Dan Gould

It is my devout wish that no one else decides to do this.

Isn't he the guy who wrote "Tuesdays with Morrie" and does ESPN talk shows? Just how did you finagle this, and is it an interview or what? And congratulations!

I've been systematically shuttling CDs to the office for a while now-in fact, I am on my second pass through the alphabet, and something just occured to me as I popped in another Coltrane OJC: I used to listen to Trane all the time, when I first started exploring, but its actually been a long long time that I've gone deep into his catalog (outside of classics like Blue Train and the Hartman collaboration) and that got me wondering. Are there artists you used to dig but haven't paid much attention to? If you return to them, do they have the same appeal now? (I'm actually thinking on some of these tracks, "sheets of sound" my ass, say your piece and shut up! )

Shouldn't this be "misc. music discussion", not "misc. non-jazz" discussion? I mean, there are often general discussion topics in jazz that don't fit in "artists" or "reissues" and I usually put them in the misc. music forum even though the topic is jazz. You munch on that food for thought, while I go and post a general jazz topic in the Misc. Music section!

Who'da thunk it! Be interesting to hear your comments, Jim. Its a great album, but damn if it doesn's sound like its Monk at the ivory.

The funny thing is, you're about to see a new KFC advertising campaign, predicated on the *health* benefits of eating their chicken. I kid you not! I think one of the tag lines references Atkins diet people because if you're following a low carb-high protein diet, fried chicken's a great choice!

Peace back atcha! If I may interject, Stanley sounds very fine on these two dates, very soulful on the original session while, as noted, the remaining cuts have less of the so-called "snooze" factor that some feel. Honestly, if you dig Stanley and don't hate the Sounds, you ought to enjoy this one.

Happy Birthday!

Do tell when you find out, PD. Sweets at the Haig is a fine LP, it would be nice to have longer tracks and more of them. God, I may grow to love the European copyright laws!

Ghost, the fact of the matter is that Walker, who made the comment you reference, immediately said that he has all respect for the National League teams, he just thinks the two best teams are the Yankees and Sox. His comment wasn't nearly as arrogant as you make it seem, considering that he covered his hide in the same paragraph. As for buying pennants, who's fooling who? Arizona bought one World Series. The Marlins bought one the first time around. The Yankees bought what was it, four or five? and its not like its the first time they did it.

Here's a remarkable photo CNN has on their main page:

Another reason I'll be glad to see someone else is when the Sox come down to Fort Lauderdale to play the Orioles, I won't have to go ask Grady to autograph a baseball. I just missed him last year, and I seriously doubt I could give him a cheery "Hey skip!" greeting in a few months. I'd be stifling the urge to say "what the f*)*** hell were you thinking you bleeping moron?"

No surprise there, Chuck. While its true that players "wanted to play" for Grady, there was just no way he could come back after his failure to pull Pedro. Could you imagine Opening Day in Fenway and the home manager is jeered mercilessly? On top of that, the top guys are total stats geeks-they even hired Bill James last year. Grady goes by guts and guesses and was probably totally unaware that on the first 100 pitches of a game, the league hit like .220 off of Pedro, but something like .380 on pitches 100-130 or whatever. Someone in the Globe said, well, its a tiny sample size-only 30+ batters faced pitches 100 and above. But there's a lesson there! There was a *reason* why Pedro didn't face many batters past 100 pitches. Anyway, while I appreciate the job he did managing the clubhouse, we need a smarter strategic manager, and there are a lot of those around, or at least a lot of possible candidates. I think an excellent one would be Mike Hargrove, shafted by the O's but a pretty good baseball man, did a good job in Cleveland where Manny was happy to play for him, and a good manager for what promises to be a veteran type team. C'mon April! (Just give us some great soap operas from the House of Steinbrenner in the meantime!)

Yes, I'd say, offhand, that it is traditional, if the clinching victory takes place on its home field, then the losers post "Congratulations ____, **** World Champions" I can tell you for a fact that with two outs in the 11th inning of Game Six, that very message flashed on Shea Stadium's board.

I can't, but you got my interest piqued! May be time to contact Mr. Tanno. I do notice that Don Braden is the other tenor, I surely hope Mr. T. is on all of it, not just a couple of cuts.

Yankee bashing is mysterious or suprising as to its extent? You've got to be kidding! Take 26 World Championships, add in the most obnoxious, arrogant fans in the world, plus an insufferably smug owner who buys pennants like Dennis Koslowski bought companies and the reason why people despize the Yankees ought to be self-evident.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Another question for Jim S. (and anyone else who's hear the record I'm about to reference): Have you heard Walter Davis, Jr.'s In Walked Thelonius on Mapleshade? Solo Monk, and I swear its Monk himself and no one else. I don't have the disc at hand, but as I recall, the liners talked about the fact that Davis felt very out of sorts trying to deal with Monk's music. Davis is a very spiritual man and actually claims that Monk appeared to him and its as if Monk were in the studio with him when he laid down these tracks. It certainly sounds like it. Does this make Davis, at least in this recording, intrinisically evil? He almost completely cops Monk, from start to finish. Or is possible that you are especially offended by Allen because he plays your instrument, so the issue of finding a personal voice and sound cuts closer?

Hey, Aftab, welcome from the former Gene Harris Fanatic!

I find that this place definitely has more sense of community, and while there is an element of the "clubhouse" I think we are actually doing a good job of making newer members feel welcome. For instance, its not like anyone has said to an unknown's request for a blindfold disc copy, sorry, what's the secred handshake? I just much prefer the vibe in this place than the one at AAJ.

Jim S., Here's what I don't understand: Is it possibly the case that Allen's playing is so offensive mostly because you've been exposed to it in the context of a blindfold test? I mean, what if you had seen this as a tribute CD, or if Allen says in the liners that this is his tribute to Getz (the AMG review isn't clear), would you say, wow, he really sounds like Getz, its unbelievable. I wish he'd done these tunes his own way, but its meant to recall Getz, so ... uncool but not evil? Isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery, especially if its obvious you are doing a tribute to the subject? I think its fair to say that Allen does not imitate Getz on everything he does, its just on this CD of Brazilian tunes. If he made his living imitating Getz exclusively, than I'd understand Jim's reaction. Now, what of someone like Dick Hyman? I've heard that he can imitate just about any pianist in jazz history. AMG's bio tells us that: A very versatile virtuoso, Dick Hyman once recorded an album on which he played "A Child Is Born" in the styles of 11 different pianists, from Scott Joplin to Cecil Taylor. Is Hyman evil? Does he get a pass because he can do it to so many different pianists and not just one? Or is it possible that you are especially disturbed because its a saxophonist and cuts closest to your musical heart, Jim? Sorry for getting into this, I realize you probably want to leave your comments as they are-don't want you to go medieval on me, buddy! But you should realize that the powerful nature of your feelings make people want to understand them better.

(GoM, sorry guy, but after watching the LCS, and 26 Championships and all the rest, this is just too sweet. If only it had been the Sox or the Cubs doing the whooping ...)

Well, I think I know where the big argument's going to come in the answers thread ... and I think I need to listen closer to this "vampiric stooge" performance!

So this was not a poll, but some sort of jerking off. Clean up and say good night Dan. No, it was a poll, no jerking off necessary. Simon said something I didn't think was accurate. The board software gave me the ability to test his assertion.

If this is your understanding of jazz before bop, I don't know what to say. Am I missing major styles? Make up your own damn poll then.