Joe

Another "up" for that Hal McKusick record. Ditto the A. K. Salim and Don Friedman, which are about as far out as Prestige (hell, anybody, almost) ever got. A few more: Jaki Byard, HERE'S JAKI and HI-FLY (trios) Teddy Charles, COLLABORATION: WEST and EVOLUTION (early experiments in modality, serial composition and other avant-garde techniques; for my $$, the best pure playing by Short Rogers to be heard) Jerome Richardson, ROAMIN' WITH RICHARDSON (featuring a beautiful, beautiful rendition of "Warm Valley," featuring JR on baritone sax) Dizzy Reece, ASIA MINOR (the equal, easily, of any of his BN dates) On the Coltrane side of things... LUSH LIFE is, in one sense, a miscellany / complete grab-bag, and the trio tracks with Earl May (did he ever sound better?) and AT are a reclamation project (according to the liner notes, they rolled tape even though the piano player failed to show), but what a perfectly sequenced LP it is. Still, IMO, some of Trane's best ballad playing. Walt Dickerson, of course, is perennially underrated. Not throwing shade on Bobby Hutcherson, but Walt went there first, and then some. Teo Macero and The Prestige Jazz Quartet (and the lone Prestige Jazz Quartet album at that, which sports a killer version of "Friday the 13th")

Goodness, so many choices! Though there are distinct "periods" when it comes to Prestige's output (Weinstock, Edwards, Schiltten, etc.) Three to begin: Zoot Sims / Pepper Adams, ENCOUNTER (though I have a vague sense that this was a licensed session [?]) Bobby Timmons, THE SOUL MAN (quartet with Wayne Shorter, 1966) Gil Melle, GIL'S GUESTS

I like the Xanadu dates as well... TRUE BLUE and SILVER BLUE, both of which pair Dex with Al Cohn. Check out their unaccompanied rendition of "On the Trail"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E-eeliLxT8

Thanks; adding this to my "to-read" list. Purchased a Kindle version of the Beckett; it was 99 cents, for heaven's sake. Not that reading poetry on the Kindle is a pleasant experience, but... will report back once I've had more time to glance into its "pages."

I was born old. But I will enjoy my Douglas Adams birthday. It's good to be the answer (if not The Answer; all props to Mr. Iverson), even if only for a short while.

Has anyone here read Lee Underwood's BLUE MELODY? Interesting to note that Underwood is credited with co-writing Paul Horn's biography as well (INSIDE), which I have read. Also, if I'm not mistaken, this is the same Larry Beckett who collaborated with Buckley on his lyrics (HAPPY/SAD through STARSAILOR, at least).

LORCA is a favorite... apparently the title track was Buckley's attempt to capture or somehow reinterpret what he heard happening on IN A SILENT WAY. "Anonymous Proposition," though: risky (I believe the melody line and lyric are completely improvised), weird, erotic. Kind of a "junkie record," (especially the live cuts pulled from the Troubadour gig that was eventually released in its entirety in the 90s), and BLUE AFTERNOON is much more lovely and crafted. But, IMO, LORCA is as out-there in its own way as STARSAILOR. Not I. But I have read David Browne's DREAM BROTHER. Not bad.

Do you have this? Highly recommended. Amazing to see some of the STARSAILOR material in performance.

Another important voice quieted, but not silenced. Leave us not forget his ground-breaking work with Arthur Blythe.

I can't recommend this one highly enough. Of the band recordings, I'm most fond of LIVE AT WILISAU, which adds non Broherhood of Breath-ers such as Evan Parker and Radu Malfatti to the crew.

"Nils' no-frills chills," no doubt.

Cesar Aira, THE LITERARY CONFERENCE... I believe most of Aira's novels are improvised in their own way; this one is not as sublime in its contingency as VARAMO, but still pretty darn fantastic. John McPhee, ORANGES... a treasure. Robert Fernandez, PINK REEF... the only comparison that makes even any provisional sense to me is William Blake; that is, Fernandez's very, very, very strange "lyrics" are visionary documents... I almost can't go any further without getting into semiotics, Lakoff and Johnson's METAPHORS WE LIVE BY, all things 21st Century and "neuro-"... like Blake's, Fernandez's poetry troubles.

The one degree of separation between Jam Master Jay and Tyrone Slothrop. "What has nothing to do with music. What is a unit of measure." To which I say: "Word."

It's almost as if Will Ferrell's Jacobim Mugatu stumbled into a V. C. Andrews dust jacket.

The duets with Roswell Rudd are wonderful.

Thank goodness he led a rich life and recorded often. Don't sleep on this set! http://www.camjazz.com/boxsets/giorgio-gaslini.html

Sub-McSweeney's irony (one joke stretched beyond thin), but a few good throwaway lines in there.

This one hurts. But so glad I got to see him in person in my time at CalArts. What a spirit!

I've always found "Silver's Serenade" to be among Horace's most lovely melodies. Love the complex song-form of "Ecaroh" (the trio version especially). "Pretty Eyes" from CAPE VERDEAN BLUES has a great groove that kind of sneaks up on you.

Dunno, and the intertubes are singularly unhelpful here thus far. But just searching "Squatty Roo Records" on Google did turn up this pretty cool thing... http://entertainment.ha.com/itm/music-memorabilia/memorabilia/duke-ellington-squat-squatty-roo-handwritten-score-for-the-true-jazz-fan-few-vintage-documents-would-make-a-more-spect-total-1-item-/a/648-23022.s

Fascinating guy, fascinating career. His autobiography, published in 1990, is worth dipping into... And here he is in Roger Corman's, um, "classic" A BUCKET OF BLOOD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfB6X0SHZPY From exploitation cinema to traveling the world in pursuit of the most exotic acoustical locations...

Very interesting. I see by comparison that Austbo, for one, "does" something with this piece in particular, but I find Ausbto's logic (or "logic") compelling and/or attractive, while also responding to the more or less a-rhetorical rhetorical approach of Barbier. Barbier's Satie is sprightly. His version of the first Gnossienne (also search-able out-able on YouTube) is very dance-like. My fandom is growing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8fzMBnUoZc

Somewhat controversial tempos (slow), but I am a big fan of Reinbert de Leeuw's Satie. http://www.amazon.com/Early-Piano-Works-3-Gymnopedies/dp/B0000069CS/

My favorite June performance. It helps that she's singing a melody by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Langston Hughes. Rugolo's arrangement represents no slouching either. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nz7QFBgDYg