fasstrack

I loved Vic Dickenson on those Aladdin records with Pres. Glad he got the gig and exposure. He sounded like no one else.

Bob Mover's alto sound got a lot better. Sounds nice on tenor too

Barry still believes this, and strongly. We talked about it onlw weeks ago. He played with Parker as a teen a few times-I did not, being a year old when he died. Absorbing a great musician via recordings, books, legend is not the same as being swept up and swallowed up by a force so powerful. So my words literally are presumptuous (sp ) when I say I disagree with my teacher and a great man. I further heard an interview from 1975 he did w/Phil Schaap (on the subject of Coleman Hawkins) where he said 'musicians are followers'. I find that comment unfortunate though true. But not only does it not have to be, the few who didn't get caught up in the maelstrom to the point of losing their identities had strong ones to begin with, Miles for one. He became a great force by NOT getting swallowed-and knowing he was a different animal altogether, a creature of sound, space, and brevity. Sonny Sollins took what made sense but had ideas of his own. A few alto players stuck to their guns. Art Pepper got into a brawl w/..Joe Maini, who called him a 'faggot' and endeavored to kick his ass for turning down the Kool Aid and not copying. That's the way it was then, and it teaches us as much about people, hero-worship,and the herd mentality as the power and greatness of Charlie Parker.

Agree about Harrell. Certainly mature Kenny Dorham was leaps and bounds better than young Kenny (but then the trumpet is such an unforgiving instrument if you're trying to playing in a style that demands sorts of technical mastery that the young Dorham did not possess. In his maturity, Dorham, among other things, figured out some different ways to play that played to his strengths. Some people, Barry Harris foremost among them, think people who played with Charlie Parker played their best with him. I think he specifically meant Miles Davis. A genius on Parker's level will bring out capabilities in people no one else could---but they have to be there in the first place. So Miles and Kenny both reached peaks, many peaks, on their own--but belong in a special category of very privileged players. It really blows my mind what Kenny especially did in that band that's preserved on the club airshots, but especially the Paris concerts. And I think everyone agrees Miles became one of the all-time great players, bandleaders, and thinkers.

I think Tom Harrell really matured, and through many physical/chops maladies. He more and more resisted the encyclopedic knowledge of trumpet players and things under his fingers he would summon when younger. He could be sparse and lyrical then too, but as physical problems arose so did wisdom and restraint. Composing is another factor. It forces one to take a cold, analytical look at one's ideas and-esp. in Western music-is about development. I have Tom's manuscripts dating from the early '70s. Impressive and daring.

Larry, many would argue that everyone is, if not better-purer, early in the game. It's that first wind that is exciting. People change, some ripen, others get corrupted. It's all in the game. But fresh talent in bloom is always special to observe.

Pt. 2. ...is somewhat in check b/c the built-in editor all the real greats have seemed to suggest that maybe it wasn't as appropriate on standards and ballads, esp. W/strings. You sort of don't curtail the natural or inventive impulse, but play according to the style or song. If you're that rara avis, a real innovator, you will can actually improve what was there while making it sound like it's supposed to be that way. But w/a lesser (but still very gifted) player to me it can sound like it doesn't quite fit or is forced. Just my opinion, no more, no less.

You're not missing my point. Just the way I hear those guys, and with all due respect to them-they are all way better than me, so that should put it it in perspective. And BTW the music that moved me (after hearing show tunes on the hi-fi as a child) was blues-in its purest form. We HSers in Canarsie, East NY, and Brownsville were blues freaks, and I immersed myself in it as a kid guitar player. And I still feel that way. When jazz wears me down I regenerate with blues, and it's a big part of my own playing. It's just that there's a time and place for everything, and also some guys are geniuses, some less so. Bird wasn't afraid of putting some blues on almost anything (don't forget he was from K.C., and cut his teeth with McShann and Hootie Blues. But to my ears he always made it fit. His blues and Pres's weqe a little more evolved, prettier, more urbane than what preceded IMO-while still being earthy. It's what I call progress, and always based in thd past. But if you notice Bird with Strings the bluesiness

I always had mixed feelings about Jackie MacLean: loved his ideas, feeling, and drive-could never love that sound. But then I never liked Wayne Shorter's; Sidney Bechet's wide vibrato; especially Lee Konitz's, which to me got uglier by the minute. These are great players I enjoy in other ways, but to quote an alto player with a sound I always dug, Art Pepper, 'sound is personal'. He was talking about not digging Bird's sound, so there you go. The first thing you get is sound-and you either love it, recoil in horror, or-worst of all-have no reaction at all. The player is dead in the water then. Getting back to Jackie Mac, the other thing I had a little trouble with was a constant bluesiness that I'm sure was deeply felt-but to me didn't always fit, for example on a ballad. A great player, creative force, and doer of great things in this world for sure though...

(; Have a little compassion, man! How would you sound with a rat on YOUR head?! Damn. I misspelled Shildkraut. And I wasn't aware it was Davy, not Davey...

Very true. I've thought lately of visiting China, since the nouveau riche might be more amenacle to our kind of music (and to study their music traditions). If this ever happened I know it would not be like going to Holland was. I'd be carefully vetted before they even let me in. And I seriously doubt I'd have access to this site. We do tend to take certain freedoms for granted here. Sort of arrogant too...

Rereading Chris's post of 6 years ago I'm struck by his comment towards the end re how igoorance of each other only serves to fan the flames of intolerance and animosity. It's the root of our problems, for a large and egregious example, with the Muslim world. We tend to demonize, isolate, and stick with our own kind. And governments don't exactly help: I remember not all that long ago a radio show with Israeli guests-Jews and Palestinians trying to promote peace. They were saying how they were catching hell from their respective political leaders who seemed way more invested in war. I don't want to be seen as only a complainer, but ultimately a seeker of solutions. Pointing out the problems is just the beginning-if you stay mired in that people have the right to call you a whiner or a do-nothing. I think forums like this ond can really bring people together, a good thing. Personally that's why I got into the music over writing and visual art or drama, which I found I had ability at as a youngster: it has thithis magical ability to show the commonality of people. I think the Internet has all kinds of potential, despite the current level of self-absorption of many of its users. Only a fool or an ostrich hides from or denies the sun. We just need to evolve.

It's what I was trying to talk about some months ago (in a thread called The White Death-about the earbud/gadget zombies that have taken over my fair city) and caught a lot of heat for the way I said it. The world of gadgetry and pixels has its conveniences and charms-but in the end it's a fake world of self-absorption/self-justification. You can bet the people that have no tact or manners in cyberspace are the same ones that ride bikes and jog on the sidewalk w/earbuds dangling in arrogance or staring at an idiot device as they unrepentantly walk into you. They are selfish cretins and make me ill and ashamed of the (in)human race. I wish they all would go away and decent beings would have the world back. But of course it'll never happen. The idiots and sheep will always rule, more so the cynic whores who exlpoit and invest in stupidity for a dollar. It's what was meant by 'All is vanity'-the first line of the book of Ecclesiastes (sp?) and the prophets were nothing if not prescient.

Al Jaffee's mad Fold-in. If he's still alive it's still on the back cover. I just became aware of this. Had no idea such a collection existed. Doesn't surprise me. Classic Mad still turns a respectable dollar.

Yes, a real human being-and gentleman. My favorite image of him is at home in working-class black folks' Corona-on the stoop having ice cream with the smiling neighborhood kids he just bought some for.

Al Jaffee's mad Fold-in. If he's still alive it's still on the back cover.

Not sure if I ever told my Davey Schilkraut story here. I grew up--coincidentally--with his nephew Alan, who was always talking about his uncle Davey, the jazz musician. Jazz was something very exotic to us Gen-Woodstockers. We feared and hated it (talking ca. 1970). Alan became a successful road-rat rock/pop drummer as Alan Childs, and has played with practically every major pop act (as has another boyhood friend, Mark Rivera). One day in 1990 or so I found myself in the Cortelyou branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. There was a round table toward the front. Seated were a group of black schoolkids, maybe 10 or so years old---undoubtedly doing a homework assignment and bothereing no one. When I sat down I noticed a white-haired guy with a short beard. He smelled like a street person and had a paper bag with him. He was trying to strike up a conversation with these kids who alternately ignoring or making fun of him. I had found a biography from the YA section on Lester Young, and the guy turned his attention to me. We spoke and I discovered who he was. He was way past being Alan's uncle by then, I had heard the record with Miles and probably others. At least one trustworthy musician had called him 'the best musician to ever come out of (NY's) Local 802. He had a funny way of expressing himself. Like we were talking for a while, and by then he knew I played, but he kept looking at the Pres book and finally he said 'So in other words you like the jazz?' I asked him what he thought of the musicians of today compared to his day (I don't think he really listened much anymore). Naturally Wynton's name came up, he was relatively new on the scene. He did say 'there's no comparison', and not much else. I asked him if he knew about Tom Harrell, whose work I was studying closely because i felt he was playing and writing on a high level then. He said he'd heard about him. 'Where?' 'In the Downbeat'. I found him to be a very direct, sweet, unpretentious guy with absolutely not a hint of ego about his playing accomplishments. I had heard he's been out of music for years and had worked for those years for HRA or some other agency. Before that he had played club dates and I guess a little jazz when there was an opportunity. I also heard he had a daughter that fell down a flight of stairs and died. He did look a bit world-weary, and did have the appearance I mentioned. But at least from where I sat I detected no bitterness. I drove him back near his Coney Island home. He died not long after.

This came up in a search for that Mad thread. Reading it it was pretty interesting to look back at. One slight correction to Chris: at the time I meant that I had tried to reach out to people with olive branches w/PMs--and it did work. (That's how I got friendly w/Mr. Crouch---I know he's not your favorite). Other times I was nasty and pissy in PMs--and the person on the receiving end was so indignant or nuts or both they violated my trust and made the note public. I find that ncredibly vindicative and immature and there's no excuse for it. These days I just don't get that involved. But I have learned that, like anything in life, you get back what you put out. An intense, opinionated, angry poster will have it returned in kind---or double. I'm not talking about cyberbullies going after people making themselves targets, that's different. I mean the way you come off will bring people out. One word---good or bad---leads to another.

Or Bonzo. Nancy, arguably.

None of these are bebop alto players in the 1970s and beyond. Whole 'nother world, that one is. 'Young man, you seem to have wandered into the wrong theater. The casting call for the role of Lou Cypher is down the hall'. 'And break your leg'....

Then only play it on May Day.....

That sounds like a throwaway of Cyrano's..

I played a $2100 Martin yesterday-and fell in love. I think it was part mahogany-not quite as mulk bulk in the sound as 2 other top-of-the-line models I tried (including an 'Elvis Presley'! which was quite good and another magnificent instrument made for another star's 55th b'day). Both of those price way out at $5000, so I have to wait til I'm 'kept'. Verlempt won't do. But the sitka spruce w/I believe a mahogany neck was the perfect guitar for me-sound/feel preference, hand size. Sigh. Er, anyond know a gentleman bandit looking for an only sligtly inept sidekick? I could 'turn' the store owner or pharmacist of his choice pretending to sell The Final Call while drooling on my nice, neat Fruit of Islam bowtie... Not quite as MUCH bulk..

I can't make out that 2nd flat image on my cell phone's tiny sceen-but that Cracked cover is pretty amusing-and well-drawn. The Netherland's own Alfrood de Neumannstraat? Too weird...

I liked Phil's playing a lot on Showboat. He was at the peak of the romanticism I alluded to. I always loved his energy-like a jet plane taking off. He did a beautiful job on Superwoman-melody and solo. Stevie must've been proud. Also I'm glad he gave a shot to Harry Leahey, who deserved one-and played a beautifully warm and melodic solo himself on that tune.