Bill Evans' Documentary - The Universal Mind of Bill Evans

[JSngry]

[Larry Kart]

Well, not that Emily.

[JSngry]

Damn straight!

[Larry Kart]

I'd do her if she'd have me.

[Blue Train]

I'd do her if she'd have me.

Into necrophilia?

I kid!

[Larry Kart]

I'd do her if she'd have me.

Into necrophilia?

I kid!

No -- she'd have to be able to talk to me in that ungodly vibrant voice.

[fasstrack]

I like both Emily and, to a lesser degree, Shadow of Your Smile----OK the lyric is horrible for the latter. Anyway, so shoot me.

[Larry Kart]

exactly; and that Rusell/Bley solo was exactly what I was thinking about.

Just btw to reiterate on the suicide thing - I knew his wife in the last few years, and I saw him on occassion, and he was quite obviously and deliberately trying to drug himself to death.

And of course near the end of his life he added to his repertoire The Theme from Mash also known as "Suicide is Painless".

Always wondered about that. You know a psychologist/psychiatrist would have had a field day with it.

I find his penchant for "Emily" to be far more disturbing.

Never saw the film it comes from and just checked the lyrics for the song itself. Can you give more detail on why for us young'uns?

Because it too is by the Mandel and because IMO it's kind of a whiney/wimpy piece of music, as annoying in its own way as "The Shadow of Your Smile" -- though many talented jazz musicians obviously have felt otherwise.

OTOH, the film itself is darn good IIRC, though I admit to having a soft spot for Julie Andrews -- as an actress, a singer, and as a person. Did an interview with her once -- a lovely experience.

P.S. In general, I'm a Mandel fan. His Alban Berg-influenced score for "Point Blank" is something else.

I'd like to file an official protest with the Organissimo Society for the Preservation of Pretty Tunes!

Sure, everyone's entitled to their opinion on music, but when it comes to the aforementioned JM songs, the above opinions constitute a kind of blasphemy that must be dealt with by only the harshest punishments the OSFTPOPT has reserved for such affronts to its very core of belief.

Certainly, the lyrics to said songs make one want to with their corn, but one listen to Kenny Burrell playing "TSOYS" on his "Night Song" LP, is enough to prove that sometimes you gotta say, 'screw the lyrics'.

It's not just the lyrics of those songs that grate on me -- in "Emily" it's the almost whiney limpness IMO of the music that goes with the repeated title phrase. But obviously it is a song that has appealed to many talented improvisers.

[fasstrack]

exactly; and that Rusell/Bley solo was exactly what I was thinking about.

Just btw to reiterate on the suicide thing - I knew his wife in the last few years, and I saw him on occassion, and he was quite obviously and deliberately trying to drug himself to death.

And of course near the end of his life he added to his repertoire The Theme from Mash also known as "Suicide is Painless".

Always wondered about that. You know a psychologist/psychiatrist would have had a field day with it.

I find his penchant for "Emily" to be far more disturbing.

Never saw the film it comes from and just checked the lyrics for the song itself. Can you give more detail on why for us young'uns?

Because it too is by the Mandel and because IMO it's kind of a whiney/wimpy piece of music, as annoying in its own way as "The Shadow of Your Smile" -- though many talented jazz musicians obviously have felt otherwise.

OTOH, the film itself is darn good IIRC, though I admit to having a soft spot for Julie Andrews -- as an actress, a singer, and as a person. Did an interview with her once -- a lovely experience.

P.S. In general, I'm a Mandel fan. His Alban Berg-influenced score for "Point Blank" is something else.

I'd like to file an official protest with the Organissimo Society for the Preservation of Pretty Tunes!

Sure, everyone's entitled to their opinion on music, but when it comes to the aforementioned JM songs, the above opinions constitute a kind of blasphemy that must be dealt with by only the harshest punishments the OSFTPOPT has reserved for such affronts to its very core of belief.

Certainly, the lyrics to said songs make one want to with their corn, but one listen to Kenny Burrell playing "TSOYS" on his "Night Song" LP, is enough to prove that sometimes you gotta say, 'screw the lyrics'.

It's not just the lyrics of those songs that grate on me -- in "Emily" it's the almost whiney limpness IMO of the music that goes with the repeated title phrase. But obviously it is a song that has appealed to many talented improvisers.

Emily is good to play on. I liked the movie from which it was culled: The Americanization of Emily. Call the repeated phrase motific development.

Shadow of Your Smile is on my second tier of bossas, there being many nicer ones. But I pull it out once in a while. It has a minor 7th as a II chord in minor, which you don't hear everyday. Not unlike Benny Golson going from C Minor to A7 to start a cycle. Bends the ear just a bit.

Edited November 18, 2013 by fasstrack