Matthew

Just some of the reasons why I love this album: 1. He Loved Him Madly. Davis' tribute to Duke Ellington. This song evokes many responses by critics, with the words "strange" and "unusual" being the most often used by the reviews I have read. It is different piece of work, according to the Miles Ahead website, there are at least nineteen splices contained in it, but it does not have that "put together feel." Sometimes I get the feeling that people expected this tribute to the passing of Duke Ellington to be more in a traditional mode, something in the style of I Remember Clifford, instead of what Miles did here. It really is a different kind of song to honor Ellington, but to my mind, it is one of the best Miles Davis songs there is, I even like the sudden ending to it, which always catches me by surprise. I find the song, exciting, lovely, melancholic, and boring, all at the same time, and also depending on my mood. 2. The way Miles plays the organ. I've never read an in-depth appreciation of the organ playing of Miles, but I love it, and I find it totally unique. So often, from what I've read in different places, I get the impression that people feel that Davis is noodling on the organ, passing the time, not too involved. I don't find that at all. For me, his organ playing is at the heart of the songs here (as well as in other albums), and he also plays the organ with a sly sense of humor, of which, his playing on Calypso Frelimo is a good example. 3. Maiysha. I have a DID burn of my favorite Miles, and this one is on it, great playing by all involved, and it is a fun song. 4. It is a fun record. I know it is heresy, but the music of Miles Davis has a ton of fun and laughter in it, and those qualities are here in abundance. 5. You have to play it loud. The best way to appreciate the music here is to say: "To heck with the neighbors" and crank it up. As I said before: Buy it. Listen to it. Love it.

That's Giants Torture. And they're very good at it. Hey, they still won; fourth in a row, too Zito getting hurt helped a lot with the win, he looked terrible... again.

Watch out Yankees, the Giants now hit into five double plays in six innings...

Da Bulls™ escaped by the skin of their teeth today, not even having the lead until less than a minute left in the game. Rose looked great, and Noah is flat-out crazy. Maybe the Pacers will put up a fight in this series after all.

You know you're in trouble when Bartolo Colon is one of the better pitchers on the staff. In other news: It was a nice, workman life win for the Giants last night against the DBacks. Cain, as usual, was very good, relief pitching was okay, it was too bad that Wilson had to come in and get the last out, I would like to see the Giants try not to pitch Wilson as much, but a win is a win. These are the kind of games the Giants need to win because the Rockies are looking very good right now, and these early April victories add up at the end of the season.

What!!! The 2011 Cy Young Award winner?? f PA's bad... turns out he's been put on the 15-day DL for dead arm. Ivan Nova is a pretty fine pitcher for the first three innings or so... ay yi yi. Texas may be owning us now the way we owned them for so long. This just in: Phil Hughes' arm is still dead.

"You can't go up in that plane Pappy! IT'S SUICIDE!!!" Has to be a line from every episode of that series.

'...Horizon' is Benson "put in the right environment". It's his masterpiece, and quite atypical for CTI (no sweetener), and my favorite jazz guitar album. The title track from the Hubbard is gorgeous in a prototypical CTI manner. Also, 'White Rabbit' is one of the best "typical" CTI's (sweetener galore, but it all works). Agree w/Felser--BEYOND is a really solid Benson outing, Matthew. I have the Mosaic Contemporary edition (whatever happened to that series, eh?) and probably won't be too inclined to go for the new one, but you ought to snag it if you're into GB at all. I emailed Mosaic about a month ago asking if they would ever do the Contemporary Series again: Alas, "No" was the answer, which is too bad, it seems as if Mosaic was ahead of the curve on this one, there is some wonderful, under appreciated jazz from the 1970s, especially in the CTI catalog. On another topic: I have the Japanese edition of The Big Box, which was a 24bit remaster -- is there a noticeable sonic improvement with the 40th edition, (I don't want to spend money if both are equal)?

What!!! The 2011 Cy Young Award winner??

I'm the same way. Though I've never liked the Dodgers I have always liked Vin Scully's voice....and I can't believe Chick Hearn is gone either. The Lakers are the only LA team I root for since way back in the 60s. So...is Scully retiring? With Scully, it's year to year, he says he needs to see how he feels at the end of each season. How he has put up with the McCourt's is beyond me. I was wondering last night if Scully has been muzzled, because the Dodgers were getting booed loudly, and not a discouraging word was heard from Vinny's mouth. And not a word on the ridiculous security at Dodger Stadium -- two armed police at each section? What The Heck???? Dodger Stadium was empty, I doubt there were over 20,000 thousand in the stands. Sad times in Dodgerland.

I was able to watch the Cardinals / Dodgers game last night, and I'm afraid the Dodgers have a terrible team right now, nothing looks too good, just a couple of good players, but not the kind that can carry a team. On another note: I can't believe that I have been listening to Vin Scully all my life. I remember that Scully was the first announcer I ever listened to, and that was when I was seven years old, forty-five years ago. It won't be the same when he retires -- I'm still not use to no Chick Hearn for the Lakers' games.

Top of the 1st at that! What a way to lose a player. The Angels and A's should thank their lucky stars, the Rangers looked like they were going to run away with the division and go wire-to-wire this year. This will bring them back to the pack a little bit.

The head first slide claims another victim. And what makes the play even dumber is that it was the third base coach that was telling him to go -- geesh As Hamilton said: "It was a stupid play."

Josh Hamilton out six to eight weeks. The baseball gods can be cruel at time, though, Hamilton seems like a guy who is going to be hurt a lot in his career. Maybe when he comes back, the Rangers should just DH him for the rest of the year. Watch out for those Mariners now, best 100 loss team in baseball..

The Best That Never Was: The Marcus Dupree Story. What a story. Life can be a bitch a times...

The Giants won on the last at bat again last night, beating the Cardinals, and The Genius, Tony LaRussa. This Giant team looks very good, and very confident, I don't see how the Dodgers or Rockies are going to beat them, the Giant pitching is again the best in the league. The Giants also got their bling last night: Goodspeak's favorite pitcher, Barry Zito, goes this afternoon, we'll see how he fairs today.

That is the truth. It's no wonder Lee Travino hated the place and the people who run it.

Doesn't look like it... He earned over $200MM in his career, according to Baseball-Reference, but won't earn the bulk of his agreed upon 2011 salary. http://www.mlbtrader...ez-retires.html I can almost, almost feel sorry for him...almost. What a fool.... I don't see how he can be in the Hall of Fame now, caught twice doing PEDs, that's just beyond the pale. If voters are not voting for McGiwre, and will withhold votes from Bonds, than Manny has to be out also. So much for "Manny being Manny."

Giant baseball is TORTURE again.

Something about a positive drug test, I think PEDs

Did someone here really say that he thought Phil Hughes would win the Cy Young this year? What a dope...

Can't the Red Sox find a decent catcher, every time he throws to second, the ball winds up in center field. Greesh, Boston already down 2-0, and Lackey looks terrible.

Vikings ate a lot of kale. You gonna call a viking a pansy? Though they probably didn't eat it in chip form. And since this is the Willamette Valley, of course I've had kale growing over winter in the garden. Uff Da!

When I feel like big hats, I want BIG HATS! No.

Thanks for the review, and ditto to what The Moose has to say.