Lazaro Vega

Just picked this up tonight and reading the ending chapters first, Larry -- really enjoy how your point of view includes the emotions communicated (or not) in the music of the current scene. A lot of people seem to be struggling with why no one wants to listen to the jazz in school "style" -- to point out that it is too homogenous from an emotional point of view seems obvious. I'm afraid I'm going to have to spin a seque set of "I Like the Sun Rise" and that piece you mentioned of Wynton's. Mulling over your observations on how Armstrong expanded possiblilties for individual sounds, while Parker, perhaps, limited them. Interesting, too, about the avant-garde. It is true that the challenge is, "If anything is possible what will hold the improvisation?" Cecil, Ornette, Sun Ra, Ayler, Trane, the Art Ensemble all came up with their own "musical universe" to deal with that question. Never thought of that as limiting, though, just a challenge to others to do the same. Just started reading, so....

Al, I knew that was you when I went to the Muskegon B&N and they said, "Oh, Mr. Kart's book came in yesterday." Then came back without it, saying, "It must have been a special order." I'm waiting for those boogaloo brothers, too. LV

Spontooneous, I think you have something there. Wow. Yeah, that is it. Isn't it? Now, after some time has passed, going back to it, that section doesn't sound like "Yesterdays" or "Body and Soul" as much as it does "Round Midnight." One of the reasons this came up in the musician's forum is because you all have the ears, or transcription skills, to say yeah or nay on the basis for some of these speculations. But, Spoontaneous, I think you win the cupie doll. Anyone else hear that?

Here's part of a letter I wrote to a friend in broadcasting that includes the web streaming rules for radio.... I’ve been meaning to write to you about the Internet Streaming Regulations for some time... I spoke to this man today and he cleared a lot of this up for me: Gary R. Greenstein Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. 1330 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20036 (w) 202.828.0126 © 202.302.2444 (f) 202.775.7253 These rules come out of a Federal Law passed by Congress in the 1990’s, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Sound Recording Performance Compliment, 17-USC-114 (j) (13) which lays out the rules for the transmission of copy righted material on the web. NPR made a private deal with a division of the RIAA called Sound Exchange which covers royalties for all member stations, but there are still certain statutory limits a web caster must comply with in order to retain their compulsory license to distribute sound recordings over the Internet. These include, 1) The Internet service cannot be distributed on a subscription basis. 2) the Internet service cannot be interactive or “on-demand.” That means your service cannot allow listeners to select a particular recording, whether or not as part of a program. 3) You cannot publish or distribute a program schedule or list of the titles of the specific sound recordings that will be transmitted in advance. 4) There are limitations on the number of tracks you can play from the same CD, album or cassette (“CD”), limitations on the number of songs by the same artist, and limitations on how many songs from the same CD or artist can be transmitted consecutively. In any three (3) hour period you can transmit up to three (3) different selections of sound recordings from any one CD, but you can transmit no more than two (2) consecutively. Additionally, in any three (3) hour period you can transmit up to four (4) different selections of sound recordings from the same featured artist, or up to four (4) different selections of sound recordings from any set or compilation CD’s, but you can transmit no more than three (3) consecutively. 5) there are restrictions on the webcasting of continuous, looped programs of less than three hours duration and on the number of times that a program may be repeated during a two-week period. You can transmit a program that is longer than one hour and that includes performances of sound recordings up to four times in any two week period that have been publicly announced in advance. If the program is less than one hour long, you can transmit the program up to three times in any two week period that have been publicly announced in advance. From NPR legal, as passed to me from WEMU, “The license from RIAA is contingent on station’s strict conformity with these provisions of the Digital Millennum Copyright Act. If you do not comply with the requirements, the license is void. Your station would be liable for damages for copyright infringement. Moreover, violations will create problems the next time we try to negotiate with the RIAA. While your station may not be so concerned, it is of great concern to many others relying on this, and future licenses. If you do not intend to abide by the terms of the licenses, you must not use them, and if you’re an NPR station, you must advise NPR. Your station’s name will be removed form the list of licensed stations that we provide to the RIAA and you will be operating without any license.” Now, the good news: after speaking with Mr. Greenstein today I learned you can seek a WAIVER of the restrictions of the statutory license provisions of the Sound Recording Compliment from the copyright holder, provide a report of use to the Sound Exchange, and detail in a cover letter that you have these statutory license waivers. That is, write a letter to the labels servicing you and ask their permission to use their music outside of these restrictions during this time period on this program for this duration. Which is exactly what I’m going to do. It only needs to be a sentence. For me, given the amount of historical programming we do, this will be essential. So that’s the story. Many stations outside of NPR are ignorant and in non-compliance of these laws. It’s really amazing.

WEMU hipped me to these rules. I'll post the restrictions after I get to work tonight. A lot of stations are just going their merry way, ignorant or in non-compliance with the law. We just can't risk that.

See, there's the rub: each station is responsible for ALL of the programming they web cast, and has, by law, to report it to Sound Exchange. So, Jazz Profiles, Portraits in Blue and other single artist shows, or interview and music programs, make the STATION potentially liable for "extra" royalties above the agreed upon flat rate fee negotiated with Sound Exchange...Or, the station may have it's web casting statutory license revoked...Your money or your web casting, or play by the rules. Since Blue Lake has featured a "Jazz Retrospecitve" format as the main "hook" for our listeners for more than 21 years, we will just not web cast that portion of the program. I'll do the first hour and a half of the show as "normal," that is, focus on a single artist for the first twenty minutes of each of the first two hours, and then the once we start web casting, go to the rules unless the content has been granted a waiver by the copyright owners (we have several so far).

The deal with Sound Exchange applies to ALL radio stations streaming on the web. NPR stations, under a blanket negotiation with Soun Exchange, are allowed to pay a flat royalty rate as long as they adhere to some very stringent programming rules that limit the number of times the same artist may be played in a three hour period, how many times music from the same collection may be played, etc. The only way out of this is to get a waiver from the copyright owner though I'm finding Columbia, Verve, Capitol (Blue Note) and RCA (no response as yet) are not willing to give blanket waivers to radio to get out from under this ruling. I've been sending copyright waivers to record labels for about a month now. Actually, I should send one to you guys and Steve Talaga, too. So, if I didn't get these waivers and went outside of the restrictions, we'd be liable for the "extra" royalty payments based on the per listener equation. We're hoping to be streaming on the web beginging sometime in January. Lazaro

Well, how about Nichols' take on Monk's harmonic leanings? I've heard Monk wrote certain songs always to be played in the same key and that switching them up would really set him off. Not that it is a bad thing, yet given the era's fetish with changes that would make Monk even more anamolous.

The above review seems more about the version on "Footsteps" than it does the new DVD. The DVD "extras" include an interview with Branford and Alice Coltrane that is very interesting. If Branford draws flak for touching "A Love Supreme," then what of Rova plus guests doing "Ascension"? That's a killer, by the way. They take up that energy music with no qualms.

Allen, Larry, all: Thanks. What I'm seeing reading Ellison's letters about jazz is his reverance for the blues tradition over the onslaught of modernism (Ray Charles comes up as an innovator he'd prefer in the late 50's early 60's as one example, and the conclusions he comes to about Bird seem to me the same arguments we've been hearing out of New York since Reagan was in office). It appears, as much as it has been morphed into something else all together (how does Stanley take away the influence of classical music from jazz and get away with it?), that those planks of the current establishement's platform are derived from him. That had nothing to do with Ellison's art in comparison to the writing ability of the current set of New York journalists and talking heads. He just appeared from his ideas to be their "spiritual"/critical leader.

? Not sure.

Randy on an old Palo Alto LP called "Heart of the Forrest" with liner notes by Bob Porter. And you're welcome Mr. Keep Me Company At Night with Musical Insight, Inspiration and Whole Lotta Soul.

Been working to book this band in March here in Michigan. Sure, Jesse is not a tuba virtuoso on the level of the players mentioned in the review, or Bob Stewart for that matter, but his playing live was coloristic, rhythmic or just plain swinging when the band played in Grand Rapids last April. His role in the band was more like a cello or viola than a bass: sort of moving between the lead and rhythm parts. I'm ready to hear this group with Adam Lane. Kalaparush is something special. He might not always have a perfectly "on" day, but when he gets in his zone his sound is really something hard won and personal. And he's a former student of Sam Rivers, fwiw, giving him a scale based concept that moves between inside and outside with ease: as in honoring the original scale or adding notes, or sounds, outside of it. But his playing isn't really free in the sense of being sound based in total. He maintains a skeleton of formal music design to play off of. And it draws you in.

That was fun. Randy's request for "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" for his Mom about knocked me over, you know, hearing Paul Vornhagen singing that in his Chet Baker style voice all distant in those lyrics. Skid glad you heard it. Yes, Steve Talaga's recordings with Randy are something else, especially Basement Alchemy. Did you catch the 1978 Grand Rapids recording with Randy, Shirley Scott and Jimmy Forrest?

Been reading Ralph Ellison's writings about jazz recently and it seems he's the main critical inspiration for some of the philosophical bent of Murray, Crouch and Co. especially in Ellison's story about Bird and his relation to modernism, audience and aesthetics...

You know I might have some of that on a single that Randy-o laid on me last year. We don't start programming Holiday music until 2 weeks before Christmas.

Rivers on Tavis Smiley http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3090106

I'm going to have to preen the Jimmy Forrest session, but look forward to focusing on Organissimo, the music with Talaga and Paul Vornhagen. Anything else you want on the air? Peace. Lazaro WBLV FM 90.3/WBLU FM 88.9 does not yet stream on the web.

From what Millovan said the links might be backwards as the first link (on top) sounded to me like the freer of the two parts. The second link sounded like he was playing free tempo over changes and that could very well be "Body and Soul." What do you think, Jim? And for what it is worth, there's bebop in that first link. He all but says "bebop" on the horn at one point about 3/4 of the way through. Hawk's tone, dynamics, phrasing and harmonic sequencing of his ideas set him apart from Chu Berry, who seemed to play (thanks Chuck) with more even note placement, smoother tone and a more uniform sense of dynamics. And the simplicity and concentration on sound of Ben Webster made his playing that much more discernable, too, for being of the same "school."

Here's a place where you can download the "Hawk Variations" on MP3. http://mydamnforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=327

Cool biz. Thanks guys.

That would be great Ghost.

Ed Wilkerson told me much of his writing was influenced by Archie Shepp's recording "Fire Music," and though critics outside of Chicago will often talk about Edward's "Chicago based" sound, it may be fair to say Shepp's influence as a player can be heard in Wilkerson's brawling solos, too.

Have functioned under the assumption that Coleman Hawkins 1948 solo saxophone recording "Picasso" took as its harmonic path the chord changes to "Body and Soul." Someone just challenged that, saying in fact the performance is without pre-determined chord sequence, which means not only is it the first solo saxophone recording in jazz, but that it pre-dates the Tristano recordings "Intuition" and "Digression" as examples of "free" playing. (One could make the point that Hawk's "Body and Soul," with the themeless improvisation, showed the way towards a new freedom in jazz, but that was still on the changes). Thoughts?

Only 10 people have showed up at the UICA tonight.