AllenLowe

not only do I love this recording, but I was thrilled recently to find it on CD.

well, I met him in the later years; sweetheart of a guy but he did look like the walking dead.

I was actually flipping the script, so to speak. Point being is that it is no more outrageous to suggest that Justin likes whatever is popular than it is to suggest that I dislike whatever is popular.

after thinking about this for a few days I have come to the conclusion that Justin likes Peterson only because Peterson is so popular and Justin is afraid to buck the tide and go against the grain of popular opinion. Which is fine; he is the anti-troll; likes everything that earns a certain amount of money. I'm good with that.

the problem was that Pepper really didn't understand what Trane was doing, rhythmically or harmonically. Same thing happened with other players from that era - I have heard Frank Morgan do some rather lame things, trying to sound contemporary. Even Jackie McLean has a certain period where I remember hearing him just running the cycle of 5ths, trying a little too hard to get 'outside.' There were a few players who figured out how to use this new freedom, James Moody for one (who was playing very outside when I last heard him in the early '90s); even Ammons was starting to stretch out and bend things a bit. But few players from that generation could really get it (I have also heard Ira Sullivan play some fascinating passing chords - on trumpet - when I last heard him play, which was also in the '90s).

I think we are missing a few points, IMHO: 1) Butterfield was a terrific harp player and band leader, regardless of teaching anything to young people. He had great (integrated) bands from the beginning, including fantastic horn bands (one with David Sanborn, which I saw circa 1970). But ALL of his bands were incredible in their own right, and of course Mike Bloomfield was a genius. 2) as for what they did for the blues - first of all Butterfield/Bloomfield were powerful advocates to get the older blues players bookings. BB King loved Bloomfield, not only for this playing but for what Bloomfield did for him professionally, which was to, basically, make him a mainstream star. Similar things happened with Albert King and a number of other players; their profiles AND their fees went way up. 3) also IMHO - the Butterfield/Bloomfield groups woke the music up - put the old guys back on their game, made them pay attention to new audiences and new music. A lot of the older players had gotten a bit tired, and a lot of them (listen to Buddy Guy in the late '60s early '70s, he just flowered) really responded to the rock audiences and the rock aesthetic.

no problem. Zappa, brilliant as he was, seemed to be capable of great shit-headedness.

can you give us more detail?

just read this, which I think is the best thing I have read about Zappa and his relationship to the band and that whole time period: https://www.amazon.com/Freak-Out-Life-Frank-Zappa/dp/0859654796/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=freak+out&qid=1576277492&s=books&sr=1-1 (and not only is Zappa popular but I like the music; thanks and good night)

How the hell, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, could my feelings about his playing have anything to do other then with his playing? Think about it. It’s idiotic to suggest. Do I hate Miles Davis because he is popular? Benny Goodman? Louis Armstrong? The Beatles? Count Basie? Tyshawn Sorey? David Murray? I could go on and on because it’s so ridiculous. I first listened to Oscar Peterson when I was 14 years old in 1968 and I didn’t like his playing then and I don’t like it now. You have to have some evidence before you make charges. Is there some kind of pattern to my dislike based on sales and popularity? Prove it then. You can’t because there is no pattern and no proof.

to get back to O.P., for all his supposed virtues as a pianist, I believe Billie Holiday used to complain about his comping. Also he was very critical of Monk, and called him a composer but not a pianist. To me, Peterson took the shallowest aspects of Tatum and Nat Cole and made them into a 'style.'

1) I never said he wasn't entitled, I just objected to the specifics - which did not deal with the substance of my argument but with what he imagines are my motivations. When I don't like someone like Peterson, I don't say "he was a bad pianist because he was trying to be the fastest pianist in the business out of some phallic failing." I give reasons, technical and artistic, about why I do not like him. 2) just to address something Justin said which puzzled me; I am secure in my abilities as a musician/composer but never rated myself as a top saxophonist. 3) If you can find a post anywhere on this forum in which I express bitterness for my relative lack of commercial/professional success as a jazz musician, please show it to me. You won't find it; instead you will find some insinuations, as with Justin, about this without any evidence. 3) Saying that I am critical of musicians who are more successful than I is problematic, because if we are talking in commercial terms that includes 90 percent of the jazz world. But I have praised many, many musicians who are not personal friends. I just call 'em as I see 'em, as the saying goes. 4) A young saxophonist recently thanked me for "always telling the truth." What I believe he basically meant is that I say what I think is truthful and don't first make sure it is the popular opinion du jour. 5) I don't know if he will unblock me long enough to read this, but I just want to say to Justin, with great humility and in all sincerity: Blow Me.

let me add, btw, that I like strong and technically aggressive pianists. To me, for one example, Eddie Costa on the private recordings he did with Tal Farlow shows how artistic this can be. Or Phineas Newborn after about 1962 (though I like most of all his last recordings, because they seem to indicate a slight impairment that has caused him to really think about what he plays). Newborn is an interesting example. He can be ridiculously glib (his recording of Celia, as I have said before, is a disaster, nervous and crawling with notes). There is something about technically accomplished players that can effect the connectivity of the notes they play; everything is often too seamless, there is no air in the musical spaces because there are no spaces.

Sorry to go off; I can deal with any degree of disagreement, but his particular line of argument, which has been parroted on here more than once, is deeply insulting.

here we go again. This is the kind of ass-holery that has often driven me away from this place. It is insulting; I have been performing for 30 fucking years, have written 5 books on American music, have helped more musicians than you probably even know, almost died this year, have taught and lectured at a few universities, have recorded maybe 20 albums and have worked with people you can only dream about, junior. Disagree with me all you want, but show a little respect for my ability to objectively judge music and musicians and to separate my opinions from my self interest. Criticize my music or my writing all you want but do not tell me you can read my mind or motivation. Jesus effin christ.

I was hesitant to respond like a repeater-pencil, and my views are semi-well known, but I actually find Peterson's playing offensive. I find it glib, shallow, mired in cliche, fake-jazz, annoying, and....well, I guess that makes my point. As an improvisor, something about which I know a bit, he plays what to my ears are pre-digested patterns, with a rhythmic sameness that is deadening (and deadly). I am mindful that many intelligent people like his playing, but to me he is the Donald Trump of this music, trying futilely to Make Jazz Great Again. Well, it never needed his help.

I actually met her around 1976 or '77. Strange experience: I was at a restaurant in Brookline, Massachusetts and recognized Neal Hefti who it turns out had just moved there. She (they were married) was absolutely gorgeous but had just been diagnosed with cancer, and did not live a lot longer.

I don't like Anthony's playing on the records he made with a straight rhythm section; however, there is a live version of What is This Thing Called Love in which, because he is only playing with a sympathetic bass player, he really turns it into something personal and interesting. I will see if I can locate it. well it's a different performance, but I love this: and there is this:

well....I have great admiration for his open playing, but this thing is an ordeal. Just listening through, there are some obvious mistakes on I Surrender Dear (yes I can tell they are mistakes; remember what Ornette told us). He is making obvious ear-related flubs around the melody. Yes, just my opinion, folks. But as one who admires how, for example, Braxton puts standards on his own terms, I gotta say that to my ears Brotzmann has not worked out an approach that justifies this recording.

Sounds like it may be the same guy as he went to school in Texas; I will ask him.

she actually filled a stadium to do the ceremony - was it the Washington Senators stadium? I am not sure, but this does give you an idea of how famous she was.

I am leading a band January 5, 2020 with Marc Ribot, Lewis Porter, Ray Suhy, Kevin Ray, Jennifer Vincent, Rob Landis and Brian Simontacchi. We are revisiting, with almost all new material, my Blues and the Empirical Truth project. We will be at Roulette, 8PM, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. For those of you who may not know, I went through a series of hellish cancer treatments, chemo and radiation, this Fall. The fog has lifted, I have been composing again, and my jaw, which saw 35 treatments of high-intensity radiation, is getting back to strength (though some stamina issues remain). But strangely enough I am playing like a maniac, in a good way, I think, and hope to make 2020 a more intensive performance year, recording and filming. At any rate would love to see any of this crowd at Roulette. I am not trying to inspire anyone, least of all myself, but at the height of this thing I never thought I'd ever want to perform again. Hope to see you then -

I love Babs; it was Joe Albany who told me that I should take a listen: "Babs was HIP."

I saw Baker regularly in the '70s when he appeared in NYC at Strykers on 79th Street. He was sublime.

I recall the original LPs as sounding fine, though I always thought that Baker's playing was a bit sub-par on them; not horribly so, but just not quite settled.