Big Wheel

My guess is that the execution of these tunes was not as tight as Alfred would have liked. Ezz-thetic is NOT easy to play, and I bet they may have needed more rehearsal time. Un Poco Loco is not particularly easy either, and is infrequently played. Alfred must have thought the concept was basically a good one, though, hence the redo at the "Solid" sessions a few months later. (Although Solid wasn't issued at the time either, I think most of us can agree the reason wasn't poor playing on the part of the participants...there was just too much Grant Green on the market at that point.)

Jim Sangrey, in a thread from a while ago, termed Shuggie "the missing link between Sly Stone and Brian Wilson." Listening to this one, I can kind of see it...raw funk/blues guitar meets laid-back California songwriting...or something like that. (I'm not qualified to talk at length about either Stone or Wilson, really.) Anyway, the first couple of listens through the CD version had me liking the bonus tracks--recorded a couple of years before-- a LOT more than the original album. The original tracks were just a bit too sugary, I think. On a third listen, they have started to grow on me. He was a hell of a guitar player for being barely a 20 year old (and very versatile, you can hear him playing octaves a la Wes or Benson on one or two of the tunes). A shame that he just faded away into obscurity.

No Beantown? People here are much more pleasant after the events of last October... Plus, if you're willing to brave the Providence winter, might as well head 45 minutes north to a halfway real city.

Cuscuna's general policy seems to be: if it was merely "unissued" he'll consider it. If it was "rejected" by Alfred Lion, he won't. I wouldn't hold out too much hope for this one. Edit: Were this to be reissued, the best shot we might have would be getting it added onto the end of a reissue of "Solid." Three of the tunes appear on Solid, making me wonder if this was sort of a first attempt at those sessions that didn't work out.

Never heard of the guy, but the label is an interesting one. I like the Joe Beck record.

Summers evidently has a tendency to be a spicy radio guest.

Well I'll be goldurned--there's a live tape of Herbie from 1973 on easytree right now. Ask, and ye shall...

I'm fond of one of those Galper records, either GUERILLA BAND or WILDBIRD (can never remember which). Damned funky stuff.

I wish we could see how Head Hunters was made. Listening to the way everything is layered, it's SO hard for me to imagine that most of that stuff (especially Chameleon and Sly) was laid down together with the whole band in a relatively low number of takes. Does anyone know how it was done?

This is what's come to frustrate me about seeing him live, I think. He does the same 7 or 8 tunes every time, it seems, and so much time passes between shows that I can never tell how each arrangement is different. Cammack and Muhammad have been with him so long that they probably can handle any curveballs thrown their way, but to one who doesn't have too many records of his, it just looks like they've rehearsed the shit out of it and are just executing arrangements that have already been well-scripted.

Well, shrugs did get married fairly recently, I believe. I imagine that could be playing a part--although probably not enough of one to explain why he hasn't followed through with his ebay transactions. Shrdlu's wife passed away at some point (he mentioned it here) and I wouldn't be surprised if that has something to do with his hiatus.

Ok, back on track. Tonight I had to throw something together for a couple of surprise guests: Appetizer: a sort of bruschetta with watercress, tuna packed in oil, and grated romano cheese atop toasted baguette slices Grandma's zucchini soup recipe Mixed greens with oil and vinegar This fish recipe, minus olives, which I didn't have Some Brazilian pastries I picked up earlier for dessert!

This strikes me as a little bit like asking Louis Armstrong in 1945 what he thought of bebop. In 1945 probably nobody who was an established jazz player could even agree on what the hell "bebop" was.

Ahmad Jamal is perhaps the one pianist--maybe the one artist--I never miss when he's in town. I caught him tonight at the Regattabar with longtime collaborator James Cammack on bass and Idris Muhammad on drums. My reaction to the show was sort of conflicted, but that's for another day. The one thing that really strikes me about Jamal's playing is how different his style is now, compared to how he was playing in the 1950s. The basic touch and rhythmic feel is still there, but his style totally changed--wide open, much more orchestral and dramatic, using way more technique, incorporating modalism, etc. (Chucho Valdes and Jacky Terrasson, to my ears, definitely seem to have paid a lot of attention to later-period Jamal.) Harmonically speaking, it really seems like a lot of McCoy Tyner (and to a lesser extent, perhaps, Herbie Hancock) seeped into Jamal at some point. Or do I have it ass backwards? Were these tendencies already in Jamal's playing before Tyner and Hancock ever hit the scene?

I'm not so sure of this. I mean, yeah, Fantasy used the words "Legends of Acid Jazz" in their marketing for a bunch of soul jazz titles. But Verve also did a "Roots of Acid Jazz" series--the music inside was regarded as the forerunner to this acid jazz thing, whatever it is. To me they both seem like they're going after a demographic of younger people who actually think of a very different style when they hear the words "acid jazz"--and that style is actually pretty distant from jazz and much closer to the funkier varieties of modern electronic dance music (I hate to call it "electronica," but the two definitely seem to have similar fan bases, based on what I've seen in record stores that cater to DJs of this kind of thing).

Agreed. Maybe Al (JC) has an idea...guess he's still at sea for awhile, though.

Is shrugs out of the navy for good? I wonder if he had to deploy in a hurry or something.

Don't feel too bad--Bergonzi is the OTHER Boston tenor guru for local students (maybe Bill Pierce comes in third). In fact, Garzone and Bergonzi occasionally combine their bands to form a group they call Gargonz.

Sorry, googled it and that guy (Federico Britos Ruiz) is much older.

What's the name of the guy who plays on the Charlie Haden "Nocturne" album? Could it be him?

He plays less than a mile from me every Monday with The Fringe. I need to check him out one of these days!

One caveat about alldirect, though, is that a LOT of jazz discs are out of stock. My last order was about half OJCs and I had to really hunt to find ones that I liked and were in stock. I dunno if this is the result of there being massive deletions in the OJC catalog, or just a slowness on Fantasy's part to send them more copies of the less popular titles.

I've started with alldirect--but only do big orders, as you get free shipping when you order over $100. Only check Overstock once in a very great while but there doesn't seem to be much of interest for cheap there anymore. Will also buy from Dusty Groove when they have things on clearance.

Did you actually see the title before it was changed? I would have edited it also, were I in Jim's shoes.

One thing some people don't realize about chiles is that they can burn even more on the way out then they do on the way in...have had a few painful experiences, though none recently. Might be going to the East Coast Grill's "Hotter Than Hell Night" next week--it's their semi-annual tradition of making food that's just too spicy to be edible. Am a little worried, though, that I won't be able to handle it and will thus be flushing some CD money down the crapper.