Free For All

"Laura" really is a masterpiece. A beautiful, haunting tune.

Thin. 3 doubles.

OK, I've been doing a lot of smoking and grilling this summer for various guests (including a jazz camp feed for 20+). That seems to have became part of my summer hang repertoire. If you can cook, you become indispensible to your friends as well as your spouse. Instrumental skills apparently come in second to cooking skills. I'd have to say my favorite new product for this summer is McIlhenny's Tabasco in new CHIPOTLE flavor. It's EXCELLENT! Good for marinades as well as sprinkling on fajitas (or whatever). Nice smoky flavor. Check it out. EDIT: Here's a question for our friends in Europe. How come barbecue never has caught on over there? My guess is that there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for meat that's thoroughly cooked. My experiences over there include "rare" bacon (I just don't get it) -it seems to be a cultural "rift". I would think BBQ might be a desirable thing in your basic meat-eating countries. The Aussies seem to be fans of the grill, but beyond that, I don't know- educate me, please.

Yeah, I need to catch up with what the kids are "into". I'm still trying to learn how to swing the eighths on fast tempos and play the Bb blues scale over the bridge of rhythm changes*. Edit: *(and not necessarily rhythm changes in Bb, as if that mattered )

Wow, Jim, that looks really nice. You've got some chops. I'm in the process of learning all this stuff. My wife and I were working on a project in May (before she split for Santa Fe) and we had to go to Home Depot for some caulking supplies. I told her I'd give her $100 if she'd go up to a HD employee and ask him to show her his caulk. She didn't do it. Anyway, burnin' bathroom. What's next? edit: BTW, thanks for not having a case of "plumber's crack" in that one picture.

I believe that there was a similar thread before, but after a cursory and half-assed search I decided WTF, start a new one. OK, here's something I discovered recently. You might know the name Gary Anderson- he was a member of Woody's band in the seventies (tenor player and writer). He did several arrangements for the band, including the infamous "Common Man" chart plus a great arrangement of Freddie's tune "Crisis"and other tunes including "Blue Serge". Turns out our friend Gary also was responsible for none other than the Itchy and Scratchy theme on the Simpsons. He also performed it- what we hear on the show is a demo he made that ended up being used. Not a jazz "moment", but interesting nonetheless IMHO. Gary Anderson is an excellent writer, but you can guess what among his ouvre the kids find more impressive. So you can't say I didn't learn anything new during this summer of jazz camp teaching. The other thing I continue to notice is that young players have a special affinity for the major seventh and fourth on dominant chords. We're not talking passing tones, we're talking PARKING on those note choices and waiting to get towed. God bless 'em. I hear Arby's is hiring.

Happy birthday Lon! I've been out of town for the last week so I'm late to this party, but please allow me to add my best wishes and hope you have many more!

I thought you only needed to get one of those after you turn 50.

Well, to each his own I guess.

Thai Sun

......and warm woolen mittens......

.....and whiskers on kittens.....

When I do clinics for young trombonists I always check out their slides. The slide on the trombone is the most critical part- it must move in and out without a lot of friction. If it doesn't work well, there's a whole 'nuther battle to be fought that doesn't need to be. I'm always amazed by how crappy some of these kids slides are- granted, it's as much an issue of care and maintenance as it is of quality (I remember some of the nasty things I did w/my horn before I got "serious"). No wonder they're discouraged- it's like their slides have sand in 'em. With a beginner it's best to buy a student line "Indestructo" type of horn which is resiliant to rough handling. Once they reach a basic level of dedication and proficiency, then they should get a better axe. The better trombones for playing jazz have lightweight slides (IMHO) but are more prone to damage because of their more fragile construction. It's important that beginners don't have to fight the instrument anymore than necessary- learning the trombone can be discouraging enough without the extra and unnecessary challenge of struggling w/an inferior instrument. When you find THE right horn you adapt a protective obsessed attitude that probably parallels a mother bear/cub relationship. You don't like to be separated from your instrument or see anyone even get near it. Right Jim?

H a P p Y b I r T h D a Y c H r I s !

Me too!

In college it was a regular event, but also back then recovery time was usually minimal. If I overdo even a little bit these days these days the hangover is worse and lasts longer. And there's just not time to have an unproductive recovery day. I prefer to get the occasional mild buzz and stop there. I do like to have a couple while cooking and/or listening to sides. When I'm playing in a club, I like to have a couple beers over the course of the evening to "take the edge off" but there's a very fine line there that, when crossed, leads to a detioration of skill and judgement. Usually the first to go is the tongue (articulation gets sloppy) and then the brain (you think you're playing great, usually it's not so). I enjoy being aware and alert much more than being numb. EDIT: To answer the question, the last time I got truly "shit-faced" was a few summers ago. I was in Europe on a tour, we had a night off and were hanging in a bar starting before dinner. Drinks before, wine w/dinner, apertifs and more drinks after, mixing many types of booze. It was fun until I realized it was time to go home and I could barely walk. Of course my "friends" love to document all hangs with pictures, so I saw some pretty embarrassing photos afterwards. I really looked like an idiot. That kind of caused me to decide not to go so far overboard anymore.

I really like the soundtrack to this one. Lots of great percussion. And a pretty good flick too. What are your favorite Goldsmith scores?

Just heard he passed away yesterday. He was one of my favorite film composers. What a body of work he left behind! Rest in Peace.

We could talk about morning too. I'm a slow waker- my wife knows not to ask me any important questions 'til I've had my coffee in the morning. OTOH, she drinks decaf and goes into hyperdrive if she has caffeine. So if we go out for breakfast and the waitron mixes up our coffee orders, you can just imagine the wacky hijinks that ensue.

Well, you might want to also wear a shirt, Chuck.

I'm just curious.... A lot of people seem to be (understandably) buying this release. Are people buying this who already have the Hill Mosaic? Is it because you want the cover art or do you prefer the RVG sound to that of the Mosaic? I have the Hill Mosaic. Much as I love this session, I was tempted to pick up the RVG but decided not to. Same thing with other releases that are already part of a set. I'm trying to avoid becoming too much of a collector. Now if there is extra material or a significant improvement in sound, I'm all over it. As far as re-buying titles that come out as RVGs, I feel many of those qualify as significantly improved sound-wise enough to rationalize purchase. I'm just trying to cut myself off a lil' bit. I need to save up for the new Woody Mosiac.

I'm looking forward to NEXT Tuesday (the 27th).... finally we get the long-awaited Duke reissues..... **Blues in Orbit** **Piano in the Background** **Piano in the Foreground**

I played at the Red Sea Fest twice in the mid nineties and had a wonderful time. Yes, it was hot (I had to cover the mouthpiece on my horn when it was sitting on the stand, otherwise it would get really hot!!) but my impression was that it was very clean and modern (especially compared to Cairo, which we visited after the festival to see the Pyramids, etc.). It was interesting, they would stack up those overseas shipping containers to make stages and isolate performance areas. And I thought the food was excellent- I got some excellent falafel, among other things. And the people were great. It was weird getting used to all the security personnel w/automatic weapons everywhere. It's funny, now that wouldn't be as much of a shock. Interesting how our perspective has changed from the mid 90s. Back then I thought "I'm glad we don't live like this in the US!". What a difference 10 years has made. But cheers to the Red Sea Festival!

I've never grilled pizza. Sounds great. Do you put them on a pan or right on the grill? Isn't the crust too soft initially to do the latter? Also, a couple of recommendations: First, if you haven't tried "beer can chicken" yet, you should. It involves cooking the chicken on the grill while propped up on a can of beer- the beer "steams" the bird and gives it a great flavor (you can also add herbs/spices to the beer). First you rub the bird with a little olive oil and spices of choice- make sure you get under the skin. Now, I've heard that some of the inks used in the printing on the can can be bad for you when they get too hot, plus it's tricky to keep the chicken from falling over while cooking, so I bought a little stand that holds up the bird and has a little reservoir for the liquid. It works great. The skins gets real crispy. Secondly, if you ever use smoking chips, if you can find 'em, try the Jack Daniels wood chips. They're chopped up pieces of the oak barrels used to age the booze and they are really great! Not an overwhelmingly strong flavor (I don't even drink bourbon) but a really nice touch for chicken, pork, whatever. Soak 'em in water for a while first (when I did this the water almost became bourbon!).

Remember the film "A Man Called Horse" from the 70s?