Teasing the Korean

I don't know about Dan, but Temple Terrace, where I live, is on very high ground (as Florida goes). We are rated a Y on a scale of A to Z for elevation, with Z being highest. This is an area where people evacuate to in these storms. Our house has Miami-Dade approved hurricane windows, and also a brand new roof. Between all of those things, I feel good about riding things out. On the other hand, a tree could fall on the house, so I by no means take this lightly. I will report back as long as I have an InterWebz.

Will do. It's supposed to really happen tomorrow, but we may be hit by bands tonight.

Thank you!

Between fall 1990 and April 1991, I had a "jazz" gig in South Tampa backing up a female singer who was pretty good but was always three sheets to the wind by the second set. The proprietor was always trying to put the moves on her, and she would have none of it, not even when she was drunk. The bass player was good, an old warrior who played acoustic bass. The drummer, not so much. You could have sat in with us if you had brought your sax. I had a legal pad on which I drew a vertical line down the middle of a page, with "reasons to stay" listed on one side and "reasons to leave" listed on the other. That gig was listed on the "reasons to leave" side. The extra cash was nice, but that was about it.

Well, only the cone has shifted slightly south. We are still well within range.

You and I overlapped. I left in April 1991, and came back in March 2003. Did you hear Kenny Drew, Jr. when you were here? I think he arrived in '89 or '90.

May I ask what years?

We are on high ground, and we have hurricane-grade windows, so we are riding it out. Thanks for the well wishes! Another member with whom I communicate is near Orlando. Hopefully they won't get hit as hard.

Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound theme was recorded by jazz and pop artists for a while. Not sure it ever attained "standard" status. I don't think there were lyrics. Trying to think if Rozsa wrote anything else that reached a similar level of popularity.

Brooks Bowman, "East of the Sun." Brooks died very young. I think this is the only song he wrote that is regularly played. Are there others?

The piano version sounds like the theme from a 70s European erotic film. Which is a good thing.

Nice! Do you know who is playing that? I'm guessing it's not the film version. I didn't know Kaper wrote that! Even Tim Buckley recorded it!

The one with "On Green Dolphin Street?"

Yes, agreed, we are saying the same thing.

My point is that Kaper's tunes kind of accidentally became standards. I don't think Kaper was setting out to write tunes that would be played by jazz musicians. Compare this to songwriters who were desperately trying to score a hit, and were never capable of achieving hits. Compare this also to celebrated film composers who, through their popularity, might have set themselves up to write a standard, or at least a sub-standard, but never did so. Goldsmith and Williams com to mind. Did you know that two Bernard Herrmann melodies were turned into "songs?" "Marnie" and "Madeleine." I'm guessing the lyricists thought they might be another "Laura" or "Stella by Starlight." They weren't.

Yes, agreed. But by the law of averages, some have a greater shot than others.

It is fascinating to me who does and does not get to write a standard. Within the film world, celebrated film composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Williams never managed to write a tune that became a "standard" in the way we think of jazz standards and the Great American Songbook. So it is all the more fascinating to me that Polish-born film composer Bronisław Kaper, who is nearly forgotten today, managed to write not one but two jazz standards. Supposedly, when Kaper was told that Miles Davis had recorded "On Green Dolphin Street," Kaper did not grasp the gravity of this event. He was told that once Miles recorded a tune, everyone else would also. So he is remembered today far more because of those two tunes than anything else he did as part of his routine day gig. I would love to know how much money Kaper made over the years off of "Invitation" and "On Green Dolphin Street" relative to his film work. Here is the composer playing these tunes in 1975.

Martin Denny: Exotica Exotica II Forbidden Island Primitiva Exotica III Quiet Village The Enchanted Sea Nearly every 1950s record by Cal Trader on Fantasy. Bobby Hutcherson's BN albums. George Shearing's early MGM records. Also, his Capitol debut "The Shearing Spell." And any of this Capitol albums with the word "Latin" in the title.

Karma is one of those gateway albums that you will sometimes see in a collection where there is not a lot of jazz. Maybe people bought it for the cover art. It is an incredible album. I don't think of it as jazz. RIP.

Thanks for the details!

Does anyone remember the story - and I may be getting details wrong - about an audiophile rag that did blindfold tests? In one test, on a very high-end system, they apparently replaced the high-end tube amplifier with a solid state Panasonic that you could have bought at Sears. All the other gear in the chain was high-end and unchanged. Apparently, the participants in the test could not tell the difference, and the rag stopped doing the blindfold tests. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

I'll wait for the gummies.

Haha! I have asthma, so that wouldn't work for me!