Larry Kart

Happy Birthday, Joe. I need to hear you guys in-person again soon.

P.S. Does anyone recall or have access to the Down Beat review of "By George"? As I recall, "Handyland U.S.A." got five stars, but "By George" was kicked in the shins.

Just picked this up on Fresh Sound -- it was made for Label "X" in 1955, after "Handyland U.S. A." with Dick Sherman, David Schildkraut, Frank Rehak and others. First time through, I found it intriguing yet also a bit confusing/unsatisfying; the fairly consistent ensemble emphasis on flute/oboe/violin (Gene Orloff) lines seemed a bit arty-pretentious at times, as though those classical-associated textures were there as much because they were felt by Handy to be classy as for other reasons. (Echoes of Alec Wilder?) Also, while those passages are handsomely played for the most part, on the final track, "Knobby Knees," either oboist Tommy Mack is out of tune or his lines are so awkwardly placed harmonically in relation to the rest of the ensemble that it sounds like he's out of tune. On the other hand, I feel as though increased familiarity with this music (it's very dense) may leave me squarely in the camp of latter-day Handy and his "tone poems" (so they are called). Also, this is an essential disc for Schildkraut admirers. Anyone who thinks of him merely as a very successful Bird emulator will have to abandon that view, I think; Schildkraut's lightning-quick sensitivity to the in's and out's of Handy's writing is amazing, like ESP -- at times, if you find Handy rather "bitty" or precious at times, it's like Schildkraut's responses to Handy's writing are pulling the whole affair over toward where it should have been in the first place, coalescing what may or may not be somewhat wayward gestures on Handy's part into honed, pointed statements. Sherman and Rehak are in fine form too. Sound quality -- this is no doubt dubbed from an LP -- is not ideal (congested textures in the mid range, and this is again dense stuff to begin with), but I could alter things pretty successfully with tone controls.

I'm not saying it isn't a good book, but why or how the hell would John McWhorter know? I do know that Edward Jablonski's "Gershwin" is excellent.

Allen -- On what album can "Drop Me A Line" be found? Haven't been able to track it down myself.

I met Jesse Jackson in the lobby of a Chicago office building. He is tall.

I'm sure he did give her plenty of reasons. I'm just saying that, based on that one encounter, her ability to dramatize her anger, however justified that anger might have been, seemed to me to be world class.

Spent an interesting afternoon-evening with Dexter once at the time '"Round Midnight" came out -- among other things, he was full of shrewd, beautifully put views on other tenor players -- but only gradually did it became clear that the main (though I hope not the only) reason he wanted me to stick around was that my presence and our conversation was keeping a seething Maxine G. from tearing into him about something or other. This was in a hotel suite in Chicago, and she was stomping around in the bedroom, periodically opening the door to see if the path to Dexter was clear and then slamming the door when she saw it was not. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be on her bad side. Little Red, indeed.

Whew! That's some memories...Add Herbie Nichols,McCoy and Hancock and that's about all of my favorites....none of which I have heard live. Go Chuck! I would be interested to know your opinion of who you felt put on the best show in that setting? I have a friend who speaks quite fondly of Bradley's. I was there once or twice and recall that the level of conversation on those occasions was incredibly high. In particular, I recall sitting one table away from John Hicks and hardly being able to hear a note he was playing, let alone the bassist, because the people at the table in between were almost yelling at each other in an attempt to be heard above the general din. I said something about this to Hicks between sets and don't remember exactly what he then said, except that it was the verbal equivalent of shaking his head sideways as in, "I know, I know."

It's Benny Goodman"s "Sing, Sing, Sing," though it may not be the original studio recording or the famous Carnegie Hall concert one. There have been many later versions, though virtually all in the mould of the original.

Haven't heard it since it came out, but Steig's playing on "Flute Fever" struck me as narcissistic doodling. It was like he had an idea ( or perhaps that should be an "idea") about how to gee-up jazz flute playing, but either jazz flute playing didn't particularly need that idea or too much of what Steig did stayed at the level of "Hey -- look at my idea." I recall a piece about Steig -- I think it was in The New Yorker of all places, either thanks to his old man's connection there or because the writer was a friend of his -- in which Steig complained bitterly about how producer John Hammond had virtually ignored him at the "Flute Fever" recording session in favor of Denny Zeitlin. "Excitable boy, they all said."

No -- Ann Coulter is like Christopher Hitchens with a penis.

It almost certainly will be interesting, but perhaps in the way a train wreck is. Among other things, it might be as much or more about Hitchens as about Amis.

My memory of that concert in the photos is that the music either was all original or sounded as thought it were, and the first half was very Andrew-ish. On the second half with Roscoe, my memory is that Roscoe wanted things to go in a different direction -- less vampy and moody, more hard-edged -- and that his view prevailed, though not without some moments of what seemed to be tension between the principals. I believe, though I can't be sure at this distance, that someone else who was there had a similar impression and someone else who was there said they didn't notice any tension.

Nothing I recognized at the moment. The 1st half was a trio of Hill, Charles Clark and Thurman Barker. Roscoe and Ware were last minute subs for the 2nd half. Now I that I see the photos, I was there too. Reynolds Club, U. of Chicago.

Don't know if it's been mentioned here, and it's not jazz, but the Tzadik recording of Morton Feldman's Patterns in a Chromatic Field (for cello and piano) is a gem, so much better than the other one I know (on a German label, where it's called Untitled Composition for Cello and Piano) that it's hard to tell it's the same compositon (in case you're wondering, given the nature of late Feldman, it is the same piece). And what a piece it is -- far more active and in more clearly differentiated sections than any other late Feldman I know (it's from 1981), though there's nothing wrong with less active, less differentiated late Feldman works IMO, provided the inspiration is high, as it usually is.

Haven't read through the thread, so I apologize if it's been mentioned before, but among the most successful latter-day Hill recordings IMO is this somewhat obscure one, which he made with Danish and U.S. musicians (Scott Colley and Nasheet Waits) in conjunction with Hill's being given the JazzPar prize: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=18113 It was recorded at concerts on a tour, and it sounds like everyone has settled into the music. Also, these Danes not only can play but also play with more zest and boldness that some of Hill's latter-day younger U.S. sidemen.

It's here, as "Red Rodney 1957" (the original title) from Amazon U.S., but it's rather pricey: http://www.amazon.com/1957-Red-Rodney/dp/B...4163&sr=1-6

That Jaspar essay is fascinating. Two other interesting examples of early Elvin are the trio album "Tommy Flanagan Overseas" (the J.J. rhythm section of the time, rec. in Sweden, with Elvin on brushes throughout but often very aggressive and well-recorded), and half of Red Rodney's "The Red Arrow," a terrific record. The front line is Red and Ira Sullivan, mostly on tenor and in superb form; the drummer on the other half is Philly Joe (interesting contrast), the pianist is Flanagan, and the bassist is Oscar Pettiford! Originally on Signal, has been reissued on LP and CD, and I hope it's still availabe. Here's a link to a UK site that has the original cover: http://www.amazon.co.uk/1957-DVD-AUDIO-Red...y/dp/B00005YC5N

Lincoln Kirstein?

Mitchell played with Elvin Jones? Yes, at an afternoon jam session at a club on Wells St., north of the Plugged Nickel, between that club and North Avenue. At the the time, Roscoe was known to virtually no one I believe, and IIRC he stepped onto the stand of his own accord in the middle of a tune that already had been going on for a while. I'm sure that what he played had quite a impact on everyone. At the time I thought of it as being kind of Dolphy-esque, with a lot individuality and power and some of that special "objective" quality that is one of Roscoe trademarks -- where you feel that it's explosively hot but he himself is not being carried away, or that his being carried away is not the issue. BTW, on second thought, the drummer with the Coltrane Quartet that I heard at the Sutherland in Aug. '60 was not Elvin but Pete LaRoca.

Most interesting encounter, perhaps, was when Coltrane's first quartet (Steve Kuhn, Steve Davis, Elvin) was at the Sutherland Lounge in Chicago in Aug. 1960. We (my friends and I) knew "Giant Steps," but the "My Favorite Things" album had not yet been recorded, so even though that was the style in which the band and Coltrane were playing, it was all shockingly, thrillingly new to us. Also, one night between sets I saw Trane talking to his old boss Johnny Hodges at the bar -- the raised bandstand at the Sutherland was surrounded by the bar IIRC. In any case, Trane was showing his soprano sax to Hodges, who was examining it with interest -- Hodges of course having played the instrument himself for some time but not for several decades. Later on, 1962-3 and I think '64, there were quite a few Coltrane Quartet appearances at McKie's Disc Jockey Show Lounge on Cottage Grove Ave. just south of 63rd St. Every one of those was ----ing incredible, beyond anything on disc AFAIK, if only because no recording could capture the dynamic range of Trane and Elvin in live performance, especially if, as was typical at McKie's when you were seated at the bar (which again butted a raised bandstand), your head was about six feet or so from Elvin's bass drum, and Trane stood about four feet away from you. As I once wrote, one night I looked to my right during a set because I heard an odd thudding sound coming from there and saw the late David (Daiv) Rosenthal (son of poet-literary critic M.L. Rosenthal and eventually the author of the book "Hard Bop") beating his head on the bar with a fair amount of force and roughly in time to the music. Daiv was a strange guy, but what he was doing seemed like a reasonable response. Finally, Coltrane with Pharoah Sanders at the Plugged Nickel in '65 or '66 or both. I have to admit that my main recollection is being put off by Pharoah -- the way he seemed to heat-up instantaneously, as though he were plugged into a socket, while Trane had to "climb the mountain" so to speak (and IIRC Trane was showing signs that the "climb" was literally, physically becoming laborious for him, which was distressing to see and made me that much more inclined to be put off by Pharaoh, because it seemed like his instaneous heat was forcing Trane to match him along those lines). Also, I associate all this with the first time I heard Roscoe Mitchell, at an afternoon session with Elvin Jones during one of these gigs -- a performance that made it fairly clear that there was another way in the wind.

Gee -- what a surprise. Did you think before this that Mr. Baldwin was such a nice guy, like the rest of his dysfunctional siblings? I mean there has to be reason he's so often cast as an an intemperate ---hole, even though I think he has some gifts as an actor. You surely don't mean that his vile personal behavior is supposed to, in and of itself, invalidate the political positions he has taken? Or do you?

Clem -- I'm afraid Chuck is right here. In particular, most anyone who's spent some time in conversation with Ornette (not that that's necessary, but it probably helps) will tell you that you'd have better chance getting the West Wind to make an annual contribution to the March of Dimes than you would getting Ornette to do any of the things you'd like him to do. About Denardo I don't know, but even if he is, as you seem to suspect, a much different kind of guy than his father is, I can't imagine that Denardo would get very far if he did try to push Ornette in a direction that Ornette didn't feel like going. BTW, I'm not trying to paint Ornette as some kind of child, just as a near-absolute, probably permanent one-off. Given what we've all received from him .. well, we could have gotten much less.

IIRC that set was at least as fine as any Blue Note Smith jam session recording.