Guy Berger

Has there been out-of-sample testing of predictions conditional on this specific statistic? Seems like that would be an easy way to resolve this debate. follow-up: So it seems like WAR has predictive value, though you'd also need to benchmark it against alternative statistics.

#1 - I think that question/threshold isn't quite the correct one. If you're a GM with a $X budget for players, you'll be able to squeeze extra wins/success out of that budget using stats-based analysis. But if you have a small budget, even the most efficient & statistically-informed decision-making might not be sufficient to win a World Series. It might not even be sufficient to generate a winning season. #2 - As statistically-informed decision-making has become more prevalent in MLB, the A's edge on this front has probably faded. (In fact, even if other teams had never adopted this decision-making, the A's success would still be disrupted by rich teams poaching the A's best players.) Sabermetrics is like savvy financial investing. It's about getting a higher return on your portfolio by buying undervalued assets at a discount. In investment this is fine because buying a crappy asset that's priced as super-crappy could net you a nice profit. In baseball acquiring a good player who's priced as a mediocre player will not necessarily win you the big prize.

They are a really nice & witty touch on "Dinosaur" which is a delightful tune.

Thrak was a weird one for me; very good songwriting, among the group's best, coupled with relatively uninteresting instrumentals. The 72-74 band turned on its head!

Did some great stuff with McCoy Tyner and Weather Report. I heard some of his more fusiony stuff on Pandora and liked it. Guy

No. It's the worst of their studio albums up to that point. (I didn't realize they had no others afterward.)

Seems like "timeless" boils down to "stuff I like / don't like" intermingled with the listener's age and the confusing phenomenon of "retro".

I don't think those two properties are mutually exclusive. Howe, Kaye and Bruford, absolutely; other members, not necessarily.

I think the band w/Tony Kaye was underrated, and the band w/Rick Wakeman (after Bruford left) overrated - I would rather listen to Time and a Word than to Tales from Topographic Oceans or Going for the One, though I enjoy those two albums too. And my opinion on 90125 has softened over time - not necessarily my cup of tea, but not bad either. Also, I recently picked up the debut album - mostly of historical interest but also some good music on there.

I am pretty excited about the Taborn - I hope it isn't TOO ECM'ized

Hi all, I have been thinking of picking up a Chris Lightcap album. I see he has 4 recordings under his name: Lay-up (Fresh Sound, 2000) with Tony Malaby, Bill McHenry and Gerald Cleaver Bigmouth (Fresh Sound, 2003) with Malaby, McHenry and Cleaver Deluxe (Clean Feed, 2010) with Malaby, Chris Cheek, Andrew D'Angelo, Craig Taborn and Cleaver Epicenter (Clean Feed, 2015) with Malaby, Cheek, Taborn & Cleaver Which one is the best?

It's really unfortunate we have zero recordings of Miles's working group between May 20 1961 and April 15 1963. (And even the non-working-group recordings during this period are at best footnote-worthy.) (Also interesting and probably not coincidental that Hank's discography during this period is nearly silent this period.)

RIP. His work with King Crimson was 100% classic and some of his work for ELP was great too.

Out of character for the late 60s, early 70s firebrand/mystic Pharoah - but absolutely in-character for the calmer/mellower Pharoah of the last 2-3 decades! Guy

I love that Andrew Cyrille is getting more exposure. Massively overdue.

Hi all. This Trio has been discussed elsewhere on this board, but I thought I'd start a new more general thread. I caught them about two years ago and thought it was amazing. However, I don't own any of their albums. Any recommendations on where to start [& for that matter where to continue after I've started]? These are albums that seem to be available for purchase? Open Ideas [Palmetto] Encounter [Passin' Thru] At this Time [Intakt, w/Geri Allen] Refraction - Breaking Glass [Intakt, w/Jason Moran] Wiring [Intakt, w/Vijay Iyer] Time Being [Intakt] Berne Concert [Intakt, w/Irene Schweizer]

Injecting yourself is fine. I don't even care that much about objectivity as long as there is awareness/honesty/transparency of biases and blind spots. However, my eyes do glaze over when a review is more about the writer than about the music.

Haven't nearly all these concerts been extensively bootlegged?

Interesting comments. I know Keith Jarrett said at some point that electric keyboards ruined musicians who played them - not just their electric music, but also their subsequent acoustic music. I think he called out Herbie by name but may have also meant Chick. Obviously Keith is a very different animal in the sense that over the past 35 years he's mined 2-3 seams very deeply rather than trying to do a lot of things. I don't have any priors on which approach is better. [BTW, I generally agree that his post-1973 music is of less interest or instant appeal to me. But I would say that for a lot of musicians, not just Chick.

I'm definitely picking up the Murray and Abrams. Have my doubts about the Waldron. What about the Roach?

ROCK ON!!!

What do folks think of this? Like a lot of ECM studio recordings it is much more atmospheric & less hard-hitting than the group sounds live. But it wasn't as sleepy as a many other ECM recordings and I enjoyed it a lot.

Just gave this a first listen. It's really good!

Hopefully they'll make it out west!

Glad you're still making excellent music, Mr Sanders!!!