AllenLowe

just to add, there are some incredible Youtube videos of Garner playing live.

1) per Dan Gould's question, I like Gene Harris; not my favorite pianist, but a really fine player with a sense of pace and real feeling. 2) To say that someone who does not like OP is "narrow minded" is unfair. My feelings about him are clear, but I probably have more varied musical tastes than about 90 percent of the jazz population. 3) I am a little distressed at the comments that still describe Tatum and Peterson as similar in some ways. Not to pull rank, but as a musician I hear a world of difference, and it is primarily harmonic. Tatum was one of the epochal harmonic masters of American music, and it takes a different kind of listening than that which you might bring to OP or most pianists. If I can I will find Lewis Porter's take on Tatum's brilliance and post a link. here - start with this. Lewis is brilliant, he writes clearly, and he is a great pianist himself: https://lewisporter.substack.com/p/tatums-dissonant-avant-garde-side and this, from Lewis' thing on WBGO: https://www.wbgo.org/music/2017-09-05/deep-dive-with-lewis-porter-in-praise-of-art-tatum-stealth-radical-in-the-jazz-piano-pantheon

Oi, my head is spinning I just read this whole thing again. FIrst, let me say that I love Errol Garner; unlike OP he really swings, and it's a much different matter. There is some pacing, some genuine improvising, and those intros are mini masterpieces. Next, I would like to apologize to Jim for whatever little feud we had back in 2011. I remember a bit of it, but it is all water under the bridge (unless OP is playing that bridge, in which case it will fly by in a whirl of pointless phrases). I want to mention Bud Powell - as great technically as OP, no, better - but a real improviser. His lines have an amazing thud and whirl to them, with space and air and true originality. He is the real thing, and i would say that his touch is percussive in an older fashion, along the lines of the way black players have of phrasing with emotional continuity rather than with just scales and patterns. OP just snaps it on and proceeds like a machine, with a supposed clarity that is, to me, contrary to the spirit of jazz tonality. Bud had a humanity to his touch and sound that OP could never reach. Bud's lines breathe; OP's lines charge through like a freight train in which the brakes have given out. I do find OP offensive, as I have said. It's a visceral reaction at what I hear as artificial. As Dick Katz said once, there's a difference between technique and facility. What OP had was facility, and it does not compare to Tatum, whose harmonic mastery was genius and constantly in motion (Lewis Porter has written beautifully on how and why people misunderstand Tatum). As for Justin, he has continued to stalk me from time to time, telling me whenever I dislike something that I am simply jealous. That's a great line of argument. As for his complaint about why it is ok for me to severely criticize OP while I take offense at Justin's criticisms, well...if he has musical arguments with me or my music I welcome him. But what he said was deeply and offensively personal. As for the rest, well, I'm still alive (I didn't expect to last this long when things started to go south for me in 2019) and I try to remain calm, but when you are a musician for as long as I have been and have gone through what I have you tend to feel a little bit raw about certain kinds of insinuations. But I am sorry if my response to those insinuations crosses certain lines from time to time. I have just been through too much to react passively and without response (and many thanks to Dan Gould for what he said in the early days of this conflict).

for overseas people or Canada, don't give up. I want to get this out there and I should have pricing in about a week or so.

I will ship anywhere, including North Korea. Though I don't get a lot of orders from there.

good on a lot of the titles. Per the above question, the documentary is basically a portrait of my current life, through performance, recording, and my various strange health problems.

As I may have mentioned, I am working on a huge musical project called Louis Armstrong's America. It is a program of originals based on the various musical eras that Armstrong lived through. It is clearly the best thing I have ever done, will be issued on two separate two-CD sets, and be part of a documentary that it being filmed about me. Most of the recording is done, though we have two more sessions. It will be released in September on ESP Disk. Participants include: Ursula Oppens, Andy Stein, Matt Shipp, Marc Ribot, Ray Anderson, Lewis Porter, Aaron Johnson, Elijah Shiffer, and a lot of others. (If you don't know them yet, Elijah and Aaron are two of the most brilliant and creative players in jazz, though you wouldn't know it from the critics polls). So here is why I am writing this; I am going to do an advance sale to help finance some of the production costs. There are, as I said, two 2-CD sets and I am working on the pricing. I should have this figured out in about 2 weeks. I need your support. You will not be disappointed; this is "contemporary" yet very accessible. If you are interested, at that time, I will determine a way for you to reserve a copy or copies. Just for filler, here are some of the song titles, which may be the best thing about the project; each one is a specific historic reference in itself, if you can figure it out (or, I will tell you): Tiger Rage Beefheart on Parade Roswell's Dream In the Mode The 7 Foot Policeman. 3:05 Jelly's Last Breath Back Home Rag Pleased Black and White Fantasy Calling All Freaks Blue Mist Hittin the jaw Gone to heave On the Other Side of The Tracks The Murder of Jaki Byard The Naked Dancer Miss Ann Returns Pullin' The Plug Shufflin' The Deck (Take FIve, Please) The Dying Musician 5:00 Mr. Jenkins' Lonely Orphans Band Apocalypse Nexy The Old Regulars Lewis Lewis Spiritual Impunity Jewtown Shuffle Riot on Sunset Strip Dance of Occupiers Valley of Sorrows Pete Brown Greenwich Village Dada If You Must. Poem for DA Levy. Laughin' Louie I Am a Woman Again In a Lonely Place Love is a Memory Get Hopped Up 5:45 Sepia Danceteria Charlotte’s Dance Under the Weather Lester Lopes In Tea With Me What Did I Do to Be So Blue? Back to the Sand I Should’ve Stayed Dead Bull Connor in Hell

this is getting silly - the LA Times takes the tack that the piece was "aspirational," as though that has anything to do with whether Rhapsody is worthwhile or not. Ethan is right - Rhapsody is a pastiche of empty musical gestures, fun and dynamic at times, but shallow and musically all surface. I don't care how ambitious Gershwin was; Trump is ambitious. That does not mean anything good.

Allen Lowe and Ellen Rowe (pianist) Bill Evans Gil Evans and Mal Evans

we should mention that Loren Schoenberg was the person who got this made. I knew Durham a little bit back in the 1970s. Genius writer and arranger.

I have always had an average income, and I bought tons of jazz. But I have my limits.

but judging from that one sample, it is radically improved sonically.

The price is listed on one web site as $154? WTF? This is stupid shit. The sound is obviously much improved, from that video, and I would love to have this but unless it comes out on CD at a reasonable effin' price, I will have to wait for the bootleg....but to quote Richard Nixon, that would be wrong, that's for sure. But I do think this pricing is unconscionable. Worst of all I cannot forgive bad writing on something as major as this: "Located in a basement in the Bronx, the original reel-to-reel tapes have been cleaned and remastered." Sounds like they did the restoration in the basement and that the tapes are still there, because according to this that's where they are located. Should be "Previously located in a basement in the Bronx, the tapes were removed and restored to optimum sound quality." Amateur night.

there is a whole book somewhere of jazz-types experimenting with long forms in those days, but unfortunately I have forgotten the title; but check out Nat Shilkret, who was interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Symphonic-Jazz-Carpenter/dp/B00006RHPG here's the book: https://www.amazon.com/Ellington-Uptown-Johnson-Concert-Perspectives/dp/0472033166/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X6WL3K7X58V3&keywords=ellington+uptown&qid=1706839470&s=books&sprefix=ellington+uptown%2Cstripbooks%2C71&sr=1-1

This is just my opinion, but I also don’t like Rhapsody, and in my opinion,if you want to hear Gershwin writing in a “serious” and successful way you should check out the Preludes, particularly as recorded by Oscar Levant, though there’s also a good Gershwin version of same. by the way, I have to add that Ethan’s weird historical gaps continue to come out. He writes : ”Levant was considered a popular Gershwin expert and practitioner, partly because he was close friends with the composer, partly because he was a charming film personality.” Sorry, not quite. Levant was a brilliant raconteur, called by Groucho Marx, yes, Groucho Marx, the best ad libber he ever heard. Plus he wrote two fascinating books of autobiography. sorry about the type size can’t seem to get it corrected.

thanks; knowing Larry is an absolute privilege. He is one of the best writers on music I have ever read. Glad his situation is stabilized. oh thanks; yeah, Aaron is frightening in his level of expression. People know of him, but not enough know how brilliant he is on every level.

I spoke to Larry a few times during his involuntary exile. Bad situation, hopefully better now.

I am curious to hear it; though I like Ben’s playing some of his later stuff is a bit new agey. Actually, I was the one who got him the music back when Roswell was still alive, though that’s kind of a funny story in and of itself, involving Roswell’s then-partner Mozelle. I was annoyed at Ben for reasons we don’t need to get into now so I sent him to Mozelle knowing how nuts she was. As for the music itself, I’d like to hear it, though I have the feeling that with Nichols as with monk it requires a very special quality that a few musicians can achieve, even some great ones. It’s very personalized material. This is an example of what I was worried about, a mellow mood that just doesn’t fit, is devoid of any interesting tension, either harmonically or rhythmically; sounds like they recorded it stoned, though not in the good way:

thank you. I did spend 20 years in Maine without a gig....

you betcha, that article disgusted me, was complete and offensive crap; as I posted on Facebook: "the New York Times continues its assault on American culture. In an article on jazz musicians who lived in Queens (and it never even mentions people like Percy Heath who not only lived there but whose house, as I recall, was a place where a lot of younger people were welcomed to what became a very friendly hangout; and, while saying how important it was as a place for Dizzy never mentions that he left it for New Jersey) they write: 'Gillespie, together with Charlie Parker, is largely considered a pioneer of the rebellious jazz style that diverged from mainstream swing jazz’s emphasis on orchestrated productions and collective harmony. Instead, it ushered in an era of artistic experimentation that better reflected the realities of Black urban life and the talents of Black musicians." What? Never heard of Dizzy's big band, Gerald Wilson's, Woody Herman's, Boyd Raeburn's, Tadd Dameron's, all which used, can you believe it, Orchestrations? (hey, remember Birth of the Cool and GIL EVANS). And really, did Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, Lester Young, Duke Ellington, et al not reflect the realities of black musicians and black talent in the 1940s? Collective harmony? What's that?' Cultural atrocity part 2, courtesy of that NY Times article: "Jazz clubs were in Harlem. But jazz musicians lived on the tree-lined streets of Queens. While white musicians skedaddled to the suburbs, Black jazz virtuosos sought solace in the neighborhoods where their racial identity was welcomed." What what what? Where did Sonny Rollins live? Jackie McLean? Andy Kirk Jr? I think they lived in Harlem, correct me if I am wrong. And I am certain there were many more who lived outside of Queens. Monk didn't live in Queens, but I guess he didn't reflect black talent (see below). And remember BROOKLYN? Max Roach, Duke Jordan and more. This is not exactly my area of expertise but then, I don't write for the Times. And, maybe she is right, but tell us which white players "skedaddled to the suburbs" - is Bill Crow out there? It is true that Al Haig, as Curly Russell told me, went home to Nutley New Jersey after their Bird gigs were finished. But who else? I don't know and I suspect this writer doesn't know either."

that one I agree with it. That's pretty much the way the business is.

are you sure about Franco?

thanks - my reaction was prompted by two very esteemed music writers, one of whom had his book reprinted in a different format by his U press without any consultation or consideration, the other of whom told me he received a pittance over the years for various books. But to me the bigger problem is the way U. Presses price books - I assume they are thinking only libraries will buy them, but that's just idiotic, as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they are charging $40-$100 a book. And Kindle prices are even crazier; because of surgery around my eyes I have been reading mostly on my kindle, and I wanted to pick up Larry Kart's book so I could re-read it; it was DOUBLE for kindle, compared to what a hard copy cost. The other thing I will add (and I'm glad Mark that your experience was better) is that I have found U Press peer review to be nasty and full of conflicts of interest - I know I am somewhat controversial, and the last time my book was reviewed in this way it was clear that some of the reviewers did not like my opinions or me personally, though they never said so in the review but instead nit-picked. They should have recused themselves; and I should mention the U. Cal Press woman who said to me over the phone about one of my books "I love it but it won't pass political muster with my board." The truth is that academics don't really, at their core, believe in free speech if it challenges their basic assumptions.

what did Ellis do? Also, I would suggest you avoid University presses like the plague. I have made a decent amount off of my books, all self published. U presses don't pay, even royalties, and you cannot trust small presses who never do an honest accounting.

get musicians who have not been over-covered; Ken Peplowski, Aaron Johnson, Sascha Perry, Frank Lacy, Ray Anderson, me (I did two long interviews in the last year, Q&A that were a lot of fun); Jack Walrath; Elijah Shiffer (great alto player, one of the most creative musicians in jazz today, though nobody here seems to know him); James Paul Nadien (great young drummer), Gerald Cleaver. One of the reason jazz books are so dull is because the same "personalities" appear over and over. It would be nice to break the habit -