mjzee

Also on December 20: John Hardee, tenor sax, 1918 December 21: Panama Francis, drums, 1918 Hank Crawford, alto sax, 1934

Diner - You Tube And check out the first comment.

From tomorrow's WSJ, an appreciation by Gary Lucas: O Captain! My Captain Beefheart

Great review! Congrats, Organissimo!

December 19: Bob Brookmeyer, valve trombone, piano, arranger, 1919 Bobby Timmons, piano, 1935

Golden Birdies In the mid-90's Beefheart gave band member Moris Tepper a list called The Ten Commandments of Guitar Playing which was replicated in John McCormick's book Rolling Stone's Alt-Rock-A Rama: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GUITAR PLAYING as given to moris tepper by captain beefheart. they are not arranged hierarchically - each commandment has equal import. also, to help clarify their intent, each commandment is followed by an exegesis. LISTEN TO THE BIRDS that's where all the music comes from. birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. and watch humming-birds. they fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere. YOUR GUITAR IS NOT REALLY A GUITAR your guitar is a divining rod. use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. a guitar is also a fishing rod. if you're good, you'll land a big one. PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A BUSH wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. if the bush doesn't shake, eat another piece of bread. WALK WITH THE DEVIL old delta blues players referred to amplifiers as 'the devil box'. and they were right. you have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you're bringing over from the other side. electricity attracts devils and demons. [so now you know what you are, dear visitor of this page!] other instruments attract other spirits. an acoustic guitar attracts caspar, the ghost. a mandolin attracts wendy. but an electric guitar attracts beelzebub. IF YOU'RE GUILTY OF THINKING, YOU'RE OUT if your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. you should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. if you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing. NEVER POINT YOUR GUITAR AT ANYONE your instrument has more clout than lightning. just hit a big chord, then run outside to hear it. but make sure you are not standing in an open field. ALWAYS CARRY A CHURCH KEY that's your key-man clause. like one string sam. he's one! he was a detroit street musician who played in the fifties on a homemade instrument. his song "i need a hundred dollars" is warm pie. another key to the church is hubert sumlin, howlin' wolf's guitar player. he just stands there like the statue of liberty - making you want to look up her dress the whole time to see how he's doing it. DON'T WIPE THE SWEAT OFF YOUR INSTRUMENT you need that stink on there. then you have to get that stink onto your music. KEEP YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK PLACE when you're not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. if you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it. YOU GOTTA HAVE A HOOD FOR YOUR ENGINE keep that hat on. a hat is a pressure cooker. if you have a roof on your house, the hot air can't escape. even a lima bean has to have a piece of wet paper around it to make it grow.

My Turrentine box recently came with no number - not in the booklet, not on the receipt. I asked Mosaic for the #, and got this reply from Scott: "The booklets are pre-numbered and therefore we have no idea what each set is numbered. This is one of the downfalls of the economy as we are now just 3 people in offices, while a fulfillment house a few miles away is where the warehouse is. Sorry for the inconvenience." Music's still great, though.

More comments... BBC

Oh, and check out the comments in Clifford's initial post!

NY Times obit: NY Times And a mention in the Journal: WSJ

I took no offense; don't worry about it.

December 18: Fletcher Henderson, piano, composer, arranger, 1897 Harold Land, tenor sax, 1928

Yeah. Hilarious.

The other shoe finally dropped. I'd been wondering about this for awhile. I actually thought there was a good chance he died years ago and his friends never told. Healthwise, something definitely happened between 1974 and say 1980. Compare photos of him, or look at his appearance on the Letterman show (available on YouTube). I think you could even see it in his paintings. I went to a show at a Manhattan gallery around 2000 that displayed paintings from the '80's & '90's, and it seemed there was far less control in his brushstrokes. So who knows. Very sad. I hero-worshipped him for many years, and still after all these years still love the music. RIP, Don. From when I saw him at Ungano's in December 1970.

December 17: Sy Oliver, trumpet, arranger, 1910 Joe Kennedy, violin, 1923

A sad tale about the limits of power, from this week's Financial Times: Financial Times

The first version I heard was Joe Cocker's. Still think he sang the hell out of that song.

The expression is gaining renewed currency at a time when the song that inspired its use is having a remarkable resurgence. "Cry Me a River" was first released in 1955, and in the last two months of that year the jazz-pop singer Julie London began climbing up the music charts with her soft yet forceful crooning of these opening lyrics: "Now you say you're lonely / You cried the whole night through / Well, you can cry me a river / Cry me a river / I cried a river over you." Interesting article, including a chat with the songwriter: Wall St Journal

I just clicked on the link and it couldn't find the article!

A good demonstration of colorblindness - Vischeck

Another one just dropped: Ramblin' eMusic

December 15: Barry Harris, piano, 1929 Dannie Richmond, drums, 1935

Happy birthday!

December 14: Clark Terry, trumpet, flugelhorn, 1920 Cecil Payne, baritone sax, 1922

When was Beefheart honored by Dylan? And if someone here attends, please ask Lucas if Beefheart's still alive.