mjzee

Listening to this album again now makes me appreciate a few people/things even more. Alfred Lion & Rudy Van Gelder: that consistent sound they achieved album after album. In "The Flip" the studio sound is raw, while RVG's sound is so polished. Billy Higgins: of course I appreciated Higgins before, but hearing the tunes on "The Flip," I can hear the way Higgins would have played these tunes compared to PJJ, and it would have been so much better - smoother, classier, and much less obtrusive. I didn't have a problem with the bassist; it's PJJ that keeps careening close to chaos. Bottom line: it's a Mobley album. If you can ignore the pathos of it being his last BN album (and of his subsequent descent), it's a pretty damn good album.

Obituary in The New York Times.

Very sad. RIP.

Maybe the CD contains chemicals that are known to the state of California to cause cancer.

Dave's Picks 22 has been announced: We're following that up with the complete show from 12/7/71 at the Felt Forum in New York City, from the famous run of shows in the lower level of Madison Square Garden. Tapes from this run of shows have circulated for decades, but never sounding like this. Featuring the return of Pigpen, who had been absent from the Dead since 8/26/71, the show features five Pigpen-sung songs, including what is arguably the best version of Smokestack Lightning. Every song from this show is played to perfection, presenting definitive live versions of every song played from this era. Because the show is relatively short at "only" two and a half hours, we have added the bulk of the second set from the previous night, including a massive Other One jam, and exceptional renditions of Wharf Rat and Uncle John's Band. And to make this release akin to a mini-box set, the 2017 Bonus Disc will feature the bulk of the rest of this 12/6/71 show, giving you two nearly-complete shows from one of the most requested and sought-after runs in Grateful Dead history.

Thank you!

Back to the 1966 live box: disc 6 (the electric portion of Dublin 5/5/66) has some pretty bad hum and rumble throughout. Not sure if it's on the original tape or due to age. Still, that could be why so much of this box wasn't previously available - the sound quality often isn't up to professional standards. The electric performance is interesting. It often sounds like folk-rock rather than straight-out rock: amplified but played like acoustic instruments. Except for Garth's church organ - that could never be disguised. The rumble is giving me a headache. Not cool.

Doing some poking around on the Net, looking for info on the Lester Young Pablo "In Washington D.C. 1956" 5-disc series, I found this great article focusing on Bill Potts reminiscing about Lester, The Orchestra, and his Porgy and Bess album: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/13027274/swing-or-ill-kill-you

What was that all about? Was Red genuinely pissed, or just for fun?

Actors seek posthumous protections after big screen resurrections

I'm not a huge Ellington fan...I can respect him more than fully enjoy him. But I do really like these 4 (which is the requested 3, plus the ignored restriction at the beginning forbidding 78 reissues): The Blanton/Webster Band (rereleased as Never No Lament), RCA - probably my first Ellington album Fargo 1940 (various labels, including Storyville) Unknown Session (Columbia) - also has a great cover Hot Summer Dance (Flying Dutchman) Especially on the last 3, the band is looser and more driving than usual.

I don't really know Red's place in the firmament of jazz, but he did a lot of interesting, eclectic things. I have some early things on this Portrait LP compilation, which includes some tracks with Mildred Bailey: I have his trio tracks on Savoy and Prestige: The session with Bird that's on the Complete Savoy, the Australia gig with Sinatra, and something on Charlie Parker records: I know his discography is much larger than just the above. His playing strikes me as happy, along the lines of Lionel Hampton. I prefer the more soulful stylings of Milt Jackson, but Norvo is very listenable indeed.

A bump for this thread. Just listened to "Praise The Lord," the leadoff track from Live At The Cookery. Such drive for a 65-year old pianist! Bassist Brian Dorff can barely keep up with her. Totally timeless.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Holidays to everyone here! And congrats in advance, Jim!

But audiences cannot.

Since Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in literature in October, his name has not been out of the news. So the timing for the singer-songwriter’s major exhibition of new works at the Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair, central London, could not be better. But, says the gallery’s marketing manager, Ada Crawshay Jones, this is just a happy coincidence. Featuring an extensive collection of over 200 drawings, watercolors and acrylics, the show comprises the artist’s view of American landscapes and urban scenes, all created in the past two years. Judging by the large volume of visitors — 4000 on its opening weekend — there is obvious heightened interest in Dylan’s art following his win. Indeed, the gallery is projecting some 70-90,000 people through its doors during the exhibition’s five-week run. More here: http://forward.com/culture/356090/sure-bob-dylan-is-a-great-artist-but-have-you-looked-at-his-art/

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman to digitally de-age Robert DeNiro

I've discovered a great solution to my stitching issue. Google has released a free app for iOS (and Android) called PhotoScan. Per WSJ: "couldn’t be any simpler to use. Clear off a well-lit space and lay down the photo. The app prompts you to move the phone over each edge so it can take four separate images. Then it combines them into one shot without glare or bright spots." I've tried it and it works as advertised. This is great for digitizing album covers to insert into iTunes.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Yes. Intricate solos, but great melodic structure and non-preachy lyrics too. I liked them in high school, then when I got to college in 1973, they were blasting from all the dorm rooms. At the time, I preferred the darker, more ominous forms of prog-rock, such as King Crimson, but at this remove I can appreciate the sweetness in Jon Anderson's vocals and their songs' bright melodic bounce. BTW, while Phish is generally considered a descendent of the Grateful Dead, I think their true antecedent was Yes. Am seriously considering buying the studio box:

I held off buying new CDs & LPs for most of the year, budgeting for my son's bar mitzvah. I replaced those with re-listening to many, many albums that I've had for years. The great stuff in jazz is so great, and seems to sound eternally fresh. I still haven't gotten to the few new releases I did buy: Sonny Rollins - Holding The Stage (Road Shows 4), Marc Ribot & The New Philadelphians - Live In Tokyo, and John Scofield - Country For Old Men. In general, I agree with Dicky: the "new" language has been around for decades, and doesn't much appeal to me. Last year, I bought some of the titles on members' Top Ten lists (Anna Webber's "Simple" and Steve Lehman's "Miss en Abime") and they just left me cold. To these (older) ears, the "new language" is now old and exhausted - a creative dead end. Better to reverse gears and resume playing standards, while finding a better way to reconnect with the audience. I sometimes think new jazz these days is the equivalent of the university press: academics playing for other academics. With a larger budget, I'd support more of the HighNote and Criss Cross new releases, but there's no way to manufacture more listening time. Still, hope is eternally renewable. Here's to a tuneful and swinging 2017!

Seeing these covers, I can't help thinking that Manfred Eicher has developed cataracts. See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1551703/Cataracts-the-key-to-Monets-blurry-style.html

Another year gone by already? Happy birthday and happy blowin'!

Amazon indicates this is now in stock.

From Bob Dylan’s remarks, delivered by the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, at the Nobel banquet in Stockholm, Dec. 10: If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon. . . . I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn’t have entered his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read. When he was writing Hamlet, I’m sure he was thinking about a lot of different things: “Who’re the right actors for these roles?” “How should this be staged?” “Do I really want to set this in Denmark?” His creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. “Is the financing in place?” “Are there enough good seats for my patrons?” “Where am I going to get a human skull?” I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question “Is this literature?” . . . I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life’s mundane matters. “Who are the best musicians for these songs?” “Am I recording in the right studio?” “Is this song in the right key?” Some things never change, even in 400 years. Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, “Are my songs literature?” So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.