btownsurvivor

You sound like too much of a cold hardliner! Life is life, people take risks, sometimes they fail. People who have grown old or ill sometimes can't bow out gracefully, for whatever reasons. As fans you take risks, too--who knows if the concert you're going to next week will be a revelation or a flop? Sure, on a professional level, you can criticize musicians for being unprepared; as a disappointed fan, you can be angry that you didn't get enough enjoyment for your dollar. But big deal, really. I'm just speaking for myself, but the sort of consumerist indignation you express doesn't have much to do with how I feel about music. The generosity and vulnerability that performing artists demonstrate (regardless of the fact that they're getting paid for it) merits generosity on our part, too. I agree with you, though, that critics have every right to report disappointing concerts accurately. Well, I'm a software developer, a very good one, of the true believer software artist variety. My customers get amazing product even if I'm relatively underpaid. And there are a lot of guys out there just like me. We just don't deliver crap, no matter what. And I've suffered financially for it, on specific gigs. I once refunded $10K to a guy because he didn't understand sw dev and was unrealistic and mad as hell. But long term, pursuing quality pays off, because my reputation precedes me. All too often jazz musicians have a "we're different" attitude regarding the economic realities of the art form. This can range from being unprepared, to being under the influence, to having a bad attitude towards the audience. You always hear jazz musicians complain about how wrong it is that society undervalues their contributions. In the sense that society is shallow and doesn't know what's good for it, they have a point. But in the sense that many jazz musicians themselves just don't get it financially, they have no point whatsoever. When you add-in the elitist insiders-only, "you're not hip enough to associate with", or "you don't wear a beret, you must be the enemy" attitude many jazz musicians display to their fans, it's no wonder most of them never get rich. As quickly as their music attracts potential fans, they alienate them with their mysterious superior attitude.

A vote for journalistic integrity here ... Sorry, don't mean to inhibit resurgences of legends of the past, but music criticism is all too often compromised. Doesn't sound to me like Reece had an "off night". Sounds like his comeback is half-baked. I've been a huge benefactor of jazz throughout my life, even when I couldn't afford it (at all) but ill-advised high-priced concerts by names who can no longer play is not cool. Specifically, I'm referring to Gillespie near the end, Elvin near the end, Hubbard today, the list goes on. Remember, there are many casual fans who go to see these shows not knowing much about it and come away feeling ripped-off. I've personally felt very guilty for taking friends and their wives to a couple of these types of shows. Bottom line: it's bad for the jazz economy. And what's bad for the jazz economy is ultimately bad for jazz. Hope I don't sound like too much of a cold hardliner. Just tellin' it like it really is. Let's hope Dizzy gets it together and holds off on the concerts until he does.

I like the Perchard book a lot. I like books with depth, where I can re-read various sections and gain additional insights, both my own and my enhanced understanding of the author's take. I don't think Perchard used Morgan's life as a vehicle for expressing a thesis on race relations. Rather, I think he honestly expressed his understanding of Lee's life as a function of and within his understanding of the socio-cultural fabric of the times. What more can you ask from an author ? The guy's an academic Brit after all ... do we expect him to act like he was a hipster on the scene at the time ? Haven't read the new book, but jazz bios that try to mix-in analysis of the music itself always bomb for me, especially when they start mixing-in notated solos and such. 99% of the audience is not appreciating the music in this manner and so it's largely irrelevant to how an artist influenced society.

Ledisi will bring in the New Year at the new Yoshi's San Francisco with the Count Basie Orchestra : http://sf.yoshis.com/sf/calendar/detail/?s=156

This thread represents the worst in capitalist materialism.

McCoy's name is on the backside credits and notes. Were contracts in early 60s written to disallow frontside billing because of the way albums were advertised and/or displayed in stores ? Does this practice still occur today, and to what extent is it relevant ? For example, for downloadable MP3s, does anyone know of any cases where a sideman artist's name is not present on the frontside art, is not allowed to be advertised in online promotional literature, but is included somewhere in the downloadable art ? If this practice still does occur, I'm not sure how effective it could be with today's prevalence of listener reviews that "tell all".

I just heard it for the first time and I like it a lot.

Just purchased "In 'N Out". Haven't listened yet, but the front art reads : JOE HENDERSON Kenny Dorham Richard Davis Elvin Jones etc. Well, the et cetera happens to be none other than McCoy Tyner ... Was McCoy really no more than an unfinished sentence back in 1964 ?

Surprised to hear people describe this session as "strident" "harsh" "blunt" "bleeding ears" etc. This is a phenomenal big band album that captures what a brass session should sound like unleashed playing material they dig. Most of the great big bands I've seen live in the past 25 years (Toshiko, Ellis, Maynard, Buddy, Bellson) could would and were supposed to send you to the floor with your hands over your ears. Ok, maybe we shouldn't have always sat in the first row, but nonetheless, that's half the reason we went. I like the lead trumpet Charles Guy a lot. Never heard of him before and there's absolutely nothing about him on the web. To my ears, Tolliver's horn is deliberately in contrast to the brass section. He's not accentuating the punch (or providing the uber-punch, a la Ellis or Maynard) , he's aiding and abetting the melodic and thematic development. I haven't heard the Strata East stuff yet (just ordered the Mosaic) but I do find this music militant. Not politically militant, but "wake up, this is your life clock that's running" militant. A personal wake-up call of sorts.

Fortunately, there's quite a bit of Joe and Wood : http://www.woodyshaw.com/discography/disco_06.htm I can vouch for all of it except for The Paris Reunion Band stuff (which those in the know have told me is weak so I never scooped it up). Those of us who frequented Keystone Korner in the late 70s early 80s might remember that Joe and Wood were often on the bandstand together, but I don't think any recordings came out of it. Serious bummer. Does anyone know Todd Barkan ? Maybe there is something in a vault/desk-drawer/attic/glove-compartment somewhere. Horace Silver, "Cape Verdean Blues", "The Natives Are Restless Tonight" Larry Young, "Unity" Woody, "In The Beginning", "Cassandranite", "Last of the Line", "Dark Journey" (1, 2, 3, 5) -- anyone know what the original release was ? Joe and Woody, "Jazz Patterns" Joe, "Live At The Lighthouse" / "If You're Not Part of the Solution, You're Part of the Problem" Buddy Terry, "Pure Dynamite" Bobby Hutcherson, "Cirrus" Woody, "Rosewood" The Paris Reunion Band, "For Klook", "Jazz Buhne Berlin 1988", "Live at Theaterhaus, Stuttgart, W. Germany" Neil Swainson, "49th Parallel"

Added this one to the rotation : Don Grolnick Group, "The London Concert", 1995 Don Grolnick p , leader Randy Brecker t Michael Brecker ts Marty Erlich as Robin Eubanks bone Peter Washington b Peter Erskine d Don Alias, doo-dads and knic-knacs This is Grolnick's last recording and is quite good stuff. I don't think that Don was sick at the time, but I could be wrong. One might guess from the lineup that sneaky fusion sprites and gremlins would insidiously work their way in, but none do. Randy sounds very good. He seems to add some bite to his more typical relaxed straight-ahead style, his longer lines more likely accentuated in the right spots, rather than completely slurred. For my ears, this is a good thing. I think Randy slurs too much (although part of his distinctive style). This date confirms in my mind that RB is one of the great post-modern-hard-bop-whatever trumpet players: there are just too many tasty and tasteful licks and unexpected inventive twists and turns in his lines to deny him. Fans of the unique way Grolnick heard melody (and music for that matter) will love this date (but I'm sure they already know about it). I love how Don's lines unexpectedly jump all over the staff. Mike Brecker is on fire as usual. I usually come away from a MB solo thinking "That might have been a bit much !" and on this date he does not disappoint in that regard, but you have to give Mike credit for always-on-all-the-time. Easier said than done. I was surprised to hear Eubanks playing here as well as on any of the renowned Dave Holland sessions. I was kind of surprised that Eubanks had that level of sophistication going in 1995. Sounds just like he does today ! ( No disrespect intended. ) (Aside: Every time I hear one of the Eubanks I get slightly mad that Kevin chose to spend his days in television. I remember when I first heard Kevin live with Dave Holland in the early 90s and thought "This man is the future of jazz guitar." He ripped the building off its foundation and sent us all up.)

What on earth is going on in this thread ? Posts referring to previous posts that are nowhere to be found, quoting posts that don't exist, even quotes (of quotes (of quotes ... )) some or even none of which exist, posts obviously in context of some long discussion, now nonexistent, ad absurdum. Like an intermittent shutter peering into organissimo VIP room ... how do I gain entrance ?

I've noticed that RB has been doing a lot of college jazz fests lately, including the big one at UNR this past summer, where he did a master class/clinic. How did Faddis sound ? I saw him a few years ago with Steve Turre on some Latin stuff and he was sublime in the upper register, if you can imagine that. Purely a means to an end for him.

In Scott Yanow's "The Trumpet Kings", Randy lists his 5 favorite personal recordings as "Brecker Brothers", "Heavy Metal Be Bop", "In The Idiom", "Live At Sweet Basil", and "Merge". Looks like I've got to find a copy of "Merge" ...

Reading through some interviews with Randy, trying to learn more about his influences ... JazzReview: What were your original influences? Randy Brecker: Well, originally they were all trumpet players. My dad was a piano player and played sometimes and had Miles, Clifford Brown and Chet Baker in his collection, so I was always listening to those. Later when I had a stereo of my own in my room I’d take them in there. We had a family band, but he knew what a hard life it could so he wanted us to have something to fall back on. JazzReview: So when did you know you were going to be a musician? Randy Brecker: Pretty early on, probably about third grade. I wasn’t interested in anything else. Music is my life. I love music more than my wife. Mike and I both started playing in third grade, though he’s a few years younger than me. At school there was trumpet and clarinet available. I chose trumpet and Mike didn’t want to play the same thing as me, so he chose clarinet. Our sister Emily was a serious classical pianist but played bass in the family band. My dad would take us to hear music around Philly, like Clifford Brown. JazzReview: You got to hear Clifford? Randy Brecker: No. My dad did though. Above interview appeared in two different mags (interestingly) : http://www.jazzreview.com/articledetails.cfm?ID=2487 http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=837

Here's something interesting: Randy was on Mingus' final album, "Me, Myself an Eye" in 1978. By that time, Mingus was disabled in a wheelchair and did not play. Apparently this was a controversial recording, featuring a 3 guitar "wall of sound". Does anyone know if Brecker did much on this one ?

I'd like to start a thread on Randy Brecker, the straight ahead jazz trumpeter -- as opposed to Randy Brecker the rock/fusion/funk/soul-bop trumpeter. I've always heard serious hard-bop roots in Randy's playing: As people probably know, Randy was a member of the Horace Silver Quintet back in the early 70s. And Brecker has been an on-again off-again member of Mingus Big Band for I think almost two decades (need more research). Recently I've been delving into RB's available acoustic jazz dates. The two pressings I've got into the most so far are "In The Idiom" 1986 with Joe Henderson s, Dave Kikoski p, Ron Carter b, Al Foster d "Live At Sweet Basil" 1988 with Bob Berg s, Dave Kikoski p, Dietr Ilg b, Joey Baron d Dates are with Silver are "In Pursuit Of The 27th Man" 1972 and "A Prescription For The Blues" 1997. I only have one MBB date "Gunslinging Birds" from 1995 on which Randy is superb in the solo chair. One that looks real interesting is "Live at the Green Mill" 2004 with Frank Catalano s, Larry Novak p, Eric Hochberg b, Paul Wertico d Randy has a brassy center-stage approach to the horn which tends to orient around immediately accessible themes. To my ear, Randy's lines always ultimately resolve in an fundamentally friendly manner that reaffirms of deep-seated faith in humanity. I hear some pretty serious hard-bop trumpet lineage depth in his playing as well. Although Randy definitely has a highly-evolved personal style, I would say his biggest influence way back might have been Freddie Hubbard (again, need more research). I also really dig Randy's compositions. I've read that Randy is playing more and more straight-ahead gigs in NYC (and elsewhere) but I have yet to be in the audience for one of those (although having seen BB and SBB w/ Bill Evans many times). Please share your thoughts ...