mjzee

May 21: Fats Waller, singer, piano, composer, 1904 Bill Holman, composer, arranger, bandleader, 1927

Happy birthday, Chuck!

Yes, sad. A friend of mine used to have copies. The layouts, the quality of the photos, the texture of the paper were all wonderful. I don't read a word of Japanese, so the articles were indecipherable, but I'd love to leaf through them nonetheless.

May 20: Rod Cless, clarinet, 1907 Rufus Harley, bagpipes, 1936

I listen in the car (CDs, but soon to be iPod, as I'm having a head unit installed that has an iPod input), in the morning while getting ready for work (iPod through speakers), at work sometimes if I need to concentrate and there's lots of chatter in the office (iPod through headphones), and in the evening while on the computer (iPod through speakers). All iPod listening is via shuffle. I'm having trouble with the second part of the questionnaire, as I'm not sure what it means to listen. When I hear a track, I can focus on so many different things: the tone of the soloist, the way the soloist interacts with the tune or with the supporting musicians, the sound as a whole, the sound quality, the rhythm, reflecting on the rhythm in historical contrast, the length, the way the tune is constructed... And none of this is a conscious approach. Sometimes I can hear a tune and hear nothing, because I've heard it all before, like some chewing gum that has no more flavor. Is that intense listening? Rumination? Background listening? In-and-out listening? I dunno.

I was grooving this morning to Sonny Rollins doing "Rosita's Best Friend" (from Reel Life), and I thought of this thread. Wouldn't it be great to compile all of Sonny's calypso/West Indian tunes into one album and give it a theme, ala The Latin Bit? Sonny could be dressed on the cover in some traditional costume...it would be a hoot!

May 19: Cecil McBee, bass, 1935 Sonny Fortune, alto & soprano sax, 1939

I've had this JBL for a few years. Great for traveling, and sounds OK: Amazon

I agree with both sides of this. Goin' West sounds desultory - there's a reason it was in the can until 1969. I'll bet Grant and Alfred Lion had an interesting relationship. These 3 genre albums, taken together, are really cool - they're concept albums, before the term was popular.

I didn't see a smiley, so I'm proceeding under the assumption you don't know this. Bill Graham's real name was Wolfgang Grajonka. When he presented concerts, he had in the contracts the right to tape the concerts; these are the tapes.

May 18: Kai Winding, trombone, 1922 Jim McNeely, piano, 1949

Rare for Ibrahim to do a backing gig. I'll have to check that one out.

Thanks for posting the link; I'm enjoying it now. Who's the other sax in the first clip?

We'll still have all the wonderful music he made. RIP, Mr. Jones. Interesting little bit of trivia from the NY Times obit: "He also participated in a celebrated moment in presidential history when he accompanied Marilyn Monroe as she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy, who was about to turn 45, during a Democratic Party fund-raiser at Madison Square Garden in May 1962."

I've always liked The Latin Bit. Sounds very unselfconscious and fun. He makes My Little Suede Shoes his own, no mean feat considering Bird also recorded it.

I've always been a good shopper, so when I see something priced very attractively, the fever hits. That's tempered by the knowledge that: 1) Money that goes here cannot go towards something else (family considerations intrude). 2) I have far too many still-unheard CDs and mp3's. 3) I have no place to put more CDs. Those considerations are then balanced by: a) There's so much music out there I still haven't heard. b) Some knowledge that the music business is in hard times and what can I do to help. Balancing that is: * I'm not sure how buying cut-outs helps the music industry or artists. / The ambiguous moral status of buying titles from labels such as Proper. This fetid stew of emotions results in furtive purchases and feeling somewhat guilty. Not sure what to do about that. But the buying nonetheless continues. Tonight, I bought The Wardell Gray Story (Proper) from Amazon, $12.37 (+ $2.98 s/h). Such a bargain!

May 16: Woody Herman, clarinet, bandleader, 1913 Betty Carter, singer, 1930

Was in Binghamton a few months ago - seemed to me a fairly peaceful and laid-back place and surely one of the more unlikely places in the US to encounter a murder. Nice town ! It was in the lobby of the Social Hall (is that building still there?). A memorial plaque was put up there in honor of the deceased. Yeah, Binghamton (the Triple Cities, actually) is a great place. Economically depressed, though.

Indeed. I heard them at SUNY Binghamton fall 1973. Very intense, wonderful music. As I recall, it was one continuous improvisation that was nearing 2 hours...when, in the lobby of the building, right outside the concert hall, there was a shooting (a murder!). The alarms sounded and the building was evacuated. As we stood outside the building, I heard one person say to another, "that was the only way that concert could have ended."

May 15: Edmond Hall, clarinet, 1901 Ellis Larkins, piano, 1923

May 14: Sidney Bechet, soprano sax, clarinet, 1897 Zutty Singleton, drums, 1898

May 13: Gil Evans, arranger, composer, piano, 1912 Red Garland, piano, 1923

Interesting article about Laurie and the music biz in general (also posted in the Jazz In Print forum): WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703791704575114130638626588.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_TOPRightCarousel

I've noticed that, since I joined, the amount of spam emails I receive from the account I listed there has shot up exponentially.