Joe

Charalambides, JOY SHAPES (Kranky) BROKENHEARTED DRAGONFLIES: INSECT ELECTRONICA FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA (Sublime Frequencies) VETIVER (DiCristina)

Two. Horace Silver, THE UNITED STATES OF MIND I may be in the minority here, but I happen to think that this set contains some of Silver's most personal music. Not just because of the lyrics, which I know are just oo full of New Age-y self-actualization for some tastes, but due also of the sharpnessof the melodies and the sheer depth of the improvsing, especially from the leader. Its as if Horace re-discovered harmony on these dates, and he makes the most of his new knowledge. Also, for sheer historical importance: for answering in the digital age the question, "What was one of the most important and influential post-War jazz artists doing at the beginning of the ME Decade?" Jeff Parker and Scott Fields, SONG SONGS SONG I happen to think Parker is the real deal, a guitarist with a wide range of interests -- you may have heard him in Tortoise, or with Fred Anderson, or elsewhere -- but a supremely solid grounding in jazz and contemporary improv. Scott Fields is an intriguing figure in his own right, with AACM connections and several ambitious projects on his vita. The music they make together is nerve-wracking -- in the best sense, i.e., in the way that Cecil Taylor's best music can be nerve-wracking -- but never abrasive. Parker's peices are, in fact, dowright gorgeous ("LK 92"). Maybe the most original recording to make use of guitar feedback since, geez, I don't know, My Bloody Valentine's LOVELESS.

Why? Well... Raised in Oklahoma and west Texas, Jimmy Webb launched a celebrated songwriting career while still in his teens (his “Up, Up And Away” topped the charts for The Fifth Dimension in 1967). During the Flower Power era, his lush, romantic pop songs -- “MacArthur Park” for Richard Harris and “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” for Glen Campbell, to name a couple -- represented everything creatively vital about a Tin Pan Alley that was fast being overshadowed by songwriting performers like Dylan and The Beatles. Success or no, Webb quickly saw the writing on the wall. “One thing I always knew was that once they know who you are, you’re dead,” he explains in Ben Edmonds’ liner notes to this release. “I saw that I was rapidly pigeonholed, strapped into an electric chair called ‘middle of the road songwriter.’ I couldn’t let that happen.” In 1969 Webb embarked on a performance career noted for its studio innovation, large-scale ambition, and delicate song craft. While his 1970 debut, Words And Music, was tailored to the rock audience, Webb subsequently re-consolidated his orchestral gains, culminating in the back-to-back extravagance of Land’s End (1974) and El Mirage (1977), the latter produced by George Martin. Webb consistently impressed critics though he sold few records. But his peers have always recognized his genius, bestowing prestigious songwriting awards as well as Grammys for music, lyrics, and orchestration (Webb remains the only artist to be awarded in all three categories). This five-disc limited-edition boxed set contains the albums Words And Music (1970), And So: On (1971), Letters (1972), Land’s End (1974), and El Mirage (1977), as well as never-before-available live performances from 1972 and a disc’s worth of previously unreleased outtakes. The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress: Jimmy Webb In The Seventies will be available on 12/14/2004 for $79.98 in an individually numbered limited edition of 2,500 copies. Pre-order it at: http://www.rhinohandmade.com/browse/Produc...sso?Number=7820 Long been interested in hearing Webb perform his own music -- what can I say, I'm a sucker for "Wichita Lineman" -- but this set is NOT cheap, so any caveat emptors or "hell yeah"'s (or anything in between) would be most welcome. Much grass, Joe

Downtown Dallas is now effectively a ghost town.

I recall being underwhelemed by the Mclean / Jenkins meeting, but, then again, there isn;t much Jenkins on record, so... The FOUR ALTOS date, though -- there is some frou-frou on it, courtesy Woods and, to a lesser extent, Quill. But Sahib Shihab's solos are totally hell-bent for leather (sorry, could not help the Judas Priest reference here) and make it worth hearing. FOUR ALTOS is also one of the Prestige dates arranged by Mal Waldron / produced by Teddy Charles (IIRC). Seems like both "staggers" and "Pedal Eyes" on here are Waldron compositions. So it's got that going for it too, IMHO. All I know about BIRD FEATHERS is that the McKusick material is also appended to the CD reissue of his TRIPLE EXPOSURE.

Keep the positivity flowing my friend.

Whoa, like, DUDE...

In my collection of de-torrented materials, I have a Slint live show from Club Dreamerz, Chicago, August '89. On this evidence, they were certainly a bit more lugibrous in performance than on record, but I'd still love to see them.

Creeping up into the sky. Stopping, at the top and, starting down. The girl grabbed my hand, I clutched it tight. I said good-bye to the ground.

My first pick would be Hawk Eyes, followed by Soul. My picks as well, though I would through in a rec. too for the meeting with Lockjaw Davis (NIGHT HAWK) and the date with Vic Dickenson and Joe Thomas.

Should things turn bad with the Fantasy catalog, I'm going to view Cecil Taylor's LOOKING AHEAD! as the canary in the coal-mine. If it stay in print, I have hope. If it does not... I worry. I would be willing to bet all (or most) of the Shelly Manne and Poll-Winners material stays.

Wow, hard to pick just one. So I won't. I take 4 to start: Louis Cottrell Trio, Bourbon Street New Orleans: The Living Legends OJCCD-1836-2 (Riverside 9385) A nice little surprise disc for those of you who love the classic Giuffre Trios with Hall and Pena (or Atlas) Shorty [baker] & Doc [Cheatham]OJCCD-839-2 (Swingville 2021) One of the few two-trumpet meetings that I can recommend without hesitation. Rene Thomas, Guitar Groove OJCCD-1725-2 (Jazzland 927) With stunning work by both the leader and J.R. Monterose on tenor; one of the most felicitous, "Hmmm, I wonder if that's any good?" purchases I ever made. Charles McPherson, Con Alma! OJCCD-1875-2 (Prestige 7427) Some of Cliff Jordan's finest work on record, IMHO. Plus a Barry Harris / George Tucker / Alan Dawson rhythm section.

Not a bad "jazz arranger", either, IIRC. Didn't he do some work for Cadet in the late 1960's?

LET MY CHILDREN HEAR MUSIC

I deem Sony and Verve the worst offenders by far. Sony's original THE COMPLETE HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN RECORDINGS box (odd-shaped book with CD's "plugged" in back) is pretty horrendous. I also think the Verve Pres box is damn unwieldy. Nor am I much into faux wood paneling.

Leave it to Jim to reveal to us the essential poetry of the Frito Pie. Sorry, haven't been struck by this particular bolt of Lou Christie lightnin'...

His latest with Joe McPhee and Donald Robinson on the Boxholder label is pretty nice... Dusted Magazine review (Derek Taylor) One Final Note review (Scott Hreha) Bagatellen review (some other blowhard)

We are the weird, after all.

I thought Celeste may have been his wife or girlfriend ! In which case, we'd be talking about a very intimate session indeed.

Yes, Parlan moves from piano to celeste / celesta for the tunes with Lockjaw. Not quite Monk on the original "Panonica", but not bad, either.

Picked this up a few weeks ago, and only now have had a chance to spin it. Anyone else? Nothing really ground-breaking here, but PISCES isn't exactly conventional either. For one thing, Parlan is on celeste for the Davis tunes. Not only does this lend those performances weird, twinkly, raindrops-on-the-windowpane, early early morning ambiance, it allows for rather large open spaces in the music, spaces which Jaws fills more than capably with that sound of his. Some arrangements, such as "Yesterdays", are almost like tenor-bass duets in this respect. The best pieces are the really slow ones, such as a majestically brooding reading of "Midnight Sun". Anyway, the tune seems made for Jaws' phrasing: right on top of the beat, the sudden eruptions of wide vibrato, his love of snapping notes off. Griffin is Griffin, of course, mixing equal parts tenderness and outré propositions in his solos. Listen to how he handles the theme to "Willow Weep For Me" here: halting here, a tongued flurry there... these are subtle liberties, but liberties all the way. I also like the way they use Parlan's pseudo-modal intro as a tag or further bridge out of the bridge and into the last A section here. Performances average about 4 minutes in length, but the band makes the most of the time allotted. Ballad-fu. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy-fu. Contractual obligation (maybe)-fu. Joe Bob says check it out.

"Jazz": James P. Johnson and two "solo reeds" discs I'm reviewing: Sonny Simmons' JEWELS (Boxholder) Makanda Ken McIntyre's IN THE WIND (Passin' Thru) Other: the Galaxie 500 catalog (even going so far as to throw in the Plexifilm DVD devoted to the band)

http://www.justin-time.com/works/just2062/ Still processing this one, but I thought it was worth mentioning. And I feel pretty confident that there will be some strong opinions on this one. Yes, another Monk recital, but with a difference. Stetch radically re-arranges -- "Green Chimneys" is taken very briskly, a re-harmonized "Little Rootie Tootie", a version of "Ask Me Now" that also interpolates material that would not be out of place in a Bach partitia, a bustling and de-tuned "Evidence" -- or uses prepared instrument techniques ala Cage ("Well You Needn't") to "revive" these pieces. A few of the more memorable ballad melodies are played straight, and the pianist has the good sense to keep the perfomances very compact: the longest tune is "Criss Cross", at 7 + minutes. I was really afraid when I first picked this up that it would be gimmicky or po-faced in the extreme, but I find the results rather pleasing. Yet I don't really feel the results are all that Monkian in spirit. Why I don't find that problematic is one of the things I'm still puzzling through. Check it out.

For me, the pick of Dixon's Soul Notes is still NOVEMBER 1981. With Alan Silva, Mario Pavone on basses and Laurence Cook on drums. Tony Oxley's THE ENCHANTED MESSENGER (1994), with large experimental group featuring Dixon, is also very much worth hearing, IMO. Oddly, no AMG review of this disc.

Thanks Larry. Odd.