Guy Berger

It may be one of the earliest examples of heavy metal. Mingus? How? That R&Bish riffing over a fast 6/8 rhythm reminds me a lot of "Better Git It in Your Soul", though once it moves to the solo section it's more Trane+Elvin. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. I should have phrased it as "an unusual case of Mingus directly influencing a rock song". Guy

I've been listening to In the Court of the Crimson King a lot since yesterday; I feel like my appreciation for this album grows with each listen. One of the (flawed) masterpieces of the late 60s. Probably Greg Lake's best performance on vocals, and he offers some very nice bass playing. Ian McDonald's flute playing is quite nice. Michael Giles's drumming is incredible. Fripp's guitar playing is nice though not quite as distinctive as it would be 3 or 4 years later. As far as the songs -- it's easy to understand why it turned so many heads 36 years ago, because the music is really powerful. "21st Century Schizoid Man" is just a terrific merger of free jazz and heavy metal -- also, an unusual case of Mingus's clear influence on rock'n'roll. "I Talk to the Wind" -- beautiful flute, very nice vocals by Lake, takes the Moody Blues thing and adds a lot of depth. "Epitaph" is powerful, particularly when it builds up to that mellotron crescendo at the end of the verse. Side 2 is weaker -- as I've listened to more and more jazz, my comprehension of the lengthy collective improvisation on "Moonchild" has improved but it's still pretty weak to these ears. "In the Court of the Crimson King" is quite powerful, but far too long and repetitive. (Nice interludes, though.) Guy

Whoops did not know that... I must have confused him with Billy Drewes, who must've been the mystery 5th member of that 2001 quintet. Guy

Maybe I'm in a minority but I really don't like Carter's cello playing, at least in the 60s. Guy

Frank, I take it this isn't the quintet w/Jim Pepper & Ed Schuller? Those guys haven't played together for four years but it would be nice to have another album. Guy

From Alan Lankin's website: NEW Paul Motian Band - Garden of Eden (ECM Records) Jan 24 updated to include personnel info supplied by Frank Kimbrough: Saxophones: Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek Guitars: Steve Cardenas, Ben Monder, Jakob Bro Acoustic bass guitar: Jerome Harris Drums: Paul Motian

I was wondering whether anyone possesses, or has a reference to, a discography of Paul Bley's various recording dates prior to 1970. It seems like there is a ton of this stuff floating around (much out of print), and since everybody is suddenly on alert with the Paul Bley thread I suspect a lot of others might benefit. In particular, does anyone have more information on the dates that ended up on the ECM release Paul Bley with Gary Peacock? Answer to my own question: there is a 200 page discography that you can order from Cadence. Anybody with this book on hand able to answer my second question? Guy

Paul Motian's thoughts on playing with Bley in the 60s:

You have good taste in music for a liar youngster. Guy

No s***! My job requires to me work outside(mailman) and I already have a negative attitude. Well another 11 years and maybe I can retire. I appreciate the job you're doing. It ain't easy. Me too, wisecracks aside. Guy

No s***! My job requires to me work outside(mailman) and I already have a negative attitude. Well another 11 years and maybe I can retire. Just don't take anybody's jazz CD shipment in a fit of anger. Guy

Second snow of the season and I'm already ready for winter to be over. Guy

Really, Dolphy makes for excellent atmosphere. There's just something so evocative about that tone, the lyricism, the intelligence. Wistful and robust, all at once--just like winter. This made me think of Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, which is another "cold sunny winter day" CD featuring Dolphy. Guy

I dig this record a lot. In fact, at some point a few months ago I ended up putting it on the iPod after probably a year or two (at least) of not listening to it. And upon hearing it, I thought "wow this guy's music is good". The album loses focus a little near the end, but there's good stuff the whole way through and "Foot Under Foot" has really juicy, unabashed inside/outside playing. I think I've used that phrase about 5 times today but it really fits here. I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't heard any of Jason's other work, though he might be playing synths (?) on a Steve Coleman album that I have. Guy

Hmmm... I've given Dance a few listens, and must say that I'm a little disappointed thus far. Izenzon's playing is spectacular, but I wish Brackeen (whose records I must check out!) would play more tenor and less soprano. A lot less intense than what I was expecting, except on the wonderful "Prelude". Guy

??

I'd restate this as "he is the daddy of Keith Jarrett's more avant-garde playing." Guy

First, apologies if this topic has already been done... I'll delete it and post there if I missed it. Second, this struck me as a harder "mood" than "rainy afternoon" or "summer day" or "beautiful spring day" or "hot summer night" or whatever. One of those days when it's beautiful & sunny outside, maybe some snow on the ground, but also cold. Or, depending on where you live, really frickin' cold. So let's have your suggestions (and make a special effort to pick non-ECMs). Favorites? Charles Lloyd, Canto, Hyperion with Higgins, The Water Is Wide Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (not sure why) non-jazz Jean Sibelius -- Symphonies 5-7 (4 if it's more overcast and/or really cold) Guy

Yeah, it's a tough division. Though 4th or 5th place isn't terrible -- because of the new/stupid/unnecessary seeding policy induced by the realignment, being 2nd or 3rd in the division (=>4th or 5th seed in the conference, given the rest of the conference) means that you have very tough matchups in the 1st and 2nd rounds (Indiana or LeBron, then Detroit). 6th or 7th seeds, definitely within the Bucks' reach, are probably better. In other news, the Warriors are (very temporarily) at the top of their division at 12-6. Granted, it's not as strong as the Central, and they haven't beaten many good teams, but gotta savor it while we can. Visits from Phoenix & Detroit late next week as well as an upcoming road trip back east should make things interesting, hopefully they will step up. (Whoops: I just saw that Jim beat me to the punch!) It's worth bitching about the new division realignment one more time, or rather the seeding policy that comes with it. So stupid, I can't imagine that Stern will hang onto it for much longer. Can he? Stupid for two reasons: 1) The record-based seeds start lower than before (hence the perverse incentive to tank your games if you can't grab a division title). Whereas before even if you couldn't win your division, you still wanted to win the #3 seed to have 1st round homecourt and avoid the #1 team in the 2nd round, now you'd rather tank a little near the end in order to avoid facing the #4/#5 team (ex -- in the west this year it looks like they will be Dallas & Memphis). Better to play the #3 team, which could very conceivably have a worse record than you. 2) The divisions are smaller, so it's much likelier that a crappy team like the Nets or 76ers will grab a high seed, which feeds into the perverse incentives described in #1. Fucking idiocy. Guy ps The Grizzlies are playing some incredible basketball right now -- they've won their past four games by an average of over 20 ppg. Who'da thunk it?

It's not a decade I know a whole lot about, but some jazz recordings from the 80s that I like: Horace Tapscott, The Dark Tree (Hatology) -- quartet with John Carter (cl), Cecil McBee (b), Andrew Cyrille (dr). Intense inside/outside music. Tapscott was an excellent composer and pianist somewhere along the Duke-Monk-Cecil continuum (apologies if I am stealing someone else's phrase). Don Pullen & George Adams, At the Village Vanguard vols 1 & 2 (Black Saint or Soul Note) -- Similar group to the one on the Mosaic Select above. Excellent inside/outside music. Paul Motian, Monk in Motian (JMT/Winter & Winter) -- Motian's unusual and noteworthy trio with Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell tackles the music of you know who. Geri Allen & Dewey Redman guest on two tracks apiece. Not necessarily my favorite album by this group, but it's excellent nonetheless. Dewey Redman & Ed Blackwell, Red and Black: Live in Willisau (Black Saint or Soul Note) -- Is this 80s or 70s? Either way, great musical dialogue by two underrated musicians. Pat Metheny, 80/81 (ECM) -- One of Metheny's more jazz-oriented albums, with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette and Michael Brecker. Some intense stuff. I like it better than the album with Ornette (Song X, also worth checking out) due to a smaller dose of guitar synth. Keith Jarrett, Still Live (ECM) -- Not necessarily my favorite standards trio set, but disc 1 (w/a superb "The Song Is You") is really really good. Joe Henderson, State of the Tenor vols 1 & 2 (Blue Note) -- w/Ron Carter and Al Foster. More "academic" than the 60s BN Joe, but also one of those albums that you put on and think, "this guy is damn good". Weather Report, Procession (Columbia/Sony) -- w/Victory Bailey and Omar Hakim. Better than the 80s albums with Jaco, IMHO; not sure why, but it seems like Wayne and Joe made a special effort once Jaco and Peter Erskine left. Guy

Sleeper. This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Especially when the doctors are shocked that his character won't eat deep fried fat. Guy

I was somewhat disappointed with McCoy both times I've seen him (trio & quintet). Worth seeing, but maybe not more than once. YMMV. Guy

After reading this thread, I feel a little better about yesterday's OJC binge. Guy

Jim, My condolences Guy

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