Guy Berger

The version of "Round Midnight" is stunning, some of Joe's most concentrated playing ever. Guy

On many days, my favorite tenor saxophonist. Keep it up, Wayne! Guy

Ever since I started grad school seeing these guys in concert has become an annual tradition. This year will be the 5th in a row and 2nd straight at Toad's Place. Not a great band, but a good one; and they do a bitchin' version of Duke's "Chinoiserie". Guy

John (?) Millitello (sp?), I believe. And yes, he's excellent and a bit grittier than you'd expect from a Brubeck saxophonist. Guy

I think Chambers is alright (and there aren't many good alternatives), but it's riddled with errors and it would have been nice to have primary sources. Porter's biography of John Coltrane is excellent though he doesn't discuss every session. Some parts are a little technical. Guy

Miles's playing on "Voodoo Down" is so awesome... both solos just completely dance around the funky groove, varying the dynamics (even briefly moving into ballad territory in the 2nd solo) and then those intense, fast, upper-register runs in the 2nd solo... whew. Guy

It's too bad Apple and Steve Jobs are trying to screw iPod users via their monopoly power, so hopefully Real will succeed: Apple Zealots

"Pharoah's Dance" for me. I'm always surprised when I see it described as a "long jam" -- after I realized what was going on (and that took me a while), I've always seen it as a great example of large scale composition in jazz. Guy

I'm psyched about the JH reissue! Guy

I got it cheap from Columbia House 4 years ago. Check if they still have it. Guy

I have the Hanover Band's recording of 6 7 8. Guy

The cool thing about the March '69 Duffy's Tavern gig is that it's one of the last ones with mostly older material: two long takes of "No Blues", "Green Dolphin Street" (Wayne on soprano), and "So What". The sound quality is awful; Wayne Shorter's tenor is difficult to hear. But you get an incredible sense of how good this rhythm section was. Holland takes monster solos on both takes of "No Blues". And some of the shit Chick Corea does on the second version of "No Blues" is incredible. The Rome gig has the classic collective improv sequence after "Directions". First Shorter improvising on soprano with the rhythm section, then a complete abstract mindfuck once it's only the rhythm trio. Weird bowing by Holland, rumbling DeJohnette cymbals, and Chick Corea's flute playing. It seems like each concert had at least one collective improv bit by the rhythm section, usually on "It's About That Time". Guy

Peter Losin lists 18 live recordings by this group (I'm omitting the 12/68 recordings with Tony Williams and the early '70 sextet with Wayne Shorter): 1) 3/??/69, Duffy's Tavern, Rochester: On Green Dolphin Street/So What/Nefertiti/No Blues/The Theme, Gingerbread Boy/Paraphenalia/No Blues/The Theme [The copy I have lists "This" instead of "Gingerbread Boy". I can't really hear a theme, so I don't know.] 2) 6/4-14/69, Plugged Nickel, Chicago: Gingerbread Boy/Masqualero/Agitation/Milestones 3) 7/4/69, Newport Jazz Festival: Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Sanctuary/It's About That Time/The Theme [According to Losin, this is the first live recording of material from IaSW and BB. Wayne Shorter missed the gig, so it's just Miles and rhythm.] 4) 7/7/69, Central Park, NY: No Blues/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Masqualero/Spanish Key/Sanctuary/The Theme [spanish Key makes its recording debut.] 5) 7/25/69, Juan Les Pins: Directions/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Milestones/Footprints/'Round Midnight/It's About That Time/Sanctuary/The Theme [According to Losin, this is the final live recording of Milestones.] 6) 7/26/69, Juan Les Pins: Directions/Spanish Key/I Fall in Love Too Easily/Masqualero/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/No Blues/Nefertiti/Sanctuary/The Theme 7) 7/27/69, Rutgers U, New Brunswick: No Blues/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Masqualero/The Theme Over the next month, the group and several guests recorded Bitches Brew. They toured around the US before going to Europe. 8) 6/21-29/69, Blue Coronet, Brooklyn: This/Agitation/No Blues/Paraphernalia, Gingerbread Boy/Paraphernalia/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Masqualero/Walkin' 9) 10/26/69, Teatro Lirico, Milan: Bitches Brew/Directions/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Masqualero/I Fall in Love Too Easily/Sanctuary/The Theme, Bitches Brew/It's About That Time/Nefertiti/'Round Midnight/I Fall in Love Too Easily/Masqualero/Sanctuary/Spanish Key/The Theme [Corea plays drums for part of the concert.] 10) 10/27/69, Teatro Sistina, Rome: Directions/This/'Round Midnight/I Fall in Love too Easily/Masqualero/Bitches Brew/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Agitation/I Fall in Love too Easily/Sanctuary/The Theme [Davis's last known recording of 'Round Midnight, just over 13 years after his legendary quintet recording with Coltrane for Columbia. And almost 17 years after the version with Sonny Rollins and Bird.] 11) 10/31/69, Stadthalle, Vienna: Bitches Brew/Agitation/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/I Fall in Love too Easily/Sanctuary/The Theme 12) 11/1/69, Hammersmith Odeon, London: Directions/Bitches Brew/It's About That Time/I Fall in Love too Easily/Sanctuary/No Blues/Paraphernalia/Masqualero 13) 11/2/69, Ronnie Scott's, London: Bitches Brew/It's About That Time/No Blues/This/I Fall in Love Too Easily/Sanctuary/The Theme 14) 11/3/69, Salle Pleyel, Paris: Directions/Bitches Brew/Paraphernalia/Riot/I Fall in Love Too Easily/Sanctuary/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/The Theme, Bitches Brew/Agitation/I Fall in Love Too Easily/Sanctuary/Masqualero/It's About That Time 15) 11/4/69, Tivoli Konserthal, Copenhagen: Directions/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/Bitches Brew/Agitation/I Fall in Love too Easily/Sanctuary/It's About That Time/The Theme 16) 11/5/69, Folkets Hus, Stockholm: Bitches Brew/Paraphernalia/Nefertiti/Masqualero, Directions/Bitches Brew/This/It's About That Time/No Blues/The Theme [This is the concert where the electric piano breaks down and Chick plays the acoustic instead. I think this is the last known recording of "Nefertiti".] 17) 11/7/69, Philarmonie, Berlin: Directions/Bitches Brew/It's About That Time/I Fall in Love too Easily/Sanctuary/The Theme 18) 11/9/69, De Doelen, Rotterdam: Directions/Bitches Brew/I Fall in Love too Easily/Sanctuary/It's About That Time/Masqualero added to list: 19) 5/??/69 or 6/??/69, Village Gate, NYC: This/Footprints/Miles Runs the Voodoo Down/'Round Midnight [The earliest recording of BB material?]

Wood is one of the worst saxophonists I've heard on record. His flute playing, while not especially interesting, has a nice atmospheric quality. Guy

LIBRARY WALK MY FRIEND, NOT LIBRARY. GOD I MISS SAN DIEGO

I like John Barleycorn a lot, but I think Traffic's 1st two albums are the best ones. So many great tunes. I remember walking on the library walk at UCSD when I was studying there and hearing some guy blasting a classic rock tune with an absolutely killer guitar solo. Somewhat stupidly I asked him, "Is this Hendrix?" He said, no, this is "Dear Mr. Fantasy" by Traffic. Guy

There are 6: 1) 35, 38, 39, 59 2) 26, 49, 58 3) 41, 48, 65 4) 43, 51, 52 5) 42, 44, 46 6) 45, 47, 50 Clem, Bruggen's version seems to be out of print... What labels are the other guys on? Guy

A few weeks ago I picked up this DG/Archiv box set containing period-instrument performances of Haydn's 1766-1773 symphonies. I've only listened to the first disc thus far. It's a little strange to hear symphonies with harpsichord continuo (something I've always associated with baroque music -- do they do this on modern-instrument performances as well?) and not every symphony is uniformly brilliant, but cool music nonetheless. Guy

I never added my comments to this. I really enjoy this set though I can't listen to the whole thing at once! Tapscott is a very textural/density type player rather than a melodic one. (Kind of like Andrew Hill, though Tapscott has a much more "orchestral" approach.) His compositions are really distinctive as well. Cyrille is great throughout both sets. Guy

The comments about not liking Dewey R's playing are weird to me -- while I love the rest of the group's playing, this music would be a lot less interesting without Dewey. Guy

I'd say there's about a 50/50 chance that we'll get bronze or better. Guy

I haven't listened to these two much as I should have, but I would say that they aren't quite at the level of Black Fire. Still excellent and worth picking up. Guy

On the Paris 11/6 date, Shorter has a cool unaccompanied solo during "Walkin' ". I don't recall any other Miles recordings, official or otherwise, where this happens. Guy

'Cept for maybe some tunes by Evans that mysteriously appeared with Miles' name on them instead? Whoops... forgot about "Blue in Green" and (?) "Flamenco Sketches"! You're right. Guy

I don't think any of Trane's compositions ended up in the working bands's repertoire; in fact, AFAIK, Miles only recorded one JC composition ("Trane's Blues"). The only member of the '55-'62 working groups to contribute originals was Miles himself. Guy