mjzee

I saw Waits open for Zappa. IIRC, it was at Avery Fisher Hall (or was it still Philharmonic Hall then?). The week before (or after), I saw Zappa at Brooklyn College, with Kathy Dalton opening. Same logic for both: Dalton was on DiscReet, and Waits was managed by Herbie Cohen. Waits appeared solo, and didn't make much of an impression on the audience, who were pretty hardcore Zappa fans. But Waits was still in his Sinatra phase; if he did more of his Beefheart thing, he might have garnered more attention. I was never a fan of later Waits; he lost me after Nighthawks At The Diner. By far, my favorite album of his was The Heart of Saturday Night; I could listen to that all day. I still say there's a great untold story of the relationship between Cohen and Zappa. What congruence was there between the Greenwich Village folkie scene and L.A. dada? It probably would have been better if the folkies were never on Straight or DiscReet, as their releases went nowhere.

I request that this obnoxious post be moved to the Political forum.

After reading this, I looked at the disc on Amazon. The one reviewer there gives conflicting discographical information for tracks 7 - 14; I wonder which is correct: "7, 8, 10: club tracks from "Groovin at the Blue Note" (1960). Powell is better on these. 9,11,12,13: club tracks from "Cooking at St.Germain 1957-1959. Powell is on fire. 14: "Body and Soul" from "Holidays in Edenville" 1964. A terrible warbling recording and a passionate but "off" Bud."

Found some on Blue Note: (Figures, right?)

I'm going through the great Birkajazz site (Birka Jazz - Prestige), and I love how they mention who did the Prestige covers. Here are the ones that Reid Miles did (at least, of the covers they feature): Design: Reid Miles Design: Reid Miles Design: Reid Miles, Illustration: Phil Hays Design: Reid Miles, Photo: Esmond Edwards Design: Reid Miles Design: Reid Miles, Photo: Hill Connors Design: Reid Miles, Photo: Jim Pearsall

Similar to the threads on Reid Miles and Andy Warhol, it would be great to compile Gil Melle's non-BN album covers. I think he had a really good design sense: Design: Gil Melle Design: Gil Melle Design: Gil Melle Design: Gil Melle

I've always been curious about these albums. I also never understood why they weren't re-released on Blue Note; I've only seen the Fresh Sound releases. How's the music? Monday Nights at Birdland

What is a joinery?

Three different views of one event: Associated Press Lehigh Valley nj.com

Shit! They got old; I thought it was just me... Another photo... Inside cover

Industry-wide, stereo 45's only began appearing around 1969.

I like it.

IIRC, he was integral in forming the whole WB/Reprise "sound" of the early '70's. I think he was all over the early Ry Cooder albums, for example. RIP.

I stopped into Sally's Place in Westport, and bought: Sonny Rollins - Road Shows, Vol. 1, Lee Morgan - Delightfulee, and Art Farmer - Brass Shout/The Aztec Suite.

Woodstock concert's undercover lovers

And as is so typical of me, I never went to go see him. I always think, "I'll catch a show next week", next thing you know, they're all gone. Yeah, me too. I remember when he had the weekly gig at Fat Tuesday's. Ah, well. RIP, you genius.

This is a letter to the editor in tomorrow's Journal (printed in full): Regarding Terry Teachout’s “Sightings: Can Jazz Be Saved?—The audience for America’s great art form is withering away” (Leisure & Arts, Aug. 8): Yes, jazz can be saved—if it is willing to change the performance schedule. The audience is 50 to 80 years old. We are not in nightclubs at midnight. We are in bed. Jazz shows that start on weekend afternoons are successful in this town. Sure, musicians just want to play. They do not want to deal with demographics, marketing, or commercial realities. But if they want to make a living, they have to start shows in the afternoon and end them in the early evening. Mara Majewski Orlando

I really disagree with this. And history also disproves it, since until the 40s jazz musicians were considered entertainers, or worse, black entertainers, by white society----and that mindset is very difficult to break when one is trying to survive. It's a tribute to the geniuses that did do their thing and moved music forward that they could do it in the context of work. It's an uphill battle, and even dangerous career-wise, or, back then, even survival-wise. I have a recording of a concert I played where I asked Eddie Locke to talk about the meaning of jazz to the young people there who were ignorant of it. He made a huge point of the social aspects of the music and its' function as dance music, and said verbatim 'once in the night there would be a little time called 'hot time', where they would play solos like we're doing tonight'. And he played with some of the great soloists. They had discipline and knew what a gig required. I'm sorry, but to think anything else is simply naive. I think perhaps a better way to put this might be 'when they got together in places like Mintons or privately they exchanged ideas they couldn't get at on the commercial gig'. Here's Lou Donaldson, from that NY Times profile (found here): "Today, at 82, he remains a leading exponent of this soul-jazz approach. But even at its bluesiest, his playing remains informed by bebop. If the economics allowed it, he said, he would delve more into the bop canon. “I’d like to be playing that every night,” he said. “But unfortunately, that’s not the case today.” At most of his outdoor concerts, he said, the audience demands his soul-jazz favorites — and he delivers. Those favorites, he said, will figure prominently on Aug. 18, when he brings his quartet to Mount Vernon for a free set, produced by Jazz Forum Arts and Jazzmobile, in City Hall Plaza."

Thanks for posting this. It prompted me to seek out the latest issue at a newsstand. I haven't read Down Beat for many years, and it was good to reconnect.

Which tune and which album, please. "I've Got A Crush On You" from "Live At the Sands" with Count Basie "Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight." Same track, same album.

"Wanna meet on Saturday, we'll pick out the foinechah?"

One facet of the solution must be alcohol. Listen to all those classic live recordings of the '40's - '60's - they were recorded in clubs (i.e., bars), and the crowds were whoopin' it up and getting into it. In a sterile environment like a concert hall, it's hard not to have a respectful distance from the music; jazz is being "appreciated" to death. We need audiences viscerally involved in the music. Alcohol helps. Or as Art Blakey intoned at that great bar, Birdland, "If you feel like pattin' your feet, pat your feet... and if you feel like clappin' your hands, clap your hands... and if you feel like takin' off your shoes, take off your shoes... we are here to have a ball. So we want you to leave your worldly troubles outside, and come in here and swing, ladies and gentlemen."

In 1987, Congress passed a joint resolution declaring jazz to be “a rare and valuable national treasure.” Nowadays the music of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis is taught in public schools, heard on TV commercials and performed at prestigious venues such as New York’s Lincoln Center, which even runs its own nightclub, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. Here’s the catch: Nobody’s listening. No, it’s not quite that bad—but it’s no longer possible for head-in-the-sand types to pretend that the great American art form is economically healthy or that its future looks anything other than bleak. Continued here: Wall Street Journal

I think that's what the tune Ashtray Heart was about...some grievance about the Punks either not crediting him properly, or watering down his concept, or whatever. "You used me like an ashtray heart...case of the punks!" But then Don seemed to have a lot of grievances. To hear the Beefheart guitar concept with more propulsive, beat-oriented drumming, check out Gang Of Four. I especially liked their album Solid Gold.