DTMX

I got the same 80's feeling when I heard Song X. This is a review I posted on Amazon.com a while back: Take the Time Tunnel back to the 80's., February 12, 2001 The other reviews on this page do a great job of describing the music on this recording so please read them as well. My own take on this recording is that "Song X" was a great idea with two weak spots. First off, there's one Coleman too many on this recording. With Jack DeJohnette on drums there's no need for a second drummer; Denardo Coleman's synthesized drums sound dated (remember the hexagon-shaped Simmons drums of the 80's?). Both drummers play well but the conflicting rhythms that result don't work as well on these shorter songs as they would on a more extended work like "Free Jazz". Second, Pat Metheny is a wonderful guitarist with many interesting harmonic ideas; unfortunately he filters those ideas through the Synclavier guitar synthesizer and its 'fake sax' setting. Granted, Metheny was Syclavier's highest profile endorser during the 80's but Ornette Coleman has already worked with a real saxophonist, Dewey Redman. Instead of a full-bodied guitar sound like on Metheny's "Question and Answer" there is a thin, brittle guitar accompanied by slightly-delayed fake sax samples. Still, there are a lot of great songs here: "Mob Job" with its tuneful melody and playful accompaniment is one of Coleman's best tunes and performances; Coleman's ballad " Kathelin Gray" is beautiful in its sadness and delicacy. A great recording that could have been more so. And for those who don't remember the Time Tunnel:

You haven't been to the Politics forum yet, have you? Seriously, you haven't been to the Politics forum yet? Welcome aboard!

Sounds like a Christian Marclay installation...

Should have used Art Pepper's Straight Life. Art's done more prison time than most - he and Martha would have a lot more in common.

As the first grandchild, my grandparents gave me a lot of my aunts' teenybopper records from the early sixties. Most of them in very good condition. But I was eight years old. I distinctly remember rolling the Beatles' second album down my parents new concrete driveway to see how far it would go before falling over.

Just ask this guy...

I read Straight Life years ago -- always said it should be subtitled "From Stan Kenton to San Quentin..."

That was her melodica (they all look like Fischer Price toys). She plays that, percussion, and organ in addition to piano. One night I saw her come into a club with a bag of percussion odds & ends. I don't think she played the melodica that night, but at one point the whole band was rattling percussion of some sort. She did play a mean Straight, No Chaser (on piano), though.

NO! He's not? His agent might be after Cecil reads this thread.

My two (underated) favorites: Radio Days - Woody Allen's memories of his childhood and how they tied into the radio shows that his family listened to. Very funny, very clever. Seth Green plays the young Woody Allen character, "Joe". Josh Mostel is great. "Allen cuts between Joe's working class Brooklyn neighborhood and the glittery and glamorous world of radio in Manhattan. Joe's favorite radio hero is The Masked Avenger, and he dreams of getting The Masked Avenger Secret Decoder Ring. Using all the money they have collected for Israel, Joe and his friends buy the ring, much to the shock of his mother (Julie Kavner) and the local rabbi. His father (Michael Tucker), a business failure, is an ineffective and distant man. His uncle Abe (Josh Mostel) is obsessed with eating. His Aunt Bea (Dianne Wiest) is obsessed with getting married. All together, these relatives make up a rather chaotic life in Brooklyn for Joe. Interspersed with these family relations are vignettes of radio lore —from the cigarette girl (Mia Farrow) who wants to strike it big in radio, to the "Name That Tune" jackpot telephone call answered by a burglar, who guesses the right answer and wins the victimized homeowners a cornucopia of valuable prizes." - Allmovie.com Zelig - a mockumentary about a human chameleon, with old black & white newsreel footage. More clever than funny - it trumps Forest Gump by 20 years or so. "An appropriately pompous narrator details the life and times of Leonard Zelig, whose overwhelming desire for conformity is manifested in his ability to take on the facial and vocal characteristics of whomever he happens to be around at the moment. He shows up at batting practice with Babe Ruth, among William Randolph Hearst's guests as San Simeon, side by side with Pope Pius at the Vatican, and peering anxiously over the shoulder of Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg Rally. Becoming a celebrity in his own right, Zelig inspires a song, a dance craze, and a Warner Bros. biopic..." - Allmovie.com

Cecil Payne is dead? I voted for Sahib Shihab. Any guy that plays baritone, alto, and flute (three instruments I own) is alright by me. Second choice was Brignola. I've got enough Pepper and Mulligan CDs to fill a briefcase and was listening to Encounter! when I ran across this thread.

Takana Miyamoto - a Japanese pianist living in Atlanta. She mostly works as musical director for vocalists like Rene Marie and Nnenna Freelon but also leads her own trio, playing intown and around the region. Has a group in Japan also. Sits in with some of the headlining acts that play the Churchill Grounds jazz club. Her CD Tree Song got some critical acclaim.

I just got the book Straight Life. I opened to a page at random and read a few paragraphs - Art's in prison. I flip forward a hundred pages - Art's in prison. Reads like an epsisode of OZ with a saxophone.

My CD collection is built on that very principle. did you tell your boss? He knows that I listen to 'that' music, but not the extent of it. He's very conservative in his musical tastes. Bach, Brahms, Beethoven are fine - but he couldn't handle (or understand) Brötzmann. He was admiring a stack of CIMP-produced CDs on my desk one day and asked what the music was like. I told him it was very improvisational; he didn't ask to hear any of it. Which reminds me - I owe him reviews on three CDs he loaned me. One of them was of the Assad Brothers playing Piazzolla - thumbs up! Probably need to pad that 'thumbs up' a little bit...

My CD collection is built on that very principle.

They got paid in bragging rights. And they don't get any pudding until they've eaten their meat. Not that the pudding is any great shakes...

Either way, here's the mayor:

Eeep!

At the risk of sounding like a heretic and/or infidel, I'd be happy if they issued a second disk of alternate Song X mixes with Methany's guitar bypassing the Roland synth and Denardo muted completely. That said, Mob Job is second only to Feet Music as my favorite Ornette song. Violin and all.

That's a great idea! I can bury him under a 4-CD set of Vivaldi cello concertos while I listen to his recordings. Actually, I do have some work-related stuff I need to do on my home PC (more powerful than my work PC). This just might work.

How could they call it Song X when it only had eight songs on it? They should have called it Song VIII. Maybe the new release will add two more songs and get things squared up.

Oh man, I'm glad this thread got updated. The president of my company gave me three classical guitar CDs last Friday (we've had this week off) and I guess I'm supposed to listen to them and give him some reviews on Monday. I forgot all about them; the CDs have been sitting in my briefcase ever since and I wouldn't have given them a thought until next Monday morning. And I hope there's good news for you next week, Big Wheel.

This was the big 4-0. Nice to hear that someone else shares a Kennedy assassination birthday with me. I have a cousin who was also born on the 22nd, an aunt (21st), best friend (15th) - probably all of us the products of some Valentine's Day bootknocking. Thanks, everybody. I really enjoying visiting Organissimo.org, listening to everyone's opinions, and learning a lot from such a diverse group of people. I came here to learn more about jazz, and ended up joining a community. Thanks again for having me. That said, I was dreading the 40th - it's just a number, but it's a big number, and it ends in a zero so it kind of stands out, you know? But I think I brought it in just right. Saturday night was a McCoy Tyner with Ravi Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders concert with friends. Sunday was an early Thanksgiving with three generations of family that made me aware of how lucky I have it, that I can go home to an empty house and not have to put up with that yelling-crying-NASCAR-arguing mob more than a few times a year. Visiting friends and leaving with giftwrapped Coltrane and Buddy Rich CDs. And then on Monday, I got to hear my favorite local jazz group - the Anton Harris/Dashill Smith Quartet - play their final gig of their Monday night residency at Churchill Grounds, Atlanta's best jazz club. I think I was the only person in the audience that didn't bring a horn to jam. The band was working its way through Coltrane and Shorter tunes while other musicians were responding with unison horn riffs from the bar. I think I counted 11 people onstage at various times. And then having the day off from work so getting home at 3AM wasn't a problem. If I'd known turning 40 was going to be such fun, I'd have done it a long time ago. But now it's time to visit the ol' personal trainer, and make amends for three days of sloth and debauchery. Thanks again, Doug

Dear Mom, It was my first day of vacation and I had just arrived at the new resort I was telling you about. I was enjoying a dip in swimming pool when the most horrible thing happened...