fasstrack

Also, Jimmy didn't return the compliment. He made at least one snotty comment to me and I stuck up for Grant! Jimmy was a snob and picky in who he liked. I think he considered both Grant and Rene Thomas copycats. BS if so b/c both had way more happening than Jimmy's shit. Jimmy Gourley was guilty if charged. Into very little beside ripoffs-and weak ones-of Raney's 50s work. Not in the same universe as Grant Green and Rene Thomas (who himself took some things from GRANT later in the day). 'Will the Circle..'

Pt. 2: To me he just repeated and never grew, never explored the instrument chordally, for one thing. He achieved some nice things and was talented, though. Who knows what he would've done had he straighted out? Sad. Maybe I'm picking on him b/c the romantic image of the junkie jazz musician is not only sickening horseshit drivel, it's downright destructive. People not only want to play like these guys, they want to BE them. Well, like I said, Grant was cool. Good player w/o even trying. If he tried maybe he'd of been a MF. We'll never know...

If you can't hear that Eddie's just as swinging as Grant and just as much a blues player but more subtle and more interesting lines, less repetitive...well I'm not gonna argue. You got rights, I got rights. But with all respect, I'm a jazz guitarist born and bred in NY. These guys are my predecessors, they set the table for what I've tried to do with my life. And I know Eddie very well and knew Jimmy and am still in touch with his son Jon. At least listen to what I say b/c I know this drill-didn't read it in DumbBeat. Grant did take a lot from Jimmy-so did many, he was very influential. Every player in the know knew he was one of the giants. That's why Bradley's was packed when he was in town, etc. Grant was a natural talent who IMO never developed fully b/c like others he got caught up in gigs and dates that went to feed a drug habit unfortunately. But other musicians into shit didn't let it stop their musical growth. To me it's lazy when a guy makes no or little progress. For one thing to me a little of him If you can't hear that Eddie's just as swinging as Grant and just as much a blues player but more subtle and more interesting lines, less repetitive...well I'm not gonna argue. You got rights, I got rights. But with all respect, I'm a jazz guitarist born and bred in NY. These guys are my predecessors, they set the table for what I've tried to do with my life. And I know Eddie very well and knew Jimmy and am still in touch with his son Jon. At least listen to what I say b/c I know this drill-didn't read it in DumbBeat. Grant did take a lot from Jimmy-so did many, he was very influential. Every player in the know knew he was one of the giants. That's why Bradley's was packed when he was in town, etc. Grant was a natural talent who IMO never developed fully b/c like others he got caught up in gigs and dates that went to feed a drug habit unfortunately. But other musicians into shit didn't let it stop their musical growth. To me it's lazy when a guy makes no or little progress. For one thing to me a little of him

When I heard Charlie Christian at around 17 ('I learned the truth at 17') and that was an 'it' moment. Other influences followed, some lasting, others less so. But as that core formed Stevie Wonder came out w/Music of My Mind and Talking Book, Donny Hathaway-Roberta Flack had Where is the Love. I still love and play all of it, 7 Come 11 to Superwoman. I think jazz players of my generation that don't have R&B or pop influences must've been hermetically sealed. Not sure if Funk or Wagnall were involved. But there was so much good music-jazz, pop, and more-to have as formative influences then that born-again jazzers older than 50 and snotty about pop just amuse me. I feel bad for them. As far as motivations/black/white, etc. we're getting into tricky and cerebral territory and IMO the land of Not All That Useful. Though different for each, there either is something real in music, something skillful, unique-or not. More often not, but we're dreamers here, aren't we? Can't we leave the parsing to the parsers?

Well I LOVE Breezin'. It's a class act that presents the hollow-body w/o pedals or distortion. The pop elements are never cheesy. And George didn't have to sing even. This Masquerade is a bitch, though. Show me where on 70s commercial radio there was a piano solo as musical or with the feeling of what Jorge Dalto did with that. Funny thing: I played in Jaki Byard's NY Apollo Stompers in the mid-80s. He was always making the guitar the commercial sacrificial lamb and I wasn't feelin' it, hangin' with C. Sharpe, Tommy Turrentine, and other partners in crime. Thought I was too hip for This Masquerade when Jaki made me play it on a gig. But at least I KNEW it, unlike the bassist, who kept playing the changes for the 3rd and 4th bars in the 1st and 2nd. And talk about an attitude! People change and grow up though. I'm a melodist and I don't care who wrote or played 'em if they work for me. Yeah, George! Helping save the world from the pretentious self-absorption of MethenyWinkle.

Lou Donaldson dug his grave with his Kramdenesque BIIGG MOOUUTHH. He is antediluvian in his thinking and probably jealous. Not a favorite either, though he's good and been around. But-Allen-give George Benson a frickin' break. Before he 'sold out' to make one the classiest and biggest-selling presentations for hollow-body guitar since Johnny Smith (Breezin') he tore it up on the CTIs and live. He was something. The stuff since then has been bland perhaps, but he's playing a hollow-body like when he started, they are songs, not hip hop or Baby Baby Let's Fuck in my Van. His gtr. solos on these dates are revelations. He knows just how far to go and when to take it home, knows his listeners. And when the gig's over he finds a local jazz joint, orders a nice Scotch, then sits down and smokes the joint. Is that so bad?

Ran out of characters but wanted to say Christian said all that and cut out at 26-also Tal Farlow brought chords into it with great invention. His failing was a big one, monumental though his talent was: swing and time. Grant did kick his ass there. Ok, this is off-topic. 'Eeexit...stage Left...'

Epist: I hear you, but ain't messin' with it myself-though it's fun to get to brass tacks and play some JB rhythm or some raw blues or funk. But it's not ME. I do best in pop w/the melodic stuff. People just like my sound and I'm glad. I put a lot of work in on just melodic purity bringing out a song. If I got into, say, pedals or even a lot more treble I'd fool no one and sound dumb. So I do my thing and let the guys who do THAT do that. Now to Grant Green, I think Grant was cool but lazy. I think there are many better and more developed models for horn-like single-string playing. Start with his (and my) hero Jimmy Raney. Eddie Diehl, from his own generation and a natural talent like Grant, holds up as way more interesting. But then I played with Eddie a lot and never with Grant. Never even heard him live. But for a time he was a favorite. He's lyrical, swings, has a sound. And no one, Wes included, who was pretty great, ever touched the Father of them all: the man from Oklahoma City, Charles Christian.

Jon: Please don't EVER put yourself on a lower tier than musicians for not playing. Humility is one thing-we all could use more. Any real artist that plays both believes in and is invested in the listener's abilities in particular and human potential generally. If that trust is a given to function the next step is that your insights are at least as valid and almost definitely less tainted than the average musician, who after all has his/her nose and ego all up in the mix. So your thoughts on Herbie or anything musical are as pure as the driven snow and as welcome as May.

Noj: (I can't scroll far down enough w/the cellphone to hit 'reply'). They 'gave' Chameleon not long ago and I really listened-and loved it. Where it went, how it built and developed, all the stuff Benny Maupin played... let's just say it had its own thing, and also that a lot of 'hip' beboppers who looked down their noses at it would even today be scratching their respective noses and asses trying to build off a groove, 2 chords, and that little melody that's yet so focussed. I wouldn't even try it on guitar-I've been too ruined playing the prettier stuff. I need at least 3 chords! (; This kind of playing takes real discipline, restraint, and is its own craft. I just left a musicians wedding party with a room full of cats-pretty good, too-at least a few. I'd be VERY surprised if even one could, let alone WOULD do right by Chameleon-and that was made...what, 35, 40 years ago... Herbie did a lot, this is but a small example...

Well, Mark: I've been sick and unusually grouchy. Grr... Shudda read more. 'I couldda been a contender...it was YOU, Charlie'... I found that Konitz book an irritating kvetchfest and waste of a great mind. Lee IMO had something great, then ruined it 'chasing Lorelei'-meaning pursuing every musical bauble coming his way for lack of faith in himself. He did what Woody Allen did IMO, to the same woeful result. I'm not sure why this self-doubt proliferates so. But I cannot listen to Lee's sound for one thing. Horrible, and again once a thing of unique beauty, clarity, and strength. So for him to be talking shit...

BTW whoever made the point that Sondheim writes by harmony and is 'amelodic' or some other fancypants cerebralism: go listen to Pretty Women, Anyone can Whistle, Weekend in the Country, Losing my Mind, etc., etc.-all vigorous, original melodies filled out by perfectly matched lyrics and harmony. Then write something in the same ballpark. After failing at that (as would most people BTW) you'll likely think twice about blithely issuing such ill-advised statements.

Well gee willikers. I 'look over Jordan' after some time away and what do I see: the board slamming a product by a hugely successful musician and 2 years before it's even out! What a creative departure! No wonder Jon Raney quit boards altogether. So predictable. Quelle ennui...

Well, I waited all night to play one fing tune, the last. It was Ehud's gig, and different when a guy who's not the leader asks you. Cool. And I heard 2 sets of Frank Wess, co-ldr. Ilya Lustach. He plays good, with balls and edge. Wess sounds like Arnett Cobb on tenor to me, not as ahead, more relaxed. On flute he invented himself-few models when he started. What else? Charli Persip showed. Oh, and I met a nice lady, in town from Japan for a week. She knows I'm a gentleman. One can only hope.@

Stick some old t-shirts in the f-holes and turn it up They sell removable foam rubber thingies. I have to ask my repair guy, D'aQuisto Boombatz. Either that or have him 'straighten out' the organ player. 'You won't see Paulie no more...'

If I haven't lost the gig by then . If you'se still in town I think I'm a sitter-in within w/Mover and Ehud there tomorrow night. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

Last night wasn't half bad-though we need tightening up. Organ can only get so quiet-so they claim. So archtops tend to overdrive and feed back. Then shouting directions over a Leslie.. We'll rehearse, there's potential there. Look for us there every 6 weeks. Highlight: Jon Raney-Jimmy's son, fine pianist, great guy-came and stayed the duration. That was really appreciated. We'd been writing so it was great to hang. The Raneys are special, all of 'em. I think I mentioned my history as a youmg player seeking and finding Jimmy. And so the bond grows...

I'll be playing tonight w/my organ trio of JOEL FASS, GUITAR RADAM SCHWARTZ, HAMMOND B3 RUDOLPH PETSCHAUER, DRUMS 6-8:30 tonight Fat Cat 75 Christopher St. West of 7th Ave., The Big Mango (no word from Chris Cattan..) A lousy $3 admission for all the good you get (plus ME-to offset that and make you appreciate it) Get there before 7 and it's GRATIS (also free) Also at Fat Cat this Sunday, Apr. 8 I'll be a guest for a set with The Ehud Asherie-Bob Mover group. Bob invited me, I told him I'd ask Ehud first. Should be cool, though. Bob you know. Ehud is a superb pianist not yet 30 making his name. Not sure of the other players, but they hit at 7

I find it sad that no one seems to care about what I brought up earlier. Not that I need attention, it needs/deserves attention IMO. Are we so fragmented a society, so atomized that we can't have---if not a sociological study at least a discussion on a board of jazz people---on how music brings out the commonalities, not the differences in people? That's it from me as far as this. Y'all got it---or don't.

The only one you could ask is probably, um, unavailable for comment. No, silly, it's not Cornell West.

The only flaw I find with all these undoubtedly worthy sociological exegeses (sp?) is not the relative newness of the perspective or study, but the potential for atomization in a world already dangerously isolationist and self-absorbed. I became a musician in the 60s-and am one today-b/c music magically supercedes the 'differences' everyone tells you there are between people. It's a uniter, a leveler. So, yes, study history, enjoy the prides of heritage, ethnicity, gender, etc. They are important. But don't leave out stories like the one Sonny Rollins told about Frank Sinatra and Nat Cole coming and cooling out tensions at his freshly integrated HS. That IMO is the truly important story of American music, which last I looked included jazz.

Larry: The Golden Age of Radio with Max Shmid on wBAI FM features Vic and Sade regularly as well as lots of other great stuff. It's heard at 7 PM eastern and streamed over www.wbai.org

Larry: The Golden Age of Radio with Max Shmid on wBAI FM features Vic and Sade regularly as well as lots of other great stuff. It's heard at 7 PM eastern and streamed over www.wbai.org

Baraka, not Barak. Let's not cause a second crucifixion..

"I'm a Christian" is a stupid answer to "where are the socialists, where are the communists..." Outside of "what's your religion?" I can't think of any question it wouldn't be a stupid answer to. It would be a stupid answer to a lot of questions. For example: 'What's the capital of North Dakota?' (with apologies to the great theologian Groucho Marx). Anyway, thanks for clarifying.