paul secor

Read Looking for Chet Baker some years ago. It was an entertaining read, pretty much in the mode of the rest of Bill Moody's Evan Horne novels. I'd give it three stars, strictly as entertainment.

No; I've explored various aspects of black popular music when I've happened to come across them as a result of random wanderings. I don't think that means that artist X led me to artist Y. Both are present in the aspect on which I'm particularly focusing on at a point in time. I didn't get interested in Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey BECAUSE I liked Osadebe or E T Mensah or I K Dairo MBE. These people were around and very popular, therefore I picked up on them. Hm... I tend to like stuff BECAUSE it's popular, because popular music that's genuinely created for its specific audience is culturally more important to me than good music created for a minority. (I exclude from this general rule white pop music since the mid sixties. Before that, the white pop singles emanating from Philly were different from those coming from Nashville, LA or even New York. They were usually (except in Nashville) made by locally based indies and tended to have a common approach which had to have been geared to the local audiences. When the majors really started to get to grips with the industry, it became much less interesting. Not that it was ever TERRIBLY interesting, but there is a marginal interest in the differences between Bobby Rydell and Ricky Nelson, for example.) So, since I'm not looking for art in music, or even particularly quality, what I get reflects the taste and concerns of specific local communities and this helps me understand my own a bit better - though it doesn't make me LIKE it any better - but it does make me ask myself questions like 'why are 97% of Senegalese popular songs about politics and zero are love songs and why are (probably) 97% of western popular songs about love and some tiny percentage about politics?' MG An interesting and honest post. I have to say that I've tended to like stuff that's not or wasn't popular. Even when I did listen more to popular music, I eventually found myself questioning why I was listening to it. Was it because it was in the public eye and ear and found its way to my ears and eyes? Was it because it was part of "the time"? Over time, I found that the reasons I listened to popular music were more invalid than valid, and that the music meant less and less to me. That said, I do listen to some popular music - usually older - a sign that I'm older, I'm sure. I've always had a distrust of popularity and "the people", and that too has increased as I've gotten older.

I don't know about Middlemarch, but I will give it a shot. I've read Moby Dick and wouldn't say I was blown away by it (I found the "Extracts" section with all the quotes about whales to be kind of deadly), but after it settles in, there are a lot of interesting parts. I might give it a another go, though I would be a lot more likely if either of my kids has to read it in high school. I would recommend Melville's The Confidence Man as a real under-rated delight. It's probably my favorite Melville. Anyway, yes I think Man in the High Castle is great and do plan on re-reading that within the next 12 months. I haven't come across The Confidence Man, but the haunting Melville short story "Bartleby", read on my course, has never left me. Reading "Bartleby" fairly recently was a strange experience. It moved and disturbed me, though I could never reason out a meaning. That's probably the point of the story.

Monk's Music (Riverside/Analogue Productions 45 rpm)

Coleman Hawkins: Today and Now (Impulse/Jasmine)

Bishop Pike The Kingfish The Mystic Knights of the Sea

Abysmal cover/great music. "Flight To Jordan" is one of my favorite jazz compositions. I may prefer the Blue Note version with Dizzy Reece, but the Savoy recording is very nice, too. Agreement on the cover. When I was listening last night I found myself wondering how they came up with it. And agreement on the music. That's the most important thing.

William Penn Sylvia's Mother Frank Zappa

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/arts/music/an-ornette-coleman-tribute-at-celebrate-brooklyn.html?ref=arts&_r=0

Coop John Doe Rob Deer

Duke Jordan: Flight to Jordan (Savoy Jazz)

I hope this isn't true, but his passing seems to have been documented: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/jimmy-scott-hard-luck-singer-with-a-haunting-voice-dies-at-88/2014/06/13/270725b6-48c3-11e3-a196-3544a03c2351_story.html http://jazztimes.com/articles/132294-singer-jimmy-scott-dies-at-88

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado Cecil Taylor Procol Harum

Wilbur Ware Quintet: The Chicago Sound (Riverside Japan)

Elmo Hope Trio (Contemporary)

Billy Bang/Dennis Charles: Bangception (hat MUSICS) Masterful playing by both musicians

Happy Birthday!

Muhal Richard Abrams/Malachi Favors: Sightsong (Black Saint)

Some green tea to try and take care of a rough throat. Weather cooled down here today.

Lucky Thompson featuring Oscar Pettiford (Jasmine) Sound isn't all that great, but what Lucky Thompson plays is. Music triumphs over sound.

Looks like you attended these concerts three times.

Hampton Hawes: The Green Leaves of Summer (Contemporary)

At Ease with Coleman Hawkins (Prestige Moodsville/OJC)

Jimmy Knepper: Dream Dancing (Criss Cross) What a beautiful tone he had.

Just started reading that one. I shall see.