Larry Kart

Couple of years ago I discovered that I had a significant hearing problem -- loss of high frequencies to the point where I wondered whether I'd be able to enjoy listening to music down the road -- and got two Siemens hearing aids through the Northwestern University Audiology Clinic after several hours of elaborate tests (there's a mini-computer in each hearing aid because the hearing loss was different in each ear, and the hearing aids are programmed to work together). The hearing aids were pricey, but the benefits were spectacular. And they're almost invisible. I probably hear better now than I did for some years before I got the hearing aids because I'm sure the problem crept up on me before it got so bad that I finally noticed it. Loss of high frequencies is a problem that good hearing aids can correct. Other problems -- e.g. difficulty in sorting out foreground from background sounds -- are I believe much more difficult for hearing aids to correct.

Who is "he" in your first sentence? If it's Ben, I think you're mistaken. His response to the Forbes piece carefully points out its errors in fact and logic. I don't think he has any animus against Forbes per se; rather, he suggested that one of Forbes' agendas when it comes to the business world led them to distort Lin's story in an attempt to fit that agenda.

What Ben said.

Coleman Hawkins' "Picasso":

Nice record; I bought it at the time but sadly don't have it any more. IIRC, Nat Pierce's chart (I think it's his) on "Opus De Funk" is quite nice -- wholly in the spirit of the original, which is not that common when hard bop small-group pieces are adapted for big bands like Herman's. For instance, I recall that in the '60s Herd "Sister Sadie" became a semi-frantic flagwaver, which arguably was fun but not the point that Horace had in mind IMO.

Fabulous Gillespie on three tracks (Groovin' High, Round Midnight, Shaw Nuff) on this: http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-At-Philharmonic-Seattle-1956/dp/B005EN4JKK/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_3

Jim -- If you can't detect a certain disingenuousness in Q's remarks on Houston's passing, I've got a bridge you might want to purchase.

An ex-post facto foot in the door in the life of Houston, though he didn't have one otherwise, except that he admired her work?

Kinda foot in the door, or so it struck me.

Did we take note of his comment on W. Houston's death?: "Legendary music producer Quincy Jones said in a written statement: 'I am absolutely heartbroken at the news of Whitney's passing. I always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her. She was a true original and a talent beyond compare. I will miss her terribly.'" (My emphasis)

Eat your heart out, Whitney:

Some of them lie down more frequently.

P.S. I recently picked up for a few pennies a Collectables release that combined Previn's "Four To Go" (with Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, and Shelly Manne) and a trio album of Astaire-associated tunes (with Red Mitchell and Frank Capp). Sound is muffled, as often is the case with Collectables, but for some reason "Four To Go" finds Ellis in the best form I've ever heard him in -- very alert and linear and without the autopilot twangy bluesiness that marks a fair amount of his work elsewhere.

Betty Bennett, Mia Farrow, Anne Sophie Mutter, and one more besides Dory. Oy vey ... and/or wow.

I'll never forget a 1986 Jazz Showcase gig he had with Lee Konitz, Steve Rodby, and Wilbur Campbell. If Lee ever had a trio with him that responded more wholeheartedly to his needs, I never heard it, and Jodie was at the core of what was happening. [1986] While jazz is supposed to be an improviser’s art--“the sound of surprise” as critic Whitney Balliett once put it--not that many jazz musicians really improvise. Instead they work their way through familiar formulas and offer up their favorite licks, all of which can be satisfying at times. But then one encounters the music of alto saxophonist Lee Konitz and realizes how surprising genuine improvisation can be. Performing through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, Konitz began Friday night’s first set with a tender but rather tentative version of “Star Eyes.” A testing of motifs, his solo brought to mind an article Konitz recently wrote in which he described the ten levels of paraphrase a musician must pass through on his way from a song’s original melody to a genuinely new variation upon it. So on “Star Eyes,” Konitz seemed content to rest at level two or three, perhaps because that allowed his rhythm section to work its way into his conception of the music. And that proved to be a wise choice--not only because pianist Jodie Christian, bassist Steve Rodby, and drummer Wilbur Campbell began to interact with Konitz as though they could read his mind, but also because the next three tunes were sublime. First came “Invitation,” within which Konitz found a groove that is his alone--a kind of muttered-out gracefulness that seemed at first to be built upon the scattered rhythms of ordinary speech or the scuffling pace of a stroll down the street. But larger patterns soon began to take shape, and finally the whole solo stood revealed as a single unit, an event that had coalesced right in front of one’s eyes. “Body and Soul” was next, taken at an unusual ambling tempo and marked by two Konitz choruses that started at about level eight and stayed right on that track. Here the lyricism was bold and openly songful; and with that to deal with, Konitz’s partners rose to the challenge. Stirred by the ceaseless linearity of Konitz’s playing, Christian offered up a blend of tenderness and strength that matched anything one had ever heard from this gifted player. Rodby found a similarly exalted groove, and Campbell stitched things together with accents of hair-trigger sensitivity. Then, before a brief version of “The Theme,” there was “Stella By Starlight,” which had to be an example of Konitz at level ten. At once omnipresent and just out of reach, the melody of “Stella” gave birth to a seemingly endless string of variations, each of which was perfect in itself and each of which gave new meaning to what had come just before. Improvisation par excellence, this was group improvisation as well--for by this time the sharing of ideas was the norm, with each note and phrase being surrounded by so much space that the players seemed able to fully contemplate the music they made while remaining caught up in the act of producing it.

Wonderful player and man.

Oy vey: http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/blood-sweat-dishevelment-whitney-houston-tumultuous-final-days-144148765.html

And she has a degree in criminology. I'm there.

Hey -- Flo gets me hot. I mean, she seems so jolly and eager to please.

This is one of the ways that misinformation not only proliferates but also adds to itself. Trying to reconcile the two conflicting stories -- 1) Addison Farmer died of an attempt to treat a fairly longstanding medical problem (he died of the "synergy between two medications," says Feather-Gitler), or 2) he died in a car accident -- Allen "resolves" the conflict by coming up with yet a third "possible" scenario: "he had a stroke that LED to a car accident." Sure, it's possible, but why not just consult a widely available and usually reliable source, as Feather-Gitler (especially Gitler) is almost certain to be in this case? And yes, it was Richie Powell's wife. Also, Willie Dennis wasn't hit by a car. He was being driven through Central Park by a brief acquaintance who ran the car off the road, and Dennis was killed in the crash.

It's not funny, as in "odd" or "mysterious." It just means that people have spotty memories or that misinformation was believed and relayed.

Inevitability? If Brady and Welker hook up on that long pass with about four minutes to go (a play on which the Giants had blown the coverage), then the game almost certainly would have been over with the Patriots winning. Welker, as Chris Collingsworth said, normally catches that ball, but I put the onus on Brady for turning what should have an easy completion into a fairly difficult one.

He appears to use them at every meal, too. Dude could stand to skip a couple every once in a while. Off the charts infuriating for the fourth. Interesting all the way through for me, especially in the fourth. Why did the fourth infuriate you, Dan? P.S. Marvin Lewis on ESPN had a very interesting postgame take on the Patriots change in defensive strategy in the fourth (from three rush lineman to four), which may have doomed them, though it also may have been a case of flip a coin.

Basie edited the charts, sometimes considerably, and set the tempos.

Herbert Morrison