Leeway

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E! (TV channel in US) A&E (ditto) BBC

...yes, they do create from themselves, and no, they don't do audience polling ahead of time. There's a self-absorption that has crept into jazz performance in the past-innovation and progress notwithstanding. It's as if many people are in a bubble. I find it so disturbing I do not wish to play with certain people. They simply are not about what I stand for. It's not about taking audience polls. IMO it IS about using art to bring out people-to uplift, and I don't mean merely oneself. But what was good enough for Pops and Pres and other real greats who were incredibly creative besides doesn't seem to cut it for, ahem, 'geniuses' like Kurt Rosenwinkel (whose playing I like BTW). With this new breed it's not about the people. It's not even about the songs anymore-unless they are used to show how clever one is. Now 'jazz' is about me me me. Sorry, I don't buy into the "art as uplift" concept, at least not as a statement of its purpose. That motive usually produces something that is definitely not art. I just find it interesting that the idea of a great artist (I'm not thinking Rosenwinkel here) seems to be dismissed out of hand. Maybe the age of the iPod is incongruous with great art.

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Why myth? I really don't get your dismissive response to the idea that, yes, there are great artists, and yes, they do create from themselves, and no, they don't do audience polling ahead of time.

Hi Moms, I've seen Sabir probably a dozen times live, and while he certainly has his limitations, blowing hard and resourcefully and fluently in a free jazz environment is not one of them. I think he could hang with the Ascension crowd. I think to argue that X played better here, and Y played better there rather misses the point of the album, which was to make a gesture towards another way of playing and thinking about music. I think that gesture still has resonance today, at least in the free jazz community. I think it is certainly a pivotal album in Coltrane's body of work. My only reservation about it is that Coltrane was still absorbing the lessons of Ayler, and not yet master of the idiom. But the album nevertheless has wonderful energy and spirit. In fact, to me, it is more spiritual than "A Love Supreme."

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Great artists write the music that is in them, that expresses them, and that they believe is valid and important, and, more so, necessary for them to do. Ditto authors, painters, sculptors and dancers. Most great artists are way ahead of their audience. Chick is not in that category, so it makes commercial sense for him to figure out what is popular and go for it. Apparently, he is covering all bets on his Blue Note gig.

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The only one of that tribute group who could have stood in with the originals is Sabir Mateen. The rest are pretenders, especially Lovano, who strikes me as a Readers Digest Condensed version of any of the great sax players you care to name. Just as bad as Wynton covering "A Love Supreme." Uugh! I do disagree with Moms about the standing of "Ascension." It's a great work and an important work. I think its influence has been wide. It is a transitional album for Coltrane, in that he is adapting the language of Albert Ayler into his own idiom. The result is an explosive mixture. Anyway, I like it. Couple of other tribute albums done right: "His Name is Alive presents Sweet Earth Flower" and "New Monastery." Generally, I can't stand tribute shows/recordings.

Just curious if we even have rich guys on the board. Anyone care to step up and identify themselves as 1 percent-ers? Sneering at Aloc's new old amp is not required

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Aloc, it would be nice to think so, but recent history shows that the technology will be co-opted, access will be controlled, cost structures will be implemented, programming will be homogenized (for greater efficiency and profit) by such giants as Comcast, Viacom, and even dumb ass outfits like Clear Channel (especially if the GOP-ers get in, and reward their propagandists). Look at cable: 200+ channels of crap.

Less bread

Cien Fuegos has done an excellent job on its FMP reissues: excellent sound, quality vinyl, nice packaging, reasonable prices (as these things go). Good to have these hard to find FMPs available again.

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Bought this album on spec, and it turned out to be way hipper than I expected. Kenyatta, Wolfgang Dauner, Arild Andersen, Fred Braceful (from his Wiki entry, sounds like an interesting figure, but this is the first time I have encountered him on record I think). Recorded 1970. ECM 1008.

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Bill Cole, Sam Rivers, Warren Smith. Cole has been on the scene a long time, but does not seem to me to be often discussed, despite an interesting approach to the music. Music from Dartmouth LP. 1975 performance.

Thumbs down, Dan, on your sick offensive examples (and if you can''t see that, I pity you).

It's like a cult over there. Actually, a rule like that has its advantages: it keeps people away whose only intention is to sell stuff and who aren't interested in discussing anything. I understand that. That issue was argued quite a bit at the time of the BNBB and maybe here too when the Org Board started. I think it's worked out fine here, and to the benefit of the members, who are able to buy (or not) items they might otherwise miss. That's what the Looking For and Selling thread is for. As long as the seller is not a nuisance, or completely off -interest, I don't see the harm. And some may end up in the discussions. In any event, Hoffman has the right to set its own rules, but I'm not surprised they opt for lots of control, limited access, and tight posting requirements. Reflects their attitude, starting with adulation of their leader, which I still find cult-like

Transmuting clock face and hands:

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