Tom Storer

I think Haynes's quartet has been one of the most distinctive small bands in jazz for many years, thanks to their excellent arrangements and high quality of interaction. As Mark says, Roy has always been busy, but IMO always tasteful and respectful of other musicians. I saw them last year with Jaleel Shaw playing sax. It was a killer set and I didn't notice that Roy had gotten "intrusive." If anything he's less busy, with a lighter touch and more streamlined--he is in his mid-80's, after all. His rhythmic mind is as alert and creative as ever, but his arms can't be as strong as they were. Starting back almost a quarter-century ago, here are CDs documenting the Haynes quartet (as opposed to other configurations he puts together for one-off projects): True or False (1986) with Ralph Moore, tenor sax; David Kikoski, piano; Ed Howard, bass. When It Haynes, It Roars (1993) with Craig Handy, tenor sax; David Kikoski, piano; Ed Howard, bass. Homecoming (1994) with Craig Handy, tenor sax; David Kikoski, piano; Ed Howard, bass. Fountain of Youth (2004) with Marcus Strickland, saxophones; Martin Berejano, piano; John Sullivan, bass. Whereas (2006) with Jaleel Shaw, saxophones; Robert Rodriguez, piano; John Sullivan, bass. Somewhere in there, not sure if it was in between Moore and Handy or after Handy, he had Don Braden on tenor sax, and he sounded great in the group.

Most of Sonnymoon for Two. What that show must have been like for those who were there!

Great picture! Congrats to the newlyweds and thanks for sharing.

Kind of half and half. Depends on where I am: if I'm in the living room, CDs. If I'm in the kitchen, MP3s (via iPod dock). If I'm in front of a computer, MP3s or FLAC. No vinyl: I don't have room to store CDs and LPs.

This is curious to me--you seem to think that musicians owe it to fans to be upstanding in their personal lives. If I bought a ticket to a concert and the musician didn't show because of irresponsibility brought on by addiction, sure, I'd be pissed off. But in the abstract I don't see why we should have any expectations that they should be "clean" or honest or kind or thrifty or whatever, and therefore I don't see why a musician's private failures should leave us disappointed. It's none of our business, really.

Wait a minute. What '50's jazz book? (Allen Lowe: "SOMEONE STOP ME BEFORE I PUBLISH AGAIN!")

I saw a rare flash of humor at one concert in Paris. He introduced the band, then said, "And my name is Stan Getz."

Very nice! Welcome back!

It wasn't Wayne Dockery, at least the night I was there, but Darryl Hall on bass. Pianist was Randy Porter, drummer was a Dutchman, Martjin Vink. Great show! The pianist and drummer were a little wet behind the ears--impressive talent but still young enough not to have the ease that comes with experience. But they were eager! McPherson introduced "Anthropology" by saying, "Drummers like to play fast, so this one is for the drummer." They went into it at a ridiculous tempo, think Parker's "Koko". McPherson just about had time to fit in the general shape of the melody. It was quite a thrill, and they held it together. Everybody cheered McPherson and Vink for their supersonic solos, but meanwhile Darryl Hall (a wonderful bassist, this was my first time seeing him) was back there walking faster than any bassist should have to walk for that long... McPherson is an undersung treasure, a real bopper with a golden, liquid tone, distinctive and spontaneous phrasing, and a sassy, funky, swinging musical personality that deserves renown. Go out and see him if he passes through your town!

Just reading through this thread for the first time. The way I see it, you're wondering about five phenomena: - weird dog behavior - unexplained noises - items go missing, "couldn't possibly have been there" but then return - unexplained sensations (tugging, poking) - weird cell phone behavior From a skeptic's point of view, none of these are particularly eerie or even unusual. Except for the tugging and poking, all of them have happened to me at one point or another (not in the details, obviously, but in the general category). In particular, I can't count the number of times I have misplaced something and looked for it frantically, only to have it turn it up someplace that I had inspected--exhaustively, I thought--more than once. The power of suggestion and interpretation is mighty. Once a hypothesis is there to give a framework, further things that occur are immediately fitted against the hypothesis, and often they could fit the hypothesis, sort of... So, nothing proven, but "evidence" that the hypothesis might be correct... That said, who knows? Certainly there is much that remains inexplicable.

That reviewer is quite astonishingly clueless, as well as annoyingly pedantic. "But shortly after the blues were born, they were co-opted by popular and jazz musicians, who blended them with marching band and ragtime music. The blues’ rather monotonous melodic style and 12-bar choruses were changed by these musicians in different ways" If you start from the point of view that blues melodies are monotonous, I mean crikey... contrast this with the wealth of striking and expressive melody that runs through Allen's set. "Thus there are four types of music that can legitimately be called blues: [blah blah]" Allen, didn't you take Blues 101?? That question was on the exam! "Really the Blues? comes with its 72-page booklet on a CD-ROM. This is a commendable bow to “green” technology, but frankly, I don’t enjoy reading a 72-page booklet on my computer screen." Then print it out for Christ's sake. Sheesh.

On Friday I saw Kenny Barron solo in a small club - a privilege. He sounded great. This Friday night, it'll be Charles McPherson, with one R. Porter on piano, Wayne Dockery on bass, don't know who the drummer's going to be.

Hilarious! I wonder if he was channeling someone specific.

Love the one with Brew Moore. I saw Lou Bennett with Kenny Clarke and Christian Escoudé on guitar in the fall of 1979, one of the first concerts I saw when I moved to Paris.

I saw Ron Carter's Golden Striker Trio on Monday night at the New Morning in Paris, with Russell Malone and Mulgrew Miller. It's a fantastic group and they were on. Their arrangements, which I assume are Carter's, are great: memorable, deft, designed to leave space for real improvising. The only slight bummer was the sound: the bass was a little too bassy and the piano way too trebly, which I find inexcusable in a club. It was great to see Mulgrew Miller, and he was playing well, but that tinny sound was really too bad. Regardless, it was a joy to hear them.

I used to have a doctor who overbooked and I would wait up to an hour, always in a crowded waiting room. To his credit he was working his ass off, and once he saw you he was attentive, conscientious, took the time required and was generally a good doctor. I doubt he ever left the office before 9. Here in France, GPs typically do not have any office staff and do it all themselves, so it naturally takes a bit longer. My current doctor is also good but she doesn't overbook, so one rarely waits long. I'm pretty tolerant if the doctor is seeing patients continuously; it's hard to predict how long each patient will need. If the waiting room were empty like you described, and no explanation were given, I would definitely see red.

One of the season 1 Mad Men episodes where a crusty old tobacco tycoon tells off a young adman (Pete) who has proposed a fancy psychological spin to an ad campaign. Referring to tobacco and/or the land it's grown on, he says, "The Indians gave it to us, for shit's sake!" Something about his performance of that particular monologue struck me as exceptional. The episode of The Wire where sociopathic killer Snoop is held at gunpoint in her van by Michael, her younger apprentice. She knows he's about to kill her. She sort of absent-mindedly looks in the side mirror, and despite a total absence of coquettishness in her character as seen until then in the series, reveals something when she says "How my hair look, Mike?" He tells her she looks good, and shoots her.

When the first shipment of "Really the Blues?" failed to show up on my Parisian doorstep, Allen graciously shipped me another copy, and this time it made it over. So--thanks, Allen! I've been listening to it these past few days and it's a killer. It's like the mix tape to end all mix tapes. I heard Blind Mamie Forehand's "Honey in the Rock" for the first time and was floored. And indeed there are many startling performances that stand out in this set. Loud applause for this fine achievement.

Who votes for these things, anyway?

I don't like the idea of honoring a family as "jazz masters," rather than individuals. If Ellis got it, it would probably be accepted with good grace. If Wynton or Branford got it, there would be loud disagreement, but they've been on the scene for decades and certainly a case could be made. But Delfeayo and Jason share this new "jazz master" title by association alone (they can play, but there's no lack of that in jazz), which taints the whole thing with politics. It seems like nothing but a publicity operation for the Marsalis "brand." Looking at the list of past recipients, it looks as if none of them were so honored until they were at least in the autumn of their professional life. Of the Marsalises, only Ellis has reached that point, and Jason, the baby, is in his early 30's! I think it harms the credibility of the awards themselves.

Tried to slip that one by us, eh?

Stéphane (trumpet) and Lionel (saxophones) Belmondo (brothers) Henry Threadgill and Pyeng Threadgill (father and daughter) Dee Dee Bridgewater and China Moses (mother and daughter) Kenny Washington and Reggie Washington (brothers)

Yeah, what's up with that?? "Give me a good quote, Greil, and I'll let you have the other volumes early." Shocking corruption.

Kobie Watkins isn't bad--he's in Bobby Broom's regular trio, so he probably won't overwhelm the guitar.

Good idea, and it seems to be legit in this case. But fees might still be taken out. Found this on the PayPal site: ****** Is there any fee for making personal payments? Yes, there may be fees for personal payments depending upon the way you fund the payment. Also, personal payments allow the sender of the payment to choose to pay the fee themselves or have the recipient pay the fee should one apply. Domestic payments: Domestic payments are payments between two customers in the same country in the same currency. In this case, there is no fee for either the sender or the receiver if the payment is funded with the sender's PayPal account balance. If the payment is funded by a credit card, fees will apply. Click here for more details. Cross-border payments: Cross-border payments occur when the buyer and seller are in different countries or/and the transaction is dominated in a different currency from the receiver's default currency. In this case there are fees applicable regardless of the funding source (credit card, balance, bank account). Click here for more details. Cross-border fee applies when a personal payment is sent to a PayPal account registered in a country outside of the sender's residing country / region. The fee varies depending on the recipient's country / region. Click here for more details on cross-border fee. The sender can decide if the fee is paid for by himself or the recipient.