Guy Berger

I would not ignore the impact of high quality immunity (3 shots or hybrid) in reducing transmission, even if imperfect. But you're right about the general assessment: whether due to "inherent" transmissibility or immune evasion, it's likely to infect a lot more people than prior variants in the same circumstances. Thinking a little further ahead: an estimate from Trevor Bedford (a well regarded virologist or immunologist - don't remember which) was that once we reach endemicity, we'd have something like 40K-100K COVID deaths every year in the US. The bright side is that's a lot less than 2020 or 2021, and hopefully we can get there relatively quickly. The bad news is: it's equivalent to ranging from "moderate flu year" to "very bad flu year", on top of the actual flu of course (which kills an average of 36K Americans every year). We're not going to zero or anything close to it.

"Immunity hardly seems to exist for Omicron" isn't correct, respectfully. Link There's evidence that for *infection* (that is detectable by some sort of diagnostic, regardless of severity of symptoms), prior infection without vaccination or a "basic full vaccination" (1 dose of J&J or 2 doses of AZ/Moderna/Pfizer) provide weak or very weak protection against Omicron, though not necessarily zero. However, there's also evidence that efficacy after 3 doses or hybrid immunity (prior infection + 2 doses) is much higher. Additionally, it's important to remember that efficacy against infection is not the same as efficacy against serious illness - and it is likely that the latter is much higher. (This is why the mildness of Omicron might simply turn out to be a mismeasurement illusion...)

IMHO you should do it, if the doctor is willing. The 6 month gap is probably too long; experts are discussing 4.5 - 5 months as better. It's hard to tell how much of the apparent Omicron mildness is due to: 1) Genuine underlying mildness of the variant 2) Greater mildness due to much higher prevalence of immunity (whether due to vaccination, prior infection or both) 3) "Greater mildness" because more immune people become mildly symptomatic rather than asymptomatic or non-infected 1 is good news for everyone. 2 is relatively good news for people who have immunity, but bad news for unvaccinated people who haven't had COVID yet. (Though it probably varies among previously infected, 2-shot vaccinated and 3-shot vaccinated; also, kids are overrepresented in this group and they experience lower COVID severity on average.) 3 is bad news.

I agree that Evans recorded too much with a piano trio and would have benefited from partnerships with other soloists, but it should have been someone meatier/grittier than Cannonball. No need to add sugar on top of cotton candy. Jackie McLean, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Yusuf Lateef… some great possibilities out there that never happened

I don’t think Cannonball and Evans were a great combo. Too much light sweetness

0. But we’ve now had 2 Kenny G threads on this board in one month! People here loooove Kenny G content, he should collect royalties

The “challenge to snobs” is… not crazy

Stan Kenton!

Cannonball was not as influential as Sonny as a player, but more influential than Sonny as a bandleader

I think this is somewhat overdone. The S&P 500 is down something like 3-4% since Thursday. That's a small decline, not a bloodbath. It's still not clear how serious this new variant will be - to vaccinated & boosted people, to vaccinated but unboosted people, to unvaccinated previously-infected people, or to unvaccinated and previously-uninfected people. It's also not clear how contagious it will be compared to prior variants, or whether there's a differential impact on infection efficacy vs serious illness prevention efficacy. Within two weeks we'll have a better idea. I think everyone should be aware of it - and get vaccinated (most importantly) and boosted (if they are already vaccinated and 4-6 months past the 2nd dose) - but I don't think panic is warranted, at least not yet.

I'm aligned w/you and JSngry here. I'd describe a lot of the early Cannonball as musical dessert or "ear candy" - it's wonderful, sweet playing, but not necessarily with a lot of depth. The best stuff comes out when he's contrasted against, and matched, with deeper players - Miles, Coltrane, Yusef Lateef. Starting around 1962-63 that depth starts showing up in Cannonball's own playing as well - more of a tasty well-rounded meal with sweet parts rather than just dessert. The music he was making in the late 60s was genuinely visionary, and compares favorably to that made by his "peers" making populist/adventurous music around the same time (Charles Lloyd, Herbie Mann, John Handy). Miles picked up the baton in 1968-9 and took it to the next level.

What do people think of the two 1968 live discs of Joe with the Wynton Kelly trio that Verve issued in the 90s? I’ve spent a lot of time with Straight No Chaser recently and it’s enjoyable but also underwhelming given the names on it. Basically great musicians on a ho hum night - very different from Joe Henderson in Japan.

Funny you mention those 3 - I was thinking of Lake in relation to them. Threadgill and Hemphill are visionary composers/conceptualists, Blythe was much more of a "pure player" (Chuck once compared him to Lou Donaldson and not entirely unfairly). I think of Lake somewhere in between on that spectrum. Stuff I've enjoyed w/Lake - the Black Saint albums, the early WSQ albums, the Trio 3 albums I've heard. He's also great on Dennis Gonzalez's Idle Wild. I haven't heard any of the Gramavision albums!!!

I've personally found the live Crusaders albums from the 1960s fun, and higher-energy than the studio albums. Not essential but enjoyable, high-quality "jazz for the people".

Put me in the bucket of people who think that Coltrane would have to some extent followed trends in jazz that occurred after his death, as he did before his death. Doesn't mean he wouldn't have also influenced those same trends.

I realized we don’t have a thread for this guy, who is still active and making creative music. He’s recorded a lot of music and even though I’ve heard about a dozen albums with him I’ve barely scratched the surface.

This would be amazing - would pay for it Anyway, regarding the original post, who cares. None of us will listen to this

The music is awesome and essential listening. The studio recordings from this period are great too but give little to no hint of how intense this band could be. Also - while I’ve (not totally successfully) tried to get my hands on every live recording of WR from 1971 through 1974, this one has a pretty unique sound - different from the 1971 concerts or the ones later in 1972

It’s great, but I like Interstellar Space and Stellar Regions more. Wish we had even more recordings.

The OP is not a fan of ideas introduced into straightahead jazz after 1960

Agreed

Don Pullen & Keith Jarrett

Lack of women in the LCJO was still an issue as of 2018: Link “To be fair” this isn’t a problem limited to LCJO… sexism is still pervasive in jazz culture

It’s a lot worse than crossing the street without looking in both directions, because it also endangers other people - unvaccinated people (unless previously infected by COVID) are much more likely to transmit the virus to other people. The proper comparison is probably to drunk driving.

I love this framing, it’s exactly right. IMHO it explains Ethan Iverson’s dissatisfaction with the other (July 1965) live version of A Love Supreme.