Simon Weil

I think Harold Z nails it when he says: I mean, I think people like Ben Webster and T-Bone are obviously related. On the other hand I don't think you can really call James P. Johnson a blues player (although there's a vibe in there which does kind of fit him into the continuum thing.) - And he's a sort of primal Jazz pianist. Other than that I respond lot of pre-electric blues and T-Bone Walker but am not really keen on electric guitar urban blues. And never really got into mainstream rock of the Cream sort (which is evidently related to black electric blues). Do like Hendrix, but he's very much sui generis. A lot of Euro-Jazz isn't blues-based - it adds another dimension to the continuum. Simon Weil

As a general thing, there is a set of people who don't like losing but aren't terribly good at arguing either. So what they do is drag the discussion into abuse. That way they can bat away at the posters who post content-rich stuff until they knock them out of the way. Thus they "win". I've seen that happen, unendingly, on rec.music.bluenote, which is now merely a shell of what it was. Like I implied previously, the sort of posters you get here are going to do their abuse in such a way that no particularly unpleasant example will appear. They aren't going to take the chance on having their "fun" curtailed by getting themselves ejected. What they will rather do is raise the temperature gradually and continually. You still get dragged into abuse, just more slowly and insidiously. The whole idea of asking these people to be civil is a no-no. They just take it as an opportunity to be more devious and underhand. Call me cynical. Simon Weil

I would censor it. I mean, with all moderators there's a threshold level at which a thread just becomes unacceptable - and, for me, this tit-for-tat nasty picture posting passes that. In general, I think it's hard to effectively stop determined people who, let's say, appear to stay more or less within bounds, while posting in a needling or manipulative or otherwise aggressive spirit that impacts negatively on those surrounding them. Let's say those people who play by the rules, but not by the spirit of the game. It's hard to get rid of such perpetrators, but one can send them to Coventry. Simon Weil

I've got "The Restful Mind" and "Lady Coryell" and like both of them for, I don't know, the way Coryell plays within the distinctive, introspective vibe. "Spaces" seemed to me a kind of supercharged/hypercharged "supersession" and I was never really very keen on it. Actually, my favourite Coryell record is the one he did with Emily Remler (just the two of them). Lovely, in my opinion. Simon Weil

Don't have "Ptah el Dahoud", but "Journey to Satchidananda" is a really fine album. Simon Weil

For sheer consistency of drivel, Crouch's sleevenotes for Wynton must be hard to beat. And, on The Majesty of the Blues, you even get the apotheosis (is that the right word?) of the sleevenote - where Crouch's truly, truly, excruciating "Premature Autopsies" appears both in the sleevenotes and on the record itself. You couldn't write funnier spoof Crouch any better than Crouch straight. Simon Weil

I wonder if the credit card companies might not be more interested. After all, they're getting stung as well, if only in terms of insurance premiums. Just a thought. Simon Weil

Oh, that's a great movie. If you really are desperate maybe you want to go the Video route (Amazon also do the DVD). I've got all the Tarkovsky's on video. Simon Weil

Good point. How else can one explain polyester leisure suits? Or polyester pop aka bubblegum music. Oh the joy of tack! Simon Weil

Talking about "lost decade" for Jazz. I think the 70s was when people in general got lost, Society got lost. All those upheavals in the 60s and then Watergate, the Oil embargo, stagflation - the 70s turned into this kind of morass of uncertainty. So, then, I think art reflects Society - and, in fusion, you got just the ideal form to reflect the 70s. Equivocal - not really knowing if it's coming or going, one thing or another, Jazz or Rock. A kind of irresolute form for an unresolved era. And then you got the 80s and the "return to order" of the Conservatives and all their fatuous certainties. And we're still subject to that... Simon Weil

I suppose as a kind of representative 70s records, I might pick: I Sing The Body Electric/Weather Report (for fusion). Conference of the Birds/Dave Holland w. Braxton, Rivers, Altschul (for "accessible" avant-garde) Gnu High/Kenny Wheeler w. Holland, Jarrett, Dejohnette (for ECM record). I was 16 to 26 in that decade. Started off listening to Simon and Garfunkel, ended up with Derek Bailey's Company, which, apart from Leo Smith's blues-inflected trumpet, I couldn't make head or tail of. I was also ambivalent about Bitches Brew (not now). Simon Weil

I see Marsalis as a reaction to the 70s. You can read my long exposition about that in a series of articles on allaboutjazz (God I don't know why I'm doing this): Bitches Brew A New Hope Wynton Marsalis and George Lucas The last one (obviously) is the Wynton one, but it's led up to. Simon Weil

Yeah, "press the button Max". In the 60s, I was so obsessed with that line that my family kept repeating it back to me. Lemmon is great as a diabolical failure, and so is Falk as his sidekick. And the Curtis/Wood team is pretty good too. The film is basically a travelogue. The last hour or so is mostly a Prisoner of Zenda spoof. Simon Weil

I found it listed as: "And the Danish Radio Big Band" USA-BLUN81704 CD So I guess it's Bluenote US... Anyway... Thanks for the heads-up, Mike, I ordered a copy (Plus "Life on Earth"). Simon Weil

A conceptual series of albums: John Carter/Roots and Folklore: Episodes In The Development of American Folk Music. "Dauwhe", "Castles of Ghana", "Dance of the Love Ghosts", "Fields" and "Shadows On A Wall" Haven't heard all of these. Simon Weil

OK, wulfman. I'll give that a go...Thanks... Actually I prefer Sanjuro, though Yojimbo's probably the better movie. It's kind of easy-going - and has some treasurable scenes in it. Yojimbo's just ruthless. Kurosawa said it was supposed to represent the Japan of his time. But the ending of Sanjuro is pretty damn ruthless too. A Fistful of Dollars was based on Yojimbo. Don't think Sanjuro was remade. Simon Weil

Ikiru is a great film, life-enhancing etc. I haven't seen Kagemusha, but it's from Kurosawa's late period, post 60s, when he got bleaker and is supposed to be like that. Ikiru is set in 50s Japan, Kagemusha is period - But Ikuru has the guy in the Yul Brynner role in 7 Samurai as lead again. Though a very different type of role... Actually bleak but life-enhancing would describe Ikiru. Simon Weil

Man, my brain waves are more creative than your brain waves.... Simon Weil

There is a classic dual interview - of Wynton and Herbie - by Rafi Zabor and Vic Garbarani, "Wynton vs Herbie: The Purist and the Crossbreeder Duke It Out" (1985). This is collected in _Keeping Time_ ed Walser. The thread seems an echo of it in a certain way. That's a kind of musical link. The conception of "versus". Simon Weil

My feeling is it's what you'de expect from a bright schoolboy who was told to write some poetry for homework. So he goes to his books and sees how it's done, all this old poetry which scans and is quite pleasing and has this or that form. So then he writes something on this or that "acceptable" theme, emotes along this or that "acceptable" line, and constructs it along this or that bunch of structures. And he gets an "A" from his teacher. I don't discern any individuality of emotion. Simon Weil

I think the libretto to BotF is poor. It's banal, "schoolboy" level of "poetry". Simon Weil

OK, I get you. I still think _Liege and Lief_, because that has that (folkish)style of vocals. _Unhalfbricking_ and _What We Did_ probably wouldn't work for you, though _Full House_ ought to. Maybe you want to look at more "pure" folk artists, people like Martin Carthy (who I admit not being very familiar with), for the acoustic approach. I dunno. Simon Weil

Well, Fairport is Folk-Rock. More or less, by definition, electric. But then John Barleycorn is electric, so I'm not sure what it is about "not electric stuff" that you're looking for. Anyway, I'm going to take a guess and say it's a particular vibe you associate with JB and vaguely associate with Fairport. In that case my recommendation would be _Liege and Lief_, which is their first "true" folk-rock fusion - and sort of relates to John Barleycorn in my head, in as much as you have the folk motif in John Barleycorn himself/the way the album is a packaged and likewise (though to a greater extent) in the treatments of folk songs on the Fairport album as well as the way it is packaged. Anyway, for me, _Liege and Lief_ is one Fairport's classics, along with _Unhaflbricking_ (their previous record, more rockish) and _What We Did on Our Holidays_ (the one before that, simliar to _Unhalfbricking_ without reaching quite that standard). All three have Sandy Denny, a key element of classic Fairport and someone who'd actually started with a folk career. _Full House_ is a pretty good record (it's the one after L and L); it lacks Sandy Denny, making it in a way closer to John Barleycorn (pared-down ensemble, playing well together) but continues in the Folk-Rock vein, But I do think _John Barleycorn_ is kind of unique. Simon Weil

You're welcome, Brownie! Simon Weil

The scholarly authority on music in Nazi Germany is Michael Kater. He has three books on it. One is: Differerent Drummers: Jazz in the Culture of Nazi Germany Which has just been reisssued. It is a drier read than the Zwerin, but the guy knows his stuff. Simon Weil