Guy Berger

I hate digipaks. Anyway, the 24 bit version (which is also available in a jewel case) sounds waaaaaaaaay better than the previous version. (Edit: the other version is not a digipak but rather the mini-LP that JAW mentions. I imagine the music is identical, but I hate that type of packaging.) Guy

An amazing album. Guy

Allen also plays on one track from Medeski Martin & Wood's "The Dropper". Guy

I recently picked up a 2CD set of Alexander Scriabin's Piano Sonatas. Any comments on these intriguing pieces? I know Sun Ra was a big fan of this guy. Guy

I've only heard 5 of Hill's 60s albums so I'm not exactly a comprehensive source, but I'd have to say Kenny Dorham. Dolphy, for sure. Tony Williams. It would have also been cool to have a session with Andrew, Eric, Tony and Bobby Hutcherson. The obvious one is Wayne Shorter, because he is also an eccentric and exciting musical thinker. It would have been increasingly interesting as the 60s drew to a close. Trane would have been interesting too. Guy

Add "The Real McCoy" and "Adam's Apple" to this list. Guy

Amen - a great album. Also, it's an excellent choice to play for people who aren't jazz fans. They'll be groovin' to "The Turnaround". Du dut, du du du dut.... Guy

The lineup of Davis/Shorter/Corea/Holland/DeJohnette, represented by a bunch of live recordings in 1969. The cool thing about this group is that it put together intense inside/outside playing with electric piano and some rock ideas. The setlists included a mix of older tunes ("No Blues", "Milestones", "Round Midnight"), '60s Quintet material ("Masqualero", "Footprints") and late 60s pieces ("It's About That Time", "Sanctuary", "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down"). Not sure if it's still active, but www.darkfunk.com had a bunch of these shows on realaudio. The March 70 recording is a different from the '69 gigs. The rock/funk-to-free jazz ratio is higher, and the group sounds different (Holland plays some e-bass, Corea adds all those crazy effects to his instrument, and Airto provides percussion). Guy

I agree, they are all worth hearing. I would put the March '70 Fillmore release with Shorter (It's About that Time) and the Dec '70 Cellar Door recording (Live Evil) at the top of the list. And yes, the Lost Quintet stuff was incredible. (Listening to a March '69 gig right now.) Guy

I found a cool interview with Lloyd here. The comments about Kenny G and barbeque sauce are hilarious. Guy

Amen... I still give the Birdland dates a slight nod over these, but I'm revisiting them and they are great. "Minor's Holiday" is a STUPENDOUS performance by everyone concerned! Guy

Check out Thomas Chapin's Sky Piece. He plays bass flute on the title track and maybe a few other tunes (it might be the more common type on the others), and it's absolutely haunting. I think you can download the track free at amazon.com. Guy

Here is another interview. What an arrogant bastard. Guy

It seems like Jurek's reviews fall into either the "sort of gushing" category or the "extremely gushing" category. Guy

It probably has to do with price elasticities. Since RVGs are generally titles that Blue Note expects to sell to an audience wider than hardcore collectors, the quantity sold is probably more sensitive to price changes than that of Connoisseurs. Guy

On record, I've found Ware to be a bit unrelenting. His playing is just SO HEAVY that I find it difficult to listen to a whole CD at a time. That kind of intensity translates much better into live performance. Guy

Not exclusively flute and vibes, but both Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue (w/Sam Rivers) and Components (w/James Spaulding) feature such a lineup on some tracks. Guy

I am thinking of getting an Arnett Cobb CD. Should I go for the Delmark collection, or one of the Prestige albums? And if Prestige, which one? Guy

Here's a review of the album. Guy

Et Cetera is my favorite Wayne session from the Blue Note years. The performances by all five musicians are unbelievable. Guy

I don't have a problem with the term "Coltrane-lite" -- considering how heavy Trane's music was, almost ANYBODY following in his footsteps would be "lite". It's not an insult to Lloyd. As you say, Lloyd has put his own creative spin on the Coltrane legacy and taken it to interesting places. Lloyd is also "Coltrane-light" in the sense that his tone is playing is much softer than Trane's. Again, not an insult at all. Does anybody else feel that his sound was a little thin on the Hyperion with Higgins / Water Is Wide sessions? It sounds much, much richer on Canto and Voice in the Night. Guy

I'm listening to Keith Jarrett's Treasure Island. Dewey's playing on "The Rich (and the Poor)" is so incredibly full of deep, deep soul that it blows my mind every time. Guy

Is it easy to find Acoustic Masters? It seems to be out of print. Guy

"The Monk and the Mermaid" (from the Water Is Wide) is one incredible duet! Anybody else with me on this? Guy

Like you, I'm in the beginning stages of exploring classical music. You might want to check out the late Beethoven string quartets (Opp. 127, 132, 130+133, 131, 135). The various slow movements are some of the most profound, sublime music on the planet. In fact, it was Francis Davis's comments in the liner notes to Interstellar Space* which made me seek these out. The early (Op. 18) and middle (Opp. 59, 74, 95) quartets are also very good to excellent but not quite as "heavy". I'd also recommend the Janacek (esp. #2 -- "Intimate Letters") and Bartok quartets (esp 3, 4, 5) -- they are more challenging than Beethoven's, but very powerful (though quite rhythmically active). Finally, Sibelius's 4th Symphony is a very dark, austere, introspective piece of music that I recommend highly. (Also check out the tone poem "Tapiola" by the same composer.) Guy *"As with late Beethoven, there is always going to be disagreement surrounding the music of Coltrane's last two years, a period when even some fellow musicians began to question his sanity (though never his integrity)."