Tom Storer

We know what Solomon would recommend.

I saw her in a club once with her own group and they were trying hard to sound like the Tony Williams quintet. She was doing a pretty good job of it on drums - strong arms and chops galore. It was lacking in originality, needless to say.

Who's a Tony Williams emulator, then? Cindy Blackman? A possibility. She was heavily into a Tony Williams bag and played with young lions for a while. Last I heard (years ago) she was touring with some rock act.

Corea was one of the first jazz pianists I discovered, and I discovered him playing Fender Rhodes on "Light As A Feather." The generous, melodic lyricism, that beautiful, light but still cooking Brazilian swing, Flora Purim's singing--all that had a profound influence in weaning me off blues-rock guitar heroes and substituting a jazz jones instead. Later I explored, more or less simultaneously, his past and his ongoing present: on the one hand his work with Miles, Circle and the Vitous/Haynes and Holland/Altschul trios, and on the other electric RTF. By the time Romantic Warrior came along, I was growing skeptical, and after Romantic Warrior I wasn't buying it anymore. I kind of dug some of the stuff on "My Spanish Heart" (which as someone else mentioned now sounds embarassingly dated) and that was that. Those bands with Pattitucci and Weckl were light years away from my preoccupations as a listener, and I felt that despite his undeniable brilliance as an instrumentalist he was basically just hamming it up for years. He seems to be returning to the fold now, which is a fine thing. I saw the tribute-to-Bud-Powell band in concert, and while it had its problems as a concept, I was again impressed at what a motherfucker of a pianist he is. Christian McBride was bopping along on bass and the kids (Roney and Redman) were out front soloing and being little stars, and meanwhile Corea and Haynes were in constant eye contact and wailing away against each other, jousting and playing games and one-upping each other in as hip a way as you can imagine. They were right in the heart of joyful, playful, carnal swing, and there aren't that many piano players who can give Roy Haynes a run for his money. I haven't checked out Origin and his new trio as much as I should have yet.

Now for the bonus CD... 1. I find this profoundly dull. The thudding bass vamp, the aimless solos. What's the point? 2. That's got to be John Carter on clarinet. (Don Byron, take a seat.) Is this one of those famous Horace Tapscott quartet things that are always raved about? The Dark Tree? This also has that bass vamp thing, but better done, and the solos are far more interesting than those in number 1. This is the real thing. Very nice. 3. This has a bit more of a compositional bent than number 1, at first. But after the drum solo it's just free-jazz collective blowing as practiced since time immemorial. Well, forty years anyway. Nothing too original but I find I like it pretty well. They're comfortable making all those nice, noisy textures together, and I like the textures they come up with. Good music to do the housekeeping to when there's no one around to complain about it. Self-indulgent but fun. 4. My first thought is that this could be same guys who did number 3, but playing something with a beat. This has a very familiar vibe. Is it David Murray's octet? Ah, there's the tenor solo - that clinches it, definitely Murray. They're a spunky little group.

Here are my first impressions of CD1. Impressions of the "bonus CD" coming later--when I've posted them, I'll go back and read through the thread and kick myself for my ignorance, as usual. ;-) Disc 1 1. I can't say I recognize anyone, but the general mood and procedure, plus the somewhat lame clarinet playing, make me think this is Don Byron (my apologies to Don Byron fans). Therefore it could be Craig Harris on trombone, although actually it doesn't really sound like his vocabulary. 2. Nice. No idea who it is. 3. Trumpet and tenor sax sound very familiar. I like it very much but as usual, have no clue who it is. 4. I like the dirty electric keyboard sound, very 70's. I thought of Flora Purim at first but came to doubt it. Maybe Tanya Maria? Sheer speculation, I don't really know what she sounds like at all, but this seems to be Brazilian Portuguese. At first I was annoyed at it because it was repetitive, but by the end I was enjoying it for the same reason. 5. I could see getting drunk and whirling around the dance floor to this. 6. I'll guess it's something by Tony Williams' quintet. That would be Billy Pierce, Wallace Roney, Mulgrew Miller and Charnett Moffett. This guess is mostly because this kind of aggressive, tentacular drumming sounds like Williams to me, and he had a quintet with this instrumentation, and it could conceivably be Pierce on soprano. On the other hand, that doesn't sound like Roney to me, so WTHDIK? Jeff Watts could conceivably have done this, too, but the drumming isn't crazy enough. 7. Reminiscent of a Mingus performance in many ways but definitely not a Mingus group. Very tasty drummer. I assume it's the tenor player who doubles on flute, since that's generally the way, but what kind of flute is that? I love the whole thing--I'll be looking for this when I find out what it is! 8. Well, that alto player is no shrinking violet. Hot stuff here, perhaps a little overheated at times. The rhythm section sounds familiar, especially the pianist, but I don't know who they are. 9. No idea. I like piano/vibes combinations when the music is right for it, but this is a bit plodding. I know Bobby Hutcherson did some live recordings with this instrumentation, but I'd have expected better, or at least different, from him. 10. Can't say I think much of this one. This sounds like a funky pop tune without the lyrics. As a matter of fact I keep thinking I know the tune and ought to be singing along. The baritone playing is spirited. 11. I don't know this singer and don't think I'll search her out on the strength of this. She has nice pipes but her phrasing is kind of all over the place, and the accompanying musicians never really hit a groove. 12. Not my cup of tea. The rhythm is too relentless, the arrangement is just muscle-bound--no finesse, no subtlety. Even loud, storming big bands should have a little finesse and subtlety.

Another superb Jim Hall recording is "Live At Village West," a duo with Ron Carter. Carter is also superb, and the sound is beautiful. If you listen carefully you can hear Hall's occasional intakes of breath - he often takes a big breath at the start of phrases as if he were singing or playing a horn. The first time I saw Hall live was at a club called Boomer's on the Bowery in New York sometime in the mid-70's, playing with Cedar Walton's trio. Sam Jones was on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The band was in the middle, the patrons seated around at little tables. I was behind Higgins, and for a teenage jazz fan just getting to know this kind of stuff, that evening was a revelation. That was around the time Jim Hall Live! came out, and I wore my vinyl copy to dust.

Just look at the child's expression of gravitas! Can't you tell he's listening hard to a blindfold test? Congratulations, Jim! And Mrs. Jim!

Listen, everybody, there's no point ordering the Tristano set. It's just no good at all. Really. Terrible music all around, bad sound, lousy photos, the booklet sucks. Marsh? Konitz? Amateurs. You'd be much better advised to spend your money elsewhere. Trust me on this one. - Tom (who won't be able to order his until April and is desperately hoping it won't sell out in the meanwhile)

I only wish I could afford to buy Mosaic sets so frequently that I couldn't find the time to open them all! Sheesh.

I like Nina Simone well enough, but I think she had a narrower range of interpretative ability than Carter. For me, Carter's achievement, not to mention her lasting influence, was much greater, musically speaking. Ballad-wise, I'd suggest "This Is Always," "Beware My Heart," and "Some Other Time" from "Inside Betty Carter" (mid-60's but the beginning of her more personal style); "Body and Soul/Heart and Soul," from "Finally" (1969); "Everytime We Say Goodbye" and "I'm Pulling Through" from "Round Midnight" (1975); "I Was Telling Him About You" and "Just Friends/Star Eyes" from "Now It's My Turn" (1976); "You're A Sweetheart" from "The Betty Carter Album" (1976); "I Think I Got It Now" and "Everything I Have Is Yours" from "The Audience with Betty Carter" (1980). That's eleven recorded ballads that I think easily withstand charges of "butchering," in fact I think they're all lovely, moving performances. In concert, I saw her, on numerous occasions, keep packed houses holding their breath and hanging on every syllable for her ballads, and applauding enthusiastically when they were finished. One could say they were all duped, but winning over a house full of savvy jazz fans with butchered ballads would be quite a feat; winning over a house full of jazz newbies with butchered ballads would be even more of a feat. One could also speculate that those who were so moved by her ballad performances, over a period of perhaps fifteen years that I saw her regularly in concert, were all trendy poseurs anxious to embrace a grotesque, strained effort at artificial originality, but one would be talking out of one's hat.

It isn't the fact that you criticize her that irked me, Chris, it's the particularly snide and insistent way you do so, to the extent that when you put her down quite contemptuously and someone else says "well, I happen to think she's great," you don't just leave it at that but come in with another put-down in response, like clockwork. I'm sure there are plenty of musicians whose work you don't much like, but only Wynton and Betty Carter are certain-sure to attract your condemnation damn near every time they're mentioned, or so it seems. That's what led me to speculate about a personal thing--not that you criticize her, but the regularity and the especially hostile tone you use. It wasn't an argument, it was a reaction to what I perceive as an unfortunate attitude on your part--that attitude not being the fact that you don't like Betty Carter's singing (you're not the only one on this thread), but the strangely nasty intensity that I believe I detect. The way I see it, you don't like her and that's fine with me, but I do like her and you can't accept that without getting in further digs at her. But this conversation is fruitless and I will now bow out.

I guess it's official this is John Zorn and co. doing one of those homage-to-bebop things. I confess to being startled, since I can't stand Zorn's usual output, and I like this. Geez, leave a guy's prejudices alone, would ya?

Our opinions differ. Incidentally, have you listened to her recordings of the long list of songs I listed above? Maybe you could give some chapter and verse examples of her "grotesqueness" so at least I'd know precisely what rubs you the wrong way. Chris, you slam Betty Carter so hard every single chance you get that I wonder if you and she didn't have some sort of conflict in real life. We know you can't stand her music, because you said so earlier in the thread, and not for the first time; some of us loved it, so maybe we can say so without getting a waspish comment every time we do. Let me pre-empt your next post by declaring that I absolutely accept your God-given right to express your opinion.

Count me in the pro-Betty camp all the way. Her point of view was that she didn't have the pipes of a Sarah Vaughan or an Ella Fitzgerald, but she did have an unusual amount of originality, so she went all the way into her own concept of arranging songs for jazz vocals. As far as I'm concerned, her concept was absolutely brilliant. I think Carter and Sheila Jordan were the last great originals in the mainstream jazz vocal tradition. Maybe throw in Abbey Lincoln, too. Whether you like Carter's stuff or not, nobody approached jazz vocals like she did. If she had had a stronger voice and vocal technique, she could have ruled the world. As it was, there are things about her voice and delivery that are like nails on a blackboard to many. There was a nasal and breathy quality about her singing, and, especially in the later years of her career, her pitch could be problematic. For me, that was more than made up for by her imagination, swing and emotional commitment. And those arrangements were flat-out great. Some examples: From "Introducing Betty Carter": "Look No Further," "My Favorite Things," "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most," "Something Big" From "Finally": all three medleys ("Seems Like Old Times/I Remember You/Remember," "Body and Soul/Heart and Soul," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was/All The Things You Are/I Could Write A Book"); the bass-voice duo on "Blue Moon"; "All Through The Day" From "'Round Midnight": "My Shining Hour," "By The Bend In The River," "Surrey With The Fringe On Top" From "Now It's My Turn": "Music, Maestro, Please/Swing, Brother, Swing," "I Was Telling Him About You," "Wagon Wheels," "Making Dreams Come True," "Just Friends/Star Eyes" From "The Betty Carter Album": "What Is It?," "We Tried," "Sister Candy," "Tight," "Sounds," From "The Audience": "I Think I Got It Now," "Everything I Have Is Yours," "Trolley Song," "Carribean Sun," "I'll Buy You A Star" From "Look What I Got": "That Sunday, That Summer," "The Man I Love," "Imagination," "Make It Last," "The Good Life" From "Whatever Happened To Love": "What A Little Moonlight Can Do" From "It's Not About The Melody": "Stay As Sweet As You Are," "When It's Sleepy Time Down South," "Dip Bag," "You're Mine, You" That's a hell of a legacy. There are plenty of singers who sing the songs straight and emote effectively, but precious few who have pushed the envelope like Carter did. The abstract quality of her interpretations put off many mainstream fans who wanted to hear the songs sung in a traditional narrative way. Another thing to note is that Carter didn't record well. Live, her voice had vibrancy and color that for some reason was virtually always flattened and thinned on recordings. She toured constantly and had her share of bad nights, when her voice was husky and lacking flexibility, but even then she pushed her trio hard; and when she was on--which, up through the end of the 80's anyway, was very often, and I know because I saw her many times--she was a consummate performer and unceasingly inventive. Those trios of hers swung like crazy, you would be in a sweat by the time the night was over. Betty was one of the greatest jazz singers ever.

Coming in late on this one, haven't read the rest... Here are my guesses. Mostly comments, actually - I'm in the dark for just about all of it. There's definitely a common sound at work. Strong bass, strong drums and/or percussion, medium-tempo, big arrangements of big themes, not too much leeway at the individual level. For me this whole collection evokes movie soundtracks. As a sequence this has a lot of continuity. I think what makes movie themes work, or other songs sound like movie themes, is a kind of obviousness. Not necessarily in a bad way, but with tunes and chords and structures that are right there, big and fat in front of you so you can't miss the point. That and, here at least, they rarely stray from a comfortable mid-tempo. On the one hand that's what makes this blindfold probably the most unified, the most like an album in that sense, and also--sorry, Golden Arm--allows my interest to flag from time to time. 1. Nelson Riddle remixed by Bill Laswell? One part of me thinks, "What a jolly lark, I'll cheerfully bounce along with this!" Another part thinks, "This post-modernism is just *so* undergraduate. I wonder if this was ever touched by human hands, or was it wholly machine-assembled?" So those are my two simultaneous and contradictory reactions, and I won't even hazard a guess as to who prepared this digital artefact. Nonetheless, I enjoy it a lot! 2. Good sequencing! Somehow similar to number one in a kind of movie-theme way, with the big percussion, but played by real people. The arrangement nicely balances the strong, clear theme with a lot of stuff happening around the edges. No guess. 3. The theme sounds like something Mingus could have taken and set several horns to preaching and hollering with. Here it's a lot more antiseptic and leaves me hungry for something a bit more edgy. I like the alto sax. No guess. 4. I like this one! Nice arrangement, nice solos, bouncy. I'm sure I should recognize the soloists, but what else is new? No guess. 5. Phil Woods on alto? Just a guess. The band sound as a whole evokes Gerry Mulligan, but I'm not sure that's him on baritone. Nice but not all that exciting. 6. Jury's out. Some Ellingtonian touches, but nothing grabs me particularly about this one. 7. ALmost like a Dave Holland big band piece, what with the vibes and the strong bass and baritone. But I don't think it is. This is a good one. 8. Vibes and flute, dark. Sounds like a soundtrack to me. Kind of dull. 9. Percussion and alto sax. Old-fashioned sound à la Johnny Hodges. It may even be Hodges--I know there's an Ellington album with a lot of percussion, called "Jazz Party" I think--but he fools around with his sound more than I think Hodges would have. Sounds truncated at the end. 10. I know this one, so my lips are sealed. This recording artist's strong point, in my view, is an ability to assemble interesting and unexpected casts; the weak point is the composing and lyrics, which read like undergraduate poetry. 11. Not bad. The percussion is great. 12. The phrasing reminds me of Barney Wilen. Just a guess. 13. Is that an accordion ora keyboard pretending to be one? There can't be too many groups around with that instrumentation, and the alto sax sounds familiar, but I don't have a clue who this is. I like it pretty well, though. 14. Now there's a real squeeze-box. A nice, bluesy squeeze-box, too. I'd guess it's European. 15. Another one! Once again very nice. Good saxophonists, too. No idea who these folks are, but I'll be interested to find out. 16. Big movie theme sound. Atmospheric, catchy. Kind of dull, finally. 17. More movie stuff. The I'm-hip finger-snapping that comes in just past the two-minute mark just screams soundtrack. 18. I'm guessing this is from the Miles Davis soundtrack to "Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud", with Barney Wilen on tenor. 19. Sounds like modern guys playing the old stuff. I'll take a wild guess that it's off that recent Greg Osby album, "St. Louis Shoes," with Nicholas Payton, I think. 20. Very entertaining! Obviously singing is not the guy's main gig. But there's lots of personality in this one.

Pete's ability to forecast the future is nothing short of amazing. Here I am to kvell! All the suggestions are good. I'll add her most recent album, "Little Song" on High Note, from last year. It's with the Steve Kuhn trio with Tom Harrell playing on a few numbers, and--need I say it?--it's great. One of my favorites. You can just click right on over to Amazon, for instance, and order it. Hup hup! And yes, see her live if possible. In the last couple of years she's started to favor Paris and I've seen her a few times (next concert a month from today) and she's always wonderful.

I don't think Braxton claims to be a scholar or expert on social issues, he's just a feverish thinker of the mad-scientist variety and loves to talk about ideas. There's not much point in subjecting his lengthy, eager rambling to grim academic peer-review as if it were for intended for publication as an article in some weighty journal. It's no doubt a better approach to just read what he has to say and glean what insights might be available, as if you were sitting down together over a few drinks. I recall a mid-70's Braxton trio concert with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul in upstate New York. Braxton came out for a question-and-answer session after the concert and rather stunned everyone with mile-a-minute explanations of his detailed, idiosyncratic system of analysis, complete with vibrational-structures this and perception-dynamics that, and so forth. And to illustrate his talk he did sing some of his compositions, and long ones, too! I don't think many of us present had much of a clue what he was talking about, but it was interesting to try to puzzle out. And the music was fantastic!

I'd think it would be pretty difficult for them to predict -- the website says "Last Chance reflects our best estimate that the set will be sold out soon which can range anywhere from tomorrow to two months". Yes, but according to kulu se mama above, "mosaic leases most of the music that they reissue for a set time and/or number of sets." In other words, some sets may become unavailable on a given date, regardless of how many sets they've sold. They'd know that date even if they couldn't predict how fast the sets would sell. This reminds me to send Mosaic an email about this!

I ordered this set on amazon.co.uk on December 1, and the estimated delivery date kept getting pushed back and back. Now they've informed me they've given up trying to get it and cancelled my order. Oh, well. I'll just have to use that money on something else!

Now who's being shocking?? For a male jazz fan to associate the word "vagina" with "saxophone" would be more a question of love than hate, no? Personally, I don't see why the word is sleazy or shocking. I guess all these years in Europe have made me a blasé non-Puritan.

A fine collection, Randy, and many thanks! However, I maintain my low opinion of the Mal Waldron track. I was afraid it might be Waldron (a pianist I almost always don't like), but it seemed too awful even for him. ;-) But one ringer out of two CDs is pretty good!

Gosh! I was in attendance at that concert (my first concert in Paris, shortly after I moved here), but I haven't heard the album in years and I had completely forgotten that Wilson sang "Crucificado" at it! Wow! That must have been a GREAT concert to attend, Tom! Any memories to share? ubu Not too many, actually. It was standing room only. I got there at the last minute and ended up sitting on the steps in the aisles along with all the other latecomers. Mostly what I remember is the musicians massed on stage, the hot music belting out, and the eager enthusiasm of the crowd. There was a definite sense of this being an event. The band was wailing. I couldn't tell you who was in the band, though. Ah, memory... or its inevitable failure. I have the album on vinyl but haven't had a turntable in years. I'll have to pick up the CD.

Would that be one of those Japanese live ones? IMO her best version is on a Muse album with a trio led by Kenny Barron. Gosh! I was in attendance at that concert (my first concert in Paris, shortly after I moved here), but I haven't heard the album in years and I had completely forgotten that Wilson sang "Crucificado" at it!

Perhaps because it is both thunderous and sweet...