Larry Kart

After listening to music of many kinds with great pleasure for at least 53 years (I just turned 66), about six weeks ago I suddenly found that I could hardly listen to anything anymore. This was recorded music BTW; I still find myself able to go out and hear things in clubs, etc., but listening to a CD of any kind of music ... well, it's hard to describe, but it's almost a physical aversion, probably with some sort of emotional component to it. I'm guessing it might be a symptom of depression, and my mood certainly has been low (my wife died six months ago, and it's been hard), but I wonder whether any other longtime listener has suddenly found himself totally on the outs with recorded music? I should add that this feeling of aversion seems to be linked to the feeling that I already know just what the music is going to sound like and that to actually listen to it then would be like having someone else's stale experiences stuffed down your throat. Further, I have this feeling even if the music on the CD is something I've never heard before and even if I go on to actually listen to the thing; almost immediately it sounds stale and predictable, and I have to stop.

If all goes according to plan: 10:00PM at the Hungry Brain, 2319 W Belmont, 773.935.2118 Jason Adasiewicz, Nate McBride, Mike Reed A Fox Can Be Hungry : Matt Schneider, Jason Adasiewicz, Anton Hatwich, John Herndon

Given what Jim said about Lennie, Warne, and Lee, and given that I agree with some of what he said, I think that Lennie's "problem" (and this probably was inseparable from his difficult personality) was that he was blind, and that he was a pianist. About the latter, pianists can do it by themselves, as hornplayers cannot. Further, while this is certainly not true of all great jazz pianists (think of Bud Powell, for one), meaningful "irrationality" of phrasing ("irrationality" as in "between-the-cracks irregularities, rhythmic and harmonic too, that really work) is something that Tristano tried to achieve through more or less "rational" means -- e.g. by layering one or more time feels and/or length and shape of phrase on top of another. In this, a comparison between the speeded-up "Line-Up" and the later, non-speeded-up "Becoming" is revealing. The meaningful irregularities of the rather slow-moving but still-moving (and mostly low register) "Becoming" from "The New Tristano" are impressive but pretty clearly "rational," in the sense mentioned above. But the (to the ear, or to most ears) dazzlingly "irrational" irregularites of "Line-Up," if slowed down to the tempo of "Becoming," which probably is close to the tempo at which Tristano recorded "Line-Up" before he then speeded-up the tape, sound less dazzlingly irregular and "irrational" than they do when sped-up. Here, I think, Iverson's mention of Nancarrow's player-piano pieces makes some sense. Likewise, many of us know how rhythmically mind-boggling a Coleman Hawkins record can sound if it's sped up so that the pitch of the horn is in the alto saxophone range -- this of a player who is not often felt to be a great purveryor of meaningfully "irrational" rhythmic thinking. I should add, so as not introduce a chimera, that "C-Minor Complex" from "The New Tristano" shows that by that time Tristano could achieve the meaningful irregularities of "Line-Up" all by himself, with no tape manipulation.

I didn't think it was possible not to. OK, but I don't recall her looking quite that way in the movies I've seen her in ("Lost in Translation" and some others whose names I don't recall).

I didn't think it was possible not to. Well, this side of Dolly Parton, I never really know for sure (given the wonders of modern garment technology) until I actually see them, and I don't recall seeing that much of Johanssen before.

So nice the way the right side of the sweater is taped to just the right place on her chest, almost but not quite. Is there a name for the people who do that kind of work? It can't be easy. Seriously, I had no idea that Johansson was that breasty.

Following Jim's lead, I'm not much into drawing lines except in obvious cases -- spammers, trolls, seemingly dangerous nut cases, etc. EDC strikes me as one of a kind; in fact, his persona seems to have been carefully crafted to create that impression. Obviously intelligent, with a good deal of varied experience, and with lots of frequently self-consciously provocative opinions, which he typically states in a self-consciously provocative manner, at times he just flies right into a wall at high speed and goes splat, covering himself and all those within range with smelly goo. In part because I tend to agree with EDC about many things, I've often found his posts, stimulating, illuminating, even amusing, but this piece of ugly, seemingly out-of-nowhere behavior ... well, it's the smelly goo problem, perhaps. How much of it can and should be endured? If the rest of us can wipe it off and go on, I say that EDC should be allowed to come to his (or his persona's) senses and go on, too -- though perhaps the above will really set him off. I hope not.

Chuck's instincts yesterday were correct -- Please stop this, everybody.

A book that corrects the errors of Phil Schaap -- that'd be a best-seller. Seriously, Michael Fitzgerald attempted something like that when faced with Nick Catalano's appalling biography of Clifford Brown, compiling a multi-page list of as many of the book's significant goofs, mis-statements, and outright contradictions as he could bear to type. It ran on for maybe single-spaced four pages and was inadvertently almost funny at times but obviously of interest only to people like us, certainly not to the editorial staff at Oxford University Press, which published the book.

I hope the website will remain: http://www.thepilgrimtraveler.com/about.html I just took a look and felt that a man of great wisdom and kindness was talking right to me. There's lot there to take in.

EDC -- The idea that Chris is jealous because Schapp " usurped a position (in public consciousness) [that Chris] once held" comes from what planet? You need to stop smoking those funny cigarettes.

Did I post it twice? I did not know that. Sorry. Three times. Stuff happens.

Just got rid of the two duplicate posts of the Schaap article 'cause I got dizzy, too.

The clip on Jennifer Pike's site http://www.jenniferpike.com/ of her playing the opening few minutes of Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Carpiccioso is pretty stunning IMO.

Do they actually share a birthday? In any case - I haven't caught any of this on TV this year, but it's a great competition. Some truly phenomenal talents. I assume that Bianca S. is saying that 12 is 12, while the BBC is now breaking it down to month/day of birth because that makes this year's winner special.

I recall reading that of drummers who arguably were very good, Shelly Manne was the ultimate set-your-watch guy.

And Jennifer has come a good ways since age 12: http://www.jenniferpike.com/

How is he the 'youngest ever' winner when he is the same age as Jennifer Pike was when she won in 2002? Bianca S, Maidenhead, UK Yeah -- what's up with that?

Probably more the latter IMO. Lord knows she could swing and improvise. On the other hand, all this was heavily conditioned by her natural Country flavor (Southwestern variety). There's a 1975 Starr album with Jimmy Rowles and Red Norvo, "Back To The Roots" (GNP) that's a great one: http://www.musicstack.com/album/kay_starr/back_to_the_roots

I have the Doris Day album - its better than you'd expect. The album Dan refers to probably is the one Day made with the Andre Previn Trio (Red Mitchell, Frank Capp) in 1961, but from the very first (her Les Brown recordings in 1944, when she was 20) there was a considerable overlap between Day's virtues as a singer -- great, flowing time/phrasing; subtle control of her innately attractive vocal timbre; genially sexy, witty warmth of interpretation, etc. -- and what were at the time common jazz virtues. On the two-CD Sony anthology "Doris Day: Golden Girl," there are a number of performances from the late '40s, early '50s (in particular, "It's Magic," "That Old Feeling," Again," "The Very Thought of You" and "Too Marvelous For Words" --those last two with Harry James and small groups drawn from his band, from the film "Young Man With a Horn") that withstand comparison with, say, the ballads that Stan Getz was recording for New Jazz at the time. In fact, Day probably was more rhythmically relaxed than Getz was.

Thanks for jogging my memory. I'm pretty sure they said the same thing to me about the index being limited to a small number of pages. Also, I'd already had to trim about 40,000 words from the manuscript to make it fit their strict word limit/page count (all of this having to do with the number of signatures, a big cost factor) and was worried that with an index I'd have to cut more text. (BTW, in order to lose those 40,000 words, I didn't cut any pieces internally, just removed whole ones. The other way, I would have gone mad.) I agree about the need for indexes, but now that I think of it, I guess I was finally a bit numb about that problem with my own book because I knew/know myself where everything in it is. In fact, I can read almost any un-indexed book (e.g. a novel) and for some time afterwards find almost any memorable (i.e. to me) passage pretty quickly because I remember whether it was on a left- or righthand page, on what segment of the page it was, and in roughly what segment of the book that page is. Weird how that works.

But I didn't know you then.

I'm sorry, Jim. Your loss clearly is great, but it seems clear that was in part because there was so much shared good there. That doesn't make things easier, I know, but all that he gave you is in you, and most or all of it can be kept alive.

No index? You must have gotten the wrong copy. Seriously, my recollection is that Yale said that it was not within their budget for a general interest book of this sort to have it indexed, though I could pay someone to do it or do it myself. The latter was tempting, but then I realized that indexing is a special skill, which I could of course acquire, but I probably couldn't acquire it and do the index for my own book within the time required. As for the first alternative, I'd already been told by Yale that they don't proofread manuscripts (at least of my sort), but that they could recommend a freelance proofreader who I would have to pay myself. That I did decide to do; the fee was maybe $800 or $1,000 and well worth it; he caught a lot of stuff and even said he enjoyed reading the book, though he wasn't a jazz fan. Even then, I might have sprung for an index too, except that I rightly figured that I'd never make a penny beyond my advance, and the money I'd spent on the proofreading had eaten up the advance. Also, I knew from experience that there are good, thorough indexes and just bald lists of names, and I didn't know how to ensure that I'd get a good one.

"Two Jims and a Zoot" is at times a bit too bossa-nova-ish and laid back for my tastes, but there's some great playing here. In particular, Hall's tune "Movin' Out" has some of best Raney there is; I've virtually memorized his solo without intending to but am thrilled anew each time I listen to it. The young Steve Swallow is a big asset.