Kari S

...and the glasses. You gotta love the glasses.

Mr. Sangrey, do us a favor and steer clear of that Photoshop, please. Just kidding... By the way, this is great fun! I gotta try my hand on some of those titles. Check out my "Mothership" at the other thread. And AfricaBrass - wow. Simply amazing work!!

My contribution... -_-

It's a common fact that O.S.Ts these days are just hit compilations with little to do with the film in question. Quite a few of my personal favs seem to be from the blaxploitation era. - Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man - James Brown - especially "The Boss" from Black Caesar - Johnny Pate (+The Four Tops) - Shaft In Africa... Of the more recent ones, I find David Holmes' soundtrack to Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 quite good.

Mine too... Is it the one where the cobra spits on his face at least a dozen times, but he just tries to grab the snake once more? In the end he's so soaked in venom that he has to borrow some water from nearby Masais (!!?)... Blimey!

In addition to Monk and McCoy Tyner, one of the most easibly recognisable pianists is definitely Corea. Only one second of his solo gives it away... Another one - Herbie Hancock (of course...). Although with all the pianists that base their style on Hancock's playing, it sometimes takes a while - like two seconds...

I was supposed to come to Stockholm just to see Hancock and Hargrove's RH Factor, and I'm partially glad I didn't after all. I heard the Hargrove concert on the radio and it certainly wasn't what I expected it to be. I saw the Directions In Music band last summer and although I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, I'm sad to say that it was Hancock whose solos definitely lacked coherence and structure. He seemed more interested in pursuing "the climax" as soon as possible, so he ended up banging the piano in ecstacy in almost all the tunes - instead of focusing on building his solos by using lines of phrases (of which he is the master! remember "The Riot" on Speak Like A Child...). Could it be his age? Although he looks at least twenty years younger, it's his rambling speech that has at least in some interviews told a different story. I doubt that jet lag had anything to do with this performance since (I think) he flew in from Trondheim. And then again, I saw Wayne Shorter (70...) this summer, and his performance was absolutely masterful in use of restraint, space, harmonics and dynamics. Perhaps he (Hancock) just was tired or something. His touring schedule is pretty hectic, and I think Stockholm might have (sadly) been just a "rest stop" in his schedule.

The two earlier studio albums with Andy Bey (released also on 1 cd) called Juju Street Songs and Follow The Medicine Man are also very good. I think they feature one of the most outrageous interpretations of "Betcha By Golly Wow".

Another legend has passed. Soul singer Barry White has died at the age of 58. (CNN)

CJ, where did you order these from? I recently watched Imaginary Day Live DVD. What did you think about it?

It was Push, Push...

Seinfeld!!!!! "Not that there's anything wrong with it."

I must say I'm a little surprised at some of the "out of the closet" confessions people have shared here... I guess this is just one of those threads where eventually someone will come and say "Y'know, I really don't fancy taking them Giant Steps". Or "I'm not so keen on Kind Of Blue, either"... Jazz fans, right? Seriously speaking, there's so many sub-genres in jazz that it's ultimately a matter of personal taste. That said, I share SEK's point of view on Mobley... Mustang, anyone?

Donny Hathaway. He wrote one of the coolest tunes ever ("The Ghetto"), and was a great singer. Great stuff like Extension Of A Man, and especially Live on which he plays a killer Wurlitzer solo on "The Ghetto"!

...you talkin' about these (cool covers)?

Has anyone heard this yet (or were you at the BN then...)? I'm not sure if it's been released yet, but it is Chick's latest and it's a 2xCD from the time he had his "birthday bash" at the Blue Note. Three (?) tunes are duets with Bobby McFerrin, two are with the Akoustic Band. Then there's one duet with Gary Burton and another with Gonzalo Rubalcaba. There's one tune each from the "Now He Sings..." trio, Origin, the New Trio, the Bud Powell band and the "Three Quartets" band. Three tunes with Bobby McFerrin. Why? A DVD will also be released soon. It might be B) er .

I'd still recommend that you would invest slightly more on a Playstation 2, since you can play old PS1 games on it as well...

I love that!

Maupin appears (among other Detroit musicians) on a new album called Detroit Experiment, out on Ropeadope. It's kind of a "sequel" or a follow-up to the Philadelphia Experiment with Uri Caine / Christian McBride / ?uestlove Thompson, released a couple of years ago - which was quite good, I might add. This new one has a bigger line-up though, and the music is a blend of jazz and funk with some electronica. The line-up consist mainly of funk veterans etc. From a jazz perspective, in addition to Maupin there's also Marcus Belgrave, Regina Carter, Geri Allen and Karriem Riggins. You can listen the whole record straight through (with RealPlayer) clicking this link. Don't be turned off by the first tune, Marcus Belgrave's (supposedly "classic") "Space Odyssey" and his shaky chops. The tune is quite an obvious rip-off of Freddie's "Red Clay", at least part A.

You know, there was a mention about the demise of the BNBB at the April issue of Jazzwise UK magazine that just caught my eye... (Quote-->) "Strange going on at the Blue Note records bulletin board. What was once the best jazz bulletin board discussion forum on the Internet, has been messed about with by the Blue Note suits who never pruned the site. Funnily, and no-one can quite work this one out, the Politics thread has been deleted as have a number of other popular threads. Nothing to do then with the fact that most jazz fans are anti-war. But, non-political commentaries, natch, professing undying love for Norah Jones are encouraged..."

I totally agree. The Bartz and the Byrd might've been selected because they feature vocals, even. Maybe it will sell more, I don't know. But as you said, there's tons of great instrumental jazz-funk stuff just begging to be reissued. Where are Eddie Henderson's Heritage or Mahal, for example? I've got both on LP, and at least Heritage is a killer!

I agree! B) B) I think Chris Potter played a bit of it on Dave Douglas' Miles-esque The Infinite rel. 2002. Potter also played it on his Traveling Mercies. Don Byron has (naturally) played it. Maupin himself played a bit on his (most recent) release, the duo album with Pat Gleeson from 1998. BTW, has anyone heard Maupin's funky 70's stuff on Mercury? Like Slow Traffic To The Right and Moonscapes - what are they like?

Ah, the infamous Mizell Bros... They are the cats who are responsible for Donald Byrd's "crossover" BN stuff in the early 70's. They produced and played on albums like Black Byrd, Street Lady, Stepping Into Tomorrow, Places And Spaces and yes, Caricatures. I guess you could call them jazz-funk. Each features one of the Mizell's lame vocals.

I dig the Dr. too! B) But as you've pointed out, it's a crying disgrace that he's not recording and making LPs. I mean his most recent release is The Turbanator and it was three years ago. And it was actually a reissue from 1991... By the way, you might like to read and listen Lonnie's "Before & After" at the JazzTimes website: click here.

Max Roach.