Tom Storer

I like a few of Brubeck's recorded efforts, and he conceived a fabulous band with his Desmond/Wright/Morello quartet--if only he could have found a better piano player. But seriously, his playing on "Time Out" is, I think, representative of his best--he toned down that bombastic pounding that mars so much of his work. (To his credit, Brubeck once said "If I want to be bombastic, I have my reasons.") He and Desmond are both stellar on "Strange Meadowlark." But on the early quartet sides, prior to Wright/Morello and when Desmond was at his hottest and most inventive, Brubeck would stomp in and just bore the hell out of any living creature with those long, heavy-handed solos. I return to those sides for Desmond, but it takes some effort to sit through Brubeck. His post-quartet years I liked better--for example "We're All Together Again For the First Time" and the record with Konitz and Braxton. He's a serious artist whose choices don't always sit well with my own tastes. I respect him. Can't say I follow him anymore.

Matthew, Dan described it perfectly. PM me if you have any more questions--I'm the JazzVines moderator. JazzVines is nice for people who don't have broadband or who don't want to deal with the technological constraints. Once you've set up your bittorrent client it's a snap, but the learning curve can be a hassle for those who aren't especially experienced with that sort of thing ("Forward my ports? What's a port?"). Also, the snail-mail contact gives the experience a personal touch that's lacking in digital-only situations. It's kind of the "slow food" side of music exchange. Lots of people enjoy it--and of course, many do both JazzVines (and/or AllJazz_2) and bittorrent. P.S. Matthew, lots of the vines are in FLAC format--you'll need a little application called FLAC Frontend that you can download free off the web to convert FLAC files to WAV, at which point you can either burn them on an audio CD or make MP3s out of them. But it's so easy anyone can do it.

I read somewhere that they're only on two tracks. Most of the record is piano/guitar duets.

"Intercontinental," on BASF, from 1970, is a trio with Pass, Eberhard Weber on bass (superb swinging acoustic bass, he's unrecognizable as the electrified ECM artist of later years), and Kenny Clare on drums. One of my desert island discs.

I don't know if there's already a thread somewhere with this basic theme, but I couldn't find it any in a cursory search. I'm inspired to start this because a few weeks ago I was perusing a recent blindfold test answers thread--one I hadn't participated in, but I had a look for the hell of it. One of the tunes was by tenor saxophonist Shelley Carrol, from an album called "Shelley Carrol with Members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra." Jim Sangrey was so enthusiastic in his praise of Carrol that I figured I'd give the album a whirl, even though I hadn't actually heard the piece. It arrived yesterday and it's more than I had hoped for. I had never heard of Carrol before, and if I had read about this album--a tenor/trumpet/rhythm quintet, all alumni of the Duke Ellington orchestra (all but one well post-Duke) playing mostly Ellington tunes--I would have bet it was a piece of Wyntonian orthodoxy, workmanlike and earnest and probably forgettable. But no! Carrol is great, well rooted in the mainstream tenor tradition, but with the edge and fire and gripping sound that one doesn't get enough of these days. This stuff is revivifying, believe me. The album is on Leaning House Records, which stopped producing records in 1999. I picked it up second-hand from Amazon. One of the tunes features Marchel Ivery on tenor sax--another good one I'd never heard of. He also recorded for Leaning House. I'll be looking into those, too. All this got me thinking about the category of home-town heroes--the ones who don't go to New York and make it, but who are good enough that they could have. Let this thread be a place for us to tip one another off on all the fine players who for whatever reason labor in undeserved obscurity. Name names!

I love peanut butter--like Nate said, it has to be au naturel, the health food kind. Skippy and all that stuff is disgustingly sweet. Here in France the most readily available brand, which I think is German, is just how I like it, nothing but peanuts and a little salt. On the rare occasions when chunky PB is available, it's the sweet variety, so I don't go there. Peanut butter and bacon sandwiches--what a good idea. But in order to cut down on calories, I have stopped eating peanut butter, despite my fondness for the stuff. Maybe I'll have to make an exception soon.

This arrived yesterday. I've only listened to it once so far, but already it has caught my ear, especially Turner, who has never really convinced me in the past. He's really playing here, though; they all are. Impressive.

I got mine today, too. So far, so good!

The Marsalises, despite other sins one might hold against them, also despise the sound of the amplified bass. On records that Delfeayo M. produces, he always says something like "this CD was recorded without usage of the dreaded bass direct".

I call it "major label syndrome" (even thought Blue Note is kind of small to be called a "major label," it's the same syndrome). It rarely fails--there's something glossy and a little unreal and hollow about major label releases.

I chose the personal computer on the grounds that Big Al cited, that without PCs the Internet would not have the influence it has. But then I changed my mind. I should have voted for the Internet. I think the advent of the Internet is more important to a PC-connected world than the advent of the PC was to a world without PCs. Tough choice, though. The Internet is certainly what I would have the hardest time giving up. It's such an intimate part of daily life: email, document transfer, message boards, research, travel planning, the list could go on and on of things it would be very annoying to have to do solely offline. Doing without a cell phone is no problem--I've never had one!

Tom, thanks for the review. I found out about this just a few days ago, in perfect timing to my upcoming B-day. I've got my brother ordering this and the new Scott Hamilton ballads album. I'm figuring that between the two, I'll have the soundtrack ready for my anniversary, which comes 8 days after my birthday. The Person/Charlap is perfect for an anniversary. Well judged! Although... I guess it all depends on your wife. Dylan Thomas wrote a blurb for a novel by the Irish humorist Flann O'Brien that said, "This is just the sort of book you should buy for your sister--if your sister is a loud, dirty, boozy sort of girl." But I'm assuming champagne, candelight and jazz ballads are just thing for your wife, whom I naturally assume to be beautiful, charming and demure.

Digressing slightly from the thread title, I just got "You Taught My Heart To Sing" on HighNote, by Houston Person and Bill Charlap. This is a beautiful duet album that is well worth getting. In fact, you would be a fool not to get it. Mostly ballads, some mid-tempo pieces, all played like champagne and candlelight. Person plays with such modest authority, and so jaw-droppingly well. This is a keeper. To my knowledge, Charlap has never released a solo album. It's time! What a fantastic pianist. In the meanwhile this has become my favorite Charlap record.

Hi, Luca! PM sent--even before this thread! Looking forward to it. - Tom

Sounds like "Roy Haynes' Greatest Hits." I predict selections (unavoidably contestable) from various points of his career plus a lot from his Dreyfus releases. BWTFDIK?

I'd also snap up a Betty Carter set. I think I have everything they'd put in it, but it would be worth it for the booklet alone.

I got a bunch of Xanadus in MP3 format from emusic. I think my favorite is the Jimmy Rowles/Al Cohn duo, "Heavy Love"--got to be the swingingest piano/sax duo I've ever heard.

I saw Nat Adderley there, also Dewey Redman. And on one memorable evening I started out upstairs in the bar where Jaki Byard was playing duets with a bassist--I still recall his boogie-woogie version of "Take Five"--and then went downstairs to see the Wynton Marsalis quintet, the "Black Codes" line-up. One of my greatest jazz regrets involves the Village Gate. One winter evening in the late 70's I was in New York with my girlfriend of the time and another couple. We were college students. We strolled past the Village Gate and I saw that Mingus was playing. I stopped and eagerly suggested we go in. The suggestion was nixed because my girlfriend didn't want to spend the evening having to shut up while I ignored her and dug the music. She had a point, of course, but we broke up not too long thereafter and I still think, "DAMN. Why did I listen to her?"

I have "At Canaan's Edge" but in preparation for it I'm first rereading the second book in the trilogy, "Pillars of Fire." Absolutely riveting history. Branch does a brilliant job of keeping many different threads in view and moving at pace. The first volume, "Parting the Waters," is even better. Everyone with even a casual interest in contemporary American history should read this trilogy.

After years and years and years of simply not watching television, I caught a part of "The Shield" shown in English on a cable channel in France, where I live. Then I saw it on again the following week (my son was watching) and I sat down and watched to the end. I was hooked. Then my wife noticed that I was watching TV and was intrigued. She got hooked too. We watched up to the end of season 3--which was at the end of December, 2005 here--and then they took it off, no doubt waiting for another season or two to build up. So I ordered season 1 on DVD. Loved it. That's the only TV show I have on DVD. Just ordered season 2.

Dropped into jimhall.com and ordered his live CD with Scott Colley and Lewis Nash--the ArtistShare thing. I might also pick up his new duo record with Enrico Pierranunzi.

Sounds interesting. I have trouble imagining Nels Cline actually playing with Andrew Hill, but that group should have an intriguing take on it.

Aw, that's kind of cold. It only looks silly now because the look is so dated. Back then, it was what hip young white musicians wore. Half the audience probably looked the same way!

This wouldn't be a quintet with tenor sax and trombone, by any chance?

I saw the concert that was released as "Dark Magus." I was quite young and found it all mystifying but very exciting. I still feel that way, actually!