Larry Kart

Don't doubt that there are plenty of good scenes and good youngish players elsewhere; I mentioned Chicago (while making an arguably self-serving point) because that's where I live, and it's the scene I can partake of whenever I decide to leave the house, so I've gathered a fair amount of follow-your-own-nose info on it. On the other hand, I would be surprised if the communal vigor of the current Chicago scene wasn't something special -- from the communal vigor point of view, it reminds me (minus the presence so far of such immediately/lastingly towering figures as Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, etc.) of the early days of the AACM. Can't comment on Down Beat's "Chicago bias" because I don't see the magazine very often. Of course, Chicago is the mag's home town, and one of its prominent contributors, John Corbett, has played a producer/promoter role over the years in the Vandermark-plus-lots-of-European-visitors scene that sort of flowed into the one I'm talking about (Rempis, Bishop et al. have been Vandermark sidemen). FWIW, Vandermark does nada for me.

Sorry -- I meant to say that Richter's Schubert should be heard, because if he is for you, you can't live WITHOUT him. From what I'd been told about Pollini's Schubert, I thought I'd hate it/be bored by it. But while there are times when it seems a bit like he's delivering an essay about Schubert, it sure doesn't strike me as a boring one.

Don't assume that because I'm from "that generation" I've got a grudge against youngish players. Yes, the whole Wyntonian Era left me cold, or even (to be honest) indignant, but right around town (i.e. Chicago) right now there are a lot of interesting/promising youngish guys (mid-20s to mid-30s, with a few past that) and a real scene (with places to play) that furthers sharing of ideas, growth and individuality. Some names: altoist Aram Shelton, cornetist Josh Berman, tenorman Keefe Jackson, drummer Tim Daisy, bassist Anton Hatwich, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, altoist/tenorman Davis Rempis, clarinetist James Falzone, bassist Jason Ajemian, bassist Jason Roebke, trombonist Jeb Bishop, guitarist Jeff Parker, cellist Ken Davis, guitarist Matt Schneider, drummer Frank Rosaly et al. And most of those players are also composers and/or they think compositionally. I'm excited.

Heartily endorse Clementine's suggestion to look at Berkshire for Richter's Schubert on Regis. I have three of those discs, and it's deep (sometimes very strange but deep) stuff. He may not turn out to be your taste, but he should be heard, because if he is for you, you can't live with him. Also agree about Kempff -- the definition of ehat the Brits call "po-faced." If you want things without the standard rhetorical gestures underlined, try Pollini, whose choices seem to spring from intense, austure (perhaps a bit puritanical) conviction, but Kempff sounds like he's sightreading on Valium.

Definitely agree about "Modern Art." But then I'm one of those bastards who doesn't care for most everything Evans recorded after the death of LaFaro.

A good example of how a muddled memory of what you were told by someone else can become imbedded in your head as a non-factual fact. Need to watch out for that.

No, That would be "That's Earl Brother" that Ira played, not "Bebop."

They're sideman dates from first-stage Evans, but I think he's in fine form on George Russell's "Jazz Workshop" and "Jazz in the Space Age," and Eddie Costa's "Guys and Dolls Like Vibes."

Chuck, is that the one during which, frustrated with the way Ira was messing around with some New Age-y stuff flute-and-guitar stuff, you testily said, "Play bebop!" -- whereupon Ira literally played that tune?

"Cannonball Takes Charge." I also think he's in very fine form on most of Kenny Dorham's "Blue Spring" (as is Dorham), though that date as a whole is a bit limp and Keepnews-y at times, doesn't have the at once utterly locked-in/mellow/fiery feel of "Takes Charge." "Something Else" does have one of Cannonball's most effective solos ("Autumn Leaves"), and it's a wonderful record, but I think of it as more of a Miles album, even though Cannonball is the nominal leader. In fact, I'd say that Blakey has more to do with the overall feel of "Something Else" than Cannonball does.

Whether or not you have a taste for her stylized throaty approach, Morgana King was an intermittently very popular singer in the jazz-pop field beginning in the mid-'50s (her "A Taste of Honey," as they say, "charted" in 1964). If she was married to Fruscella, her taste in husbands was as musically impeccable as it was flawed in terms of fate -- at the time of his death in a car crash, she was married to trombonist Willie Dennis.

John Chilton, who says in his Hawkins bio "The Song of the Hawk" that "'Picasso' is not based on any standard harmonic progression," also says that the recording was "the result of intensive planning," adding that "n the same way that Hawkins liked to pretend that the original recording of 'Body and Soul' was unpremeditated, so he also chose to give the impression that 'Picasso' was an unplanned achievement...."

"so - if i said - keep the horse before the Kart - that would be eponymous?" No, but if I had invented a certain low-slung little race car, I'd be a wealthy man and you could refer to my eponymous Go-Kart.

Yes, but I wouldn't judge Thomas by that recording. As Dan Morgenstern said in the Keynote set, "Thomas developed a drinking problem, and while he still made some good records during the next 15 years [i.e. from 1944 to 1959], there were too few and far between.... [H]is great recordings [were] of the '40s...."

Classic Joe Thomas would be the Keynote Cozy Cole All-Stars 2/44 date with Hawkins, Earl Hines, Trummy Young ("Father Co-Operates," "Thru for the Night" etc.), a 7/44 Pete Brown Keynote date ("It's the Talk of the Town" etc.), a 10/44 Keynote with Red Norvo ("Russian Lullaby" etc.), and his own 8/46 Keynote date ("Black Butterfly" etc.) I have these on LP in the old massive Keynote box and don't know where they can be found now, but I would think Classic Jazz collections under the leader's names would be a place to look. Also, there's some choice Joe Thomas on the Mosaic H.R.S. box.

Phil -- Great news that this exists. About the Swing influence on Joseph and Fruscella, I vaguely recall Dan Morgenstern saying that one or both of them (if it was one, it almost certainly would have been both) really dug Joe Thomas. Either that or it's a possible kinship I came up with myself. (I also recall reading somewhere that Carisi was a Joe Thomas fan.)

P.S. Don't mean to be a nag, but as an old copy editor, the misuse of the word "eponymous" drives me nuts. It does not refer to two things or two people of the same name but to a word or a place whose name derives from that of a human being. e.g. Washington, D.C., Morse code, Bunsen burner, boycott, cardigan sweater, guillotine, etc. Also, eponymous, when it's used correctly (to refer to the place or thing named after a person relationship), only works in that direction -- person's name to what's named after that person. For example, it's correct to say "Morse's eponymous code" but not to say that Morse is the eponymous creator of the code -- because the code was named after him, but he wasn't named after the code. This error crops in newspapers and magazines all the time -- and almost always when the writer is trying to say something in what they think is a cuter, fancier way and get credit for being cute and fancy (which is not BTW what Cannonball-Addict was doing). Sorry for the rant, but it must be in my genes (or should that be "Mr. Levi's eponymous pants"?)

Don't believe they're related and have never heard that they were -- Edward born in Terra Haute, Ind. (and raised I think in N.C.), Don born in Moreauville, La. -- but maybe in some extended-family way.

John replied: "Yes, I wish I could access that Organissimo web site. Too much red tape there, not enough time to struggle through it." I think he's just very computer/internet shy. I'll try to talk him into it/through it but have a feeling that this may not work. There's nothing I would call "red tape" here.

About a month ago, John mentioned in passing that he'd been having computer problems (sounded like they might have been computer-user problems) that were making it difficult for him to get onto the 'Net with ease or maybe at all. Or maybe he said that he couldn't find the site anymore (this might have been when it was down for a good while). I'll try to get in touch with him and see what I can do to bring him back to the party.

She likes Terry Gross too. Hmm...

"Get that woman a radio show!!!!" In her view, she's not for public consumption. I'll certainly say hey if I get hooked up with Terry Gross.

Of course, the real mystery is Richie Crabtree's relationship to Peter Appleyard.

BTW, in case anyone else has ever wondered-- I once asked talented pianist Bruce Barth (now in his early 40s) if he were related to Mastersounds drummer Benny Barth. He said no.

How enjoyable? Well, my wife is at least as smart, kind, fun, etc. as Terry Gross seems to be, and she's put up with me for 33 years.