Joe

Good stuff; very smart, but not smart-aleck-y.

Yes, iirc. According to the notes to the Mosaic CT Candid box (written by Buell Neidlinger? Can't recall...) "Air" was certainly performed by CT's group during productions of THE CONNECTION.

Though Clay did woodshed with Ornette and Cherry during his LA stint in the mid-50s... Right, didn't Cherry play piano in one of Clay's outfits during that time? I don't recall that tidbit, but I'm far from being on expert on Ornette's earliest LA days. Wonder if this is mentioned in Spellman's 4 LIVES...

Another for this one.

Though Clay did woodshed with Ornette and Cherry during his LA stint in the mid-50s... If you enjoy Clay's work here, his Verve & Antilles dates from around the same era are worth tracking down: I LET A SONG GO OUT OF MY HEART and COOKIN' AT THE CONTINENTAL. Fine date, and, thankfully, among the easiest to find of the American Jazz Masters Series recordings.

Another one "on record," in the spirit of my original post... Then-members of Yes Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman assisting Lou Reed on his first solo LP. I'd have to go back and listen carefully to note which tracks the proggers appear on, but, IIRC, they do more than make cameos.

I believe Chabon's soon-to-be released TELEGRAPH AVENUE revolves around a record store in Oakland that specializes in said genre... http://www.npr.org/2012/08/22/158198740/exclusive-first-read-telegraph-avenue

Thanks, all, for the good wishes. I guess I'll stick around for another year after all...

I saw Charlie Haden in a local record store around 1980. Wasn't sure if it was he & checked with the owner after he left. It was Haden and he was complaining that the owner wasn't carrying enough of his records - even though there were several in the store. Sounds about right....... While I was at CalArts (2006-2008), I would occasionally see Haden and Wadada Leo Smith in the dining hall. Not unexpected per se, as both musicians teach at CalArts, but it was still a bit incongruous -- to me, anyway -- to have my first face-to-face brush with each musician involve cafeteria trays and plastic cutlery.

Once ran into Marchel Ivery loading groceries into his car in a Kroger parking lot.

Feel free to share your own. Tony Williams on Public Image Limited's ALBUM / CASSETTE / COMPACT DISC. Yes, a Bill Laswell production, but Tony does not play with anything like a "jazz inflection" here. Rather, its almost as if he's playing a theatrical role, "heavy metal drummer," complete with transformative prosthetic makeup. I.e., this is not quite like Wayne Shorter dropping in to play a sax solo on a Steely Dan record ("Aja").

"The Guitarist (Wes Montgomery & James Clay, Hollywood 1958)" Kendra DeColo It is the look of terror on his face— the glossy flank of an open grand piano untouched & muscled with light behind them—that makes me turn away, the saxophonist leaning into the curve of breath, the arc glinting from his lips, almost unwieldy, thick-limbed, the precision of a volt striking the ground. He is cruel, I think, his lips gripping the brass mouth & wood tongue, because he knows he can’t be touched as the fighter who doubles inside the ring, winged fits of blood & electricity humming like a halo around the near-corpse of the man he’s whipped, fists demarcating notes into the haze between them, the guitarist’s mouth & eyes swollen with knowledge he is ill-equipped, his left hand a culled constellation, flaccid above the strings as if to form the chord of a blistering universe, the first cut into darkness, deliberate chaos of the child who pretends to play lifting the wooden body to his chest, who knows what stirs in his cells has no name, the crook & jag, blue smoke, a bud opening in his abdomen swelled to the size of hope as we become the shape of whatever we hold in our hands when asked to lift up what we cannot bear to touch. (VINYL POETRY, Vol. 5, Summer 2012: http://vinylpoetry.com/volume-5/page-32/) Also, and at the risk of being a being a self-promoting jerk, I'm happy to announce that my first chapbook -- THE TERRACES (DAS ARQUIBANCADAS) -- has just been published as part of the Little Red Leaves Textile Series. You can learn more by visiting this link. Beyond that, LRL is a great small press that makes (and publishes) beautiful books.

Go in beauty. He was -- and remains -- a true original.

Done, although the next opening is almost a year away! You've got June, 2013. Thanks Jeff. It might take me that long to assemble a playlist (believe it or not). Looking forward to it, J

Thanks for the reminder re: MANOS. My recollection of the film's score is foggy, but I'm curious to revisit. Anything I know about this film I owe to MST3K, which made MANOS the subject of one of their all-time most memorable episodes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AJVZuQuD6M& (Also, if you've never seen what they do to a little exploitation film called THE BEATNIKS...)

I ready to assemble another BFT. Please slot me in for the next available opening. Thanks, J

A superb record. Highly recommended... and nice to know there are more tracks from this set to be heard!

Terribly underrated musician... was easily the most convincingly "bluesy" / "jazzy" of the Emerson - Wakeman prog virtuoso types. He'll be missed.

And thanks to you for that info re: Consuela Lee. Also glad to know that my recollections of Lee's role on CHANGE OF PACE (one of my favorite Griffin sessions, BTW) were more accurate than the AMG account. Which tunes on that date are credited to Lee?

No Bill Lee composer credits on Griffin's CHANGE OF PACE (which I find somewhat surprising), but "Connie's Bounce" is credited to Consuela Lee... wife? Sister?

Surely he doesn't mean this Kurt Vile (though he could)... http://kurtvile.com/

A bit hard to track down, but all his collaborations with Lee Konitz are worth hearing, especially this one.