fasstrack

Indeed. Good one. I think Benny Powell, who is 1/2 the front line w/T.K. Blue in Mr. Weston's group, is getting close to the 80-yard-line also.

Ed Bickert. I speak from experience as a guitarist, do you? It doesn't invalidate your opinion if you don't play guitar but I can't in good conscience take it as seriously as my own or another guitarist that has to solve these problems. Others may disagree according to taste, but it's quantifiable that solid bodies are in a different league than hollow, no sound w/o amp, require a different touch, offer not as much depth sonically, especially in the bottom. They play well, sustain better (they are better for louder situations, like, say an organ trio where the amp becomes more important. I find they don't blend as well w/elec. pianos and the two instruments become less distinguishable) and have the advantage of no feedback but you miss a lot of warmth and, more critically, the simulation of an air column most true jazz guitarists desire, since, when soloing, we basically take our phrasing and vocabulary from horn players---the really good ones anyway--from Charlie Christian on. (Of course I include myself as an example in approach, not achievement, as it is for others to judge my merits---but I absolutely want to play/extend that tradition)This is much harder to pull off without the fatness of an archtop. This next statement is especially subjective, but IMO players that settle for a flatter, less live sound I find are also usually are hung up in guitar licks and not trying to deal with the level of the greatest players like Jimmy Raney. Listen to Jimmy play, you can almost hear him 'breathe'. I don't deal with less than the warmest I can sound myself, though I enjoy solid bodies for what they are. Had several, and semi-hollows too. Telecasters are not Jazzmasters. Much better instrument. I had a George Harrison model for many years---and loved it. Ed Bickert sounds great on it, but also has a light touch and plays in situations where blasting is not required, and therefore can keep the volume down and get a great sound. The sustain is also very suitable to his chordal approach. Joe Pass made the Jazzmaster sound good b/c he was...........Joe Pass.

Yeah? My dad can beat up your dad........... I'm 54, biting hard on 55 and feel 84. (sigh and/or kvell)

Yeah, that's the video. Sound is awful but Joe sounds great. I hope that isn't Arnold Ross. Sounds kind of mediocre whoever it is. Not terrible, just boilerplate. Bass and drums are good, though. Good bass solo on the blues. They have a comments feature and I asked who the personnel are. It's either Arnold Stinson or Gary Peacock on bass, I believe.

BTW I have no dictionary here. Is it octo or octagenarian?

Just had my first Cerveza Mexacali beer. Viva Zapata!!

Happy birthday in advance. I forgot Bob Brookmeyer, also a kid at around 78. I was friends with the great Bill Finegan, who we lost at 91 last June. James Chirillo and I both studied with him and he was very dear to us and to American music. He wasn't in great health and losing his wife was a real setback, but his mind was razor-sharp and he kept writing---and did three charts for Warren Vache on a recent record that are as good as anything he ever did. Chirillo conducted and played on it. His son told me he has stacks of piano music by dad that is great. Speaking of Brookmeyer, he also considered Bill a hero and called him every day after Rosemary passed away.

I think you're talking about the 1st 8 bars. It's hard to pin down since a lot of that harmony is culled directly from classical music, especially Chopin and Romanticism generally. The themes could be from anywhere. They're playing in thirds. which is wide open as to influence. That very last fragment of melody of the last 8 does sound like a theme from Carmen, but it's really up for grabs. It ends on a flat 5. You're getting into areas of harmony that are subject to interpretation. This is all off the top of my head. I'm hearing it in my head, the music's not in front of me. The last 4 of the intro is pure bebop with the flat 9 or flat 5, have to check, and the syncopation of the last three notes. It's a hell of an intro any way you slice it.....

It's really gratifying and wonderful to see so many of our leading musicians playing and writing vital music well into their 80s (and beyond, as in Hank Jones). It's really a unique time in jazz history and shows how music keeps us young. Benny Golson, Billy Taylor, James Moody, Teddy Charles, Terry Gibbs, Clark Terry-----for openers. Then there are 'youngsters' Barry Harris and Phil Woods, both 78. It's not just that they survived or sound great for old men. They're playing and writing their asses off! And they survived.......

I'm confused now. The album I know has Wynton Kelly and, I'm pretty sure, Lee Morgan and is called 'the New York Scene'. Great article, BTW. Kelly's on piano, but Art Farmer - not Lee Morgan - on trumpet. Three quintet sides w. Golson & Farmer. Thanks. I used to have that. They play You're Mine, You as Benny's feature.

Thanks. Hope to see you. I'm trying to get a group off the ground with two superb musicians: Tim Givens on bass and cello, and Vanderlai Perriera on drums. We worked twice in January and rehearsed once last month. We think we have something nice and need some work. I have a lot of nice material and we at least hit the tip of the iceberg that rehearsal. People will sit in a bit last set, not too much. I want to feature the guys (and my own playing, too, I guess). But I always make the tunes and presentation the main attraction. I want to write some things to feature Tim on cello, he is superb----one of the best I've heard. Plus he knows every tune I call. Vanderlai is a tremendous talent with great ears, Brazilian, with his own take on jazz.

I'm confused now. The album I know has Wynton Kelly and, I'm pretty sure, Lee Morgan and is called 'the New York Scene'. Great article, BTW.

That wasn't my point. I'm a guitar player. That's not an instrument worthy of a player like Joe Pass. Doesn't have the warmth of a good archtop. Thin sound, no bottom, no depth. Can't be heard without an amp. It's not a guitar for a jazz player. But he made it sound good, and adjusted his touch b/c you can't play heavy or 'plink' with the pick on those solid bodies. It sounds horrible. Anyway, his playing on that cheap, shit guitar is actually my favorite of all of his. Just amazing control, great ideas, great energy and swing, and he made that thin sound with the light strings sound like a million bucks by adjusting his touch.

I heard and actually listened to Bakida Carroll the other day. They were playing him on the radio just like you play and turn people on to people previously unaware. Anyway, I dug him, especially his writing. One recording was called the Cage Door or something. It was intense. I liked Tomaz Stanko (not enough not to murder his name, apparently...) also after being turned on by IMO one of the best stations programming jazz anywhere: WKCR FM. You guys do such a service for musicians and fans. Contribute to Blue Lake, y'all. (I'm off the hook, living in NY, but youse.....

Was he on the video w/Joe around '60 or so? There was a TV show and they played "The Song is You" and "Sonnymoon For Two". It turned up on a video called The Genius of Joe Pass, also including a lot of solo performances, something with Ella, and duos with NHOP. But those first two tunes are scary. On a little toy Fender someone gave him just so he could play. Burning, and no wonder he scared even Wes, who declined sitting in back then. He was that good. Sounds of Syananon is a jazz guitar classic IMO. It really doesn't get better---unless it's Django or CC. Every solo he plays is so joyful and swinging and his articulation and chops with the pick are on the highest level. Good band, too. fasstrack, check out the video posted on the Night Lights Resolution: Jazz From Rehab program page... Is this the one you're talking about? Couldn't open it. Shitty, pirated wifi connection and a slow computer. I'd like to see it eventually though. Thanks, buddy.

I'm in the library and am gonna read that right now. I heard Benny not long ago and it was wonderful. His mind is one of the best and the material almost is irrelevant. His sound, especially for tenor, bone, and trumpet, is his sound, and one for sore ears. It always comes out Benny Golson.

Was he on the video w/Joe around '60 or so? There was a TV show and they played "The Song is You" and "Sonnymoon For Two". It turned up on a video called The Genius of Joe Pass, also including a lot of solo performances, something with Ella, and duos with NHOP. But those first two tunes are scary. On a little toy Fender someone gave him just so he could play. Burning, and no wonder he scared even Wes, who declined sitting in back then. He was that good. Sounds of Syananon is a jazz guitar classic IMO. It really doesn't get better---unless it's Django or CC. Every solo he plays is so joyful and swinging and his articulation and chops with the pick are on the highest level. Good band, too.

Zinc Bar?

Thanks. What's available on recording? I have Fletcher's Tidal Wave, which has a lot of Don Redman's stuff also.

Yeah. The night I heard him he went into a chorus of 'Soldiers for the Lord'. It was wild. I think I sat in, too. There wasn't much room for me to play as I remember, but he was pretty impressive.

You'll probably see me there. I came with the furniture . My group will be there early show May 29th FWIW-----not much, I'm sure.

Buried deep. Towards the end. Ah, the Saugatuck/Douglas Jazz Festival. That's morphed from what was the Idlewild Jazz Festival. Produced out of Detroit, it lasted a few years in Idlewild, though that former African-American resort town -- Clifford Jordan told me he took his first steps there; and for years Lillian Armstrong had a cabin there with her phone listed in the local directory -- is located in one of the poorest counties in Michigan. So this is the first attempt at moving it down to Saugatuck, which is a beautiful little resort town a reasonable drive from Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago has an extension program there at the Oxbow school, and there's a large gay population as well as throngs of tourists. Looking forward to M.C.ing a night of that fest when the time comes..... It's nice to hear things are going on in places you never---or hardly ever---get to. If it weren't for Smalls and Fat Cat here I would hardly hear live music or play it, b/c luckily friends operate these joints and I (and other musicians) can get in. About once a year I can afford the clubs. Anyway, that's about as often as there's someone I feel I have to hear. Thank God for Mitch and Spike and Noah for giving me and other guys a home and some respect. It was nice to get down there 5 years ago when we came. I guess Tim Scully is the Mitch Borden of NW Michigan. I'm glad you're there too. You guys are kind of heroes. Gotta keep hope alive----and give people other than the big names a shot to be heard and even make a few sheckels.

To Buffalo, then. G'night, Chet..........

They applauded because they knew he would beat the shit out of himself later that night... I don't get it ----and, far more depressing, wish I did.

Now Seinfeld is on at least. It really does hold up. What's that Hughley guy's first name, anyway? That was a pretty good show. I don't watch a lot of TV. I swear. Almost none, except the news. Just shut in right now. And trying hard not to lose my mind