robertoart

i think JSngry knows DIW cds at the beginning of the digital age (outside Japan) were much like 'Cheekbone' magazine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWD_hfacU8o

The comments section after the article are funny. Vinyl is King. However if you were too poor to own or keep a good system from the pre-digital days, then researching, finding and financing a quality vintage vinyl set up (bang for the buck), is not for the faint hearted. Neither is relying on Ebay for your vinyl, especially if you have fastidious vinyl standards and rather arcane tastes Otherwise it's always nice to read someone else savouring the delights of 'slow music'.

Benson said Tenderly nearly ruined his career at the time, and that he would never record another Instrumental/Jazz album again. As that was such a long time ago now, at his advancing age, and with his Pop marketability at pretty much that of a small venue cabaret drawcard, maybe he'll reconsider, and make a guitar album or two. Then again, maybe Benson still sees himself as a Pop star, even though most of those that go to his gigs probably wouldn't know what his latest album and material are. And maybe (the funkiest man in showbiz) Allen Lowe is right... and 'you can't go home'... so a Benson guitar album at this stage of his life might turn out to be a real bummer. Otherwise, Golly Gee Sergeant Carter...what a funny thread this was.

A vain and stupendously materialistic identity. Skills? - maybe. Another Hollywood oxygen thief? - that's Entertainment Tonight.

Really enjoyed that and excellent teaching communication going on this video. The other link to his trio playing was hot as well. Very Kenny Burrell in that one

That was a tribute to John Hammond special. Goddard Lieberson hosted. Benson was great on "Seven Come Eleven". Dylan also showed up. The details are in the link above. Dylan agreed to appear on one condition: that he be allowed to perform his Hurricane Carter song in toto (it is rather long for such a TV show as this). George Benson was included because the hype was that he was a Hammond "discovery." Having written the notes for George's first album (it was on Prestige), I was ever so surprised to hear of this Hammond find. Hammond signed the Benson/Cuber/Smith band after Benson left McDuff. There is a good story GB recounts often in his interviews about this. So perhaps Hammond believes he was 'discovering' Benson for a 'wider' audience. For an amazingly candid and comprehensive Benson history -through his own eyes- check this out http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/documents/oral_histories/George_Benson_Interview_Transcription.pdf Really interesting to read about Benson's recollections of his meeting with pianist Freddy Gambrell in San Francisco(?). Benson credits Gambrell with sharing his musical knowledge that redefined GB's musical approach - and gave him an edge over other guitarists after his McDuff apprenticeship. I wonder what system Gambrell was imparting? I assume it would have been a Melodic Minor one, that is now common knowledge in Jazz education as a 'modern' approach (associated with Sixties Jazz harmony). But would have been far less available as public knowledge back then I suppose. This is now seen in guitar terms - at least - as associated with Pat Martino's 'minor conversion' system, or Emily Remler's 'Berklee method for dummies' system. However, Benson seems to think of it as playing 'Major' a half step up in a ii-v-i (?). To confuse matters further, Benson's playing seems heavily chromatic and more Mixolydian based.

There is, of course, the story of Johnny Griffin and the British Inland Revenue authorities. IIRC John was seized on arrival at London airport in connection with unpaid income tax arising from previous employment in the UK and spent the night in Pentonville jail, before his release was secured by his friends in the music business. He subsequently played on the Clarke Boland album At Her Majesty's Pleasure (British legal term for indefinite imprisonment), which featured tracks named after prisons ("Pentonville", Wormwood Scrubs", "Broadmoor", Holloway") and convict experience ("Doing Time", "Reprieve", "Going Straight"). I think I detect the humour of fellow band member Ronnie Scott in that album concept. That's a nice change. A single night in the Slammer for tax evasion. Still seems a bit silly though. I mean, how many people in the UK could have been targeted for that?

And look what I found! It had to be Jim Hall.

Just watched the Anita O'day documentary. She talks about her time in jail, and also describes how the cops busted her. Which Jazz musicians received Jail terms during their lives? And why did others, perhaps more high profile escape this fate? For instance, Grant Green, Baby Face Willette, Frank Morgan (on the Black side) were in Jail for extended times. On the White side, O'day, Joe Pass, Art Pepper. Other well documented addicts, as far as I know, were spared lengthy sentences, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Bill Evans? Jackie McLean? Would the level of privilege, status, race...have been significant factors on who the authorities targeted, or was it more luck of being in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time? Also, did the emergence of specially dedicated psycho-social drug rehabs play a role in Jazz musician-addicts lives during the Sixties and beyond. Perhaps this was tied into the incarceration period and release? Bob Porter writes that when Grant Green was released from Jail (and began sideman work with Prestige) he had minders with him who were making sure he avoided all stimulants (even caffeine). This suggests some kind of post release rehab treatment. Joe Pass was also an early Syanon resident - which he talked about in interviews at some length. And his musical legacy is really most known post that period of his life.

I can tell you that when I was trying to get my hands on those DIW titles in 90,91,92......they weren't following me around. And if they were, they didn't want to make themselves known.

I don't watch US TV, so I could well be wrong, but I've always understood that the shows being talked about were the US equivalent of our British chat shows. MG Even in a David Frost/Parkinson world, Jazz musicians must have felt double outsiders in a world that feited Classical music or anyone with Classical leanings (Zappa?) in hushed tones and reverence. Cavett (I know less about Douglas, but I believe his show was coming from a similar place) devoted much time to Filmakers, Writers, The Intellectual side of Pop Music etc. It would be entirely justified of Lee Morgan, Kirk and everyone else to feel excluded and slighted in an intellectual media that was interested in and celebrated people like Cassavetes, Bogdanovich, Welles, the Ono-Lennons and Ray Charles. Or African American Boxers and Comedians (mostly).

Spot on.

An Australian classic. The thinking man's Skippy.

I'm with you fully on this. A lot of Muse sessions clearly suffered from lack of rehearsal time, and could have/should have been done a lot better (a number of Clifford Jordan and Carlos Garnett sessions come immediately to mind), but there was a lot that was not going to get recorded at all if it was not recorded by Muse, and some of their stuff is classic (Roy Brooks 'The Free Slave', a couple of those Carlos Garnett albums, Woody Shaw 'Live at Berliner Jazztage', and there are others). Much of the Black Saint catalog is reasonably unlistenable to me, but what about that first Billy Harper album the label was named for? And no viable American companies were knocking down the doors to record him. Black Jazz made those incredible Doug and Jean Carn albums, and I can't begin to describe what those albums have added to my life over the past four decades. So I am incredibly thankful for those labels, for Strata East, Tribe, Horo, the whole scene. Yep. And for anyone not able to experience the music live - or as it unfolded on the bandstand - these labels kept the story going, although, I suppose, some will gladly argue these artists were propped up by a 'false qualitative economy' and championed by 'ideological critics'. In Australia, at the time, BS/SN and Muse had good distribution (mostly), so a visit to certain record stores meant you could keep learning and appreciating where the music was at and going. This was especially important in an era where someone like Ornette was not releasing lot's of sessions, at least before and after the Caravan Of Dreams time anyway. When a label like DIW began to record many of my favourite artists, it became much harder (and more expensive), to track things down. Your post also reminds me how deep a lot of these catalogues go, and how much more great music I've yet to get to. So from a pre-digital age, it all represents a significant historical archive now.

Does Chick Corea and the Church Of Scientology count? That stuff will reinforce your Atheist spirit.

And I suppose not many people on this board are Brice Marden fans - though I'm just going on the assumption, since he's not nearly as well known as his peers in the world of modern painting. He's well known enough. Possibly more well known than Agnes Martin. Thank God for that. Although they both might be neck and neck. Maybe Zorn could get involved.

Well those shows - Cavett, Douglas etc. certainly had intellectual and creative pretensions. Especially in the Radicalized world of the late Sixties/Early Seventies. Whole shows were devoted to the most elite of public creative types. So Morgan is far from speaking bullshit. If your talking exclusively about a 'pop-comedy talk show' like Carson, MG, you might have a point. Who's Merv anyway? Is he that bloke Kramer turned into a turkey on Seinfeld? It would have been pretty good to have a great Network TV performance clip or ten from most of those people in your list MG. Blue Mitchell and band on Cavett? Didn't Blue Mitchell end up playing with John Mayall in his Fusion projects around this time?

In that case, it's probably a good thing the Beatles didn't request Armstrong to be included on the cover of Sgt. Pepper.

Yeah, pity the social conditions of his life probably retarded that somewhat.

Sculptors are often the best draughts-people. Working with all that form. Terrible colourists though

Anyone know who's playing the sax solo on this? No idea, but he's got a lovely left hand, and quite possibly an expensive watch. Most likely a studio musician. Anita is my favourite Stella.

'The West Coast Allen Lowe Band' Actually her music sounds like Abba making an album with Sting's Jazz band.

Could be worse. He could have teamed up with Lou Reed. At least this singer can sing in tune when she wants to.