Guy Berger

50 years ago today, BD released "Subterranean Homesick Blues" as a single.

Great. I don't think I've ever seen him do a sub-standard gig.

I saw Steve with his quartet (Jonathan Finlayson, Anthony Tidd, Marcus Gilmore) at the Jazz Gallery. After the first set I went to get his autograph on my copy of Functional Arrythmias and mentioned the upcoming album. He seemed pleasantly surprised when I asked him about the upcoming album but grimaced a little when I referred to it as a "big band" - "it's a large ensemble".

I seem to recall it being particularly prominent during one portion of TONE PARALLEL TO HARLEM. Glad someone mentioned Bennie Maupin. He's great on BITCHES BREW, and also on THE JEWEL IN THE LOTUS.

Ok, Keepnews was obviously an important individual in some ways, but calling him a "towering figure" (side by side with Sonny Rollins!) is absurd. (GA, sorry about the harsh wording. No offense intended.)

RIP.

I was actually thinking of going to the Temple of Dendur concert on April 18.

I would place parts of "A Love Supreme" on my comp along with "My Favorite Things" and leave out "Giant Steps." Not sure what you mean. I was agreeing with your choices! A collection that focused on Ballads, Giant Steps and pre-Atlantic stuff would have probably bored me as a budding jazz listener. Most likelyiIf they don't like the Atlantic "My Favorite Things", they won't like jazz. It's about as universal as you can get. When I first heard MFT, I was quite indifferent to it. Whereas I was quickly sucked into A Love Supreme. Listeners have different entry points into this music.

RIP. Yesterday I had a fun time listening to his recording of "Both Sides Now", which is not very good*** yet seemed appropriate on such a day. ***But still better than Judy Collins's!

I think this is what made Sonny and Thelonious such a good pairing. A lot more than most bebop musicians of that period, they were interested in melodic/thematic improvisation, not just threading changes.

I definitely didn't interpret Iverson as denying humor exists in Monk's music, and I thought his point (as well as that rant) was generally well taken. Many jazz performers engage only superficially with Monk's material, including its humorous aspect.

I connected with A Love Supreme long before Giant Steps and My Favorite Things, despite acquiring all three around the same time.

ABSOLUTELY

SITTIN IN is great!

Two of the things I occasionally ponder re: Crouch/Murray... (A) Murray has mellowed out significantly over time and to some extent converged with the "young lion" aesthetic (B) judging by his collaborations with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, etc Wynton has also mellowed out in his old age from the opposite direction

Nicely stated, Chuck.

There's also an interview where he said (I'm paraphrasing) "Monk writes beautiful tunes and then he ruins them." [Presumably with his playing?]

Well... not on the music's own terms.

Our economically unequal justice/police system strikes again.

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Bev, I think the ratio of interest in British jazz post- vs pre-1970 is comparable to the ratio for US jazz. It's just that the interest in US jazz is higher generally speaking.

Pi Recordings tweeted that Steve has will be releasing a new album titled SYNOVIAL JOINTS with the Council of Balance lineup this April. Can't wait to hear it!

That was one of the best jazz concerts I have ever seen. And I feel kind of silly about avoiding Dizzy's - it's a very nice space.

I think, on net, these kinds of things are good - my one experience with airbnb was a good one, and I'm glad to have Uber around (though I do think some of the more extravagant claims about the macro- benefits are overdone). But our country does a terrible job evenly distributing the gains from these kinds of innovations. There will be a lot of people who experience detrimental impacts that I'm guessing policy won't try to ameliorate. Won't say more because this isn't the politics thread.

Really? I could understand someone taking a contrarian position on season 2, which has its moments, but season 1 is mostly bad-to-terrible. Though the episode where they land on planet-80s-health-club and Wesley gets a death sentence for stepping into a flower-bed is a must-watch.