Д.Д.

Very sad, hers was a unique voice. Have had a couple of her albums in my bandcamp wish-list for years, will go ahead and buy them now. Susan Alcorn's bandcamp: https://susanalcorn1.bandcamp.com/

Karl, thanks for starting the fundraiser and sharing the information here.

😄

Would you care to share an example of an '80s Chet Baker performance "reeking of con"?

Pim, a junkie is not in control of his life, that is for sure. That does not necessarily make him "sad" in his own eyes. Also, "control of one's life" is a fleeting and relative concept anyway. A health issue, random accident, a war or even a loss of job can deal a swift and decisive blow to the "I control my life" illusion.

Oh, the Chet sad, Chet tragic thing... What is exactly so "sad" about Chet? That he was a junkie? That he lost his youthful good looks? Might be sad for someone, but I just do not see Chet ever being "sad" about it. On the contrary, I see Chet as a guy who lived his life just as he wanted and, in objective terms, he somehow faired much better than most (definitely better than any junkie musician I can think of). In the '80s he earned better than the vast majority of the musicians of his generation (the guy lost count of Ferraris he bought) and definitely did not suffer from the lack of touring and recording opportunities or recognition (contrast this to another contemporaneous junkie trumpeter, Woody Show, for example). He played as well as ever and produced some of the best jazz albums of the '80s. He was surrounded by friends (no, not everybody in his circle was a drugs enabler) who doggedly took care of him when he needed it - even when he himself was completely unreliable. Ladies flocked to him (so much for the worn-out looks). Even health-wise, he was surprisingly robust for his lifestyle at the time of his death (I remember reading that the examining coroner estimated his age as "mid-thirties" in the pathology report). Regarding the circumstances of his death - most likely this is neither a murder, nor a suicide, but an accident. Sad fact, for sure - but not a sad life.

Yes, you got it right. The most-streamed "jazz" tracks on Spotify are by-the-numbers tunes churned out in hundreds by anonymous musicians who are contracted through low- or no-royalty deals (unlike tracks from "real" artists where Spotify has to pay out around 70% of the streaming revenue as royalties to rights' holders). Read the article by Liz Pelly that Gioia is referring to - it's a good piece of investigative journalism. At the same time, I find the whining tenor of the Gioia's article annoying and childish - there is always "somebody else" to blame. No, it's not "industry" or "labels". It's the listeners. The majority of listeners (i.e. the people who consume music in a very different way compared to organissimo forum posters) really DON'T CARE. They start a ten-hour "jazz in the background" playlist at Spotify and it is good enough for their purposes. The listeners generate millions in streams of this muzak. The comparisons with radio payola are sort of lazy - with streaming, listener has a choice what to listen to. And how about this exhortation from Mr. Gioia's article: "our single best hope is a cooperative streaming platform owned by labels and musicians". Sure, cooperation between labels and jazz musicians for the common benefit - how can this possible not work?!

https://mikebullock.bandcamp.com/album/at-home-benefit-album Gorgeous.

https://tonybevan.bandcamp.com/album/everybody-else-but-me

In Memoriam of a truly great musician

Bandcamp HR will reach out to you shortly.

At this point, with full-tracks streaming available, I do not see any value in music reviews for me. Instead of trudging through randomly stringed pet hyperboles, I would be more happy with a simple list of albums by a person whose taste I trust. I can take it from there myself. When reviews influenced my record-bying decisions I really enjoyed the ones by Eugene Chadbourne and Dan Warburton.

Yeeey, the list game. That Burning Ambulance list does not suck. Here is what I would put for the albums recorded (not necessarily released) in 1974: Lee Konitz - "Lone-Lee" Amalgam - "Innovation" Earl Hines - "West Side Story" Mine Kosuke - "Out of Chaos" Toshiko Akiyoshi - Lew Tabackin Big Band - "Kogun" Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky; Konrad "Conny" Bauer; Ulrich Gumpert; Günter Baby Sommer - "Synopsis" Ella Fitzgerald - "Fine and Mellow" Zoot Sims; Bucky Pizzarelli; Buddy Rich - "Nirvana" Toshinori Kondo; Kazutoki Umezu; Toshi Tsuchitori - "Live Concert Tokyo 1974" Fred Frith - "Guitar Solos" Hans Koller - "Kunstkopfindianer" Dewey Redman - "Coincide"

Suddenly there is a new AALY Trio recording, first one for 25 years! It's on Silkheart: https://silkheart.bandcamp.com/album/sustain . Unlike all previous AALY Trio recordings, this one actually is a trio, just Gustafsson - Janson - Nordeson, no Ken Vandermark. Listening to it for the second time in a row - excellent album, mostly on a subdued side. It's such a pleasure to hear woefully rarely-recorded Peter Janson in free jazz context again - what a master! He gets this mesmerizing deep singing sound from the bass like no one else.

Listened to it on Spotify. Well, it's not great. Too much noodling, not too many ideas. After it was over, Spotify auto-played this one, and I see no reason to object to the good robot - it is much better: