Mark Stryker

http://www.popmatters.com/review/176027-beyond-a-love-supreme-john-coltrane-and-the-legacy-of-an-album/ Haven't read the book so can't completely confirm Layman's judgment rendered in this pan, but I will say it rings true and accurate to the breed of book under discussion and Layman does a nice job of articulating the issue. "It’s a cool idea to examine what it means for this improvisational art form to be based so utterly on obsessing over recordings that become 'commoditized' and fetishized and other big words. Alas, Whyton’s academic style makes his book not just a chore to read but, frankly, loaded with many buckets full of bullshit. That said, let me lay out the basics here, as Whyton has some intriguing ideas that might be usefully discussed in the language of normal, non-tenured human beings who are interested in jazz rather than just looking smart at some symposium somewhere."

Dave Liebman posted a short but very admiring note about Jackson on Facebook. A footnote I found interesting: When Miles was coming back after his layoff in the early 80s and was asking Liebman about musicians (it was Liebman who recommended his student, Bill Evans) Liebman also suggested to Miles that he look into Jackson, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and James Blood Ulmer. Obviously, Miles went in another direction but interesting to think about the road not taken. As Liebman put it, "I thought they could really put Miles into a different place."

Well, in a fire, the first McCoy record I'm grabbing is "The Real McCoy" -- don't get no better than that -- and conceptually his world view absolutely grew in rewarding directions. Just saying the Impulse trios represent a singular aesthetic and long-lasting influence.

What Jim said with a couple addendums: Those early Impulse trio recordings are remarkable: incredibly rich in detail, emotionally fulfilling and the language was (and continues to be) extremely influential on several generations of pianists. They define nearly everything about McCoy's playing, except for the jackhammer power, modal fervor and compositional aesthetic that would develop through the rest of the '60s and then define the Milestones. I think you can love later McCoy like I do but still lament the loss of the sparkling quality of the early trios. "Together" is a terrific record all-around, save perhaps the studio recording sound, which is of the era. This is one of the Milestones I find myself pulling out and listening to, along with "Trident," "Enlightenment" and "Atlantis."

Had an interesting talk the other day with Kris Davis, a pianist and composer whose work I like quite a bit. Wrote it up here: http://www.freep.com/article/20131023/ENT04/310230007/Kris-Davis-Edgefest-Kerrytown

I have yet to read the book so will reserve judgment, but I think it's worth noting that the quoted passage above doesn't quite capture the essence of Dwight Garner's largely positive NYT review, which makes some interesting points with regard to intent. "The ideal way to ingest Stanley Crouch's new book is probably on audio, late at night, while driving between the major cities of the Midwest, your headlights pushing past truck stops and dying cornfields. You've got to be willing to submit to the spell Mr. Crouch is working to cast. ... ''Kansas City Lightning'' is all about polyrhythmic cadences and percussive thumps. It's a book about a jazz hero written in a heroic style; it's a tall tale, a bebop Beowulf. You've got to be in the mood. Mr. Crouch's sentences frequently trace a biblical arc. ... ''Kansas City Lightning'' is ostensibly a life of Charlie Parker, the great alto-saxophone player, but it's not even close to a real biography. Mr. Crouch doesn't have the temperament of a biographer. He's worked on this book, off and on, for more than 30 years. He's done his share of interviews. But Mr. Crouch is not about getting his knees dirty, rooting around in old tax bills and manila folders and yellowing box-office receipts. He's about aesthetics and ideas. His book is a 365-page riff on Charlie Parker, on America in the first half of the 20th century and on black intellect and feeling. It worked for me, mostly." Crouch's book is what it is. The key questions to me are the same as always for evaluating art, music, literature, whatever: What is the artist trying to do? How well is he doing it? Was it worth doing in the first place?

Larry -- I think I remember a profile you wrote of D'Rone in the '80s. The only thing I can kind of recall was an opening scene (I think) of Frank singing and doing something hip with his phrasing that made pianist John Campbell shake his head in admiration or something like that. I can't find the piece online or data bases, though they might not go back far enough. Am I imagining this or does such a story exist?

Actually, the version of "Can't Buy Me Love" I was thinking of was on an Impulse Twofer from the 70s or perhaps very early 80s that encompassed live recordings -- the Showboat, perhaps? -- with Shirley Scott, Arthur Edgehill and a bass player I presume but my memories faulty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BGvfjayoTA There's actually another version of Stanley Turrentine playing "Can't Buy Me Love" with Shirley Scott that I like better than this one but couldn't find it. Still, this is fun.

A few years ago I asked Hal Galper if he remembered the October 1966 concert at Left Bank w/Sam Rivers and the "New Jazz Conception" group (Galper, Herbie Lewis, Steve Ellington). He remembered the gig but when I ased him if a tape exists he said, "I hope not! I hated that gig. It was a TERRIBLE piano. Everybody else could have fun and I had to suffer." It's was 44 years after the gig and what he remembered most was how awful the piano was.

Searching "Split Images" and "Larry Kart" yields a 1987 double review of Gloria Lynne at George's and the Jazztet at the Showcase. For the record, you raved about both sets and the specific sentence captured by the search was this: ":Highlights abounded, among them Fuller's pair of rumbustious solos on Golson's 'Are You Real,' Farmer's harmonic subtleties on his 'Right Soon,' the care with which Golson brought a compositional order to his hip, heated lines, Tucker's brilliant outing on 'Split Image,' where he alternated between uptempo swing and a sensitive, technically expert interpretation of Brahms' Rhapsody in G minor, Op. 79, and drummer Marvin Smith's explosive solo on 'Stablemates.' In a rather freakish coincidence, I just Tweeted out some things regarding Gloria Lynne yesterday. I was shocked to learn that she was still performing at age 81 and was in fact on the schedule last night in New York at 54 Below. I'm a HUGE fan. Have over the years been picking up all the LPs. One of the most underrated jazz singers there is -- out of Dinah and Sarah -- but personalized and just tremendously expressive, great phrasing, swings, ballads to break your heart, the whole bit. I'm not necessarily one of those everything-in-the-old-days-was-better guys, but jazz singing certain was. The standards were just way more elevated. Most of today's singers (national stars and the workadays in every city) would get run off the stage in the old days, even by those singers who might be thought of as the second tier. It's interesting too to think about those who never managed to truly break out like a Gloria Lynne, Teri Thornton, Dakato Staton, Bill Henderson, etc. Maybe it was bad management, problems with husbands or personal lives, on the wrong record labels, bad luck, some sort of quirk in their styles, whatever. But Gloria -- whew! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYyB4tODRQM

When I type "Larry Kart" and "Sideswipe" into the Nexis search engine, the only thing that comes up is a long 1985 profile of Joan Rivers! ("Who, for instance, could resist the breathless pace of one of her better Liz Taylor sideswipes, which, if it were printed the way Rivers says it, would look something like 'I-say-this-with-love-we're-very-close-she's-a-pig.' " In any case, I'm guesing the Tribune's book review section in that era, for whatever reason, did not transfer over to the Nexis data base.

Tried to find these via Nexis and they were not in the system -- must not go back that far. Sorry. Tried.

Hmm. Interesting, thanks. Does it say which issue in '61? I've got most of them at home. How could it be that Byrd would have a record come out on Warwick right in the middle of what I assume would be an exclusive contract with Blue Note -- unless the early '61 recording was literally after one BN deal had ended and another had started?

These sessions in their various incarnations have been discussed a few times here, but I'm trying to get clarity on something: While these represent Herbie Hancock's first recordings, my understanding is that they were not released at the time and Byrd's "Royal Flush," recording in Sept. 1961 and presumably released around the end of that year, was the first time anyone had heard Herbie in record. Is this correct?

Thanks for the wrap-up, Jim.

Intereting reading here for me. I defer to others on the topic of Bruckner since although I respect this music, I have never warmed to it enough to love it (or even like it). This is despite having heard lots of performances led by all kinds of conductors in my professional capacities. But I will keep trying. My preferred approach to Bruckner is generally to hang out at the bar and then catch up with everyone else at the scherzo. Coda: I had two important American history classes at the University of Illinois with Professor Robert McColley, who for years was the resident Bruckner guy at Fanfare magazine.

Thanks GA. MG I disagree based on what I've heard so far -- that is, I think "Lomelin" is at least equal to the cream of the Pacific LPs ("Moment of Truth," "You Better Believe It.") Still trying to amass the other Discovery dates, but "Lomelin" knocked me out -- the writing is an advance over the '60s and the band still sounds like a working band. Much more organic and unified than the NY studio ensembles assembled for the Mack Ave. dates (which musician-by-musician might look better on paper but don't come out in the wash that way.) Having said that, the best of the Mack Ave. records I think is "In My Time," which is the one that top to bottom holds up with the best of the earlier work. Anyone else heard the other Discovery dates and have a suggestion which I should track down first?

John -- thanks for those thoughts. Like Larry, I wonder about the source and context for that view of David Baker, whom I've known since I was kid growing up in Bloomington and gotten to know pretty well as an adult. I cannot think of any possible way, form or context in which it might be possible to consider David racist in any way. Larry -- it's Indiana University not University of Indiana -- don't mean to be a dick on this point, but having grown up there, this always rankles my eye and ear when I see it incorrect. All -- nice set of drummers in this picture with Murray: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/21/albert_murray_died_writer_s_obituaries_missed_a_few_things.html

Don't have time to lay out a complete defense -- and, to be clear, I would not defend everything in the oeuvre in every detail (though I would defend a lot) -- but Murray was an incredibly important writer and thinker whose contributions go way beyond those aspects of "Stomping the Blues" with which some here may disagree; I do wonder how many negative views are shaped more by folks' distaste for his high-profile progeny in the jazz world (Marsalis/Crouch) than by his own nuanced work. And speaking of progeny, his influence on the next generation of black public intellectuals (Henry Louis Gates, Cornel West, Stephen Carter, Crouch and others) was enormous. I have no issue with principled arguments against his work, but if you think you know what Murray is about and you haven't read the profoundly integrationist "The Omni-Americans" and "South to a Very Old Place" (and also read "Stompin' the Blues" and "The Hero and the Blues" rather than absorbed them second or third hand), then you don't know the breadth and totality of the work and all he has to say about American culture and experience. Again, I'm not arguing for Murray's infallibility, and I know there are those who can and do quarrel intelligently with his ideas. But the tone of some of the blanket dismissals whenever Murray's name comes up here rankles me. It's not worthy of the achievements. FWIW, here's a short appreciation by Skip Gates http://www.theroot.com/views/albert-murray-influential-essayist-dies and here is a commanding assessment of "South to a Very Old Place" by James Marcus. http://www.cjr.org/second_read/home_truths.php?page=all

Marian McPartland has died at age 95. First obituary I've seen: http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/08/21/161653933/marian-mcpartland-piano-jazz-host-has-died

I've read some of the book in an uncorrected advance proof and what I've gone through is excellent. Candid, entertaining and detailed stories, self-aware, readable. We don't have a lot of first-hand documents like this of players of his generation, and, needless to say, his homosexuality creates a personal arc in the narrative that's unique among jazz autobiography. (FWIW, I did find an error in dates related to an all-star tour with with Cedar Walton, Joe Henderson, Roy Haynes and others that in the way Gary writes about it suggests it happened in the early 80s but which in fact had to have taken place a decade earlierr given evidence like bootleg recordings. I sent a note the publisher and a few days later received a nice note back from Gary thanking me for the correction and for pointing out a bootleg that he was not aware of. He said the book was already at the printers but they'd fix in the next printing.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9pccmxOn5c

You know, all three members of the "The Magic Triangle" are now gone -- Cedar, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins. Very special rhythm section. Incomparable feel in the idiom.

I'm seeing reliable voices on Twitter indicating that Cedar Walton has died. I have not seen any news reports yet but the sources include his son, pianist Eric Reed and Josh Jackson's The Checkout,