MartyJazz

"Never" is such a big word... one that, say, Donald Byrd & Pepper Adams must never have heard, or at least not believed... Besides, I would counter that any honest music that is not simply re-creative in nature cannot avoid bringing any number of "cultural flavors"...that's what helps make it unique. So maybe the problem is not that white players can never "play black" authentically, maybe it's that Murray and others of his trip can't "hear white" (or Latin, or Indian, or etc.), and whose fault is that? Certainly not the players'. Anyway - this is all rumblings of a "world" whose death is well underway. The "real people" making the "real music" of today are past that, not because they've argued the point to a successful conclusion, but because they've realized that the argument is one that is at this point nothing more than game for suckers & have just moved on to leave the dinosaurs to argue amongst themselves. But back to Donald Byrd & Pepper Adams, the argument could be made that "first language" and "second language" and all that are very much a product of environment, and to the extent that race in America determines environment, well, make your claim, but that extent is wholly man-made/artificial, and should no way be construed as being Natural Law. So, isn't Albert Murray dead already? His undeniable eloquence in expressing why he liked (likes?) what he liked is one thing, but thinking that he should "make the law" for anybody besides himself and those who like the same thing for the same reasons is just plain wack. Your mention of the late, great Pepper Adams reminds me of a discussion I had many years ago with a black co-worker in the record shop where we were both employed. He insisted that no matter how well a white musician could play jazz, there would always be a segment, however minor, of the black jazz audience that would dismiss the efforts of that musician. So I bet him that I could name a white musician who was liked by all modern jazz listeners, regardless of color. I gave him all kinds of clues as to the musician's identity, but he couldn't guess who, and then I finally gave the answer, "Pepper Adams". He smiled rather ruefully, agreed that Pepper was loved by everyone he knew (including himself), and paid the bet.

I recall Larry Ridley as a very friendly person. My wife and I went a couple of decades ago to a Lincoln Center concert that featured two jazz "divas" (that's the way it was booked), Abbey Lincoln and Shirley Horn, and coincidentally, Ridley's ticket placed him in a seat right next to mine. I began the conversation by recalling his appearance in a quartet led by Rollins at the Vanguard in '72 and he was extremely responsive and talkative with the conversation digressing into other musical areas. So good luck.

I know that I attended his last concert which occurred in March 1976, but for the life of me I cannot recall if it was at Town Hall or Carnegie Hall. I do recall that the concert was billed as a tribute to Monk and that Barry Harris in all probablility would be the pianist, with an outside chance that Monk would show up and play. Well, Monk did show and while the audience was quite appreciative that he did indeed appear, his soloing was quite sparse and pretty much uneventful. BTW, Paul Jeffrey was on tenor and I believe that Lonnie Hillyer was on trumpet as well. Unless, someone in the audience made a surreptitious copy, I'm afraid this last concert is irretrievably lost.

Sorry, Stereojack and Big Beat Steve. Obviously I didn't read the initial posts carefully, but more disappointingly, I'm embarrassed that I never noticed the mis-titling of the "Lullaby in Rhythm" track. Certainly, I know both melodies, but for some reason all these years I've listened to that LP, I never made the discovery on my own.

I've had the "Happy Bird Blues" LP for many years (red double jacket with a photo of Bird on the front) and I recall that there's a fabulous version of "I May Be Wrong" on it which has great solos by Bird and Wardell, so why isn't this track mentioned? Or is my memory faulty? (I'm not at home now so I can't verify what I'm sayin').

You must have plenty of green to spare if you're ready to spring for a Mosaic box on a group you don't dig.

Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids and the Long Con that is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi Using much colorful language, Taibbi basically excoriates Wall Street investment bankers who have acted (and continue to act) fraudulently without fear of reprisal due to a Congress and Federal government that are in collusion with the perps. An entire chapter titled "Biggest Asshole In The Universe" is devoted to Alan Greenspan, damning him for purposefully and stupidly eviscerating much of the regulation that existed before he became chief of the Fed. The result of this collusion is described as a giant "casino" that effectively has destroyed the savings of many Americans while rewarding the super wealthy for considerable graft and corruption. An entertaining, if somewhat depressing, read.

Geez -- it's a period Western, and Cogburn was not only of his time but also was far from a nice guy (and at that point in the film I think we needed to be reminded of that by those acts of casual inhumanity, in case we were beginning to sentimentalize him). He should have patted them on the head/chucked them under the chin? Also IIRC, the household those kids were part of was under the aegis of a bad guy who probably had aided the very bad guys Cogburn and Mattie were in pursuit of. As far as the other wantonly cruel scenes you're probably thinking of, to me they all seemed very much of a piece with the rest of what was going on. In fact, the movie as a whole seemed a lot less cruel and violent than I expected it might be, certainly less so IIRC than Eastwood's "The Unforgiven" (which admittedly was a movie that set out to be much darker in tone). "The Unforgiven", that's a great western, easily the best of that genre in the past 20 years.

Christian McBride and his Inside Straight band (Steve Wilson - as, Warren Wolf - vbs, Peter Martin - p, Carl Allen - d) will be appearing at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center of Nova University this coming Saturday night. Tix for non-South Florida Jazz members are $40. Great venue! The link: http://southfloridajazz.org/cms.php?id=122

A big fan of Coen Brothers films (Miller's Crossing, Big Lebowski, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, the underrated Burn After Reading and quite a few more), this offering left me cold and also gazing at my watch from time to time. Bridges was unintelligible a good portion of the time, there were periodic scenes of wanton cruelty (Cogburn kicking the Indian natives off their seats on the fence two too many times), and a few scenes that either bored or didn't work at all (Cogburn repeatedly throwing provisions up in the air, all to show an unnecessary and quite unbelievable prowess with the gun). Yeah, the young actress was quite good, but so what? Comic exaggeration is a part of many wonderful films and certainly with Coen Brothers endeavors, but not this time IMO.

This morning I listened to the 1949 Metronome All-Star recordings of "Victory Ball" and "Overtime" (the long takes), a great session recorded on the day I turned 4 years of age. Thanks to one and all again for your birthday wishes.

So what's your less technological solution?

It works!!! I've just used it on a couple of Lionel Hampton and Errol Garner LPs and am totally satisfied. Will order another one for my brother who wants to filter out Kurt himself when he puts on an Elling disc.

Of course you can "go wrong". You're talking about running this player's needle across your LPs. If it's a crap cartridge/needle, it might play fine the first time, but the next time you go to play that LP, it might be ruined. The ION TT does not have a very good cart. Haven't you ever ruined an LP by playing it with a cheap needle? Back in the day, I used to loan LPs to friends. After I got back a couple that looked white-ish and realized it was ruined, I stopped loaning them to that friend until he got a new cart. Do like I do. NEVER, ever, loan out your LPs. I have LPs that I bought in the early '60s that still do not have as much as a fingerprint on the playing surface, much less a scratch, etc. When, in the past, a friend or an acquaintance wanted an LP from me, I made them a cassette, now of course, I can make CD-Rs from LPs. So I'm more generous with my time and equipment, but lend out an LP? Never. Also, if you ever have to sell a few, which I had to do a few years ago, top dollar is paid for clean LPs.

Harry James & his Orchestra, Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, October '52 Grew up on this stuff, but after so many years of digging post Dizzy trumpeters, I find James' molasses-soaked tone a little tough to digest. The opening "Ultra" however is a kick, an obvious re-working of "How High the Moon".

All the obits I've seen state he was 65, not 74. One obit lists his DOB as Nov 23, 1945. In any event, I was upset to see he had passed away. I always liked his droll, low-key sense of humor and wit.

Crude, sure. Try his underrated "S.O.B.". I recall laughing pretty hard in the movie theater when that one came out.

I have a couple which I didn't have to ask for. Many years ago, Joe Henderson came to my apartment for dinner with a copy of his latest LP, "Black is the Color" which he signed at my girlfriend's request. Years later, a friend gave me a copy of Eric Nisenson's book on Sonny Rollins which Sonny had signed, making that an especially nice birthday gift. The only time I specifically asked someone in the jazz world to sign something was sometime back in the '80s when I went to the Vanguard with a copy of owner Max Gordon's book, "Live at the Village Vanguard" which he not only graciously signed, but wrote some lengthy prose on the frontispiece.

I'll third the recommendation. Just spoke to Patrick there who gave me some good advice about a substitute record cleaning solution for my VPI LP cleaning machine and also about obtaining a new cartridge in a particular price range. Extremely helpful and knowledgable.

Listening to Side B, Eddie Costa (piano, not vibes) Trio augmented by Rolf Kuhn (clarinet) and Dick Johnson (alto sax). (Side A of Wallington trio is excellent).

Similar story here. I visited his apartment circa 1970, in the vicinity of 1st Avenue and 10th Street, saw an unbelievable number of tape decks and equipment and left with a Crown playback deck which I still have (although it hasn't worked in years). More importantly, I also left with six acetate discs of Mingus at Birdland (1961-62) from which I made open reel tapes for myself and a Mingus fanatic in England. Indeed these tapes have been the source of all the copied tapes and ensuing CD-Rs that have been circulating the globe lo these many years. BTW, I still have the acetate discs but haven't attempted to play them in years.

I strongly recommend the mid '70s Steeplechase recordings, specifically TETE!, CATALONIAN FIRE (these 2 were released on a double Steeplechase CD set, titled HOT HOUSE), and TOOTIE'S TEMPO. I'm convinced these are the best of his trio recordings. Also, nobody has mentioned the Steeplechase dates he did as a sideman for Anthony Braxton, titled IN THE TRADITION, Vols 1 & 2 (also available as a double Steeplechase CD set). His playing particularly on the lengthy track "Lush Life" is just terrific, a real personal favorite to listen to.

I have Vols. 1, 2 & 4 on LP. Don't know why I never picked up V3. In any event, when it comes to the Dizzy material on Vols 1 & 2, the double CD contains complete unedited tracks, i.e., a couple of the tracks on the LPs were somewhat abridged. One other thing, I LOVE the 2 CD set, wonderful Diz, Chick, Nance, Pepper A, etc.

He was a very funny guy. I recall a time when Gifford told a story about when Kathie Lee had told him that she was expecting. A short period of silence, then Meredith says, "Don't you worry, Frank, we're gonna catch that SOB who did this to her". Gifford really liked Dandy.