SEK

Ed Blackwell - "What It Is?" (The Ed Blackwell Project, Vol.1, 1992) Paul Bley - "Axis" (1977) Don Cherry - "Live at the Bracknell Jazz Festival, 1986 John Coltrane - At The Village Vanguard, November 1961 Miles Davis - "No Blues" (Paris, 1967) Eric Dolphy - At The Five Spot Abdullah Ibrahim - "Autobiography" (Nyon Jazz Festival, 1978) Clifford Jordan - "Epistrophy/Now's the Time" (Muse) Steve Lacy-Roswell Rudd Quartet - "School Days" (1963) Charles Mingus - "Mingus at Antibes" Thelonious Monk- "Thelonious In Action" and "Misterioso" (At The Five Spot, August 1958) Randy Weston - "Carnival" (Montreux, 1974)

I'm 50 (and lucky to still be around!). I was born on the date of the quartet session from this RVG reissue:

There's sure a lot of dead-end, solipsistic, academic blather inspired by deconstruction...

I'm now listening to a breathtakingly beautiful recording of a duet concert by Abdullah Ibrahim and Carlos Ward, recorded in Poland in 1984 on the Poljazz label.

"Anatomy of an African Village"!!

Larry Young's "Of Love and Peace" arrived today in the mail.

More: "I went to a hooker, and she told me, 'Not on the first date.'" "My wife does a lot of charity work. She handles all the policemen's balls." "I went to a nude beach, and they told me it wasn't polite to point." "I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the West!" "My mother had morning sickness after I was born." "When I played in the sandbox, the cat kept covering me up." "I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio." "I stuck my head out the window and got arrested for mooning." "I met the surgeon general. He offered me a cigarette!" "I was making love to this girl and she started crying. I said, 'Are you going to hate yourself in the morning?' She said, 'No. I hate myself now.'" "I went to see my doctor — you know him, Dr. Vinny Boom Batz. I told him, 'Doctor, every morning when I get up and look in the mirror, I feel like throwing up. What's wrong with me?' He said, 'I don't know, but your eyesight is perfect.'" "My psychiatrist told me I'm going crazy. I told him, 'If you don't mind I'd like a second opinion.' He said, 'All right, you're ugly too.'" "During sex my wife always wants to talk to me. Just the other night she called me from a hotel." "I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it." "I found there was only one way to look thin -- hang out with fat people." "I get no respect. The way my luck is running, if I was a politician I would be honest." "I have good looking kids. Thank goodness my wife cheats on me." "I'm at the age where food has taken the place of sex in my life. In fact, I've just had a mirror put over my kitchen table." "My mother never breast-fed me. She told me she liked me as a friend."

It's certainly my favorite AEC recording.

Masterpiece? Maybe. Very nice? Definitely.

I enjoy Abdullah Ibrahim's solo piano recordings, especially the following: "African Piano" (JAPO/ECM, 1969) "Fats, Duke & The Monk" (Sackville, 1973) "Ancient Africa" (Sackville, 1973) "Ode to Duke Ellington" (WestWind, 1973) "Autobiography" (Plainisphere, 1978) "Matsidiso" (Pläne, 1980) "South African Sunshine" (Pläne, 1980) "African Dawn" (Enja, 1982) Another solo piano recording that I've been playing a lot lately is Horace Tapscott's "The Tapscott Sessions, Vol. 10". Randy Weston has also made some compelling solo piano records. Two favorites are on Cora, "The Healers" (1980) and "Rhythms-Sounds Piano" (1978). More available and almost as fine is "African Nite / Nuit Africain" on Enja (originally on Owl) from 1975. Paul Bley is another great pianist who has made several solo recordings. I think that "Axis" is my favorite, but they're all worthwhile.

That's a bizarre story. And I agree that Cecil McBee is a damn great bass player. He's also a very gracious man.

I loved McCall. When AkLaff came into Air, he brought a sometimes almost rock dynamic to the band. I really like their album, "Live At Montreal International Jazz Festival". AkLaff had already participated in the Henry Threadgill Sextet's earliest sessions prior to the New Air recordings and played on most of the Sextet's other recordings as well. I had become acquainted with Pheroan AkLaff's drumming on Oliver Lake's records, starting in 1976, with "Holding Together" (which was also my first exposure to the artistry of Oliver Lake). AkLaff continued to play on my favorite Lake recordings into the '90s. Other favorite AkLaff sessions include Marty Ehrlich's first record "The Welcome", Leo Smith's "Spirit Catcher", and James Newton's "African Flower". There was also a solo record that AkLaff made early on that I liked a lot, but I haven't had or heard it in many years.

No. "Free" and "Avante-Guard" are among the many long-established elements of the often eclectic and idiomatic "jazz" musical tradition, which can be incorporated at will. Furthermore, those terms mean different things to different people. I think that the current organization of the Board accomodates the music efficiently and quite unambiguously.

A reliable and delicious chili recipe: NUMERO UNO CHILI from Manhattan Chili Co., NYC ¼ C olive oil 2 large yellow onions (about 4 C), chopped 2 lb coarsely ground beef (shank, shoulder or chuck) 2 lb coarsely ground pork Salt 1/3 C mild, unseasoned chile powder (I use ground chile from New Mexico) 3 Tbs ground cumin, from toasted seeds, if possible 3 Tbs dried oregano, preferably Mexican 3 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder (NOT Dutch Process) 2 Tbs ground cinnamon 2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste 4 C tomato juice 3 C beef stock or canned broth 8 medium garlic cloves, peeled and minced 2 Tbs yellow cornmeal or masa (more as needed) 32 oz cooked kidney or pinto beans (drained and rinsed, if canned) Warm oil in large skillet, over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, combine beef and pork in a 4 to 5 qt heavy, flameproof casserole or Dutch oven over medium heat. Season with 1 Tbs salt and cook, stirring often, until meat has lost its pink color and is evenly crumbled, about 20 minutes. Scrape onions into casserole with meats. Stir in chili powder, cumin, oregano, cocoa, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Stir in tomato juice and beef stock. Bring to a boil. Then lower heat and simmer, uncovered, 1 hour. Taste, correct seasonings and simmer 30 minutes or until chili is thickened to your liking. Stir in garlic. To thicken chili further or to bind any surface fats, stir in masa or cornmeal. Stir in beans. Simmer another 5 to 10 minutes.

There's also the Detroit saxophonist/composer/poet, Faruq Z. Bey (not related to the other Bey musicians).

Two by Gary Burton (from Dusty Groove): "Lofty Fake Anagram" "A Genuine Tong Funeral"

Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)...

I hope that you like them. I do. My most recent purchases: from Berkshire Record Outlet Charles Lloyd - "Hyperion With Higgins" Louis Sclavis Quintet - "L'Affrontement Des Pretendants" from Amazon Weather Report - "Sweetnighter" Jimi Hendrix - "Blues"

The CD release of Richard Davis's superb "Epistrophy & Now's The Time" had a "bonus" cut, a nice version of "Highest Mountain". It's my favorite Muse release, and a very live "live" recording.

Yes. I have it and enjoy it at least a few times a year. It's a nice, 1974 French recording with Oliver Lake, Nana Vasconcelos, and a keyboard player whose name I can't remember now. Intense ...and trippy in parts.

I've never heard the Earland, but I've had Gary Bartz's "Uhuru" since soon after it came out on LP long ago, and I've dug it mightily. It's my favorite work by Gary Bartz, though I also enjoy his playing with McCoy Tyner and Miles Davis. When, a couple of years ago, Dusty Groove started carrying the UK release of the CD containing "Taifa", which I had somehow never acquired, along with "Uhuru", I had to get it. My old vinyl grooves were ailing, and it's great to hear the companion Ntu Troop records together. They flow together with great soul and electricity - and great fonk too, even though it's virtually all acoustic. "Talk To The Heavenly Bodies", indeed! It's nice to see (most of?!) it released domestically. I remember that when "I've Known Rivers..." came out, with it's electronics and/but without Andy Bey, it still had some appeal (especially the title track), but, overall, I thought it was quite a letdown, compared to its acoustic Ntu Troop predecessors. A rehearing of its recent re-release has not changed my opinion much. I've also enjoyed very much my copy of Gary Bartz's "Another Earth", since back in the early '70s. It's currently available on CD, paired with most of Gary Bartz's lovely "Libra", and I can recommend that more "mainstream" CD as well.

Eddie Palmieri is one of my very favorite pianists. The man can play. My pick of his recent, readily-available recordings is "El Rumbero Del Piano". He and his band were great when they came to Central Michigan University in the 1990s. They did not bring a vocalist that night, so the excellent musicians in his septet (including, of course, Eddie Palmieri), got to solo even more than usual. Also Eddie Palmieri introduced many of the songs with a piano solo. My favorite vocalist that has performed with Eddie Palmieri is Ismael Quintana. Adoración!!

The best team won.

I have a recording in which Idrees Sulieman uses circular breathing in building the sustained dramatic climax of his solo, part of an exciting rendition of "Niger Mambo" with a Randy Weston Septet at Spoleto from the early 1980s. It was broadcast on Billy Taylor's "Jazz Alive!" back then. I've seen another trumpeter, Robert Griffin, use circular breathing, also to great musical effect, with 8 Bold Souls. (He also can play two trumpets at the same time).

Based on my pleasurable and trouble-free experience with my NAD C541i CD player, I would easily buy the C542 if I needed a CD player now. NAD acquired a poor (and over-generalized) reputation for its CD players with the C540 and C520, but that's no longer relevant. I also like Rotel CD players, but NAD offers better value and equivalent sound.