Guy Berger

Album covers, folks! Guy

Haven't heard the music, but Latin Bit has one of the worst BN album covers from this period:

Phil Schnapps? Guy That's an old joke. Schnapps is German, not Dutch, by the way. I've never understood why making fun of someone's name is funny... Yeah, I realized even before I posted this that someone had probably made the same lame joke earlier in the thread. Couldn't help it. Guy

I'm curious what you think the worst (or "least successful from an artistic standpoint) attempts at crossover success by otherwise respected jazz artists have been. I'm sure there were a bunch in the 70s and late 60s. Be sure to post an album cover image and give a short description of the music. I'm guessing that "otherwise respected jazz artist" is a somewhat vague term. I think most of us will agree that Chick Corea and Donald Byrd are "respected jazz artists", Kenny G is not. I'm guessing that David Sanborn and Bob James, whatever their merits in their favored styles and their occasional dabblings in jazz, are probably not "respected jazz artists". But obviously that's up for interpretation. Guy

Phil Schnapps? Guy

How many formerly "rejected" sessions have actually been released? I imagine most of these were rejected for a good reason. Guy

I've always thought Moanin' was somewhat overrated... but that's due to a strong preference for Shorter over Golson both as a composer and as a player. Guy

I'd be interested in seeing the results of some sort of blind test. Guy

Crazy, I didn't know there were two Marottas! Guy

Dip, I'm not sure I understand your point. Surely we can find examples for every ethnicity/gender/religion/nationality/whatever to generate a given stereotype. Guy ps I think we can all agree that Jerry Marotta should not try that again.

Peter, thanks for taking the time to post here. Guy

I only have about a dozen AB recordings, but this one would be VERY hard to beat. Guy

I assume this is intended for people who want a grunt-and-groan-free performance? Guy

I don't get this point - once you've put out one good comp, why keep putting out additional ones over and over? Isn't the one good enough? Aren't you just confusing the people who aren't familiar with the artist by doing so, and possibly losing sales? Precisely. I don't see how the additional compilation generates additional sales beyond those generated by existing compilation. Guy

Black artist aren't laughing: Today's SF Chronicle has the remarkable story of the exclusion of Black folks from jazz. The problem of race in this country is deeper than we imagined. JAZZ FANS DECRY EXCLUSION Few African American musicians booked for Berkeley festival, none on Yoshi's anniversary CD By Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, June 1, 2007 This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle When Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland released its much-anticipated 10-year anniversary CD last month, local jazz aficionados were outraged that no African American musicians were included. I don't think anybody in this thread has made a convincing argument that the selection of artists on the Yoshi's CD was racially motivated, so let's leave that aside. I think this is pretty vague. It seems like most of the outrage is generated over the fact that ONE VENUE for the festival doesn't have any African American acts. It isn't clear from the rest of the article what the racial composition is for the festival overall. Guy

The "label's worshippers" are probably not the ones buying these compilations. Guy

The last track is kind of cool. I haven't paid enough attention to the rest. Guy

I'm too lazy to look through these threads, but anybody with a lot of time to kill: how many albums from the favorite jazz album covers also appear in the following thread? silly album covers

I admit I don't understand this either. Obviously there may be demand in the market for different types of compilations -- a really cheap greatest hits thing, a single-disc best-of and maybe a 2 disc overview -- but it seems like these compilations are pretty much substitutes for each other. Guy

Interesting how people's tastes differ. I definitely wouldn't call some of these album covers good... (overall comment on the thread, not specifically on those posted more recently.) Guy

No. Guy

Well, yeah. But he fits the other, non-literal meaning of "avant-garde". Guy

I have this on MP3 and it's indeed a classic. There's a thread discussing it somewhere on this board. Any more comments on Caramba? Yay or nay? Guy

He just plays really intensely in a semi-avant-garde style. Rooster's comparison to Wayne Shorter is on the mark. Guy