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medjuck

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Posts posted by medjuck

  1. At 3 LPs it has the full score, including the recitative (the sung narative that makes it an Opera, not 'merely' a musical).

    Was it originally performed with the recitative ? I know it's been performed that way for a couple of decades but for some reason I'm under the impression that although Gershwin wrote it that way it was originally perfomred with spoken dialogue between the songs. Maybe I think that because an opera troupe in the 70's made a big deal about using the recitative. Surely the Cab Calloway production that toured in the 50's (60's?) didn't include it. Or did it?

  2. Uhhh. I was going to say none. The question asks for "apostrophe f" if you read the quotation marks correctly. As is often the case nowadays there should be no apostrophe in this question.

    But enough pedantry. I still counted 3 the first time I read it. Great test.

  3. Speaking of Davenport Blues: one of my favorite versions is Gil Evans's. He playes the last refrain first-- as does Gerry Mulligan, who I presume had heard the Evans version. (Ooops I should check out the chronology-- I'm not sure Gil's version was earlier than Gerry's.) Regarding that refrain-- which begins about 1 monute before the end of Bix's version-- I've heard it on many other numbers from the era and later (usually as a coda). Did it actually originate with Bix? I don't think I've heard it on any thing recorded earlier.

  4. I have all his known recorded appearances. Looking forward to the Sunbeam/Bix Records "sounds like" release. . . .

    Wow. does that include all the Paul Whiteman appearances? Even if he doesn't solo? How many cds does that make?

  5. Is there a Coleman Hawkins discography out there somewhere? I'm reading the John Chilton bio and he claims Bean's first recording was Mamie Smith's Mean Daddy Blues from April 1922 supposedly recorded shortly after he joined her band. But I just got a Mamie Smith cd that lists several earlier recording dates with Hawkins starting in in October 1921.

  6. Speaking of strings, I heard the San Francisco symphony last night and they played a John Adams piece called "My Father Knew Charles Ives". I thought it was outstanding! This was more interesting than any of his works I'd heard before.

    I heard the San Francisco Symphony perform that in Prague last year. Do you know if it's available on cd? And BTW I think the only 2 "with strings" jazz reocdings I really like are Focus and Chet Baker with Strings. I also like the strings side of The Genius of Ray Charles if that counts as jazz.

  7. I started reading it but found myself getting confused because he didn't mention what was happening with Black musicians at the same time. I have no problem with his rediscovery of lesser known White musicians and their contributions but it all seemed out of context to me. I should try it again. There was a good 2 disc set that came out at the same time which contians many of the cuts and artists to which he refers.

  8. The theme of the influence of jazz on white Americans was first discussed in some (sane) detail by Neil Leonard in the early 1960s. By the time I took a course in American Studies with him when I was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1970s, he had lost most of his interest in the topic of jazz .. bummer! But this is still a provocative book ... JAZZ AND THE WHITE AMERICANS: THE ACCEPTANCE OF A NEW ART FORM, Uuniversity of Chicago Press, 1962.

    This reminds me: anyone here read "Lost Chords" the book about White Jazz musicians?

  9. My boss and I ripped through the Deveaux, found it interesting, talked about it a bit. It isn't exactly compelling reading, though. That is, it's good if you are actively interested in 1940s America and Coleman Hawkins and all the techniques he employed in Body & Soul, etc. etc.

    But this book won't make you interested in that stuff.

    I felt the same way. Actually I can't remember much about the Deveaux except his point that Hawk doesn't get enough attention as a bebopper. And that the writer probably knew too much about academic jargon. I learned more from the Proper box sets Hawkins: The Be-bop Years and their Be-bop Box (the title of which I forget right now) which had a lot of material I'd never heard, or even heard of, before.

  10. They look like the Time/Life Giants of Jazz lp box sets.

    Right you are. I had all of them though the EKE and lady Day sets were on cassette. I didn't order those 2 originally because I had all the cuts elsewhere. I eventually saw them remaindered somewhere and got them just for the booklets. Then someone from Australia on the RMB newsgroup pleaded for 3 of the box sets and I sent them to him. (He sent me some Aussie jazz cds and the Dylan" Masterpieces" box in return.) I can't remember exactly which Time-Lifes I sent. One was Frank Teschemaker (Sp?) in which I had no interest. But just yesterday I went to look something up in The Coleman Hawkins box and realized I know longer had it.

    BTW What I was looking for was pre-1929 Hawkins material. Maybe something with Mamie Smith (I'm reading the Chilton bio of Hawkins.) Any suggestions?

  11. Going slightly off-topic for a moment, I like the predecessor Milestones almost as much as KOB.

    Granted, the presence of Red Garland as opposed to Bill Evans (and Wynton) changes the sound of the sextet, but there are some pretty special moments on that side. Like when Red quotes Miles' solo from Now's The Time (from when Miles was with Bird). That was the subject of one of my very first posts. Or Miles comping on piano when Red didn't show. Or the tune that REALLY introduced Miles' direction towards modality (that was most associated w/So What) - Milestones. Or Cannonball working "Skip To My Lou" into his solo. Or the hard swing of the trio's rendition of Billy Boy- Philly Joe is the shit! I even loved the weird reverb on that side- it was part of the package. I listened to that one A LOT in my earlier years, and I still love it. It always puts me in my "happy place".

    The group definitely was gelling more by the time of the KOB session, but there's a raw energy on Milestones that's really compelling. Kind of the same reckless abandon that's on Round Midnight.

    The Milestones material on the Miles/Coltrane box set got me to thinking about alternate takes. It seems to me that in this case they made the right choice everytime. Is that just because they're the ones with which I'm most familiar?

  12. Has anyone besides me cut down on their cd buying because they're buying some things via downloads and keeping them on their computers and i-pods? I know the sounds not quite as good but I rarely get to hear things under optimum conditions anyway. And my hearings shot because of age, too many rock concerts and too much time spent on mixing stages.

    The concept of everything being available all the time really changes the concept of collecting, be it music, literature or films.

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