Spontooneous

Wow! That's a rare one! Almost as rare as the Attic Door sessions.

I'm sorry, but it's gotta be said: Jazz Times needs to fire the bozo who published the bogus death report. There are plenty of perfectly capable jobless journalists out there who need the opportunity and the paycheck, and who would make damn sure that what they publish is true.

Eureka! Just figured out #9! It's Ammons and Tom Archia, "The Battle," Nov. 12 '48. It's on an LP I bought exactly two weeks ago -- at a garage sale where the vinyl was also scoured by Hot Ptah. Tiny world, ain't it?

Just re-listening to "Light Blue." Seems to me that the first four and second four have different endings, that the second one is more conclusive.

Monk's "Friday the 13th."

From the freaky drunken-doodle lettering to the artwork concept, there is nothing about this cover that doesn't make me want to poke my eyes out:

I always loved the "sqrrrwnch" sound when Miles inserts his mute on the Prestige recording of "The Man I Love" with Monk and Milt Jackson.

1. I'm guessing it's a '60s performance in '40s-quality sound. But such a beautifully sculpted performance. The horns sound like Dorham and Mobley. 2. Is this one of Max's multiple-percussion projects? The dialogue between the horns is a nice feature. Is that Odean Pope? (It's somewhere in the BFT Rulebook, just after the complex and subtle regulations pertaining to Junior Cook: When in doubt, guess Odean Pope.) 3. First thing I recognize is the drums. That's gotta be Blackwell. It's Blackwell all over. If it isn't Blackwell I'll eat my hat. This leads me to assume that the trumpet is Cherry. But this isn't on the Cherry-Blackwell duet album I have. I'm intrigued. 4. It sounds like a mystery Mingus date. Beautiful. 5. What a strange and wonderful head. The tenor reminds me of young Charles Lloyd, but it probably isn't him. 6. The piano solo sounds like Jarrett minus vocalizations. The bass clarinet solo doesn't seem to do as much as I'd hoped. But overall I like it. Is Dave Douglas involved? (That guess is also from the BFT Rulebook.) 7. This is really beautiful, and really goes somewhere. Is this from David Murray's album of ballads on bass clarinet, which I don't have? 8. It's this guy from the concert that produced this. The label has chosen to overlook this performance in its reissues of the music from this evening, and that's a bad decision. I like his Hawkins-meets-Dolphy sound. Jack DeJohnette and Cecil McBee are the accompaniment, IIRC. 9. The obvious guess is Gene Ammons and Dexter, Ammons first, Dexter in the second chorus (his favorite "Here Comes the Bride" phrase at the beginning of the bridge). But I can't turn this up anywhere in my collection. I'm probably gonna look foolish on this one. 10. You sure like your lower-register reeds. So do I. This track has really grown on me, and might even be the best track of the whole BFT. Can't wait to find out what it is. 11. Can't run it down for sure, but sounds like a Henry Threadgill thing. The guitar might be Brandon Ross or Liberty Ellman. 12. There's something familiar about that alto sound. Ken McIntyre? 13. A lovely close. The left-hand part is especially subtle. John Hicks, maybe?

'Twas truly great to meet Chuck and Ann. A wonderful lunch; hope it won't be the last. Also great to know that Ann can make me look better in a photo.

All I'm gonna say right now is that I've enjoyed the concert that gave us Track 8 many times over on an old VHS tape, and everybody ought to admit that this really is one of the better performances from that evening. This is a fun BFT, Joe!

Track 4 hasn't left my playlist for weeks! Thank you, Nick! Also nice to get a little exposure to Alexander Hawkins. That Tom Varner disc is lurking in my collection somewhere. I'll have to dig it out.

Hey, I just found a mistake on the Internet. How do I contact the Internet supervisor about getting it fixed?

I think it's Peter Bernstein on guitar, Kobie Watkins on drums. And is that Victor See-Yuen?

You don't understand. We newspaper people try for artificial hip all the time. Heeeey Macarena!

The cat hid it behind the refrigerator.

1 At first, sounds like Abdullah Ibrahim and maybe Don Cherry. But after about 30 seconds I don't think it's either one of them. Maybe something Chris McGregor and Harry Beckett cooked up? I love the groove, and the way the trumpet solo keeps referring back to the theme to divide the solo into neat paragraphs. 2 Love the piano intro. Love the interlocking patterns between the trumpet and alto, then the added piano and bass patterns. That's some serious piano plucking at the 3-minute mark. Some nice detached-mouthpiece blowing after that. Then some very creative percussion – is that squawk a bowed cymbal? Somehow I suspect, strongly, that some members of ICP are involved in this. I want this disc. Now. 3 The wide-open approach to the vibes makes me think it's Walt Dickerson. Is this one of those things he did with Richard Davis? This is really beautiful, a truly uninhibited "free" performance that's free from hang-ups, which is kinda rare. 4 The trumpet sounds like the Wynton school, but the clarinet counterpoint is just outrageous. Is this one of those Randy Sandke inside-out things? Give the people more polytonal Dixieland and the world will be a better place. 5 At least two cellos, or are these overdubs? The clarinet and piano talk about changing things, but then the trombone breaks through and really does change it. Then it's like the drummer flicks a switch and everything goes bleary for a minute. Then we have a street parade. I'm confused but certainly not bored. Maybe an ICP connection here, too? 6 Not sure what to say except I like the drumming and the bass best. 1:58 7 A Wyntonish trumpet, though it isn't him. I like the bass, and the trumpet cadenza at the end. 8 It's 1973 and someone's twiddling the knobs in the studio. A lesser-known Garbarek record? Early Weather Report, or some guys who wish they were Weather Report? I like it better and better every minute. The bass playing is really right. Oh, there's two drummers in there. 9 Can't tell if it's real Asian or wannabe Asian. I like the delicacy of the guitar, or whatever that stringed instrument in the left channel is. The tablas make me think it's Oregon or some guys who listened to their Oregon records a lot. 10 Let's spend a few more minutes in ECM country. Beautiful guitar, beautiful deep-toned alto. Don't know what it is, but I want it. 11 The guitar lays it on but never slings mud. Is the trombone Ray Anderson? Then the '20s-style parody comes on and almost loses me. Then the moods change dramatically a few more times, seemingly just for the sake of changing stuff and then blowing it up. The pianist tries to stabilize things. Then the blues coda just sounds like the composer ran out of ideas. Sorry, but I want to like this one more than I do. 12 Wow. Haven't heard this since I was about 16, literally. Heard the Ry Cooder version years before I knew about Blind Blake. Or Earl Hines. 13 Happy Trails! Those are some swinging hoofbeats from the drums during the theme. The reggae groove for the solos is nice, but I like the originality of the hoofbeat groove better, and I'm glad when it comes back. I want this record. This is an awesome batch of tracks, with a nice flow to it. Thank you, Nick!

Saw it quite a few times in my early teens, because I watched way too much TV back then. I even remember a little phrase he plays in the commercial. It's funny how this stuck in my mind, since I didn't begin paying attention to jazz until about a decade later.

Me three. The material on the bonus disc is familiar and beloved. The other show is new to me, though.

Beethoven, Diabelli Variations. Schumann, Fantasy in C, Fantasiestuecke. Brahms, Op. 118. Debussy's Preludes and Etudes. Schoenberg's Op. 11 and Webern's Variations. The first four Sonatinas by Busoni. Szymanowski's Masques, Metopes and Mazurkas.

I gotta run down those Fess Williams and Cecil Scott sides. Wow. Where has the Edmond Hall been reissued?

Sorry, guys, but the worst album notes remain those to King Pleasure's "Golden Days." (And not just because Hank isn't on it.)

Haven't heard the symphony performances in that EMI set, but the Bacchus & Ariane is very fine. The symphonies and the ballet are also in the Naxos set. But the Piano Concerto, which I haven't heard, is not.

The Dutoit set is not bad. There's also a new Naxos set, 4 CDs worth, that's very recommendable and inexpensive. Have been playing the Third Symphony over and over in the car lately.

I held the album upside down and shook it, and now the art is gone! What do I do?