Guy Berger

I don't think Miles's playing is "confused", except insofar as he has no clue why Monk has stopped. His playing (repeating a dissonant phrase three times) prior to Monk's re-entrance sounds like he's saying "Monk, wake up you MF, it's still your turn to solo!" Of course, Monk is perfectly awake. Guy

I don't have any of Jackie Mclean's Prestige recordings. (Other than his sideman appearances on Miles Davis's Dig and Gene Ammons's The Happy Blues.) Anybody want to mention their favorites and maybe short descriptions? How do these compare to Jackie's early Blue Note albums? Guy

This is a great thread. Here are my choices. 1) Eric Kloss and the Rhythm Section -- A two-on-one from Prestige/Fantasy. Some intense alto and tenor playing, backed by Miles Davis's best rhythm section and (on the second half) Pat Martino. They do an absolutely smokin' version of Donovan's "Sunshine Superman". (I kid you not.) 2) The Jaki Byard Experience -- Again on Prestige. Jaki, Roland Kirk (pre-Rahsaan?), Richard Davis and Alan Dawson. Opens with a blockbuster version of "Parisian Thoroughfare". A beautiful Byard-Kirk duet on "Memories of You". 3) Joe Henderson, Power to the People -- On Milestone. A quintet record with Herbie, Ron Carter, Jack DJ in the rhythm section. Plenty of powerful playing by Joe and nice Fender Rhodes work by Herbie. Easily goes head to head with the best of Joe's Blue Note work. 4) Prince Lasha/Sonny Simmons, Firebirds -- On Contemporary/Fantasy. Two freebop altoists are joined by Bobby Hutcherson, Buster Williams and Charles Moffett. This is right up there with Out to Lunch and the other better-known inside-outside dates on Blue Note. There's a nice variety of tunes from the more melodic end of avant-garde jazz. "Psalms of Solomon" is a personal favorite. 5) Live at Monterey, John Handy -- For whatever reason, Charles Lloyd made it big and these guys never did. No superstars came out of this group, but the unique lineup (alto/guitar/violin/bass drums) and interesting compositions stand out. Handy is an intense inside/outside altoist. 6) The 2nd John Handy Album -- I think this album is a notch below the Monterey recording because of the lengthy avant-garde chamber piece that closes the album. But the rest of the tune are great. 7) Miles Davis, Filles de Kilimanjaro -- Not sure if you can seriously call ANY Miles Davis album truly underrated, but considering that this is one of the best jazz albums ever recorded and yet barely a blip in most assessments of Miles's career, I'll put this on the list. Bonus BN) McCoy's Extensions is on BN but definitely an underrated masterpiece. Though to be fair, you have to work very hard to make a bad album when your band features Wayne Shorter AND Gary Bartz in the front line. Bonus BN) The quartet tracks from Chick Corea's Complete Is Sessions. My comments about Chick/Dave/Jack fully apply here. ----- Conference of the Birds is a wonderful album but it's acknowledged a masterpiece of the 70s avant-garde frequently enough that I don't know if it belongs on an "underrated classics" list.

I was actually prompted to buy this album after reading the Chambers book. I wish I had the book here so I could transcribe the segment for you guys. Chambers suggests that since Monk executed the slow solo fine on the first take, it would have been pretty unlikely for him to botch on the second. Guy

By the way, for other people who have seen Jackie live in the past few years -- does he ever play "Melody for Melonae"? That's my favorite JM tune, but he hasn't done it the two times I've seen him live. Guy

Nice also to have found something to annoy deus with! A Farewell to Kings has some fun tunes. A few years back I had a downstairs neighbor who was a hardcore blues fan from Canada. Anyway, we had several lengthy discussions about music and at some point we got to talking about Rush. He, too, was in to them as a teen / young adult but grew out of them a few years later. We agree that some of their stuff is still pretty good, and he says, "That main riff from 'Xanadu', woaaaaaaaaah." Double Woaaaaaaaaaaaaah. There's also that sweeet section in the song "A Farewell to Kings". Guy

I bought the box last summer for a good price ($50) and thought it was a bit of an overdose. Sky Piece is as much of a masterpiece as everyone says, and Night Bird Song is very good too, but I didn't get into the other discs as much. Maybe in a couple of years I'll dig them out and be blown away. I would suggest picking up the discs individually if you can't find the box for cheaper than $60. The early trio albums seemed to be the least essential. Guy

Not just in the US -- obesity is becoming a bigger problem throughout the world. Lawsuits against fast food joints are pretty silly, but I think that it's a good thing that people are more aware of what's contained their food. Guy, who ate a McNugget meal today

I was really into Rush back in high school and freshman year of college. Looking back (and it wasn't such a long time ago), a lot of that stuff is still fun to listen to. The lyrics which once seemed so intelligent are kind of ridiculous, but there are still plenty of great songs in that catalogue. Moving Pictures is just a great frickin album, not matter what the critics say. (In fact, it was one of the first CDs in my collection.) Two of my favorite Rush albums are the frequently overlooked Grace Under Pressure and Presto. Guy

Yeah, I was looking out for Bertrand and didn't see him. (Too many people with beards!) I ran into Michael Cuscuna (another fan pointed him out to me) and thanked him for collecting all my money. Bruce Lundvall was there as well. It's kind of late so I don't have time for a comprehensive review, but it was fabulous to see this trio performing stuff like "Frankenstein" and "Love & Hate". (Got all three signatures on my copy of One Step Beyond. Bobby: "The sixties were a looooooooong time ago.") Grachan's chops were pretty rough early on (and it looked like there was some tension between him and Jackie in the first set -- I think Grachan was taking more choruses than he was supposed to) but he played much better on the two tunes that closed the second set ("Little Melonae" and "Blue Rondo"). Anyway, if you are in the vicinity of NY this weekend, go see this septet at all costs. Jackie's playing is as intense and stinging as it is on the 60s Blue Notes and Bobby Hutcherson is absolutely incredible. His playing on "Love and Hate" and "Freddie Freeloader" was awesome. Guy

Anybody else play? I picked Hold'em up as a hobby about 18 months ago and after a bit of a rough start it's been pretty profitable. I play mostly at brick'n'mortar cardrooms, and graduated from 2/4 to 4/8 a few months ago. Anyway, it's a nice supplemental income. Guy

And yet, the music is so amazing, perhaps because of the clash in musical personalities. This is one of my favorite Miles Davis sessions -- definitely my favorite pre-KoB. Guy

This is the only one of Jang's that I own -- what a great album! James Newton is absolutely smokin' on this record. Guy

I will be at the show as well. Guy

Seriously. McLean's playing on it might actually top that on the master. Guy

I think the '69 dates are the best, though there's plenty of amazing music from '67. Try to see if anything has been treed on sharingthegroove. Guy

In case anyone hasn't noticed, I am actually an alias of Berigan's or Johnny E's. Or both. But I'm not sure which one. Guy

Not sure if it's stupid to prohibit usage of personal electronic equipment to prevent interference with equipment including communications, navigation and flight control systems. Well, US airlines allow it, as do other airlines which do the transatlantic route. Is there any good evidence that electronic devices like CD players or MP3 players or laptop computers interfere with flight? Guy

I am flying on El Al to visit family in Israel in about 10 days and was wondering whether I could use my iPod during the duration of the flight. The flight attendants wouldn't let me use a discman last time (I've had the same problem with Alitalia) and I was wondering whether my new toy will run into the same stupid rules. Guy

So I finally picked up an iPod... Not sure whether I will use a CD player ever again... A question: I figure that the battery takes a beating with usage. Is this thing going to be usable in 2 years? Guy

riverrat, Have you listened to Ornette's The Shape of Jazz to Come? In some respects it's more conservative than Right Now. I don't think you should have any trouble understanding it. Guy

The first time I heard Elvin was on A Love Supreme over six years ago. He quickly became one of my favorite jazz drummers. He'll be missed, but he left one hell of a legacy. Guy

You know, I don't like the Lakers, but that was an awesome way to end the game. Guy

Plus, records like Other Planes of There and The Magic City weren't recorded until after the Arkestra left Chicago. How many people actually heard these records when they came out? How well distributed were they outside of NYC? FWIW, I hear the collective improvs of the Corea-Holland-DeJohnette rhythm section coming from the same place. Guy

I also (more or less) subscribe to the idea that Chick Corea's best work was recorded before the mid-70s, but I recently put on Hymn to the Seventh Galaxy and that's a great album. Some good tunes and terrific Fender Rhodes playing by Chick. Something bad happened to that band when Bill Connors was replaced by Al DiMeola. Guy