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ghost of miles
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Posts posted by ghost of miles
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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?!?
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Python is classic, of course. Our local PBS station used to run it late at night when I was a kid, followed by a really acerbic, funny British show called Dave Allen at Large:
My best friend in junior high & I really dug that show. We always talked about it the next day at school. The religious humor was pretty strong stuff for some people, though.
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but one of my favorite old shows was Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman--very off-beat.
Ornette Coleman & Charlie Haden covered the Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman theme on SOAP SUDS.
Just my odd note of jazz trivia--it was a really good show.
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I'm hoping to pick up the two DVD sets of Peter Gunn later this year--ED! sparked my interest on the old BN board with a thread about that show, and I'm really interested in the portrayal of jazz in film and television.
I'd be curious to see All In the Family again, wondering if it's aged badly. That show seemed to be to the 70's what I Love Lucy was to the 50's. I also watched a lot of reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show as a kid--hell, I watched a lot of tube, and I read a lot and played a lot outdoors too. On top of school, I can't figure out how I had so much time on my hands.
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I was perusing the jumptheshark site tonight as work slowed down and looked up a favorite childhood show of mine--The Six Million Dollar Man. Funny that I always made sure to catch the opening credits, as I loved that sequence, and only recently found out that none other than the great Oliver Nelson wrote the music for the show. God, I'd forgotten how ludicrous some of the plots were, though! Like the classic two-part Sasquatch/space aliens show, with Sasquatch played by Andre the Giant:
Here's the description of the plots:
Epilog: Steve is in Northern California searching for two missing scientists, Ivan and Marlen Becky, who have mysteriously disappeared while placing earthquake sensors near a fault line. During his search he discovers giant footprints that he follows until he is approached by the giant hairy beast. A small battle is fought and the creature runs into a cave. Steve follows, but passes out due to a futuristic whirling entrance. When he awakens, he is on an operating table and a beautiful being, Shalon, and her alien assistants are studying him.Refried: Oscar and Steve help with the search-and-rescue of two researchers, Ivan and Marlene, who have disappeared while testing classified earthquake sensors near a remote California fault line. They find Ivan, along with the footprint of the Sasquatch, the Indian name for the creature of legend that roams the mountains. Later, the project's base camp is wrecked by what is sketchily identified as a huge beast. Steve gives chase and encounters the Sasquatch, who attacks Steve and who proves to be at least as strong. Steve tears off his opponent's arm during the fight and discovers the arm to be of advanced bionic construction. Steve follows Sasquatch into a cavern where a group of people with advanced technology render Steve unconscious and examine him. Meanwhile, the other scientists discover that a major earthquake will strike California cities unless a manmade quake can be made to happen first. Stephanie Powers and Andre The Giant guest star. (5) (PLOT OVERSIGHTS: During the fight, Steve's left shoulder (i.e., his normal one) gets bashed in with a huge tree trunk that Sasquatch has swung like a baseball bat. He acts like the impact hurts. One of the aliens, watching on the monitor, says, "apparently only his right arm is of special construction." And yet, Steve is still able to function and continue fighting. Sorry, the left arm and shoulder should be pulverized.)
Part 2:
Epilog: Steve becomes friendly with the aliens who are conducting tests in the underground cave laboratory. Bigfoot turns out to be an experiment that the visitors created. Sensors indicate that a major quake is about to happen and Oscar must decide whether to set off a nuclear device that will relieve the Earth's pressure and divert the quake even though Steve may be killed in the blast, or let the quake happen on its own
Refried: Steve's captors inform him that they are a group of deep space explorers, conducting a peaceful, secret study of Earth's societies -- and that the Sasquatch is their creation and protector. They have been here for two hundred and fifty years, accomplished with a time-rate altering device. They had recently sent the Sasquatch to buy time for the aliens to construct a jamming device, to protect the aliens' base from discovery by the humans' sensors. When the aliens learn that the humans plan to trigger a manmade quake nearby to prevent a larger quake from striking West Coast cities, they send Shalon, one of their own, to stop it. Steve is able to escape from the aliens' base and to stop Shalon, thereby allowing the manmade quake to proceed. Then Shalon, Steve and the Sasquatch help the earthquake survivors in the aliens' base. Finally, the aliens have the Sasquatch return Steve to the outside, with his memory of the contact erased. (4)
Guest stars: Andre the Giant as Bigfoot, Stefanie Powers as Shalon
Writer: Kenneth Johnson Director: Alan Crosland
Wow!
As an adolescent, I watched Hill Street Blues religiously. I also caught many, many reruns of Sanford and Son. My wife and I have deliberately lived without cable for several years now, but I tell ya, I feel myself weakening sometimes, particularly whenever I see a TVLand schedule (or TMC, when it comes to movies).
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Today I listened to the legendary Ellington-at-Newport-'56 performance of "Crescendo and Diminuendo in Blue," for the first time in a couple of years. I played it for my wife, who had never heard the famous 27 chorus Paul Gonsalves solo, and hearing it again whetted my desire to seek out more Gonsalves. The only CD I have with him as a leader is ELLINGTONIA MOODS AND BLUES--any other recommendations that fall outside of his work with the Ellington orchestra?
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I was at a Borders the other day, listening to some audio samples of Gloria Lynne (the Collectables re-issue AT THE BASIN STREET EAST/AT THE LAS VEGAS THUNDERBIRD). She seems to fall into that jazz/soul/pop genre that I associate with singers such as Dakota Staton & Nancy Wilson--a genre that I happen to enjoy. Anyway, I'm thinking of picking this one up, and wondered if there were any Lynne fans around these parts.
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Wow, thanks for the rundown, FrancoisD. I'll have to nab that Andy Kirk disc as well--hoping to do a show on B. Calloway sometime in the future.
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Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay" - an epic novel of the 1930's & 40s and the birth of the comic book industry. I'm about 100 pages into it. I like the part where the cousin helps smuggle the Golem out of Prague...
I loved that book, Alan, and I think you'll enjoy the rest of it as well. Chabon did a marvelous job in recreating NYC of the 30's/40's/50's; IMO he's one of the most entertaining literary-mainstream writers around these days.
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I have had more than one musician who was around when Blanche had her band tell me that it was better than Cab's.
I've read that too, which is one reason why I'm intrigued. I will definitely pony up for the Classics, since it seems to be the only disc available.
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I've been getting increasingly interested lately in bandleader Blanche Calloway, Cab's sister, esp. since I started listening to the Cab JSP set THE EARLY YEARS. AMG lists only one compilation of her work:
but there's no review or biographical information. Has anybody else heard her music?
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Ronald Morris' WAIT UNTIL DARK: JAZZ AND THE UNDERWORLD 1880-1940. Morris, so far, seems to be positing that gangsterism was actually a positive force in the development of early jazz. Interesting thesis! I'll probably start a thread on that topic after I finish the book.
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I found the McCoy a bit disappointing, actually. I really enjoyed his earlier book, THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY, but found KISS sketchily implausible at times. I'm prepared to accept that to some degree in mid-20th-century pulp noir work (otherwise I wouldn't read David Goodis), but crazy breaks just happened too much to the protagonist in KISS for my taste.
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GOM, was that "Confessions of Zeno"? If so, one of my favorite novels, one I can read ever decade and get something else out of it because of my life experience. One of the great works of literature that has a little bit of everything in it and is stone cold funny while being deep.
Yep, one & the same (the new Everyman translation changes the title). I still haven't started it--read MISS LONELYHEARTS first and then got sidetracked with Horace McCoy's KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE--but it's now about to step up to bat in my literary reading game. I can definitely empathize with any book about a guy who continuously vows to quit smoking and then fails; it took me a long, long time to succeed. You know the old Mark Twain joke--"It's easy to quit smoking--I've done it hundreds of times."
Now reading...
in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
Posted
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.