mjzee

Also: Al Jarreau, singer, 1940 Also: Slick Jones, drums, 1907 Also: Richard Davis, bass, 1930 Also, Johnny Ct. Cyr, guitar, banjo, 1890 April 18: Tony Mottola, guitar, 1918 Hal Galper, piano, 1938

April 11: Nick LaRocca, drums, 1889 John Levy, bass, 1942

April 10: Fess Williams, sax, 1894 Claude Bolling, piano, composer, 1930

An appreciation, from tomorrow's WSJ: A Punk Promoter's Legacy I had the album "Duck Rock," and remember it being very good.

April 9: Julian Dash, tenor sax, 1916 Steve Gadd, drums, 1945

King of Punk Malcom McLaren Dies Aged 64

April 8: Carmen McRae, singer, 1922 Paul Jeffrey, tenor sax, 1933

"It's not synthesizers. It's not samples. It's actual physical, living, breathing, smacking-and-getting-hit stuff," says jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. "Guitars, marimbas, vibes, dozens of percussion instruments, cymbals, drums, some custom-made instruments—an ensemble of stuff that I can then write for and improvise with. That's essentially what the Orchestrion Project is." He is in his workshop in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, the spacious chapel of what used to be a small Greek Orthodox church, speaking about his latest "band"—an automated set of jazz instruments that he has recorded with and is taking on the road. The term "orchestrion" once described a self-playing, multi-instrumental music machine that disappeared almost a century ago. Think of a player piano plus accompaniment. The name feels big and heroic: one man "playing" all the parts of a very large band, live and acoustic. More here: Wall St Journal

Here are some more quotes: “Life is already complete,” he said. “You can’t learn what life is. And the only way you die is if something kills you. So if life and death are already understood, what are we doing?” “Being a human, you’re required to be in unison: upright,” he said. “I think he’s singing pure spiritual,” he said. “He’s making the sound of what he’s experiencing as a human being, turning it into the quality of his voice, and what he’s singing to is what he’s singing about. We hear it as ‘how he’s singing.’ But he’s singing about something. I don’t know what it is, but it’s bad.” “That’s breath music,” he said, as big groups of singers harmonized in straight eighth-note patterns, singing plainly but with character. “They’re changing the sound with their emotions. Not because they’re hearing something.” But then we were off on another topic — whether a singer should seek a voicelike sound for his voice. “Isn’t it amazing that sound causes the idea to sound the way it is, more than the idea?” he asked. “Right now, I’m trying to play the instrument,” he said, “and I’m trying to write, without any restrictions of chord, keys, time, melody and harmony, but to resolve the idea eternally, where every person receives the same quality from it, without relating it to some person.” As you perhaps have guessed, the above quotes are not from Keith, but rather from Ornette (full article here). Are they really so different?

April 7: Billie Holiday, singer, 1915 Freddie Hubbard, trumpet, 1938

April 5: Stan Levey, drums, 1925 Stanley Turrentine, tenor sax, 1934

April 4: Gene Ramey, bass, 1913 Jake Hanna, druns, 1931

April 3: Bubber Miley, trumpet, 1903 Jimmy McGriff, organ, 1936 Scott LaFaro, bass, 1936

He wrote a poignant little memoir that's in the Complete Birth of the Cool booklet.

I liked Phaedra.

April 1: Harry Carney, baritone sax, 1910 Gil Scott-Heron, singer, songwriter, 1949 April 2: Booker Little, trumpet, 1938 Larry Coryell, guitar, 1943

My Mac uses Silverlight to stream movies from Netflix. Works pretty well, which is odd considering it's from Microsoft. I haven't seen any downside yet.

For those who are interested, Amazon has the box on sale for $17.99: From Spirituals To Swing box I am not related to the seller.

March 31: Red Norvo, vibes, 1908 Freddie Green, guitar, 1911

Ditto. Although I wonder whether there's more of his performance in the vault. It's very close to when he had to stop playing.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand (not that Jonathan Richman doesn't merit his own thread). Here's the latest: EMI Reenters Talks With Universal

As per Amazon: Carnegie Hall Concerts: 1943-1947 I wonder how Prestige got these tapes in the first place.

March 30: Ted Heath, trombone, bandleader, 1900 Karl Berger, vibes, 1935

Big fan here. He made many fine, tasty albums. Some favorites: RIP, Mr. Ellis. Swing easy.

March 29: Pearl Bailey, singer, 1918 Michael Brecker, tenor sax, 1949