Dan Gould

It's a joke, pertaining to Durium's typo. And you know how long he's been waiting for that typo to come up? He was going to give it one more day, then use it in the "sexiest album covers" thread.

Third, except that I'd hesitate to list the Otis Rush Cobra recordings as highly. Iirc, he kept rehashing the same music with different lyrics, and I believe there are a few alternates as well. I mean, I love his music but its not a little repetitive after a while. To each their own. This is all a matter of taste. To me the Otis Rush Cobra recordings are seminal electric blues recordings. He revived and rehashed those songs many times in later years, not always with inspired results. I selected the two Otis Rush albums I put on the list with some care, for that reason. Agreed, but I wasn't referring to rehashing the tunes later on, but to the fact that he rehashed the same music multiple times for that label, in search of another hit, and it grows wearying to hear them one after the other. Its unbelievably great music but for me, it has to be heard in smaller doses than one sitting.

They aren't "reissues" if they were not released at the time. And they are certainly "official" if Horace gave his approval, for instance, to the Paris Blues recording, which I am sure he did.

Third, except that I'd hesitate to list the Otis Rush Cobra recordings as highly. Iirc, he kept rehashing the same music with different lyrics, and I believe there are a few alternates as well. I mean, I love his music but its not a little repetitive after a while.

Sal, In the past three or four years my listening interests (and purchases) have really moved strongly toward the blues. I'd always had a love for B.B. King and it sort of started when I discovered the Ace reissue series of all of his old Crown LPs. From there I moved into Lowell Fulson, Chicago artists and lots of others. In a lot of ways, my approach started with the Ace website - I knew I loved the B.B. King reissues, and cruising around the site led me to try one of the Lowell Fulson compilations among others. Those led me to pursue other artists and I steadily expanded from there. I could give you a list of classic recordings by the best-known artists, but I would really recommend a different approach. This is what worked for me when I started in jazz: Look for sampler CDs. There are literally tons of blues compilations out there, by label, by subgenre, by instrument. I wouldn't be surprised if you can find a lot of them very inexpensively through ebay stores or Amazon Marketplace. Try a few, take note of the songs/artists you like the best, and then go from there. I did that with two Columbia Jazz Masterpiece samplers, received at Christmas after I announced that I "thought I might be interested in jazz" and from those two LPs I went from Miles to Coltrane to Red Garland, and Wynton Kelly to BN, and Count Basie to Joe Williams and on and on and on and on. Enjoy the journey. In a way I feel as though I've "come home" to the blues simply because I always preferred jazz with a strong grounding in blues, so I felt very much at home as I got deeper into it.

Especially for a guy who looks like he weighs about 150, with a 34 inch chest. Though I guess the less you weigh, the less challenge it is to your muscles but that is probably offset by the increasing tug of gravity at that height. It really goes beyond everyday stupidity. Gravity doesn't increase with height (the gravitational pull of the earth is actually incrementally weaker up there, since it is an inverse square law). Maybe I just assumed that gravity is stronger, since its looking at you up there, mocking it, and thinking HEY, you're supposed to be down here on the ground!

Especially for a guy who looks like he weighs about 150, with a 34 inch chest. Though I guess the less you weigh, the less challenge it is to your muscles but that is probably offset by the increasing tug of gravity at that height. It really goes beyond everyday stupidity.

Dan, where are you reading that? When Rodney Harrison got busted, I read all I could find on HGH. I thought it was a steroid. But after reading about it, it looked to me that HGH shouldn't even be against the rules. It probably doesn't do anything. Many of it's reported benefits have never been clinically proven. It does not make everything grow bigger, it replaces an enzyme the everyone loses as they age and they no longer need to grow. I couldn't find one report of an adult who took HGH and grew. It looked to me like the only people who could benefit from taking it are short adolescents. Taking HGH continues their "growth spurt". But adults? I couldn't find anything that said it stopped the aging process. According to one article I read, it has become a rich man's "fountain of youth", with a lot of stars buying it in an effort to stay young. Kevin, It was in Game of Shadows, the BALCO book. In fact, it specifically compared HGH effects and the disease that killed Andre The Giant. Also, in the steroid thread, some time ago, I linked to a page that discussed HGH in specific relation to baseball. The gist of that was that there is no reason why it should help (baseball players), but I believe it did bring out the "everything grows" point and how that might help a football player where greater bulk is an advantage.

You're probably right, Dan. But, it does seem to me that the phrase is often applied to music that isn't all that far from "conventional", whatever that is! Are you admitting you're "close-eared"??

Nope, those are from Allmusic.com reviews, probably Scott Yanow. Whenever I see "open-eared" in a review, I'd assume that many people immediately equate that with "difficult" or "avant-garde" music. If that's true, the potential tragedy is that the review might turn away otherwise curious people from some great music. Or save those of us who do prefer "conventional swing" from what may be, from experience, an unrewarding listen. Fact is, "open-eared" is as good a shorthand as any for "challenging" or "not mainstream" or "different". Remember that good reviewers want to communicate the type of music that is on the recording, to let readers have an idea if the music is the type of jazz they enjoy. Is there any doubt that for those predisposed, "open-eared" is an equally effective shorthand that signifies a likelihood that they will enjoy the recording? I would further suggest that those who are "curious" would be more likely to try. Its the ones who are set in their ways because they've heard a few of those "requires open ears" recordings to know that its not what they enjoy. I get the feeling that you are trying to blame reviewers for the fact that "difficult" or "avant-garde" jazz remains a small subset of jazz in the marketplace. Now I'd agree with you if you could show that the phrase is overused or applied to music that barely exits the mainstream - but to paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault lies with us, not the reviewers.

Rodney didn't take any steroids. He took HGH to help an injury heal. It is a banned substance, but it is not a steroid. It is not used to build muscle mass. Get your facts right before you pile more ignorant hate on a team. Sheesh! So its ok to take HGH in the NFL but not in MLB? Its funny how people hold different standards for different sports. Heck a player who got suspended for 4 games last year for steroids was still voted to the pro bowl. First of all, there's no question that baseball has a tougher PED policy than the NFL. Second, HGH makes everything grow bigger - including muscles. To say it doesn't build muscle mass is wrong. Furthermore, because it makes everything grow, HGH has the potential to be more helpful to football players, such as a lineman who grows bigger and wider and fills a larger space. That's a more effective lineman.

I fail to grasp the significance of Belichik not being there for the final snap. Did he not run out to congratulate Coughlin? Didn't the confetti rain down? Who gives a shit if they put another second on the clock - he's supposed to run out and assume his position on the sideline, headset on? I'd understand the criticism if the man trotted off the field without acknowledging the winners, but this is much ado about nothing.

Certainly not, an example would be the Adderley two-fer that I mentioned - only the plain layout of the discographical info pages of the booklet and the back inlay looks rather cheap, otherwise it's fine and a real alternative to the real Savoy CDs. Well everything that I ever received was in black & white.

All of their licensed releases had black & white covers - probably part of how they keep costs down. Or maybe how the licensing companies wanted to keep them from competing with their own reissues. You want a beautiful cover? Buy ours. If you want the music, cheap, buy theirs.

OK, but you've written reviews and commentary for a major metropolitan paper, the most important jazz magazine, and published a collection of articles. I don't think your an amateur, either.

Do you expect that this solo will turn any "admirer of Roberts" into someone who is ashamed that they ever liked him? No -- but it might raise some questions and/or doubts, at the least about what's going on in this performance. I don't think anyone should be judged on a single recorded solo, and I'm surprised that a professional critic would imply that. I'm not a professional critic, I'm an amatory critic.

Do you expect that this solo will turn any "admirer of Roberts" into someone who is ashamed that they ever liked him? No -- but it might raise some questions and/or doubts, at the least about what's going on in this performance. I don't think anyone should be judged on a single recorded solo, and I'm surprised that a professional critic would imply that.

From FFA's comments, at least two of the horn players are extremely young and not very experienced players, so maybe the point here was to give an opportunity to these young players to play some interestingly arranged blues tunes? If Roberts were accompanied only by equally experienced players, I'd agree that the music isn't so important that it deserves this attention. I know Guerin, and Jason Marsalis, and of course Wes Anderson ... but maybe the two saxophonists as well as the two trumpeters are just getting their feet wet in the biz. As for the reason Marcus got attention back then, I think it was somewhat independent of the Lincoln Center connection. He got a big RCA/Novus label push, because he was what was being marketed then - young and serious about the music (not to mention well-dressed )

Do you expect that this solo will turn any "admirer of Roberts" into someone who is ashamed that they ever liked him?

Silveto wasn't a "label"? And the Paris concert was issued by Fantasy, and I'm pretty certain that's a "label".

Interesting review (and I so rarely say that about anything Ratliff writes) of a Marcus Roberts performance of the entirety of his Deep In The Shed album: I remember when this album came out - my collection at that point was mostly hard bop plus Wynton and his followers, of whom I really enjoyed Marcus Roberts' playing. And this was a really strong album as I recall though its been many years since I've listened last. I have to admit Marcus started to lose me when he went into the long string of solo piano discs. So, I thought maybe this review could spark a discussion of the original album - anyone else remember it? What did you think then, what do you think now?

Well, since the Times published its review, I was curious to see if All Music has a review up before the CD hits the stores. Did you spot the pathetic error? Uh, Hank Mobley played tenor on Six Pieces of Silver. What an f-ing moron.

Not that anyone predisposed to grab the new Horace Silver CD needs a review in the NYT to confirm their intention, but here it is anyway: Glad to see they are meeting their anticipated street date of tomorrow.

Hey Dan...good eye. That is THE Ian Hendrickson-Smith. He's a full-on member of the Daps these days and has been for a while. Ian actually plays Tenor now live and they have another guy playing Bari live. Ian and the rest of the horn guys came out an sat it with me after their gig a couple of weeks ago here in Austin. They are BAAAAAADDDDDDD...., and Ian in particular is just about my favorite cat! Well good for Ian, I am sure that its easier to make a living as a member of the band than trying to scrounge jazz gigs. When I checked All Music I discovered that he has a live CD out on Cellar Live - the sound clips sound very good, I hope to pick this one up real soon.

I don't care if he's nice or not, hip enough to appreciate pre-bop music or not, or likes or hates the blues - that was a very funny story told by a very funny man.