Guy Berger

By the way, the fact that Columbia sat on this music for a decade (and on the complete shebang for 3 decades!) is incomprehensible. I guess we should just be grateful they didn't burn the tapes. Guy

Excellent choice. What about the original recording of "Chelsea Bridge"? Guy

What a pain in the ass. Maybe we can get Oldversion.com on the case. Guy

Suuuuuuuuuuh-weeeet! Well it's about frickin time! Guy

About seven minutes into "I Fall in Love to Easily" (1st set, 12/22), it sounds like Wayne is quoting his own "Yes or No". Or am I just imagining things? Guy

I'm just waiting for Chris A. to post an article from Counterpunch pointing out how this is all Bush's fault... Guy

I think this review is pretty stupid. Guy

I'd be up for doing an AOtW whenever a spot opens up... Guy

"Hat and Beard" (from Dolphy's Out Lunch) "Melody for Melonae" (from Jackie McLean's Let Freedom Ring) "Pharoah's Dance" (maybe my favorite opening of any album -- so mysterious)

Yeah, I was thinking of McCoy in the context of this thread -- all six (7?) of his albums for the label are at least excellent, with two or three of them in "classic" range. Guy

What about Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, the inventor (?) of judicial review (in the US)? Guy

What kind of exercising do you do? I have a iRiver H120 with a 20GB hard drive and it is completely insensible to shocks. Shaking it has no incidence on the functioning. Jogging would be no problem. I wouldn't use it for that, because I have a lighter and smaller flash memory player. But shock-resistance clearly is not an issue, except maybe when doing mountain-biking on a extremely bumpy path. I've gone jogging with my iPod and have never had skipping problems, though apparently some people do. Guy

I like the one with "Jenny Ondioline", but I can't remember what the CD is called and am too lazy to dig it out. All three of the SLab CDs I own (that one, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and whatever-in-the-Milky Night) are enjoyable. Guy

I think Wayne Shorter and Andrew Hill have more impressive discographies-as-leader on BN than Jackie. But yeah, he had an excellent run. Guy

I've been very satisfied with mine over the past month and a half. If you're the kind of person that walked around with a discman, some kind of hard-drive MP3 player really is essential. I almost never listen to CDs anymore, other than at home and in the car. Guy

What do people think of the mid-90s Gateway reunion albums? Homecoming is really good (in spite of Abercrombie's awful guitar sound -- too digital!) but most of In the Moment sounds like noodly rambling. The original Gateway album is one of my favorite 70s jazz albums. Fusion in the best sense of the word. Guy

I guess I'm not sure I see where this complaint is coming from -- Hank plays quite a bit (and quite well) on the Blackhawk recordings, though he obviously isn't going on any Trane-style marathons. I don't think Miles even makes him sit out the ballads -- something that Trane had to deal with early on. (Heck, Miles made Cannonball sat out on some ballads!) By the way, I listened to Seven Steps to Heaven today after spending a week listening to the 1961 band and IMHO George Coleman was an upgrade over Mobley. Guy

I had a weird (jazz-related!) dream last night. In the dream, I go to the local supermarket and buy the latest Jackie McLean RVG reissue, The Cookie Bag. (In the real, conscious world, I just picked up the RVG of Jackie's Bag.) Like its real world dopplegange, The Cookie Bag is made up of two sessions, one from 1961. Except the trumpeter has a Scandinavian name I don't recognize. Anyway, I'm leafing through the liner notes (no Bob B, as far as I remember) and one of the writers reminisces about a symposium he went to attended by a bunch of jazz luminaries, including Chick Corea, Hawk, Coltrane, and Michael Cuscuna (other names I don't remember). Initially I think this took place recently, but then I see Hawk's name and realize this must have taken place in the 60s. So at this symposium, young Mr. Corea starts describing what he thinks (prophetically) the future of jazz will look like. Michael Cuscuna bitches him out for talking nonsense, but then Hawk steps in to cover for Chick and puts Cuscuna in his place. And then Trane does too. I don't remember the rest of the dream. Guy

I dug out the two albums I have by the current quintet (Prime Directive and Not for Nothin') recently and still enjoy them a lot. I can understand why some people don't like this music -- there's a certain "emotional even-ness" to the music that could maybe be misinterpreted as a lack of emotion. But I hear a band that's having a lot of fun making lively jazz with some pretty hip compositions and a great groove. I think track #6 on Prime Directive ("Juggler's Parade", I believe) showcases them at their best.

By the way, Hank's solo on "Neo" from Miles's Carnegie Hall concert is absolutely smoking. It's not a setting he was always comfortable with at this point in his career, but definitely one of his finest moments. Guy

A few days ago I downloaded a phenomenal Charles Lloyd recording from Sharing the Groove. It's a 1967 performance from Paris and the quartet is absolutely smoking. The music is much freer than what I've heard on Forest Flower, Love-In or Soundtrack and I only recognize a few tracks ("Piercing the Veil", "Tribal Dance", "How Can I Tell You".) Charles's tenor playing, which is erratic on some albums from this period, is really strong with some nice unaccompanied cadenzas. The collective improvs by the rhythm section are outstanding. Anyway, highly recommended! Guy

Both of these albums are close enough to the modus operandi of the earlier quintet recordings that you shouldn't find anything too shocking. Miles in the Sky is IMHO the weakest of this group's albums. It's still really good, but things don't click as well as they do on the group's best work. I think Miles and the group were still trying to figure out how to merge elements of popular music into jazz and hadn't gotten it quite right yet. Two of the tunes ("Paraphernalia" and "Black Comedy") are similar to material the group had been recording on Nefertiti and Sorcerer. "Country Son" is an interesting composition in three parts -- ballad, swinging, boogaloo; Miles, Wayne and Herbie go through this sequence. (I never thought I'd say this, but it sounds like Tony is overplaying on this tune.) And "Stuff" is a long boogaloo, the only track on the album that features electric piano. Filles de Kilimanjaro is one of Miles's best albums from ANY period. Each track does something different -- funky as hell on "Frelon Brun", a mellow vibe on "Filles de Kilimanjaro", more post-boppish on "Petit Machins". Miles, Wayne, and Tony are all at the top of their games. My favorite tune on here is "Mademoiselle Mabry", which has an incredible dreamy feel over which Miles, Wayne and Chick spin their solos. I guess I'm gushing about this recording, but it really is that good. And I know there are quite a few other people here who feel the same way. By the way, there's electric piano on every track, but I think if you had to make the case for electric piano in jazz (not fusion) this album would be exhibit A. Guy

I don't have John Szwed's book handy, but I seem to recall a hilarious passage where Jacson describes playing a bassoon in front of a French audience and freaking out because the French invented the bassoon. Anybody want to transcribe it for our reading pleasure? Guy

Is it just me, or are some of those t-shirt designs SWEET. I need to get myself a Unity t-shirt. Guy

I can't wait to hear some of this music (haven't heard the Tokyo, Antibes or Berlin recordings), but think I'll wait on this one until: (A) The individual albums come out, assuming that they comprise the entirety of the material on the box, or... (B) It's available for a budget price on BMG. I guess this means you guys get to torture me for 6 months about how great this music sounds... Guy