chuckyd4

One of my main problems with singers like Alicia Keys and (especially) Christina is that they need to learn the value of a well-placed melisma. If you put one on every syllable of every word of the song, it completely loses its effect - this, IMHO, is precisely what gives that effect of "oversinging"... the complete inability to endow a song with any sense of storytelling that the greatest singers all have. Although, Christina was able to control it a bit on that song "Beautiful", which (again) IMHO, makes it the best song she's done. (Though that's really not saying much, to these ears)

It might have been his first appearance on wax playing piano, but he definitely started out playing it before he switched over to organ. There is a semi-interesting release on Empire Musicwerks that features a lot of his first sides on organ, and the liner notes talk a little bit about his switch from one to the other. He really hasn't quite figured out what to do with the instrument, from the sound of things, though... Amazing how quickly that would change..

We are now starting these shows at 1pm, so hopefully we can catch some of you working folks during your day, or else make it available earlier in the evening for those of you on the other side of the big pond. As today is a Thursday, you can catch it right now, if interested.

Yay! I decided to go ahead and do a show tonight... so fly on over to http://www.sudden-thoughts.com/radio to check out some classic stuff. If anyone has any problems hearing it, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks Patricia... hope you'll keep checking back. Hey Phil (got your e-mail, btw)... well, the radio stuff is basically a logistical decision. Since I'm doing 4 shows a week all by my lonesome, it takes some time to pick out 12 hours of music to play - as I try to keep the playlists in constant rotation. Nevermind the fact that right now (since my old hard drive crashed a couple of months ago), I have to rip each and every track, which takes a couple of minutes apiece, from my CDs... Also, right now I'm doing the shows directly from my laptop, instead of on a server, so I can't actually use my computer to listen to music (which, unfortunately, is my main stereo right now) while it's on. Anyway, that's basically it... hopefully in the future I can expand the shows a bit more; hopefully you'll tune in from time to time anyway! B)

Is that the Carnegie Hall Concert that Columbia released? Cause I actually do have that one, and it is one of the others that I do return to relatively often...

I try to do this as often as I can.... so here's tonight's playlist, currently on, and will be until at least 4am EST: 1) "Take Me in Your Arms" by Jeremy Pelt - Close To Your Heart (MaxJazz) 2) "Cardinal Points" by Jean-Michel Pilc - Cardinal Points (Dreyfus Jazz) 3) "Riding the Nuclear Tiger" by Ben Allison - Riding the Nuclear Tiger (Palmetto) 4) "Black Metropolis" by Malachi Thompson - Blue Jazz (Delmark) 5) "Soul Brother" by Andrew Cyrille - My Friend Louis (DIW) 6) "Texas Rumba" by Harvey S. - Texas Rumba (Zoho) 7) "Mambo Chueco (The Mestizo Suite) by Tony Malaby - Apparitions (Songlines) 8) "Soulville" by Ran Blake - Horace is Blue: A Silver Noir (Hatology) 9) "Left Alone" by Archie Shepp and Mal Waldron - Left Alone Revisited 10) "Squatty Roo" by Regina Carter and Kenny Barron - Freefall (Verve) 11) "Furthermore" by Eric T. Johnson - Herbie Nichols, Vol 1 (Summit) 12) "Darkness on the Delta" by Cassandra Wilson - Belly of the Sun (Blue Note) 13) "Minstrale" by Greg Osby - Zero (Blue Note) 14) "Ultraviolet" by Liberty Ellman - Tactiles (Pi) 15) "Earth Song" by Jason Moran w. Sam Rivers - Black Stars (Blue Note) 16) "34 Skidoo" by Paul Motian - Bill Evans (JMT) 17) "Never Let me Go" by Ugonna Okegwo - UOniverse (Satchmo Jazz) 18) "Invisible" by Geri Allen - Year of the Dragon (JMT) 19) "Helix" by Mark Taylor - Circle Squared (Mark Taylor Music) 20) "The Gambit" by Sam Yahel - The Trio (Criss Cross) 21) "Ornithology" by Paul Bley - Bebopbebopbebop... (Steeplechase) 22) "Bud-Like" by Kenny Barron - At the Piano (Xanadu) 23) "Get Happy" by Joel Frahm w. Brad Mehldau - Don't Explain (Palmetto) 24) "Boots of Spanish Leather" by Michael Moore - Jewels and Binoculars: the Music of Bob Dylan (Ramboy) 25) "The Git Go" by Marty Ehrlich - Line on Love (Palmetto) 26) "Manoir de Mes Reves" by James Carter - Chasin' the Gypsy 27) "Masqualero" by Wayne Shorter - Footprints Live! (Verve) 28) "St. Thomas" by Joshua Redman - Spirit of the Moment (Warner Brothers) As always, thanks for those who've been listening... tell a friend, we're always looking for new faces...

Hey stone- I've noticed that if I use netscape (you can download it for free), it has no problems getting into JC's Speakeasy. I imagine someone should e-mail Lois to let her know that some of us are still having problems...

Irony of ironies... given up my spot, but officially signing up to participate. And I promise to put in my guesses on #5 before it arrives...

I still can't get into the Speakeasy part.... it just comes up blank on my screen...

Two words: Don Pullen.

Man, I've always been at something of an arm's length from Brubeck... Time Out was one of the first albums I owned, and I've dabbled here and there in his other catalogue, but his work has never been a real passion of mine. Anyway, I just downloaded both volumes of the College of the Pacific shows from eMusic, and I am digging this stuff hard. The sound is a little crappy, and I'm a little partial to Morello's drumming, but this guy is no slouch himself. Desmond is absolutely on fire throughout the discs, and Brubeck seems to be finding some knotty place within himself consistently. I really like this stuff, and will probably be downloading more of their albums soon. It's always nice to reccomend some older stuff that a lot of people probably have... sort of a way to go back and rediscover an old favorite, I guess.

JOE! JOE! JOE! JOE! JOE! Please pass this along to everyone you know who might be interested in it (certainly a lot of the folks around here): We have posted our latest entry in "Rimes and Rheuminations", an entry from Joe McPhee, where he discusses his approach to cooking, both in the kitchen and musically. Interesting stuff. Also check out Dom Minasi's entry which came before this, in case you didn't already. It has been very rewarding to find out that Joe is an incredibly nice guy through this, too...

Well, after looking over the list, I think I'd like to be realistic and move myself to #20, right after you, Mike. Then it looks like we already have at least one volunteer to put himself in #7. Again, really sorry about the inconvenience this causes, and a big thank you to those willing to cover on such short notice. I'm hoping to participate in some of the tests in the meantime.

Well, the world has its own way of getting in the way of things.... long story short, it looks like I am not going to be able to give my blindfold test (#7) the kind of attention I would like to right now (hell, I still haven't made my guesses on #5!).... I have five tracks picked out that I feel really strongly about, but don't have the time right now to flesh out the rest of the disc in an intelligent way. Anyway, all of which is to say that you're more than welcome to push me back into next year or beyond... I'll let the gods of the board decide how to readjust everyone. I'm sorry for any inconveniences or short notice... I really hope I'll be able to participate again and/or do my own sometime in the near future.... just a little too busy right now. Thanks..

Don't know how many of today's musicians smoke... but this thread made me go light up a cigarette. Of course, I probably would have done that in the next 10 minutes or so anyway, so no hard feelings (I need a little smoking smiley...)

This isn't the first thing I've heard about Jazz Improv soliciting reviews and then sitting on them indefinitely, with little or no response to the respective writer when they wonder WTF happened to it. It is the first I've heard about out and out editorial sloppiness/illegality like that, though. Sad, as the mag's premise has the potential to be a great one in the industry. Truly shameful, imho.

If it's good enough for Mr. Sangrey, it's good enough for me. B) I am officially 7 downloads poorer for this month....

I just saw this one available on EMusic, but am trying to economize my downloading capabilities. Has anyone heard this session? It features Nat Adderley, Barry Harris, and Billy Higgins, for starters, and is supposed to be good solid straightforward hard bop. God it sounds tantalizing, but I remember being a little underwhelmed by the Blue Note two-fer that came out a couple of years ago of Wilkerson's stuff.

Can't resist the opportunity... I did a little feature article on Pi for my website, which you can find at this link. Also, I'm playing one of the tracks off of Ellman's disc on my radio show today... you can find the playlist over on this thread, with all the relevant information.

I for one am a fairly happy eMusic subscriber. All of the new stuff they are adding (for the last few months) is encoded at VBR, and they've changed over a lot of the old stuff as well. One of the benefits of the new ownership and track limits is that you can indeed cancel your subscription from month to month... it's a lot more flexible now.

Hey Berigan- Thanks for the heads up. Looks like the connection was going a bit wonky, trying to connect twice (?!?) for some reason... technically it had a "stale source entry". Anyway, point being try it again now and everything should be working just fine. As far as I know, it works just fine with media player.

OK... since I have the time right now... here's today's (Sunday 12/18) playlist, currently playing until 4am (EST). 1) Gianluigi Trovesi Ottetto - "African Triptych: Wide Lake/Scarlet Dunes/Western Dream" Fugace (ECM) 2) Wadada Leo Smith - "The Year of the Elephant" The Year of the Elephant (Pi) 3) Dom Minasi - "DMP" Time Will Tell (CDM) 4) David Murray - "3D Family" 3D Family (Hat Hut) 5) Sam Rivers - "Tranquility" Crystals (Impulse!) 6) Archie Shepp - "Wherever June Bugs Go" Live in San Francisco (Impulse!) 7) Vandermark 5 - "Happy House" Free Jazz Classics (Atavistic) 8) Tim Berne - "Huevos" Science Friction (Screwgun) 9) Jimmy Lyons - "Mr. 1-2-5 Street" The Box Set, Disc 1 (Ayler) 10) Joe McPhee - "Good-Bye Tom B." Tenor and Fallen Angels (Hat Hut) 11) Eric Dolphy - "God Bless the Child" Live in Europe, Vol. 1 (Fantasy) 12) Art Ensemble of Chicago - "Suite for Lester" Tribute to Lester (ECM) 13) William Parker Trio - "Undertaker's Dance" ... And William Danced (Ayler) 14) Cecil Taylor - "Steps" Unit Structures (Blue Note) 15) Liberty Ellman - "Ultraviolet" Tactiles (Pi) 16) Fred Anderson - "Fougeux" Back at the Velvet Lounge (Delmark) 17) Albert Ayler - "Bells" Live at Lorrach (Hat Hut) 18) Evan Parker - "The Echoing Border Zones" The 50th Birthday Concert (Leo) Hope that helps those who are listening. Thanks for your support, as always...

Another big thanks to everyone who's been checking in on the site. We've been doing a lot of tweaking over the last couple of weeks and changing the layout a little bit. Also, we've added some affiliate stuff, so if you buy CDs through our site, we get a little kick back, which is always greatly appreciated (we're not making much money off this thing, so every little bit helps). Also... please add some comments! Whatever you post (minus racial remarks or excessive profanity or anything) will get posted to the reviews, so feel free to disagree with me and point out stupid things I say and that kind of thing. I'd really like this aspect of the site to take off a bit more. In the upcoming weeks look for another Rimes and Rheuminations (I don't want to say who to jinx it, but a lot of folks around here should be interested), and probably playlists for the radio to be posted and that kind of thing. Thanks again for checkin things out.

I would love to see the first three as well, as it took me a long time to get over here from the BNBB. I admit I peeked a bit at the answer threads, though... but I can't really remember much except that one of them had a Vince Guaraldi track that surprised and impressed a lot of people. I would be more than willing to make a copy of each and send them along to the next person. Peace