AllenLowe

I did not trash her; I simply pointed out problems I had with her playing. There is a contradiction in your opinion - I have a right to my opinion but I am "trashing" her - the implication is the opposite of what you claim. Sure, free speech, but why? Some of us apparently, per Orwell, have more free speech than others.

so you are keeping a chart? I am not a big fan of Peterson, Adams or Henderson; not sure what I might have said about Shorter or Hubbard (except I prefer Shorter's work with Miles to the dates under his own name; I am less enamored of his composing than many others are, though I think he was one of the greatest tenor players ever). Hubbard is great, leaves me cold sometimes. Am I offended that you like players I don't? No, I'm not, so you shouldn't be offended by the opposite. As for repetition, there is a difference between an approach that uses these phrases as a technique, per Waldron (and Monk). It is just clear to me in a lot of theses performances that she is straining, going on habit. As I said, I suspect it has to do with substance abuse. But once again I point out the silliness of people feeling offended by my disliking musicians that they like (and I am not talking about Pim). Have I ever accused anyone here of having an ulterior motive for liking O.P. (whose playing really offends me)? No. But I have been attacked here more than once for having an opinion that differs from the prevailing opinion. And it's tiresome. I welcome discussion and argument, but some of the prior implications here (in other, older threads) are out of line.

the one time I saw her play, right at the beginning of her career, she seemed fine, but I listen to her now on line and I hear lots of little problems, including falling back on some of the same phrases repeatedly. I can only conclude that there was some kind of impairment. What does one do? I don't know exactly, but I think it's wrong to praise people for the wrong reasons. Editing of performances can be ok, depending how it is done, if it is just one or two spots, but on some of her stuff I hear a lot of problems. Think of Bird on Lover Man where he is clearly beat to hell; it's ok to listen to it but one has to be aware.

https://allenlowe.substack.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-series-of-chemo

ok. Though I should mention that I heard a young group recently that I think is the best thing in jazz in the last 10 years. They are on Instagram as Numusic.

If your implication (as others have made) is that I put down other music to elevate my own....well, you haven't read enough of my writing. There is a strange historical parallel here, of writers and others who wrote fiction/plays and who also wrote critically of other writers: Isaac Rosenfeld, Delmore Schwartz, Richard Gilman, George Bernard Shaw, Randall Jarrell, John Berryman, Harold Rosenberg - I doubt if you would criticize them in the same way though they were much more aggressive than I am. It's part of a give-and-take which few people engage in any more; criticism tends to read, these days, like press releases. But before you think ill off me for doing this kind of critical work, get a better sense of the history of American writing. There was a whole movement of the '40s and '50s called the New York Intellectuals, and my work is quite mild compared to theirs, though I am inspired by their willingness to question conventional wisdom, which is rampant in the jazz world. And I haven't mentioned Brecht, whose attacks on contemporary theater were detailed and devastating. And the truth is that much of what I say is agreed to by others who do not want to go public. I get private messages to this effect all the time.

"Allen Lowe’s massive, five-hour opus may turn out to be one of the most important recordings of the 2020s, if only more people well spend time with it. Lowe’s music is personal, deeply thoughtful, and addictively listenable. Lowe spends a great deal of time reading, writing, and thinking about jazz and the blues, their intersection, the influences that birthed rock and roll, and he’s taken all that and channeled into five hours of horn-drenched, witty and delightful music." https://www.freejazzblog.org/2024/12/allen-lowe-constant-sorrow-orchestra.html strangely, the more reviews I get like this, the more depressed I get. I think it's called Inverse Reality.

Rockland Palace was remastered and pitch corrected by Doug Pomeroy. There is a CD available: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Legendary-Rockland-Palace-Dance/dp/B000001LZ4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1QABCUVLXZ117&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qG-cuvDxcSIaGLr4BeH05yPGA9e8ISOOMv2N8LoWZlwoFY_hvBkzDnheWl1XjgQBc9pHs2rfoTD_l_rBG914Qyw-HA_V_bHNBuZAvHxG_3Q.ObkhEU0i8EZRm_cftnhb8ZTdVOjTl6yTCMRxnXc1vP0&dib_tag=se&keywords=charlie+Parker+rockland+palace&qid=1735493632&sprefix=charlie+parker+rockland+palace%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-3 Rockland Palace was speed corrected and remastered by Doug Pomeroy: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Legendary-Rockland-Palace-Dance/dp/B000001LZ4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1QABCUVLXZ117&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qG-cuvDxcSIaGLr4BeH05yPGA9e8ISOOMv2N8LoWZlwoFY_hvBkzDnheWl1XjgQBc9pHs2rfoTD_l_rBG914Qyw-HA_V_bHNBuZAvHxG_3Q.ObkhEU0i8EZRm_cftnhb8ZTdVOjTl6yTCMRxnXc1vP0&dib_tag=se&keywords=charlie+Parker+rockland+palace&qid=1735493632&sprefix=charlie+parker+rockland+palace%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-3

More troubling to me are her constant technical problems; she flubs phrases on both the purported "Moanin" (which is all cliche and lots of slips; she really cannot handle the tempo) - and Even on Cisco, which is much better, but on which she slips a few times and tends to fall back on stock phrases. Not my favorite guitarist. Maybe it was drug stuff, but the more I listen to her the more weary I get of her resort to blue cliches (and hear her mess up on the closing melody statement of "Cisco.") (yes I know, not the correct title). And the wrong note she plays at 11:51 on Cisco.

Two surprises for me were Patty Waters - a few years back she wanted to record with me but I felt terrible and could not do it because her voice was completely gone, so I had to make up some excuse - and Steve Silberman, a terrific writer who wrote probably the definitive book on autism. Also a nice guy.

I love Smith. One interesting thing that I was told was that he was born in Mississippi to a mixed-race couple (I think his mother was African American). This could not hve been easy, especially in those years. I won't order CDRs; but if you figure that each blank costs them maybe 25 cents, and if they charge $15 for each and sell 100 they are making at least $1000 profit, subtracking some production costs. So that's not bad; if they sell out they just make 100 more. And, I will add, it's a pity they didn't do more work on those; the sound can be improved hugely through a simple re-EQ.

as long as they give me a good review, I'm ok with Kenny G. on the cover.

or pay some dues.....

thanks, I had seen something by Tom but not that. As I like to point out, I am pretty much the only non-working musician who makes these lists; same thing happened two years ago. I have a few things next year, but these days the gigs in NYC are controlled by young musicians who don't know me and who tend to book their friends. But I will keep trying.

https://jazztimes.com/blog/2024-year-in-review-part-2/