Rabshakeh

Of course. Hence le fromage. I've met many lovely Lithuanians, including from where my family originally came from. Always best to keep things civil, is my view.

I think Quadrophenia and Tommy are probably music tie ins like Buena Vista social club. Was Tommy an album first or a film first?

But other than Superfly, what are we talking?

Taken over by the USSR before the Nazis, I think, as part of Soviet Russia's agreement with Nazi Germany to divide up the area. The territory was then invaded by the Nazis as part of the attack on the USSR, but Lithuania had already lost its independence before that. Its involvement in the Second World War might be politely described as "mixed", and perhaps best left at that. When I first went to Russia as a 14 year old on a school trip, the teachers biggest fears were that we would drink the street vodka. This was in the Yeltsin era, and antifreeze being sold as vodka was a big issue. In this case I think my great uncle just went blind from age (Glaucoma, maybe) and general bloody minded old person's distrust of doctors. Sorry! 🧀

Gil Evans – Svengali Bill Harper / David Sanborn right in the front row. The version of Harper's "Cry of Hunger" on this, with both of them soloing over tight orchestration, may be one of my favourite jazz tunes of the 70s.

I like the idea of opposing sides: Chick, Herbie or ECM. I certainly knew ECM only fans as a youth, but that was the 1990s and by then ECM was a different beast altogether.

What are some examples where a soundtrack to a commercial film is better or more well known than the film itself, or subsequently takes on a life of it's own? Not counting films that are tied in to an album, like Buena Vista Social Club. The Harder They Come has to be the leader. Surely only a fraction of the people who own that soundtrack have even thought of watching the film, although the film itself is sort of low fly good. Superfly, with it's Curtis Mayfield soundtrack is another example. Black Orpheus and Lift to the Scaffold are two other examples, both more closely tied to the jazz world.

Born in Russia in what's now Lithuania but all this happened in South Africa, where he'd emigrated. Blind from age, I think.

I like this kind of thing, so I googled and found the article. It’s basically just a panegyric. Quite disappointing. Also, slightly bizarre the central conceit that Dr. Butler is a forgotten figure - he’s one of the most (in)famous A&R men in jazz.

Darren Barrett – The Attack Of Wren (2004) First listen to this. Generally, I am really glad that we are past era of neo-boppers 'shocking' the public by suddenly making records that Incorporated influences after 1958. I'm sure that Darren Barrett enjoyed hip hop, but he left school in the 80s and it doesn't sound like he had updated his knowledge of hip hop since then before releasing this. The amount of successful records in this bracket is vanishingly small.

With the earlier free jazz groupings, I tend to find that they divide into two: the legends who recorded for Impulse! or Blue Note and the forgotten schlubs who recorded for other labels. I'm not sure there is anything more in it than that. Look at the gap in recognition between Grachan Moncur and your namesake Clifford Thornton, or between Archie Shepp and Frank Wright. Silva is on the wrong side of the retrospective recognition line. No amount of Seasons is going to shift him.

Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band – Vol. 1: Dawn Club Favorites In recent explorations of trad jazz, I have tended to find that the records that I enjoy the least are those from the core SF Scene that I think to some extent created the mature revival. This is one of the few records from that scene that I have enjoyed, probably because it is quite early and a lot of work clearly went into making the arrangements as exciting as possible. I can see why this music might be exciting in a way that does not come across with e.g. Turk Murphy's Verve records.

Junior Mance Trio – Happy Time

My great uncle was a roofer. Born in Lithuania and always drank at least two vodkas for breakfast as an eye opener. Later in life he went blind, but still insisted on checking his team's work. You can see where this is going. This is actually a sad story. The headlines over here sold it in a jokey way, as if he'd been killed in a cheese rolling race or something cartoonish. Actually just warehousing racks giving way and crushing an employee to death

Weirdly JazzWax did a post on precisely this topic yesterday: Louis Bellson – Thunderbird Apparently recorded by Bellson's Vegas big band.

Hector Lavoe – La Voz Same here. I also initially found Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew a bit of a turn off. Like everyone of my age exploring jazz, they were among the very first records I purchased, along with some random Parker/Gillespie and random ill judged re-packaged Monk. I grew to understand their stature, but I still don't really think they are for beginners. I think Round Midnight and In A Silent Way are far more digestible for a first timer. Even then, I think that it is really A Love Supreme that they should be feeding to teenagers; not Miles Davis.

My wife refuses to listen to Paul Bley because of how awful his teeth were in Imagine The Sound. Yellow and rotten.

Jair Rodrigues – Eu Sou O Samba Just finished: Johnny Mathis might be one of the few men who looks better the older he gets.

Buell Neidlinger Featuring Charles Gayle, John Bergamo – Gayle Force

Might have. Should have.

Interesting. Thanks! I'm not sure I would have danced either.

I wasn't there at all, so I am wrong. That is interesting to know. For some reason when I have seen jazz dance mentioned it tends to be in the context of a particular sort of very lite but rhythmic fusion from the late 70s, and smoother more urban contemporary equivalents from the early 80s. Sort of a precursor to acid jazz. I had no idea that people were dancing to stuff like Blakey.

Freddie Hubbard – Splash (Fantasy, 1981) First listen to this record. It's actually quite good, I'm surprised to say. Clearly pop not bop. It's not quite disco jazz or smooth jazz. It really reminds me of the kinds of "jazz" music that London's Jazz FM (later and more accurately renamed Smooth FM) used to play in the early 90s: high sheen pop music with female vocals, similar to, but less accomplished than, Sade, and bobbing in what I assume was the wake of the similarly non-jazz Jazz Dance movement. Anyway, judged as that sort of pop music, it's a successful and strong record. Not too much filler, and lots of dynamic hooks.

Great album that for once really does need new artwork with any reissue.