fasstrack

Will Friedwald: Sinatra: The Song is You Wow, that guy really does his homework! Impressive, and I'm glad he's not a bounty hunter on my ass.

Good piece. He's got a lot to say similar to Brookmeyer's philosophy re 'the piece is the thing' and don't put solos in there just because---purpose, etc. McNeeley's tunes (as opposed to big band writing) are not easy to play, BTW, they take a few run-throughs. But they are thoughtful and worth learning. I liked 'On the Up and Up' on Pure Getz. And Phil Woods Quintet did a whole recording of his things, good record. I cracked up when I read he had that Russell Garcia arranging book as a kid. I had it, too, and liked it.

I love Wilder's tunes, his orchestral pieces, and both American Song (though he gets on Gershwin's case too much for 'repeated notes') and the very candid Letters I Never Sent. I'll tell you a story the late, great Bill Finegan told me about Wilder: I told Bill I went to a Ken Peplowski concert that featured works a lot of writers----a lot of work went into it and I think Peplowski's chops are still on the floor of Merkin Hall. Brave man, he. But the only piece I remembered, and that knocked me out, I said, was by Alec Wilder: Clarinet in Springtime. It was submitted to, and rejected by, Benny Goodman (who Wilder hilariously tweaked as having a 'bad ear' in 'Letters'). I was raving about the piece and Bill said he used to have Wilder's trunk in his home---Wilder, a notorious rambler and lover of trains---kept things with friends in NY. For some reason Bill found this score in there. Wilder evidently forgot about or lost track of it. He called Wilder and asked if he wanted it. Wilder said, yes, please send it. It might have remained in mothballs........ Anyone know if it was ever recorded?

I'll be back----cheap labor and/or they are gluttons for punishment

Nice piece. I always liked Scotty better in situations away from Bill's trio, though I like that, too. He could bear down. Great talent.

will be playing solo guitar the early show (7:30-9) at Smalls on Monday, Jan 4. 183 W. 10th Street, west of 7th Ave, NYC. And Happy New Year!

I loved him as Sparrow in The Man with the Golden Arm. Wow, he must've been like 137 years old. Hadn't heard his name in years. RIP.

Besides Duvall, the guy that played the station owner Duvall's character worked for when on the lam in The Apostle has a small role. My other favorite Bridges movie was The Fisher King, even though Robin Williams, as usual, did his best to steal it. Bridges' range is amazing, and he's a great comic when he wants to be, but he's more restrained than Williams.

I just saw it loved it. Mostly b/c of him---a role he was born to play, burnt-out country alcoholic country singer in decline. I was afraid it was going to be too close to one of my favorites, Tender Mercies (Robert Duvall produced and had a minor role in this), but it stood on its own nicely. Good acting all around on an unremarkable script, but, again, brought to life by Bridges, who shines. Also I liked that the story didn't cop out with a sugar-coated ending. Good tunes, too, selected by Bridges, I hear. Go see this, it has a tremendous lot of heart.

It was a great gig. Band played my stuff beautifully, and I felt like playing and played relaxed and well. Had a ball with some of my favorite musicians.

JOEL FASS QUINTET Joel Fass, Guitar, Compositions John Eckert, Trumpet Britta Langschoen, Trombone Roman Ivanoff, Hammond B3 Organ Rudolph Petschauer, Drums PLAYING NEW AND OLD COMPOSITIONS AND STANDARDS FAT CAT: 75 CHRISTOPHER STREET, NYC WED. DECEMBER 23RD: 8:30 PM-12 AM ONLY $3 COVER! GREAT AMBIENCE, GAMES!

There's a nice interview with BB in this month's Jazz NY. Also Junior Mance (another octogenarian. This is a great age for jazz greats living long and doing good work into their 80s and even 90s.

If you have the dreaded "Metal Box" of Evans, you can tell by the alt. tk's & false starts that they were struggling during this session. IMHO, one of the worst in the Evans' Verve catalog. I don't think it's as bad as all that. Bill sounds a bit intimidated by Elvin and somehow not at his best, but there's still good playing by heavyweights on this. I thought Stan sounded fine. It's worth having and playing once in a while b/c it's a band of this caliber.

I've known Barry since '76. Was part of the scene at the JCT in the 80s. There's no one I know that did more for musicians. I know this from personal experience. Bless you. Barry, and happy birthday!

They are fascinating. His personal language was so evolved, and there's an intensity there. The harmonic language is pretty amazing, and since he played the same pieces a lot his whole career, it's interesting how they evolved. But, like I said, don't expect it to swing like Basie. Those tempos fly away from note one. Get what's to be gotten.........

Herbie Nichols was a fine writer himself. I remember reading his review of Monk in some jazz publication. His insights and prose were worth reading. He was a hell of a talented guy all around. His tunes were interesting and quirky and he could play in a lot more styles than people know. He played in a dixieland band evidently. Well, if you're a working musician you do what they call you for.

I'm familar, too, with latter-day Farlow, especially in live performance, and while he might indeed have been rushing some on those nights, the dominant impression I recall is of ecstatic virtuosity -- speed of thought and execution as one, the closest thing I've ever heard to Tatum. It wasn't just a matter of 'rushing some', his time was really terrible. Any musician will tell you that, and Tal knew it himself. It's hard to listen to a guy when it's all over the place like that, and his speed of thought and execution were hardly 'of one'. It was more like 'of two'. He was always ahead and that made him hard for rhythm sections to play with. He played a lot with Gary Mazzaroppi on bass in the 80s and it was hard to listen to---a shame b/c his ideas were great. Once my friend Eddie Diehl, a guitarist with some of the best and swingingest time, sat in with them and you can really hear the difference. One guy is anchored, the other floating all over the ocean. Tal always had this problem, but it really became a hindrance musically after his 'return' in '69. But he was a great, inventive player, and one of the trailblazers on guitar. With Bill Evans, there are so many factors it's hard to tell what caused it, but unrelenting drug use doesn't help, nor total neglect of one's health. Generally, there's difference between edge that causes excitement---Wes Montgomery is a perfect example, he played ahead but it felt good b/c he was so exciting and in the moment you were hanging on his next note, spellbound---and plain old nervous playing that makes accompanists have a long night. Bud and Bird, through their various personal health setbacks, never played that way. They might have gotten 'dark' (like Bird on the unfinished Cole Porter project) or lost their edge as Bud did as his mental health deteriorated or Bird around '54, but I never heard either play nervous rhythmically. They had built-in metronomes.

His greatness was in his complete maturity in all other respects. It was like he was in his own world of sound. I'm sure he knew the end was near, too, and felt a particular urgency to say a lot in a short time. His music was very aggressive and intense in the last few years. Far from the introverted ballad player that was always his image (bullshit, anyway. He was a complete jazz pianist from the beginning, with a world of experience from the age of 14).

Bootsie is great. He invited me down to sit in with his organ group at Ortleib's a few years back. 'Look through the book', he said. It was a hell of a book, too. I got my ass kicked too, but it was fun! If people pass through Philly they should hear him. I also would like to mention Saul Rubin (guitar), Joe Cohn (same), Ari Roland (bass), two gifted brothers from Italy I played with last month, Luigi and Pasquali Grasso (alto and guitar). I also would like to mention two under-recorded and publicized New Yorkers: John Eckert (trumpet) and Britta Langschoen (trombone). IMO they are two of the best.

About a month ago I played the disc 1 version of "Bill's Hit Tune" from the "Turn Out the Stars" set. Seemed to me that the tempo increased by about 20 percent, maybe more, during Evans' solo. This pretty much made the music rhythmically incoherent IMO; where "one" was essentially disappeared. Is there any other well-regarded jazz musician who had this problem to the extent that Evans eventually did? I've never heard anything close to it. Cedar Walton, George Coleman, Art Farmer all play 'on top'. (Listen to Stompin' at the Savoy on the live at the Half Note record w/Jim Hall. I think Walter Perkins was the culprit, though). Wes Montgomery played on top. That can be exciting as long as it's not out of control. Tal Farlow really rushed, especially when he came back in '69. That was the kind of rushing that actually makes rhythm sections and listeners uncomfortable---and I say this as an admirer of Tal, one of the more inventive and unique improvisers of his day He was the first to acknowledge it, BTW. Then there are musicians who seem to be playing ahead b/c of the nature of their ideas and rhythmic displacement, but whose time is perfect. Warne Marsh is an example. Bill Evans got progressively 'rushier' as his recorded career went on. Listen to any of the live stuff from the Vanguard toward the end. It is brilliant harmonically and in his concepts. Nardis became something quite amazing. But swing? Relaxation? Go listen to Basie or Wynton Kelly.............. There are a lot of reasons why good musicians speed up (or slow down) tempos. It can be distraction, excitement on an important gig, lack of comfort with the musicians on the stand, anxiety to get one's ideas out-----or, since Bill Evans is the topic----drug use. There's a difference in Evans work form the heroin to cocaine period. There's discussion of Evans rushing in his last trio with Joe LaBarbara in Peter Pettinger's biography of Evans. Just my opinion............

Frank Strozier at that time was just off the hook. Red hot. Listen to Long Night (with Chris Anderson, George Coleman, Bill Lee, Pat Patrick, Walter Perkins----it was on JazzLand) and you will hear great alto playing. Also, the idea of McCoy and Thad together was inspired. This is a very nice recording. I like Extensions, with Woody Shaw and Wayne Shorter, also. Also, the trio record of all Ellington is very nice.

OK, so I lied Seriously, a good audience makes the gig. They are as much a part of it as I am.

Low point? I liked it. It had The Two Lonely People, Comrade Conrad, TTTT, and others. Good recording. Bill was experimenting with the Rhodes on it.

Low point? I liked it. It had The Two Lonely People, Comrade Conrad, TTTT, and others. Good recording. Bill was experimenting with the Rhodes on it.

Does anybody happen to know if this Atlantic date that you mention was ever reissued in the Atlantic JAZZLORE LP series of the 80s? I figure an original will be out of price and recent CD reissues (e.g. Fresh Sound) have idiotic pairings where you are bound to already have half of the contents 8i.e. one of the 2 LPs coupled together). And I prefer vinyl anyway if the alternatives exist ... My friend had it (bizarrely) coupled with a Charles Lloyd recording----on CD, not sure of the label.