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GregK

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Posts posted by GregK

  10. Keith Jarrett on a Rant

    in Artists

    Posted

    He's sorta like that off-stage too, though. A couple of years back he made the producers of the Toronto Jazz Festival buy him a suitable mattress to replace the one in the 5 Star hotel for his overnight stay the day of his Opera House concert. Don't even mention what they had to go through to get him to agree to play the brand-new 9 foot concert Hamburg Steinway -- he wasn't sure he liked it, and wanted them to bring another one over from Massey Hall to see if he might like it better.

    Could that have been due to his back problems?

  12. CONTEST: 2010 Grey Cup game

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    My computer is too slow to search, but I'd like to know what I picked last year. Montreal, total of 50 points

    That is the same prediction as GA made.

    Cold weather. I'm going to go a little bit low. Montreal, total 35 points.

    Damn, I meant Saskatchewan!! The cold weather gives them the advantage! I posted that and didn't check the board or my email all day so I missed GA's message!

  13. Keith Jarrett on a Rant

    in Artists

    Posted

    If you can find it or access it somehow, listen to the "Piano Jazz" program KJ did with Marian McPartland, She was gracious and effervescent as usual and he came across as a total a**hole. He refused to duet with her on a tune she "suggested" claiming unfamiliarity, even though these suggestions are discussed and agreed to in advance, etc. His whole attitude reeked of self-importance and condescension, rather nervy in terms of Marian's longevity and stature as the long time hostess of a terrific radio program. The man is insufferable. I'm glad that his vocal mannerisms when he plays turns me off so much, that I never have the urge to listen to his trio, much less his solo, recordings. (I do like quite a few of the Impulse '70s material with Redman & Haden however).

    I listened to this at Marty's suggestion and my reading is very different. They have a nice rapport, lots of laughing, and while Jarrett's ego and self-importance are certainly on display (when are they not?) I don't find him the least bit disrespectful or condescending to McPartland. Also, he does not refuse to duet with her. In the course of conversation, Alec Wilder's tune "Blackberry Winter" comes up and McPartland asks Jarrett if he will play it for her, at which point he declines, saying "I don't know it well enough right now" and then, picking up an earlier thread in their conversation, he makes a lighthearted joke about not only not being able to remember his own material but other peoples' as well. McPartland then asks playfully he would be annoyed if she played it. He says "No, no, no. Why would I be annoyed?" The exchange sounds completely innocent to me, almost charming.

    I certainly wouldn't defend Jarrett's jerkier moments, but this show hardly qualifies.

    That's about the way I remember hearing it at the time, too. He seemed almost shy in conversation, and caught off guard when asked to play the tune, like he didn't want to make a mistake.

  16. Elvis Costello's "National Ransom"

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    I've listened to it twice so far, and I haven't heard much that is making me want to go back to it again. I'll keep trying, but it seems too much like Momufuku to me, which is alright, but I really liked Sugarcane, and I had read that this new one was supposed to be similar to that. I haven't heard the similarities at all. Elvis does folk-country well, and I was hoping for more.

    Really???? I may have to listen to this then. When I saw Burnett's name, I thought it was going to sound more like Sugarcane, which sounds nothing like Momofuku, which is not a bad thing just a personal preference is all.

    I really don't know what to compare it to. I've listened to it a few more times, and it definitely is good (a "grower", one of those awful cliched terms but I think it applies to this record), and I think I made the comparison to Momofuku because the first song is a rocker, like most of that album, and because it seems to be all over the place stylistically. But it doesn't sound like Sugarcane even though it shares some of the same players and the same producer. Actually, if you order it from his website you get a bonus EP which DOES sound a lot like Sugarcane. Odd.

    Oh yeah, maybe the best thing about the album, other than the fact that at this stage in his career Elvis has put out another good record, is that Marc Ribot plays a lot of good guitar on it.

  17. Elvis Costello's "National Ransom"

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    I've listened to it twice so far, and I haven't heard much that is making me want to go back to it again. I'll keep trying, but it seems too much like Momufuku to me, which is alright, but I really liked Sugarcane, and I had read that this new one was supposed to be similar to that. I haven't heard the similarities at all. Elvis does folk-country well, and I was hoping for more.

  20. (New) Album of the Year: Michael Formanek on ECM

    in New Releases

    Posted

    Well, I've listened this through, and am keen to give it more time. It's a good one and well worth investigating. Some great passages especially in the long 'Tonal Suite'. A bit - just a little bit - of ECM-itude to get past, as in the keening opener which could as easily be Garbarek, but we'll cope.

    I've only had time to listen to the first two, but I like the opener a lot. I don't hear any Garbarek.

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