DTMX

or a sunny day and someone wanted to take the day off. They always called ours in on cold, rainy days - usually early in the morning so we could wear our wet clothes all day.

Mexico has an Air Force?

"And at second base, third base, shortstop and left field - Doctor Octopus!"

This is one of the first Mosaics I ever bought. Bought it sound unheard. Have never been happier. This is a review of the set that I left on a saxophone forum: The first order I placed with Mosaic was for the Sam Rivers box set (out of print) and the Elvin Jones 8-CD box set. On the Elvin Jones set you get a trio with EJ, Jimmy Garrison, and Joe Farrell on various woodwinds. The ensembles grow into quartets, quintets, sextets, septets, octets - and so on. There's appearences by keyboardists Chick Corea & Jan Hammer (some synth but not enough to alarm), various guitarists, bassists, brass and percussionists but the best thing about this set is the variety and caliber of woodwind players that make up the ranks. Along with the aforementioned and criminally underated Joe Farrell, there's Pepper Adams, Frank Foster, George Coleman, David Liebman and Steve Grossman. Some tracks have one reed instrument, many have two, and a few have 3 (Farrell, Liebman, Grossman). I've never heard any of these woodwind players perform any better than they do on these recordings (with the exception of Pepper Adams who was always a badass no matter who he played with). The jewel in this crown is the two CD Lighthouse set. You get all of the material from the original LP releases with the exception of the audience singing "Happy Birthday" to EJ (he was 45 that day). The line-up was Grossman and Liebman with Gene Perla (bass) and EJ - there's no piano and it isn't missed - in fact, the absence of a piano frees up the sound a great deal. Liebman's soprano solo on Donald Byrd's "Fancy Free" is absolutely scorching. And the flute work he does on "My Ship" is amazingly fluid and gorgeous. Elvin Jones is underated as a bandleader but after so many years with Coltrane he sure as hell knew how to pick his sax players. Additionally: The fusion stuff isn't that far out. It's interesting, but I kind of forgot there was an Elvin in there. But we're talking one CD out of eight. The rest of the set is some of the best of its genre. Now that I think of it, given Elvin Jones' current health, I don't think I could listen to that deleted version of "Happy Birthday" if it were included. This Mosaic has soul.

I'm holding out for the box set or the RVG, whichever comes first.

Michael Formanek has a funny story about one of his CDs getting mixed up by the manufacturer with the first batch having the cover artwork 90 degrees off (putting the leader's name off to the side below the other names) and the second batch of CDs having the correct artwork, new graphics on the CD itself - but the wrong music on the CD (some lame hair-metal band). When I ordered this CD (Extended Animation I think) he sent me both the correct CD/wrong artwork and wrong CD/correct artwork versions. Long story short - his note with the CDs had his signature incorporating a drawing of himself playing the bass. Maybe I'll scan it - if I can find it.

I think Sluggo needs a visit from the Department of Family and Children Services.

This was a nice set: Anthony Braxton Quartet "8 Standards (Wesleyan) 2001" A 2-disc set recorded live at Wesleyan University in April 2001. The quartet features Anthony Braxton (sopranino, soprano, alto saxophones), Kevin O'Neil (electric guitar), Andy Eulau (bass), and Kevin Norton (drums, glockenspiel, percussion). Includes Airegin, Escapade, Nuages, Someday My Prince Will Come, Why Do I Love You, Pujab, Duke Ellington's Sound of Love, and Lullaby in Rhythm.

Thanks to the "Worst Beatles Song" thread I picked up Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, and that white album.

Starless was their encore. Or the first one at least. Probably the only one since they did a meet-n-greet after the show. I was winging it home by then.

Normally I stay away from tribute bands - Mickey Thomas' Starship, Creedence Clearwater Revisited - you know, the bands with that one guy who was a latecomer to the original group in its final days plus some hired guns for the gig. Of course, jazz has its "ghost bands" playing Basie and Ellington, and groups like Sphere that explore the music of Monk. But jazz is by its very nature a creative music - so a jazz tribute would contain as much personality of the tributer (tributerator?) as the tributee, rather than a rock tribute that plays songs that "sound just like the CD (I fucking hate that phrase)". But this one I gotta recommend: 21st Century Schizoid Band. I saw them in Atlanta last night and they were great. Granted, their pedigree is better than most - four out of five members were actually in King Crimson. Peter Giles on bass, Ian Wallace on drums, Mel Collins and Ian McDonald on reeds and keys, and Jakko Jakszyk (yeah, I never heard of him either) on guitar and vocals. I went on a whim thinking it would be neat to see Ian McDonald and Mel Collins trade fours (they didn't). The band's set is made up of the main songs from Court, Posidon, Islands and Starless from Red. The music is not treated as canon - with the extra members there are some nice new arrangements. The mellotron has been replaced by a Korg, there's grand piano onstage, and doubling the size of the sax section adds some new sounds to the old tunes. I have enough Crimson on CD to choke a horse so as I'm watching the set I thought "What would make me buy a live CD by these guys (available in the lobby) since I've already got the originals?". Quite a few things: the improvisation that bridges Formentara Lady and The Sailors Tale, the 3-flute intro to Cadence and Cascade, the ass-scorching version of Ladies of the Road, Ian McDonald's flute solo on I Talk To The Wind, the new Jakko Jakszyk (yeah, I never heard of him either) instrumental Catley's Ashes, a funky Cat Food, bluesy riffs in Schizoid Man, Ian Wallace live, and so much more. Only one beef: they shoulda oughta laid off the mello-Korg and played more saxophone - and threw in some of those Mel Collin's baritone sax blues numbers like Earthbound. Thumbs up all 'round. 21st Century Schizoid Band Official Bootleg Volume Three: Live in Italy rawks. If you ever wanted to see the sax version of KC live (with extra saxophones) - this is the closest you'll get.

I really like Oh Darling - but not the version sung by Robin Gibb. Always liked Dear Prudence too. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da ob-la-sucks.

Dead Wrong A man was arrested and charged with sexual assault on an elderly woman's corpse Saturday, according to police. The act of necrophilia allegedly occurred sometime Friday night when 48-year-old Mahdi Allah slipped into the Hogan, Sullivan and Bianco funeral home at 1266 Ninth Ave. A funeral home employee discovered Allah Saturday on top of the corpse with his pants around his ankles, passed out drunk, according to police spokesman Dewayne Tully. Allah, a former employee at the funeral home, allegedly used a key to let himself in sometime the previous night, went downstairs and removed the corpse from a storage freezer before placing it on the floor. He is being charged with two counts of sexual assault upon a person who is unconscious or unaware and one count of burglary, according to Tully. The investigation is ongoing. Eric Bianco, manager of the funeral home, said Allah, who police say is homeless, worked as an attendant at the parking lot adjacent to the home. Bianco said he was "absolutely disgusted" when he heard the news. He added that he did not know Allah closely and had no idea how he had acquired a key to the business. "This isn't something that has a whole lot of history that I can comment on, it's just something that doesn't happen," Bianco said. "It's an unfortunate situation and if there is one person to blame it is the person who did it." Bianco said that he had already spoken with the family of the woman and pleaded for the media to respect their privacy. Allah worked for only a couple of months, according to Steve Fujii, the owner of the funeral home, the adjacent parking lot, and two nearby Japanese restaurants on Ninth Avenue. He remembered Allah as always reading, and described him as extremely smart and well educated. Allah was homeless by choice and slept in nearby Golden Gate Park, according to Fujii. While working at the parking lot, Allah had briefly been allowed to stay in a studio apartment above the funeral home and was fired when he refused to leave, according to the property owner. "I was shocked, he was such a straightforward guy, he was very intelligent," Fujii said. "But when I saw him (on Saturday morning), he was very drunk... he shouldn't have done it." Original Article Quote: "... he shouldn't have done it." Way to understate it, Fujii-san.

No. 26 - how could anyone not like a song with the lyric: "The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on. He took a face from the ancient gallery. And he WALKED ON DOWN THE HALL!"? No way that's more melodramatic than Celine Dion's "My Ass Will Go On".

I'm a Grammer God? That's unpossible!

Landscape and Tokyo Encore, both recorded live in Japan in 1979 are two great recordings. George Cables on piano, Tony Dumas on bass, and Billy Higgins in typical badassed form on drums. Both recordings have an overlapping set of songs so you only need one - I'd opt for Landscape. It's as good as the Live at the Village Vanguard series.

Possibly a WWII movie called "Inglorious Bastards" or a Vega Brothers movie (Victor/Masden and Vincent/Travolta).

You, me, and a bunch of other people. Saturday, February 23rd, not sure what year but it was probably 2000 or 2001. I gave myself 2 hours to drive 30 miles to to the gig but with Atlanta's typically horrible traffic it took 2.5 hours. The gig was sold out (SRO) but I was on the reservation list so they let me in - barely; I literally had my back pressed against the door for the whole show. Right before the show I noticed someone crowded up next to me, looked over, and it was Sam Rivers waiting for his introduction to come to the stage. Tall, reed-thin, and decked out in the baddest purple pinstriped pimp suit ever. The definition of cool. I think that was the most fun I've had at a concert. That same church has hosted previous gigs by David S. Ware, Brotzmann, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and others. Damn, that's a hell of a church!

I had the same response at the Sam Rivers' Trio concert in Atlanta a few years back.

That's gotta be it - BG is an IAJE official and DB is professor of composition somewhere. I wonder if the cello is replacing the bass like the way Julius Hemphill used Abdul Wadud's cello to anchor his duos, trios and quartets?

I didn't know there was a Bunky Green/David Baker connection. I've been listening to Bunky Green's Healing the Pain in the car back and forth to work for the past week, and Baker's Cellofire has been in rotation at the office during the same time. What a coincidence - off to buy lottery tickets.

Throw in a pair of eyeglasses and it's a match. By the way, last night I saw Kenny Garrett in concert with the Georgia State University Jazz Band and it was a great performance by all the players. Now, off to surf some other sites...

Thanks PHILLYQ, that must have been it. I was too young to understand the significance of that situation - all I knew was that those Watergate hearings were getting in the way of my Brady Bunch watching.

I remember that game - I wasn't there but my house was about 20 miles away so we were Braves fans by default. My father was watching the game on TV and every time Aaron came up to bat he would drag me in from the yard and plant me in front of the TV. I'd protest (not a sports fan at 9 years old) and he'd say "Boy - you're going to appreciate when you're older". So I saw the home run (and the two guys that ran onto the field) and then went back to digging in the dirt with a staub or whatever was so important to me that evening. Over the years I've really grow to cherish that memory (as far as memories of TV go) - more so than watching the Braves win the World Series. My father also made me watch Nixon give a speech one night (with the same "Boy - you're going to appreciate when you're older" spiel). It might have been a resignation speech, without an announcer yelling about what was going on it was a little hard to follow. Hank Aaron's big in Atlanta (still). If you buy a BMW from his dealership he'll come out, shake your hand, and (maybe) give you an autographed ball.

Thanks. I'll dig through the stacks for my copy of Footprints Live and see if I can recognize any of the music while the concert is still (relatively) fresh in my memory.