Guy Berger

I've been listening to You Know the Number and Easily Slip into Another World (from the Mosaic box). Not only are they GREAT, but surprisingly accessible.

Interesting to listen to, but understandable why they were not released. They fall far short of the magic of the original album, as well as most of the other work by both artists.

Alas, the stuff they are adding is of little or no interest to me. Too bad they didn't add the live stuff erwbol mentions.

This thread has led me to go back and listen to many OP dates in my collection, Consider the Ben Webster meets Oscar Peterson record. I hardly think this meeting came about because Granz sought convenience and predictability. For those who dislike OP, just listen. He is almost entirely unobtrusive in accompaniment, and his solos are quite subtle. Well, there's an extremely good chance it came about precisely because Granz sought convenience and predictability. BUT... I really like OP's playing on this date, and I'm someone whose general opinion on his body of work is mixed.

Yes, I really enjoyed that Iverson analysis too, though I think he is too negative about OP as an accompanist.

Exactly. And so when people complain that better artists aren't getting the same attention as KW... how many of those better artists are trying to acquire it?

Well, here's a question since superior players to KW (e.g. Darius Jones) were mentioned. Presumably KW's "commercial angle" was that he is a close collaborator with more commercially successful (albeit critically well-regarded) artists. Why don't the superior players do this more often?

Even on the 1964 Mingus stuff?

The Sanders date is comparable to his 1969 Impulse! work, so your feelings toward the latter provide a good forecast. Personally, I like it a lot.

I have to say, I purchased this set because of what in retrospect was a silly completist impulse, expecting it to be routine and semi-generic hard bop. I guess some of the albums in this set fall into that bucket, but overall, I think it's a very strong combination of musicians and compositions. If you think there's any chance that you'll like it - you probably WILL like it.

I'd say that the 1966 and 1967 Newport concerts*** have better MUSIC than "plenty of Miles in good sound", so there's in fact much to see here.

Yes, but the music itself is better than on many of those other live recordings.

I agree that seasons 5 and 6 both had quite a few good episodes. What are the three episodes from season 5 that you consider among the best the series ever ran? Just curious (we all have our favorites.) Ha! My response is only 7 years late. But the three episodes are: DARMOK ("They were... victorious. But... Enkidu fell to the ground, struck down by the gods. And Gilgamesh... wept bitter tears, saying, "He who was my companion, through adventure and hardship, is gone forever." ") THE INNER LIGHT (magnificent storytelling) I, BORG (in some ways, the best Borg episode, though it killed them as an interesting villain)

Thanks for sharing. Interesting read and, as others have said, well written. There was an interesting interview with Steve Coleman a while back (shared in these forums, I think?) where SC mentioned he was often surprised about who would show up to his master classes. Mark Turner was mentioned in that context.

Exactly. The standards of the legal system, which are appropriate and necessary, don't require us to suspend common sense when drawing conclusions about reality. I don't need a judge or jury's determination to tell me the sky is blue.

sometimes a stupidly-expressed opinion is just a stupidly-expressed opinion.

I've been listening to some of the earliest Chicago albums - Sun Song, Supersonic Jazz, Sound of Joy - over the past month. So good.

Jonathan, I finally got around to listening to the Tapscott reissue. AMAZING. The album completely lives up to its reputation, much like the other stuff you've reissued.

Metamusicians Stomp is fantastic. I had always assumed it would be much more abstract given the associations with CT, but it's more of an edgy post-bop date.

Not many rock bassists who could be simultaneously busy and tasteful.

Monstrous. I realize we can't discuss politics here - and politics maybe don't belong in a thread dedicated to mourning the victims - but I'll just say no full and honest discussion of this terrorist atrocity can evade the subject.

Love the guy's music. Will be missed, we were lucky to have him.

Ironically, for me, this thread led to the discovery of the amazing Flying Lotus! Thank you, Kamasi Washington. (FWIW, i had drinks with a friend of mine who is ~30 and has much hipper music tastes than I do; likes some jazz. Somehow THE EPIC came up and he said, "it's good, right?")

Always a fancy way of saying "I personally don't like his music."

I disagree. When I listened to The Epic, I heard a "watered down" version of things that I had already been done. That in and of itself is not a bad thing. If serves as a "gateway" album to young people exploring jazz more, it definitely is not a bad thing. It is not a bad album, I just think that the praise that it has been receiving is overdone. If a teenager came to me who had never really listed to jazz before asked me to recommend "recent" recordings I would point that person to something like Roy Hargrove's Earfood or Aaron Park's Invisible Cinema. I do not think the views expressed about the album are a product of suspicion of the popular; it's about the content of the album. If a Gerald Cleaver or Mary Halvorson record were afforded the same "buzz," I don't think you would see the same negative reaction. In a way it is kind of off putting that just because Washington is affiliated with a rapper, he gets to be treated like some sort of monarch of jazz. I don't really think "watered down" really applies here, unless you're willing to apply it to much of the other "recently recorded" (i.e. post-1990 or even post-1980) jazz (in nearly ever sub-genre) that's frequently discussed on this board. Anyway, I'm listening to this right now on Spotify and it sounds pretty good. Not the best thing I've ever heard, certainly, but I'm enjoying it and if it's introducing more people to this music, terrific!