Guy Berger

I believe Bill Evans shared your opinion The opening chords/vamp are the same ones that Evans used for Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time" which developed into Peace Piece. I think Blue in Green is the one he claims authorship of. I think the improvisation idea in "Flamenco Sketches" -- the cycle of five different scales, "played as long as the soloist wishes" -- is just as important as the vamp, and I'm not aware of Evans claiming credit for that. (Interestingly, the idea pops up again on "Spanish Key" ten years later. I was listening to BB over the summer and it blew my mind how much of it reflected stuff like KoB, Porgy & Bess ("Prayer" vs. the rubato section of "Bitches Brew"), and Sketches of Spain (the orchestration on "Pharaoh's Dance", Miles playing over the vamps on "Solea"/"Miles Runs the Voodoo Down".) I own the plain vanilla mid-90s version that's speed-corrected. Favorite tune? Not sure. I'd have to go with "Blue in Green" simply because all three soloists are so inspired, but every other tune is mindboggling. And I feel like I should have said "Flamenco Sketches" or "So What". Here's another question -- who's your favorite KoB soloist? I think Coltrane takes the prize -- his playing on "So What" (that part that makes Bill Evans so agitated) and "Freddie Freeloader" is out of control. And "Blue in Green" has to be one of his most poignant ballad performances. "Flamenco Sketches" too. Guy

It's relative. Compared to, say, what Hank Mobley was recording at the time it's pretty adventurous. It's definitely not hard bop. But it's not really much wilder than what the Coltrane quartet was recording in the studio in the early 60s. And compared to some of the more obviously "avant-garde" playing from '67 (say, the stuff Trane, Sun Ra and Cecil were doing) or even the Miles from the same time it's conservative. At the same time you listen to the stuff that Joe, McCoy and Elvin are playing, and as you say it's obvious they're filtering a-g ideas. Anyway, it's a great album though I like Extensions due to Wayne Shorter's presence. Guy

You guys are killing me! I pre-ordered this from DeepDiscount, hoping they would ship it a few days early (as most other places do). Unfortunately they didn't ship it until WEDNESDAY which means I won't hear it until next week. Guy

I haven't made it through all of them, but click on a few and I'm sure you'll laugh. http://spamusement.com/ *** SECURITY ISSUES *** If you love her you'll look Who cares if it hurts I flew to London from $75 roundtrip

Weird... I haven't really noticed anything. Guy

Good thing he was in his underwear. That has to win the award for "most obscure Tolkien reference". Guy

No... this isn't the gig I'm talking about. There's a Half Note broadcast from two days earlier:

There's one other session, with a monster version of "One Down, One Up" and another tune I can't remember offhand. Off the tunes you listed "Untitled Original", aka "Creation" is the jewel of the bunch. Though the live version of "Song of Praise" is also incredible. Guy

I think the oldest living tree is somewhere in the southwestern United States and is about 5 or 6 MILLENNIA old. That's older than Egyptian civilization, for chrissakes. edit: Whoops, the Bristlecone Pine I'm thinking about is only 4,767 years old. So it doesn't predate Egyptian civilization, though it is older than the first pyramids. Guy

Wow sad. Back at the Chicken Shack was one of the very first BNs in my collection, six years ago. Guy

Just listened to the whole album for the first time. I'm not incredible familiar with Getz post-bossa nova -- it's interesting to hear how much chunkier his playing got since then. Very nice music. Guy

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A very nice album. I think Ed Rhodes made an interesting comparison between this album and Jackie Mac's One Step Beyond (sub guitar for vibes). Nice placement of an apostrophe, by the way. Guy

I think this is actually a pretty smart business plan. I have a friend who subscribes to Rhapsody and loves it -- for a low monthly rate he gets a huge music collection. If it became portable... On the other hand during the Superbowl I was discussing this with someone who flipped out at the idea that he wouldn't "own" the music. The human psychological attachment to ownership is probably the biggest stumbling block. But is there really that much of a difference psychologically between owning a computer file and renting it? Guy

Well, next time you log on your computer checks how old your downloads are, if they're too old they get erased. Not sure what happens if you don't log on again. Guy

Track list for Jumping the Creek: 1. Ne Me Quitte Pas (If You Go Away) 2. Ken Katta Ma Om (Bright Sun Upon You) 3. Angel Oak Revisited 4. Canon Perdido 5. Jumping The Creek 6. The Sufi's Tears 7. Georgia Bright Suite I. Pythagoras At Jeckll Island, II. Sweet Georgia Bright 8. Come Sunday 9. Both Veils Must Go 10. Song Of The Inuit

Definitely a case where I wholeheartedly endorse piracy.

Sorry dude, gotta part ways with you. Though I do think George's contributions to this band were outstanding (definitely better than Mobley's in '61), Wayne did so much mind-boggling stuff in his 5 1/2 years with Miles that it's not even in the same ballpark. Guy

Kind of annoying that they didn't release together with Four and More as it was played in concert. Guy

It's never been released outside of Panthalassa. IIRC Laswell found the tune (recorded on June 2, 1972) and asked something along the lines of "What if the guitarist is Pete Cosey?" (In reality it's John McLaughlin.) Hence the title. Losin's discography says: Guy

A stupid question from a non-musician who can't really articulate his thoughts very well. What, in technical or semi-technical terms, makes Sonny Rollins the tenor player c. '55-'58 stand out from other bebop tenorists? Aside from the quality of his ideas, of course. Guy

You know, it's funny -- my dad keeps asking me for financial advice and I keep telling him that I know less useful economics than I did before I showed up at grad school. It's a running joke between us. I don't know if I'd call the stuff I'm coming up with a "new theory" (my research is primarily on trade agreements and trade liberalization) but hopefully it will be original and interesting. Guy

I'm a 5th year PhD student in Economics, hopefully finishing up in '06. My specialty is in trade theory but I have research interests in political economy and development economics as well. And yes, I am a dreaded "two-handed economist." Guy

The mind boggles Brownie. I've heard a recording of this concert. You're a lucky bastard! Guy

I left Israel too young to really appreciate the guy's genius, but I remember reading some of his hilarious essays as well as seeing the hysterical comedy "Blaumilch Canal". I guess I need to go out and rent "Sallah Shabati" ASAP. wikipedia article on Kishon