nmorin

A few months back I got Louis Armstrong's Classics Jazz CDs for 1947 and was just FLOORED by Jack Teagarden's playing and singing. You guys said that Teagarden's performances in the Town Hall concert with the All-Stars and other appearances in Pop's CDs were not atypical. So, then: what Teagarden should a guy get? Should I just start working my way through the Classics Jazz CDs?

I agree with that totally, but from an "opportunity cost" standpoint, every second spent on Pops from the late the 1950s to the 1970s was time taken away from the evolution in jazz over that period.

I haven't heard Monk's sides for Black Lion from 1971. Anyone want to share an opinion?

I thought Bill Murray was staggeringly good in "Lost in Translation", and I liked nearly as much the Scottish comic Billy Connolly as Queen Victoria's friend in "Mrs. Brown".

Regarding Thad Jones quoting PGTW on April In Paris.... I heard they had done MANY takes of the tune, and I'm sure Thad was trying to do something different each time on his solo. Out of the blue he plays the quote, and wouldn't you know it, that take ended up being the keeper. He was then obliged (I'm sure to his chagrin) to recreate it in subsequent live performances, and most anyone who plays the solo on that arrangement today plays that same quote. They must have thought right away that it was pretty cool and decided to keep it--the quote is on both the master take and on the alternate take included on the current edition of the CD.

I wasn't thrilled by sonic upgrade of the K2 of "The Sound of Sonny", but I think their batting average is higher than that of RVGs (to my ears, on my system, etc). Some of the improvements are enormous--the poster child for me being Evan's "New Jazz Conceptions". Then again, some of the RVGs are enormous improvements (Monk's "Genius of..." CDs and Miles' "Birth of the Cool".

I believe the first hour is a replay of the final part of the second season, where David gets the axe.

I suspect, however, it won't be "A Tribute To A Tribute to Jack Johnson".... From Jazzmatazz: NEW Wynton Marsalis - Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise And Fall Of Jack Johnson (Blue Note) Nov 30 — original score for Ken Burns's upcoming PBS documentary on Jack Johnson (1878-1946), the first-ever African-American Heavyweight Champion of the World. (PBS will air the two-part documentary on January 17 & 18, 2005)

Books. The only author that approaches obsession is Philip K. Dick. Over the years I managed to find the first paperback editions of all PKD's SF novels--but not likely to get his SF 1st hardcover editions, given how dear they've become--and the first hardcover and paperback editions of his mainstream novels. Plus reading copies of all his novels.

The Temples of Syrinx

When I get new discs I always give them a few listenings right off. Other than that, for by-myself listening, I usually have some thematically-related scheme, such as listen to all Billie Holiday's studio material for a week, or somesuch. With my wife around, I try to choose something that we both enjoy.

Wow. Talk about reading what you expect to read instead of what's there.

I noticed on jazzmatazz that OJC put out a new batch of K2s -- Mile's "Collectors Items", Blakey's "Ugetsu", and Hawkin's "the Hawk Flies High". Has anyone picked them up? I am most interested to hear whether the sound of the session on Collector's Items with Bird and Sonny is noticeably improved. At least on the current CDs, Miles' first few sessions on Prestige sound pretty muddy to my ears.

Other than when I get a batch of disparate CDs, like when a crop of RVGs come out, I usually spend a few days to a few weeks absorbed in a single artist (or something thematically related). For example, in August, I listened almost exclusively (in chronological order a couple times) to Ellington material from 1926 to about 1953. Right now, I am in about day four of listening to all Billie Holiday's studio material. How about all y'all?

That would be perfect!

Didn't someone a ways back surmise that just the studio material from that time period, released plus known unreleased, would run to five or six discs? If so, I bet that Argharta and Pangea would get remastered/rereleased by their lonesomes and not be part of the box. More importantly, what's the name going to be? Any candidates? How about "Around the Corner"?

Got back from the European trip. Saw Andy Bey for both sets on Saturday at Marian's Jazz Room. Ye gods he was stunningly good! The setlist was largely taken from his last few discs, and he closed each set with a 15 minute scat of a Parker tune over bass and drums (Cheryl in set 1, Chi-Chi in set 2). His vocal control, from the deep bass to nice tenor-type upper midrange was marvelous. And his band swung HARD. His young drummer--who'd been with Bey only a couple weeks--Jeremy Clemons, was a monster. Bey seemed (pleasantly) taken aback from time to time with the shit Clemons threw down (and once in a awhile gave him one of those "That's a tad too loud" looks). Even the slooooow renditions they did of some tunes swung nicely. I chatted with Bey after the second set, and he mentioned the award in DC (I was in Europe, so I couldn't go). He seemed surprised that my wife and I stayed in Bern just to hear him (we were flying out of Zurich the next morning, but spent the last night in Bern to see him, and trusted in the Swiss' efficient transportation system to get us to Zurich in time for the flight). He was very, very nice, and I'd pay good money to see him again anytime. They played most of the night as a trio. Paul Meyers sat in with them on guitar for a few songs each set; they sounded great as a quartert, playing more mellow Spanish/Brazilian-tinged music as a quartert--but in the second set it brought the energy down quite a bit, and it took the trio a few songs to get back up. All in all, it was bloody fantastic.

Many, many of the big-time artists (Miles, Monk, Duke, Satchmo, Bird leap to mind) have gorgeous online sessionographies. I may be looking in the wrong corners of the internet, but I can't find squat for Dizzy. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Assuming Alexander speaks for all atheists, or makes the official pronouncements of correct belief, is the same as me assuming Shurdlu speaks for all Christians, and attacking the straw men thusly. You chided me once for missing a distinction you were trying to make about "Alexander's type" of nonbeliever, but I see no qualification here. Jesus is a major role model for me too, but I came to it by being convinced of the merit of his example and his philosophy--I didn't find necessary the official stamp of The Divine. Without implying an ounce of disrespect--why do you find that "And along with Jesus comes his divinity" a necessary condition for Jesus being a role model? I am a nonbeliever. I am not an atheist--the general concept of 'God' doesn't have any testable implications, as far as I can tell, and so is not falsifiable; thus I can't say there isn't a God, but neither do I see a compelling reason for the opposite conclusion. Still, I greatly admire and respect the Jesus of the Gospels (though the Pauline view grates on me some) and think the world would be much better off if more people acted as if they took his teachings seriously.

Maybe I am misremembering, but I don't recall you being so subtle, or charitable, in your characterizations of 'real atheists' and 'bad atheists'. Mostly because most atheists try to butt their way into my business. I won't witness to anyone unless they ask me about my beliefs, and I am pretty sure that most of the Christians on the board (Shrdlu excluded) will do likewise. However, every day I am bombarded by atheists preaching their religion of no god at me. Want me to be charitable and subtle to the atheists around here, do likewise. While I will gladly exchange viewpoints with you if you wish to discuss things, don't go around telling me that my God doesn't exist (a pretty heavy thing to say), if you don't want a little bit of it thrown back at you. Respect commands respect, after all, doesn't it? Fair enough. If more than 90 percent of Americans rate themselves as believing in God and something over half going to church, where do you live or what circles do you travel in where "most atheists try to butt their way into my business"? If people disrepect your faith, obviously that's not cool. But when you say "don't go around telling me that my God doesn't exist (a pretty heavy thing to say), if you don't want a little bit of it thrown back at you", you're not equating someone simply stating their belief that God doesn't exists as disrepecting your faith, are you?

Maybe I am misremembering, but I don't recall you being so subtle, or charitable, in your characterizations of 'real atheists' and 'bad atheists'.

Just started Philip K. Dick's "Vulcan's Hammer" this weekend. This spring I decided to reread all his novels in chronological order.

In September I'll be in Bern, Switzerland, and the hotel I'll be staying at has a little club -- Marian's Jazzroom -- and appearing while I am there will be the Andy Bey Quartet. Can anybody give me the Jazz 411 on Andy Bey?

I love Jack Chambers' biography of Miles, "Milestones". It does a great job of being equal parts narrative on Miles' life and a nice "musical biography" of essentially all his studio sessions through '83 (though Chambers is more critical of Miles' electric years than I would be by a good bit). Are there any biographies of other major jazz artists that do such a nice job of pulling double duty as narrative and musical biographies?

After years of writing the titles and artists onto the CD with a Sharpie, my wife tells me she heard on the radio about how THAT will hasten the demise of the cd. Greeeeeaaaaat.