jazzbo

My enthusiasm for this town wanes and wanes. . . . With an illness in the family and a stressy and extra-hours month or three at work, I'm not really available for socializing for a spell. . . . In a few months maybe let's try to get together!

Dan, I understand where you stand. . . . Cliff, I think that say "I'm Yours, You're Mine" or "The Audience with Betty Carter" (though it's a double, but it's doubly good) are good solid starting points.

Hmmm. . . just can't agree with Chris and Dan on this one. (And can't imagine anything "grotesque" about a single note on say "It's Not about the Melody"). I feel she was a master. A totally different singer than Ella (who I love madly). But perhaps for me more moving. I don't hear her as a Sarah imitator. (I'm not that much of a Sarah fan).

Just finished listening to "Sleepy Time Down South" on "It's Not about the Melody." Wow. So nice. . . a great sendoff for my yucky day (just about to accompany my wife to the clinic).

I would categorize my collection "Jazz" and "everything else," with a large area in between where they sort of blend into each other in a hard to define way. . . .

How do I factor in "not on the scene but alive" and "burned out badly?"

I think there was a British (?) CTI reissue of Free recently. The one I have is the original US reissue with two extra tracks, So Tender and Jequite. I've always liked that one.

Wow thanks for sharing those experiences Allen and Allan. John, I know exactly what you are talking about with Lee and with Woody. . . but. . . though I have the complete official recordings of both I believe and a lot of unofficial. . .the work of neither has something that I would be hard-pressed to explain that Miles' work has that makes me LIVE in the recordings, they're really a part of my life. The way they have captivated ME as a jazz fanatic makes me understand a bit how they captivated the attention and market in nonjazz fanatic ways.

"No singer on earth is more woman than Betty Carter" Ray Charles is reported to have said. Bold words that could be interpreted many ways. In fact you might even invert the phrase somewhat and some I'm sure will agree "There is no woman on earth more a singer than Betty Carter". . . Alas there is no more "is" but "was." In my opinion she left us at the top of her game. She kept getting better and better in all the ways I can see. She became more herself as an artist. She became so secure and deep. Also, she became an excellent producer. If I were a horn player in the field today I would vehemently wish she could produce an album for me. Arrange and work with my r-section too. It would challenge and bring out the best in me. I miss Betty Carter! I'm lucky in that I came to become a big fan late in the game and I have more to explore. But there will be no more great Bet-Car productions to anticipate. . . . Recently the one I'm stuck on, that I play a lot is "I'm Yours, You're Mine". . . . Pop in a post if you're a fan.

I actually like the Wilen. . . didn't at first but gave it time to settle in. . . now I find the racing tapes and the sad exploratory music combine well and sound great when I'm in the right mood.

I think baryshnikov and others knew they were not the same recording. . . . I reallly don't like that Reid Miles cover. . . the Vogue suits me better.

Hmnmm. . . let's think this through. . . Sly could be half-dead. . .brain damaged. . . and still be one of the best performers on the show!

Damn straight!

Hope someone else buys it before I'm tempted to break my vow of not buying another disc this month.

Agreed, I like both of those. . . . Heck, I like all those Boland and Clarke sessions. . . .

Well it has to be good! I love the Boland with the same instrumentation, "Out of the Background."

Me too, and he was magic with Sam Jones. Kevin, yeah. . . ever since you pointed it out years ago I hear that squeek. But. . . I've had several squeeky drummer's thrones so it doesn't bother me much. . . makes me a bit nostalgic! One of the better Hubbard sideman dates.

I'm solidly with Dan on these Ace reissues. Theyre fantastic! I've every one released so far. . . and am sad they're going to end with one more (weren't there twelve lps)? Ace has a four cd box set that is superb if one wants to go that route. . . will duplicate a lot of material in these Crown lp reissues but. . . if you just want four superb discs of B. B. by Bihari. . . that's a helluva box set.

Not familiar with an MPS date but it should cook!

Thanks. I love a lot of things that have come out of "how it was" or "how it is." But like you I wish that in some fundamental ways it might have been different.

Producer. (Also musician). With Columbia at the time of some sessions with Evans.

Cal Lampley, since we're dropping names.

Here's what I think about Miles: he had the marketable IMAGE, and important instances of the music he produced and especially his own playing had a universality that Mingus's, Ware's and Ayler's don't have. In part here is my two cents: I feel Miles had a way of blending various elements out there already percolating and funneling it into a personal statement that reached outside the boundaries of the jazz cognoscenti and could be sampled and played again and again and mean something to those who don't normally dive deeply into jazz. And then he would work that "paradigm" or "new direction" until he was beyond the reach of this type of market, and somehow he would then pull another milestone out of his hat that would capture that attention and appeal and sales again. And again. Mingus sure produced great music. I've got every bit of Mingus I've ever been able to get my hands on. But he didn't have the image. At all. And he was too VOCAL for his marketing good. Whereas Miles made his silence and the pauses speak for him in a market sense. Some of Mingus' music could have had that same ability to leap out and grab the unwashed. . . but . . . they didn't for the most part. Ayler and other music that goes that far away from the popular and classical forms of jazz or American music in general just aren't going to capture the nonjazz market, don't fit into the social functions that music has for the general public, etc. No complete and easy answers here I think, but that's about how I see it.

I don't think David S. Ware's music is going to reach the masses either. . . .Sorry, just how I hear that stuff.

I guess I was quite confused there. Haven't heard that one. Still doubt it would be as promotable as Miles' music. . . .