Big Wheel

For me the Wilkerson is not the kind of stuff I can sit down and listen closely to, picking out all the intracacies I haven't heard before. It's most pleasing if you're doing something else with it on, maybe having a barbecue or something...mmmm, think I may do just that if it ever stops snowing up here!

I for one am stunned that Prof. West was a Zappa fan. I knew he was into Curtis Mayfield and that stuff from his lectures on black music, but Zappa?

Ah, the magic of Google. I believe that restaurant is called Sofra, located at 341 Upper Street.

There is an excellent and inexpensive little Turkish/Greek restaurant in Islington, right near the Angel tube stop. If you're into that kind of food I can look up the name for you. They had this great special--a bottle of wine and a 3 course meal for under $20, if I remember.

It was something like "good thing she willed her body to Columbia University...now the scientists can find out how one person was so unswinging." Noj has it right. Whatever you think of the lady's playing (I think she swung well enough, though she was no Wynton Kelly), there's no need to spit on people's graves right after they pass.

The thing is, I feel like many smokers feel the onus is on the nonsmoker on most occasions to just walk away if the smoking is being done in an open area. Does a nonsmoker have to linger outside behind the breakroom while people are out there smoking? Of course not. But in parks, on the street, even when you're stuck in traffic, it can be hard for a nonsmoker to avoid people around them who smoke.

Ray, I hear you. Draconian bans do seem to offend most of our libertarian sensibilities. But on the other hand...there have been several once-legal and very available products (like opiates) that have been restricted and ultimately banned entirely (outside of medical use). Moreover, I can see how partial bans can make matters worse. Say we institute a total ban on cigarette smoking except in a private home. It seems to me we'd just have a lot of REALLY agitated smokers on our hands who simply can't get through the whole day without getting really, really irritable. Never having been a smoker I have no idea what it feels like to have to go without a cigarette when you're addicted, but I wonder what kind of consequences this would have on crime rates of the road rage, domestic violence variety.

What is a Purple Herman? I've never heard that term before.

I believe he is also the brother of one of the founders of a company that does the majority of radio promotion for Blue Note these days.

I have not heard much of her early work, but I really enjoyed her most recent on HighNote, "I Hear Music." Simply great songs sung well. IMO her voice is holding up pretty darn well.

It's funny--in my experience, there are quite a lot of saxophone players who tend to dismiss players like Getz or even Mobley out of hand when it comes to trying to shape their own sound. The norm these days seems to be to pursue the big sounds of a Rollins or Coltrane or Brecker. I had an obnoxious band director in high school who really discouraged kids from trying to sound like anything other than those thick-toned players.

As I mentioned on the old board just before it vanished into the ether, Eddie was the piano player at my bar mitzvah reception. I wish I had been more knowledgeable about jazz at that age. Saw him again in Miami at the aforementioned Van Dyke with the aforementioned Don Wilner over spring break a week and a half ago. He sounded wonderful, lines pouring out of him effortlessly. The only blemish was that there was a party of very loud drunk people sitting next to the stage who made it hard to hear sometimes and were also making some obnoxious requests (which Eddie and Don mostly graciously accepted--he does a hell of a boogie-woogie version of "St. Louis Blues!) Handling that kind of group must be a bit of a dilemma for a manager, since they made up about half the people in the small club and were spending quite a lot of cash on drinks.

Joe, you don't have Solid?? That stuff kills!

The Barth was recorded in the first week of August 2002. By the way, I interviewed Chris Potter yesterday and he told me he will have a live Vanguard record coming out later in the year. Pretty sure I remember him saying that the group would be basically the same as the one on Traveling Mercies (Kevin Hays, piano and Rhodes; Scott Colley, bass; Bill Stewart, drums).

I voted for Hank, but just to stir the pot, how about John Coltrane?

That one is brand new, so it was probably recorded sometime in 2002. I'll double-check when I get back into Boston tomorrow.

Kevin, was the store with the two for $10 rack a Camelot Music or a related store? I'm in Florida on spring break and just picked up two discs from the same deal at our local Camelot affiliate (Spec's Music): Booker Little and Friend and the Byrd/Adams Motor City Scene. They sound fine, but are there any in this series of Bethlehems that should be avoided? I was thinking of also grabbing Mal Waldron's "Left Alone" but thought better of it, but not because of audio concerns...I had just picked up nine Concord discs at the Barnes and Noble down the street!

When I was just starting to seriously play in my sophomore year of high school, a tenor playing friend called "Someday My Prince Will Come" on a gig. I dutifully looked up the tune in my fake book, not realizing that my book had it in F for some reason when it's played in B flat about 95% of the time. Oops. That was a train wreck to remember!

All I know is that it was released on Pacific Jazz in 1964. Who plays on this, and how good is the music? (And has it ever been on CD, Japan or otherwise?)

Thanks, Mike. When you say "same dates", do you mean that the material entirely overlaps with the tracks from other albums (e.g., Succotash vs. Inventions and Dimensions), or that there are different tracks from the same recording sessions? Looks like all but the best boots are out, then. More than 5 days or so is out of the question. (anyone kind enough to hook me up with CD-R's of boots will have my undying gratitude, and will be duly credited on-air at the end of the whole shebang.)

Obviously, the likes of me did not take part in the focus groups... B)

I'm currently putting together a radio program that will air all of the material known to be recorded at the Vanguard. It's gonna be a biggie--I'm not yet able to check the exact times of all the records, but my guess is that it will run approximately four and a half days. I have a few questions, both general and specific: 1. The Vanguard's website lists all the albums released to date. However, I am not positive this list is truly exhaustive. Can anyone think of any albums that they fail to list? The Vanguard did not always feature only jazz, so some non-jazz stuff may be out there that they forgot about. 2. Is anybody aware of any bootlegs made at the Vanguard? These would be a wonderful addition if I could get my hands on them. 3. Does the Bill Evans Secret Sessions box overlap with any of the material on the Fantasy LPs "Re: Person I Knew" and "Since We Met?" Thanks a million! Adam

That sucks. Driving in Boston can be a nightmare! If anyone is up for the Vandermark 5 gig on Wednesday, I'd be up for going--I'll have just finished the most insane batch of midterms ever and will need to blow off some steam.

I'm not so much angry at Blue Note as I am amazed at how stupid they were. They offended more than just ordinary customers; they (probably without even thinking about it) risked pissing off people who give them virtually FREE advertising, the several board members who work at radio stations. Between me and Steve Schwartz, we had the two major Boston area jazz stations represented on that board. I have a *very* big say in what goes over the air at my station. I can choose to give the promo copies they send us maximum exposure, I can leave them on a shelf somewhere to collect dust until another DJ discovers 'em, or...I can take them home for my own enjoyment and nobody will be the wiser. I actually considered posting a really pompous-sounding Do you know who I AM, Tom? thread but thought better of it. Now, I have no clue how many people have been turned on to BN discs as a result of our playing them on the air. But if I had to guess, I doubt Blue Note would want to risk offending the radio crowd if they knew there was one posting on the board...unless, of course they're moving toward an agenda where they don't care about advertising their *jazz* releases anyway.

jmjk, nice to see another Homestarrunner fan in the house.