Guy Berger

Conception Vessel is very good, Tribute is great; I thought Dance was a disappointment. I'm not crazy about Psalm - this group had an overly "mushy" sound initially though it tightened up quite a bit by the time they recorded Misterioso on Soul Note.

I recently saw him play at the Vanguard with Bill McHenry, another saxophone player with a Hispanic name, a bassist with a Scandinavian name, and pianist Russ Lossing. It was a good gig if not as good as his "regular" groups. I'd recommend the Winter & Winter album "Sound of Love" (recorded at the mid 90s) as a starter - it's a good cross-section of his work. Out of what I've heard, I think the trio with Lovano and Frisell was his best group. Guy

That happened to me as well (actually, I started with fusion and worked my way backward). I would guess it is in fact typical of most new jazz listeners today. Guy

This is a good box: box

The 1975 Weather Report concert is a great one, as are the July 1964 Miles Davis concerts with Sam Rivers.

Was watching CNBC the other day cause I was curious about what the financial hucksters had to say about unrest in the Middle East and its effect on oil. The general takeaway was that the United States gets relatively little -- about 10% -- of its oil from Saudi Arabia, and virtually none from Libya. Europe is another question. I think they are much more dependent on the Middle East. But most oil imported into the United States is from Canada, followed by South America and Russia, apparently. No uprisings reported in Canada. But the real stunner (to me) was that with some huge oil find up in Montana and improvements in the technology needed to extract it (oil shale, or oil sands, or something), these financial gurus were saying that this country could be a net exporter of oil. (Let that thought roll around in the old noggin' for a minute). That we're basically awash in oil now, and that we are not dependent on Middle East supplies anywhere close to what we were in the '70s. Take the whole thing with a grain of salt, but much of the price increases is probably due to hedging and speculation, I'd guess. Glad I have my Prius, though. It doesn't matter very much where we get the oil from - a major oil producer going offline will raise energy prices worldwide even if we don't directly import from that country. And likewise, Europe can import from elsewhere if Libyan oil is no longer available. This country also has tons of shale gas that has become economically feasible to extract. That said, tar sand oil extraction is notoriously bad for the environment and shale gas extraction has issues as well. My final thought is that in a world where emerging economies are growing very fast, a failure to increase energy supply will result in rising energy prices. That's true regardless of what happens in Libya. Barring alternate sources of energy or improved efficiency (both of which will eventually occur), ever-higher energy prices are in our future. Guy

My girlfriend and I have been doing a chronological journey through his films - I'd only seen about half-a-dozen prior. Take the Money and Run is indeed funny, as is Bananas. (Play It Again Sam is next on my queue.) Of ones further down the itinerary, I really liked Manhattan but have never warmed to Annie Hall. Guy

Given that jazz is no longer a popular music in America and is to a large degree disconnected from other forms of popular music, I would assume it is a "second language" for pretty much every musician.

Dave Liebman's commentary on this band's music has also been interesting. I wouldn't mind if he decided to write a book on its music.

Tingen keeps referring to "zen", "holons", "beginner's mind", etc. I haven't read the book in a while and can't pull the quotes off the top of my head. Guy I'd also add that Bob Belden's commentary on this period is generally worth reading and offers a nice complement to Tingen.

Second on Tingen being worth a read. Pluses: 1) He did his homework with interviews of musicians and other primary sources. 2) He is open-minded to this music and gives the 80s comeback era a fair shake. 3) He understands the music enough to talk about it, as Jim says above. Minuses: 1) Tingen comes from a rock background, which is important for this kind of book, but since he is talking about "fusion" music (in the literal sense), more knowledge of jazz would have been useful. 2) He has an annoying tendency to interject his own spiritual beliefs. This is irritating and disruptive. Quibbles: 3) He views the 73-75 band as the zenith of the electric period and this perspective colors his writing. 4) Excessive focus on official recordings. 5) He badmouths "Mademoiselle Mabry" and "Pharoah's Dance"!!!! I would generally steer clear of the Chambers book's discussion of the electric period - the guy is 95% clueless on this music. Guy

Listening to Anniversary for the first time... amazing.

I wish most bootlegs sounded this good. I agree it's the sound is a little "dry" but I'll settle for being able to hear all the instruments clearly! Guy

This isn't really news - the retirement period has been discussed in many MD biographies.

I listened to this performance again recently (I have it in ROIO form) and found Miles's playing to be underwhelming and unremarkable.

Jonathan - THANK YOU. Guy

There are almost twenty recordings of this group.

It's a great performance without a doubt - as is the concert recorded the following day. The last recordings on which there is significant representation of material Miles recorded with the 50s and 60s quintets.

I also think the intensity of responses in this thread is a little "strong" for my tastes (maybe triggered by the effusive FT article). The guy made some positive contributions to jazz history (and I am not a huge fan of his "aesthetic"). The bad stuff is mostly water under the bridge. He wasn't the worst, he wasn't the best.

The first time I heard this was after freshman year in college, when I told a jazz fan friend of mine that I was into fusion (=I'd heard Brand X's Product after really getting into Genesis). It sounded like noisy gibberish to me. I eventually picked up the album and it was a struggle. In a Silent Way did, however, make sense, and after spending some time with that and the 60s quintet material I ended up liking the album a lot. The opening of "Pharaoh's Dance" still gives me goosebumps. I connected with this album before I learned to appreciate the 50s quintet, for what it's worth.

Are any of these guys in print (or readily available) on CD? Seems like a good project for Mosaic.

For what it's worth, my favorite foreign beers are those produced by Samuel Smith. (Much better than those made by his American cousin, Mr. Adams.)

I always got the vibe that PBR-mania was a hipster, irony-rich "so bad it's good" phenomenon rather than any genuine appreciation of its taste. But nobody can account for taste... Guy

I'm guessing this ranks each country's macrobrews, and since American macrobrews are probably the most widely distributed, the result is not particularly surprising. I'll take Dogfish 90 minute IPA over almost every foreign beer I've ever tasted. Guy

I'll be picking this up. I'm guessing they focused on the Newport show (rather than, say, the July Antibes performances or the better-sounding Europe shows from the fall) because it's among the least-circulated by collectors. Isle of Wight is nice. The unit sounds better than they did at the Fillmore East in June, though not nearly as good as the Cellar Door band. Guy