Free For All

One of my pet peeves is apostrophe abuse. Much of it happens regarding the word "its". The ONLY time an apostrophe should be used in this case is when it's a contraction of "it is". Never when it's posessive. Seems like about everything that ends with an "S" gets an apostrophe around these here parts. "Open Sunday's" ,"Book's For Sale",etc. Also, there seems to be an epidemic of misspelling the word "definitely". It's not spelled "definately". I don't get real excited about misspellings and related things around here- most often we know what someone means, and no one likes a whiney know-it-all. I'm a terrible typist- 99% of my edits here are for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Turns out the Woody tour's not happening in July, so I might just be coming up there this year. Is your AC working? B)

"Can't Anderson"

I read the list and thread kinda quickly, but I don't think I saw any mention of the late great Bill Hicks. Dark but hilarious. And don't forget Moms Mobley..er...I mean Mabley!

We certainly did. I was interested to learn that some people actually quote Hall and Oates.

Good choice!

Jimmy Cleveland Carl Fontana Frank Rosolino

My two cents- I think a poll is pretty irrelevant here. If I felt I was offending anyone, I'd ditch the thing pronto. It's not really a cause worth "going to the mat" for, IMHO. Besides, this is b3er's crib, and he's made his feelings clear (without being "heavy" about it), so let's respect his wishes. Personally, I'm not offended by much of anything I've ever seen or read here, but this is not MY house. I think we can be just a little respectful without sacrificing our rights of speech and expression. Jim generously grants us "carte blanche" around here, let's not take that for granted.

He's a muddah. Or maybe a faddah.

What's the saying? "Luck is when opportunity and preparation meet" or something like that. I feel very lucky to have gotten the chance to play with Woody's band, especially since I got to start in '84 when Woody was still around. It was a total groove sitting in that band night after night. It didn't matter if it was Carnegie Hall or a VFW hall in the boonies- the band put out 100% every time they played. And Woody's presence was always inspiring- even though he wasn't playing real well at that point, the energy he'd bring to the stage was amazing. After a while you'd get to the point where you didn't have to get the book out, and that's when things would really get romping. Everyone would have the ears totally on and the shit would get amazingly tight. And the best thing about Woody's band is that there were no stylistic restrictions on how you played. Definitely not a repertory band in that respect. Once in the UK we were doing a clinic and I had just finished playing Bijou, and someone in the audience was bugged that I hadn't played Bill Harris' EXACT solo. I think the response was something like "Well, you know, even Bill Harris didn't play the famous Bill Harris solo night after night". We would sure listen to all the recordings of the band while on the bus, though. There was extreme respect for all the great players who passed through that band. And we got to meet and play with many of them- Getz, Perkins, Nistico, Sims, Cohn etc. Man!! And talk about a book! Bill Stapleton, Nat Pierce, Neal Hefti, Ralph Burns, Tony Klatka et al. Often the charts would have the names of the players on them instead of "Trombone I" etc. So like Bijou would say "Bill" up in the corner. Or Carl (Fontana) or Henry (Southall) or Jim (Pugh) etc. Really put things in perspective. Absolutely the greatest musical experience of my life. And when you got a chance to hang w/Woody that was always a trip! Many great stories. I used to go hear all the big bands in high school (in the 70s) and really got the bug to do that someday. I was really lucky to have gotten in on the tail end of a great time in jazz history. I only wish that all these young players had the same opportunity as I did- it was educational, grueling, humbling, exciting and inspiring all at once. Oh, and I do have some great stories! The band still plays, just not the rigorous touring schedule that they used to maintain. We usually do a week at Ronnie Scott's every summer (Frank Tiberi leads the Herd these days). Maybe I can hook up with some of our UK friends this July! Thank god there are people like Phil Kelly et al keeping the tradition alive! EDIT: And yes, John Tapscott, Opus De Funk is still in the current book. A great chart!

Now that's what you call an "oxymoron".

Sounds tasty. I love any recipes that use the word "bubbling". 8 to 10 servings? I think not. I'm thinkin' about half that. But I'm a glutton. EDIT: I'm glad there are no cloves in the recipe. I hate cloves.

H a P p Y b I r T h D a Y e V a N ! !

Wow, thanks for posting those, rachel. Great pics, Mark! Love to see my man Locksley playing that big ol' axe left-handed. He's still playing his ass off! I hadn't seen the sisters before.......... Great stuff! Comments on the performance? How do the sisters sound?

I'd expect just about every jazz musician has dealt with fake books at some point. When I was in college, the Real Book was considered the jazz "bible". I remember getting my first Real Book literally from the trunk of a car, and it was so exciting and covert that I felt I really had something important in my hands. Now, the Real Book is a good source of the essential jam session-type tunes (along with all those obscure ECM tunes that nobody ever called) but at some point most people discovered that the Real Book is FULL of mistakes (as documented on other threads). I tell students to make sure to listen to recordings of the tunes in the RB and make corrections to the changes. I also make them transcribe some tunes without any help from a fake book, just to develop that particular "ear" skill. These days there are so many legal fake books (like the Shure Music series) that the whole underground vibe seems to be gone. They're certainly useful, but the romance of discovery is gone. One thing about all the "jazz aids" that are available- it's kind of made it TOO easy for students. Everything is handed to them and they miss the opportunity to develop some much-needed skills of aural transcription, as well as the discipline of really working to achieve things ON THEIR OWN. Used to be if you wanted to figure out what Cannonball was doing, you were on your own to burn the midnight oil. Now you can purchase the transcriptions and not raise a finger. Kind of a shame, IMHO. When you have to sweat a bit it tends to make you a little more appreciative.

OK, seriously.... I felt like music "discovered" me as much as the opposite was true. It felt right from the beginning, as if I had known it before. It continues to nurture me, and I love that the process of learning and discovery never stops. As soon as you climb to the top of one mountain, you see another higher peak that becomes your next goal. I'm not getting rich, but I'm doing something I love (with people I love to hang and play with) and I wouldn't trade that for anything. That's where the "wealth" is. That's really why I do some other things (like writing and teaching) to pay the bulk of the bills. I can't play too many TUX/BUX/SUX gigs without starting to get bored with myself. I love playing too much to play a lot of crappy gigs. It's really too bad that the quality of the gig and the money paid out are most often in, what is the term............."inverse proportion"? I'm in the middle of a good stretch right now- it's jazz festival season and I'm doing a lot of guesting with big bands and small groups. The quality of the various groups may flucuate, but at least I'm in a situation where I get to call the shots, to a point ( like choosing the music, using my own charts etc.). And it's nice to play for an audience that is (for the most part) paying attention. So the money thing is OK right now, but it will return to the "norm" eventually- dealing with the "seasonal" aspect of the biz is part of the Zen of being a freelancer.

Last weekend I played with a guitarist with whom I was previously unfamiliar. His name was Freddie Bryant, and he was outstanding. I guess he's done some things for the Fresh Sound label as well as recorded with Tom Harrell (on Paradise) and Steve Wilson. Real tasty player. Anyone familiar with this guy? Joe? Jim?

Damn you, Sangrey! I had to go look to see if I had those Gil sides and discovered I didn't, whereupon I logged onto the site and purchased those PLUS a buncha other stuff for cheap. Damn you, Sangrey. You and your "recommendations". And damn me for being a Gil completist.

Chimps? Clones? Charts? Cracks? Clamps? King Curtis? Billy Childs?

Welcome JZ! I'm positively giddy with anticipation!

It's funny, a lot of people many years ago (in college) said I should check out George Russell but I never really followed up on it. The hook that turned me into a fan was hearing and playing his composition "All About Rosie" which was included on the Mulligan Verve and Mosaic. After that, I became a fan. Some absolutely stunning writing for large ensemble! A lesson in counterpoint.

I've about given up on finding stuff in stock here in KC. Borders and Barnes and Noble are WAY too pricey, and Streetside seems to be in the process of phasing out jazz completely. I do most of my buying at CDUniverse these days, although I miss the fun of going through all the stock (ala Jazz Record Mart). I'm going to Chicago for a gig in a couple of weeks- maybe I'll make a stop there! I'm jonesin' for that place! :rsmile:

I'd just settle for one that didn't drop calls all the time.

I was playing in a concert Friday night and someone's cell went off REALLY LOUDLY right in the middle of a solo. I immediately used it as a motive in my solo, and the audience was cracking up. I think they appreciated that more than anything "thoughtful" I might have been trying to play. I remember hearing that someone had done this at a gig (I think it was Wynton) so I must have had that in the back of my mind. EDIT: Because of course it is my ultimate goal to emulate Wynton........

Remember the Mancini thread we had a while back, Bruce? I said then I love Mancini for his orchestration skills/fondness for unique colors (love those alto flutes!) and general melodic sense. Quite commercial, yes, but he had his own identity. And he had some great jazz moments here and there. I remember on a Pink Panther soundtrack that I have there's an extra cut with some really "out" writing that was almost Gil Evans-like. I think much of his music stands up well to being re-examined and re-interpreted.