Guy Berger

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)."

Damn straight. It deserves the "State of the Tenor" treatment or what? Someone[bN] should record their next tenure for a multi-cd set. Plus the bonus dvd. Bruce Lundvall was there for the second set, so you never know. I forgot to bitch him out about the BNBB. B) Guy

I saw these guys last night. I'm embarrassed to say that I only recognized three Monk tunes ("Off Minor", "Crepescule with Nellie", an amazing "Misterioso") and one other tune that I can't recall the name of. Anyway, they were amazing. Three musicians that are totally at the peak of their respective instruments. Lovano gave one of the best tenor performances I've seen -- overflowing with ideas, never a dull moment. And hearing Frisell in a (relatively) straight-ahead was something. Motian is such an incredible drummer. Sorry for gushing. Guy

I remember seeing the AMG rating of 5 stars and being really excited at picking this up. When I popped in, I kept expecting Sonny to burst into a confident solo full of ideas... and it never happened on the title track. Instead he sounds a little lost (unlike Freddie). The Jones-Garrison team absolutely cooks on this track, but not enough to sustain interest through the whole 20 minutes. If somebody knows what I am My opinion of the last two tunes is much better. Guy

Mike, David Wild's website has a correction to his liner notes -- it is, in fact, a tamboura. An Oud is not an Oud Guy

Enlightenment is a great release, but I get ear fatigue listening to the whole thing at once -- sometimes McCoy is pounding you into submission. Sama Layuca (w/Gary Bartz and Bobby Hutch) is also a great one. Guy

Grant Green's "Am I Blue" is pretty lame, but not because of Joe's presence. Guy

BMG has this in their catalog -- you might be able to land a copy for cheap during one of their promotions. As far as retail outlets, www.alldirect.com is selling it for just under $70. Guy

The Name of the Rose (by Umberto Eco) -- My second time reading it... incredible! Guy

Hopefully I'll catch these guys next week... Guy

I actually like his playing on the Lloyd albums quite a bit. Hyperion is the weakest of the 3, though. You really owe it to yourself to listen to Higgins's work with Ornette if you haven't heard it already -- it's amazing. He also does similar stuff on Jackie Mac's Let Freedom Ring. Guy

Sweetnighter is a rougher, rawer album than Mysterious Traveller -- there's a lot less orchestration and post-production. Guy

Essential. Sweetnighter is WR's best album (barring perhaps Live in Tokyo). "Boogie Woogie Waltz" stands out simply because it's so funky and catchy, but each of the tracks has something to offer. Guy

Just a few posts ago, you claimed that Miles was listening to (and influenced by) groups like Nucleus and the Soft Machine. I'm still waiting for any sort of facts on the subject... Guy

Miles discovered Dave Holland at Ronnie Scott's playing with Bill Evans (Chambers, p. 142-3). He discovered John McLaughlin playing with the Tony Williams Lifetime in the United States (Chambers, p. 154). Neither context suggests any familiarity with British jazz-rock (Nucleus, Soft Machine, Keith Tippett) as you suggest. Do you have anything more substantial to offer? Guy

So Yes had silly lyrics. It's rock music, for goodness sakes! You made a lengthy list of bands which included Caravan, Egg and Camel. What poetic lyrics did these bands come up with? I don't see what the problem with "bombast" is as long as it's put to good use, whether by Bob Dylan or Yes. I can only speak for myself, not for "people like me". I've heard two albums by Nucleus and own the first five Soft Machine albums along with some live recordings. Again, what evidence can you offer that Miles listened to *any* of the British jazz-rock artists? This kind of pseudo-psychology is usually as meaningful as horse manure, but so what if he cringes? It's outstanding music. Guy

This is, of course, utter nonsense. Yes, Genesis and (on the first few albums) ELP are only formulaic insofar as they *invented* the formula. Their best albums are among the finest recorded by any rock band at the time. As far as the bombast, it's been in rock'n'roll from the very beginning. By the mid-late 70s you could say that the ratio of empty bombast to good music was increasing in the music of most of these bands (earlier in ELP, sometime in '74-'77 for Yes). This was a general trend in rock'n'roll music. How many of the more obscure bands below were active and making their best music by the late 70s? Intentionally or not, you are confusing what Yes and ELP are doing today with what they did 30 years ago. They are obviously not a vital part of progressive rock today (not sure what is), but that hardly undermines the value of their recorded legacy from the early 70s. You could write similar questions for most of the big-name prog bands as well. Mahavishnu was no more shallow than Soft Machine or Nucleus. If you can't recognize that the Inner Mounting Flame was a major achievement in this style, I am sorry. By the way, what makes you think that "Miles was clearly listening to - and influenced by" the artists you mention? I have never heard any evidence that supports this. Guy

I am listening to Cannonball's "74 Miles Away" right now, which fits both categories -- it's in 7/4, and there's a healthy dose of avant-gardisms in both Cannonball and Nat's solos. Then Zawinul does that tambourine-on-piano thing, which sounds pretty weird. And it grooves like crazy. (The crowd seems to think so too.) This is the kind of stuff that makes me completely understand why Zawinul thinks Cannonball never got his due. In fact, I would love it if Joe dropped the electricity for a while and put together a group to play some of this material. Maybe with a front-line of Gary Bartz (who seems to be a logical next step from Cannonball's playing during this period) and maybe Tom Harrell. And I'm not sure who should play in the rhythm section, but they've got to swing and groove at the same time. Guy

Back in September of last year I adopted two rules: purchase no more than 5 CDs a month, and listen to no more than 8 CDs a month (2 a week). I've broken the first quite a few times, but together they've kept my new acquisitions at a manageable scale. It allows me to give each pair of CDs a week to digest before moving on to the next pair. I'm trying to cut down the listening a bit further, but with a couple of burns coming in this month, it might not happen for a while. Whoever suggested just *stopping* for a month or two -- I haven't tried it yet but it is a great idea. Occasionally I get the feeling that I "must acquire this recording immediately". I try to sit on this thought for a couple of days, maybe a week, and usually this feeling wears off. I think it's also a good idea to avoid completist binges. It's very easy to pick up a bunch of CDs by one artist you are temporarily "high" on and then, a few weeks later, regret that you didn't diversify your spending a bit. I find that even with the best musicians, diminishing returns can hit pretty quickly. Try to buy no more than 2 CDs by the same artist in a month. If that doesn't sate your appetite, you can always get more the following month. Finally, *in general* avoid medium (5-8) and large (9+) box sets. There are many, many exceptions, but these are the kinds of things that create overwhelming backlogs. They are also a quick path to acquiring recordings that you wouldn't otherwise bother with -- this is not a good way of allocating your money & listening time. When I listen to these for the first time, I try to spread them out to only a few CDs a month rather than taking it all in at once (hard thing to resist). Intersperse it with other new music if you can, it will keep the box set material fresh.

I'd have to give Ptah the El Daoud the nod over Journey to Howthehelldoyouspellit simply for the presence of Joe Henderson. The latter is in general a mellower session. When I first heard Ptah, I was really surprised by how conservative it was in comparison to the stuff she and Pharoah were doing with Trane just three years earlier. Guy

I always got the impression that Leonard Feather was a wanker from his liner notes. He also liked to gratuitously show off his knowledge of music theory. Ira Gitler gets slammed a lot and his liner notes can get pretty goofy, but his enthusiasm is pretty infectious and I look forward to reading something by him. Guy

Dammit, I wish I could go to this thing. It sounds like fun. Guy