Larry Kart

Picked up Solti's 1984 CSO set on LPs at a thrift store yesterday and was stunned by what I heard compared to my much-vaunted echt HIP recording with Andrew Parrott. Margaret Hillis' CSO Chorus is beyond belief, and as for Solti, the opening "Symphony" was proof enough -- some actual damn shaped but not over-shaped MUSIC rather than marking time for the vocal stuff to begin. Finally, comparison between Solti's Kiri Te Kanawa and Parrott's Emma Kirby -- Te Kawana, without being at all operatic, has so much more voice, plus the ability to actually express the text, versus Kirkby's almost wholly instrumental fluting. Same goes for the other soloists, though I've yet to hear a contralto that's completely on top of her arias and recitatives in the Messiah; some of that stuff seems to border on the impossible in terms of asking for long legato phrasing and penetrating vocal power (and in tricky areas of the register for most contraltos, too).

Buddy DeFranco, John Potaker, Sid Block and Alvin Stoller - NYC, late '45. I have a copy somewhere, left by a neighbor who exited via shotgun. I've learned that it's Abe Most on clarinet. What is your source for the Abe Most ID? Remember, we're talking about the Vogue quintet recording, clarinet credited to DeFranco by several sources, not the later Tommy Dorsey big-band recording.

My memory is that that Atlantic date was something of a dud, as were a good many of the ones that Brit mainstream critics like Albert McCarthy and Stanley Dance A&R'ed over here for Atlantic and Felsted at around that time. The Coleman Hawkins Felsted was the great exception, but my sense is that the Brits were perhaps too deferential in the studio and/or not hard-headed enough about choices of personnel. By and large, the Prestige Swingville dates were more successful.

J.A.W.'s list is great, but IMO this Sleepy John Estes collection (listed there) is essential: http://www.amazon.com/Aint-Gonna-Worried-M...boutThisProduct

Some additions and alternatives: Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Callas, Gedda, Von Karajan Wagner: The Ring, Clemens Krauss, Bayreuth 1953 Wagner: Tristan, G. Treptow, H. Braun, H. Knappertsbusch Wagner: Parsifal, C. Krauss, Bayreuth 1953 Wagner: Meistersinger, Stewart, Konya, Janowitz, R. Kubelik Verdi: Rigoletto, Callas, Gobbi, T. Serafin Debussy: Pelleas, D.E. Inghelbrecht (Disques Montaigne) Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutti, Seefried, E. Jochum (DGG) Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutti, Price, E. Leinsdorf (RCA) Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier, Crespin, Donath, Minton, G. Solti (London) Mozart, Der Zauberflote, K. Bohm (DGG) Beethoven: Fidelio, Bohm (DGG) I know -- Leinsdorf and Solti! Forgive me, but they're great casts, and Solti was having a very good week (or however long it took).

Lots of self-consciously stylish touches in terms of camera position and movement (many oddly angled close-ups), but for my taste there just was not much "story" there; the facts of Dillinger's life were draped over a semi-void. In particular, much was made of his ties to his main squeeze Billie Frechette -- a scene between her and the G-Man who killed Dillinger concludes the movie -- but while neither the actress who played Billie nor Depp were at all off-key in their roles, the movie gave me no idea as to why Dillinger supposedly thought she was that important to him. It just felt like one of those hooks a screenwriter comes up with because he needs some hook. Christian Bale as G-Man Melvin Purvis was kind of annoying, so closed off and clenched, though I suppose that was the concept. The John Milius "Dillinger" from 1973 with Warren Oates as Dillinger and Ben Johnson as Purvis is worth tracking down; Johnson is just incredible, a force of nature, and the relationship between him and Oates is elemental, a whole plot in itself. Interesting how a guy like Johnson, who was then age 55, seems much older (as in more grown up -- albeit in fairly dark and mean ways), than any actor now on this planet. Oh, maybe Jack Nicholson or Clint Eastwood, but there's nothing charming or old-coot-like about Johnson; it's like he could dig the Panama Canal with his bare hands or bite off a chunk of the moon.

Statius's "Thebaid." Sounded like fun. http://www.amazon.com/Thebaid-Thebes-Maste...8946&sr=1-2

When I was youngster at Down Beat in 1969 I got them to obtain the rights to reprint this in the issue that was closest to the anniversary of her death.

Yes, that's it. Sorry -- that's not the first time I've touted something and failed to supply the link. I must be ladoxic ... err, disphobic ... lexmanic?

while looking for and failing to find there a decent one of IS's Octet -- the two of those on YouTube are a) utterly hopeless and b) bland/lifeless. This is the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, conducted by R. De Leuww. Interesting how the way the players' physical relationship to their instruments aligns perfectly with their insight and involvement.

It wasn't exactly funny, but watching Maynard's band on a Birdland All-Stars tour in (probably) 1956 or '57 I saw altoist Jimmy Ford have a brief fit in the middle of a solo, one arm suddenly flying away from the horn and well above his head while he continued to play -- all in all like the leg of spasm-struck flamingo. In fact, Ford may in that moment have been seeing flamingos or have thought that he was one. In any case -- and this reminds me of an incident that Chuck witnessed in college that he mentioned here recently and that I don't recall right now -- at that moment a certain door of experience began to crack open speculatively for me. It helped, too, that Ford sounded the way he did -- hot, drenched in Bird and kind of wild/anguished.

...and a shot of Terry after she had her nipples photo shopped off. Not sure what HH would see in her....! m It was somewhat characteristic of Ms. Moore throughout her career as a photo subject that her body and her head/face seemed to belong to two different worlds, but this is insane! On the other hand, if it's from her 1984 Playboy spread, she was 55 years old at the time.

Actually, this is the Piper Laurie image I meant: http://www.allstarpics.net/photo-gallery/1...-laurie-pic.htm

In case you're thinking about Piper Laurie in "Carrie," this is what I'm talkin' about: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...sa%3DX%26um%3D1 As for Terry Moore, they don't make corn-fed American carnality like this anymore (actually Moore, b. 1929, was a bit older than Laurie, b. 1932, though Moore held up better, doing a celebrated Playboy spread in 1984!): http://j.bdbphotos.com/pictures/J/1L/J1H7F5P_large.jpg http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...t%3D20%26um%3D1

Yes, by comparison with those Breck shampoo ads with Piper Laurie and Terry Moore. What a disappointment it was to discover that there are no women who actually look like that! Matthew: You've got a point, but age 10 or so, one had little or no choice.

The story mentions that the stage name she was given is kind of funny when you think about it. Then I thought of the actual name of former New York Times editor Howell Raines. Also, am I the only kid on the block who had moderately salacious thoughts about Margie?

They tune into some decent stuff. In the jazz guitar vein, I've heard a fair amount there from the Poll Winners trio (Kessel, Brown, Manne), some Kenny Burrell, etc. Occasionally an extra little bit of something catches your attention, like the harmonic intensity this guy (whoever he was) poured into his "Odd Couple" solo.

No -- no sax on what I heard, but that's just about the right tempo. No -- no sax on what I heard, but that's just about the right tempo.

No meal for me, thanks, but the sandwich itself is a darn user-friendly (in every sense, including "taste") item if one want/needs/chooses to scarf while driving. Well, that one of the reasons my local Mickey D's is so good -- the fries are always hot and crisp and never too salty. Can't resist, but also once a week is about my limit.

Yes. Dinner at McDonald's, Larry? Is that really the best you can do? If I'm in the mood, there's nothing better than a double quarter-pounder with cheese meal, and chipotole sauce instead of ketchup to dip the fries into. I also like the medium chocolate shakes, but never with the double-quarter pounder with chese meal; that would be insane. A shake is for odd times of the day and for medicinal purposes (mood regulation). I remember telling a friend of mine, who's a topnotch food writer for the Chicago Tribune, that the McDonald's in my neighborhood is the best one I've ever found. She looked at me like I was crazy or was maybe putting her on. I could be crazy but wasn't putting her on. None of the tracks on the AMG list is what I heard, I'm pretty sure. The Malone is close, but it hits me as I said above, though I'd have to hear his solo to be absolutely certain.

While dining at my local McDonalds tonight, I heard a very swinging, surprisingly creative recording of "The Odd Couple" theme -- guitar plus piano-led rhythm section, both guitarist and pianist solo, maybe four to five minutes in all. For a milli-second I thought Barney Kessel, but the guy (or girl) was harmonically almost in Pat Martino territory, thought I don't think it was Martino, and Google searching doesn't produce a Martino recording anyhow. At first glance, all I could find to listen to on the 'Net was a bit of Russell Malone's recording, but I don't think that's the one -- Malone's tempo is bit more "down" than what I heard at Mickey D's, and the player I heard sounded more inventive than what I recall from Malone. Any thoughts?

The sound of the vintage Hopkins band on these CDs is quite unique, I believe -- so delicate, and delicately shaded.

BTW, and not that there's anything wrong with that, but was Herbie Nichols gay? For some reason that I can no longer recall (perhaps it was something Roswell Rudd said in the Mosaic booklet), I once thought that there was reason to think that he was. If so, that might have played some role in his not fitting in among his peers as well as one might wish.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4336907,00.html This link from Ted O'Reilly

OK -- cancel my flight to Buenos Aires. Argentina, the land of practical criticism. Would it help if I said I'd once interviewed Borges?