Ain't THIS A Kick In The Head!

[JSngry]

...that includes Ken Lane & Irv Cottler (yawn) and Barney Kessell & Red Mitchell.

It's called DREAM WITH DEAN, on Reprise, and I found it for $2.50 over the weekend.

Is it good? Well, no. Short runthroughs of some old warhorses (along with the original version of "Everybody Loves Somebody", which is a good tune to blow on, believe it or not), all at the same tempo with basically the same arrangement. Dino's got a nice, full, rich voice, but is pretty much clueless about what to do with it in terms of phrasing and enunciation. And Kessell sounds like he has his watch face turned around so he can see it while he plays, if you know what I mean. The whole thing's not so much bad as it is useless.

So why is this album going to be a prized item in my collection? Simple - whenever some poor naive soul wonders why so many jazz musicians are bitter, or self-destructive, or leave the country, or whatever, I'm going to put on this record and say, "You hear that fat-toned bass player playing roots and fifths on 1 # 3 and very little else the entire album? That's RED FUCKING MITCHELL, AND HE PROBABLY MADE MORE FOR THIS ONE THREE HOUR CRAP SESSION THAN HE DID ALL MONTH PLAYING JAZZ!!!" If they still don't get it, I will have every right to kill them and drink their blood while it's still warm.

Oh yes I will.

Edited September 21, 2004 by JSngry

[Dave James]

Jim,

I guess you could look at it another way - kind of like The Sidewinder making it possible for Blue Note to release all kinds of music they probably couldn't have afforded to release without it - in that these sessions, however by the numbers and pedestrian they might have been, allowed people like Red Mitchell or Barney Kessell or in other cases, Red Norvo and other jazz guys to do the things they really wanted to do. That's a good thing. I'm a big fan of Martin and of Frank Sinatra. I think both of them could be characterized as "friends" of the jazz genre even if the music they made set down somewhere South of jazz itself.

Up over and out.

Edited September 21, 2004 by Dave James

[Jim Alfredson]

And Kessell sounds like he has his watch face turned around so he can see it while he plays, if you know what I mean.

At least he's being subtle about it. I play with a guitarist that sometimes stops playing in the middle of a tune to check his watch. Or to get a swig.

No, it's not Joe.

[7/4]

And Kessell sounds like he has his watch face turned around so he can see it while he plays, if you know what I mean.

At least he's being subtle about it. I play with a guitarist that sometimes stops playing in the middle of a tune to check his watch. Or to get a swig.

No, it's not Joe.

During gigs I wear my watch so the time piece is on the inside of my wrist so I can see while I'm playing. Nobody knows that while I'm taking a thoughtful pause, I'm checking on the time.

[Jim Alfredson]

That's how my pops did it back in the day.

[JSngry]

Although I really dig Dean as an entertainer (LOVED his variety show as a kid), and am aware of his various musical goodies over the years, you have to hear this album to believe how dull it is. The talent is totally wasted. They're credited in pretty big type on the back cover, but it could be any scmuck doing what gets done here.

Red Mitchell playing two-beat on BALLADS for crissakes, never walking, never filling, never doing nothing except roots and fifths. One song after another. They say that money talks and bullshit walks, but there's no walking on THIS record.

THAT is bullshit my friends, and I'm calling this song just exactly what it is.

Rock steady, baby.

[chris olivarez]

It's a shame that Kessel and Mitchell in order to get a good paying gig has to resort to somethhing like that but you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Guest Chaney]

Okay, the guys may have been slummin' but I still find Dream With Dean to be a pretty good DEAN MARTIN album. (Dean does have his problems and was no doubt never even in the studio with the musicians so their money was probably quickly and quite painlessly earned playing these sleepily arranged tunes. Not that Dean would have done more than one take anyway.)

Note that Al Hendrickson plays guitar on My Melancholy Baby, Baby, Won't You Please Come Home, I Don't Know Why, Blue Moon, Everybody Loves Semebody and Hands Across The Table.

While I'm certainly not in the least bit artistic, hell, I work for lawyers. Life for most involves a certain amount of compromise.

Edited September 22, 2004 by Chaney

[Dave James]

I read the Tosches book about a year ago. Even though its been roundly ragged upon by hard core Martin fans, I think it probably paints a fairly accurate picture of the man. I don't think there's much argument about his talent or the charisma that went with it. This is a guy who really knew how to work a room. But, as is the case with many artists and/or famous people, some core elements of his personality were pretty unattractive. Martin was a guy who never took things too seriously - even his closest relationships - and who basically chose to float right over the top of life. I never thought the character he played on his TV show was a whole lot different than who he really was. Still, you have to have a grudging respect for someone who decided he was going to live life on his own terms and had the wherewithal (and the talent) to do so.

Up over and out.