CJ Shearn

I watched it last night, terrific. Mentioned it on the twitter for the blog, too. The arguments he makes for jazz struggling to be mainstream, as a jazz educator, and the various bits of social commentary are as relevant now as they were then.

I agree. I would think anyone under 35 or 40 who knows about Herbie, might easily not know of his connection to Miles. OTOH, there's the weirdos like me ;-) But it's true, most of my age bracket or younger doesn't know about the Blue Note recordings, Mwandishi, the funk stuff. The Kennedy Center Honors especially with Snoop's performance, introduced Herbie to an even younger generation or so we could hope.

Do you mean "Contrasts" by Larry Young? I have this on pre-order! Can't wait! Also in the same order, the already released Turrentine's 'Easy Walker' and Pearson's 'Now Here This.'. Well, that too but I was thinking "Of Love and Peace" since I let the Conn series version of that slip by me. As for the discussion of "Speak No Evil", the SHM is a drastic improvement over the RVG, I prefer the soundstage over Rudy's near mono-- and the treble is not fatiguing to where I have to drop it back. I don't have anywhere near the systems some have here, but I find the SHM to sound great. I'm happy with the RVG of ASE so I won't up that, there's too much other good music out there coming to focus on an upgrade. I gave the RVG of SNE to a musician friend whose wanted the album for a while, ditto "Empyrean Isles", and the McMaster of OTL.

I gotta grab the Rivers, Young, "Juju" when funds allow. I REALLY like the SHM's of "Empyrean Isles", "Speak No Evil" and "Out to Lunch" all huge improvements to the McMaster's and RVG's (though I may have heard a McMaster of the Hancock in passing once).

I wish there was more historical information too. It has to be general for a wider audience, but somehow there could be more depth there too.

Only on page 2 of the interview, this is GREAT stuff I can learn from.

Love his playing with Woody. I would enjoy hearing some of his more recent dates he's been on, Victor is always so tasteful.

Welcome.

You are welcome There will be more interviews forthcoming. Tommorrow I am having one with the founder of NYJW, Marco Chelo. I also completed an interview with the co founder, tenor saxophonist Marc Mommaas, who's new solo record "Irreversible Momentum" is very interesting. Inspired by his late father's suggestion to do a solo saxophone record as the ultimate creative test. I could tell you, that from listening even thru Rhapsody, the sound was amazing. He told me no compression was applied in mastering at all, just the sound of the room (at Systems Two) and his saxophone, very immediate.

You are welcome. I was thanked by some members of the Yahoo Pat list for being the first out of all the people interviewing him to pop the PMG question. You know what? I just have enjoyed the other projects, gone back to (like he said) the older records if I desire that thing, but I know they'll be back ;-). I knew it wasn't a PMG record going in, although I knew some of those elements were involved, I wasn't looking for it to be anything rather than what it is. I have very much welcomed and embraced this new shade. That first "Unity Band" record I really like, and I started wondering as a fan "what if he added these aspects?" because it was only a hint of what this unit could do, and thankfully his muse led him to that. The very casual fans have been thrown off by Potter's contribution, which I think, along with the colors Carmassi provides, and Ben Williams' playing especially really make this work as a whole, the Orchestrion is so natural now too, it's used for assorted textures, and never gets in the way of the live playing from the quintet, at least for me.

For the NYJW blog http://www.newyorkjazzworkshop.com/talking-kin-pat-metheny-cj-shearn/

Would love hearing this, too. Eric Revis has always been a player I've dug, haven't heard those leader records, but he has a very wide taste. I love his tune "Black Elk Speaks" from Branford's "Braggtown".

Wow, thanks for sharing!

Now that I think of it the tune was "After Hours" that was played in Sears.

I heard the Pat Metheny Group's "Across the Sky" at the Poughkeepsie Galleria a few months back. I must have seemed like a weirdo humming the melody. As well as "All of You" from Round About Midnight at a Starbucks in NYC with my friend a few months as well. She likes jazz so I was showing off my knowledge a bit, hehe.

I remember hearing his version of "So What" in Sears once. He could definitely have a Grant Green thing, but the settings went from acid to smooth

you will never finish that set! Amen to that

I gotta place these recordings in the context now of pre Atlantic Trane, since I just finished that set.

Something I can already do on my computer, or PS3 connected to a media server, play hi res files. Aren't people like us and the Hoffman clan the target audiences? This doesn't mean anything to the average listening public, most people I know would be like, what? If it comes down in price, I'll buy one.

RIP. I must read "Blues People".

Gotta check this out later! Mo Joe, yay!

Stanley was far more diverse than anyone gave him credit for, one on my all time favorite tenors period. I agree with Jim on the CTI stuff, there is far more there than you would think. There are brief moments on "Povo" on the Hubbard/Turrentine "In Concert: Volume 1" where he uncharacteristically goes outside briefly, ditto on "Straight Life" on the 40th Anniversary Edition of "California Concert". "Blue Flames" with Shirley Scott is a great album too, nothing groundbreaking, just good solid swinging.

Really? wow. Since everyone reports the set uses the best available sources, I would think the initial reissues of those 2 as standalone titles used those same sources. The sound and dynamics on "The Piano" are incredible.

Mine never had that insert on the back for longer than 5 minutes.

I love Pat's stuff and I welcome the change to that Group-ish sound blended with the more straight ahead nature of the Unity Band. This is really PMG 2.0, and while fans on the Metheny Yahoo list complain it sounds too much like PMG (I've heard a few tracks) I don't mind that b/c I love the little additions to Pat's very familiar, yet still complex language, and I am anxiously awaiting for the album. Sure, you know when the glissandos moving in thirds, or metric shifts or modulations are coming, but that's part of the charm for me. I can say what is on the album is great, and sort of functions as a "let's get the new guys acquainted" type thing with new textures the way "Speaking of Now" did. Pat tends to have developments in album pairs of three, so I think the next one (whenever that will be) will really take chances. Xybert, I find listening to "The Way Up" is good preparation for "Kin".