Tom Storer

I'm willing to side with the "Thicke is odious" camp here. And now I'll forget him as quickly as I learned about him!

What's this? New blood in a jazz message board? <faints dead away>

I agree with ejp626. I had not heard "Blurred Lines" before clicking on the links, but having listened to the three songs in question, I don't hear direct, note-for-note copies from either song, although the stylistic borrowing is obvious. But what's wrong with that? If Michael Jackson or Stevie Wonder had started suing everyone who imitated their signature vocalisms, that would have shut down a huge amount of pop since the 80's. And Christ, think of jazz. "Charlie Parker Estate Sues Sonny Stitt"... "Stan Getz Estate Sues Harry Allen"... "Dizzy Gillespie Estate sues Jon Fadden"... "John Coltrane Estate Sues Five Dozen Tenor Saxophonists"... "Herbie Hancock Sues Five Dozen Pianists"... "Jaco Pastorius Estate Sues Five Dozen Electric Bassists"... "Estates of Ten Blues Guitarists Sue Eric Clapton"...

I don't know, I like both the BHQ albums quite a lot. "Grit" is not something I'd particularly associate with Mark Turner, and certainly not with Iverson. It took me a while to warm up to Mark Turner in general, but over the past couple of years I've become convinced. I think he's wonderful. But yes, in a very cerebral vein. Iverson, who is perhaps my favorite jazz blogger, is sadly not my favorite jazz pianist. To me he lacks vibrancy. That kind of pulls the music down below an optimum level.

Cats. I grew up with cats and I'm sure that somehow shaped my personality (for the better, I like to think). After our last cat expired, however, my wife said no more. She was sick of getting fur on her clothes and having the furniture clawed. I've never had a dog, but I have nothing against them. One good thing about cats is that you don't have to pay a lot of attention to them; dogs need walking and are more in-your-face, it seems. If I ever retire to the countryside, I might get a dog. It seems like that would make more sense. But I have no plans to retire to the countryside.

I get my hair cut at local salon de coiffure, but I have never had a barbershop shave.

I listened to some of the album on NPR and thought it sounded great. Emperor has no clothes, fuck no. Obviously it's not everybody's cup of tea. No one is obliged to like it, and of course some might only pretend to like it because the New York Times told them to (not much chance of that in this room, I'd say). But if it were just fashionable and empty, it wouldn't rub some people the wrong way as much as it seems to. If it annoys you that much, it's that there is something there to annoy you.

Drummers who sound like they never even heard of swing, let alone want to do it themselves.

Tom M, I sense from your alternate personnel suggestions that you're itching for some swing. I don't think Shorter is much interested in swinging with this group, though. If any one member (besides Shorter) is indispensable, IMHO, it's Blade. With all respect for Blake, Penn and Gulleon, masters all, I just don't know if they are interested in the kind of free abstraction that defines this group. What makes this group special for me is the way it combines an extremely abstract viewpoint with a kind of gleeful physicality. It's sui generis. Because it's essentially stream-of-consciousness music, there are moments when inspiration lags. But that happens with almost any group. I have to be in the mood for this group, but when I am I find it a particularly bracing experience.

Sad news. I have you to thank, John, for clueing me into Inez Andrews and a lot of her superlative singing from the "golden age." RIP.

I find that recently, when I go to the forums in Chrome, the display is all wrong: the text shows up as text on a white background, large font, scrolling far down, no images or frames and stuff. In Internet Explorer it shows up fine.

Among the pop/rock of the era, Steely Dan was probably among the more palatable to many jazz musicians. From there to saying jazz of the time was "informed" by Steely Dan is a bit of a stretch. I don't think they were a big influence on jazz, although some aspects of jazz were a big influence on them.

When I was a senior in high school in 1976, a friend and I went to see an amazing show at Carnegie Hall--Anthony Braxton in a group with George Lewis, Dave Holland, Barry Altschul, Muhal Richard Abrams, and a couple of others whom I don't recall; the Ted Curson Octet with Nick Brignola and Chris Woods; and the George Coleman Octet with Mario Rivera and I don't know who all else. Anyway, my friend was and still is a hot-shot photographer, and after the concert he talked us backstage with his camera as "journalists." There's Dave Holland standing there talking to someone. We hesitantly approach and tell him how much we liked the music. He chats with us in a simple, relaxed way for several minutes. I remember mentioning how much I liked the Circle records, from five or six years earlier, and he firmly told me that that stuff was old and I should be listening to what was happening NOW. Then someone calls him away. "Would you guys mind watching my bass?" he asks, and disappears. So we stood there proudly guarding Dave Holland's bass for five minutes backstage at Carnegie Hall. Gosh!! When leaving we ran into Nick Brignola leaving. It was the first time I'd heard him or heard of him so I told him I thought he was great and how did he spell his name. "Thanks," he says, "B-R-I-G-N-O-L-A." And then he hurried off.

That will be Larry's dictatorial moderation practices.