Big Wheel

Whaaa? http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Artadqj6yojda

Growing up in suburbia seems to have gotten even more boring these days; I can't think of any neighbors of mine that even approach the ones in some of these stories. Former Miami Dolphins safety Dick Anderson (from the 1972 team) used to live across the street from me, though...

I'm guessing it was one of these: Mastiffs are HUGE! But they can be quite gentle if properly trained as puppies (same goes for Rottweilers). One of my friends has an Old English Mastiff that is about 4 feet tall and could tear a person apart. But since they trained him almost from birth, the only thing visitors have to worry about is getting drenched in slobber whenever he greets them.

Another quibble I have with cybermusicsurplus is that they're owned by allegro, yet you can't combine an allegro order with a cybermusicsurplus order to save on shipping like you can do with Mosaic/True Blue. Kind of silly considering that AFAIK the cds come from the same warehouse.

A few more for tonight: Kurt Rosenwinkel: Heartcore Horace Silver: The Cape Verdean Blues Jelly Roll Morton: Mr. Jelly Lord (Tomato)

I ended up getting Take Ten, Sonny Meets Hawk, Far East Suite, Gil Scott-Heron's Pieces of a Man, and Marcus Roberts's Plays Ellington. Also picked up the Calle 54 DVD for $12.99 which is by far the best deal I have seen for that title.

Wow, thanks Chuck. Damn, I ordered Take Ten but the chance to pick up a huge chunk of the Mosaic material for $15...with free shipping, might have to place another order eventually.

Just out of curiosity, are any of those Desmond/Hall sessions (Easy Living, Take Ten, Bossa Antigua) on the OOP Mosaic box?

Lots o' stuff from the B&N Concord sale, plus some others: Jessica Williams: Live at Maybeck Andy Laverne: Live at Maybeck Marc Cary: Rhodes Ahead Stan Getz: Getz/Gilberto Don Wilkerson: Complete BN Recordings Jimmy Smith: A New Sound, A New Star right now: Chick Corea/Gary Burton, Native Sense--DAMN. If you are a fan of vibes and or/duets you gotta check this out. Some very strong playing by both, and they TEAR THAT SHIT UP on the penultimate track, "Rhumbata." I had no idea that Chick had this strong a feel for Afro-Cuban playing.

I'm going home to Miami in three weeks...if you want I can sneak into Wayne's hi-rise and ask him. Might as well see if he has any good sammich recipes while I'm at it.

Up--I'm off the school meal plan for the summer again and have been doing a lot of cooking lately. This week I've been getting more adventurous...last night I made a Spanish tortilla (sorta like a big omelet with more potato than eggs in it) that was pretty good, although I couldn't get it to stay in one consistent mass since it was impossible to flip the whole huge thing over at once. Tonight was some gumbo from a mix, but doctored with chorizo and okra. Mmmmm.

Thanks Jim and Tony. I'm not the biggest fan of Defrancesco so I think I'll go for Mode first. Coincidentally, I was just listening to the Don Wilkerson version of "Scrappy" today! Edit: Actually, I just realized that THREE of those tunes are on the Wilkerson BN set.

Who else is on the Carrol title? Also, who are the other musicians on Ivery's "3"?

There's nothing "wrong" with Jurek's opinion that the album is a five-star album. Of course it is. But the review is RIDDLED with errors of fact that call into question how closely Jurek listened to this album. I'll ignore the error that requires one to know a little history, namely that Red Garland is comping on "Sid's Ahead"--It's Miles playing piano; Red had left in a huff during the session after Miles criticized him (at least, that's how Miles tells it in the Troupe autobio). Even so, anyone who's heard more than a tiny bit of Garland would suspect that that is not him playing piano on this cut. I'll also ignore the ignorance of musical terms that Jurek displays in a lame attempt to wax poetic over the course of several paragraphs, as well as the numerous typos. I'll also ignore the fact that Jurek never even mentions Billy Boy, one of the greatest piano trio tracks of all time, which makes me wonder if he just skipped it entirely while listening to write the review. Assuming he actually did listen to the album. Let's cut to the egregious stuff: 1) Miles does not solo on "Two Bass Hit." Somehow, Jurek believes that "Davis blows his ass off in his solo." 2) Jurek uses "Straight No Chaser" as an example of how the band was fluent with Monk's "unusual harmonic structures." Great, except Straight No Chaser, though it has a rhythmically tricky head, is a plain old 12 bar blues harmonically. Jurek is just showing off his "knowledge" of Monk's music rather than adding anything meaningful; in an attempt at sounding like a critic who's hip to music theory, he comes off as a moron who has no knowledge whatsoever of harmony. 3) Jurek claims that everyone solos on Dr. Jackle except Philly. Wrong. Garland does not solo. I'd like to try whatever mind-altering chemicals Jurek's on that make him hear Garland soloing here. The side effects would be worth it just to hear Red burning at this tempo. If it wasn't such a lengthy, flowery review, I'd let some of this crap slide. But if Jurek's going to be a pedant, he should at least make sure he knows exactly what he's talking about.

Then obviously you've never read Thom Jurek's Milestones review, which demonstrates either a near-complete ignorance of the album or a severe crack habit.

Happy birthday to the guy who turned me on to T-Bone Walker!

Which of the Marchel Ivery discs would be the one to pick up first?

Hey, I think I might actually know the lucky buyer of that album--met him at a party last summer. He's a young bassist and a Cecil Taylor/William Parker freak. Tried to track him down for a gig in June and his number was disconnected.

God, I love Ropeadope Records!!! If only more labels were like them...they forwarded my email to Bernstein and he got back to me personally. A hell of a guy. Turns out the official site has now moved to www.sexmobmusic.com (there are MTO clips under "the goods.")

Mike--does that address of Jack's replace his attbi address?

Here's their publicity agency, with a nice bio/review: http://www.bighassle.com/a_sexmob.html I'm guessing Ropeadope will take up the slack for the moment... I actually like the earlier records more than the Bond album, though I am warming up to it with more listenings. There is also a self-produced CD called "Theater and Dance" that is AFAIK only available through Bernstein. A good deal more subdued than the other Sex Mob albums, and possibly a better indicator of what the MTO sounds like.

It's a medium-to-large sized band (~10 players, no piano, sometimes banjo) playing arrangements that sound like they could have been written before 1930. Basically a mix of the typical Bernstein let-it-all-hang-out style and New Orleans jazz/early swing. Typical personnel includes the usual downtown crowd: Peter Apfelbaum, Ben Perowsky, Ben Allison on bass. More info here, though this page will probably be changing soon: http://www.jazzstandard.net/jazz_listings/...listmaster.html

Only 10 other people saw this in the 3 days it was up? That alone should qualify me for the title of chief thread-killer. Anyway, I heard back from the good folks at Ropeadope and they informed me that the MTO record is coming out in the spring! BTW, for a real thrill, go to what was as of a couple of weeks ago Bernstein's site at www.sexmob.com. (ADULTS ONLY.) He forgot to renew his registration...isn't the Internet wonderful?

Not distracting at all to me, although I don't listen on headphones where his noises would be more obvious. IMO you are missing out if you don't pick up at least Evolution I. Absolutely wonderful.

I wonder where the idea for the real title came from. There's a zoo-type attraction less than 10 miles from my house in Miami that was around in Duke's day--think that could be it? http://www.monkeyjungle.com (Or was "monkey jungle" a common phrase back then?)