Mark Stryker

Have always retained a soft spot for Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48. It's all about the melody! The popular 2nd movement waltz especially ...

Hmm. I think the identifcation of the bassist as Alvin Jackson on the "Zec" session is a mistake. It's Beans Richardson. The other four sides you reference (Rockaway, Rainy Day, etc. ) appear to be vocals by Jackie Wilson (the label says Sonny Wilson Sings/Billy Mitchell Plays). I found one on youtube. Don't know these records and haven't seen personnel listed in a discography. Are there are any horn solos that allow identification? Will run this by Jim Gallert ...

Does anyone know of a current (of most recent) reissue of the four-tunes that the Billy Mitchell Quintet recorded for Dee Gee Records in Detroit in the early '50s? The tunes are "Zec," "Alone Together," "Compulsory" and "Blue Room." This was the famous house band at the Blue Bird Inn with Mitchell, Thad Jones, Terry Pollard, James (Beans) Richardson and Elvin Jones. Discographies often say this material was taped in 1948 but that's wrong. The band didn't come together until fall 1952, lasting in this particular configuration until August 1953 when Pollard left to join Terry Gibbs and was replaced at the Blue Bird by Tommy Flanagan. (In Bjorn and Gallert's "Before Motown" they note that an article in the local black press in October '53 announced the upcoming release.) It was likely recorded in late summer 53. Dee Gee issued a 4-tune EP. Savoy later reissued the material on a compilation LP titled "Swing Not Spring." Were there any subsequent reissues on LP? "Before Motown" says the session was available on a Japanese CD but doesn't give a title. Thanks in advance.

Jackie McLean did, in fact, do jail time. Some six months in 1964 as I recall. Think it was related to a failed appeal from an earlier offense.

Here's an interesting one that Bill Kirchner hipped me to during a conversation yesterday about Thad Jones. "Tea for the Two" from the Ella and Basie album circ 1964/65. Q is credited with the arrangments, but this one screams Thad -- the first 8-bar ensemble after the vocal would seem to be a big giveway -- angular bite to the melody and rhythm, crunch in the brass voicings, descending harmony. That's gotta be Thad

"Jazz and the White Americans: The Acceptance of a New Art Form" (1962)

At the heart of this discussion, at least where it starts, is the conflict over the value of improvisation vs. composition, with the classically minded composers, including jazz savvy Overton, insisting on a hierarchy that places notated music above improvisation, even as he and Calabro try to agree with Cecil that improvisation does have value. It's the bias in favor of Western (European-derived) classical music rearing its head in their inability to acknowledge that improvised music can be as emotionally and intellectually profound as Western notated music and their inability to fully grasp the cultural meaning and message of music that comes out of the African-American experience. But the conversation really turns when Cecil is accused by Calabro of being angry -- that's when he lets them have it. Unbelievable that later in the discussion Calabro can't seem to understand the inbred bias of using the term "serious music" in oposition to jazz. "You just can't help it," says CT. Coda: Cecil says at one point: "I don't talk to Lennie Tristano -- who reads the Journal American." This appears to be a dig at Tristano but I'm not sure I totally understand the reference. The Journal American was a New York daily that grew out of the Hearst empire. So, I'm guessing perhaps it had a reputation for tabloid sensationalism or political conservatism? Can anyone shed light on that particular aside by Cecil?he only thing, I don’t talk to Lennie Tristano – who reads the Journal American. The only thing, I don’t talk to Lennie Tristano – who reads the Journal American

Don't think this has been posted here before. Showed up in my Twitter feed today and thought I'd pass it along. An incomplete transcription of what must have been a fascinating discussion to witness live. http://www.mattweston.com/cecilpanel.html

http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2012/11/27/marvin-miller-rip/

From a wit on Twitter: "If Keith goes, can Obama appoint a new guitarist?"

The Rolling Stones are older than the Supremes? Who woulda thunk? http://seattletimes.com/html/entertainment/2019768468_apusrollingstonessupremecourt.html

Nothing peculiar about the credit. Miles took the photo; Berg did the graphic design. You wouldn't say this is a Reid Miles cover; it's a John Berg cover in the same way that the BN's were Reid Miles covers with photography by Frank Wolff. If there's any irony, it's that particular turnabout -- that in this case it was Miles who took the picture, though he did work as a commercial photographer and while I can't put my finger on any of them at this moment, didn't he take some photos used for some BN covers?

Been listening over and over for a couple days and have to say I'm getting a lot out of it -- just about everthing I've ever gotten out of Ahmad's later work, more in some ways. A lot of drama, surprise, hitting of emotional buttons. The lack of rhythmic accuracy you perceive I mostly hear as an intentional looseness, a way of rolling over the keys to create a textural/rhythmic contrast with the groove in the bass and drums. Tension and release. Ahmad has always done this, but these days he'll stay outside the pulse for a l-o-n-g time, My biggest complaint is nothing everfalls into 4/4 swing (though it's kind of implied in the fast 6/8 on Woody N You and there is some swing feel in waltz time and hints on the ballads here and there). The grooves are heavier than in the early days but I'm not sure they're any heavier than other more recent work. Do you have a fave you're comparing this too? For me a VERY strong record, while the lack of linear invention in the improvising is a weakness for me (always has been in a way with Ahmad), I've come to really appreciate the later work a lot more in the last couple years.

Hope everyone had a great meal today. In honor of Thanksgiving, the great Stan Freberg on T-day (& elections): 1961. From "The United States of America: Volume One, The Early Years." Billy May nails the orchestration ... …

Apologize for missing recent postings and references in the Liebman thread. As for sycophantic interviewers, sometimes with difficult or mercurial artists they can actually get the best results rather than the truly informed or challenging interviewer who can unwittingly sometimes throw a subject into a defensive frame. I'm not suggesting that Cook is only acting the sycophant here but only that whatever is going on, MIles sounds more relaxed and forthcoming than he could be. Of all people, Larry King sometimes got similar results on his old TV show. Famous people, particularly those in the midst of some controversy, or those with a "troubled" history or a track record of an antagonistic relationship with the media, knew they were not going to be seriously challenged or pushed on the show, so they would often open up far more than in the context of other media questioning.

http://www.guardian....rocks-backpages This was new to me. Miles is very chatty. A lot of b.s. in here of course, but some stuff to make you think too, streaks of Truth and truthiness. All of it entertaining. He must have liked the author, Richard Cook.

Really. The restaurant is geared toward the fans of his Food Network show, not for "fine dinning." Just a way for Pete Wells to show he's above it all, and pure, and doesn't fall into the category of a Food Network lemming, etc., and knows what real food is all about. Sort of like a jazz critic reviewing a Boney James concert. Disagree. There's news value in the fact that Fieri is a celebrity and that the restaurant's size and location make it a new marker in the city's busiest neighborhood. Also, tourists read the Times too and deserve to know whether a spot is worth the surely outrageous prices its charges, and locals deserve to know whether a spot that has all the signs of a tourist trap does or does not have any culinary value. Also, I do think in this era of celebrity food personalities it's worth monitoring the fault line separating chefs with something of value to say and the lower class of food celebrities. As a one-off, a more than reasonable decision to devote space.

In a class, perhaps, with John Simon's now legendary theater review of "Moose Murders" in 1983. Download PDF http://nymag.com/art.../reviews/46358/ and perhaps the most brutal critical review to appear in the Times since Frank Rich bludgeoned the same play: http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9400E3DF133BF930A15751C0A965948260&_r=1&

So, let me go out on a limb and say I don't think Pete Wells liked Guy Fieri's new Times Square restaurant. http://www.nytimes.c...gewanted=1&_r=3&

I came upon a copy of "Soul Sounds" yesterday but didn't bite because of the price. I was intrigued by the presence of both Wayne Shorter's "Black Nile" and "Armeggedon." However, while "Black Nile" was listed on the jacket, when I took the LP out of the sleeve to check the condition and give a fast listen on the in-store turnatable, "Black Nile" did not seem to be on the record. I can't remember if the tune is actually listed on the inner liner, but, unless I simply missed it or I dropped in an a passage whose arrangment fooled me, my drop-the-needle check did not reveal "Black Nile" on the LP. Can anybody shed some light on this? Coda: Those tunes are pretty fascinating cover choices for a grits 'n' gravy organ trio, though I've often found it curious how organ bands will take modal tunes or those with progressive harmonic ideas and simply put a groove on it and streamline out some of the complexities. Another interesting thing to think about is that both those tunes were recorded on "Night Dreamer" on April 29, 1964. I'm not exactly sure when the release date was, but it was probably mid fall, because the Down Beat reaview seems to have appeared the first week of December. Now, the Three Souls record was taped on Feb. 12, 1965. That's a fast assimilation of Wayne's music into the currency of another working band. "Night Dreamer" obviously made an impact on those musicians, who would have had to transcibe these songs to play them, unless they happened to have a connection to Wayne to have gotten lead sheets, which is doubtful.

There was a long profile of Newborn by Stanely Booth under the headline "Fascinating Changes" published in the Village Voice rock and roll (!) quarterly in 1989 that went into great detail about his illness, quoting at length from hospital clinical records, interviews with family, friends, etc. I have the piece in my old-fashioned clip file (just pulled it out). The internet tells me that it's been reprinted in Booth's collection "Rhythm Oil" http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_10/184-4148179-7328161?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=rhythm oil I don't recall all the specifics at this point, and don't have time today to go back through the piece in detail, but there were hints of problems as early as a late '50s visit to Bellevue and then issues really mushroomed from the mid '60s forward with numerous stays in hospitals, etc. Symptoms were pretty severe delusions (thought he was Christ at times), paranoia, withdrawn behavior. Alcohol abuse exacerbated the mental problems. I don't remember what (if any) specific diagnosis was given. You wonder if today's doctors/knowledge/drugs might have made a difference. Mostly what I recall was a truly tragic life tragectory.

Great stuff re: "Stompin' at the Savoy" and Christian from Miles Okazaki via Ethan Iverson: http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/stompin-at-mintonsby-miles-okazaki.html

On "Drums Around the World" Garrison (three tracks) splits the record with Sam Jones (four tracks).

John Clayton has Ray Brown's bass. Ray had been like a father to John, and when he died his widow wanted John to to have the instrument. My recollection is that John bought it from her but not for a few years until he could deal with the emotion of it.

Yeah -- with Hank Jones, Ron Carter, Tony Williams. But speaking of Sesame Street, I'd like to hear any jazz musician take on this one -- it has a certainly vaudvillian vibe to it.