CJ Shearn

Jim, any luck contacting Cyber Cafe West?

I'd second a reissue of Tony's Live in Tokyo double, have a CDR of it. I'd also want to hear the two Don Grolnick's, I enjoy his playing and writing on the first few Steps Ahead albums (back when they were Steps) however I am a little underwhelmed by his '86 album "Hearts and Numbers", only really like 2 tracks on that one.

I wonder how Donald Bailey got the call for this gig, didn't Jimmy have another regular drummer around this time?

Looking forward to this reissue, heard a couple cuts on Scott "Organfreak" Hawthorn's site a few years ago, and it smokes, especially with George Benson and Donald Bailey on board. Anyway, I seem to recall the feww tracks I heard as being edited, will the new Verve LPR reissue restore the track lengths like on "Root Down" or should I expect just a straight reissue of the original album?

I haven't finished listening to the At the Blue Note box yet . There is a lot of variety within the standards, I agree with Lon, especially when they hit on those vamps (the incredible 26 min "Autumn Leaves" on disc 3 of the Blue Note set) I also find out of the recent "free" albums I prefer "Inside Out" to "Always Let Me Go", sure the latter might go farther out, but "Inside Out" is more cohesive. Both emphasize a melodic approach to free improvisation that I prefer over more dissonant stuff.

Bertrand, thanks for correcting me........... Para Oriente is *not* the two tunes I listed, I just remembered that "Angel Street" has the same melody but expanded on I think.

I'm confused too Mike, thanks for the info. "Para Oriente" (aka La Maison Goree, and Ancient Eyes, Soweto Nights) and "Domo" are issued on the French version of "Live Under the Sky" which is the edition I own, still I plan to upgrade. According to the liners notes "Eye of the Hurricane" was recorded, but not released b/c a version already appeared on "Tempest in the Colosseum", also "Eye of the Hurricane" was performed before the horrible rainstorm which you hear affecting the instruments (especially Wayne) resumed.

I had the Hancock for a while upon release and I sold it. The playing by all (Hargrove, Brecker, Herbie, Pattitucci, Blade) isn't at fault, its just that the Massey Hall gig wasn't the best show. I have a CDR of a concert on that tour from 9/20/01 and the tunes are longer, and the playing much more intense. Herbie really locks on in his solos and he has that real big rhythmic kick that Mike Weil likes so much. On that show, the intensity of Herbie's playing reminds me of the VSOP stuff.

This whole Monk, mental illness discussion is interesting. I had heard somewhere (can't remember the source) that Monk may have had tourette's syndrome. I never noticed anything with him in the Straight, No Chaser footage that had anything like a facial tick or involuntary awearing, noises, etc (I knew someone with tourettes who had facial ticks) Could maybe having tourettes possibly explain his weird behavior of spinning around? Tony, your points about hearing marks of mental illness in Monk's playing are interesting as well, I don't really think of a musicians' music in those terms, but in the case of Jaco Pastorius, I hear less invention and more relying on licks in his bass passing, post his manic depression diagnosis, but his arrangements and writing still very creative.

I think Tony certainly got louder, and heavier, and his cymbals got brighter and splashier from the 70's on for sure. I was listening to a few tunes off of Herbie's "Quartet" last night, and one thing Tony definitely does often on that, perhaps maybe too overdone by that time, was the high hat on every beat, maybe the way the high hat was mic'ed but real pronounced on everything from that era on, I've heard.

I have the French reissue of this, but will get the new reissue for the extra tracks. (although I feel Tempest in the Colosseum is a much stronger album compared to this) According to Jazzmatazz there are a total of 10 new tracks. Will half of these be the "Five Stars" studio album? Thanks

thanks Jim, that makes sense.

since John Litweiler joined the board maybe he could answer this, or anyone else is welcome to take a shot. In Hank's '73 DB interview, he mentions how on the date that became Johnny Griffin's "A Blowin Session", he was uncomfortable with the up tune ("The Way You Look Tonight") but for the other tunes on the session he was able to put on his "heavy form" and pretty much do what he wanted there. Does anyone have an idea of what he meant by "heavy form"? Thanks.

I picked up "Enroute" at Walmart of all places (what a find!) for $11.88. I'm not a huge Sco fan, only other album I have is "I Can See Your House From Here" but "Enroute" is nice. I especially like Sco on "Wee" and "Hammock Soliloquy" and definitely Sco and Bill make for a great hook up, much smoother than Bill in Pat Metheny's trio, tho he smoked there too.

Underground Agent, I agree with you that CTI with Freddie and Stanley released some great stuff with their small group recordings, also Johnny Hammond's "Breakout" is a good one too, ditto Hubert Laws' "Afro Classic". I also have Benson's "Beyond the Blue Horizon" out from the library, always intended to buy a copy, but it was right there in the library so I checked it out immediately. However some of CTI's larger projects, I think of ones I'm familiar with, like "Sky Dive", "Morningstar", "Sunflower", and "First Light" (not the tune, but album) sag under the weight of the orchestrations. I think we should remember too that CTI was a label built of its time where audiences were being turned on to jazz, and compared to today and the smooth jazz "product" that gets funneled to a large audience, CTI was a class act by comparison. Also CTI was a label I grew up on addition to Blue Note, so some albums, like "CTI Summer Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl" have a relevance to me.

I enjoy both albums. "Black Comedy" on "Sky" is an absolute amazing showcase for Tony's shifting meters, and there are the beginnings to my ear, of the heavy bashing style that would be his calling. I haven't listened to either in a long time, but "Filles" doesn't get as much play, no particular reason, just doesn't. Again, on that one, Tony reaches an incredible level of power on that album, I remember reading that is one of Wallace Roney's favorites citing Miles didn't enter territory quite like on that record again.

I haven't heard a lot of Harrell, what I have heard, I remember him having a huge warm tone, kind of like Freddie Hubbard, and that he has a lot available on OJC.

would the next step to be to get "Black Codes" and "Live at Blues Alley"? I used to have BC on vinyl a long time ago

haha. Well, if it was something like "Big Train" oh yeah, it'd be a coaster . To be fair, even though Wynton in his arranging, especially for the reeds, shows a lot of Ellington, he is a good writer. Tunes like "Uptown Ruler" and "Black Codes" are good examples. I do hope he can put out something better than "The Magic Hour", which I heard on the Blue Note site when they had some cuts up, and also on the radio, the stuff there sounded quite stiff. I do think on the Vanguard stuff his blowing is a bit looser, what did get me to buy it was his blowing on Jeff Watts' "The Impaler", that was a great solo, Branford too, going as out as possible afterwards was fun.

The two "extended" works, "Citi Movement" doesn't work as well as "In the Sweet Embrace of Life", which I prefer because of the blowing room. Great value for the money, though.

Well, alright, it's not really a sin, but Wynton is coming here in August, and I thought I'd buy the Village Vanguard box, to drop some of my (unfair) biases against his playing, theres a lot of good stuff on the set, especially "Black Codes", "Knozz moe King" and "Harriet Tubman". Anyway, I'll probably get "Black Codes" and "Live at Blues Alley". Aside from Crouch's horrible liners in the Vanguard package, the set was surprisingly good I think.

serious jazz listener since I was a baby. no lie. will be 23 in a few weeks, so it'll be over 20 years soon.

no prob Mike

Mike, that's interesting you mention Herbie's responsiveness to rhythm. I agree that he really likes to engage drummers, Tony for one and then now with Terri Lyne Carrington and Brian Blade on "Directions". I have a boot of a "Directions" tour from 9/20/01 where on some tunes Herbie just ignites a fire by just hammering certain licks over and over, Blade responds quite nicely. Ditto with DJ Disk on "This is DJ Disk" on the Future2Future Live DVD. I personally think a lot of the Japanese released VSOP, and acoustic stuff I've heard from Herbie is fantastic.

Thanks for the tip Bill, I was thinking of looking at the Aug 17th of "The Piano", but I may hold. I love Herbie's playing, on both acoustic and electric keys, but in general solo piano isn't a big turn on for me.