Teasing the Korean

There is a fifth track, "Day Dream," included on the expanded CD of Brookmeyer & Friends.

What do people think of this album? It has always been a rainy days and Mondays kind of record for me, in a good way. The group includes Stan Getz, Gary Burton, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones. It is interesting to hear this rhythm section playing with Brookmeyer and Getz.

I was going off what you posted previously, that it was a like a ska rhythm. Quite the opposite: Those guitar and/or keyboard stabs on the stanzas are happening on the beat, not off.

No, is it worth reading, from this perspective?

I hear it like you do. And that was the whole point of this post. We are hearing it wrong! It is easier to feel the beat correctly on the live versions, for me at least.

As much as you want, but I assume that I will primarily be listening while others are doing the talking! And thanks for the great photos and commentary above!

Are you sure? I think the rhythm guitar is on the beat, and the bass and vocal are syncopated.

I have developed a latent interest in the Great Plains, perhaps as an offshoot of my interest in railroads. So let's consider this a catch-all thread for all things related to the Great Plains. I have never been to any of the states or provinces that are entirely or partially in the Great Plains. I have ventured as far west as Chicago, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. From there, I have been to Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego. So feel free to use this space to share your thoughts, memories, and impressions of the Great Plains. I am especially interested to hear from folks who live there or who have lived there, or who spent any amount of time there. I am also interested in the Plains Native American tribes. In terms of reading about the Great Plains, the only things I've read (that I remember) are Willa Cather's My Antonia, and various Native American mythology from Plains tribes. Some of Jim Thompson's novels take place in Plains states also. I also saw an excellent retrospective of Wright Morris photography when I lived in Beantown. His work was paired with the photographs of Edward Weston. Thanks in advance.

Sly - Life If Sly meets your definition of "rock." Still listening, either way.

A couple of others that always come to mind are Frank's Capitol versions of "I See Your Face Before Me" and "A Cottage for Sale;" and the Reprise version of "Serenade in Blue."

I would agree. And the idea of being "inside the song" emotionally is a big part of what makes a great singer. There are singers with technically good voices who don't at all connect with me, it's like they are singing the lyrics phonetically without paying attention to what they are saying. One of the main reasons that Sinatra connects with me - At least Capitol and early Reprise Sinatra - is how he sounds like he has lived the lyrics.

Thanks, I didn't have a chance to listen yesterday. I am not familiar with her. I just listened. That was good. So I'm clear, are you saying that this meets your criteria for jazz singing, even though she is not radically changing the melody?

Yeah, like skipping over the amazing cover art for Mongo Santamaria's Yambu!

I have a weird thing where my first copy of a record was in rough shape, and years later, I'm thrilled to find a copy in clean condition. I bring it home, look at the old one, and it too is in perfect shape. I upgraded long ago, but the first trashed copy is emblazoned onto my psyche!

Yeah, I agree. And I realize that I may be missing weird juxtapositions that may occur if I simply filed A to Z. But I don't think it would work for me, though I get where you're coming from.

I need categories for the way I consume music. If I am putting together on short notice a set of outer space orchestral music, or Twilight Zone jazz, spy music, Moog music, or Eastern-tinged grooves by aging jazz and easy listening artists, I need them grouped together, otherwise I would never find everything.

Linda Ronstadt's voice does not work with that kind of material. Her voice is too big and brassy. Those kinds of tunes work best with an understated delivery, IMO.

Rod Stewart is into model railroading. That is the extent of TTK's interest in Rod Stewart. That places Rod in a category with Frank Sinatra, Neil Young, Mandy Patinkin, Fred Steiner, Nathan Van Cleave, and Chuck Nessa.

I can deal with a random mix in the dollar bin, but for the regular stock, no. The overall A-Z approach works for me if I go in knowing what I'm looking for. But I am more interested in browsing. On the rare occasion that I waddle into a record store, I generally don't have much time, and I want to quickly go through the jazz albums, the soundtracks, and some other genres. I don't have time to browse through the store's entire stock.

On the other hand, our ability to categorize and recognize patterns played a significant role in human evolution. I agree that there are limits to any system of categorization, but as human beings, we need some general guideposts just so we can communicate with each other. And while I agree that musical genre categorizations can be limiting, when I go into a record store that files everything A to Z with no distinctions, I immediately walk out the door. I don't have time for that kind of nonsense.

Yes, agreed, it is a continuum.

It is also addressed in Ralph Gleason's liner notes to the No One Cares album, and I believe that Gleason comes down on the side of Sinatra being a jazz singer. Sinatra called himself a saloon singer. I don't consider Gordon Jenkins to be even remotely jazz, but Sinatra with Gordon Jenkins for me is closer to jazz than Andy Williams with Count Basie.

As sung by Frank Sinatra, a jazz singer if there ever was one, with Nelson Riddle.

I believe that phrasing would encompass "ability to improvise," certainly with subtle melodic variations. But ability to scat is not a criterion for me, and it is in fact quite the opposite. Andy Williams on his best day is never a jazz singer, even if he is with Basie. So that clip I posted above does not meet my criteria for jazz.

So here is a great example of what a jazz singer is not: Place Andy Williams in front of the Count Basie orchestra, give him a decent tune to sing with a nice arrangement. And even in this setting, Andy does not even come close to jazz. His phrasing is very much on the beat. He cannot swing to save his life.