Joe

Among my favorite designers of this era. Yeah, today sucked.

Never seemed to get as much credit as his acting merited. He was a damn fine actor, and right up until the end. A true icon.

Blindsided by this, but I know I shouldn't be. Damn damn damn.

In my experience, the issue isn't one of effort or attention or ability. (Though there is that baby / bathwater problem that comes from institutional organs pushing bullshitted history early on.) It is more frequently an issue of whether or not an individual connection to "history" is even an option. Especially when history -- as a concept, as a discipline -- feels like little more than homicide. But all this is somewhat beyond the matter of the music at hand. Except, as I hear it, the music itself would seem to want to have this conversation, and maybe not for the sake of opening it up so much as sharpening it. It's complicated.

I dig it; nobody has to like this music. However, I would say that for some young African-Americans, what Washington et al. are offering enters the category of "history we didn't know we had and which, come to think of it, has actually been denied to us in some important ways." This isn't a nostalgia trip for them. The aspect of discovery here is real. Somewhat true. But if people made an effort to learn history (and it's out there - only denied if you haven't made an effort to seek it out), they wouldn't need this stuff. I hear that too. As a teacher myself, I understand the frustration that can set in. But the access I have to this history is not, by and large, the same access many of the African-American students with whom I've worked have. In fact, "access" to them is an incredibly loaded term and concept. But, yeah, all of this changes nothing about the quality of Washington's music. And that's not really my concern here. As a cultural phenomenon, though... there's something notable whatever "crossover" this music is achieving.

I dig it; nobody has to like this music. However, I would say that for some young African-Americans, what Washington et al. are offering enters the category of "history we didn't know we had and which, come to think of it, has actually been denied to us in some important ways." This isn't a nostalgia trip for them. The aspect of discovery here is real.

The runaway success of EMPIRE aside, it is incumbent upon us all to watch more than Channel Zero, you know. http://afrosonics.tumblr.com/

Within the context of contemporary experiences and concerns within the African-American community, a return to more explicitly "spiritual" / "out of this world" music -- or music that connotes as much -- makes a whole lotta sense to me.

Ah, the iceberg of which OUR MAN IN JAZZ was but merely the tip. If you've not been fortunate enough to hear this stuff yet, looks like a convenient way to acquire it... OK, its a boot, but maybe artistry and historical significance trump piracy? Probably not.

I hear you. Different connotations for different folks. I'm just thinking purely in terms of power and urgency, which the BOB has in abundance. And I would agree that, while McGregor's compositions and charts emphasize / celebrate a certain positivity, the BoB's soloists are not constrained to any one (set of) emotions. Gary Windo, for example, does not favor the same kinds of expressions that Mongei Feza does.

The Brotherhood of Breath! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvHxakE9g-U

Yes indeed!

Sad news. Saw him several times with Jim and Chick, the results never less than lively (and frequently more than that). And, IIRC. a few times with Pete Gallio on a Sunday afternoon grocery store gig (seriously).

Westbrook was also the pianist in a fascinating early 60's iteration of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars. Bobby Bryant, Bob Cooper, Westbrook, Rumsey and Doug Sides. Happily, they did appear on one episode of the FRANKLY JAZZ television program, and clips are available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi3-Ii-NGRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY4In7p91Vw

Damn. Still a talent deserving of wider recognition.

ICYMI: Jeese Goin interviews Dennis Gonzalez, 2005, for ONE FINAL NOTE: http://www.onefinalnote.com/features/2005/gonzalez/index.asp& http://www.onefinalnote.com/features/2005/gonzalez/index2.asp My interview with DG, from 2001 (also @ ONE FINAL NOTE): http://www.onefinalnote.com/features/2001/gonzalez/

Dennis stayed here in Dallas -- Oak Cliff, technically... think "Oakland to Dallas' San Francisco" or "Brooklyn to Dallas' Manhattan" -- to raise his two boys. He's also a serious educator. My earliest memory of the man involves him bringing his North Dallas High School Mariachi band students to my high school for a concert. This would have been 1987, IIRC. Both his sons are incredibly talented, big-hearted guys who are kind of everywhere with regards to the local music scene. Stefan in particular just continues to grow and grow as a musician and organizer. All of the records mentioned thus far are worth an audition, but I rarely see this one discussed: With Tim Green, Carlos Ward, Louis Moholo, Paul Rogers and Paul Plimley. Joyous!

My thoughts go out to both Bruce and Bob. We'd all be much poorer if not for their service to music and the musicians we celebrate on this board.

Apologies if this has been shared before (a cursory search of this board reveals that it has not, at least to the best of my search abilities). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF0EvYd_Bgw&feature=youtu.be

More reviews! http://thecollagist.com/the-collagist/2015/3/5/crepuscule-w-nellie-by-joe-milazzo.html https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joe-milazzo/crepuscule-w-nellie/ Events upcoming in June: the historic Margo Jones Theatre in Dallas, with Jim Sangrey and Summusic; in Houston, at the Brazos Bookstore.

Lunch, I hope. Anyone else hankering for a little aerofood?

Another artist whose work, IMO, partakes of (the best of what) post-modernism (has to offer): Ran Blake. Or: he extends certain artistic traditions associated with jazz (e.g., not drawing fine distinctions between "high" and "low" culture) in new and startling ways without sacrificing emotional content on the altar of cleverness. Also, a link to the Microscopic Septet performance referenced above: https://myspace.com/themicroscopicseptet/music/song/johnny-come-lately-13607106-13408290

I may be projecting too much here, but it would not surprise me if the MOPDTK wouldn't agree with this judgment and say "Well, ain't that the point!" IIRC, the liner notes for BLUE propose the project to have been conceived as a necessary failure. It's not so much music, which explains its failings -- failings I hear as well -- as it is an argument. And that argument is, in part, an argument against certain aesthetic "master narratives" (a po-mo chestnut): against universal / absolute humanistic values, and against objective standards of beauty / truth. The positions the members of the band are working so hard to occupy in recreating BLUE are inaccessible, even or especially in "art". BLUE scans to me as very much a political document, and in any number of ways. But certainly in what it proposes vis-a-vis subjectivity and the authenticity of selves as a product of artistic expression.