides are nice, albeit very brief (2 1/2 minutes apiece). McKusick plays pretty alto, never sounded more similar to Paul Desmond than here in my opinion in terms of his tone (I've heard some comparisons and never really felt they were that similar, but on this single I'll make an exception, though I'm sure it was parallel development and not a mutual influence thing). The A-side opens with a gravelly, Miles Davis-ish voice saying "Just keep walking" and then for the remainder is a relaxed, vaguely R&B inspired saunter, where he stays pretty close to the admittedly catchy melody. The B-side is my favorite, a very slow ballad with a good melody on which McKusick is more harmonically interesting in his solo. Both this one and the A are over WAY too soon. I can't find any listing of who's in the rhythm section anywhere on the Web. The bassist is the most worth listening to - propulsive, and some eye-opening note choices here and there, although also out of tune in spots. Vaguely Milt Hintonish sound, wouldn't be surprised if it's him. The drummer literally could be a metronome - no distinguishing marks here. Pianist has an unfortunate predilection for very unsubtle and out of place block chords - Brubeck's touch on a bad day, but without the intelligence or humor, a bad combination. Recording quality is fine, with a minimum of reverb, although I'd be surprised if this wasn't a primarily pop record (rather than jazz session) engineer. The copy of the single I bought is in good condition, with more surface noise on the A-side (sounds like it was well-loved at least for a time). All in all, very much worth 6 bucks, fun stuff.

FANTASTIC ALBUM...great choice. Will revisit it happily.

I've always been a big fan of 25 O'CLOCK, particularly Colin Moulding's loopy "Bike Ride To the Moon," which sounds like Herman's Hermits on mescaline. More kudos for "Stupidly Happy" here too - up there with "The Mayor of Simpleton" and "Senses Working Overtime" in the pure joy category.

LOST AND FOUND (Muse) is now OOP but pops up in used stores - I'm sure the 32 Jazz comp has some of this material, but it really holds together well as an album, fantastic music. Kenny Barron, Harvie Swartz, Ben Riley. I've never heard her other Muses but I'm sure they're stellar too.

It has nothing to do with all this rhetoric, but I've never even felt like posting at AAJ. That place gives me the heebie jeebies for some reason - way too sterile and hipper-than-thou vibe. Glad I avoided it (although again it wasn't for any political reason until now).

Well, that's certainly the question I'd want answered (SERIOUSLY)!