king ubu

I enjoyed it a lot... sure, the Miles cut was waaaaay too short, and that *was* disappointing. Sure, the musicians were not announced and all, and that is not great, and sure, the sequencing was weird to say the least (when George Lewis - whom I love! - turned up I thought they had sort of interrupted the whole thing... it just didn't fit in, neither stylistically, nor image quality, nor mood wise). The highlight for me was Paul Desmond's solo (but Brubeck was boring) - so simple, so easy-sounding, yet, WHOAH! That man was soooooooo good! Sophistication at work! And of course the Cannonball band was fun to watch, too, but Cannon's solo - somewhat similar to Desmond's in that it started as loose and unconnected phrases (but he started inserting his trademark 16th-runs almost from the beginnign) was not working for me... just slack. (I must add that I never liked any version of "Jive Samba" that I have heard - Zawinul was weak as well, Jones was too low in the mix, Nat was merely ok, Lateef was the best...) Harsh criticism, I know, but I love that sextet so much (the finally - but now cactusicalistically - reissued "In Europe" being one of my alltime Cannon favourites, together with "Nippon Soul"). Oh, and Ray Nance was *sweet*! I never saw this before, so I enjoyed it immensely - even if Duke was aping almost as much as that kiddo boogie boy on that Basie telescription. Pretty embarassing... Satchmo was much more natural, while Duke was having a distorted grin on his face... I guess I prefer the Miles-approach to showbiz. Mangelsdorff was good to see, for sure -but was that cut edited as well? Why were there no really wild solos, why no tenor? Why did they mix the bass so low there again? (Or is that just the old tv I watched it on?)

Om has legendary status in Switzerland... Doran and Studer are among the more visible jazz musicians still today. Burri I don't know much about, but he's still active, too. Leimgruber, of course, made it as big as you can, if you play that kind of music. He's probably a giant... I saw him in concert two or three years ago, and it was terrific. Funny rat stuff, but more of the quiet side, introspective, exploring, searching, playing with sounds and noises, yet at the same time creating an ark of tension and release over a continous set of music (he was accompanied by Christian Weber on bass and some swiss drummer, can't remember who it was). As for Studer he today plays with the "hardcore chamber" music (jazz, mainly) trio Koch-Schütz-Studer (with reeds player Hans Koch and cellist Martin Schütz). Doran leads a band called "New Bag" - they have I think three discs out now. I did a little radio show together with a friend on Doran & Studer's "Play the Music of Jimi Hendrix" programme. You can hear it here: link There's some (swiss german) talk in between, from an interview we did with the two, but two thirds of it are music, taken from a live gig from the tour they did (with Kim Clarke on bass and Erika Stucki on vocals).

I have spelled it "butt" always, so far... also I considered that to be a noun... Then, I have paid for my Organissimo CD weeks (if not months) back, so I have, uhm,... butted it already?

Freddie? I wasn't aware Nasheet was his son!

A marvellous film! Would be my first call on the topic! There are some more great French films with jazz from those years... one with jazz on screen, too, is Roger Vadim's "Les liaisons dangereuses". Some of the better jazz music recorded (often it seems for pretty mediocre films) has been collected on four volumes in the Jazz in Paris series. The band on screen is acting pretty frenetic, but somehow I liked it. I think it's not the musicians that did the album (Blakey & co with Barney on sax), but rather Barney, KD and Duke Jordan, but I'm not sure anymore. I think it was discussed in the film corner some time ago.

Sunny is definitely not modest, that's for sure. ← Why should he... I disagree with David here, obviously! Just yesterday I played part of a longish audience recording I recently acquired by a trio of his with Mateen and Dave Burrell. I think he's in pretty fine form. I have heard another set, half in trio with Khan Jamal and Mateen, and the other half with some guests (Odean Pope, Byard Lancaster, and others), and he sounds fine there, too. Both recordings are from October 2003. Funny enough - throw stones! - I took to like Murray much faster (with Ayler and Taylor) than Andrew Cyrille (who might be, or rahter, back in the days, might have been the perfect Taylor drummer) and others from the era. I still think Taylor's "Nefertiti" is a tremendous achievement in music, and Murray is playing quite an important part in its success (probably more so than Lyons, who is only tentatively searching there, still pretty much a bebop player).

Thanks Claude! I'll have to buy some video tapes... (have only entered DVD-age as far as computers are concerned...) How I'd wish someone would occasionally put some of those shows on their schedule in complete form! I've seen only one of them...

All the best, Lon!

And you can buy that Alternate Takes disc separately, too: Amazon

I almost fainted when I saw how they adjusted their shipping charges to Europe ... ← Same here! Crazy indeed! Now if they had cheapo prizes and crazy shipping (as 2001 has for the 'mericans), I would not bitch... but this is a little bit too much! And I went for US postal services (since I would not be home anyway when DHL or UPS or whoever delivers), and that still takes 2-4 weeks! For that, 30$ is way too much, no? ← I agree, it's a pity the option of slow but cheaper surface mail is now only available for orders less than $100. I can't quite believe I stumped up $30 over 10 days ago to ship the O'Day set and I still haven't received it !!! Higher prices and slower service don't bode well really !! ← I guess U.K. Customs is very happy with your order... ← Undoubtably, surface items often would bypass their scrutiny where as airmail or fedex always get taxed. ← That's exactly the experience I made...

r.i.p. Lucky

I almost fainted when I saw how they adjusted their shipping charges to Europe ... ← Same here! Crazy indeed! Now if they had cheapo prizes and crazy shipping (as 2001 has for the 'mericans), I would not bitch... but this is a little bit too much! And I went for US postal services (since I would not be home anyway when DHL or UPS or whoever delivers), and that still takes 2-4 weeks! For that, 30$ is way too much, no?

30$ for shipping and then add another 35$ or more for them custom fellas... ruinous! At least the US$ is not much more expensive then toilet paper of late

Green with envy! I already have the J.J. (fantastic set, and definitely one of my favourites!), but I can only afford the O'Day for now, not the Ory. Why do these sets run out so fast these days? Starting MSIE to order now... won't work with Opera, for some reason.

Happy birthday!

I think I know what you meant. I agree. ← I agree, too. Some of the rest of us want to hear what you all have to say. It tends to get lost up in there in that ultra-lengthy thread. ← Stop bitchin' around willya! If folks would start threads on avant, free, whatever name you put to it, jazz all over this board there would have been no need for the funny rat in the first place... the funny rat got started and continued becasue of lack in will to discuss (I *don't* say lack of interest in) those kinds of music people call avantguarde, free jazz, etc. *** On topic: I have the disc, but still need to spin it. I somehow prefer Parker on tenor, too, for just the auto-pilot thing he does on soprano. I saw him live last year with Barry Guy and he did his auto-pilot thing on soprano, but when he played a tenor solo, it was so lyrical, and indeed his sound is gorgeous! Among my very few discs that feature Parker, there is one I would recommend: The duo both in a studio (disc 1) and live (disc 2) setting, rec. September 6 & 7, 2001, released on Intakt in 2003.

David, I had to adjust the volume pretty often as well... I listened to the disc loud, but still it got way too loud at several moments... Whatever, next CIMP is that Dunmall I mentioned having bought. That one's of more recent vintage, so maybe the recording is better? The other CIMP I know is the Frank Lowe Body & Souls or what's it called... terrific playing there, but indeed a bit flat recording (and problems with recording the bass... nicely accredited to the bass player on the back of the disc...)

Funny enough just this morning I picked up the recent AotW, "Great Friends" by Hart, Workman, Cowell, Harper & Fortune, and I totally dig it right now (popped it in just after I posted the above...)

As for Han, I was following somebody else's post. But he does find himself in other contexts than 'free,' that is for sure. Early Mengelberg 'Kwartet' is not free jazz, though definitely vanguard in its approach. I would call Dolphy post-bop though his influence ranges far from that tree, so Han's work with Eric would fall into this category as well. ← That is true, yes. Hadn't thought about that.

Billy Hart is a drummer I often find a bit difficult. I can see that he has a style that is completely his own, but... I've seen him live with Bobo Stenson and Charles Lloyd, and wasn't always sure. Same goes on discs. Sometimes I just think he's great, other times I can't grasp what he's up to. Oh, and I agree on Denardo...

Interesting. How do you know that? ← They'd rather have preferred keeping Gus Johnson (a real mo-fo!), as far as I understand. Mike: check out the recent Billy Cobham trio disc with Ron Carter and Kenny Barron - there was a thread about it here. A great disc, and a real ear-opener for me, since I always thought Cobham sucked, then picked this one up after having read a very positive review by Switzerland's one competent jazz critic (probably the only one who has so far *not* written about Lonehill/Definitive/etc. releases and instead knew about the original releases...) And put me in the book as one who likes Louis Hayes a lot (he was so young in the fifties when he was all over the place, and had so much taste already!) and also Ben Riley! But then again, there are days when I can't stand Roy Haynes, or Philly Joe, or Blakey... but that does not mean I don't like them. Max can bug the shit out of me, too, when I'm not in the right mood. Plus I find it a bit difficult to see Han Bennink listed here... I mean we're otherwise not talking about any but bop and fusion drummers, so... or does everybody love Sunny Murray and Denis Charles and Andrew Cyrille and Mel Graves and ... Oh, should we now start bashing Hamid? Since this is the drummer thread, why not repeat my opinion that he is way overrated. I think he is good, but he is not nearly as good as he is thought to be by many...

Gave Roswell Rudd's "Unheard Herbie Nichols Vol.2" (CIMP) a spin yesterday, and loved it! Great tunes, great bone playing, some serious fun!

Happy huppy! How is it to spend the life standing on your head?

you see? advanced age does not keep from learning! ← Or wait, did I get that the wrong way 'round? Now the poor king is confused. Whatever... here's Helmut Newton's take:

you see? advanced age does not keep from learning! Seriously: Vitti, in those Antonioni films, is just the actress for poor king ubu!