sonnyhill

I'm on the fence after the first listen, but i think it will grow on me. One of my most played albums of the past few years.

Agreed. I also thought that Iverson's knee-jerk post on Mary Lou Williams in reaction to criticism that he had not featured a woman on his blog was ill-considered. In my opinion, the Mary Lou Williams post operated to support claims that he was sexist. The post suggested that only a firestorm of criticism would prompt him to post about a woman artist and that he would have never done so organically. While Mary Lou Williams is great, she has been dead for a long while. In my opinion, Iverson would have been better served by responding to the criticism by speaking with a few woman musicians who are around today and getting their takes on the Glasper controversy. That would have made for good reading and probably would have extinguished some of the fires that he unsuccessfully tried to put out. I believe that he might have discovered that women musicians have greater perspective and are generally much less predisposed to outrage than you might believe if you hang out on Twitter too much.

What was interesting to me was how Iverson and Glasper reacted to claims that the Glasper interview demonstrated that they were both sexists. It seemed to me that Iverson cared too much about what people said about him on social media. Iverson's initial defense and serial apologies made him appear weak and insecure. He reacted as if he felt that what people who did not know him personally wrote about him on social media defined his character. Moreover, it appeared that he felt that he had to prove at all costs that he was not a sexist to every person who wrote on social media that he was a sexist. That was a recipe for failure. Glasper, who actually said the things in the interview that people found objectionable, did not apologize. In my opinion, there was no need for him to apologize. His comments were taken out of context by the self-righteous social media "snipers" for the purpose of feeding their insatiable hunger to be outraged at something all of the time. I also did not dig Vijay Iyer piling on Iverson when he was down. How many women instrumentalists has Iyer featured on his recordings? There is indeed still much work to be done with respect to inclusivity in jazz, but I think making an example out of Iverson was grossly unfair. I have seen TBP live many times and enjoy the dynamic between the musicians in a live setting. I am not a fan of Orrin Evans at all and have never warmed to his playing. It will be interesting to see how the band sounds with Orrin as a member.

Indeed!

Or at least make them available for download on a platform like Bandcamp where you have the option of downloading the albums in lossless formats. Here's hoping that BGO (or someone else) releases the rest of Columbias on cd.

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Agreed. I heard it for the first time this month. It's definitely a classic from that era. I am surprised it is not mentioned more. I happen to prefer it to Eastern Rebellion.

This is my favorite album cover of all time!

Arthur Blythe's death prompted me to listen to his Put Sunshine In it for the first time on You Tube. I had avoided it previously because it had received unfavorable reviews. Upon listening to it, I find that I appreciate it for what it is and that I like it -- a lot. Not too long ago, I would have scoffed at the "commercial" nature of the recording and probably not listened to much of it after the first few notes. Arthur's great tone on his instrument and musicianship might have something to do with it, but I also hear precursors to elements used by Stereolab in several of their recordings and Wayne Shorter in High Life. Are there any other examples of "serious" jazz musicians releasing albums in a similar style - e.g. using pop elements with original compositions, synthesizers, and drum machines? R.I.P. Arthur Blythe

The money I spent on the Rollins Prestige boxset is some of the best money I ever spent!