Guy Berger

Hey, the Pistons know that to have a real chance of winning this series they need to induce some key injuries. But seriously, I'm not sure how bad that Ginobili injury was -- he's playing tonight. The Pistons know where to hit him tonight... Guy

Is this an unusually difficult Chopin piece? How well does Monk pull it off compared to classical pianists? Guy

Standards are rare from '69 onward. There's the ubiquitous "I Fall in Love Too Easily" duet between Chick and Miles, usually as an introduction to "Sanctuary" (just like on Bitches Brew). "On Green Dolphin Street" appears once, as do "So What" and "Walkin'". There are 3 or 4 recordings of "Round Midnight", 2 of "Milestones". Esto es. Guy

I agree that there's a lot of emphasis on Vitous's playing, but he's an interesting player. I wouldn't have complained if the ratio of Vitous to McLaughlin & Henderson was a little lower, but it's not like you're listening to Ron Carter torturing a cello or something. Guy

Very interesting, Jack, and a nice complement to what we have on recordings. Any chance you have a stash of audio tapes lying around? Interesting that they played "Freedom Jazz Dance" and "Mood" live; neither of those tunes appear on any live recording. I didn't realize "Joshua" continued to be played after ESP was recorded -- it appears several times in '63 and '64, never again afterward. Also, I'm kind of surprised that you don't recall hearing any tunes from the later albums -- "Masqualero", "Nefertiti", "Riot", "Paraphernalia" all crop up quite a few times in the recordings. Did you see these gigs in clubs or in one-off situations? Guy

Agreed. Pistons played great; the Spurs played terrible. I'm guessing that the teams will split the next two before San Antonio wraps things up in #6. Though there's a small possibility of San Antonio wrapping things up in 5, and a slightly smaller probability of the Pistons winning the next two. Guy

Yeah, I think it's from October. Unusual lineup to say the least; the only minus is that Joe H, who absolutely kills on this, only appears on two tracks. Guy

I like his contributions too. (On the other hand Keith would agree with Kari.) And unlike Lon, I like a fair amount of John M elsewhere, though not everything. Lon, do you like Infinite Search? Guy

Some of their stuff is alright. I have Flight of the Cosmic Hippo and it has its moments. I heard some other stuff (after Howard Levy left the band) and it was much weaker. Guy

He knows what's under these basketballs:

That brings to mind a funny story. A prof here was telling me that he was in the hospital a few years ago and was somewhat surprised when a friend of his brought him a box full of Tour de France tapes. Guy

Jack, Have you heard any of the many unofficial recordings of the group? How does this release compare to those? Guy

Kobe had a personality transplant

WRONG!! Phil Jackson's playing career went through New York and they won championships in the duration. He has strong ties to the Knicks. (to answer your question, I don't know who started it) He would be a bigger fool to go BACK to the Lakers after they turned him down on an extension and resign. AND....... there is another factor..... and it is not Jeannie Buss......hope he does not subject himself to all the crud because of his affection for her; there are better coaching situations available to him. If he comes back to LA, wins a title, they will just can him again period. B-) ← Thank god for the search function... Jackson back as Lakers coach

This post is kind of long, but I'd like knowledgeable people -- particularly those who saw this group in concert -- to bear with me and offer their opinions. In Todd Coolman's liner notes to the 65-68 box, he repeats the conventional wisdom about this quintet: though they recorded lots of originals in the studio, their live repertoire was dominated by standards and older material. (I've attached the relevant passages below.) But I think that this "conventional wisdom" is flawed. The group did most of its studio recordings from May 1967 onward. During its first two years of existence (August 1964 - August 1966) the group only entered the studio once (to record ESP). Hence it isn't surprising that during this period, Davis's "book" consisted primarily of older material. The only official recordings of this lineup are both from this period (all live recordings from August 1966 onward are unofficial). Is this the sum of the evidence for "standards over originals"? In October 1966 the group entered the studio to record Miles Smiles; the Berkeley gig is the last recording in Losin's database (aside from the somewhat anomalous Dec '68 recording) where older material makes up more than half of the recording. The Newport '67 gig includes only one older tune ("Round Midnight"); on the Europe '67 tour, the more recent material (Agitation, Footprints, Masqualero, Riot, Gingerbread Boy) generally makes up 50-60% of the setlists. As far as the standards, they start to disappear from recordings after the Plugged Nickel engagement. No more "Oleo", "All of You", "If I Were a Bell" after that gig. No more "Autumn Leaves" or "My Funny Valentine" on record after May '66. No more "All Blues" after July '66. No more "Stella by Starlight" after April '67. In fact, the only pop standards that show up after the spring of '67 are "On Green Dolphin Street" and "I Fall in Love too Easily". Add to that "Round Midnight", "Walkin'", and a few older originals like "Milestones", "So What" and "No Blues". That's it. I'm not saying that Miles never played "Autumn Leaves" or "Stella" again (obviously most gigs weren't documented), but inferring from their rarity in recordings that he was playing them a lot more infrequently. There's no doubt that most (or many) of the pieces recorded in the studio never made it out to live performance. But the other half of the equation -- that Davis stuck to standards at the expense of recently recorded material -- just isn't true IMHO. He'd always pick a few songs from a recent album for live performance -- he did it with Kind of Blue, Someday My Prince Will Come, and Seven Steps to Heaven -- and he continued to do it in the 60s. Once the pace of recording accelerated, first in the fall of '66 and again in the spring of '67, the older material began to disappear. I realize the recorded evidence is heavily slanted toward one-off gigs; in clubs the group may have been playing different setlists, perhaps leaning more heavily on standards. So my question to those who saw Miles in the late 60s -- what was he playing, particularly after May '67? Losin's sessionography '67 setlists '69 setlists The Coolman excerpt:

I've only heard one of the CDs -- december 16 -- and it sounds great. I can't wait for this to come out. guy

Haven't these been circulating for a while? Or were the earlier copies "rough drafts"? Guy

I think some of the Ginobili praise is going a bit over the top. The guy is playing fantastic, no doubt about it, maybe even meriting a finals MVP award, but I just read an article that called him a "superstar". Gimme a break! Guy

I'm don't think either one of those guys belongs in the all-star game, considering who's ahead of them in the queue. Guy

1985 Lakers over Celtics in 6, Kareem was Finals MVP

It's been like that for longer -- at least since the Jordan days, I think. Guy

With Shaq and Wade healthy, possibly. But not the gimpy team we saw in games 6 & 7. Guy

What about the section of his "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" solo as the horns are riffing behind him? Guy

I don't think it was a waste -- the Pistons haven't really given the guy a chance to play. Guy

Hard to do otherwise against the best defensive team in the league... Guy