Free For All

Oh yeah, it's a great one. Great playing and great arrangements. JJ's projects always have a lot of thought and preparation, no "thrown off" material. He gets the most out of each tune w/o unnecessary clutter. Great personnel on this one!

After near record highs on Tuesday, by contrast yesterday and today have been lousy. Big rain-to-sleet-to-ice event yesterday, and now the snow is really coming down. Looks like it's heading out Organissimo way tonight. I got some groceries (including libations), gloves and a snow shovel and am now going to hunker down for the duration. The good news is that my new chair (with matching ottoman) was delivered yesterday! A nice reward after spending two hours getting teeth drilled at the dentist's. Also my Ray Charles Atlantic box came today. I'm ready for the storm, bring it on! Our local weather guy gets so excited about severe weather, I'd swear he's "sporting wood" on air. Seriously, I hope everyone is safe through this nasty weather. Looks like many are going to get a taste of it.

If ya can't beat 'em, scrotum.

I always like the way the vibes sounded. Have you ever checked out the Arista All Stars Montreux recordings? Their approach sounds similar to how you're describing Steps Ahead. I'll have to check out their recordings sometime. You mean those Blue Montreaux sides? I've always liked those. I have one on CD, but both on vinyl.

.....and of course nothing communicates the desired "downer" effect better than the descending trombone glissando/plunger mute combination. Or, in the case of Charlie Brown's teacher, the harmon-muted "talking" trombone. Such a noble instrument. Now where the hell are my big clown shoes?

Hmmmmmm.... They don't HAVE a Hank Williams Mosaic... ......or a Leonard Cohen........

Well, I found a way, but my solution is probably not desirable for most.

Glenn's rec "Smokin' In The Pit" is a good one. This is a very 80's sounding band, and that's not at all bad thing IMHO. Sure, you got your Steve Gadd, you got your Mike Manieri synth-vibes, you got some fairly big hair. But I have fond memories of the 80s as it seems to be the last time I had any kind of sex life. I grew up listening to these guys and have always enjoyed their music, and it would be impossible to not recommend at least checking them out. Not every recording was a gem, but there were some great moments, especially on the live sets.

No, AFAIK Howard Hawks was the first director to make extensive use of the technique..... True that, Free for All has clearly never seen His Girl Friday! OK, I just received my copy of HGF from Amazon today! (it was very cheap so I just bought it, also got some Lester Bowie that's I've been wanting, can't buy just ONE thing from Amazon! ) I'm looking forward to checking it out. Thanks for the education, guys!

The Four Freshmen. Those f*ckers make me want to put a bullet in my head. No, just kidding. Actually for me the most "contemplative" Mosaic is the Tristano/Konitz/Marsh. Not depressing, just very "heady". It always puts me in a specific place.

Donation completed.

...to name just a few.

I think there are a few of us (myself included) who do enjoy and visit regularly. I think we'd be happy to pony up to cover the expense. Those who wish to do so could make themselves known on this thread and we'll figue out how to portion out the cost among ourselves. Actually, I'm past due to make an additional general donation myself.

I believe you meant Denver, not SD. Same result?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. May your turducken be flavorful. ....and just in case you're short on dessert ideas, here's a little beauty..............

I wish the US anthem was "America The Beautiful". Better message than the other, and a much hipper tune.

No, AFAIK Howard Hawks was the first director to make extensive use of the technique..... True that, Free for All has clearly never seen His Girl Friday! I haven't yet seen it, but I soon will.

Probably not much fun. I'll think good thoughts for both of you on Friday (and every day while we're at it).

I always admired Altman because he was a risk-taker. I think the fact that some of his films were flops attests to that- he never fell into a formulaic attempt to re-create the same film over and over. He did no doubt have a style that was identifiable and innovative. IIRC, it was Altman who first started using the technique of overlapping dialogue (where several characters speak at once) that Spielberg adopted. His film about KC wasn't one of his finest moments, but it did help the 18th and Vine jazz district get up and running again. I think he would have been a fascinating person to know.

Here's one account of the Kaufman appearance on "Fridays"........

I didn't know that, and would be interested to know what his act was about. Was it Kaufman-like?

I'm doing a solitary Thanksgiving this year, which is fine. I've had a really busy fall and am ready to be by myself for a minute. Anyway, I'm going to do a turkey breast in the smoker, which I've done before, but this time I'm going to brine the turkey overnight which I've not done before. I'm going to use a brine recipe of honey, garlic, vegetable stock (and a little kosher salt, a little less than the recipe calls for) and then smoke it with a mix of hickory, pecan and apple wood chips. Mashed potatoes (with roasted garlic and sour cream), green bean casserole and cranberry sauce as accompaniments. I expect I'll have lots of leftovers, so come on by and join me. I'm thinking of using the leftover smoked turkey to make some green chili enchiladas next weekend. I like to make them lasagna-style, layering corn tortillas, turkey, green chili and cheese. It's easier than rolling 'em, I'm a little lazy that way. I never tire of talking about food...... Happy Thanksgiving everyone! edited for spelling

Remember the show "Fridays"? It was ABC's short-lived attempt to rival SNL. Once when Andy Kaufman was a guest there was a skit with him and Richards where Andy suddenly broke character and he and Richards got into a staged fight. I remembered that when I was watching the video of Richards' rant and for a minute was wondering if it was a staged event. If it indeed was staged (and I don't think it was) it showed a total lack of a comic sensiblity reminiscent of John Kerry's "botched joke". I loved the Kramer character but never have thought of Richards as a stand-up type of comedian. That world is brutal, and I sense (from watching some of the Seinfeld outtakes) that Richards was too much of a perfectionist to be able to deal with the spontaneous improvisatory scenario of the live act. Of course I'm just speculating, what the hell do I know! That being said, it makes me very sad to see someone with Richards' talent dealing with a bad situation so poorly. It was pathetic to watch and frankly I was surprised to see him melt down like that. No chance of him running in '08 now.

BIO is probably my most-played Ellington recording.

Happy Birthday MM! (a little late)