Rooster_Ties

Holy shit, you weren’t kidding!! https://www.dustygroove.com/item/145593/Donald-Byrd-Dexter-Gordon:Lost-Recordings-Berlin-Studio-Session-1963-180-gram-pressing

Oh fuck, that reminds me… back in Kansas City I was at sold-out speaking event (1,000 seat venue, a historic theater downtown), where an academic dean from a local university (not UMKC), COMPLETELY mangled Fareed Zakaria‘s name about 5-6 times trying to introduce him. And I mean MANGLED — over, and over and over again. Zakaria was the only speaker that night. 80% of the audience surely knew how to pronounce it (I would guess, since it was sold out), but this guy acted like a little kid trying to sound out a long word he’d never seen before — literally repeating Zakaria’s last name immediately twice in a row, wrongly — not that his intro copy had him repeating it, but he just decided to have another go at it, and he fucked it up again. And then again 2-3 more times. Something like FAIR-reed ZACKerEEah (where the ‘Zack’ rhymed with ‘back’.) His whole intro was like 2 minutes long, and felt like an eternity. OMG, I’ll never forget that feeling in the hall, which was palpable.

I’ve never seen Björk‘s name transliterated, though it helps she opted for a monosyllabic mononym. Certainly simpler for the world than Björk Guðmundsdóttir. Of course it could be harder (for the world) if Iceland had an entirely different (or more substantially different than it is). Then there’s someone like Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who’s name is rendered in Punjabi as صرت فتح علی خان (I think the board software will render this ok, but you can also see his name here) — so there are bigger challenges than dealing with names in print from Cyrillic-based languages. See also Terumasa Hino: 日野 皓正 — and Rabih Abou-Khalil: ربيع أبو خليل (Arabic).

While I do not think it’s quite right to say “so-called ‘second great quintet’.” — and to be clear, it’s the “so-called” part that seems a bit harsh (as if that moniker is somehow suspect). But I do think something LIKE that is necessary. Is there a better way to say “so-called”? I do think Second Great Quintet is generally alright to say in print, if preceded by something like “often-called” or something that rolls off the tongue better. I was about to argue that “Second Great Quintet” should be in quotes too — but that’s arguable on both sides — and maybe would even depend on what precedes it (which I can’t decide on myself). But something like… (but maybe with better wording than “often-termed” — but that functions in the same way): …brought Hancock into the fold to be a member of his band, the often-termed Second Great Quintet.

Brubeck maybe? But if so, not substantially bigger than Getz. But maybe it is Getz, given the sheer number of albums in his catalog (virtually none of which I’ve ever heard — just Jazz Samba and Captain Marvel is all — plus random tracks on various Pandora stations here and there).

+1, definitely!

No, it was Billy Harper: Antibes '75 (see link above) — and yeah, it was Sam Records again (vinyl only). Annoying as hell. Seems the going rate on that Billy Harper album (new) was ~$35 or maybe closer to $40 new (list) — for 35 minutes of music. Much as I’d like it, and the Nathan Davis — I draw the line at spending $20 and $30+ per LP for a brand new release — again, on a format I don’t care for ideally. I do own a couple hundred LP’s, but about 5K+ CD’s — and have payed a premium for plenty of titles on CD (vs. cheaper vinyl copies sometimes, back when vinyl was cheaper). And I’ve upgraded to CD (sometimes expensive imports) from perfectly good vinyl plenty of times, for any title that I think I’ll wanna spin more than once every year or two.

And when I think of the oddball titles that seem to still be coming out on CD (from the wide range of stuff I see on Dusty Groove, and elsewhere), it just boggles the mind that CD buyers are left totally in the lurch on certain key releases. There was a live Billy Harper release in the last year that was vinyl only too — can’t remember the details. Was that on this SamsRecords label too? (Wouldn’t surprise me, at this point.) EDIT: Yup! Sams again. Cripes!! https://www.discogs.com/release/17927806-Billy-Harper-Quintet-Antibes-75

I guess I am too — but why make people pay nearly double the price for a format that’s arguably less convenient?? And even if you (they) charge a hefty premium for the CD version, the LP version is still gonna be 1.5x more expensive. I’ll take that Nathan Davis as an example — 5LP sides (~20 minutes per side) is selling brand new right now for $53 on Dusty Groove ($60 list). If that were 2cd’s and cost $35, that would make the $53 LP set almost 1.5x as expensive. But the 2 CD’s play for 50+ minutes each, and cost almost $18 less overall. (At least I’d sure argue LP’s are a lot less convenient than CD’s — they take up more space, and have less than 1/3rd the maximum playing time per ‘side’, and are far more prone to scratches and even initial defects when you first get them.)

Yeah, that’s the one. LP only. The online samples I’ve heard sound really wonderful. Would have made an excellent 2cd set — which I would have gladly paid $25 for (maybe even $28). Looks like the price has come down a hair from what I remember a couple years ago — but it still has a list price of $60, and The Bastards seem to have it now for $53 brand new. WHICH, is about double what it would have cost on CD (or fairly close, anyway). (Hell, I might have even gone $30 or $32 for it on CD, like if it was an import and there was no other way.)

I’m not saying give up what we’ve got — the band with Evans is interesting in its own right, sure. But in addition to that, it’s really a shame 2 or 3 (or 6) nights with Lennie couldn’t have also gotten documented on tape too.

I know saying this means nothing, but I sure the hell wish Ind (or someone) had recorded a few nights of this engagement with Lennie. What exists (with Evans) is sure nice for what it is — but it definitely would have been FAR more striking and valuable with Lennie on keys — and satisfying too.

Might have been nice to have included *everything* — the LP’s too — in the download. But no, apparently. I’ve had it with LP-only releases, and — to date, anyway — I refuse to buy them. There’s a NICE 5-sided 3LP) live Nathan Davis from a couple years back that I would have LOVED to have gotten on CD. But no, LP only (for like $70, iirc — or more, iirc). Phooey on that. I’m not paying 2.5x what a good 2CD version of that Nathan Davis thing would have cost — for a format that’s a lot more of a hassle for me to deal with. Not gonna do it.

I know. It’s utterly maddening.

Speaking of Robert Cray — I was just poking around YouTube looking for Cray video (something I’d never done, btw), and the algorithm served up this… just off-center enough to wanna share. Kinda lacks some of the punch of the original (and maybe needs more finesse - or something), but still interesting?

Here in DC (central DC proper, about 3 miles due north of the White House) — I haven’t the foggiest idea where to buy an individual issue of Jazz Times out in the wild (or Down Beat either, for that matter). There were last Borders Books locations downtown about 5 & 6 years ago. There might(?) be a couple out in the ‘burbs, but I have no idea where — and I would bet not more than 2 or maybe 3 in the entire DMV (greater DC) area.

Hey John, if you ever happen to see Cray is playing in DC or anywhere in the DMV, I’d love to go hear him sometime, we should go! As I said, I’ve always had in the back of my mind to catch him someday, but just never have (or he’s been at venues that were too much of a pain to get to without having to rent a car).

Yeah, Cray’s False Accusations is great too! I also remember the one before that too, Bad Influence, being tasty too. (Side note: Eric Clapton covered Cray’s song “Bad Influence” quite nicely on Clapton’s August (1986) — which Clapton recorded like 6 months before Cray’s Strong Persuader and the single “Smoking Gun” broke nationally for Cray in late, late ‘86 and early ‘87. I’m not a huge Clapton guy, but I have a soft spot for his 3 big MOR albums from 1985-89.)

Gary Clark Jr. maybe? — don’t own anything by him (yet)… …but every time I’ve seen him on TV (Austin City Limits, for one, maybe a couple other time too), I’ve been both impressed AND intrigued by what sounded like a willingness to break blues forms. Surely someone else here knows better than me, and can weigh in.

I picked up most of Robert Cray’s catalog in the dollar bins between 12-20 years ago — without really trying. I’ve always found him to be a little outside the norm, but the real deal never the less. (Do I dare say: he’s not cray-cray, but he is Cray? ) Thing is, he doesn’t follow blues forms religiously all the time — not in the way that Bob Dylan (or Robert Johnson) both drop and add measures willy-nilly… …but his own forms (though all pretty ‘regular’), simply aren’t strictly blues. (That said, his form alterations aren’t that radical, and may not be what you’re looking for. But he’s willing to go with some static harmony (pedal point bass), and/or alternating chords (iirc) a fair bit, which I like because it builds tension — just like in a LOT of the jazz I like too!) I don’t spin him all that much (nor any blues artists) — but I’ve always liked him, and always meant to go hear him live. The album that put him on the map was Strong Persuader (Mercury, 1986) — but I don’t think anything of his after that is sub-par. Anyone else here like Robert Cray?

Hindemith. Happily, mind you (all CD, not LP). The classical composers I have the most of are Henze, Ives, and Hindemith (and Grieg, because of Mrs. Rooster’s interest there). The Henze and Ives I sought out on purpose, and with wild abandon. But the Hindemith happened over 10-15 years, and much more haphazardly.

Kinda surprised there was no Lee Morgan — less surprised that Joe Henderson was overlooked (seems he was overlooked for the first 75% of his career). But was Lee really on essentially the same level of importance (as Joe) in 1970? He’d had close to 15 years of leader-dates by that point — and 23(!) albums that were released by 1968 (I tried to leave out all the posthumous releases). I get that Lee wasn’t Miles, but neither was he Blue Mitchell (but I guess if Diz was left out, what can you else can you expect).

???

And, unfortunately, not unexpected. (You may notice my sole post here so far has been to add a “+1” of agreement to a quoted moderate “middle-ground” comment made by someone else too — NOT that that makes me any ‘better’ — but I say that only to that I’ve been resisting with all my might to gnash any of my teeth about this.) One thing I have wanted to say is that I wish Chinen had stated a goal more like wanting to hire one Black writer for every non-black writer, in an effort to achieve something closer to a 50/50 mix of contributors — or something along those lines. That would have been a laudable and measured goal — that wasn’t more easily taken as an ‘absolutist’ stance by others (and wouldn’t have been ‘exclusionary’). Or there may have been other similar approaches that aimed to achieve the same sort of goal… of better racial representation within their staff. Full disclosure: I’ve practically never read Jazz Times (or any jazz magazine other than Downbeat). And to be honest, I’ve never even been a subscriber to Downbeat even — though I used to buy individual issues on the newsstand between 1995-2010 (maybe 3 issues a year). (Which is to say I’m not particularly infested in what Jazz Times does, or doesn’t do — since it affects me not one bit.)

Shit, is that already OOP?