Guy Berger

Why? It predates the copy protection scheme in question. It's the responsibility of the scheme to work around iTunes, not the other way around. Yeah, but this way everybody with their fancy Apple toy and ostentatious white headphones can feel trendy. Guy

I guess my advice is "play what you want". You're not trying to put bread on the table and though you're going to have to make compromises for the rest of your life, now's probably the best time to play the kind of music you want to. None of this bears on others' excellent advice to "learn the basics" -- this is good advice no matter what music you play. Guy

I think you are overestimating the number of fans who will ever be interested in collecting large numbers of live recordings. Guy

Been really digging this set again. "The Fire Within" coda to "I Fall in Love too Easily" is a pretty amazing improvisation, no? A little too new-agey for some, I wager, but with a lot more substance than that genre. Guy

I agree that artists can benefit from embracing this kind of stuff*, but "financial suicide" is extreme and unrealistic. Guy *Though conversely, there are gains from monopoly power over live recordings.

My opinion comes from an AAJ he did when the recent ECM album came out. So he might have changed in the interim. To jump back to akanalog's point, I can see what Zawinul was getting at, even if some of his criticisms seem over-the-top. JZ wanted Weather Report to move to a much funkier sound, and to some degree MV wasn't interested in or capable of doing that (as he himself admitted). Guy

After a few years of eyeing it, I finally picked up Live at the It Club. Though I probably won't get around to listening until the New Year. Guy

I think Zawinul could give Vitous a run in the egoism department. Guy

My first order took forever to arrive. Then I realized that I had put my email address as my mailing address and they were too stupid to notice. Guy

Aside from a few "saints", we all probably owe various apologies for our behavior here. Bad behavior is easy to lapse into on the internet. Very classy to acknowledge one's mistakes without expecting reciprocation! Guy

Wow, I'm psyched, I really wanted to pick up both of these. I've heard some of the Gustavsen -- if you like Keith Jarrett's 70s European quartet records I think you will like this too. Guy

Also, I just made it through the 8th dvd of The prisoner. "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling" and "Living in Harmony" really threw me for a loop (especially the second one) though on second thought I think that if I watched them again I'd conclude they are two of the best episodes in the series. Only 3 more episodes to go!

For people that aren't hell-bent on actually "owning" the physical media, I wholeheartedly encourage piracy and illegal dissemination of any copy-protected CDs. If the artist is still alive, send them a check for what you would have paid for the CD. Guy

Not as big as the Monk/Trane or BirdnDiz, but what about the discovery of Chico Hamilton's Original Ellington Suite w/Eric Dolphy? Guy

Wow, Claude, thanks for posting that. Fact is sometimes stranger than fiction. Guy

Yeah, it's my favorite thing on the 2nd disc. Guy

I like alternate takes if they're sufficiently good and/or enlightening. If there's space on a CD for more material, definitely include those at the end. Incomplete takes (I'm thinking of the Verve issue of Bird'n'Diz) should almost always stay in the bin, I don't want to hear 30 second snippets that never amounted to anything. I'll admit that I don't understand why some CDs were issued with alternate takes in the middle of the CD. Why disrupt the original programming? Guy

Haven't heard all of Domino Theory, though I think I have MP3s of one or two tracks I downloaded back in the heyday of Napster. ("D Flat Waltz" and something else.) I do have Procession, though, and it's a nice album. Better IMHO than 8:30, Night Passage or the 2nd self-titled album. And as far as the ragging on "Directions" -- I really dig this tune. I like it best with Miles's group in '69 and early '70. Interestingly Zawinul claimed that he composed "It's About That Time", and that tune pops up on several WR shows I've heard. I'm usually skeptical about what comes out of Zawinul's mouth. Guy

From Live in Tokyo to Spyro Gyra. All hail progress... I agree w/FFA about Live in Tokyo -- maybe the best WR on record. The band is totally ON. (Judging by the live recordings I've heard, not unusual for these guys.) None of the commercial compromises or cliches that the word "fusion" would imply just a few years later. As far as studio albums Sweetnighter is my favorite. Guy

I think you'll find that many would disagree about HW being their best. Every WR album prior to that one is better IMHO. Guy

I really like this album. Interestingly it has identical instrumentation to "Street of Dreams" (a previous AOTW). I really like "The Turnaround" and (if I'm thinking of the same tune as Clifford T) "Latona". Guy

We've discussed Weather Report quite a few times on this board, but it's time they've had their own thread. I've been listening to a bunch of live recordings from 1973 and earlier (a great one from Chateauvallon, France 8/73 right now) and they're great. Lots of great ensemble improvisation, making music that appealed to the masses and made them think, as Zawinul wanted. I think the group started declining after 1974, with a major drop-off after Black Market, though I've found that I enjoy something on almost every WR album. Guy p.s. Interestingly, in the 73 boot I mention above Zawinul does a solo piano version of "Sophisticated Lady".

I have the same CD. The track called "Brazilia" is in fact "Song of Praise", and identical to #3 (except one of the two has about 30 seconds chopped off from the beginning). Guy

Brazilia and Alabama weren't performed at the Half Note. Guy

← Don't get TOO excited, only half of this material is on the Verve set, and the best performance (Creation) will remain available only in bootleg form. Still, it's worth getting somewhat excited, with the caveat of a middle finger aimed in Verve's direction. Guy