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ghost of miles
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Posts posted by ghost of miles
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Will the real Dr. J please stand up?
Joe, thanks for stopping by and please return.
Dr. J has to be Tony, based on a reading of said Dr.'s posts.
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Mr. Milazzo has checked in!
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Yes, I ordered it this morning, and lucky for me, too, before Jim's review sends board-members stampeding to deplete BMG's stock!
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Damn--that sure beats hell out of the AMG review!
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Catesta: I do believe that Tony is Dr. J, seen here recently.
Hey, I saw that moniker and wondered... I remember mentioning him on this board once and eliciting several positive responses. I think Dan Gould was still in touch with him and mentioned that he perused this place from time to time. Glad he's here, if it is indeed him.
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Sold!
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I've got a couple of freebies still coming from BMG, and they have the mini-LP Verve re-issue of Herman's Philips album 1963. Jim Sangrey swears by this period of Herman, and who knows if the alleged Philips "box" will ever come to pass, so I'm thinking of pulling the trigger--any thoughts from those who might already have it?
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I was thinking about starting this thread today anyway, and then saw Chris' topic about the old board. I really miss Joe Milazzo; I know he's active on JC and AAJ, but he's a BNBB vet whose presence would be most welcome here.
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Checking in from Douglas, Michigan (just 60 miles south of Chuck Nessa's swell jazz joint) where I'm on the next-to-last day of my vacation, perusing the following:
Robert Dupuis, BUNNY BERIGAN: ELUSIVE LEGEND OF JAZZ
William L. Van Deburg, NEW DAY IN BABYLON: THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT AND AMERICAN CULTURE, 1965-1975
Chester Himes, LONELY CRUSADE
Arthur Conan Doyle, THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
Henry James, THE ART OF FICTION AND OTHER ESSAYS
However, I have no CD player with me and am suffering a serious jazz jones... particularly with the CDs I bought from Chuck smokin' a hole in my suitcase.
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Congratulations, Mike!
With my other station's permission (still pending), I'm hoping to re-broadcast my Gryce show, including a great deal of music and many comments from Mike, on WFHB-Bloomington Wednesday, July 30 from 6-9 p.m. (The show originally ran as a two-parter on our local NPR affiliate, but war coverage blocked out the stream.) I'll keep folks posted...
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Ah, well, time for me to get my lumps for the names I omitted, inadvertently for the most part. I guess I associate Tyner so strongly with Coltrane's 1960's sound--which, on the surface anyway, does not seem to resemble the "Blue Note sound" very much--that I neglected to put him in there. Ammons and Lewis, whom Jim Sangrey mentioned, did cross my mind, but they--along with Johnson and Hodes--represent the dawning years of the label, and while they helped set the template in some ways, they don't represent what I think of as the Blue Note sound. (Ouch, I feel the flames already!) In retrospect I probably should have included Tyner and one of the Ammons/Lewis/Johnson/Hodes coterie, and dropped one or two of the iconoclasts.
I voted for Hancock, by the way, after the initial Silver/Clark twinge. I think Herbie's range touched nearly every aspect of the BN aesthetic.
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Not the "best," but the pianist that for you captures the Blue Note "house sound." (Yes, I know, a vague, categorical concept...)
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Alan Wald's WRITING FROM THE LEFT: NEW ESSAYS ON RADICAL CULTURE AND POLITICS. Wald is writing a three-volume history of 20th-century American leftists and authors (only published volume so far is EXILES FROM A FUTURE TIME). Fascinating to read how many radical writers went underground into the pulp industry after WWII; anybody who's interested in leftist culture, history, and art should check out his work.
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Evidently this happened a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn't heard about it until Steve Schwartz from WGBH-Boston posted the news over on Jazz Corner. He also posted this remembrance from Bill Crow via the jazzwestcoast list:
Allen was an interesting guy. A real chameleon. He could learn thingsfaster than anyone I ever met. He went to Aspen once for his first
adventure on skis, and stayed on for a while as an instructor. He entered a
brand new Ferrari he had bought in New York and driven to Florida at
Sebring. He won his heat, having never driven in a race before. ("I read a
book about it once," he said.)
When he was young, Allen fell in love with Ben Webster's playing and
memorized all his solos from Duke's records. He went uptown and found the
hotel where Ben was living, knocked on his door and asked if Ben would take
him as a pupil. He got out his tenor and played Ben's solo on "Cottontail,"
sounding just like him. Ben ran down the hall and knocked on a friends
door: "Come in here and hear what this little white boy is playing!" He
wouldn't teach Allen, but he let him hang around, and Allen sort of became
his protegé. Then Allen went to California, where he heard and fell in love
with Lester Young. He changed his mouthpiece and reed and began sounding
just like Lester. When he returned to NYC, he got a gig on the Street, and
Ben heard about it and went down to see his boy. He couldn't believe his
ears.
Unfortunately, Allen's ability to learn fast was coupled with the ability to
lose interest in things quickly, and he also spent a lot of his time getting
high in various ways.
He turned up in Provincetown while I was playing up there one summer with
Zoot, and sat in with us on alto. He sounded like he was out of practice,
and I think he was trying to avoid imitating Bird. Anyway, I didn't enjoy
his playing as much as I had when he was playing tenor.
But whenever I ran into him, it was always an enjoyable encounter, because
Allen was a charming, interesting man of many talents. I hadn't heard of
him for years, other that that he was living in Florida, and then last year
a friend sent me a picture of him that he had taken at a jazz festival in
California.
RIP, Allen.
Bill Crow
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Just started Graham Greene's CONFIDENTIAL AGENT, a 1939 "entertainment" that Greene later disowned, but which a friend and Greene fan endorsed with much enthusiasm.
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An update that from Lois' post on Jazz Corner. Grimes is going to play the Vision Festival in New York City on Memorial Day, May 26:
Henry Grimes received the bass William Parker named Olive Oil (more, Ithink, due to the greenish tinge of her finish than for Popeye's girlfriend)
on December 16th, 2OO2. We've been in touch with Henry, & he is ecstatic to
have Olive Oil & has been practicing hard ever since. & after only a few
months with Olive Oil, Henry Grimes has begun to emerge from his room. He's
been practicing with several area musicians, played two concerts with NELS &
ALEX CLINE at Billy Higgins's World Stage earlier this month followed by two
more at the Howling Monk in Inglewood, CA on April 18th & 19th, has been
teaching improvisation part~time at a local high school, & is scheduled to
play as special guest in New York City's great Vision Festival in May.
ANDREW CYRILLE, PHAROAH SANDERS, & REGGIE WORKMAN visited with Henry at a
local club called the Jazz Bakery recently & were overjoyed to see him again
& to find him in such good physical & emotional shape. Meanwhile, donations
of bass supplies, as well as individual financial gifts, have been
accumulating slowly but steadily at David Gage's shop, where Henry is able
to order any bass supplies he wants for Olive Oil, & bassist MARK DRESSER
recently made a delivery directly from David Gage's shop to Henry Grimes.
Here's the Monday, May 26 10:30 p.m. lineup:
10:30 William Parker leads the Jeanne Lee Project voices: Thomas Buckner, Ellen Christi, Jay Clayton, Lisa Sokolov; Rob Brown alto, Lewis Barnes trumpet, Joe Daley tuba Cooper Moore ashimba, piano, Gerald Cleaver drums, William Parker balaphon, Ngoni, bass and
special guest Henry Grimes
For the full schedule, here's the link. Damn, wish I could get to NYC for this!
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Just got the VME of Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt's BOSS TENORS IN ORBIT; in the liner notes, the writer cites a 70's saxophonist named Gregory Herbert, who died of a drug overdose at the age of 31. I'd never heard of him, but the writer was full of praise, so I pulled up his bio on AMG:
A potentially significant improviser, Gregory Herbert's involvement with drugs cut short his life. Herbert began playing alto when he was 12. He worked briefly with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1964 before studying music at Temple University (1965-71). He debuted on record with Pat Martino in 1968. Herbert left Temple University to tour with Woody Herman's Orchestra (1971-75) and he later played with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (1975-77), Chuck Israels' National Jazz Ensemble and briefly with Blood, Sweat and Tears. But Herbert's great potential was cut short when he died prematurely, during a European tour with Blood, Sweat and Tears. Gregory Herbert never led his own record date but he was prominently featured on a set by the Harold Danko Quartet cut for Inner City in 1975.Anybody else ever hear/hear of this musician?
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I'm currently reading Blinded by the Right by David Brock. But don't tell weizy!!
Ahhhhh, you know he's got a copy, buried in a closet somewhere... waits till the wife & kids are asleep and then sneaks a few pages every night.
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James Naremore, MORE THAN NIGHT: FILM NOIR IN ITS CONTEXTS. Naremore's a professor of English and film studies here at IU, and a jazz buff as well; I'm going to have him on as a guest for my jazz in post-WWII French cinema radio program.
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Here's a Boston Globe article on the documentary to which the earlier post alludes:
Film will aim spotlight on a free-jazz legend
By Steve Greenlee, Globe Staff, 12/6/2002
In life, tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler never got his due. He was a
leader
of the 1960s free-jazz scene, and today he's considered one of jazz's
most
influential artists, one of the forefathers of the avant-garde branch.
Although the critics liked his work, it didn't have many fans at the
time.
His 1964 recording with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray,
''Spiritual Unity,'' was so different from everything else in jazz -
even
free jazz - that it frightened people. It still frightens people
listening
to it for the first time, but now it's recognized as a masterpiece.
It's not hard to find jazz artists today who claim Ayler as an
influence.
Yet, he's still a mysterious figure; no one knows, for example, whether
his
1970 drowning in New York's East River was the result of suicide.
Brian Carpenter is trying to shed some light on Ayler's life, in
filming
what is apparently the first documentary about the saxophonist. Based
in
Boston, Carpenter has crews here and in New York working to assemble a
feature-length work about Ayler and his legacy.
In conjunction with this project, Carpenter has been producing concerts
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and filming them - to illustrate Ayler's impact. The next one will take
place Thursday at the Tremont Theatre, where the Other Dimensions in
Music
group (trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., saxophonist Daniel Carter, bassist
William Parker, and drummer Rashid Bakr) and guitarist Joe Morris's
trio
(with bassist Timo Shanko and drummer Luther Gray) will perform.
''The Other Dimensions group, we definitely wanted to get them in the
Ayler
documentary,'' says Carpenter, 30, who moved to Boston two years ago
from
Florida, where he grew up and went to college. ''Not only because of
their
tenure - they've been around for 25 years - but because of their
telepathy.
They make it work. I've seen a lot of bands in free jazz not work. It's
very
hard to do.''
Carpenter is something of an authority on Ayler. While studying the
history
of the jazz saxophone years ago, Carpenter was stopped in his tracks by
Ayler's music. ''Where in the world did this come from?'' he wondered.
''It
didn't seem to fit in the lineage.''
''Everybody has their first experience listening to Albert Ayler,'' he
says.
''You can't listen to it as background. You have to sit down and listen
to
it. The first record I heard was `Spiritual Unity.' I was frightened by
it.
I couldn't listen to it. At the same time, I was intrigued. I was
moved. ...
Now I find it accessible. It's an emotion. It's raw nerve. It's more
accessible than bebop, in a lot of ways.''
Today, Ayler is viewed as a prophet who foresaw a new way of presenting
jazz
and expressing naked emotion. Such respected saxmen as David S. Ware,
Ken
Vandermark, and Fred Anderson are considered disciples. Guitarist Marc
Ribot
recorded a solo album last year, ''Saints,'' on which he covered three
Ayler
tunes.
This is the legacy that Carpenter wants to get at. (Carpenter, by the
way,
moonlights as a trumpeter, playing in a local free-jazz sextet called
Beat
Science.) He and his crew have been in production since last spring,
and
they already have 70 hours of film - concert footage, biographical
material,
and interviews. The documentary will alternate between sharp pictures
of
concerts and grainy black-and-white segments that tell Ayler's life
story.
In Boston, Carpenter has been interviewing and filming just about every
relevant artist who comes through the city: Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai,
Ribot, Vandermark - those who played with him as well as those who are
influenced by his work.
The film is a long way from completion. Carpenter hopes to wrap it up
in
2004 and then start taking it around to film festivals in hopes of
finding a
distributor.
''Who knows what will happen after that?'' he says. ''We'd like to see
it on
DVD eventually.''
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I'm excited, because I'm pretty sure I don't have any of the music associated with the tree. It's also heartening that another avant-garde artist is getting a box (coming on the heels of the news about the Jimmy Lyons collection). Went on a big Ayler kick a few years ago when I first discovered his music (me and a few thousand other listeners, right?), and this news makes me want to pull out a few CDs that I haven't spun in awhile (listened to WITCHES AND DEVILS about two months ago).
I'll be interested to read the book, too. Have any of you ever read the Ayler bio that's posted online?
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Just posted on the Coltrane list:
caught evan parker recently which was a real treat --
news for this group is that we found out there that
revenant is planning a big ayler project. i found
more in the american-statesman:
"the next giant revenant project is box set focusing
on the late free jazz pioneer albert ayler. 'this is
definitely as big as the (charley) patton box for us,'
blackwell says. titled 'holy ghost' -- and penciled
in for a fall 2004 release -- the projected eight-cd
collection is slated to include extensive liner notes,
never-before-seen photographs of ayler and his bands,
and hours of never-before-released material, including
ayler's legendary performance at john coltrane's
funeral."
the revenant ad in the parker program called it a
"multi-disc set" scheduled for summer of 2004.
perhaps a revenant set, along with the documentary
also planned for 2004, will help bring ayler more of
the attention he deserves. and get me those ayler
fridge magnets i've been looking for.
btw i have a couple of extra programs from the parker
show. will be happy to mail 'em to whoever emails me
their addresses first -- off-list please.
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As for breakup album titles, I'll go with: Goodbye Krall World.
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All right, enough with the dreary debates about petty matters such as SACD and U.S. foreign policy--here is the news of the day! Can a duets recording be far down the road?!?
MIA from the old BNBB
in Miscellaneous Music
Posted
Congratulations, Tony--sounds as if the new addition will arrive just in time for Father's Day!
