Guy Berger

San Francisco during Sunset, as seen from Twin Peaks:

Here's the Golden Gate Bridge from a year ago. As far as I know it still looks like this.

Not my town, but I took this picture just before landing at JFK International Airport. Guy

I agree with the others -- it's worth preparing for the exam. I took it on my computer and wasn't used to the format, so I didn't do as well as I wanted the first time I took it. If graduate chemistry is anything like graduate economics, then your score on the verbal section won't matter very much. They'll be impressed if you can SPEAK English. Guy

Not sure what it's like these days. When I took it five years ago it still had the analytical section. Guy

Alright, time to get this thing started. ...and the Modern Jazz Giants is maybe my favorite pre-Kind of Blue Miles album. It's also the album that really turned me into a Monk fan. The December 24, 1954 session (half a century!) is pretty legendary. You can read Ira Gitler's liner notes here. There was a lot of tension between Miles and Monk, to the point where later tellings of the story claimed that Miles punched Monk! You can hear some of Monk's frustration bubble out during the first take of "The Man I Love". Here's what Gitler says: Anyway... the music. The contrast between the three soloists -- Miles, Monk, and Milt Jackson -- is terrific. Each of them blues-based and brilliant in their own way. Plus Miles and Monk had such different approaches to bringing space and silence into their music, and both of them stand in stark contrast to the more verbose Jackson. My favorite stuff on here is on both takes of "The Man I Love". Miles has some beautiful open horn ballad playing in the intro and ending. The guy really hit his stride in 1954 -- that clear tone, the amazing understanding of "every note and silence counts". And the blowing section in the middle has that incredibly brisk-yet-laid-back swing that Miles perfected with Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke in those '54 sessions. Monk's solo is so eccentric -- he plays the melody in slo-mo. And then on the second take, he does the same thing but stops in the middle. Miles comes in to "wake him up", and Monk fires back with an amazing, incredibly lucid solo. Jack Chambers's discussion of this (p. 196) is pretty interesting: Monk's comping is amazing on all of these recordings. No wonder he drove Miles nuts, though Milt doesn't seem to mind! Guy

I wouldn't work too hard. Pete Losin's sessionography says: I wonder why Miles (and the band?) started stating the theme more frequently in June than he had in '69 or early '70. As for the paring down of themes, the April '70 versions of "Footprints" and "Paraphernalia" are pretty interesting in that regard. Guy

Alright, I've kept this a secret for long enough but it's time for the truth to come out. I'm Johnny Hartzfield. Guy

This thread has languished a bit. Anyway, I think Keith Jarrett's Mysteries box (Impulse recordings 1975-76) has going OOP. Also, it seems like a lot of ECMs are no longer available domestically. (I encountered this problem when looking for copies of Triptykon and Gateway 2 Guy

You can read this extremely interesting article here.

I assume you are talking about the June version (that opens At Fillmore), not the March version (whose lineage, given its theme and occasional recourse to the 1968 bassline, is pretty obvious). Anyway, Teo presumably edited the theme out during his cut-and-paste job. Maybe he did it because Miles didn't want to pay Zawinul any more royalties. Remember -- the original 1970 issue on LP didn't have song titles -- just "Wednesday Miles", "Thursday Miles", etc. So when you edit out the theme, all that's left is a funky jam. The tune changed a lot during the 3 years Miles played it: 1) On the 1969 recordings, the rhythm section is pretty free. Jack, especially, doesn't play rock or funk rhythms. Also, after the rhythm section intro (with the familiar bassline), the theme begins immediately. 2) On the early 1970 recordings (March and April), Miles begins his solo and doesn't state the theme until a minute or two later. During the intro (pre-theme) the rhythm is much funkier than on the 1969 recordings. It's also interesting to compare the March and April versions -- the groove is much harder on Black Beauty. But in both cases it's quite clearly "Directions". I assume this trend continued through June, though I haven't heard the complete version. 3) Once the Cellar Door band formed (October 1970), "Directions" was basically a funky jam. Miles soloed more at length before the theme came in, and the theme was repeated several times once it appeared. You can hear versions of "Directions" (again, with the theme edited out in several places) at the beginning of each disc of Live Evil. The band played it at least through November, 1971.

No clue, it was here when we got here. Guy

It's faint due to heavy erasure, and the undergrads can't notice it because they're facing the wrong way, but the back-of-the-room blackboard (in the classroom where they're having their final exam) says "B-O-O-B-S" in enormous letters. Guy

Is that 3-CD set of his stuff still in print? How's the sound on that? Don't bother about sound, get it! It's one of the most essential sets to have! (Sound is fine, but my ears are not the ones to be trusted about that...) ubu This music is awesome, visionary, funny and sad. (A weird set of adjectives, but if you've heard the box set, you know what I mean.) Get it ASAP. URRRGH -- I wish I could put this on my iPod right now! Guy

I completely agree. Have to throw in McCoy Tyner as well, and (if we're willing to consider a shorter streak of 5) Joe Henderson. I could see making a case for Blakey and Silver as well, simply for the length of their runs, though not everything they did was GREAT. Guys like Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan made too much cookie-cutter stuff IMHO. As for Jackie Mac -- impressive run but I think his earlier (pre-LFR) stuff is occasionally generic hard bop. Guy

Lloyd has a new quartet album titled Jumping the Creek coming out March 8th 2005. Musicians: Lloyd, Geri Allen, Robert Hurst, Eric Harland. Guy

Back in Black

I wasn't there, but the KJ standards trio played this at their recent concert in Chicago. Supposedly the crowd really dug it. ' Guy

I figure I'll take Harold Z's advice. Guy

I received a new copy of Woody Shaw's Blackstone Legacy today which has a crack in it. The crack begins in the plastic donut hole area and moves slightly into the actual metal region of the disc. However, I've listened to the first 5 or 6 minutes of CD and it seems to be playing fine -- so the damage isn't a problem, apparently. (Since CDs read data outward, I figured my laptop's cd rom would have caught a problem.) My question: should I return the CD? I ordered it from alldirect.com and I have no clue whether they'll reimburse me for return shipping. Furthermore, given their warehouse policies I figure I won't be getting a replacement CD, just reimbursement. Not sure if it's worth the hassle. On the other hand, this is the kind of damage that could get worse over time -- the crack could get bigger, and maybe corrosion (particularly if the inner part of the CD is exposed to the air). Any thoughts from someone who's owned a CD damaged like this?

Restricting it to five (jazz only): Duke Ellington, Never No Lament Duke Ellington, Far East Suite Jackie McLean, Right Now Charles Lloyd, Dream Weaver Ben Allison, Peace Pipe

You should check it out. It is a very fine recording by Wynton. I'm not a big Wynton fan per se, but I'm surely not on board with this hard core Marsalis bashing and denigrating him as a trumpet player. I have noticed this seething vitriol towards Wynton for a while and much of it seems unwarranted or either grossly exaggerated. Saying the man cannot play is simply dishonest or just stupid. As I said, I'm not a big fan of Wynton (I think Bradford is much more creative and open) and I have only his first four recordings (lost interest after that) but I don't agree with the "he's not a good trumpet player" mantra. It's simply not true. Amen. I haven't heard the whole album, but the four or five I've heard is outstanding. The group (both Marsali, Kirkland, Moffett, Watts) is incredibly tight. Guy

Happy b-day, David. Guy

When I first moved to the east coast for grad school, I was one of the only people who used the word "dude". Now everybody around me does it as frequently as I dude. I mean, I do.* I like to think I did my own little part in debasing the English language. Guy *When I was typing that sentence I really did type out "as I dude".