Quasimado

Right - there's something special about great Swing-to-bop - to these ears ... Q

When asked about religion, Charlie Parker replied, "I'm a devout musician". Q

There are variuos opinions about that. Herb Geller has one of the stronger ones: In the late fifties Don Cherry stayed at my house for a while, when he and his wife were evicted from their apartment, but I never really cared for his music. He was playing in a “free” way even then, because he couldn’t play normally. People said that he and Ornette Coleman could play changes, but I don’t believe it, man. I heard Ornette’s recording of “Embraceable You”, and it’s a laugh. I’m sorry, but that’s not “Embraceable You”. I mean, put him to the test, the Emperor has no clothes. They both played some nice, folksy, rather primitive, naïve –sounding things that had a certain charm, but I couldn’t take their approach seriously, even to this day (1994). Ornette came to my house once because he wanted to have his music corrected. He showed me his tunes, and they were a catastrophe, because the bar lines were in the wrong place and there were no chord symbols. He took his saxophone out, and I notated what he played. I asked him what chord he was using, and he blew the arpeggio of a G chord, thinking it was a B minor. He just didn’t know anything about chords. Years later he was talking about George Russell’s Lydian Concept, so I asked him if he had found out the difference between B minor and G yet! I liked Ornette as a person, and he did a sweet thing after my wife died. He wrote a piece which I think he called “Lorraine”, and I was very touched by that. Some of his tunes have haunting melodies, but I don’t really care for that kind of playing. I can play “free”, but it’s just a lot of meandering, and anybody can meander; you buy an instrument and make a record in two weeks! Herb Geller From "Fifties Jazz Talk" – Gordon Jack Scarecrow Press Inc. (p. 93). Q

Caught Gene DiNovi live here with Ted Brown a couple of years back. In his 80's, he played Great jazz piano, swinging and creative solowise, and perfect accompaniment for Ted. Feisty guy, too ... remembered the Lester Aladdin "Something to Remember You By" session ('47) as if it was yesterday ... Q

Half the jazz musicians still try to. Which says so much for Bird, the great musician. Q

Lennie was impolite to Cecil? Seems hard to imagine ... Q

Nice sites from member James Harrod re 50’s West Coast record label Calliope http://callioperecords.blogspot.jp/ and its source TV program Stars of Jazz http://starsofjazz.blogspot.jp/ including photos, production notes, scripts, clips etc. Likewise for the early 60’s TV show Jazz Scene USA: http://jazzsceneusa.blogspot.jp/ Q

What happened to the Calliope Records topic lovingly posted by me 11/6 or 7? Q

JG was bassist along with Paul Motion for *Lee Konitz live at the Half Note* from 1959. Bill Evans lays out a lot of the time, leaving the harmonic path to Jimmy. To a lesser player this would be pretty daunting, as Lee's and (especially) Warne's solos on this date are pretty oblique for someone unfamiliar with their approach. They don't leave too many obvious clues about where they are in the sequence. Jimmy does just fine - and he swings! Q

Great news! That it existed was not in doubt. On the 1988 liner notes to 'Lester-Amadeus' on Phontastic, Anders R. Ohman mentions he was going to include the 2nd take, but 'alas, someone managed to steal it'. Let's hope it sees sympathetic release, and soon! Interesting site, by the way ... Q

Seems to fit - can't you guys get over this shit? Q I don't think there's anything for us to "get over". A lot of us don't like Wynton, what he's done, and what he stands for. Perhaps it's Wynton's fans who need to "get over" the fact that not everyone shares their adulation for the man. I'm not a Wynton fan in any way. I just think it's sad that the same people get themselves in a knot over this guy again and again. You know (I presume) the number of times this has ocurred. Has anything changed? Nothing. More verbiage, and jazz stays put or moves on, according to whose perspective it is... Does it really matter? I seriously don't think so. He does what he does, some benefit, some don't like it. What's new in the world? (I also think Freelancer has a point ...). Q

Seems to fit - can't you guys get over this shit? Q

This is one of the great classics! Lester and Billie, roll over ... Q

There's some YouTube videos up from a previous incarnation - that's a great front line! :tup Q

Please do, it'll be an opportunity to chat with the audience! About what? Q

Getting that old deja-vu feeling ... Q

Always meaningful to hear from a veteran on the front line. Keep it coming for many more ... Q

Taylor's liner notes for the Smithsonian John Kirby set are particularly fine. There were others I'm sure that were, like the Kirby notes, known to more than "other writers," but I'm too tired from today's 12-inning Sox loss to think of them. Apparently, Taylor's journalistic writing on jazz was confined to the Washington Post by and large and thus wouldn't have been known to many people outside that area. Had the same problem myself writing a whole lot about jazz for the Chicago Tribune for more than decade; virtually no one knew unless they lived in the Chicago area, not until I put some of it in a book in 2004. Then jazz people worldwide could know, and they were correspondingly enraged and disgusted.

Just picked up "Clifford Brown at the Cotton Club 1956" on Rare Live Recordings (RLR). The band is at its absolute live best...never heard anything from them that approximates this. Clifford is simply amazing - even more so than usual. Sonny is at his absolute 1956 King of the Heap best, and Max is maniacal driving perfection. Ah America, to think you had this going on night after night in adult clubs across the land during the 50's ... that's an incredible cultural achievement. I don't think Baraka had this band in mind when he went down on Hard Bop ... Q

Mike Price (ex Kenton - long term Tokyo resident) and orchestra have some fine Gil/ Miles Ahead performances on youtube: Q

Whoops - It would appear Quasi got into some wine and ran somewhat amok last night. I'll tighten the leash. Q

Same here! He's good. With his music, I see the piano as an expressive tool divorced somewhat from Tradition, but with energy and soul to spare. He's also a very nice person. Plays with Mike Watt (Minutemen)! Does being divorced somewhat from tradition mean that he (or any of these out cats) have to be subsidized in some way to make up for that? Can they stand on their own feet? Am I being too harsh? Q Exactly what are you writing about???? Perhaps I'm dense. Please explain yourself. Seems clear enough to me, but just for you ... if they are divorced from the tradition in jazz, it (perhaps) means that few people listen, so therefore they (the musicians) may be subsidized by public funds... It happens in Europe all the time. Whether it should happen is something else. It didn't happen in the past... It may not happen with these guys ... Q

Same here! He's good. With his music, I see the piano as an expressive tool divorced somewhat from Tradition, but with energy and soul to spare. He's also a very nice person. Plays with Mike Watt (Minutemen)! Does being divorced somewhat from tradition mean that he (or any of these out cats) have to be subsidized in some way to make up for that? Can they stand on their own feet? Am I being too harsh? Q

Very interesting, Jim. I see the Warne Marsh Quintet's performance from "Stars of Jazz" (supposedly recorded at ABC on 3/11/1957) has recently been released on Fresh Sounds. It's a fine performance. Was it ever broadcast, I wonder... Too bad some stateside labels (apart from Calliope, or with more distribution) didn't pick up on this stuff. What happened to all the video tapes? Q

How did these cats make a living post 1970? The jazz they grew up on was largely gone. Hal was in the CBS orch., but how long did that last? Teaching, I suppose ... they certainly had the rudiments ... Q