Lazaro Vega

Hi Dan, I don't know if you'll ever top your arrangement of "Oh! Susanna" from The Adventures of The Dan Karlsberg Group. Classic.

A key point in the first clip is when Mtume brings up Henry Pleasant's notion of technical exhaustion where, "There's a certain point on any instrument in any and everything that's going to be played within the context and confines of that instrument has already been done." "What more's going to be played on the tenor sax then all those cats that came before?" "If you're going to create new music you must have access to new sounds and colors." That expansion of the vocabulary was were Roscoe Mitchell was coming from when I asked him about this issue of tradition and where he's coming from. He put it, "There aren't any cracks." As in, there aren't any cracks between the great musical/instrumental innovations of sound in Black American music where there's room enough to develop your own highly specialized, distinctive voice because all of those gaps have been filled in over time given the the great lineage of players. Crouch's rebutle to that idea here is put in it's place, yet what is worth considering is Jackie McLean's comment, or insight, which said the development of bebop as a music wasn't taken to it's fartherst point, that there was room within the style to delve deeper. By now, you know, and for the last thirty years, we've heard what can be done with mixing and matching those earlier "underdeveloped" styles.

I remember interviewing Galper twice in the 1980's and maybe early 1990's (on one of those he was out with Steve Ellington) and when the subject of "free jazz" came up, as in the possibility of him playing some, he had a standard quip about bringing along " a broken Chinese cymbal" that he "might" play on. In both of those instances he played a public concert and a private concert as well. He recently came back through with his trio of guys from Seattle to the private venue and played that "furious rubato" music to his hard-bop fans eternal dismay. Personally those records newer records don't sit well with me -- they don't convey a sense of orchestration. I mean, even when Roscoe comes out and plays a forte power chord for 40 or 50 minutes, making that kind of statement, his band is operating on all these layers within the maelstrom. Galper doesn't seem to be developing the trio along those lines in his free music, and one thing he was good at before, tension and release, seemed underplayed giving the music an unremitting sameness.

http://frakathustra.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/music-and-politics-strange-bedfellows-get-stranger/

Thanks for the tip -- he sent a copy to Blue Lake Public Radio and we've been playing it often.

*** For immediate release *** For more information contact: press@northern-spy.com or 646.801.NSPY Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 Brooklyn, NY “The team that brought back ESP moves on to form new company: Northern-Spy Entertainment” The staff responsible for resurrecting the iconic record label ESP-Disk’ in recent years -- Tom Abbs (General Manager), Douglas McGregor (Chief Financial Officer), Adam Downey (Director of Promotions) and Robert Keefe (Publishing Administrator) -- have all resigned their positions and struck out on their own to launch a new partnership, Northern-Spy Entertainment, LLC. more here

Brother Yusef Lateef is 90 this Saturday. Tonight on Jazz From Blue Lake we'll begin with his tenor saxophone and flute featured with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, Donald Byrd, Charles Mingus, Cannonball Adderley and his own classics Morning and Plum Blossom; further into the night we'll tap his Yal Records catalogue and the collaboration with percussionist Adam Rudolph for wildly creative music. 10 pm-3 am www.bluelake.org/radio

Steve Richko: Pianist began working professionally as a teenager When the fleet-fingered pianist Steve Richko really got wound up during a solo, the swinging momentum he generated gave the impression of a train roaring down the tracks. Part of the charm of his playing was that you either hopped on board or got left in the dust. http://www.freep.com/article/20101007/NEWS08/10070428/1039/ENT04/Steve-Richko-Pianist-began-working-professionally-as-a-teenager

Blue Lake Public Radio is featuring Von tonight, too, in celebration of his birthday. Thanks for the responses. Will probably steer clear of this material on the radio this evening.

Thanks, Niko. So then it is Von on the titles other than These Foolish Things?

Charlie Parker Rec. October 23, 1950 at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom, Chicago. Inferior sound because the tape was recorded off of a dressing room speaker, and some items are marred by conversation. Charlie Parker (as), unknown (voc 1), Von Freeman (ts), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d) Early set: Indiana I Can't Get Started Anthropology Out of Nowhere Get Happy Late set: Hot House Embraceable You -1 Body and Soul -1 Cool Blues Stardust -1 [inc] All the Things You Are [inc] Billie's Bounce Pennies from Heaven [inc] Last set: There's a Small Hotel These Foolish Things [inc] Keen and Peachy [inc] Hot House [inc] Swivel Hips (perv. IDed as Bird, Bass, and Out) [inc] Goodbye [inc] BIRD SEED Stash CD STB 2500 Recorded in the Pershing Hotel, Chicago on October 23, 1950 where the Von Freeman group was the house band. Charlie Parker (as), unknown (voc), Von Freeman (ts), unknown (tb), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d) Pennies from Heaven (Johnston/Burke) (2:55) Note: This is session no. 133 in John C. Burton's Charlie Parker discography. Robert Campbell informs me that the last set which contains Swivel Hips, a song composed by Claude McLin and recorded by his band for Chess and therefore that makes it pretty unlikely that Von was in the band for that set. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charlie Parker BIRDBOX VOLUME 8 (CD) Charlie Parker (as), unknown (voc 1), Von Freeman (ts), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d) 1. Indiana (5:57) 2. I Can't Get Started with Country Gardens Tag (2:49) 3. Anthropology (5:20) 4. Out of Nowhere (2:48) 5. Get Happy (5:36) 6. Hot House (5:06) 7. Embraceable You (2:01) 8. Body and Soul (2:16) 9. Cool Blues (3:15) 10. Stardust (:57) - v 11. All the Things You Are (3:08) - v 12. Billie's Bounce (3:13) 13. Pennies From Heaven (3:21) Notes from Robert Campbell: Edited to Bird solos. I don't think this is the same night as the following, more famous, session, but likely the same gig. Info from Bregman, Bukowski and Saks, The Charlie Parker Discography, published by Cadence Jazz Books, 1993: All titles from the first two sets were released on Zim ZM 1003 (LP) and JUTB CD 3008. All titles from the last set released on Savoy LP SJL 1132 and Savoy CD 4423 as well as JUTB CD 3008. Partial titles (prob. just "There's a Small Hotel, which runs 10 or 11 minutes) on Savoy Jazz CD-0154. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charlie Parker ONE NIGHT IN CHICAGO Savoy SJL 1132 (LP) Rec. October 1950 at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom, Chicago on a private tape Charlie Parker (as), Von Freeman (ts), George Freeman (g), Chris Anderson (p), Leroy Jackson (b), Bruz Freeman (d) 1. There's a Small Hotel (10:09) 2. These Foolish Things (2:06) 3. Keen and Peachy (4:53) 4. Hot House (9:00) 5. Bird, Bass and Out (Rhythm tune) (3:34) 6. Goodbye (with voiceover) (3:08) Notes from Robert Campbell: This set was issued in 1960 in edited form by Savoy (MG 12152) as "An Evening at Home with the Bird," which has been reissued on CD by Denon and includes items 1-4 with some editing and duplicating. An excellent live session. The recordings of the horns and guitar are very good fidelity. A definitive version of Hot House. On the original issue, the tenor solo was repeated on Small Hotel, as was Bird's solo on Foolish Things, and the closing Keen and Peachy theme was grafted onto the beginning. Other solos are edited out, and appause is added. The later LP issue apppears to use the complete source tape undoctored. The tenor player could be Claude McLin. Bird, Bass and Out starts at the Bird Solo, and there is a riff head played by the Tenor. This is probably some original tune from the backup band's book with a real name. Goodby is some kind of a very morose closing theme. This may be part of the same night's performance as the previous session, but there is no overlap of tunes. I tend to doubt that is the case. (Does that mean it could be Claude McLin for the whole she-bang?)

Saturday night in Grand Rapids at Mexicans San Frontiers -- long time west coast trombonist, composer, bandleader Michael Vlatkovich on a rare trip to Michigan. Damon Short on drums, Jonathan Golove electric cello. Vlatkovich records are on www.pfMentum.com while the most recent Damon Short CD is on www.ninewinds.com. The trio will play two more hits in Chicago this week, one at the Hungry Brain.

That Dizzy Gillespie like suite starting with Things To Come was impressive, though the parts were different than Diz's - the rhythms played in the trumpet unisons were sped up, the line slicked up some, but, man, they played well together. So that was Irby on alto in the Johnny Hodges-like role?

Scrolling, using scrolls to read, went out with moveable type. Thanks to the internet for bringing it back. The journalistic pyramid has been around for a long time -- who what where when -- with the lead in the first sentence. The front loading of information in that clear simple language Hemmingway made art with. I recall reading Larry Kart in column inches and was just amazed at how good he was at that type of writing (usually not realizing how good it was until well into the 5th or 6th paragraph and going like, hey, this flows). If you can make short and sweet read like butter than you're a word cook. Cookin'... (edit for "you're" )

Extraordinary. Looking through those and wondering if I'm seeing telegraph poles in some of the cities.....

As Nessa explained to me, the second version of "Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City" features original music by Roscoe Mitchell played by the orchestra, with text by Jarman.

Tonight on Jazz From Blue Lake the multi-dimensional musical world of Joseph Jarman, including much by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, his duos with Anthony Braxton, the trio Equal Interest, his composition "Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City" played by symphony orchestra...Out on Blue Lake at 12 a.m. presents Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley live at the Village Vanguard in 2008. 10 p.m. -3 a.m. http://www.bluelake.org/radio

That Signal to Noise interview IS good -- the writer clearly describes what it's like to hang out with Margaret and Henry, to decipher Henry's verbal ideas and he uses much the same analogy as I did in describing Henry's music as on or off. Alan, your question is more difficult because I didn't hear him live in the 1960's, and he isn't in general playing straight ahead or groove based music nowadays. He does go after things that he nails, that move through scales and hit particular rhythms within the world he's improvising in at a given moment, and he'll also smear and circle and smudge at sounds as part of his improvisations. I mean, people today will come back and say, after hearing Eddie Lockjaw Davis play with Basie, "Sorry folks, I trascribed this and he's playing outside of the changes" as if that's the end of the musical value of Jaw's solo. So, a loaded question. I hear the depth and freedom, and I've heard the precision, though I've also heard sounds that happen at the "right" point in the music, though they are not precise in a conventional musical way.

Had the pleasure of bringing Kalaparush and The Light to Grand Rapids Kendall School of Art and Design, a coffeehouse concert, on April 1, 2004; and that trio appeared live from the studios of Blue Lake Public Radio the first night we offered a web stream, March 3, 2005. If any one is interested I'm sure he could use a gig.

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/859622--jazz-master-henry-grimes-makes-up-for-lost-time

Though after the first question was thinking about some of Sonny's great tunes. Yes he blows more than he writes, but he's written several classics.

I was there.

An important member of the Seattle jazz community according to John Ewing who's members took lessons from Caliman, as did Thomas Marriott. Recently ran across Caliman while reading about Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra. Glad he was able to share some of that life wisdom with many during his final years, and happy Origin records was dedicated to recording him frequently.

Margaret said, "Hi" and congratulations, Chuck. Jim, when Henry and Roy were at the station in 2006, Henry making his public debut on violin, they warmed up in the sound check playing "The Shadow of Your Smile," Henry walking a nice bass line, Roy playing the melody, a 1/2 chorus or something on the changes just to get levels. Then when we went to air, Henry played "zoop" on the violin and Roy played "zeep" on the trumpet and it was in perfect counterpoint moving away from a tonal center that wasn't declared until Henry's first gesture on the violin. That blew my mind pretty good. Because the sounds were more refined that zoop and zeep -- they had contours and character that were graceful and controlled. Though improvised, nothing was approximate. So I was trying to get back to that this week, to discuss it. Henry basically said the music is always. When you're playing it, you're stepping into something that's already going, and when you stop, you've only stepped out of it. But the music is still going on. And that's exactly what it sounded like when he and Roy were playing, because in a mili-second they were way past "on" and deep into some detailed conversation that was long past pleasantries and introduction and exposition, even, and already at the give and take at an important conceptual level of discussion. The idea was, seemingly, already stated and they were now, in the blink of an eye, weighing in on its merits, problems, exhalations and nightmares. Roscoe might call that "The Flow of Things." Henry said he got his first true contact with this notion while working with Sonny Rollins.

That looks like a great day! Congratulations to the family.