umum_cypher

Easy, Bye-ard. Maybe for you! Thanks though! But I have no idea how to pronounce 'Lancaster'.

Easy, Bye-ard.

Yeah, but if they'd have located your office in, say, Chicago one week, Washington DC the next and then two different boroughs a week back in NYC, you'd have asked for a new job description. Hold on, you worked in advertising and they didn't pay for your lunch? You really should have asked for a new job description. That's not the kind of thing that goes on in Mad Men.

That's going on the back of the next edition. That's going on the front. It may have been the way that Benny Golson relayed the unpaid rehearsals part of the story - I may be remembering wrongly, but I think it was unbidden and rather pointed (is he as street your contacts, Chewy?). I'm not sure I would have included this if I were writing it now. But the larger point I was trying to make in that chapter was about the comparative informality of the jazz recording business at that time, certainly the Blue Note part of it. By 1956, Lee Morgan had played in pit bands. If he'd gone to NYC to get a Broadway gig, he would have been paid for the rehearsal, I think I'm right in saying. He'd played in symphony orchestras. If he'd gone to NYC to play for Bernstein he would have been paid for the rehearsal. But small label jazz was a labour of love for many concerned - and there was also an element of corners being cut on the musicians' behalf. There you are, that's it, nothing controversial. People who haven't read the book, and a certain number remain, might think this sounds like a Kofsky-esque whitewash, but it's not, it's part of a bittersweet picture. As we all know, this was a small business subject to the whims of suppliers and distributers like any other, and the balance surely lays *very much* in the sweet part of the equation. But I also wanted to challenge (a little) the hagiographic approach that is usually taken towards BN (and which Ashley Khan may or may not take), and on this the withholding publishing issue stands - especially given the former label employee's testimony given on that point. Re: Lee being an asshole, I don't know about McMillan's book, but you won't find much to counter that argument in mine. Even though I heard plenty of very positive stuff on the grapevine - particular sideman having their rent paid for them and such - people were reluctant to go on the record with the good stuff, which begs a number of questions. The ambivalence with which ex-colleagues recalled LM was striking. But so was the musical respect. Well, it's 'writing about music is like dancing about architecture', and, as Robert Christgau has written, it's bullshit - dancing is architecture!

Jymie Merritt gave me a lift home across Philadelphia in his people carrier, bass in the back. He is an over-cautious driver but a lovely bloke. I have a feeling that Free Trade Hall concert was a BBC broadcast (and is archived somewhere), but this is just a feeling. The 1966 Monk quartet performance at the same hall (seemingly an audience recording, came out on Tempo di Jazz in the 90s) - three odd weeks after Dylan was heckled there ('Judas!', 'I don't believe you', etc etc) - is an absolute stormer. Bill, were you at that one? (It's on the site of the Peterloo massacre, of course).

Clifford Brown was wasted on the Brown-Roach quintet. So much of that repertoire is colourless, glib, the tempo-clocking so macho, everything CB wasn't.

Coltrane was a good man. He would RECYCLE!

And if Donald Byrd, why not Chant, an early 60s BN reject - why? too much product? certainly not on quality grounds - released in the 70s. Fantastic Pepper and Herbie (the latter I think on his first recording session) - it's really great.

Meshuggah are the extreme metal band that even jazzers like us can love, their EP 'I' is thoroughly recommended to one and all (really). Jon (only joking about DB btw) - I wonder if (like me) you blow hot and cool about Ornette. But get Don Cherry's Blue Notes - Symphony for Improvisers, Complete Communion, Where is Brooklyn. Blowing cool is not at all a feasible response to these records. Coming forward, and in the same vein, try Mostly Other People do the Killing - their record Shamokin' is maybe a bit uneven but a lot of fun, principally because of trumpeter Peter Evans, who is like Lester Bowie, Axel Doerner and Clifford Brown rolled into one, and about as far from the studied/po-faced post Wynton-trumpter as you can get. I haven't heard This is our Moosic yet, but want to very much. Also maybe try the various Thirsty Ear artists, especially Craig Taborn, especially his 2001 trio record Light Made Lighter but also the jazz electronica effort Junk Magic. None of the Euro free improv I searched for was there, but I'm not sure you'd be into that. I'll be taking some recommendations from your spreadsheet too.

What a collection. It's true that there's too much Donald Byard. But there's no Viktor Vaughan and that is a record!

In a similar vein, John Escreet, UK born if US resident.

Alex is of course too modest to recommend himself ... so I will. Convergence Quartet =

I know what you (they) mean, but in terms of the extent of its poetry - or poetic intent - Thomas doesn't come close to CO Simpkins mid-70s effort.

A long shot - if anyone wants what looks like a fairly full, bound run of Crescendo, 60s to 80s, and can collect them from SE London within the next couple of weeks, please PM. I can't easily get access to see exactly what's there, and they're too bulky to post, but they're free if anyone fancies. Tom

chan parker's book for $595. disclaimer: i don't know the seller. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/offer-lis...4?condition=all B-) London users - a copy of this book has just this month been donated to the National Jazz Archive, which is held at Loughton Public Library.

He's maybe the most captivating live performer I have ever seen - the rapport he can build with the audience is just astonishing.

Blimey - Buster Keaton was still alive?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7598549.stm Jazz fans = 'high self-esteem, creative, outgoing and at ease'. Does this sound like you? (For the first time ever I'm going to a metal gig tonight - roped in - but after reading what the fans are like I'm not sure I want to. They'll spot my high self-esteem from a mile off).

If they have, they've taken something else out with it. It's impossible (unless there was a mic/track devoted to the foot pedal ONLY which can be dumped) to filter it out with some other sound being effected. Well, joke or not, it probably would be possible if you had the time, patience and budget and were sufficiently bothered by these things ... oh, the things they can do these days!: http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=dna

The French edition is a very pretty thing. Lots of very nice off-guard photos, esp of Monk. The first wish for a good many respondents is 'more money and work', or a variation thereof.

I don't have it here to check, but as I recall Art Taylor's high hat pedal could have done with a bit of 3-in-1 that day.

Yesssssssssssssssss! Nice one Ricky. Thanks everyone. Tom

You're saying 'routine' might be a noun and a verb? This is more complicated that I thought ...

Anyone got any ideas about this quote, which I need to track down, but can't find now .... he says words to the effect of, when I solo, in the first chorus I play the tune, in the second I embellish and in the third I do my routines. (The only word I'm sure of is 'routines'. And I think he uses it as a verb, so I'm not even sure of that, exactly). Haven't got any biogs to hand, but don't think I read it in one of them anyway. Any help appreciated greatly.

Blues for Alice.