Lazaro Vega

Agreed: the anthropological aspects of Sun Ra's "Cosmo Dramas" trumped the sexual ones, if there were any. Saw Sun Ra many times and never thought, Oh look, the black Village People. This is at a time when Parliment and the Ohio Players were sexifying in all kinds of ways. Ra's music seemed a-sexual to me -- there was more going on that dealt with an Afro-Centric total music approach wrapped up in an escapist cosmology that, underneath the camp and kitsch, aimed at truth telling about the human condition. Ra was about as free a musician as I've ever encountered -- free to do anything. If he wanted to talk free love the idea he'd be stopped by propriety is whack.

Let me know when you're listening and I play it again, Fass -- we can use it like any other cd.

Since Blue Lake Public Radio began streaming in March of 2005 we've only had one access point to our web stream, a Windows Media Player. This week we added an MP3 stream, too, and if you tried us and had trouble, perhaps this new connection will alleviate the problems. For a full schedule, list of featured artists, the local concert calander (The Jazz Datebook) and a link to listen live please visit www.bluelake.org and click on Public Radio.

All non-jazzers are out of the loop. J. Smart is a non-jazzer. Therefore J. Smart is out of the loop. And this type of attitude is why today's jazz lost its audience. You can talk about re-issues and compeating with the past, and that's a factor, but this kind of "if you don't know, you're not welcome and in any case your opinions are ill informed and invalid on their face" is the most alienating, audience deflating, belittling point of view an artist or writer on the arts can take. What's worse is it sounds like the writer is defending a status quo that is false or at best imaginary: the only constant in jazz throughout its ENTIRE development is change. Blues and swing mutated in the 1960's, they didn't go away but became another part of themselves, and an element of the a music which was always comprised of various elements, i.e. a fusion of influences formed into a personal music. The process was always greater than the sum of it's parts. To point out two important parts of jazz as the only valid parts, and then not recognize them when they change, is to follow a map that will surely get everyone lost.

Boy, you know the state of cultural affairs is gone to zilch when Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor get the tabloid treatment. "The Magic City" is not mediocre, it's one of the great orchestral jazz works of the era.

Don't forget your tie!

I'm hearing that it was Ray with the Basie band, but that the sound was bad on the band, good on the vocals, so they re-did the band parts with the current outfit and meshed it with Ray's voice, as first heard with Basie. Convoluted, but still looking forward to it.

Anyone aware of this new release? Have word that it's coming on Fantasy, though my browser won't work at the Concord Music Group web site, sooooo.......

It's been a while since I read Szwed's book "Space is the Place," but didn't he talk about how Sun Ra's testicles didn't drop all the way through his body as they do in "normal" development and the malady, which was eventually corrected, imprinted heavily on his sexuality? From what I remember, though, Ra's response was to de-emphasize sex, esepcially in his music -- not that erotica ignored June Tyson, or that the Arkestra couldn't bump and grind, but Sun Ra's poems and lyrics meditate on love more than sex, don't they? I don't recall Szwed's take on homosexuality but it would seem strange that the male preference exerted itself in business (keeping Gilmore from recording outside the fold) and little in poetry or music. There must be more interesting things to wonder about out loud as relates to the mystery, Mr.Ra.

Wish I was there. Blue Lake Public Radio will feature Kenny Burrell's recordings this evening after 10 p.m. et.

Thanks for the link (interested in that UMO Orchestra Plays Muhal Richard Abrams in the 500 series). As I posted under "Steve Lacy Could Have Been 72 today" this duo album with Mal was recorded just before he made a US tour bringing his quintet to Grand Rapids for a concert I produced via The Urban Institute For Contemporary Arts. Never could afford to present the Lacy/Waldron duo. They were wonderful in Chicago.

Indeed. Looking forward, too. Lacy came to Chicago so often in the 1980's and 90's...the Steve Lacy/Roscoe Mitchell duet concerts at Links Hall..Friday night was Lacy's music, Saturday (which I saw) was Roscoe's music. Roscoe employed his "cards" concept, writing out snippets of music on cards that the musician moves between. Only he did it by putting the musical information in a grid he drew on a big colored sheet and laid it across the floor. The musicians were then supposed to step into different squares and improvise or play straight the music written in them, and switch to another square when they felt like it. There were cards on the walls, too, if I remember, and the place was packed with defrosting humans. Roscoe went to town, but Lacy didn't really engage in this method. He didn't move around a lot on the squares, from what I remember, though he played. Focused on his sound. In any case, it felt "inevitable" that Lacy'd play across Michigan on his way west. And he did; played in Grand Rapids twice, and Ann Arbor many times more. It helped that the tour manager's family was from Grand Rapids. Steve Lacy was easy to work with. In transit he slept. He swung through in 1988 following the release of the Novus Recording "Momentum." After his sextet played The Ark in Ann Arbor a fleet of two cars and a van were dispatched to bring Steve Lacy to Grand Rapids. Pianist Bobby Few and drummer Oliver Johnson where in my car. (Few would play live on Blue Lake Public Radio in 2002 with Avram Feffer). During the trip from Ann Arbor I made the mistake of suggesting we stop at a Meijer. Violations of the open container law entered my vehicle. Lacy's bottom lip was a mess. He took it easy that time, as well he should have. The band played "Gay Paree Bop" at the climax of the concert, which included "The Bath" and "The Door," the title of the next Novus album. Irene Aebi was on the band with voice, violin and, perhaps, cello; Steve Potts, alto and soprano; Bobby Few, piano; J.J. Avenel, bass; and drummer Oliver Johnson was in full attack, fomenting a rebellion of the rhythm section that led to him leaving the band; eventually replaced by John Betsch. Looking at this discography, the most likely time the second concert happened was near the end of May, 1993. They recorded "Vespers" at the end of the tour, after many dates across Canada. The second concert was held at Aquinas College with just the quintet, no Aebi, and Betsch on drums. Again, we picked up the band from Ypsilanti where I think they played The Frog Island Music Festival. Lacy compared Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor by noting Arwolf, a jazz radio producer at WEMU FM, asked him if the Steve Lacy Quintet instrumentation was based on Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra's instrumentation (the band with clarinet and alto in the front line, Earl Hines at the piano). It was. He noted I didn't ask a comparable question, or draw the comparison (though after he mentioned it -- there's no other famous band in jazz with that instrumentation). The Aquinas Concert was great. By then we had "The Lacy Rider" down. Nice spread, plenty to drink, and the band stayed at the hall long past the end of the show. They'd been there for hours. Had rehearsal, then the two set concert, then just hung out. I'd gone to a printer and blown up giant black and white images of Cecil Taylor, Monk and Ellington to hang on the walls behind the band. Musically, the most powerful moment was "Esteem," a composition Lacy wrote for Johnny Hodges (remember on "Soprano Sax" Lacy recorded "Day Dream)." Lacy made a duo version of "Esteem" with Gil Evans in 1988. From the beginning of 1993 until he appeared in G.R. right before the "Vespers" session , Lacy recorded "Esteem" twice (once during a club date). It was just on his mind and very "worked up" at that point. They just nailed it. -Revenue- : Steve Lacy Quartet : Steve Lacy (sop) Steve Potts (as,sop) Jean-Jacques Avenel (b) John Betsch (d) Milan, February 23, 24 & 25, 1993 The rent Soul Note (It)121234-2 Revenue - This is it - The uh uh uh - Esteem - I do not believe - Gospel -Let's call this...esteem- : Steve Lacy (sop) Mal Waldron (p) Concert, "Playhouse Theatre", Oxford, May 16, 1993 Introduction (by Lol Coxhill) Slam (E)SLAMCD501 Let's call this... - Monk's dream - In a sentimental mood - Snake out - Blues for Aida - Johnny come lately - What it is - Evidence - Epistrophy - Esteem - -Vespers- : Steve Lacy Octet : Tom Varner (fhr) Steve Lacy (sop) Steve Potts (sop,as) Ricky Ford (ts) Bobby Few (p) Jean-Jacques Avenel (b) John Betsch (d) Irène Aebi (voice) New York, July 5, 6, 7 a 9, 1993 Multidimensional (to Miles Davis) Soul Note (It)121260-2 Unconsummated...If we come close (to Corrado Costa) - Grass (to John Carter) - Wait for tomorrow (to Keith Haring) - Across (to Charles Mingus) - I do not believe (to Stan Getz) - Vespers (to Arshile Gorky) - Note : The poems in the above CD are from Blaga Dimitrova and used with the permission of the Wesleyan University Press. On the way out of town a promo with music bed came on the radio for the week ahead on "Jazz From Blue Lake," and it included mention of programs featuring Milt Hinton and Scott Hamilton. Lacy looked at me like I was a complete and total traitor. His concept of taking the music to people, of being on the offensive musically and not waiting around to play what people find comfortable, was everything. Being around him was a profound learning experience.

Does anyone know this one? -Let's call this...esteem- :Slam (E)SLAMCD501 Steve Lacy (sop) Mal Waldron (p) Concert, "Playhouse Theatre", Oxford, May 16, 1993 Introduction (by Lol Coxhill) Let's call this... - Monk's dream - In a sentimental mood - Snake out - Blues for Aida - Johnny come lately - What it is - Evidence - Epistrophy - Esteem -

Just responding to what Allen is talking about, calling concert keys and the key the instrument is pitched in, and seeing as how Fathead plays alto, tenor and flute, he's all up in that. Froncek was telling me a story of working with Fathead in Ann Arbor, and Newman got tangled up in explaining the different keys he needed to play in that night, eventually just waving at his wrack of horns and laughing about it. They got straight. It was just a funny moment.

Steve Lacy is featured tonight on Jazz From Blue Lake, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

There's transposing, and then there's Fathead Newman. How does he keep it straight?

They sustain the collective with over lapping layers of creativity throughout "On the Mountain." Big Red Peaches was written for an Odwalla juice commercial, and recorded with an r&b sound on Mitchell's Note Factory ECM record "Nine to Get Ready." Love hearing Jarman sing the lyric to Odwalla, even though his voice is what it is.

Will do. The Herbie Nichols Project adds the previously unrecorded Nichols compostions to the legacy, and "enlarges" Nichols original trio compositions by adding horn parts. (Nichols did previously record with horns, as a sideman, so they weren't playing his music. See: Rex Stewart, Joe Thomas). Those transcriptions Chuck mentions are a good example of Nichols music played with the fluidity of bop, the punch of a big band, and the textures of a chamber group by the ICP Orchestra. House Party Starting. Writers were intrigued by Nichols attention to detail in the rhythm of his music. As Kimbrough points out in the Night Lights interview the West Indian and African influences, bebop hyper drive, Teddy Wilson touch and dignity, the piano translated to ensemble music of Jelly Roll. Maybe the attention to detail in Morton's music led Nichols to even "score" parts for the drummer. Not sure if he does that here, but the original Nichols 'Shuffle Montgomery' then the Herbie Nichols Project doing the same tune, featuring their drummer, Matt Wilson. (And that introduction to the program was disaster on the air just now -- toomuchfunatcamp! and need to add the classical influence....)

I am now! (edit to add, Whoops, maybe not: don't have it here, just "Locomotive").

Many thanks. Interesting that when Marian McPartland recorded it in a collection of Mary Lou Williams' music, she credited Herbie. http://tinyurl.com/nnkg3

Inspired by this program, which aired June 25th on Blue Lake, tonight Jazz From Blue Lake will feature the Herbie Nichols Project, the music of Herbie Nichols and various other musicians associated with Herbie Nichols' music, Roswell Rudd, Ben Allison etc. (At midnight we take it out on Blue Lake with an unrelated hour that will feature recent music by trumpeter Herb Robertson). 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. e.t. www.bluelake.org . What was the name of the Mary Lou Williams tune she copped from Herbie?

Recall seeing clips of the Brubeck Quartet playing at the Mansion, in black and white, and during "Take Five," as the camera pans across the warm valleys, Desmond quotes that old nursery rhyme, "playmate, come out and play with me, slide down my apple tree...rain barrel....cellar door....and we'll be playmates for ever more." I about died. With his horn rims on. Good luck Paul!

Glad to share the memories. The Columbia Monk tribute concerts have been re-issued in America, on Koch records, I believe as two double cds. One listen and you'll hear that Lacy was really "on." He seems the most inspired soloist on almost every set, something the audience responds to as well. Have to dig the duo selections from that concert again. The things I remember about the Monk big band reunion concert -- I was in the second row behind the photo pit -- were how swinging it was, the stellar solos, and how well the band played the arrangements. Don't know how much rehearsal they had, but they nailed those. I believe they were playing the Hall Overton arrangements. Is that right? Some of the sax soli sections were crazy and they just ate them up.

Mal's advise as relates to presenting music? I've forgotten his exact words, Chuck, so please serve as backup memory if you're able to recall what I told you. He was forthright about taking it straight ahead and keeping music uncompromised by commercial distractions. As it boiled down he was confident in his path through music and counciled no compromise in the presentation of jazz. So did Lacy. I'd been walking from the Grant Park underground. Mal appeared on the street in front of the old Blackstone Hotel, on the Michigan avenue side. A couple in front of me on the sidewalk walked up to him as he was lighting a "Moore." "Excuse me? Can you tell me where Marshal Fields is?" Waldron struck a match, pulled the un-lit cigarette out of his mouth, smiled and said, "No, I just flew in from Germany a couple of minutes ago" then lit up. The couple turned to me and asked, "Do you know where Marshall Fields is?" I said, "No, but aren't you Mal Waldron?" He was suprised. So was the couple. They had no idea but were intrigued. I looked at them and said, "Do you know who Billie Holiday was?" They did. "He played with her." Mal laughed, but didn't laugh it off. He said what he learned from accompanying Billie, but mostly remembered being overwhelmed in front of a jazz audience on a scale he hadn't imagined as a young man. "That's right, you were on t.v. with her. 'Nervous.'?" "I WAS." After the cigarette and more questions he was like, If we're going to do this, let's sit down and have some coffee. We wedged under a black rubber topped table at the greasy spoon in the Blackstone for breakfast and coffee. After explaining in the previous week I'd done a retrospective radio feature on him for this appearance he went into details and he hipped me to what more could have been a part of the radio program and why. We talked for about 40 minutes. It was helpful, he said, because he was still recovering from an amnisic (sp) episode in his life, right? Didn't he go through a crisis like that? Of course, it was far more helpful to me than he'll ever know. At that time his quartet recording with Joe Henderson, David Friesen, and Billy Higgins, "One Entrance, Many Exits," was freshest in my mind, as well as the duo record with Steve Lacy on Hat Hut called "Herbe De L'oubli." "Hurray for Herbie" on that recording is 17 minutes long. Some of the long, feeling out improvisations revealing ideas that would be refined over the long course of their collaboration. I asked him, "What does 'Herbe De L'oubli' mean?" He had his finger tips pressed together with his elbows on the table, making this pyramid with his face behind it. He moved out from behind his hands and said with a broad grin, "The green grass of forgetfulness." He brought up the Mingus and Max Roach period recordings which I'd missed, talked about Booker Little as someone to pay closer attention to. "The Quest" was required listening by Nessa, and Waldron appreciated that. There was no "All Music Guide" to give you the narrative then. Just books, records, concerts and most of all knowing Chuck. That was Chuck's gig: putting together a Monk re-union big band that included Monk. After Monk's death the project was carried through with Mal. Killer band. Steve Lacy, Phil Woods, Charlie Rouse in the sax section. Supposed to have been Pepper Adams, but he was ill, too, so Howard Johnson. Ben Riley on drums? Who was in that band, Chuck? Do you still have the set list? After the show the crowd pressed back to the Blackstone. Waldron, in his dark suit, was standing at the top of the marble stairs just beaming when he saw us. He held his hands open at about pocket level, just grinned, and said, "What did you think?" Then he was mobbed. Lacy and Waldron. That was Lacy's thing: duets with piano. He recorded with Gil Evans, Micheal Smith and Ulrich Gumpert in that format, but it was his assoication with Mal that developed beyond just another project. They were a working band, a special one, but on-going.

Ha! Chuck!!!! Yogi Berra on jazz: Interviewer: Yogi, can you explain jazz? Yogi: I can't, but I will.... 90% of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong. Interviewer: I don't understand. Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it. Interviewer: Do you understand it? Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it. Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today? Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Interviewer: What is syncopation? Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds. Interviewer: Now I really don't understand. Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.