fasstrack

Really. They need to create some kind of playoff system. Seriously, it's about "bu$ine$$" & "the indu$try" first, and "mu$ic" about third or fourth. Gee, what a surprise....

I mentioned on this board I got to play with Warne once, in the early 80s, and what a thrill it was. Well, my interest and respect for his work never subsided and I've been listening again lately. I have a friend who has a gang of stuff, and I'm always asking to put on this or that. The other day I heard the date with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe, from '57. Smokin'! You can hear Warne's Pres roots and any doubt that he swung his ass off will be instantly quashed. Very mainstream, but individual tenor playing with his own light sound and great ideas. Other recordings I recommend are the one with Joe Albany and a duo from the 80s with Red Mitchell. There's also great stuff with a Norwegian group and all those Criss Cross records of the 80s (Star Highs is one and I forget the other titles), One Day in the Life with Ron Eschete, and Apogee (I think) with Pete Christlieb. I think it's time people stop associating Warne with Tristano. He was definitely his student and disciple, but he was a very individual player and doesn't belong categorized in any 'school'. I think he was the major talent in that clique, anyway. I like Lee's earlier stuff, up til the 70s. He definitely had a lot to say. But Lee has a much bigger name than Warne and I never quite got that. The biography on Warne, An Unsung Cat, has a lot of good insight and solo transcriptions from these recordings.

Just mentioning it one last time.......now this is me shutting up

Johnny Mercer did a great job on Satin Doll. A lot of the other tunes had lyrics tacked on later, which always smells a little funny (i.e.: Concerto for Cootie/Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me). I think Solitude is a beautiful, direct lyric about loneliness, and fuses with the melody beautifully. That one works well. Probably the melody and lyric were written contemporaneously or in close sequence to each other

Oscar Hammerstein wrote in You'll Never Walk Alone 'When you walk through the storm keep your chin up high. No one keeps their chin up---they do chin ups But a proper editorial correction was made by just about every singer who ever performed it, and they properly say 'hold your head up high'. I think even Hammerstein conceded the point eventually. That's one reason I always preferred Hart......

It was great to see you last time. Yeah, Smalls is fun to play. First time solo for me.

I will be playing solo guitar (with possible invited guests) Monday, Dec 7. Early show, 7:30-9. Hope to see some of you there. A great guy from this board came to my last gig there. To hear some full tracks, read about my background as a musician you can visit www.myspace.com/joelfass Smalls website also has an archived trio show from May 29th I believe they are www.smallsjazzclub.com and you click on the guitar symbol at audio archive and find my name. Hope to see some of you!

Just finished Pete Hamill's A Drinking Life----for the 2nd time, and just as wonderful. A powerful, lean book by a master writer.

I heard Mike Longo and Ben Brown in duo at Smalls. They have a nice rappoire and Longo plays his ass off. I never sat and listened attentively to him. Excellent, swinging player with a lot of depth and interesting, diverse influences. Ben Brown has a nice time feel and is a good listener.

Advertising dollars. Is that a joke or do you mean that reviewers are really under economic pressure to give everyone they review a pass in these ezines? B/c if that's the case it was be almost equal to payola. Did anyone else notice that particulary in All About Jazz the reviews all seem friendly to the point of approaching sugar-coated? There are scores of CDs reviewed every month. How can all these people be so great? No disrespect to my fellow musicians, but it makes you wonder....... I'm not joking, but I'm also not sure...I never had a Jazz magazine as a customer. Guitar magazines, yes. Not one red cent. But virtually anyone can publish a review there (unless they're an obvious shill), so... In defense of AAJ (probably not a popular position around here) I'd venture the opinion that those few exceptions (Clifford Allen and Lloyd Peterson are the names that immediately spring to mind) justify the site's existence. Peterson's take on the Amiri Baraka book is as good a piece of critical writing as I've read anywhere. Peterson on Baraka Allen on Bill Dixon And I can relate to Chuck's comments earlier in this thread. Growing up in a very small town in New England, my journey into the jazz world would have been via an even more circuitous path had it not been for Down Beat, Jazz & Pop and other magazines back in the late 1960s through the 1970s. Admittedly, it's a very different world now, with every bozo on the bus dispensing wisdom and "insight" via the Internet. I don't hate AAJ, BTW---just call it what it is: a promotional 'zine. Like 99% of the jazz press. Understandable, since the music is so damn impoverished. Hot House is the same deal: ad after ad for CDs by their performers and/or management, and no real content besides who's in town. It's OK for that, that's why I read it, it does perform a service and it's free. I appreciate that. And I must say DownBeat and JazzTimes have really diminished in quality as journalistic arms so much as to be hardly worth reading. The writers seem very concerned with jumping on the hottest trends and players, while ignoring very worthy musicians IMO. I never read a word in DB about Chris Anderson, except for his obit, maybe. They have become bullshit rags, And it gives me no pleasure to say that.

Thanks so much, Larry. The players on that are: John Eckert, trumpet, Bim Srausberg, bass, Rudy Petschauer, drums, M'Ferghu, piano, myself, guitar and composer. I think John played a beautiful solo it, even when the piano and bass got off-track rhythmically for a bit behind him. Ralph Lalama was on the other pieces from that date. John will be with me at Fat Cat. Please come by and say hi. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I feel really good tonight and wish everyone well.

Gerald Wilson is an inspiration to composers, as is Benny Golson---and not just b/c of their age. It takes a lifetime of thought and getting it right to get to be that good. I think anything Wilson puts out is worth getting. I loved his early 60s work with Joe Pass and others in the band. BTW: His son Anthony is also a fine guitarist. He did a great job on the late, great Nancy Lamott's recording 'Sings the Lyrics of Johnny Mercer'. Duet on P.S. I Love You (the only tune he's on) was very nice.

I'll think about it. Meanwhile, thanks for keeping this topic at the top of the forum. By now everyone here must have made plans to hear us, right? I mean what the hell is a 1,000 mile commute to support an O member?

Maybe we'll play Spiral. Just for you...............

I will be playing solo at Smalls Mon., Dec. 7---early show (7:30-10 PM). www.smallsjazzclub.com has an archived trio show from May 29th click on guitar symbol and go to my name Also: Wed., Dec. 23rd Fat Cat, 8:30-12 PM. I will be playing with an excellent quintet of jazz players music I've written and arranged recently and over the years. Fat Cat is only a $3 admission charge and there is music til 4:30 AM You can preview some of the tunes and read a bit about what I've been up to at www.myspace.com/joelfass I'd like to see some of you and appreciate your support. I've already met one O member at my gig! Oh, and Lazaro Vega Heard my quartet back in '04 in Michigan (and helped get us the gig...).

....and she went ape over it. I'll be the judge, however. Teachout is just another critic to me. But I will check it out.

She used to come into the Jazz Cultural Theater (that Barry Harris ran and co-owned) in the mid-80s. The famous Rolls Royce would sit parked outside. Everyone was under orders to drop everything and cater to her every whim when she showed up----in other words, she was royalty there. Barry lived in her house in Weehawken, N.J. with Monk, and still lives there. I sat next to her once in the club. She seemed nice enough.

I just now came from trying one at the store I bought my non-cutaway Kingpin. I liked it, but it's the exact guitar: same cherry wood, same tone. It has 2 pickups (the same p-90s), the exact pickguard and headstock. The kicker? $200 more (w/hard shell case, which mine didn't come with). For a couple of notes more it ain't worth it to me----but still a great little guitar for the money.

It was earlier this week, but I wanted to mentioned that Don Friedman had a very nice group that played twice this week. The attraction for me was the great trumpet player from Holland, Ack Van Rooyen. I wanted to meet him in the Hague but didn't. He is a wonderful, musical, inventive player with great control and beautiful sound. He played flugelhorn the whole set at Smalls. I did finally get to meet him and he is very nice, at almost 80! The group also included the excellent bassist Martin Wind, and an old friend, also from the Hague, drummer Hans Braber. So it was like seeing family. Friedman has great ears so a lot of interesting things happened, like different instrumental pairings and nice trading. It was all on the fly with tunes everyone knew, but when you have improvisors that good and that seasoned, who listen on that level nice things develop. If you ever get a chance to hear Van Rooyen either here or in Europe---grab it. ˙He is world class. The people loved him.

The earliest Bud I heard was an airshot with the Cootie Williams Orchestra. They play Round Midnight and he doesn't solo. But it's an interesting historical document, from ther early '40s. I don't know if it's available on CD. Phil Schaap always plays it on Bird Flight. All the other stuff is easlily available. Also look for Summit Meeting at Birdland w/Bird, Blakey, and Gillespie (or was it Fats N.?) From 1950, I think, and definitely on CD. I don't know if this is the CD it's on, but there's a classic solo he plays live with Bird on Round Midnight. Good luck.

Screw that. I'm waiting for Chris Botti

I was also really intrigued by the band with Pat Patrick, Wilbur Ware and Beaver Harris (pg. 409-412). Evidently Patrick recorded them in performance at the Jazz Workshop in Boston. Pretty amusing anecdote about why Monk ultimately kicked Harris out of the band. I was friends with Pat Patrick and we played with Eddie Diehl. He was known for bari, but was a hell of a stompin' tenor player---a strightahead bebop player (again, known as an 'out' player from his association with Sun Ra). Great guy. He would've fit in perfectly with Monk and I'd love to hear it. I was sad when Pat died. Beaver Harris used to come by Marshall Brown's Wednesday session around 1980-81, just to hang and listen. Good drummer, nice cat. I don't know if people know that Clarence 'C' Sharpe auditioned for Monk. I'm not sure what happened there, but he would've done a hell of a job.

I've been reading this in fits and starts at the local bookstore. (They are so nice they gave me a chair to relax and everything ). I really recommend it. Kelly really brings Monk and his times to life. I learned a lot and my appreciation for the man, his uncompromising self-belief and honesty, and his music have only deepened.

I agree. ll the stuff with Getz and Barron is superb. (Don't forget 'Voyage'). People Time is great. I used to practice with it. Their time alone you can set a clock to, but rhe interaction and choice of tunes (First Song, Surrey, etc.) is inspired. I'm glad someone had the brains to record them as a duo.

After reading Unsung Cat (excellent job, BTW), playing with Warne once years ago, and listening to a lot of stuff with a friend recently I got a jones to listen to everything I can get my hands on and take his stuff apart.He was heavy. I like earlier Lee, too. Must be good stuff.