cannonball-addict

Seems like everyone's signing off these days. Goodbye Lucille.

The guy left of the queen - he is wearing no underwear.

Except for the new Jazz at Lincoln Center recording of ALS a la big band which is also apparently on Palmetto - Ted Nash is probably the connection there.

I'm also very glad Donny McCaslin is finally getting a nod. He is a killer player and the fact that Maria has him in her band is testament to his abilities as a soloist. I really dug Scofield's solos on Enroute but a lot of people I talked to in radio and even people who know jazz, didn't care for it. What a band? What more can you ask for than Bill Stewart and Steve Swallow with John Scofield?

That Jan Garbarek has no right to take that spot. The vocal category makes me sick to my stomach with whom they've chosen. What about Tierney Sutton or Rene Marie or Shirley Horn? I hope the Vanguard Orchestra finally wins one but Brookmeyer will probably take it. They really deserve it!

Any big band guys out there ever played a chart called "Shanty Town." My chart says it's by Johnny Long. I know I've heard that name before but I don't know from where. It has a section where the whole band sings in unison: "There's a shanty in a town On a little plot of ground With the green grass grownin all around all around. the roof's so worn so badly torn that it tumbles to the ground Just a tumble-down shack and it's built way back 'bout twenty five feet from the railroad track lingers on my mind most all the time keeps callin me back to me little old shack i'd be just as happy as hassie-sellassie if I were king wouldn't mean a thing put my boots on tall read the writin on the wall no it would mean a thing not a doggone thing see that queen waitin' there in her rocking chair da-da da-da dat dat while the gators stare lingers on my mind da-da da-da dat dat cause I wanna get back to my shanty town" Obviously I'm forgetting some lyrics. Has anyone ever heard this tune? We played it for some old-timer events. It's a fun chart. Not sure if Johnny Long was the composer or arranger.

There should be a Sam Jones thread. That would make a great jazz biography. Maybe I'll do that.

Frank Kimbrough is a member of this board. His handle is fkimbrough.

Count me in as a supporter of Jazz Composers Collective cats. If you read Ben Allison's bio and look at his picture, you'd be amazed to see how young he looks for one, and then you'd be amazed that he's done all this incredible work well under the radar of people outside NYC and our little online enclave here. I personally own: Medicine Wheel - the original Medicine wheel project with the green cover Strange City - the third of the Herbie Nichols Project Still Evolved - Ted Nash's latest on Palmetto (Wynton sounds really on the verge of good stuff at times - he is struggling with himself; I feel like he's trying to avoid saying anything that would contradict the conservative kind of playing he preaches) Buzz - really nice latest JCC album also on Palmetto I voted for Palmetto as Label of the Year for the DB readers poll. People should also check out Ray Vega's recent CD with Palmetto even if you dig Latin jazz.

Joe, Read the goddamn liner notes which Trane wrote on ALS and then tell us it's just a composition - just a piece of music. Yeah certainly anyone can play it. But it's Trane's project. His statement to God! It wasn't a compositional thing - well yes it was a four part suite based on a four note theme - but it was so much more than the form and the notes. ALS is not ALS without Coltrane playing. It's not like playing a cover of Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa." It carries a lot more weight. I think the real problem is that the people who have chosen to "reinterpret" it and are getting the media's attention about it are dangerous people (namely Wynton) because we all know they are capable of swaying/directing public opinion of jazz and ultimately what Coltrane meant ALS to be. Did he mean for us to try to play it? Or was it his? I could understand if these cats wanted to make their own statements to God. I might listen to that but I'm not gonna listen to one guy trying to adapt another man's suffering to his life because Coltrane was who he was and there will never be another who experience exactly what he experienced. I haven't heard either and don't intend to for the time being - though I am definately much more a fan of Branford than Wynton for his daringness throughout his adult career compared with the neoclassicism of his brother Wynton.

This is exactly what I'm trying to do. Rather than get mad - say who you think other should be. The goddamn thing only lets me put ten people. In some senses, I like having the ability to control who is on the list at the beginning because it gives me a way to see what other people think of the people I would put in my top ten. I forget who said it, but they were right when they said polls are bound to be based on the pollster's preferences. I have listened to what I have listened to. I wanted to know more. I wanted to do a poll. I couldn't have done one that had 10 choices, all being "other." It is interesting and informative for me to hear what others on the board think of the field of trombone players that I laid out in MY poll (i.e. if forced to choose from the ones listed, I would choose X). matt P.S. Not that this is in the least bit related to trombone players, but to those who doubt my ears, I took some of your criticisms and dismissals to heart and decided to listen a little more to Dexter. In all honesty, I only had one CD - GO." I was stupidly (yes I know) basing my entire opinion of the guy on that one CD. Needless to say I don't like his playing on that one CD. So I took a bus ride to the local LP emporiums called Jerry's Records and bought a Dexter Gordon LP called Sophisticated Giant. I am grooving to it right now. I am thinking somewhat differently already. I really like his soprano playing on it. AND it has Mr. Bobby Hutcherson, whom I also condemned. I was trying to find something good by him but they only had some horrible stuff that looked terrible so I decided on some Donald Byrd with Gigi Gryce and Pepper Adams.

Donald Byrd Russell Gunn Chet Baker

I think his best performance is on Roy Haynes Birds of a Feather. Not as a leader - but he plays his ass off.

I'm listening to the most annoying Jarrett sing-along-as-he-solos. It's "Lover Man" on Tribute - disc 1, track one. He just won't stop the noises. The playing is great, just make the grunting and screeching stop a-hole!

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=45 http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15682 I am eating my what-have-you.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15682

I love how a thread about Stanley Crouch has turned into a forum for introducing underground hip hop! Anyways, there is a white rapper named Aesop Rock, and while he may not be authentic enough, his flow is unreal. His accents on vowels are uttered in an unprecedented manner. He records on a little label based in Minnesota called Definitive Jux (or Def Jux for those in the know). Their other artists who are good include Another good group is Dead Prez. I posted a link to an article David Adler wrote on them in the New Republic online. Very socially conscious and active. One dude named Sage Francis is also pretty tight. Of course, I am always recommending two of the original cats Afrika Bambataa and KRS-One who are both still at it although KRS-One is still very much an educator in the black community so he has less time to go on tour and stuff like that and Bambataa is just a lunatic but he has the right idea. The zulu nation however is kinda freaky.

Thanks for your offer, Tony, but with 20$ plus shipping customs should not be a problem, so I ordered them directly. Anyone knows about their shipping fees? They charge me 4.50$, which is what's displayed before you enter your address (when the website/calculation supposedly believes your ordering from teh US). Do they have same shipping fees for US/Overseas? Their overseas shipping is quite high. Check it in the backoffice section of the site. 10.50$ makes more sense, thanks! Get the new Radical Grace Vol. 1 compilation. You won't be disappointed. Also, I think you all would really enjoy Rudresh Mahanthappa's newest on Pi Recordings, Mother Tongue. Same group as from Black Water.

I think it's pretty evident that the Washington Post jazz guy is a freelancer, named Mike Joyce. Maybe when Stefan was writing, that was different. I think two important black figures in DC jazz writing and jazz journalism in general are Willard Jenkins and John Murph (both of whom write for both JT and DB; while Murph also contributes to the Washington City Paper). I get the feeling Jenkins is hip to mostly older stuff though I know he digs a lot of the young guys today, but the real sleeper is Murph, whose writing is really heavy stuff. He is so clear and makes his arguments very fair to all parties involved. He is the one who took the middle ground in the debate they had in Jazztimes (I think) over whether the Bad Plus is really that good. But another thing people need to know about Murph is that he is totally into electronica, hip hop, and other contemporary music. As one can easily see, he is very conversant in DJ culture based on his recent articles for Jazztimes. Thus, he has a credibility that Crouch (unfortunately) wholeheartedly eschews - because hip hop necessarily protrays "black youth...as truly 'authentic' in the most illiterate, vulgar, anarchic and ignorant manifestations." BULLSHIT, Stanley. Here he shows the silly assumptions he has made about all hip hop and rap. Stanley, you should know that a lot of the underground stuff and the old school stuff especially, is full of socio-political awareness and commentary - something which I personally see very little of today from jazz musicians, by the way. Hip hoppers who aren't on MTV seem to me to be the true vanguard of enlightened thought from the streets, as far as I can tell. But what do I know? I'm a white kid from the suburbs? I don't have a right to make these comments... Back to the topic at hand: Murph and other young writers, both black and white, are serving right now as a vital link (previously unheardof in the mainstream jazz press) with the potential to bring the underground bohemians of the electronica/DJ world to jazz. Murph, preaching from the bully pulpit of a locally read weekly paper has a lot of power in influencing buying habits of yuppies, artisans, and any others who have access to the City Paper. Nate Chinen is another such individual. What do you older folks think about bridging the gap between hip hop and jazz? between electronica and jazz? After all, shouldn't it be a goal for all of us to bring more people to jazz. If we want to support musicians and allow the jazz life to continue for those who have the guts and the chops to live it, should we not be trying to attract new folks to jazz? I know Willard Jenkins and his wife are very concerned with this issue as is the IAJE and the increasingly the JJA.

I just heard Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble on their recent Delmark CD, and I was really impressed by Brown again, who blows some serious music. Dawkins is also intensely passionate and expressive especially on alto. I'm sure this CD has been discussed elsewhere. There's one tune on it that features everybody soloing that sounds like a Blakey cover or something dedicated to Blakey but this band is killin. I can't wait for the next time I go to Chicago - only been once and I was little.

Happy birthday. Joyeux annivairsaire.

I have gotten some real gems on this German label - most recently the new Donald Harrison with the yellow cover (inspired by this thread). Anyone else pick up some really great stuff?

Have you guys heard the Burton Greene disc, "Live at Grasland." It's rather good. Mostly solo if I recall correctly. Also the Paul Dunmall/Paul Rodgers on Emanem. Both are relatively recent. -Matt

Van Eps is a bad MF. Not to mention Alden, but you never hear Van Eps' name. He has been a teacher to a lot of great cats in the NY/Connecticut area.

John, I usually dig Alexander but I found him to be very repetitive on a lot of these tunes. He could have taken much shorter, sweeter solos. P.S. It's kind of neat that Eric is now touring with his mentor. It probably evokes a lot of good playing from both men. P.P.S. Anyone who visits AAJ has seen an album constantly being featured on one of the sidebars by a pianist (different from the bassist in Alexander's band) named Jon Weber. It is called "Simple Complex," and for any fans of Alexander, this disc is a must because he blows the hell out of some really sauntering grooves. Weber, the pianist is a stellar composer. The CD also features Diego Urcola and Gary Burton among others.