kenny weir

For you ... not for sale at any price.

Huh? I don't think so, not at all. Look, there's a ton of successful jazz musicians out there - some of them are real gracious souls who NEVER dump on their audiences no matter what the provocation. And certainly not so continually that it becomes a significant part of what they're about. If the guy has issues, I don't see how his audiences should be expected to cop his crap because of it. But of course those audiences are free to vote with their feet/money/ Just as you are ...

OK, so I finally got 'round to reading that review. All's I can say is that after all this time, anyone who pays good money to see Jarrett has little ground for complaint. I liked a couple of the reader comments: 1. Duct tape! 2. Jarrett ain't that good. Can anyone ever recall if Jarrett has ever been confronted by the seeming contrast between his absurd and long-running touchniness about audience failings and his own pathetic moaning and groaning? Geez, I'm sure glad his stuff falls otuside the realms of my current and ongoing interests.

I betcha he can't do that as good as Fats Domino!

No, none at all, IIRC. All tunes from the first album.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about Sound Of The City these days, but at the time it made a huge impact because it connected dots in a way that was uncommon then yet familiar these days. Two other Gillett high points: The compilation Another Saturday Night, which was massively influential in fostering a broader understanding of south Louisiana music as being more complex - and entertaining! - than merely swamp blues and cajun. Also: He was an early champion of Dire Straits. It's easy to forget - presuming one ever knew in the first place - just what a great little band they were. They were one of my local mainstays when I lived in London, used to see them on a more or less weekly basis at the Marquee for about a quid or so. I use the term little band deliberately and with great reverence - I have plenty of faves who fall into the same category (Iguanas, Radiators to name just two). The problems came when Knopfler tried to be big a la Dylan. Instead, he just got bloated.

More like, for me, all of every thread. Which is something I need to remind myself of when I start getting a little uptight about my forum time.

In the mail today and playing at window-shaking volume in my living room: That's Swift: Instrumentals From the Norman Petty Vaults Brilliant! This is gonna sound FREAKING ACE (ha ha) in the car! On a couple of the real twangy and in-the-groove cuts tracks the automatic assumption is that the Fabulous Thunderbirds (of the first couple of albums) were listening, as well as to Juke Boy Bonner and Slim Harpo. The cross-fertilisation among Texas/Gulf Coast musicians of many stripes is so hip!

Have just spent a pleasurable hour checking out contemporary bands at cdbaby: Some great stuff to send me bankrupt! The Madeira - run by the guy who used to do The Space Cossacks. Kinda wild with Mediterranean influences. The Nematoads - more Texas surf. With cool titles such as Laredo By Sundown and Border Run. The Secret Samurai - from San Diego.

Yeah, I liked their stuff when I checked it out at cdbaby a while back.

Tnaks for the replies, guys. BFrank, I've stumbled across most of those bands in my browsing - some of them sound a little polite for my liking. I'll soon no doubt be ordering this: IIRC, they're from Ottawa (you know, that renowned surfing burg) and this is a compilation of most of two albums. My son wants it coz it's got a Spongebob Trianglepants tie-in. Sadies? Byrds/surf? Checking that out right now! Tales of the Rat Fink sounds great. (I seem to have slipped into this world - where a lot of tracks clock in at under a minute - quite easily. There's a lot to be said for brevity! I remember back in the throes of the punk thing, living in London, reading an NME interview with Jerry Garcia. The rabid interviewer was saying he knew of bands that said/did more in 10 seconds than the Grateful Dead did in, oh, I dunno, five hours/whatever. Jerry just chuckled as the cigarette ash tumbled down his T-shirt ...) I saw Link Wray a number of times back in the '70s/'80s. The only thing I have on him at the moment is the twofer that has his three '70s albums of sort of swamp rock - Wray's Two-Way Shack. Quite different from The Rumble! Have a bunch of him on various Bear Familys. And some day I'll spring for the Bryant/Speedy West box. I'm sure it's a killer! No doubt you're absolutely correct, but OTOH I figure this is a sort of Alice In Wonderland thing anyway, wherein stuff can be crap AND great. The Wailers keep on coming up in my ferreting around so it's for sure time to check 'em out. This double CD on Ace is just about to be released:

This music has been around me forever, just like most folks here I'd guess, but it was only recently that I twigged to the potential for this stuff to fry my synapses the same way great jazz, acid rock or western swing does. The light-bulb moment came with my purchase of some early Bobby Fuller material on a couple of Norton CDs. Among the live stuff featured are a few Ventures-style instrumentals that, frankly, turn me on. Along these lines, my collection is slim. To whit: (One vocal that illustrates that when it comes to singing, Davie is a famed guitarist!) (A handful of vocals that are actually pretty good ...) I've also ordered this, because I dig the idea of surf music with a bit of Texas in it: Ditto, the samples of this sound great: Tips and suggestions wanted for stuff along these lines that does the job! I'm sure that well-done anthologies and compilations are the way to go. There's a Rhino double CD, for instance, on Duane Eddy that would be the go, I'm sure.

In this regard, my mobe Target CDs are simply outstanding - when I'm not playing them, I've been known to use them as beer coasters. The mutt and I have even played frisbee with them.

Who?

MG, this the comp on the Ace label I have: I confess I chose that one over several others at my bricks & mortar for the simple reason that it included I'm Gonna Run It Down, the King single I bought in an auction when I was about 15 or something. However it's a beaut 26-track anthology with greats songs and guitar. I suspect the Monkey Hips and Rice: The "5" Royales Anthology on Rhino would be great if if you could find it. I have yet to check out the earlier tracks on Apollo. ********* One place where jump blues survived - surprisingly intact - into the '60s: In Las Vegas, and in the hands of Louis Prima and Sam Butera.

So sorry to fulfill your expectations! He's pretty harmless I suppose, but he seems to blow through Australia every few years, front up to a bunch of talk shows, make some appearances at low-rent "gala" events and non-stop blow his own trumpet.

Having become involved in a series of emails with the label's L-P Anderson, I couldn't resist the urge to fire off a couple of questions - just out of journalistic and musical nosiness. Not big on detail, but here are their responses: ****** Dear Kenny, Here’s some answers from me and Richard Best L-P 1. How did you find out about the organissimo forum and its Bear Family thread? Do you or others actively look for BF topics on the web? L-P Anderson: As responsible for much of the marketing and promotion, part of my job is to be updated about what’s said and written about Bear Family. I stumbled on the organissimo thread by co-incidence. We all love your “The Fun Way To Poverty”-slogan… 2. Do you know of other bulletin boards or the like where BF-style music is discussed? BF is discussed somewhat at the Steve Hoffman BB, but it's hardly a priority nor very precise. The blues and country forums I've found are, alternatively, pretty limited in scope (blues) or horribly modern-mainstream (country). Hence, the best place to discuss this broad swathe of roots music I've found is a jazz forum! L-P Anderson: There’s many good forums on internet. I usually stumble upon them when searching for reviews of our records (that’s how I found organissimo) 3. What are BF's top box set sellers? Richard Weize: WE NEVER FOLLOWED THAT UP OVER THE YEARS, BUT PROBABLY THE BEST IS A GERMAN SET: GUENTER NEUMANN. OTHERS ARE MOSTLY OKAY, SINCE WE NEVER SOLD VAST AMOUNTS, IT GOES SORT UP TO 3000 UNITS. 4. What are the worst? (I know you won't tell me this, but I gotta ask anyway ...) Richard Weize: THE WORST ARE ALSO GERMAN SETS BY KONSTANTIN WECKER: 5. Have any of your box sets have sold out? (My Melbourne guy once told me that one of the Duane Eddy boxes was gone.) Do you let the box sets sell out? Do you make more if one sells out? Richard Weize: SOMETIMES WE DELETE, DUE TO BAD SALES IN RECENT YEARS. IT IS OFTEN NOT WORTH IT: DUANE EDDY ONLY THE FIRST BOX IS DELETED, DUE TO CONTRACTS: 6. Are all your colleagues music nuts? Or do some start musically ambivalent and then gradually get the bug? Richard Weize: SOME ARE, SOME ARE NOT, I WORK MOSTLY WITH OUTSIDE FREAKS & EXPERTS. 7. Outside of Germany and the US, what are BF's best countries? Richard Weize: MOSTLY EUROPE, AND EUROPEAN COMPANIES EXPORT TO THE STATES.

Very true, too. And hooray for that! One of my fave gospel tracks is James Cleveland and the Charles Ford Singers doing a hair-raisingly great version of Gladys Knight's "Jesus Is The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me".

1958: Hank Ballard writes The Twist. The high opinion that Chubby Checker has of himself and his achievements is matched in absurdity only by the mediocrity of his talent.

That's the sort of relationship I'm thinking of and trying to describe (no doubt very poorly!) between R&B and soul: For me it's mostly a matter of modern continuity.

Yup! Some day I'm looking forward to checking out their pre- and post-King sides.

1. Ha! I was about to cite King Curtis as excatly that. 2. Yes. To me and IMHO it's all R&B. Some more interesting characters - and a place: 1. Rufus Thomas. To me it sounds like the differences between his '50s and '60s funkiness is more a matter of detail than substance. 2. Jimmy Reed. Downhome electric blues AND (again, IMHO), an R&B star; '50s AND '60s; and, of course a huge influence on the Brit bands. 3. New Orleans. If you contrast recordings from the '50s right through to the present that feature various members of the extended Neville family, there are big differences. But listen to New Orleans music from the '40s-'50s through to the present at a more leisurely pace and it seems/sounds utterly seamless to me. *********** I listened to a CD of the Five Royales' King sides during my commute this morning - just about all of it I would categotsie as sanctified soul by a '50s vocal group. And I'd be REALLY surprised if there was a bigger influence on Steve Cropper than Royales guitarist Lowman Pauling. *********** I think you'll d-g the book and, yes, wish it covered more. *********** Jump blues? Yes, I'd say that's one sound that pratty much bit the dust come the '60s.

Lot, NOT? Really? Stax had quite a few vocal groups that while being soul are recognisably part of the doo wop tradition. Admittedly, they weren't part of what came to be the real big Stax thing, but obviously at the time and they were seen as a significant part of the label's portfolio. Motown, groups galore. Moreover, it could be said that a heck of a lot of soul music was influenced directly by the wailing and finger-snapping of the Five Royales - my favourite group! And also Hank Ballard & The Midnighters. I guess the the Charles Brown/NK Cole/Cecil Gant crooning stuff could be one. Ray Charles was heavily influenced by the first two, but as he became more sanctified, that influence pretty much disappeared. So what else didn't make it from '50s and earlier R&B to the soul era?

Personally, after having been on the freebie gravy train at various times in my life, I am more than happy to be paying for records these days. (Although I DID score a pretty snazzy freebie last week ...) Another, related, problem is the length of CDs, which artists all over seem to feel obliged to fill to the maximum 77 minutes or whatever it is. Damn - give me 20 minutes of brilliance any day!

Here is the original thread: In Search Of The Blues