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Just back from New York City the other day, after spending several days on an improv binge, starting with Anthony Braxton Falling River Nonet at Roulette, with Fay Victor Ensemble's presentation of "Neighborhood Dynamics." Having made 3 late night runs up to Philly and back to DC in the last month, it might be understandable that I was suffering road fatigue. I had to shove myself out the door Saturday morning and start the usual 4 1/2 hour trip north. Except in this case, the trip took 6 1/2 hours due to traffic. Nevertheless, arrived in plenty of time for a bite to eat and drink before the concert. Note: If you are driving to NY, leave yourself plenty of room; traffic can be dreadful. I know the pot-holed streets are. The first half of the program was Fay Victor Ensemble. "Neighborhood Dynamics" is an extended piece for singer (Fay) and musicians (Nicole Mitchell, flute, Vincent Chancey, French horn, Anders Nilsson, guitar, Ken Filiano, double bass), on the dynamics of "gentrification" in formerly minority neighborhoods. I have to admit it didn't sound promising (maybe too didactic possibly), but it turned out to be a sparkling bit of social commentary sung and played with spirit. The delivery was witty and satirical, funny but astute. I recall one series of lyrics (don't take my memory of it as the actual thing please) that ran along the lines of, "Here come the restaurants.....now even the dogs are cleaner....gee, it looks like Europe now.....get out! we don't like you!" (to the previous residents). The musicians were all fine. Filiano seemed to act as musical director of the group, pushing, prodding, drawing inflections and expressions from the different members. But I was most attracted by Nicole Mitchell's flute playing. I'd probably drive the same distance again to hear her play flute like that. I think the audience was a bit stunned when Mitchell and Victor jumped into a game of "patty-cake" and really went at it! Obviously, the group was in high spirits. I could see this morphing into a musical. Braxton's Falling River Music Nonet was the drawing card. I got lucky, sitting in the first row, right below where Braxton took his position in the group. Here was the line-up: Anthony Braxton, saxophones James Fei, saxophones Ingrid Laubrock, saxophones Jasmine Lovell-Smith, saxophones Mary Halvorson, guitar Brandon Seabrook, guitar Tomeka Reid, cello Nate Wooley, trumpet Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet In essence, a group of young virtuosi. Amazing to see them perform. The group was arranged in a horseshoe form, with matching instruments on each side of the horseshoe, and guitars and cello anchoring the horseshoe in the middle. The music was wonderful. Dynamic, complex, full of variety. I don't have the program booklet at hand, don't know if there is a composition number for the piece. I'll try to find it. Best thing though was watching Braxton, who was totally into it, playing and giving occasional directions to the group. Soon after he started, the famous cardigan came off. Braxton really attacked his instruments, a sopranino, soprano, and alto. Braxton got into some spirited back-and-forths with other members of the ensemble, one in particular with Ingrid Laubrock, whom I noticed smiling and laughing a bit after one particular exchange. I had a chance to ask her a couple of days later about it, and she said it was just because the communication and spirit of the playing was so good. That's the way I felt about it too. A bit of a bonus. They were selling prints of some of Braxton's musical notation scores (the kind that look like expressionist paintings). I bought one and Mr. Braxton was kind enough to sign it for me. A very gracious man. He mentioned he is done with Wesleyan, and is moving closer to the New Haven line (to NYC), so I expect we will see more of Mr. Braxton on the Downtown scene, which will be terrific. Imagine Braxton performing new quartet pieces, sole performances, etc. I will happily log more hours on the NJ Turnpike for that!

Maxene LaVerne Patty

Patty Waters Ethel Waters Martin Milner

Here's a long list of photos of stars from the early days of MTV. IMO, Patty Smyth was the best looking then, and the best looking now. I don't recognize Chrissie Hynde at all! http://djrioblog.com/2013/11/26/new-wave-artists-aging-gracefully-an-80s-world-gone-by/

I much prefer Patti Smith to Patty Smyth.

Peppermint Patty Strawberry Alarm Clock The Strawbs

Yes Jim, "Tania" is based on the Patty Hearst story.

I'm astonished! Really. Is that normal for jazz musicians? MG Sorry, more of that dry humor. I've always enjoyed lyrics. But unfortunately, I think it is normal these days. There was mention made earlier of "Tania"...is that based on the Patty Hearst kidnapping? Seems like I've heard that it was. Now there's a plot in need of an opera! Also, going back to X - the liners state that librettist Thulani Davis was then married to Joseph Jarman. Are they still together?

Peppermint Patty Linus Van Pelt Schroeder

I can think of at least a couple of separate occasions where a robot activates (or attempts to activate) it's own self destruct mechanism on The Simpsons: The Pierce Brosnan/Hal bot when it lives with Patty and Selma. Martin's futuristic prom date. I always found it particularly hilarious for some reason. It's also funny when Linguo dies.

The Big Book Of Pennsylvania Ghost Stories by Mark Nesbitt and Patty A. Wilson Some interesting history even if you don't believe.

"Album Covers in the Style of Patty Duke"

Plant with "his" Patty Griffin

Peppermint Patty Sweets Edison My Boy Lollipop

Patty Griffin

I was waiting for someone to mention this. IMO, 8 out of 10 marriages fail when one of the spouses is cheating. Soul-searching or not, odds are your former spouse was porking someone before the marriage went south. I've had some married lovers, but noone divorced because of me, I think. Immoral perhaps, but I was in my early to mid twenties, single and had my own apartment. If anything I was being preyed upon by the unfaithful wives. At least I got to fulfill my "older woman" fantasy. So the women tempted you? Sounds right out of Genesis. It's a total cop-out, Dmitry. Sleeping with someone else's spouse, besides being wrong, is a betrayal of the woman's husband. Where is the brotherhood that men seem to be so proud of having? Patricia, I'll let you in on a little secret - the brotherhood bylaws are automatically suspended the instant the nipple shows its little smiling face. Furthermore, here's a Georgia Peach commemorative quarter, go buy yourself a little sense of humor. ...now that's funny! I'm with Patty on this one. I don't see any clues in the post that this is just humor and that Dmitry made it up. Patty's reactions are understandable. If I were Dmitry, I wouldn't be too proud of these actions when he was a young man. Now granted, I'm not too happy with some of my actions as a young man either, but that's neither here not there.

My folks use to listen to the Andrew Sisters and the Mills Brothers all the time. RIP Patty. I'll have to go on Netflix and watch "Buck Privates."

Mele kalikimaka, Patty.

Ok, I have time to do Disc Two right now, just because I have more ready IDs....excuse the "jumping ahead" of response. DISC TWO TRACK ONE - "Shotgun" by Willie Bobo. It's got a good beat and I would dance to it if I could dance. Haven't picked up this one yet, but once they got to the lyric, it was pretty easy to identify. For some reason, this arrangement puts me in mind of Woody Herman! Is this that Kenny Rogers guy on tenor again? TRACK TWO - Stanley Turrnetine, Donald Byrd, & Kenny Burrell, possibly Herbie Hancock, that's all I can tell (and that's enough to know). Don't know this particular album...with that lineup, you'd think Blue Note, but it's not anything I know. Good stuff, not great but good, stick-to-you-ribs meat-and-potatoes jazz. TRACK THREE - No idea, seems slightly generic but still grooves. I'd not necessarily ask to hear it, but wouldn't change the dial if it cam on, either. Like all the percussion except the vibra-slap. Do like the (electric) bass playing, although that should have been pulled up in the mix, and the vibra-slap pulled down. Really liking the conguero, though. Nice timbral variety, very musical (whatever that means...). TRACK FOUR - Sonny Stitt playing some blues. If I had a dollar for every time Sonny Stitt played some blues, I'd be rich, to say nothing of what Sonny Stitt would be if he had a dollar for every time he played some blues...but alas, life is not fair. I'm going to guess that this is later period Stitt, something from the 70s? Barry Harris on piano, maybe. Nice rhythm section, more interesting than Stitt, actually, at least to me. This is one of those solos of his where the beginning of every chorus could be a head, and at some point before or after probably was. They weren't all like that, thank god, but a lot of them where. TRACK FIVE - Very, very VERY Zawinul-esque, right down to the "Gibraltar" cop for the head. I don't really like copying, but I do like Zawinul (a lot) so I'm going to take this more as inspiration rather than exploitation. And for no particular reason other than the electric piano sound and the fact that it changes to organ, I'm going to guess Claire Fischer. Truth be told, I'd rather hear Zawinul do something like this, but by the time whoever it was made this record, Zawinul had probably "moved on to other things" as they say, so somebody else had to do this. It's a nice cut in spite of the derivativeness. TRACK SIX - Oh my...I think I hear Bob Brookmeyer...maybe now I better understand what drove him to drink so much when he did... TRACK SEVEN - Old Socks, New Shoes, let's rob some banks and keep Patty in a closet. I love this tune and this version of it. Massive yet subtle overdubbing. People wonder why the SLA chose this as their anthem, hell, just listen to how those drums and that fat, open bottom keep intensifying with each chorus until it gets to be pure down home soul freaking MARCHING, not being stopped by anything or anybody...you gonna get somebody to do SOMETHING with all htat...too bad it was the SAL, but they weren't the only ones, I can tel you that. This thing just GRABBED HOLD of a lot of people, just because of all that, I know it did me...this was one of the first 5-10 jazz records I ever bought. Very much a mixed bag, but when it was good, it was REAL good. BTW, this would be the last tune on the last album by The Jazz Crusaders, btw, on Chisa. The next one would be Pass The Plate by The Crusaders (also on Chisa) and for those who haven't checked, there's a few tunes that overlap between those two albums and the Hutcherson/Land San Francisco album on Blue Note. Needless to say, they are interpreded quite differently on each album. TRACK EIGHT - Tristano, Konitz, Marsh, etc., Capitol, 1949. History. Don't know if it really counts as "free jazz", but it sure counts as displaying a willingness to improvise outside of song-from that was pretty radical for its time. Truthfully, I like all these guys bettr playing song-froms, but for them, this was a part of the process that enabled them to be as free with that material as they ended up being. Lesson being, perhaps, that "freedom" is not so much any particular specific action nearly as much as it is the state one is in when performing that action. Maybe. TRACK NINE - Don't know the tune, but that's Ben. I'll never not like Ben. Gotta listen to the first disc some more, some real stumpers there, as well as gotta get more time to post at this length, but hey, some good stuff here already. Thanks, al!

"Citizen Kane William Randolph Hearst Patty Hearst" Patty Waters Ethel Waters Muddy Waters

Lori Petty Peppermint Patty Laurie Pepper

Patty deserves to be miserable. The show was really like a slow descent into hell, the actors pulled that off beautifully. Close would have eaten many potential co-stars alive, I give credit to Byrne for standing toe to toe with her for the entire run. Class acts, both of them.

The last shot of heavily made up Patty in the limo is haunting. She has all the trappings of success but has sold her soul. Glenn Close is a great actor

Tonya Harding Patty Hearst Orson Welles

Ethel Waters Patty Waters Willard Waterman