jazzbo

Didn't make it for Father's Day itself. . . . Just got a shipping notice on the Dizzy Gillespie Verve Mosaic set. (Not even for me, a gift for someone I really really owe big time!) Good news!

Grateful Dead, "Hard to Handle." I've been on a Pigpen kick of late!

I thought so, missed that mention earlier. Thanks.

I'm a Tommy, Joe and Elvin fan. . . .But this one I find unexciting. It was not released until 20 years after recording. Who initially produced this session? Was it a Blue Note production. . . . I have a memory of this being a UA session, but I don't have it any longer and don't trust those memory cells.

Which vinyl? The Flanagan? The Blakey? Did either ever appear on Blue Note vinyl? (curious).

Many more happy happy ones!

from Webster's.com ob·scu·ri·ty P Pronunciation Key (b-skyr-t, b-) n. pl. ob·scu·ri·ties Deficiency or absence of light; darkness. The quality or condition of being unknown: “Even utter obscurity need not be an obstacle to [political] success” (New Republic). One that is unknown. The quality or condition of being imperfectly known or difficult to understand: “writings meant to be understood... by all, composed without deliberate obscurity or hidden motives” (National Review). An instance of being imperfectly known or difficult to understand. obscurity n 1: the quality of being unclear or abstruse and hard to understand [syn: obscureness, abstruseness, reconditeness] [ant: clarity] 2: an obscure and unimportant standing; not well known; "he worked in obscurity for many years" [ant: prominence] 3: the state of being indistinct or indefinite for lack of adequate illumination [syn: obscureness]

It's use in English is accepted, is a "cliche" really. Whether it is the best word to use is up for debate, probably not. BUT it is used and read I think without the extra ominousness imparted to it by your native tongue to her speaker.

Also, Three Suites is not a fifties album per se, correct, it's a cd compilation?

The one that EMI has tentacles in that makes me go "Why is it" is the Golden Boy Art Blakey lp. Okay, Reiner tells us the original tapes are lost. Didn't stop the powers that EMI-be from releasing a few Blue Note cds among others. It's an interesting date. Would turn a few heads I think.

onny Rollins named Musician of the Year By CHARLES J. GANS, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 20, 8:15 PM ET NEW YORK - Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins took the top honors at the 10th annual Jazz Awards, notching a double victory as musician and tenor saxophonist of the year. ADVERTISEMENT The 75-year-old Rollins re-established himself at the top of the jazz scene during the past year with his Grammy-winning CD "Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert," his first live recording in nearly 20 years. Rollins might have won a third award for album of the year at Monday's ceremony at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill were it not for two departed jazz legends. "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" (Blue Note), released after tapes of a 1957 concert by the short-lived but historically significant group were discovered in the Library of Congress vaults, was chosen the year's top album. Several generations of drummers figured prominently at this year's awards, which were based on votes cast by more than 400 members of the Jazz Journalists Association worldwide. The 81-year-old Roy Haynes received the award for lifetime achievement in jazz, while Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto was named up-and-coming musician of the year. Paul Motian was chosen the year's top drummer. Conga player Ray Barretto, who died in February at age 76, was chosen percussionist of the year, with his wife and son accepting the award on his behalf. Barretto's last album, "Standards Rican-ditioned," also the final recording by pianist Hilton Ruiz who died earlier this month after leaving a New Orleans club, is due out in August featuring an all-Puerto Rican lineup of musicians playing straight-ahead jazz standards. He wanted "to show how his people have also touched and affected this music ... because he always believed that jazz is something that comes from all people, not necessarily white, not black," Barretto's son Chris, a saxophonist, told the audience of more than 500 musicians, journalists and industry executives. A trio of octogenarians also were recognized for their contributions. The 87-year-old Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes, now based in Sweden after serving as musical director of Havana's pre-Castro Tropicana nightclub, garnered the award for Latin jazz album of the year for "Bebo de Cuba" (Calle 54). Gerald Wilson, also 87, whose career as a big band leader and sideman goes back nearly 70 years, received the award for top large ensemble. Belgian-born Toots Thielemans, 84, who pioneered the harmonica as a jazz instrument, was voted the top player of an instrument "rare in jazz." Saxophonist Wayne Shorter's quartet, which earlier this year won the Grammy for jazz instrumental album for "Beyond the Sound Barrier" (Verve), was chosen the top small ensemble. Other individual winners included: Andrew Hill (composer), Maria Schneider (arranger), Kurt Elling (male singer), Dianne Reeves (female singer), Dave Douglas (trumpeter), Phil Woods (alto saxophonist), Jane Ira Bloom (soprano saxophonist), Paquito D'Rivera (clarinetist), Bill Charlap (pianist), Jim Hall (guitarist), Ron Carter (acoustic bassist), Christian McBride (electric bassist) and Regina Carter (strings player). ____

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060621/ap_en_...sic_jazz_awards

Three Suites I think is still in print. Bal Masque has, I believe, been on cd in France. . .Jazz at the Plaza Vol. 2 has been out on cd in Japan. BOTH are great, would be nice to see as Columbia Legacy cds. (I really think Legacy does a great job. Better than Mosaic on single releases). I agree though that Bal Masque might be a good fit for the Mosaic Single series. Personally, I'd really like to see a Columbia set that reissued all the available material from the Plaza event. It was a Columbia Records event. The brass were there and some of the best of the roster. I understand that the Holiday is unsuitable for release. . . but there must be a bit more than has come out of hte others' performances and maybe more still. I can imagine a nice booklet wtih photos and some background on the staff and artists of that year. I suggested it to MC some time ago. I remember him being only slightly interested.

I had it. I sold it. I'm hungrier for other stuff.

I'm with Chuck on this one. Lonely Town is cool. . . but. . . well. . . boring after a few spins. There is better Flanagan with Elveen. I'm looking forward to the Hill. I can almost guarantee that the Hill will entertain me more. . I've not heard a second of it yet but I'm intrigued.

Yes to the first part, and hope you're right to the second! Well, I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary.

Appreciation is glue. Appreciation is salve. Appreciation is grease. It's important. Just think of long stretches in your life when you didn't have it. . . . Were they "Happy Days"?

I don't know what he's saying. As far as I know all the thirties Columbia commercially released titles have seen release on Chronogical Classics cds.

Does everyone seem to think it's safe to consider no more Legacy reissues because Mosaic is doing a few? Short of a proclamation from either Columbia/Sony or Mosaic I'm not leaping to that conclusion! Personally I think that Legacy reissues look better and are a better bargain than Mosaic Singles and I'm hoping this leap is premature.

I'm not sure it's that "clear." I don't read that much into Mosaics Singles. Unless we hear something from either of the labels I would expect to see Legacy cds of jazz. Maybe even including RCA, as they have been doing with rock and others (Nina Simone for one).

Madame Zaj is getting pretty old. . . I hope they get that going as soon as possible!

Yes, he did, though almost all as far as I know were orchestral pieces, not "mood pieces with strings."

From Monday's My Space page: Friday, January 27, 2006 Why People Don't Get Jazz I recently went to see my husband perform at Birdland with a new group legendary bassist Dave Holland had put together, a Sextet including Mulgrew Miller on piano, Eric Harland on drums, Robin Eubanks on trombone, and Antonio Hart on alto sax. At my table was a friend who, while appreciating various forms of music on quite a wide scale compared to the normal folk, was still seemingly new to jazz. In fact, he had tried to wrangle some of his friends to partake in the evening, but as he explained, jazz was a hard sell. We talked a little about why people weren't too into jazz, and he factored in the very valid issue of poor marketing effecting people's image of jazz. But I think "marketing" or lack of is a poor excuse, and even when it is used effectively, such as in the case of Wynton Marsalis, it can hinder the true essence of jazz. I will share with you something that is still under wraps, but for the sake of this point I am trying to make, I have been approached by a group of people who are attempting to put together a DVD record company of jazz music. Their vision is to make a company whose DVD images are unmistakably their brand, and the music to be something more digestible than what they call the more "academic" jazz. I had a meeting with them last week, and it was interesting to hear them talk about how jazz has a stale image, that there is no real modern jazz, etc. While I understand what they're saying, and it's true that many "jazz" artists have a tendency to regurgitate the past and do yet another version of "My Funny Valentine" or "Moon River," or the standard standards in be-bop, there are also the young crop of jazzers, some of who were on display that night at Birdland, exploring music in a new avenue, and while it's jazz, it's not jazz in the be-bop sense of what was going on in the 60s. Of course I didn't want to blow my deal with these people and say that to them, and I'm flattered that they want to include me in on this DVD project even though I don't really view my music as jazz. But that's another story. I think music of all forms has taken a beating by the lack of education, again a subject we touched upon that night at Birdland with my friend. I was lucky in that I was in the House of. Because of my parent's involvement in jazz and music overall, I took an interest and fortunately showed talent at an early age and decided at 11 to study classical music and flute, all with the idea of becoming a musician one day a perfectly real career choice. I was listening to Stravinsky by the age of 8 alongside the Beatles. I was studying Mozart and Debussey in my teens while listening to Steeley Dan, Stevie Wonder, Chick Corea and funk music. I was playing in an orchestra doing Mahler and Dvorjak by age 16 while dancing to and appreciating Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Oingo Boingo. And there was the ever constant flow of original jazz music my parents were composing and playing at home. I'm not writing this to try and impress, but rather to impress upon the fact that I don't think there are kids in these age groups today who are exposed to such a variety of really deep music, at least not in the U.S. and perhaps some from other countries might find this to be true as well. The government and the educational system is definitely at fault here, and I hate to say it but parents as well. If it's not part of people's environment, how else are they going to develop an appreciation towards it? Music is definitely a language. The different "tongues" and slangs are the different styles, whether it's jazz or classical or whatever, but first there are the ABCs (the notes). From there you develop your language (the melodies and songs), learn to string together your sentences (the scales), then understand the meaning behind the words (the chords), and so forth. If the language is foreign to you, well, you're not going to want to communicate or understand. It's too hard a work, and most people are too lazy to want to learn, or just don't know where to start. Jazz is that original and beautiful art form where there is essentially a head, or the actual song which is the melody in a certain rhythmic meter (in 4, 6, 7, whatever) under certain chords in a certain format, then the musicians expand on the melody over the form of the song, meter and chords. When the musician is well versed, they can break the format but still stay in it. Which really wigs us out; it's a real ride. Unless the listener is educated enough in music, or used to hearing this type of music and understand what is going on or, again using the language metaphor, can understand the language, they're just not going to get it. It's going to go over their heads and it might as well be a person mumbling at them and BORING. Sorta like how the parents sound on the Peanuts cartoons. Like my son listening to the news. Although lately he's starting to catch certain stories: "Who's Bush?" Okay, that's again another story. And that basically sums up my theory of why people aren't into jazz, or other "sophisticated" forms of music. Jazz in a most rudimentary form can be considered a little stale, yes. I would have to agree with that. As one musician friend sarcastically commented while listening to the radio, "Great, I needed to hear yet another version of XX." But in its modern incarnation, it is beautiful, masterful, deep, spiritual, and you can see each musician weaving around in what they have trained and studied years and years to be able to get under their fingers; it is truly awesome and quite frankly COOL. It is idiosyncratic. It is intelligent. I personally don't think it's academic. Do jazz musicians look academic to you? Sorry it's not dummified for people to "get." It is truth. You don't see a lot of b.s.ing jazz musicians. They see society and people as it is, have refused to partake in the mainstream, and have sought the harder route because they know there is truth to be found in that road. And that is basically my theory of why people don't really get into jazz. It's easier to deal with b.s. than be challenged.

Yes, it has been released on cd. Several times!

She's very charismatic. And she photographs in as many "variants" as her voice encompasses. (imo)