Guy Berger

Rhino is apparently releasing a 2 CD deluxe version of this album. Am I correct that except for 2 tracks nothing on here is previously released?

Amen.

What?

There are non-trivial differences across and within states. A lot of the existing problems of income and racial inequality are also manifesting in vaccine uptake, plus attitudes toward vaccination are politically polarized. Take a look here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html I think that's exactly right. There's some areas of the country that within a few months will be close to herd immunity due to high vaccine uptake, and other areas where the illness continues to circulate for a long time.

A 2dary front of the 80s/90s jazz wars involved an aggressive and somewhat ridiculous denial of the obvious links between “real jazz” and smooth jazz

This is BY FAR my favorite Weston album (that I’ve heard), and really one of the best jazz albums of the past 30 years - the combination of compositions/arrangements and high-caliber soloists is really hard to match. On the opposite side, the duets w/David Murray are disappointing. I’m not sure why those two didn’t click.

I think this is the right analysis. IMHO most of the most irritating day to day restrictions will be removed pretty soon. I'm not certain about the persistence mask wearing; I suspect that depends a lot on local social norms, plus context (I'm likely to keep wearing it on public transit for some time but may abandon it when walking the dog), how prevalent cases are once vaccination uptake reaches certain levels. (Per JSngry's comparison to the flu, we could see a seasonal surge for at least a few more winters). I follow public health experts on social media pretty closely and, while they aren't super happy about the regional surges we're seeing in Michigan and the Northeast, they're far less worried about them than they were about the prior 3 waves. You already see in the data that hospitalizations among the elderly (the most vaccinated group) aren't rising in 4th wave areas. I agree with this general analysis. While vaccination rates are still pretty low (which will be true in the US for a few more months, and in continent Europe somewhat longer), masking is a good norm to keep up even for the vaccinated. (I guess you have the option of walking around unmasked with your vaccination card taped to your chest.) There's growing evidence that (as expected) the vaccines are pretty clearly showing signs of reducing transmissibility as well as symptoms - public health messaging on this ("we don't know...") is proving to be overly cautious, though it may still serve a useful public health purpose for the time being. i.e. in areas with high vaccination rates, a vaccinated person will have zero need to wear a mask, and mask wearing norms will not be necessary. Common sense behavior might be less clearcut for the unvaccinated in high-vaccination areas or the vaccinated in low-vaccination areas. My guess is at least part of the reason we're hearing more and more about sick young people is because the other, even grimmer story (older people getting killed by the virus) is becoming fortunately less frequent due to vaccination. I actually think it WILL ironically be a major part of the story - that the US and Europe basically chose to tolerate a lot of avoidable deaths due to personal inconvenience.

This period of the band was so great, and (these days) overlooked. A must for anyone who likes Miles Davis's recordings around the same period.

Sanders is like Stan Getz, his sound is so magical it’s worth hearing him in almost any context.

So far I've listened to the first 3. My quick takes: Lay-Up has some fun compositions and the band is great, but a bit generic. 3 stars out of 5. Big Mouth is much stronger, especially in terms of memorable compositions. 4 stars out of 5. Deluxe is great. Great compositions, and Taborn's presence lifts things to a higher level. 5 stars out of 5.

The vaccination doesn't CAUSE clots. They just crop up periodically in a very large population, just like all sorts of other medical phenomena. Check out this tweet on reported side effects for AZ and Pfizer in the UK, side by side. I'm not sure what the right decision here is from a public health perspective. On the one hand, delaying vaccinations will result in a lot of extra deaths. On the other hand, having vaccines that are available but are not used due to distrust will result in a lot of extra deaths. And I am not sure whether the temporary suspension helps or harms that 2nd consideration. (i.e. does the suspension improve or reduce trust in AZ?) I really hope that European vaccination gets back on track soon. Too many people have died of this horrible illness. On a happier note, I'm happy to see so many fellow board members getting vaccinated!!!

I probably like ECM more than the average jazz fan and it is an interesting/impressive body of work, but imho that article felt a little too hagiographical.

Also, I like Charles Lloyd's flute playing, but I might be in a minority

We really lucked out (!!!) that this pandemic is a relatively slow-mutating coronavirus and not a fast-mutating influenza virus. Experts seem to be quite confident that over time vaccination boosters will keep up with the new variants.

I love Henry's flute playing. Also, can't say enough good things about James Newton. His presence is often a key reason to pick up any album

I'm enjoying the first Fieldwork album, YOUR LIFE FLASHES, today. (I picked up all their albums over the past few years... finally getting around to them.) I agree w/Ron's assessment that the music is fairly uncompromising in terms of intensity, i.e. you have to be in the mood for in-your-face tenor & pounding piano. But if you're in the mood, you'll enjoy it!

I love the 3 1971 live WR recordings I’ve heard - Vienna, Ossiach and Berlin. I agree Berlin is probably the best due to the extra horns. Some great John Surman baritone on “Dr Honoris Causa”!

Very excited about this.

He's great with David Murray and Charles Lloyd (Notes from Big Sur).

It's been about 10 years since I last posted on this thread. This music is still among the best Getz I've heard, even by the already very high bar of post-1980 Stan Getz.

One thing that is ironic about your "device"/"language" distinction (on target), btw, is I read an interview where Branford Marsalis made the thoughtful comment that Led Zeppelin sounded the way they did because they listened so closely to Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, and that someone who listened to Led Zeppelin would end up sounding like Whitesnake. What does Branford Marsalis's comment imply about... Branford Marsalis?

I'm probably responsible for the use of the term "marketing", for better or for worse. IMHO maybe that's not the perfect term. But it does feel like there was an institutional effort to push this narrative. On a much smaller scale this happens all the time in jazz. Think of young musicians who (often totally legitimately) get a brief period of hype, then either develop a less flashy career or just fade away. Yikes! And wasn't Robert Palmer "one of the good guys"?

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, fun birthday gift (or a really cringe-y corporate event, though cringe is "on brand" in that area). And I certainly don't begrudge artist/celeb eagerness to rake in more $$$. To some extent this is a mass commercialization of a hobby that really rich people already engage in anyway which I also think is good. (Pop star X playing at billionaire Y's party.) On the other hand, the faux-friendship framing is a little creepy

I know this is dicey territory, but pedantically - my understanding is that Israelis of Palestinian/Arab ethnicity are getting vaccinated (they are Israeli citizens - though there may be inequity much like in the US with disadvantaged groups), Palestinians living in the occupied territories are not. (Though there are certainly questions about the political arrangement that underpins that distinction.) Moderators, feel free to delete this post if it is problematic.

A single shot, and cheaper to store. Also, could make a big deal for poorer countries that did not manage to lock up supply of the other vaccines. This is important. Silent hypoxia (where your oxygen drops suddenly/dangerously but you don't notice) seems to happen a lot w/COVID and is dangerous. Disagree strongly, for two reasons. 1) Older people are MUCH more likely to die from COVID than younger people. So prioritizing their vaccination IMMEDIATELY (or nearly immediately) makes COVID much less dangerous for society at large, even if it continues to circulate. 2) We're finally starting to get scientific evidence that the vaccines reduce COVID transmission, not just symptoms BUT - this was initially not a certainty. So the risk with prioritizing young people was that you would reduce their morbidity (which was relatively mild) and not do much to reduce the fatality rate. Exactly. The reason we are freaked out about COVID, rightfully, is it kills a lot of people. Those fatalities are concentrated among the elderly (and especially the very elderly). Living with the disease becomes much more bearable (especially for a not-so-long time) if the number of deaths falls dramatically.