clifford_thornton

Grachan Moncur III I've heard "Gray-shun" is correct, but there are still a lot of "Grah-shun" and "Grah-shaan" around. The "III" part, I believe, is undisputed.

Now label completism I can go for... I have very few stones left unturned in the ESP catalog and only a few BYG Actuels left, and I think maybe a couple of Marte Roling Fontanas I still need (really, anything on Fontana is cool). Got all but one of the Center of the World records (#7), but that was pretty easy. A run on the BN 4000 series would be hardcore, too, but I'll never meet that -- mainly because I can't bring myself to buy Horace Silver records or most Donald Byrd records. OK, ya got me started...

My God, that last Sangrey quote is pure genius. I'm copying it to my hard drive right now.

"Patterns" is not my favorite Noah Howard record. It's good, but the stuff that highlights his compositions -- say, "The Black Ark" on Polydor or "Live at the Village Vanguard" on Intercord -- is the stuff to get. "Judson Hall" (ESP) is also really good. He was a regular foil for Frank Wright and the quartet (with Bobby Few and Muhammad Ali) cut a number of records in France during 1969-71 before Howard split to form his own quartet, usually with Takashi Kako on piano and Oliver Johnson on drums. His compositional style is earthy and bluesy; the uptempo tunes usually have somewhat repetitious but often memorable heads, while the ballads have a late-Coltrane vibe to them, and are usually quite blissed-out. I saw him a few years ago. His chops are good and he still looks like a kid.

Monk, Lacy, Dolphy, and to quote AMG, "Traditional."

I am an Alan Shorter completist, but that was pretty easy since he doesn't make that many appearances. Ditto Ric Colbeck and Giuseppi Logan. Easy... I was on that Shepp-completist track until I realized that so many of his albums sound so very similar, and that he lost a bit of momentum in the early 70s. I mean, I'd rather hear someone new than someone familiar... but it really, really never ends.

I like hardbopjazz' definition, actually. They're all just words that really have nothing to do with the feeling generated by whatever aesthetic experience one is having. Whether language has any business in aesthetics is an age-old debate. I, personally, can make better sense of terms like "creative music" for jazz and "specific objects" for non-representational painting and sculpture, but that's just me.

Couldn'tve said it better myself...

Where's the Terra Museum? Man Ray is an interesting character. I'm going to try to avoid the record stores this time... I got sick of DG and JRM while living there.

Nothing wrong with pigeon-holein'; I probably do that a fair amount. For example: Moncur's "Evolution" is with the Jackie Mc LPs; "Some other Stuff" is with the Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Sam Rivers LPs, and the BYGs and JCOA LP are with the Shepps et al. Most of my Coltrane Impulses are together, but maybe they should be broken up too... but the evolutionary perspective is OK, too; I just have a problem with having, say, "Soultrane" anywhere near "Interstellar Space." Too complicated!

OK, how do y'all organize your collections? Alphabetical? By label? Chronological? I do historical context and some 'instrument' with the jazz, style/historical with the rock (i.e., UK folk-psych, Canterbury, US progressive), and haven't decided how to organize the 'classical' yet (it's all weird shit, so...).

BB, the Tecate is a nice touch!

Hey -- going to Chicago this weekend out of boredom and escapism (won't go into either topic right now), and apart from the usual museums, bars, and record stores (probably will be selling more this time), is there anything going on this weekend that I should be aware of? Anything out of the ordinary? Any good, cheap shows? You Chi-towners should be up on these things. Thanks!

Valdo is the shit. What about those Don Friedman records for Riverside? I guess they're '62-'63 but pretty great progressive trio jazz. And of course Bley...

If I can watch Thurston get psyched on some Ray Russell-style guitar terrorism while O'Rourke stands there not knowing what to do, that gets me psyched too. Even though their more recent albums haven't got me going as much as the 'old' ones, I still would pay to see them play live any day. Always a gas.

I like Old Style and PBR, but Trappist ales and barleywines will do in a pinch!

Maybe this has been brought up before, but what do y'all think of the "Bremen to Bridgewater" 2CD of BOB material that Cuneiform just put out? In my mind, it's the best Brotherhood I've heard other than uh, "Brotherhood" (the Victor LP). Oddly, Keith Bailey replaces Moholo on some tracks -- I'd only heard him on that Keith Tippett record ("Blueprint") but he keeps the pace nicely. Anyway, some prime stuff. All you Britjazzers can get your BOB on here...

The toss-up for me was between the Byrds and the VU. Chose the former because I don't like "none of the above." Of course, the Thirteenth Floor Elevators blow my mind every time, as do the Monks, early Dead, some of the Who and the Stones. It's basically a tough choice... like, who is your favorite BN recording artist 1958-1967? Well... I would argue the Softs were of far more importance in the '70s than they were in the '60s. They really became unique with "Third," "Fourth," and "Five." I rarely put on the Probe records, even though they are pretty good. And what do you do with folk-rock like Pearls Before Swine?

Is that the one on Catfish? Mystery label if there ever was one... there are a bunch of weird Dutch jazz records on there. I'd say it qualifies. Brownie, what about some of those Danish Debuts? I'm willing to bet that the Steinmetz and the TCJQ LPs (the one with the newspaper cover) make hens' teeth look like plain old feathers...

That's pretty cool. There's a record called "Perception and Friends" that was printed (silkscreened on thin paper stock) for a similar situation, only available at shows or given to their friends.

That's a pretty high price... "Open Sesame," it ain't.

Well, homages aside, I still think that there are enough graphic design ideas that haven't been used yet. Maybe if I actually liked YLT I'd feel different, but in any case I think it shows a lack of design creativity. IMHO, of course. OK, I quit liking YLT when I got dumped by someone who liked 'em, so there is a history there...

Yeah, the private-press free jazz realm seems the most fruitful for major obscurities. Those hand-painted PGs are pretty amazing. Pulled a boner and forgot about the copy of "Opium for Franz" (also hand-painted) up on eBay recently, and it 'only' went for $120. The first issue of "Center of the World" by the Frank Wright quartet has a blank white back cover, on which the band painted and drew images, apparently all in one night after dropping some acid. Sadly, my copy just has the blank back, no drawings. Maybe they left the room before they got to mine...

OK, what jazz LPs can you think of that were made in the fewest runs? I'm not counting test pressings here (i.e., "Back to the Tracks, etc.)... I'd nominate the Howard Riley "Discussions" LP (99 made), but it has been reissued in Japan... Also, the Alan Davie-Frank Perry Duo (again, 99). What can you think of made in even lesser quantities? The Khan Jamal on Dogtown?