Tom Storer

This is a great thread. I'm taking notes of the recommendations. May I recommend Levon Helm's 2007 "Dirt Farmer," a sort of comeback album after a bout with throat cancer. Very rootsy and old-timey with a sort of rustic rock feel, lots of traditional material as well as some more contemporary stuff. Fantastic singing from Helm, who's from Arkansas and grew up on a "dirt farm"--in other words, he has real personal roots in this style.

I've recently been listening to Chris Smither, a finger-picking singer/songwriter with a folk blues flavor who writes memorable lyrics, often wry. Also John Prine--just ordered a CD of his where he does duets with a variety of female country singers. One at least is very amusing.

I saw him on Monday night in Paris--a club setting, not a concert, so I caught a 90-minute set. Same trio you saw them with, Florin, and I was similarly impressed. At 82, he's got a bit less control than he once did, of course, but he's an ideas man, and he's still a ballsier improviser than most players a third of his age. Truly one of the wonders of the world. Great band, too! I picked up his latest CD, "Lee Konitz New Quartet - Live at the Village Vanguard." I hope it wins awards.

I recently discovered the Scottish poet Don Paterson, who is also poetry editor at Faber & Faber. I think he's fantastic. His poem that seems to be most often reproduced is this sort of sonnet: Waking with Russell Whatever the difference is, it all began the day we woke up face-to-face like lovers and his four-day-old smile dawned on him again, possessed him, till it would not fall or waver; and I pitched back not my old hard-pressed grin but his own smile, or one I'd rediscovered. Dear son, I was mezzo del' cammin and the true path was as lost to me as ever when you cut in front and lit it as you ran. See how the true gift never leaves the giver: returned and redelivered, it rolled on until the smile poured through us like a river. How fine, I thought, this waking amongst men! I kissed your mouth and pledged myself forever. - Don Paterson This is also perhaps his most frankly sentimental poem, which of course is part of its appeal. He also writes longer and less straightforward poems, and he can have a wicked sense of humor. I also like Derek Walcott very much--he has a new book out of which I read a rave review. Also Robert Creeley, James Merrill, and W.S. Merwin when I have the patience to supply the punctuation. I recently read a book by Carol Ann Duffy called "The World's Wife," a witty collection of pieces from the point of view of the missus of famous male characters from history and mythology. Of historical poets, I like Shakespeare, of course; John Donne; Keats; Whitman; Dickinson; and I have a special fondness for Robert Frost, the first poet I was aware of (literally--my second-grade teacher had been a nurse for Frost in his last years and read us "The Pasture" and "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening").

I'm excited about this one! I love Mose but since "Gimcracks and Gewgaws" in 1997 there's only been the live in London things, which I felt were disappointing. Incidentally, etherbored, I love two of the Blue Notes: the aforementioned "Gimcracks and Gewgaws" and the superb "Ever Since the World Ended" from ten years before that. Both of those sounded great and had memorable new songs.

As a budding teenage jazz fan in the 70's, I had heard a few things by Ellington, but he was relatively far from my concerns at the time. I mean, there was Miles, there was Weather Report and Herbie and Chick, there was the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Anthony Braxton, there was Gary Burton with Metheny and Goodrick... I had gone further back, and had seen Art Blakey and Roy Haynes and Milt Jackson. But big band? That just seemed old hat. But I was diligent in my research nonetheless. When I got to college I noticed that the library had a record section; you weren't allowed to check much out, but you could sit and listen with headphones. I selected a collection of Ellington from the 30s and 40s and Carney just leaped out at me. I think it was "Sophisticated Lady". That combination of elegance and power, of passion and reserve. It was such a gorgeous sound. I was astounded at the riches that collection offered, while I had been ignoring it as old hat. Quite a lesson... Carney has been a hero ever since.

Another vote for Special Edition, one of the great classics of that period. Blythe and Murray were a fantastic pairing. They're not half bad on McCoy Tyner's "44th Street Suite" from the early 90's, either. I liked Tin Can Alley and Inflation Blues, too. I saw DeJohnette not long after the "Special Edition" album with Murray, John Purcell and Peter Warren, the bassist on Special Edition. Whatever happened to Peter Warren? Somewhere in the basement I have a vinyl LP of his from the early 80's, which features, if memory serves, Purcell, DeJohnette, John Scofield and... could it be Ray Anderson? Not sure, too lazy to check. Good stuff, anyway.

Isn't "message board privacy" also a contradiction in terms? And yet you're happy to post here.

You can "deactivate" it (Settings > Account settings, at the bottom of the page). I think they "deactivate" rather than "close" so that comments you have posted on other people's profiles remain there. Just speculation, though.

Mike, if you surf the web and don't have a good firewall up, you're going to be vulnerable to evil-genius hackers no matter what you do. However, if you pay attention to your privacy on Facebook, you can set it up to be pretty safe. Your Organissimo account is probably a hacker's paradise, however. ;-) Tim, you could set up a Facebook account so that no one could see it except the select few whom you choose to trust with it. In other words, you could be sure your students and colleagues would get no results through either a Facebook or Internet search, and you could set it so that only your "friends," or better yet, only select groupings of your "friends," could see any content that you post. Whether or not it's worth the bother to do that is up to you, of course, but you can make a Facebook account pretty damn private if you want to.

Difficult to see how someone who wasn't in the room can possibly be "in the know"...

Excellent French sea salt? Are you sure you're not a Democrat?

From Lorraine's point of view, he's a youngster.

That does look interesting! On February 23rd, Sunny Murray will be playing at a club called Le Dynamo in Pantin, just outside Paris, as part of the Banlieues Bleues festival. He'll be in a trio with Charles Gayle and bassist Juini Booth. The concert is dedicated to the memory of Sirone.

As for the early hype, I think in the late 70's he might have been on the rails to be the charismatic young jazz star backed by media and a major label. He sounded "jazzy" and did "the tradition" along with more modern stuff, he was handsome and easily won over audiences in concert with a friendly and playful stage presence, he had the dynastic thing going. But then Wynton came along and the spotlight, and major label attention, went to him.

Alas, eMusic Europe doesn't get Warner or Nonesuch. At least not yet.

Oh no! I just discovered him a couple of months ago! Well, rediscovered, actually. I had known him from Paul Butterfield's two early-70's albums with his Better Days band, but hadn't realized his history as a Nawlins rock'n'roller and subsequently as a soulful blue-eyed swamp singer-songwriter. I love his first album, eponymously titled, and have his later albums (not many) on my to-buy list. A couple of his songs can be listened to at a site called 30 Days Out... R.I.P.

I just picked up "Historicity" the other day to see what all the talk is about. Due to time constraints, I haven't finished listening to it yet. Many of the high-technicity piano trios these days remind me of watching Olympic competitions: the blend of keen concentration, highly trained athleticism, pride in performance, and ambition. You think "Damn, look at that! Aren't they good! Imagine being able to do something like that!" But that stuff, although it can be thrilling in a way, rarely makes me smile. My first impression is that "Historicity" has a good deal of that kind of mindset in it, with perhaps a little more feeling. Iyer is certainly a hell of a pianist, and he has an admirable strength and gravity in his touch. But as Larry's comments at least implied, there seems to be more in the way of tricky-meter arrangements than graceful line. It may be reactionary to say "where's the melody?" but let's face it, sometimes you end up thirsty for it.

Actually, he might have gotten a kiss from Mitterand--Frédéric Mitterand, that is, the Minister of Culture!

Damn. I would certainly get this if I had a turntable! I love the CD set and hate the thought that it is incomplete. <frown face smiley>

I'm reading James Ellroy's new one, "Blood's A Rover," the last of a trilogy that has included "American Tabloid" and "The Cold Six Thousand." The trilogy is a violent, jumpy look at America in the 50's and 60's, centering on conspiracies leading to the Kennedy and King assassinations and beyond. Cruelty, corruption, hate, deception, intrigue, murder, drugs, sex and perversion in wave after wave. The narrative style is a mercilessly staccato accumulation of repetitive, shorthand sentences interspersed with more discursive "document inserts" representing FBI reports, bugged conversations, etc. It's highly idiosyncratic and I've talked to several people who couldn't take it, but I find it brilliantly done--very tense and edgy but almost symphonic in the way the characters and themes all flow together. Not your average thriller.

The longeole sausage was delicious--rich and flavorsome as a pork sausage ought to be, but not as fatty as all that and deliciously aromatic with the fennel seeds. If you ever go through Geneva you should try it!

A friend from Geneva brought me a longeole sausage and a recipe for Geneva potatoes. The longeole is a curious-looking pork sausage with some of the pork rind ground in and fennel seeds for flavoring. The potato recipe is for diced potatoes sautéed with onions and a sauce including white wine, flour, and bouquet garni. Apparently the genevois swear by it. The sausage is now cooking slowly...

Welcome back, Randy, and Merry Christmas! Stick around!