Big Wheel

Tonight, March 22. As Jon Stewart might say, "whaaaa?"

Is it possible that this problem is the result of a physical handicap? The way you describe it, this guy has no problem with the mental aspects of playing in time--he can count and clap the pieces. Maybe the problem is a weakening of fine muscle control, caused by his advanced age. From what I can tell, this can happen to even the best players...I've even heard it said about Elvin Jones in recent years.

I just tried this stuff made by Guinness called Kaliber. Not too bad for a nonalcoholic brew, but certainly not Guinness, either...

How much of the T/K/M box is in print on CD these days?

See http://www.freshsoundrecords.com . Blue Moon is one of their sub-labels. Blue Moon/Fresh Sound has something of a mixed reputation...they put out things that are very hard to find in the States, but sometimes in the past they issued material for which they had not paid licensing fees. At least, I think that's what the story is--there are a bunch of labels in Southern Europe that do similar things, and it's hard to sort out the ethical ones from the less-kosher among them.

I like just about every kind of cheese but lately I've been particularly fond of Gorgonzola...it even melts fairly well on a hot sandwich.

Tom, knowing your tastes, those Booker Little albums with Friedman would be must-owns for you.

Oops, got here too late. Another one that came to mind was Freddie Hubbard's Night of the Cookers, which doesn't appeal to everyone but you might like it anyway.

There is a sextet session with Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan on the Hank Mobley Mosaic set, but it is not one of my favorites. You might try Donald Byrd's Transition sessions, one of which features Joe Gordon on trumpet on several tracks. Then there's Coltrane's "Interplay for Two Trumpets and Two Tenors, " which I haven't heard but can't be all that bad given the cast.

At least "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs" was not technically a BN album--it was made for Solid State. Not sure where "Song of Singing" fits in.

Not sure I can answer your question as to why Alfred didn't record these trios, but one should bear in mind that Blue Note didn't record any piano trios between 1963 and 1967, except for the heretofore unissued Andrew Hill trio with Teddy Robinson and Ron Carter. Why? I'm not sure, but here are some hypotheses: 1. Alfred Lion thought they wouldn't sell well enough. The Three Sounds were one of the only piano trios BN recorded between 1960 and 1963, and maybe their sales figures by the end weren't encouraging Alfred to get any more adventurous. 2. Lion didn't consider any of the '60s guys worth recording in the trio format. Maybe he didn't think that they were progressive to the degree Horace Silver, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Herbie Nichols had been in the late bebop/early hard bop era. (Of course, then we have to wonder how Jutta Hipp fits in.) I think my first hypothesis is still more likely. Silver wasn't recording whole albums in the trio format either in this period. 3. Maybe nobody wanted to do the trio thing at this time. A lot of the albums of these pianists on Blue Note are very much driven by the compositions, which emphasized horns. For some piano players (Herbie Nichols, maybe Silver as well?) organizing a quintet to play their compositions was an important goal. Or maybe Alfred considered the format antiquated and wanted to hear new conceptions from his more adventurous musicians (Herbie with Latin percussion, Andrew Hill with two bass players). 4. Similar to hypothesis number 1, but with a slight twist: as much as Lion liked these pianists' playing, perhaps he was afraid that they wouldn't have enough name recognition by the record-buying public. It's hard to believe now, but I'm willing to bet that Herbie Hancock was not particularly well known even among the jazz-buying community until he joined with Miles. So Lion hedged his bets on some albums by putting horn players on the records who might be better recognized--Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, etc.

Hmmmm...looks like bn.com has similar prices. $12.98 is still more than I usually pay for CDs, but it's a step in the right direction.

CD Universe says the list prices for Mingus's "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" and Oliver Nelson's "The Blues and the Abstract Truth" are $12.98. That's a cheaper list price than I've seen in any store. Has Universal dropped the prices on the digipacks, or is this just a CD Universe thing?

Mmmmmm....I cannot get enough of premium gelato. You guys have seen Parmalat milk, before, right? Parmalat is Italy's biggest food company and they sell this milk that comes in boxes you can store forever in your pantry before opening, and it doesn't spoil. (The company is also involved in an Enron-level scandal right now.) Anyway, Parmalat also runs gelato places that are unbelievable, but there are only a few locations, most in South America, one in Australia....and one on Miami Beach, about 25 minutes from my house. I can't WAIT 'till I go home for spring break. The fruit flavors are like edible heaven.

I believe Dreyer's is the same company as Edy's. Jim, have you tried either of these? The organic is GOOOD. My roommates can't get enough of the other one.

What's the dividing line between their "earlier" and "later" material? I only have Consummation and absolutely love it...probably played it about 10 times in a row after picking it up.

More Thad and Mel!! SWEET!

1. Carla Bley-ish? At first I thought this sounded like it could have been a Dave Holland record (sounds like Steve Nelson comping on vibes) but the electric bass makes me wonder if this is Steve Swallow with Bley. I like the use of the clarinets. Trombone solo--nice, some interesting ideas. 2. I feel like I've heard this tenor player before, but I don't know where. Who's using the dreaded bass direct? That makes me think this is late '80s/early '90s, maybe mid-90s. This guy reminds me a little of Branford, but it's not him--lots of Joe Henderson in that sound, but not Joe, either. Drums are sparse but swinging. Piano sounds good, very McCoy-influenced, rhythmically speaking. Ron Blake on tenor, perhaps? I think his sound has a similar "bite" to this guy's. 3. I really like this kind of groove. The organ player sounds very steeped in Larry Young and this tune is in fact a lot like "Zoltan" in structure--it's probably the organ player's tune. No clue who this sax player is. Of the modern-day organ players I know, I'm gonna guess Larry Goldings--Bill Heid is more Patterson-ish than this most of the time, Dan Wall has a much different sound and touch. I haven't checked out any Adam Scone so no clue if this is him. Trumpet player--no idea. Maybe it really is Heid? Some of those lines are more virtuosic than what I've heard from Goldings. 4. Starting with the electric piano...no clue at all who this is, with that acoustic guitar and all. I'd be inclined to think this is actually not from the '70s, maybe from the '80s or later. This sounds too funky for Chick Corea. Nice texture, but the tune isn't really going anywhere--it's all about the groove for these guys. Like the use of the cuica in there. 5. Very interesting! Sounds almost West Indian on the intro, then they go into that funky groove--New Orleans meets the shtetl. Not Zorn to my ears. 6. Is THIS Branford? If it is, I don't think that's 'Tain on drums. Nor is it Kenny Kirkland on piano. I could swear I've heard all these guys before on other records, but not sure where. Trumpet player is great--definitely heard them before, reminds me of Ingrid Jensen or Tom Harrell. 7. I hear RVG's piano sound. This isn't a Blue Note record, though. What a wacky blues head! Dammit, I KNOW who this tenor player is but can't place the name. Wait a minute--where's that applause coming from? This really doesn't sound like a live record to me. Tenor player reminds me slightly of Wayne, but if it is, this is very early--pre-Blakey, and that just doesn't fit. Not sure who that is on flute. In the piano solo, I hear Marcus Roberts, I hear some Ray Bryant. A stumper. 8. The groove and harmony make me think this is something Mulgrew Miller would do. Alto--not Kenny Garrett. Not Bobby Watson. My roommate says Donald Harrison, and I'm inclined to agree. 9. Not the foggiest idea. I'm gonna take a completely wild stab and say it's something from this: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Aagx7gjur86iw 10. The production on this is a mite too slick for my tastes. There's something about that piano sound that I just don't dig. Is this Ronnie Cuber, circa the late 1980s? Not sure who else it could possibly be. Everyone plays fine, and I'm very glad they're using real drums, just not something I would pull out too frequently. 11. I like this vocalist. My female vocalist collection is sorely lacking. For me this track is a little limp in the middle, but a nice enough vibe. 12. I guess this is the big band of, as Mike put it, the 'famous Trane collaborator'. Heard this tune before, elsewhere, but don't remember the name. Maybe I heard it live? I saw these guys about 4 years ago at the Blue Note. I'd be curious as to who arranged this.

I'm following this with bemusement. Howard is such a big flip-flopping hypocrite, it's now wonder he's supporting Kerry now!!! Right after Sept 11 2001 and the war in Iraq he was so supportive of Bush and kept insisting to people who called in how good a job Bush was doing, how right the war was, etc. Now, just because the FCC is comign after him (unfairly), he suddenly changes his mind about Bush. He actually thinks Bush now stole the election (enough already about that- it's simply not true) and that he knew something about Sept 11 and is protecting Bin Laden's family!!! And he's insisting that the war was wrong!! All of this because the FCC is after him?? How does one bad judgement by Bush to send the FCC after Stern make him now wrong in everything else?? And that yes-man Robin just kisses his ass by agreeing with every single thing he says!!! I remember them both praising Bush just a year ago, now those very same things they loved about him they both insist are bad qualities. It's ridiculous. Nothing like consistency. Anyway, I heard he wants to be on both XM and Sirius. I would be interested in checking out whichever had more jazz (and less- no, wait, NONE if possible- rap) Um, Greg? You've got it a little backwards. Stern started to turn against Bush at least a week BEFORE the FCC started going after him. That's why he's spinning conspiracy theories--he thinks that ClearChannel, which is run by very good friends of the Bush family, is targeting him in retaliation for the shift in his views. Given the timing of the suspension, which even you admit is strange, it's not at all wacko to start speculating that the Bush crowd is utterly corrupt, and perhaps has been from the very beginning.

I have to wonder if one reason the states are turning into assholes on revenue is that they're simply starved for it these days. Remember how last year Missouri's governor ordered every third light bulb in state buildings unscrewed? The state budget crises are happening all over the country.

This track only confirms what I've been noticing all week (having just picked up Mingus's REVENGE): Jaki Byard is one BAAAD MF.

Jazzdisco.org saya that there are 4 unissued tracks to the "Jazz Portaits: Mingus in Wonderland" session, on UA. When was the domestic CD of this released? Seems like any future re-release should include them, if their quality is decent enough.

Amen. Ready for Freddie should never have been OOP in the first place.

This is the Goin' West cover, according to Blue Note: PLEASE tell me the real CD cover doesn't look like this. Edit: For some reason I thought there was already a Reid Miles cover for this session, and that it had been released back in 1962. I have a tendency to confuse this one with "Way Out West." Still, I would have much preferred a Patrick Roques redesign...

No bonus tracks on the US version. It sounds pretty good to me, with a rich bass sound, but then I'm no audiophile.