mjzee

"Capetown Fringe" was a surprise hit in NYC in 1978. The jazz radio station played it all the time. I have it on a great CD titled Voice of Africa; the track was renamed Mannenberg is Where It's Happening. Another great track on the CD: Black Lightning. But the whole album is good (tho I'm not fond of The Pilgrim).

March 4: Jan Garbarek, sax, 1947 Ricky Ford, tenor sax, 1954

Any opinions on the Billie Holiday box?

March 3: Barney Bigard, clarinet, 1906 Jimmy Garrison, bass, 1934

Thanks, Mark. I've never studied music, so it's interesting to read something like that and compare it to my impressions of what I hear. I take it that Ornette plays a melody, but doesn't link it to an underlying chord structure - the melody's just hanging out there, to be appreciated for it's own sake. Well, OK, I like tone and logic as much as anybody. But music's like a parfait - it's all the ingredients, and how they mesh together, and how it's baked. In much of Ornette's music, when I listen to the whole song, my impressions are "OK, what's the bass doing? What's the drum doing? How do they relate to the sax or the trumpet?" It's almost like, as long as they stick to the same tempo, they could be in separate rooms, each doing their own thing. And how can a music that the composer insists is so melodic be so unmelodious? And is it possible that in harmony there is warmth? People often say that Ornette's playing is like a cry (which I can hear) or happiness (I don't hear a lot of that). But I don't know that music that tries to be so singular can really convey a sound of commonality or geniality. I wonder whether Liebman's album attempts, through the addition of harmony, to add warmth and approachability to Ornette's compositions. I'd be curious to hear it, and to compare the tracks to Ornette's originals. I guess I like song structure. I like knowing what the band is trying to accomplish. With Ornette's music, I'm left unmoved - at the end of a song, I'm no different than I was at the beginning.

Also: Barrett Deems, drums, 1914

Thanks! I've added this to my queue: Amazon

Yessssssssssss!

LOL!!

February 28: Marty Grosz, singer, guitar, 1930 Willie Bobo, percussion, 1934

This is from an article/interview with Ornette. (The full article can be found here: Organissimo forum) "Standard Western notation and harmony is a big problem for him, particularly for the fact that the notation for many instruments (including his three instruments — alto saxophone, trumpet and violin) must be transposed to fit the “concert key” of C in Western music. "Mr. Coleman talks about “music” with care and accuracy, but about “sound” with love. He doesn’t understand, he says, how listeners will ever properly understand the power of notes when they are bossed around by the common Western system of harmony and tuning. "He’s not endorsing cacophony: he says making music is a matter of finding euphonious resolutions between different players. (And much of his music keeps referring to, if not actually staying in, a major key.)" I do think I know what it is (actually, the many things) I don't like about Ornette's music. The article above describes the many ways his music is different than most Western music (= most jazz). I don't particularly care for the results. I'm happy that you enjoy it.

I think it's apparent. It's kinda like that famous definition of pornography: I may not be able to describe it, but I know it when I hear it. The frustrating thing for me is when people deny what is so apparent: I hear a lack of joy and warmth, but people say "Oh, his compositions are so joyful." I hear a sameness and repetition, but people say "Oh, his music is so new and fresh." I hear a grating, kvetchy quality to his sax tone, but people say "Oh, his sax tone is so pure, like a voice." My guess is you need to accept a lack of a tonal center as fine, and then you can enjoy following the improvisation. But I think a lot of the joy in listening to jazz is listening to the chord progression (especially when it's a great chord progression), and then to hear the soloist comment on/through that. I can accept that others hear great music in Ornette that I don't. But I couldn't imagine putting on an Ornette album for pure pleasure.

I recently downloaded the 3 Dex albums recorded at the Montmartre in 1967, that were released by Black Lion ("Body And Soul," "Both Sides of Midnight," and "Take The A Train"). This is some of my favorite Dex. The man was on fire back then.

After listening to this music on and off for a few decades now, I still don't enjoy it. I like a tonal center - it makes music appealing to me. I've also approached Ornette from the "he's a genius - he's more evolved than we are - we must study him as a disciple approaches a master, mulling over the product until a eureka moment occurs," but it still hasn't happened. I mostly find his approach annoying. There have been moments I've liked - some things with Izenson, Prime Time (who I saw live once), but the appeal doesn't last very long, as it doesn't seem the scenery changes. I'll probably keep trying, on and off. I concede that YMMV. Was the second photo taken a few years later?

February 27: Mildred Bailey, singer, 1907 Dexter Gordon, tenor sax, 1923

I notice they now have the Savoy label, including the former 32Jazz material. Beginning to look tempting...

February 26: Teddy Edwards, tenor sax, 1924

February 25: Ida Cox, singer, 1896 Sandy Brown, clarinet, 1929

February 24: Michel Legrand, composer, 1932 David Fathead Newman, alto and tenor sax, 1933

February 23: Money Johnson, trumpet, 1918 Hall Overton, piano, arranger, 1920

February 22: Buddy Tate, tenor sax, 1915 Joe Wilder, trumpet, 1922

February 21: Tadd Dameron, composer, arranger, piano, 1917 Warren Vache, cornet, 1951

I don't think that works. I think it only works if you don't have artwork already there. If you do, I don't think the new artwork will overwrite the old artwork.

Also, has anyone had experience with the B&O Form 2 headphones? Was wondering how they compare to the A8's.

Oh, that'll happen all the time. iTunes tries to match the album with the correct artwork, but frequently gets it wrong. Here's what you have to do if an album shows the wrong artwork: 1) Try to find the correct artwork. I like Amazon (especially Amazon mp3, which seems to have newer cover scans than the CD music area). Once you find it, copy the image (not the image address). 2) In iTunes, navigate to the album with the wrong artwork. Double-click on the album to show the list of songs on the album (remember that iTunes associates artwork with the individual song, not the album. So if the album has 8 tracks, there are 8 different wrong images you'll need to replace). 3) Highlight the first track, and hit ctrl-i (or right-click the track and choose Get Info). 4) When the info window opens, click on the Artwork tab. You should see the wrong artwork. 5) Click on the artwork to select it, and hit Delete. Then click in the blank artwork box and paste the artwork you copied from Amazon. 6) When you see the correct artwork there, click on the Next button. Then do step 5 again, and again, and again, until you've done it for all the tracks on the album. You should now see the correct artwork associated with each track.