Rosco

So I can't find this CD anywhere because such dimwits bought all the remaining copies? We've found a way to market jazz to 'young people'!

How do you get to be a millionaire playing jazz? Start with two million.

Reminded me of a quote by Edgard Varese: “Contrary to general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs.” Superb post, as usual, Jim.

I think you find once puberty has fully kicked in "weird" and/ or "annoying" tend to become regarded as positive attributes.

That's the way pop culture has tended to work but I genuinely think, for the reasons I've outlined, than anything 'new' will not 'kick in', at least not in the way that rock 'n' roll, punk, disco or hip hop kicked in.

I didn't intend my post to imply this- far from it. Music is a social thing, something we sometimes tend to forget or refuse to acknowledge. You walk to it, talk over it, go to clubs to hear it, go to gigs to see it played, you party to it, get drunk, get stoned and you-know-what to it. Nothing new in that and not something that's about to change anytime soon, either. What has changed is the way that these things spread. The music doesn't come up from radio or TV or magazines; As communication becomes easier, and more accessible to young people, the 'word of mouth' concept takes on powerful new variants; Music is spread through social networking sites, downloads (legal and illegal), file sharing. You like this song? Great, I'll send it to your phone. Kids use music to identify kids who are the 'same' as them, who share their core beliefs. Same as ever. Thing is, those groups are becoming smaller and more specialised. Think of the genres of music available. Hip hop (in all its subgroupings, east coast, west coast, 'underground'), R'n'B, urban, metal, black metal, emo, screamo, grime, indie, hyphy, lo-fi, house, progressive house, drum & bass, reggaton, goth, industrial, EBM, IDM, darkwave, trip hop, downtempo, chill-out, techno, hardcore techno, happy hardcore, gabba, trance, big beat, breakbeat, boy bands, girl groups, yada, yada, yada. All of them accompanied by their own look and attitude and each one regarding the other on a sliding scale from acceptance to ambivalence to outright hostility. (Mods vs. rockers has nothing on how fractured today's pop culture has become). Now, how are you gonna speak to that lot? With jazz? It ain't always a bad thing, though. One of the positive effects of the internet is that it fosters a healthy streak of 'post-modernism' (sic). Bev is spot on. I am always talking to kids in their mid to late teens who list among their favourite music Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Hendrix. A number of them- maybe not a large number, admittedly- are not only aware of jazz but have listened to it. I've talked to kids who've heard Miles, Mingus, Brubeck. It's another part of the mix. Now, whether that sparks enough interest to pursue it is another matter. It usually doesn't, and why should it? Everything is on offer, all of the time. And 'the media' (in its traditional sense) is increasingly peripheral to this process. Perhaps more tellingly, and probably as a result of this post-modern tendancy, I find with increasing frequency that the teenagers I speak to feel 'their' music is less good than those of a generation or more ago. Now if that ain't cause for concern amongst record companies it darn well oughtta be.

This is key, I think. This lack of 'mass experience' inevitably leads to fragmenting. Scenes (youth trends, cults, whatever you want tocall them) become smaller and smaller, new variants of music spring up appealing only to a clique audience, and new music is regarded as temporal and ephemeral. No new Erroll Garner? Hell, there ain't even going to be a new Beatles, James Brown, Led Zeppelin or Madonna. The way we- by which I mean the majority of us on this board- make, disseminate and experience music is over. Deal with it.

Yeah, I find the basic premise of this thread deeply flawed. Sure, you can bemoan the lack of jazz on TV and the radio. Big deal. Kids aren't watching TV and sure as hell aren't listening to the radio. They're right here on the internet, picking and choosing the music that appeals to them. As Hot Ptah rightly points out, it's in restaurants and coffee shops, bookstores, schools and malls. If your curiosity is piqued, jazz ain't hard to find. Thanks to the net, it is now easier to be 'exposed' to jazz- and any other music you care to mention- than at any point in the last forty years. Right now, without leaving the comfort of my armchair, I can go to lastfm and hear tracks from a countless number of fine jazz albums. If I hear a track I like, I can download it instantly. I can go to Youtube and click link after link of fascinating live footage. I can go to Amazon and have suggestions made to me for things I might be interested in. I can download podcasts, read jazz blogs, download nefarious bittorrents of live shows. I can even join a discussion board and pontificate with like (and unlike) minded folks. I can hear Sonny Rollins, Johnny Dodds, DJ Spooky, Ben Webster or Cecil Taylor. Wasn't none of that 25-plus years ago, when I started listening. But why would a kid want to do any of that? What does it have to do with their life? Why would they choose that over anything else, especially when that something else speaks directly to them?

Said the guy who's not even a fan of jazz. uhhh.... beg pardon? I'm still waiting for an explanation of this mystifying comment. he referred to the album in your avatar (just trying to get a little life into the discussion) Ah, I see. Of course, Ascension isn't a jazz album! What was I thinking?

Said the guy who's not even a fan of jazz. uhhh.... beg pardon? I'm still waiting for an explanation of this mystifying comment.

Yeah, I'd gladly take 10.25%.

Said the guy who's not even a fan of jazz. uhhh.... beg pardon?

Crap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mouUUWpEec0&NR=1

I was awake at the time. Didn't feel a thing. Quite disappointed, actually.

According to Grove and AMG, it was in or around 1943 which would make him 19 or 20 with the 1923 D.O.B. Seems late but Wes always was kind of a late bloomer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wes_Montgomery Thanks, Claude. That seems to strongly support the '23 date.

Been looking at a couple of biogs of Wes. All agree he was born March 6th but there are discrepencies with the year. Some say 1923, some 1925. (Most go with the '25 option but it wouldn't be the first example of an entertainer shaving a couple years off) Anyone got the definitive answer?

How about the later recordings of Wes Montgomery? (almost certainly a model for Benson) Or much of the output of CTI? (particularly Grover Washington, Bob James) ...say, maybe Creed Taylor is to blame for it all? You might even argue that a band like The Crusaders provide a link back to 'soul jazz'. As stomach churning as most smooth jazz may be, to suggest it was conceived, fully formed, to fit some radio format seems like historical revisionism.

I've been using Vista Home Premium on a Compaq/ HP laptop for the last eleven months. 2GB of RAM, 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo. I have had absolutely no problems to speak of. I use my laptop a lot, so it's been working hard but it's still quick and reliable. I much prefer the look and feel of Vista and it makes the layout, organizing and searching of files very easy and intuitive. Administration settings are a little less so (Vista likes to hide these) but it's just a question of getting used to them and shouldn't occur too often anyway. As has been mentioned elsewhere, check the compatibility of any printer, camera, phone etc software. I have read a lot of negative comments about Vista that almost put me off getting it (although in the end I had little choice in the matter). Reading those negative comments I sometimes wonder if I'm using the same system. Absolutely no complaints here.

Yes, but quite brilliantly.

Wow. I used to work with Sailor. There was someone with truly encyclopaedic knowledge and a deep love and enthusiasm for the blues. My love of Blind Lemon Jefferson and Bukka White can be traced back to hearing Sailor playing some Yazoo reissue or other. I'm another for whom listening to jazz has gone hand-in-hand with listening to all kinds of other things. Of course, what actually constitutes jazz may change vastly. The thing I love about this music is its diversity and constant reinvention. It's a well that doesn't run dry for me- so far, anyway.

Reflectativity was the one that interested me most, although Song of Humanity sounds intriguing too. Less convinced by the solo recordings. As the whole set is going for a little over the price of a single CD I may just go for it. Thanks. Chuck, that would include Spirit Catcher, yes?

Bump. I'd been thinking about this set for a while and right now I'm looking at a less-than-half-price copy for sale. Do those who have lived with this set for a while have any further thoughts/ caveats/ plaudits to share before I hit the 'purchase' button? Thanks.

The sound is far superior on the RVG. This was apparently the first time they it had been remastered from the original tapes; all previous CD versions were remastered from the second or third generation LP master. You can finally hear what the tuba and French horn were doing and I found it, personally, to be a revelation. That's just me, though. Of course, the airchecks are essential, too, so you really need both versions. Thanks a bunch, EMI.