Guy Berger

I'd put Sonny's Crib #1, Cool Struttin #2. The trio album is at the bottom of my list.

Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey

Of course - but in the grand scheme of the US economy (1.6 million layoffs a month), it's _tiny_.

I actually think there's a lot of demand for this - just not necessarily with ESPN. (FWIW, while I suspect this is a major hardship for those who lost these jobs, the numbers here are relatively small, not massive.)

Actually, the cultural parallel that comes to mind is Medeski Martin & Wood. There were lots of responses by women musicians and fans on twitter and on Facebook. The reason "most of the discussion" seemed like "just a bunch of men yelling at each other about feminism" isn't a signal that women weren't interested/engaged in the discussion - it's that we're only hearing the people with the biggest megaphones, who happen to be men.

Absolutely.

The article on WBGO was a weird read. I guess it's a measure of how popular these guys got (by jazz standards) that anybody bothered to ask the band members how they felt about each other. FWIW, since it wasn't discussed here... I like Iverson's playing and interviews, and he generally seems like a wonderful guy, but his behavior during the Glasper incident was not his finest hour.

It's for those moments when you need to take squeakiness up to 11

I generally disagree. His most creative period was behind him. But past-his-peak Thelonious Monk is still Thelonious Monk - I will absolutely be picking this up.

I've always considered the piano to be the Cheez Whiz of keyboard instruments. If a real harpsichord isn't used, the music is unlikely to be of any interest to me. Also interesting to note that a lot of well-regarded straight-ahead jazz drummers explicitly incorporate rhythms imitating "drum machines" (term used loosely) into their playing. Coins ruined the beauty of the barter system forever.

Love his playing. Didn't someone on this board mention once that Jaws was Jan Garbarek's favorite saxophonist? Not entirely implausible if you listen to his recordings with George Russell.

I think we have to disqualify Ben Webster from this thread?

The DeJohnette and Tapscott recordings here are jazz classics.

RIP, Arthur Blythe

I was being facetious, of course In general I think being a great ballad player is pretty important to being a great jazz musician. But I'm sure we can come up with examples of some great jazz musicians who were merely decent or mediocre balladeers.

Shaq was terrible at free throws

So up to a point I agree. But as someone who isn't agnostic on Monk vs. Peterson, I feel quite comfortable blaming him

Anybody else think that version of MFT is mildly overrated? By which I mean that it's not obviously better to my ears than the 6 other versions Coltrane recorded in 1963. It merely had a better publicist

He's also good on Kenny Garrett's Pursuance

On some days it's my favorite. In my top 5 for sure.

After reading Jim's post I'm morbidly curious

So clearly it's a matter of taste, but compared to some of DG's other BN albums, Gettin' Around is quite underwhelming.

Solstice is a really wonderful album.

Thanks guys and gals! I really appreciate it

I love this one too, and really like his playing on it. I'm not a giant fan and find him somewhat tedious in a trio format, but the stuff that irritates other folks on this thread doesn't really bother me.