Sun Ra - Purple Shades: "A story that humanity needs to know about."

In Memorium: Douglas P. Kalish

As a young man I was introduced to Sun Ra's music visually. Discount Records in the early, fabulous '60s was located on the ground floor of the Book Cadillac Hotel, at Michigan Ave. and Washington Blvd., in downtown Detroit. Each year Discount Records had an annual storewide Christmas sale. For a number of Christmas holidays I worked as a temporary employee at the main US Post Office at Michigan Ave. and Trumbull St., not far from Tiger Stadium. One afternoon, on my way to my post office gig, I stopped in Discount Records to get an idea of what I'd spend my Postal Service earnings on - I worked solely for the certain benefits of Discount Records' Christmas sale.
   In the Jazz section of the store there was a very well-dressed, tweedy, horned-rimed man examining a Sun Ra vinyl recording with a purple jacket. Today my image of the holder of the Sun Ra disc comports with what I imagine the New Yorker's Whitney Balliet looked like - see his photograph on the vinyl Impulse recording of the concert that he produced featuring the greats Henry 'Red' Allen and Charles Ellsworth 'Pee Wee' Russell.  I conjecture that the Sun Ra album I saw was either "Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy" or "Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow" (circa 1961-1963). I should note that many of Ra's album covers are in purple - my favorite color too.
   I don't recall when it was that I first heard Sun Ra's music. It was probably on Bud Spangler's fabulous program on Wayne State University's then great radio station WDET-FM. I may have seen Sun Ra's Space Arkestra at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival; we were so far removed from the stage that we couldn't discern what or who was going on.  A few years ago I did  hear the Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen at Joel Peterson's National Bohemian venue. Sun Ra had already taken to the Space Ways by then; he died in 1993.
   I had been thinking about Duke Ellington and his music recently and this led me to think about Sun Ra's music. And this time of year is a period when I think about times' past and people that I've known and music that I've listened to that has affected, and continues to affect, me. There is a direct connection between Sun Ra's world and Duke Ellington's world - the musical worlds of both men. If one knows something about Duke Ellington's music and his musical life, the 58 minute You Tube presentation of the BBC-4 production entitled "Brother From Another Planet" is a vivid account of what it means to be a creative musician in America. Ellington and Sun Ra worked at their craft - inventing music and leading their bands - all the time. The link to the BBC program is second item listed below. While this program is devoted to Sun Ra, one could (in essentials) substitute the professional lives of Duke Ellington or Count Basie. What the program shows is how much work it was to create Sun Ra's music and how devoted Sun Ra and his musicians were to the music. Our Detroit/Ann Arbor friend, John Sinclair - the poet and most everything else - is featured in the BBC program along with Amiri Baraka, Archie Shepp, and John Szwed, author of Space Is The Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra. The third link below concerns the Jackie McLean documentary, Jackie McLean on Mars. It is very interesting and connects with Sun Ra and the musician's life in America in many interesting and painful ways.
   I sat down this afternoon to write a holiday piece on my favorite holiday music. Each year at this time I make recordings for my friends, one or two CDs, of music that fits my current holiday mood. To be up front I'll note that my favorite Christmas music consists of Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas Baby" - best Christmas song ever, Babs Gonzales', "Be-Bop Santa Claus", and everything included in Billie Holiday's recording Lady In Satin. The last item takes care of the new year too. The ultimate holiday film, taking care of Thanksgiving and everything else, is Woody Allen's Hanna and Her Sisters. The scene in the record store is precious showing the album covers of the great Cleveland and Detroit tenor saxophonists Ernie Krivida and Yusef Lateef.
   After you've been spiritually awakened by the three items linked below, spend some time with Hanna and Her Sisters.
 



http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2007/02/ave_whitney_balliett.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A74bjt0yGDc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ap1HJ8Cd4M 

Asteroid-Time, Jellyfish, and "Naked"

I don't bother with most recent movies, film, cinemá, or (especially) film reviews and film criticism. My distrust of film results from my distrust of visual phenomena. Mine eyes evolved to read books. I listen to music in complete darkness, visual goings-on are distractions. I've not always been blind to the movies. Indeed, even today black-and-white films shown by TCM on TV captivate me. But the TCM films are to my mind akin to listening to music in the dark; they, like music, appeal to that which is unseen, to something deeper, to something that remains after discounting the soundtrack and banal dialogue, a fixed-point of the mind's eye. In other words 'feeling' and 'understanding'. If you go to The Guardian link below and watch the 4+ minute film clip from the film Naked, you'll get the idea that I'm trying to get next to. What brought this on?

I'll get back to you.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/18/how-we-made-naked#start-of-comments

Irvine Arditti - Happy 60th Birthday!

Chamber music is, and has always been, my overriding musical love-interest. Years ago, when I was on the board of directors of the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, I used my powers of persuasion to get the Society to present the Arditti String Quartet in performance at Detroit's wonderful Orchestra Hall. The Arditti Quartet, led by its founder Irvine Ardiddi, performed Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1 (1905), György Kurtag's Officium breve, and Mauricio Kagel's First, or was it his Second, Quartet. It was a wonderful evening of music. Werner Klüppelholz writes in his notes to the Arditti's DisQues Montaigne Kagel recording:

It was Goethe ... who was responsible for the apt and often quotes remark that a string quartet is like a conversation between four intelligent individuals. Since the age of Viennese classicism the string quartet has remained the crowning glory of chamber music (if not all music). [p. 11]

I have a quibble about Klüppelholz's parenthetical condition - since the age of American classicism (aka "Bebop") the quintet has remained the crowning glory of THIS MUSIC.

The glory that was that Arditti evening in Detroit's Orchestra Hall has never been - perhaps never will be - repeated. However, the economics of chamber music verses orchestral music certainly fits today's bust-economy better than yesterday's boom-economy. So perhaps chamber music - both THAT and THIS MUSIC - will, in a manner of speaking, flourish.

Try this: http://boulezian.blogspot.com/2013/10/sixtieth-birthday-concert-for-irvine.html

 

EDGEFEST 2013 • Kerrytown Concert House • Ann Arbor, Michigan

Last week I attended the 17th annual EdgeFest, an exciting four days of creative, improvised music-making. Percussion was the thing - Hamid Drake, Tom Rainey, and Matt Wilson took care of the drums; while piano percussion was provided by Eri Yamamoto, Lucian Ban, Kris Davis, Connie Crothers, and Tad Weed. Bassists William Parker and Ken Filiano kept the bottom of the music tight and swinging.
   The trumpets of Lewis Barnes, Ralph Alessi, and Ron Miles; saxophones of Rob Brown, Jorge Sylvester, and Skeeter Shelton; and reeds of Piotr Michalowski were excellently played with expert musicianship, and feeling. If I missed anyone, it's because I wasn't present for their performance.
   Congratulations to Edgefest Director, Deanna Relyea and the KCH Staff for another exciting week of creative, improvised music.

Highland Park, Mi. - Our Patch

In Memorium: Anita, Carolyn, Mike, Lance, Harry (Johnny), Kenny, and Bill
                         John William Coltrane - September 23, 1926 - July 17, 1967 

                       http://rayesti-thoughtmatters.blogspot.com/search?q=john+coltrane

MUSCATEL ON A SUMMER EVENING: "TING-A-LING" & "TRANEING IN"

A Summer Evening in the Park (circa 1957)

We're talkin' stuff, talkin' smack, talkin' trash, playin' the dozens - "Talkin' 'bout

your mama, she’s a good old soul . . . ". Had we been in Manhattan or the Bronx we’d have been waiting for Cowboy. But here in the mid-west, in Highland Park, Michigan - one of Henry Ford's corporate towns (Inkster, Mi. was another); we're waiting for Leroy, our connection, our king for this day. Leroy rolls up on his bicycle that’s fitted with a basket attached to the bike's handlebar. The bike's basket is fitted with bottles of Cadillac Club Muscatel and a couple of Carling Black Label 40 oz. ice cold brews - the main thing (wine) and wine-chaser (beer). Our main thing, the muscatel when uncapped, filled the heavy night air with an aroma of sweet youth itself - we weren’t connoisseurs of the grape as such, but rather we were connoisseurs of the muscatel followed but the ice cold Carling Black Label chaser - think about it: What could be more fitting for Highland Park’s smart set?

For me, the feelings connected with the aroma of muscatel -"These Foolish Things"

- are as heavy as the feelings that I have remembering my pre-school self and the shrimp lunch that I had at the Galveston Bay restaurant in Texas with my grandmother and her elegant lady friend, the one with the Studebaker automobile who lived in the Hollywood-style film-noir crib.

The park where my friends and I had our wine-tastings, sang our street-corner

jams, and parsed the girls that we wished we knew into the aesthetic categories of fineness and bat-hood was located at the corner of Massachusetts Street (my street) and Woodward Avenue (Detroit’s main street that runs from downtown Detroit

to Bloomfield Hills and beyond). This park, our country club, was between the McGregor Library and Howard Johnson’s restaurant; and across Woodward facing a drug store, camera shop, grocery store, and American Legion Hall. Behind Howard Johnson’s was a field that was later developed into a motel.

The members of my set of friends, those with 'park passes', were Johnny H., George G., Donald P. (the Massachusetts St. subset), Jerry M. of Connecticut St,, Pieter W. of Colorado St., Kenny S. and Ken H. of Midland St. - not quite out of Goodfellas, rather more out of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

I don't recall any girls having 'park passes'. We certainly would have issued passes

to girls - if we had known any. And when a member of our set was lucky enough to

meet a girl who would date him, our park was temporally off limits; since poaching

could be a problem. But after being dumped, the dudes always came back to the

park's benches. If a member of our set wanted to show us the he actually had a date

with a fine girl (no one dated "bats"), he’d show her off by taking her to 

Howard Johnson's for coffee. However, in the fall and winter we all hung out at 

Howard Johnson's and McGregor library.

I don't remember any girls attending our 'wine-tasting' functions. Later, when

members of the park-set finally got hooked up with members of the opposite sex

the 'wine-tastings' took place on weekends at my house at 124 Massachusetts. 

And once indoors, our muscatel days were behind us; we had developed a taste for 

gin martinis. Leroy remained our primary connection, since we were still in high school. 

I won't go into the details of my parties, others are/were in a better position to account for the attendees, since I was either elsewhere, or when I was on the case, my primary interest was in controlling the music - I had a jazz only policy. (I did have one 45 rpm R & B disc - "Gum Drop"- that I had just in case I got an unmusical girl alone in my lair. I don’t think that I ever had to stoop to playing it  - Chet Baker usually served my purposes quite well, in preliminary ways.) That's not to say that I only liked jazz. I listened to "Frantic" Ernie Durham's radio program, and I was a devotee of his music programming, Red Prysock's "Hand Clapping" and Jessie Belvin's "Goodnight My Love" were his opening and closings themes; he was the best DJ in Detroit for our time.

During my Highland Park High School days (1956 - 1959) the ratio of cars to members of my now expanded set of friends was about 1 to 5. Many of us had steady girlfriends, but "steady" meant two or three weeks at a go - we all had girl-trouble all the time.

Many of us covered a lot of Highland Park on foot. For longer trips to Olympia Arena for the Red Wings, Briggs Stadium for the Tigers and Lions, Masonic Temple and Ford Auditorium for concerts there were the efficient and wonderful streetcars - April 8, 1956 marked the end of Detroit's streetcars. Parental supervision amongst my friends and me was rarely enforced. Many of us were of 'broken homes' and our single parents had full-time jobs. My mother worked evenings at the Post Office, leaving me with a lot of room to wander. I was only in jail once, in Grand Haven, Mi. Illegal possession of a six pack of Schlitz beer! Two friends, Doug R. and Lance V., and I were in jail over night. Our fines were $33 each - we had $100 among us - collect calls home and Western Union straightened us out. The judge or magistrate claimed to have grown up in Highland Park, so he cut us a deal; leaving us with 33¢ each.

Most of my friends and I smoked cigarettes. I got my nicotine habit in Boy Scouts. The other thing that I got from scouting was an aversion to the out of doors - camping, fishing, sleeping on the ground. We rarely smoked weed or "boo" as it was called by some. A friend of mine who lived across the street had an older brother called "Puddin'" who claimed to be a pimp. Puddin' lived at home with his parents. This circumstance often went along with being a pimp or mac-man. He didn't own a car either. But Puddin's appearance was that of a tenor saxophone man, it touched on Ben Webster or Lucky Thompson: gabardine slacks and shirt, Stacy Adams shoes, etc. He was mac enough for me. One day the brains trust of my happy set of friends wanted to buy some weed (boo). My friend suggested that his brother the mac-man could "hook us up" (as one hears today). So I found myself in a car with Puddin' and some other guys heading to Detroit's East side to cop some boo (I like the heavy sounding "cop some boo"). Well this bad-ass Highland Park crew copped two joints each for our one-time personal bad-ass use. We liked being around gangster action - no matter how low budget. Unlike today, where weed is purchased by the kilo (or so it seems); in the mellow days of my Highland Park youth, weed was purchased in individual cigarette form - joints. A friend of mine's wife could roll the hell out of a batch of weed, she was faster than a Cuban cigar roller. The resulting joint was pleasing to behold: special high-gloss paper, with the ends tucked in. There's so little style today.

Cars or "Are the Stars Out Tonight?"

George G. had a 1957 Chevy with moon-style hubcaps. He was a north Woodward, Totem Pole drive-in, drag-racin' man. Each of us at one time or another rode shotgun with him. We loved our wine and stuff; George loved his ride, so he wasn't a 'park ranger'; we had to catch him on the fly for a ride and drag-racing thrills.

Doug R. had a very powerful Olds coupe. We were night hawks, Batmen - no Robins among us - dedicated to the crispness and clarity of the night. We were dedicated Night flight listeners - its theme song was "That's All".

Mike S. drove a grand DeSoto. His dad worked for the Chrysler Corporation. Mike didn't hang out with us during our normal playtime. We usually met up with Mike after hours when we took in the after hours jam session at the West End Hotel near the Cadillac plant at West End and Fort Streets in Delray. Mike was devoted to his girl friend Gloria L. who later became his wife. They were regular attendees at my Massachusetts St. parties. In the wee hours of the morning, after a West End jam session Mike and I would go to a Syrian bakery on Orleans St. for freshly baked bread - 'jam' and bread were heaven to us.

Ken H. drove a huge dark blue Chrysler convertible. This was the babe machine, its back seat was greater than any other. Preparation for our night flights were quite complex and labor intensive. Although gas was priced at between 19¢ and 21¢ a gallon, Ken's love machine had an immense gasoline dependency. Its gasoline-jones were fixed by means of two primary methods: foraging for returnable pop bottles and siphoning gasoline from other automobiles. The Midland St. boys were especially adept at the latter. Foraging was a daytime activity, whilst siphoning occurred at night. Were there mints of some kind for gasoline-breath?

Ken's Chrysler once gassed-up took us and our female companions to various dark corners of Highland Park. If we couldn't corner 'dates', we'd hang out at the West End Hotel jam session. The Chrysler was a mission-specific ride, only amorous or musical joys were permitted, given the price of gasoline.

West End Hotel News

Otis “Bu Bu” Turner

At the baby-grand piano,

Sings If You Could See Me Now beneath a triumphal arch,
Separating two rooms of beboppers, night-owls,

‘Players’ who knew what Bu Bu was saying,

Knew what he was playing,

Knew Diz and Dameron.

Blues In The Phone Booth

Alvin Jackson, a double-bass playin’ brother,

Brother of Bags, has completed his phone-call,

Leaves the door wide-open for the trumpet player who,

Prefers to jam sitting down - get down sitting down then.

Roy! Brooks! drummin' man,

Has set up his drummin’ stuff to one side of Bu Bu’s baby-grand.

Trumpet’s in the phone booth - was that Lonnie,
Lonnie Hillyer, inside with his Trumpet,
Pet?

Phone booth action happened on the other side of Bu Bu - at his left hand.

In Walked Charles of the McPherson clan - an alto playin’ Man!

Worst coffee in the world! But the West End Hotel's after-hours' hang,
Provided everything else that this young man’s soul required.

Man!

A Fabulous Concert, 3 March 1957:

"Traneing In"

I participated in basketball at Highland Park High School - Freshman, JV, and Varsity. I was not a starter on the Varsity team. The first time that I heard John Coltrane in person was in 1959, on a Friday, the night of the HPHS basketball team's game at Monroe High School. Instead of enjoying the long bus ride to Monroe, Michigan, I decided to attend the Miles Davis Sextet's concert at Ford Auditorium in downtown Detroit with my girl friend. I had heard Miles Davis before, but not with Trane. The auditorium's stage had a segment that could be lowered and raised to the level of the main stage. At the beginning of the concert, Miles's band was raised up on the sub-stage segment while firing away with Thelonous Monk's tune, "Straight No Chaser" - needless to say, Ford Auditorium was lit up musically. My team didn't miss me, but I wouldn't have missed that fabulous concert. I was fortunate to be in the presence of Miles and Trane many times after the Ford concert. My wife and I were in London England when Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991. The Brits made a big deal about Miles then - an hour-plus TV program. I have no idea what the Americans did, but I'm certain that it wasn't much.

Basketball-Jones               

Ferris Elementary School

Bill Sarver, Longworth Mapp, No. 24?, Richard Krivak & John Fundukian

Basketball was a way of life for many of us in Highland Park. The high school's teams were justly celebrated by journalists like Hal Schram and others who knew the game. Jim Wink was our celebrated varsity basketball coach. Coach Wink served in the Marines during WW II, and was on Iwo Jima. He specialized in zone defenses and shooting foul shots underhanded. That's a 3-2 zone in the picture above. At the end the end of the school year Coach Wink would give each of his players who were returning next year a leather basketball to wear out during the summer vacation. 

A typical summer weekday went as follows. Wake up at noon or later. Fix myself breakfast. Head over to Ferris school playground with my basketball. Meet up with my basketball playing friends (“ballers”), and play 3 on 3 until 7 or 8 o’clock.

We had two connections now for our 40 oz. refreshment: Leroy who was himself a very good basketball player and Roy who thought he could ball, but couldn’t. We had to let Roy play because he was one of our connections.

So we'd put our quarters together, get a 40 oz. Carling and talk about who was the baddest and maddest, who had game, which girls we'd like to hook up with &c.

Sometimes we'd have games with ballers from other school playgrounds - e.g., Bobby Joe Hill and his boys from the Willard. Bobby Joe Hill (R.I.P.) is undoubtedly the most famous baller from Highland Park. His Texas Western team won the NCAA Championship, beating Kentucky. He and George 'Baby' Duncan (R.I.P.) were the best of the best. Guys in Highland Park played basketball all the time, in snow, on dirt, in back yards, everywhere. Ballin' and drinkin' cold ones - sublime.

George "Baby" Duncan #3, George Lee #13, Coach Jim Wink

Bobby Joe Hill

We took Manhattan, but it took a while

The Park set of which I was a member took music very seriously. While we certainly liked the blues and rhythm & blues, jazz was our music (this included the great band and ballad singers). We especially obsessed over Thelonious Monk, James Moody, Lady Day, and John Lee Hooker. Another Midland guy I need to mention is Jimmy C. Jimmy C. was especially taken with the alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. I didn't get Jackie at the time, when we were in high school. Today when asked if I have any regrets in life, I answer with my sole regret: I didn't hear Jackie McLean in person.

On two occasions whilst in high school a few of us travelled to Manhattan. The first time, two of the girls secured a hotel room while the rest of the party crept in. We heard Chris Connor and and Kenny Burrell's trio with Richard Davis and Roy Haynes at the Village Vanguard and Al Cohn and Zoot Sims with Mose Allison on piano. The second time was during the Christmas break. John Z. and I sat and talked with multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk at the Half Note. A former classmate of ours, Mike M. had moved our east, first to Nutley, N. J. then to Manhattan. Mike was an artist and gypsy cab driver. He pops up again later in our little tale.

I must mention Pieter W. here. Pieter drove our gang to Manhattan the first time in the family Chevy station wagon. Pieter's dad, Karl chose our route for us. It consisted of avoiding each and every freeway to the east coast, and using instead the back roads of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The trip took 24 hours with all of the stop signs and all. Pieter was one of my best friends in high school. And he remains one of my best friends.

To Launch or To Crash

We partied at my Massachusetts address. Pieter's Colorado address was both a staging pad for us if we were going to parties or doing some other stuff and a Sunday rest home for weary party animals. Though Pieter's dad was an advertising executive at McCann-Erickson ( a "Mad Man", but who knew what evils television would bring), Karl and Peg (Pops and Moms) ran an antique business out of their home, under the trade-style of Sign of the Blue Onion. As a result of their antique business, they were away from home on weekends - traipsing through the back roads of Pennsylvania no doubt, hence our Manhattan directions.

Sundays at Sign of the Blue Onion were quiet times. Sometimes there would be caraway seed cake. Pieter had a facility for mixing orange juice and milk and thereby creating a creamsicle like drink. We talked about people we disliked, pricks we met a parties or on the playground. We talked about our unsuccessful doings with the fair sex. We talked about our sexual no-contests. We spoke of our girl troubles mostly. We gave each other advice.

There was no music on Sundays. "Frantic" Ernie Durham was not on he air then. One summer we sat on the Hamilton-Davidson overpass near Willard school many nights at about 11 PM. Ernie D. drove a Cadillac convertible. It appeared that the Frantic One was engaged in a "creep". You know he was seeing his lady who lived in the neighborhood between his radio broadcasts. You know the Luther Vandross tune, "Superstar". So we'd sit on the overpass and wave to Frantic Ernie, encouraging our main man in making his visit. "Frantic" Ernie Durham was one of my heroes then. Doc Greene the columnist for the Detroit News was another of my heroes. Both Frantic and Doc drove Cadillac convertibles. Both were regal. I remember being at the Minor Key one evening when Doc Greene walked in with Stan Getz who was performing there that evening. I thought two gods had walked in. Doc's cadillac was parked right in front of the place. Doc reminded me of Stan Kenton in appearance; he was tall, with silver hair, and very well dressed. Again that much-missed style-thing was in play. No one watched television back then. That's the stylistic difference. We were better off, I think, without CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and ESPN.

I moved from Massachusetts St. in Highland Park in my senior year. I commuted to school from our flat at 16202 Princeton St. on the west side of Detroit. After I graduated, my family and I moved to 16856 Baylis near 6 mile which was also on the west side and closer to Highland Park. My Highland Park friendships remained in tact. I still had parties at the Princeton address.

After we moved to the Baylis address, I went to Manhattan with Lance V. and Pete D. We stayed with Mike M. and his friend Joel P. in an artist loft at 326 Bowery, across the street from the famous Five Spot jazz club down from Cooper Union. Lance drove his gigantic convertible some make or other. I remained in Manhattan after Lance V. and Pete D. split. Mike, Joel and I worked at Stouffer's Top of The Sixes at 666 Fifth Ave. near MOMA. I had a great time while I lived there. I heard Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Rahsaan Roland Kirk together at the Village Gate. I heard Ornette Coleman at the Five Spot. I heard Teddy Charles with Mal Waldron at the Jazz Gallery.

We all worked six days a week. We got two meals a day at Stouffer's. We had enough money left over on Sunday for a potato pancake from the deli. Mike M. became a successful artist in New York. I returned to Detroit in the fall of 1961.

Well that's it for the Highland Park thing. There are other close friendships that I also developed with other Highland Park folks especially with Bill H., Thom P. and Jim M. I treated my special relationships with Paperbacks Unlimited and its partners and with Kenny Cockrel, Sr. (R.I.P.) at length in earlier posts.

Regarding the absence of surnames: such additions would not mean much to readers who didn't know the bearers of the missing surname; readers who knew or know these persons can supply the names for themselves (makes it more fun); the persons whose surnames I have included are worthy of mention; and yes, I am lazy.

R. W. White

18 September 2013 

Soundtrack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0_2Z3pPNM8&list=PL6F088D4667403732

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL2hM7EUMb4

Bill Moyers & Company

After watching nearly twelve (12) hours of college football yesterday, I watched a Bill Moyers' progran that I had taped featuring a conversation with The Nation magazine's sports writer, Dave Zinn. Moyers and Zinn discussed sports and politics, the hosing of taxpayers by wealthy team owners, sports teams - both collage and professional - as the modern plantation. The exploitation of college athletes and the exploitation of colleges by athletic programs, among other topics.
  They also discussed the cosy relationship of Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder and Mike Ilitech, Little Caesars Pizza chairman and owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball and Detroit Red Wings hockey teams. Republican Governor Snyder (former venture capitalist) and present capitalist Illitch are telling the homeless and indigent inhabitants of the former Motor City that a new hockey arena would be good for them - Ford Field, Comerica Park, and the casinos have been so good for Detroit, a city with no tax base. A new arena will create jobs! Like hell it will. Where are all of the jobs that were to be created by the existing ball fields and casinos? Lies and more lies.
  Take a look at Bill Moyers' program with Dave Zinn if you want to know why (among other things) your cable television bill is so high.
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-the-collision-of-sports-and-politics/ 
  News from Detroit:
http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/09/11/detroit-billionaires-get-arena-help-as-bankrupt-city-suffers/

Guelph Jazz Festival - 2013

This year's Guelph Jazz Festival took place September 4 - 8. Its theme was percussion and it featured percussionists from India, South Korea, USA, and Ontario, Canada. The festival and its Artistic Director, Ajay Heble celebrated its 20th year - a remarkable achievement. My friend, Jim Murphy and I have attended the last five out of six festivals - we skipped the World Saxophone Quartet year at the festival.
   By way of a preamble, I must say that I would attend the Guelph Jazz Festival no matter what the musical lineup consisted in. Guelph, Ontario is a charming university town. Its people are charming, friendly, courteous, and culturally aware. Its excellent secondhand book store, Maconco Books, is still in business. The town's coffees and ales are very good. The restaurants are fine too. There were no Starbucks to be seen.
   The colloquia and workshops featuring the festival's participants are packed with interesting discussion and demonstrations over the course of three days. In addition there were ever so many free concerts. Its estimated that the festival brings in a couple of million dollars to Guelph.
   From remarks that I overheard, it seems that Guelph's citizens are not only disgusted with the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club, but also with its federal government. This last anti-government bit is the only similarity that I could discern between these Canadians and Americans that I know. But if one has good beer, coffee, and food; limited television programming; and especially - great music; one can put up with foolish and greedy governance - for a while at least. I was surprised that the Canadian government was willing to join President Obama in his stupid Syrian plans. But then I realized that this cozy alliance was about oil, refineries, and the Canadian oil pipeline - big and bigger business. I mentioned this to Guelph's secondhand bookseller, and these pieces seemed to fit in his mind.
   Music Highlights - 2013: 
Nicole Mitchell, flute and her Indigo Trio with Harrison Blankhead, bass and Hamid Drake, percussion. Chicago's finest musicians doing what they do so expertly - inventing music.
  Jane Bunnett, soprano saxophone and flute and her Cuban Rumba Meets Jazz group with dancers. This was a free outdoor concert and dance-jam. I would love to hear Jane Bunnet with Nicole Mitchell's Indigo Trio. Rhythm meets rhythm. Or let's hear Nicole Mitchell with Jane Bunnett's group.
  Marianne Trudel, piano; William Parker, bass; and Hamid Drake, percussion. Tight! Tight! Tight! It's amazing how creative musicians who don't regularly perform together can invent wonderful music together. It's not just that Parker and Drake were accompanists to Trudel's piano, each member of the trio knew what to say, how to say it, and said it - the solos of each musician were embroidered into a clear musical context.
  Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet, Ten Freedom Summers, with Smith, trumpet; Anthony Davis, piano; John Lindberg, bass; and Anthony Brown, percussion. Leo Smith's meditative musical composition touching on the African-American civil rights struggle. Again we had four musicians who knew what to do; and did it. There was no jivin' here (something we get to below).
  Some Other Stuff - 2013:
Matt Brubeck, solo 'cello was all over the musical space. The music was described in advance by the improvising/composer as "ephemera". Right.
  Dawn of Midi. Three Brooklyn-based musicians - Aakaash Israni, bass; Amino Belyamani, piano; Qasim Naqvi, percussion. It was a huge mistake to program this group ahead of Marianne Trudel and company, on the same bill. It was very difficult for me at least to wake up after such a dreadful performance of such utterly boring 'music' - an hour (or so it seemed) of a-rhythmic and tonal tediousness. At the conclusion of this terrible non-event, the MC informed the audience that this nonsense was not improvised but was entirely composed - a five-note somnolent fetish.
  Pharoah and The Underground: São Paulo Underground and Chicago Underground with Pharoah Sanders. Wow! Not really. The electronic sampling garbage got in the way of the music. One heard
the tedious electronically produced a-rhythmic patterns instead of Pharoah. Realizing that this was to be a long unmusical evening, we split. We got to a pool hall just in time to see the second half of the Michigan-Notre Dame football game - so all was not lost. By the way neither Michigan nor Notre Dame are as good as reported.
Highlights of Guelph Jazz Festivals Past:
  2007. Charlie Haden, Liberation Music Orchestra featuring Carla Bley (and her remarkable hair-style). Anthony Braxton.William Parker Ensemble, The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield (with vocalist Leena Conquest and poet Amiri Baraka).

Carla Bley

  2010. Henry Grimes, Jane Bunnett, and Andrew Cyrill. Marilyn Crispell.
  2011. Joel Futterman and Kidd Jordan.
  2012. Rova's eLectric ascention: Coltrane Reimagined. Peter Brötzmann.
Other (Mostly Tedious) Stuff of Guelph Jazz Festivals Past:
  Charles Lloyd. Abdullah Ibrahim. Guitar players.
  My high school basketball coach, Ed McMullen (R.I.P.), who was also the track and field coach, once remarked that running consisted of recovering from a series of falls. In Guelph, Ont. a week ago, I learned that, for someone my age, walking can consist of not recovering from one slight fall, a slip off of a curb (or is it "kerb" in Canada?). I experienced such a fall which resulted in two black eyes, bloody nose, scraped elbows and knees, and messed up back.
  What happy times never the less - in spite a few bruises to my musical sensibilities and old body.
  Best wishes to the wonderful Guelph Jazz Festival and Ajay Heble - a rare music miracle.
  
     
     

Blues-Time, Baby

I spent a very worthwhile day and evening yesterday with the recordings of Charles Brown (you know, I'm sure, his famous "Merry Christmas Baby") and Andrew Hill (ditto for the latter's famous Point of Departure). I hadn't listened to either master musician in a long while. I've provided tastes below for your listening thrills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhV1SvrDTJg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLecmYwI45I

William Robert Sarver, Esq. - R.I.P.

Bill Sarver passed away a few days ago at the age of 70. His later years had been made quite difficult by health issues. Bill and I had been close friends in the fabulous 1960s and in the early 1970s. We spent many hours in the presence of Miles Davis and John Coltrane in Detroit at The Minor Key. We spent some evenings arguing the merits of John Coltrane verses Sonny Rollins. I remember wearing out my copy of Coltrane's Traneing In - we listened to this and other recordings intently. I also recall shooting pool in my basement while listening to one of Richard Wagner's operas on a small FM radio - Wagner has never sounded better. We were enchanted by the Juilliard Quartet's recordings of Schoenberg's 1st and 2nd string quartets.
   The last time that I saw Bill was in Ann Arbor at the Kerrytown Concert House. A mutual friend had invited Bill along to a concert (I don't recall who the performers were). We had drinks after the concert. Since our interests had diverged over the years, Bill and I hadn't kept in touch.
   Bill Sarver was a very good basketball player at Highland Park High School and at the University of Detroit. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Pharoah Sanders' Peace Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOpmtFoZWjA

Andrew Cyrille w/ Jeanne Lee, Jimmy Lyons & Anthony Braxton

This Sunday afternoon I'm listening to three CDs by the master, musical, percussionist Andrew Cyrille. Nuba is from 1979 and features the late Jeanne Lee, vocals and the late Jimmy Lyons, alto saxophone. The other two CDs, Duo Palindrome 2002, feature Anthony Braxton, reeds. I don't recall whether Mr. Cyrille told me, or whether I read, that he had a lot of experience as an accompanist for dancers. His playing on the Braxton recordings is perfect for Mr. Braxton's phrasing, with its loops and turns. This music would serve very well as the main character in a contemporary drama or pantomime, an opera without words; Beckett, Sartre, or Pinter; no exit; no return, end game - very moving and beautiful.
   Jeanne Lee's voice is perfectly in tune with Lyon's sound on alto saxophone. Her vocal dynamics on "Jjli" are percussive. Ms. Lee was an extraordinary musician whose horn was her voice. Listen to her exchanges with Messrs. Lyons and Cyrille on "Sorry" - extraordinary. A Sunday spent with these fine musicians is a great pleasure indeed.
  Sunday's covered then.

Anthony Braxton - Figurations, Blutopia & Musico-Meta-Reality Implications

Yes, I'd say we were in a stylistic period: I'm thinking of, say, Wynton Marsalis, Chico Freeman ... The universities are programming young people for stylistic value systems. The problem is they're trying to separate the music from its meta-reality implications. [Lock, Forces in Motion p. 165]

It's Sunday morning. I'm listening to a recording entitled A Memory of Vienna by Ran Blake, piano and Anthony Braxton, alto saxophone. A couple of days ago I began reading - again - Ronald M. Radano's 1993 book, New Musical Figurations: Anthony Braxton's Cultural Critique. This time I managed to fight my way through Radano's 27 page "Introduction" with its 55 footnotes. I think I'll outflank the author and take up my position at his 8 page, 13 footnote "Epilogue".[*]
   As opposed to Professor Radano's book, I found Graham Lock's book, Forces in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the meta-reality of creative music • interviews and tour notes • England 1985 captivating - after all it held my attention, since it was full of Braxton's words and thoughts. Good gossip about musicians and music throughout. Academic footnote scribbling terrifies me - unless it's the philosopher David Wiggins. And indeed any serious work of music aesthetics that relies on Downbeat magazine interviews and articles is in my view suspect. But, of course, if one is doing Adorno type stuff, as Radano seems to be doing; then it doesn't matter. Sociology makes nasty work of the cultural leavings - digs all of the bits.
   Soul Junction, Red Garland, John Coltrane and Donald Byrd. That's better. Think I'll reread Graham Lock's 2004 BLUTOPIA:Visions of the Future and Revisions of the Past in the work of SUN RA, DUKE ELLINGTON, and ANTHONY BRAXTON. Lots of footnotes here also; but they're endnotes. There is a stylistic difference. Back to Ran Blake.
 
[*] I came across this piece of editorial wisdom from Mark Sainsbury, a former editor of Mind:

Gilbert Ryle is reported to have advised contributors to Mind to avoid footnotes:
‘If it’s worth saying, put it in the text; if it’s not worth saying, don’t say it.’ Azzouni’s text bristles with footnotes: 560 of them in 254 pages. One does not get the impression that making the book a pleasure to read was a high priority for the author. 

Nina, Sasha, and coach Brady Hoke - Go Blue!

Milton "Bags" Jackson, Eli "Lucky" Thompson & Hank Jones - Detroit's Music Masters

I'm spending this morning's coffee with the Jazz Masters 23 track Milt Jackson & Lucky Thompson recording. This compilation of the magical music-making of Milt Jackson, his vibraharp, Lucky Thompson, his tenor saxophone, and Hank Jones, his piano; has a Detroit vibe going on, a Detroit rhythmic pulse to it. It's the magic-thing that one finds in the music Detroit's finest musicians; in its pianists, saxophonists, trumpeters, double-bassists, drummers, and vocalists. I feel like naming them all here - Pepper Adams through Abe Woodley and Kiane Zawadi; I won't name names. A catalogue of names, venues, dates, and much else appears in Lars Bjorn's and Jim Gallert's beautiful book, Before Motown - A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920 - 1960. Mark Stryker, the Detroit Free Press arts writer, is preparing a book, Made in Detroit: Jazz From The Motor City for publication by University of Michigan Press. See Mark Stryker's Dispatches From Detroit below:

http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/dispatches-from-detroit-by-mark-stryker.html

P.S. This year's Detroit Jazz Festival - August 30 - September 2 - has an outstanding lineup. See you there.

http://www.detroitjazzfest.com/

"Stuffy" & Things

I finished refurbishing my deck - 138 old boards removed, the same number of boards installed, 1,104 nails removed, 1,104 deck screws applied. Grilled a nice beef brisket. Watched the wonderful Spain verses Brazil football match. Had a stress test. I started the deck project on May 25 and finished it on June 29. I left a few things for my wife to attend to. All of this is to say that I've been away from my music - it's Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Budd Johnson ('Tenor Madness') today - and from Timothy Williamson's exciting new work, Modal Logic as Metaphysics ('Logico-Metaphysical Madness'). Thrills! Nothing else to say.

Mr. Charlie's on our case

I awoke this morning with Mr. Charlie on my mind. I had an image of Barak Obama, draped in robes of justice, with a basketball in one hand and a shotgun and whip in the other. Mr. Charlie told him what to do. Mr. Charlie told The Supreme Court what to do. Mr. Charlie told Congress what to do. Told the CIA, FBI, NSA what to do.
  We thought after Barak Obama's elections that we were rid of Mr. Charlie - Mr. Charlie (Mr. Cheney?) had split. No, Mr. Charlie remained in power. President Obama, speechmaker-baller ("He got game!"), propagandist for the GOP, war-hawk convert, Wall Street pupet serves Mr. Charlie far better than Mr. Bush.
  Deadheads know what I'm talkin' 'bout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTMk_LBSVzw

Subdivision Cares & Sunday in the Park

Today in Columbus, Ohio it's raining. During the past couple of weeks I've been refurbishing my deck, replacing 131 boards - I'm half done. Today is actually a fine day for extracting nails from cedar planks, for the most part eight nails per plank. The present deck project is actually phase two. Phase one (the easy part) was completed a few years ago. My motivation in commencing phase two was exercise. My wife and I live in a subdivision. I find it quite boring to walk in my subdivision for exercise. I love walking; but there has to be an interesting terminus to my walking efforts - a book store, a record (CD) store, a café. When I was growing up in Highland Park, Michigan, on Saturday mornings I would walk up to Sears department store. In those days, Sears had a vinyl record department (even appliance stores had record sections). Stan Getz's Jazz Interpretations # 2 was purchased at an appliance store on Victor Ave.. Oscar Pettiford's Bohemia After Dark was purchased at Sam's department store in downtown Detroit. Elizabeth Anscome's book Intention was purchased at J. L. Hudson's department store. Essays on Frege was purchased at the terminus of a Sunday walk from Wayne State University's student housing to Paperbacks Unlimited in Highland Park. The exercise opportunities - mental and physical - pre-Amazon were robust.
  I appreciate now John Cheever's story about the guy who was bent on swimming in each of the swimming pools in his neighborhood. Subdivisions sans cultural necessities are apt settings for cases of hysteria. 

Pierrot Lunaire and The Higher Jazz

Douglas Walton in his 1998 New York Times 'review' of Edmund Wilson's The Higher Jazz remarks that Wilson's book is (to the reviewer) "all of it mildly engaging, but never very captivating." I found Wilson's The Higher Jazz both engaging and captivating - not very, very nor mildly; just engaging and captivating. I've always admired Edmund Wilson. I read his Axel's Castle and Memoirs of Hecate County many years ago. These works along with the Wilson-Nabokov exchange (argument) in the New York Review of Books were foundational for me in terms of my literary growing up. I admired Wilson because his love of literature was evident in his writing. More importantly, he made his reader - this reader - love literature too. Sven Birkerts exerts a similar Wilsonian effect on me also. Birkert's admiration of Eric Dolphy's music also scores points with me.
  Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire prompted me once again to attend to Edmund Wilson's The Higher Jazz. On Saturday, May 18 the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, Michigan presented performances of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Stravinsky's L'Histoire Du Soldat. Pierrot Lunaire plays a significant part in Wilson's unfinished novel. The Ann Arbor musicians performed both works expertly. The soprano Jennifer Goltz was especially impressive in the Schoenberg.
  Cleo Laine, back in the vinyl-day, made a recording of Pierrot Lunaire performing its vocal parts in English. Laine's vinyl recording is out of print. Fortunately there is a fine recent compact disc of Pierrot Lunaire by soprano Lucy Shelton performed in German and English. Shelton also performs Schoenberg's opus 20, Herzgewächse, written for soprano, harmonium, celesta, and harp - a very charming predecessor to Pierrot.
  David Schiff in his The Ellington Century connects Schoenberg and Ellington for us. His book opened my ears. Ellington and Schoenberg, The Higher Jazz.
  

Dr. Jackie

Happy birthday Jackie McLean - 1931 - 2006.

The Proof Is In The Jam - Part 6: The Last Take

No doubt my reader(s) is (are) quite familiar with John Wisdom's "Logical Constructions", a series of five articles that appeared in Mind beginning in April 1931 and ending April 1933. Wisdom sought to elucidate - give an analysis of - the meaning of "Pennies are logical constructions". He wasn't satisfied with his efforts given to defining logical construction. In these pages I have recently attempted to provide an account of jazz vocal performance, while avoiding ideas about jazz vocal interpretation, in Jerrold Levinson's sense. I tried to confute ideas set forth in Levinson's paper about jazz vocal interpretation. I think my views are well founded given what I think that I have discerned about jazz vocal performance from having participated in Sarah Vaughan-Billy Eckstine and Johnny Hartman jazz vocal events as a member of their audiences, having listened to recorded performances and read the works of those who know about these very interesting matters.
  We are also aware of the (once) popular tune, "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" - Levinson says, interpretation; I say, performance; Let's call the whole thing off!
  Back in the fabulous '60s I found Wisdom's Logical Construction quite interesting - in fact I was enthralled by his articles: Wisdom was jammin'. Those were the days!
  I could say, probably did say, that certainly musicians perform works of music. They sit at a piano (say) and attempt to decode marks on the music-score in front of them. After a musician decodes Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, marks-up her score with accents and helpful hints to aid in her performance and understanding, practices and rehearses playing her score; she's ready to perform her (marked-up score) - from memory or otherwise, it doesn't matter. Even if we grant that our pianist has interpreted her version of Berg's score in various ways, what are we comparing her performance of her score with? Do we compare her marked-up score with the latest Berg score, the score Berg scholars?
  I don't think we want to say the the set of Glenn Gould's performances of Berg's sonata is extensionally equivalent to the set of his interpretations of the sonata. Why not? Because interpretations (if such there are) could be private, could be unperformed, unrealized. In 1970, Glenn Gould wrote a piece that appeared in High Fidelity, June issue, entitled "A Desert Island Discography" [see The Glenn Gould Reader, pps. 437-40]. Gould writes of Bruno Maderna's "realization" of Schoenberg's Serenade, Op. 24, of Karajan's "version" of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony, etc. Gould doesn't use "interpretation" anywhere in his piece.
  Interpretations of works, tunes, music occur - if at all - ,in the quite thin sense of the term, at the practice, pre-performance stages of a musical work or improvisation. Once a performer hits the stage, club, or recording studio there are no interpretations - just versions, realizations, improvisations &c.
  Interpretations reside with music critics and certainly with literary critics and with philosophers, or so I suppose. We'll treat style at another time.

The Proof Is In The Jam - Part 5: Jukebox Audience

I have often been perplexed by the seeming disregard by philosophers of music aesthetics to consider carefully the writings of musicians and music critics. Most of the chatter seems to be between philosophers only. When I read David Schiff's important books on Elliott Carter and Duke Ellington there are no mentions of philosophers therein - although the late Milton Babbitt and the late Charles Rosen are mentioned, both of whom were touched by maths and philosophy. A common move made by philosophers of music aesthetics is to mention Eduard Hanslick or Art Tatum and move swiftly back to the cosy, comfortable environment of academic discourse. Another thing that I've noticed, and which bothers me, is that the papers in music aesthetics tend to be less freely available on the internet than papers in metaphysics and logic.
  I've been concerned recently with jazz vocalists and Jerrold Levinson's concerns about jazz vocal interpretation verses pop vocal interpretation. Levinson may be right about a pop singer's interpreting a piece of popular sheet music. But I think he's wrong about what this comes to in terms of jazz vocalists. I think if one is going to avoid unnecessary confusion, it's best to stick with what one knows.
  I know for example that Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan were jazz vocalists. If I write about what it is to be a jazz vocalist, it helps if one has heard a jazz vocalist in person. It also helps if one has heard a jazz vocalist in a setting in which she/he feels comfortable. If one takes Billie Holiday as one's favorite example of a jazz singer, it is almost certain that one has not heard Miss Holiday in person. The best we can do is the television broadcast with Lester Young et al.
  So with these exemplars of jazz singing we are relying on recordings. If one assumes that was is a special connection between these singers and their audiences, one must rely on newspaper, magazine, and trade publication accounts such as Downbeat, The Jazz Review, or Metronome for news and insights about a singer's audience. Even today occasions to hear a jazz vocalist in person, up close are quite limited. The closest that I've been to a jazz singer's performing in a comfortable acoustic environment was in Detroit at the Book Cadillac Hotel 30 years ago, where Johnny Hartman performed with a trio. Mr. Hartman sang ballads that he had performed for many years. I was impressed with his singing artistry, quality of his voice, musical taste. That was the closest that I ever been to a great singer in performance. Communication? Did I feel that Mr. Hartman was transmitting or communicating anything? Sublime Artistry - That's what was communicated. Sarah Vaughan 'communicated' sublime artistry at great distances, in concert halls verses supper club settings (the setting where Johnny Hartman sang for (not to) me).
  Billie Holiday's 1935 recordings with Teddy Wilson's small groups - jam session settings - are thought to be the apex of her recorded jazz-vocal art. Martin Williams in his chapter, "Billie Holiday: Actress Without an Act" of his book The Jazz Tradition offers a vivid description of how Miss Holiday created music with Mr. Wilson's small band of soloists. Martin Williams writes, page 71,

[The] recordings were primarily intended for an urban Negro audience, and during those depression years they were sold largely to jukebox operators. Like Henry "Red" Allen and Fats Waller before them, Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday were asked to come to the studio with a group of the best musicians available (they would most often be drawn from the Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman bands). The were no preparations or rehearsals. The performers would be given "lead sheets" to the popular songs, many of which they had not seen or heard before, with indications of melody, simple harmony, and words. They did some "standard" songs too, but the new material seems to have been selected with little care or taste . . . . The jazzmen proceeded to transmute the material into their own idiom - they worked up fairly innocent arrangements and they improvised solo variations. Certainly not all of what they did was good - inspiration falters and some of the songs can't be helped much - but they apparently felt much at ease in handling material they had never laid eyes on before.

Miss Holiday, Mr. Wilson and the other musicians "transmute[d] the material", the songs qua "lead sheets"; they changed the material into something new - into new material. A jam session tradition allowed the musicians to rearrange the tunes into coherent new material in the jam session or swing session tradition. The audience was to have been an urban Negro audience. The transmission was to have been via jukeboxes in public places - restaurants, night clubs, pool halls &c. Whatever communication that would have happen between Miss Holiday et al. would have been in and of a tradition in swing-music. (My own jukebox experiences took place in pool halls and shoe-shine parlors - Gene Ammons, Miles Davis and The Drifters.)
  Given the setup as described above I doubt that Billie Holiday was trying to communicate anything to her audience. She and the other musicians were interested in creating music not in embellishing pop charts. Perhaps today we are at a stage in our jazz-vocal aesthetic lives where our singers' aims are not as high as Miss Holiday's. But at least we have Messrs. Hodeir, Schuller, Williams and Hamilton to redirect our thoughts about these matters.
  André Hodeir, Towards Jazz
  Gunther Schuller, The Swing Era
  Martin Williams, The Jazz Tradition
  Andy Hamilton, Aesthetics & Music

The Proof Is In The Jam - Part 4: The Audience?

On occasion she [Billie Holiday] sang a song straight, without much variation; then she might be an interesting and even moving singer, but she was not a great one. Martin Williams, The Jazz Tradition, p. 71

I've heard that Haydn, Brahms and some of some other Viennese cats jammed in clubs. I once asked the tenor-man David Murray if noisy, inattentive club audiences bothered him personally or affected his music-making, his performances. He replied, "Not at all." I heard in interview with a string quartet recently (on WKCR, where else?) that was promoting its forthcoming appearance at a Manhattan club featuring 'serious' composed music (mis-called "Classical music"). The quartet's members were asked the same question that I posed to David Murray. Their response was, "If the music's good, the crowd will be quiet." Crowd control is often a matter of a club's tradition - no smoking during a Blossom Dearie set. What about a singer's audience? Does she sing to or for her audience? In spite of her audience? Does a singer attempt to communicate something to her audience? Does a singer communicate certain of the details of the song she is singing, music that she's performing? In performing music, not just the tune, but in a performance-context, interacting musically in a group of musicians; does the singer communicate with the other musicians? Does it matter who is leading the band, whether it is the singer or an instrumentalist? - of course in the cases of Louis Armstrong and Billy Eckstine, it did not matter.
  Jerrold Levinson in his Jazz Vocal Interpretation advances a view that jazz-singers convey meaning to their audience; that the words of the songs they sing in performance have meaning; and the singer conveys the meaning of the words of the song to the audience. So in 'interpreting' a song a singer might be thought of as decoding a text (the song), in a similar fashion as a literary critic might do. A singer's phrasing, for example, imparts (conveys) meaning, as found in the song by the singer, to her audience. "Sometimes I'm Happy" might mean one thing what when sang up-tempo, as Betty Carter might do; and mean something else when sung very slowly, in a Schoenbergian sprechgesang way, as Jeanne Lee might have done. Members of Sarah Vaughn's audiences might have believed that she was communicating with them, that she was letting them in on a song's meaning, but I think such beliefs would have been in error. Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter certainly spoke with their audience, made them feel appreciated &c.; but they were about creating and re-creating music, often in spite of the words. Try singing "I Cried For You"; it's not easy. The meaning of this tune, if any, was in the beauty that resulted in Billie Holiday's 1936 recorded performance; beauty that resulted also in the context of the musicians performing in Teddy Wilson's band on equal terms with her - Miss Holiday, Mr. Wilson and the horns each get one solo chorus. When Miss Holiday became a band leader, she would take two choruses whilst the other soloist(s) at most got one - rather like 'sideman' Miles Davis on Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else disc.
  I don't believe that text (song qua sheet music), singer, audience meaning triangulation occurs in jazz-singing performance. A jazz-singers' audience may feel that it does; but they would be mistaken. 

 

The Proof Is In The Jam - Part 3: The Ways of "I'm Free"

June 8, 1953 - Detroit, Michigan, The Graystone Ballroom, The Battle of the Bands - Duke Ellington & his Orchestra vs. Stan Kenton & his Orchestra.

On the date shown above, I was a twelve year-old standing in front of Mr. Ellington's great orchestra. Only this year did I pin down the date. But I carried the image of Duke Ellington and me until now.

In 1957 I heard Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine ('B') sing duets with Count Basie's band. 'B' also soloed on valve trombone. Bud Powell was also on this Birdland All-Stars on Tour program. And over the course of the next few years I would have read André Hodeir's Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence, subscribed to The Jazz Review and Downbeat, read the latter's accounts of Billie Holiday's and Art Pepper's arrests, and wore out my vinyl LP of Lady Day's Music For Torching.

Jam Session Aesthetic

Bob Crosby - "I'm Free" (Bob Haggart's original composition)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBYyQQ8YoqI
Lady's Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07r-2zg0k24
'B''s Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCVLUct6C_k
Linda's Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdH5hrJKjlE

"I'm Free" or "What's New?"
Jerrold Levinson "Jazz Vocal Interpretation: A Philosophical Analysis", Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2013, pps. 35-43.
Question: Could Billie Holiday have sung "What's New?" in a Levinsonian straight-way (Linda's Way) in addition to a Levinsonian jazz-way (Lady's/'B''s Way)?
Could " 'Round Midnight" be sung in Linda's Way?

Levinson's straight/jazz contrast in my view doesn't have any useful conceptual work to do when applied to The Great American Songbook, to (once) Popular Songs. According to Gunther Schuller, Phil Schaap and others, singers - both classical- and jazz-singers - were not often thought of by musicians and critics as being musicians; they were just boy- or girl-singers. Schuller in The Swing Era, page 527, writes, "The quip that singers have resonance where their brains ought to be is a stock joke among musicians all over the world." The "Great Soloists" section of The Swing Era includes only one 'singer', the musician Billie Holiday - the remaining twelve great soloists are male instrumentalists. Both musics of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, great musician-soloist-singers, were treated in Schuller's Early Jazz. Schuller's Great Soloists are Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Bunny Berigan, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Red Norvo, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Charlie Christian, Ben Webster, Jack Teagarden, Pee Wee Russell, and Henry "Red" Allen. Billie Holiday performed with, and recorded with, nearly of these musicians. They considered her to be one of them, a great jazz-soloist-musician.
  Her early recordings with Teddy Wilson and with Lester Young were in the Jam Session Tradition or what Phil Schaap calls the Swing Song Tradition - listen to Schaap's 2010 program devoted to Billie Holiday at Phil Schaap Jazz http://philschaapjazz.com/index.php?l=page_view&p=radio. In this tradition she was a soloist among soloists, in most cases a great soloist among great soloists. "I Cried For You" consists of a Johnny Hodges chorus, Billie Holiday Chorus, Teddy Wilson Chorus, Harry Carney chorus, ensemble takes the tune out - jam session feel. It is the jam session feel that predominates Billie Holiday's great early recordings and (in my view) her late, great Verve recordings, her Music For Torching, her "What's New" above. See Schuller's exposition of Billie's "I Cried For You" on pages 533-34. According to Schuller,

Of the several unique qualities Billie [Holiday] brought to jazz-singing - in some instances for the first time ... - none is more important than her ability to reshape (re-compose) [emphasis added] a given song to make it wholly her own. She did this on two levels - almost always simultaneously: on the larger structural level by freely reinventing both the melody and its rhythms, on the smaller level by embellishing these with her own vocal adornments. [pps. 532-33]

Like so many (most, I would say) popular songs, "What's New" has jazz, jazz-swing built into it. A singer may develop a way of 'interpreting' a song, develop a way of feeling a song in various ways - ways that Levinson treats in great detail in his paper (I counted twenty or so). But a jazz-singer's performance of a song - Billie Holiday's "I Cried For You" - need not be an interpretation of a song's embodiment in sheet music. I read somewhere that Teddy Wilson and his musicians who were recording with Billie Holiday were using lead sheets which contained the bare essentials of the music. The lead sheets resulted in improvisation and ensemble-playing by the soloists and rhythm section. Whatever 'interpretation' there was on Miss Holiday's part was certainly not part of the performance-mix that included all of the musicians in the recording session. There was no sheet music in the jam in other words, just creative musicians creating new music, new sounds, new ensemble textures.
  Miss Holiday was not an interpreter of songs; she was a re-creator, a re-composer, of songs, the results of which were among the highest forms of improvised vocal artistry. Her performances were not then interpretations of songs. She was a jazz soloist who was respected by respected jazz-instrumentalists.

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington: April 29, 1899 - May 24, 1974

Mr. Ellington's music will be programmed all day Monday, April 29, 2013 on WKCR.
The broadcast will be available via the internet at
http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/wkcr/

The Proof Is In The Jam Part 2 - Jazz Singers, An Obsession

Because of Jerrold Levinson's "Jazz Vocal Interpretation: A Philosophical Analysis" (cited in a previous blog-post), I've become obsessed with jazz singers, jazz singing, The Great American Song Book; with the Boswell Sisters, Leo Watson, Kay Starr, Jo Stafford, Doris Day; with the writings of Whitney Balliett, Alec Wilder, André Hodeir, Gunther Schuller, and especially Will Friedwald - his remarkable Jazz Singing: America's Great Voices from Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond. 
  My musical life before Levinson was quite simple. Except for Pops, Louis Armstrong, Lady Day, Billie Holiday, Mr. B, Billy Eckstine, and The Divine One, Sarah Vaughan, I needed no other singers   (except perhaps Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau). Jazz singers were an afterthought with me. Reading Alec Wilder's American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 and Will Friedwald's Jazz Singing has convinced me that Jazz (THIS music) and The American Popular Song are each unique events in the history of Western Music. Popular songs in many instances have the blues and/or jazz incorporated in their melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic material. So-called 'American Exceptionalism' resides in little else except in its spirituals, blues, jazz and popular songs.

  "Angel Eyes" Is it possible for a singer to sing Matt Dennis's song straight? 

  What do you mean by straight?

  I mean by straight, non-jazzy, non-novelty - non-Frank-Sinatra, non-Spike-Jones.

  Isn't Sinatra a pops singer?

  Anyone who begins "Angel Eyes" in the middle, at the bridge, is a jazz singer.

  Quite an interesting interpretation then of "Angel Eyes".

  If that's what you want to call it. I reckon that Old Blue Eyes was doing a bit more than interpreting this tune. He was improvising too. He changed the structure of the tune. He began with the B section. Recall the structure of "Angel Eyes" is AABA. One doesn't begin a performance of "Angel Eyes" with "Drink up all you people...". One starts with "Try to think ...". Hardly a straight performance of the tune - too jazzy.

  But improvising is something done in the moment. It's not something arranged, not something on paper. We were treating interpretation, straight verses jazzy, remember?

  It can be something on paper that's composed to sound like something in the moment. Improvising is an act that transforms the good bits of a tune (sometimes the ugly bits are sorted out) - transforms melody, harmony, rhythm of a standard into something else. When I talk about interpretation it's in a thin sense of interpretation (interpretation*) not your thick sense. When I talk of improvisation it's in the fat sense

  If you say so.

I do say so. In addition to saying so - runnin' it down, instead of 'banging my drum'; I've been tip-toeing around Jerrold Levinson's Jazz Vocal Interpretation. . . .

I shall not criticize what Levinson has said in his very dense, thoughtful, carefully drawn paper - he has covered nearly every base. He has atomized the (a) notion of vocal interpretation in ways that give effect to the popular song as placed on the page (sheet music), as placed off the page (performance), and as heard (by an audience). He has invoked Paul Grice's meaning pragmatics in treating what a singer conveys in performance, in contrast with what the words of a song mean.  One could atomize Levinson's atomization, the result of which could be reckoned to be a philosophical analysis of a philosophical analysis. All of this is what philosophy is made of. But there are more things.... 

Instead I'll improvise on Levinson's changes - with the help of many side-women/men, I'll blow my own solo (tune?). 

To be continued.






    

Charles McPherson Honored in Detroit

Last Saturday (13 April) Detroit's native son, the alto saxophonist, Charles McPherson was honored at the Detroit Institute of Arts. His appearance included a conversation with Mark Stryker, music critic for the Detroit Free Press. Mr. McPherson spoke about his early years in Detroit as a young student musician and emerging jazz saxophonist. He spoke of the influence of the Detroit pianist and educator Barry Harris. See the link below for details about Mr. McPherson's exciting performance with his quartet that evening.

http://idigjazz.blogspot.com/2013/04/charles-mcpherson-played-some-bop.html

The Proof Is In The Jam - Part 1

Touchin' on stuff
In addition to the NCAA basketball tournament, I've been thinking about Jerrold Levinson's exciting paper, "Jazz Vocal Interpretation: A Philosophical Analysis" that appears in the current issue of The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, pages 35 - 43. Before the basketball excitement, I expressed my hope in these pages that I'd have my own thoughts on matters Levinsonian published herein in a couple of days. Well it didn't happen. In the mean time I've written quite a bit, compiled notes, sources and listened and re-listened to quite a lot of jazz vocal and instrumental music. The listening has been exciting and rewarding. I've also done quite a lot of reading and re-reading in and of books, articles and interviews treating songs, song writing, singers, and vocal and instrumental jazz performance.
  I've always considered jazz vocalists to be instrumentalists without horns, Young Woman Without A Horn. I still hold this view. Also I don't believe that jazz vocalists or instrumentalists (for that matter) interpret songs, in spite of the fact that we sometimes speak of the 'jazz interpretations' contrasted with 'straight interpretations' of songs, tunes, scores, &c. We may speak of a singer's interpretation of a song or of Charles Rosen's interpretation of Schumann's Carnaval (Op. 9). What we are comparing are performances with performances - not performances with a score. Let's take new music. Can one actually and meaningfully say that the first performance of Pierre Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître was an interpretation of his score? If we are talking about performances of music we say "The DSO will be performing Mahler's 3rd Symphony at 8PM" - not "There will be an interpretation at 8PM". In terms of sheet music 'jazz interpretations' are the same as a performance at a certain time. And one should be aware that jazz musicians learn songs and tunes, they don't learn sheet music; they use lead-sheets and fake-books; they learn what they need to learn in order to make music and improvise with other musicians. They are not interpreting sheet music from Tin Pan Alley. The good singers own the songs - Sarah Vaughan owned If You Could See Me Now and Misty (the same song actually); Billy Eckstine owned I Want To Talk About You and I Apologize. In fact there are published suggestions for singers who on rare occasions are permitted to participate in jam sessions - e.g., don't sing Misty and don't sing anything owned by Lady Day, Billie Holiday. http://www.phillyjazz.org/
  Obviously, if one is attempting to impute meaning or a semantics to a page of music (a score), then talk of interpretation seems appropriate. But I don't think that one interpretes a page of music, one performs it. Remember: Composers of songs, melodies, symphonies most often don't have a 'straight interpretation' in mind until performances occur. Here's a page of music (a score); there is a composer of the page of music; there is (are) a performer(s) of the page of music (musicians); now we have music. When musicians perform music from  a score there are always choices to be made about how to perform the notes, accents, and other suggestions set down by the composer. The composer, having heard a performance of her composition may say, "That's not my music!" or "We'll do better next time, I thought that I had it all there on the page, but alas...." Our composer can say, "I don't care for your interpretation", but she won't mean it!
  I discovered Ethel Waters recorded vocal performances and was astounded - I had read of her, but never attended to her music. I've read most of Whitney Balliett's impressive book of portraits and interviews, American Singers, which was what I needed to go along with my re-reading in Gunther Schuller's Swing Era and André Hodeir's Toward Jazz. I think it was Balliett (or was it Andrew Porter?) who wrote somewhere that to criticize something one has to describe it. Whitney Balliett was a master when it came to describing music and musicians - his portrait of Coleman Hawkins in American Musicians is one of Balliett's masterpieces. His piece in American Singers, "The President of the Derrière-Garde (Alec Wilder)" is another of his masterpieces.
  Wilder writes in his book, American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950 (Kindle Locations 5370-5372). Kindle Edition,

Am I Blue?, introduced by Ethel Waters in the motion picture "On With The Show" (1929), with music by Harry Akst, is dangerously interwoven with Ethel Waters' recording of it. And she made it sound like a masterpiece. It isn't that, but it is a good song, using a device somewhat similar to the one in April Showers. 

So until next time, keep listening; and re-reading Levinson.

BBC4 Documentary - Miles, Brubeck, Mingus & Ornette

Just finished watching an interesting BBC4 documentary - 1959 miracle year in recorded jazz:  Kind of Blue, Time Out, Mingus Ah Um, and The Shape of Jazz to Come. 
  Take a look and listen. And Go Blue!

http://www.jazzonthetube.com/videos/miles-davis/1959-the-year-that-changed-jazz.html

Go Blue! University of Michigan Basketball

Sorry. Couldn't post as promised during the University of Michigan basketball team's impressive NCAA tournament run. If the Wolverines defeat a very good University of Florida team tomorrow, I'll be able, I hope, to press on with my Jazz & Philosophy post. The contest with Kansas yesterday was one of the greatest basketball games that I've ever seen. It ranks with the 1966 Texas Western verses Kentucky NCAA final that featured Highland Park's Bobby Joe Hill and his Texas Western mates verses Adolph Rupp's University of Kentucky Wildcats. Coach Rupp certainly played the part of a Southern Gentleman - what a rascal. Texas Western's coach Don Haskins was a fine, upright gentleman, and a terrific coach.  

Jazz & Philosophy: Passing-Strangers Playlist

I was prompted to listen, re-listen actually, to the 150 recorded performances listed below by an article that appeared in the 2013 volume of The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism by Jerrold Levinson entitled "Jazz Vocal Interpretation: A Philosophical Analysis", pps. 35-43. I got the article off the internet - it was made available free of charge by the publisher of the Journal. You you might try to secure your own copy by the same legal means, and thereby avoid Federal prosecution by a government that apparently believes in suppressing scholarly works - it's surprising that our government has time for this given it's fascination with its undeclared drone warfare and all. Since according to Witters ethics and aesthetics are one and same let's press on with the latter.

  My view is that Levinson's notion of jazz vocal interpretation counts for a lot less than he reckons. While a jazz-singer's interpretation of a popular song may remain quite constant over the course of her performances (both live and recorded), her improvisations based on the same song may or can change drastically. This is what makes creative, improvised vocal music worth attending to. I'll follow this outline with many words. But my reader needn't bother with my forthcoming blizzard of words - just listen to the tunes and make up one's own mind. Read Levinson though. He's one of the better writers treating the aesthetics of music. However, my main philosopher of music aesthetics is Papa Jo Jones - make sure you see Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones, as told to Albert Murray, with an Afterword by Phil Schaap - a longer title than the Crispin Wright-Neil Tennant forthcoming, but never published article on Frege. 

  My view is what I have called A Jam Session Aesthetic. Stay tuned for the excitement, forthcoming in a day or two.    

Jazz & Philosophy: Passing-Strangers Playlist

150 songs, 11.4 hours, 835.7 MB

Name Time Album Artist

1 Passing Strangers 2:38 Everything I Have Is Yours Sarah Vaughan & Billie Eckstein

2 In The Tradition 15:08 Amiri Baraka w/ David Murray & Steve McCall

3 St. Louis Blues 3:12 Bessie Smith Bessie Smith

4 St. Louis Blues 2:53 W/Benny Carter Billie Holiday

5 St. Louis Blues (1932) 4:33 The Rhythm Boy: Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington & Hi…

6 St. Louis Blues 2:27 The Mills Brothers

7 St Louis Blues 3:24 This is Jazz Erroll Garner

8 Jack, I'm Mellow 2:48 Sidney Bechet 

9 Summertime 4:08 Sidney Bechet 

10 Summertime 2:55 Billie Holiday

11 Swing, Brother, Swing 1:56 W/Count Basie's Band Billie Holiday

12 On A Turquoise Cloud 4:19 Carnegie Hall Concerts January… Duke Ellington

13 You, You Darlin' 3:24 Ellington-Blanton-Webster-Jeffries

14 There Shall Be No Night 3:15 Ellington-Blanton-Webster-Jeffries

15 I Never Felt This Way Before 3:31 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

16 Flamingo 3:24 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

17 The Girl In My Dreams Tries To L… 3:20 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

18 Chocolate Shake 2:56 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

19 I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) 3:19 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

20 The Brown-Skin Gal (In The Cali… 3:08 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

21 Rocks In My Bed 3:11 The Blanton-Webster Band [Disc… Duke Ellington

22 A Slip Of The Lip (Can Sink A Ship) 2:59 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

23 My Little Brown Book 3:18 The Blanton-Webster Band Duke Ellington

24 My Little Brown Book 4:14 Duke Ellington

25 Come Sunday (from Black, Brow… 5:49 Duke Ellington

26 The Blues From Black, Brown A… 5:25 Helen Merrill

27 The Way You Look Tonight 3:05 Billie Holiday

28 The Way You Look Tonight 2:59 W/Oscar Peterson Fred Astaire

29 Groovin High 2:42 Bird & Diz

30 If you could see me now (C. Sig… 6:22 Récital à Paris, 1985 Sarah Vaughan

31 If You Could See Me Now 5:08 Songs Carolyn Graye With Jessica Williams

32 All The Things You Are 2:49 Charlie "The Bird" Parker

33 Shaw Nuff 3:02 Charlie "The Bird" Parker

34 Hot House 3:10 Charlie "The Bird" Parker

35 Day-Dream 4:20 ... And His Mother Called Him Bill Duke Ellington

36 Day Dream 4:01 Day Dream: Best Of The Duke E… Ella Fitzgerald

37 Day Dream 5:01 Duke Ellington Songbook One Sarah Vaughan

38 Day Dream 12:08 Feed The Fire [Live] Betty Carter

39 Baby Won't You Please Come H… 2:36 The Norton Jazz Recordings [Di… Sarah Vaughan

40 I Didn't Know What Time It Was 4:00 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

41 That's All 4:04 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

42 Autumn Leaves 5:34 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

43 Love Dance 3:27 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

44 The Island 4:27 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

45 Seasons 5:20 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

46 In Love In Vain 3:08 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

47 You Are Too Beautiful 3:34 Crazy and Mixed Up Sarah Vaughan

48 Don't Explain (Talking Version) 5:06 W/Jessica Williams Patty Waters

49 Summertime 7:45 W/Jessica Williams Patty Waters

50 Fine And Mellow 4:06 W/Jessica Williams Patty Waters

51 Don't Explain (Sung Quietly) 5:12 W/Jessica Williams Patty Waters

52 If I Should Lose You 6:24 WJeri Allen Betty Carter

53 You're The Top 3:40 The Cole Porter Mix Patricia Barber

54 What Is This Thing Called Love? 4:00 The Cole Porter Mix Patricia Barber

55 You & The Night & The Music 8:03 Modern Cool Patricia Barber

56 Light My Fire 5:16 Modern Cool Patricia Barber

57 I Could Eat Your Words 7:53 Verse Patricia Barber

58 Blue Monk 4:48 W/Ran Blake Jeanne Lee And Ran Blake

59 In These Last Days 7:37 WLee & Lyons Andrew Cyrille with Jeanne Lee,…

60 You Got To My Head 7:09 W/Mal Waldron Jeanne Lee & Mal Waldron

61 Goodbye Pork - Pie Hat 3:26 W/Mal Waldron Jeanne Lee & Mal Waldron

62 Straight Ahead 3:19 After Hours Jeanne Lee & Mal Waldron

63 Moon 6:06 Verse Patricia Barber

64 If I Were Blue 6:01 Verse Patricia Barber

65 A Ghost of a Chance (Studio) 3:20 The Total - Vol. 1 Lee Wiley

66 Manhattan (Studio) 3:28 The Total - Vol. 1 Lee Wiley

67 Fools Fall In Love (Studio) 3:01 The Total - Vol. 1 Lee Wiley

68 Dear Ruby [Remastered 2001] 6:01 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

69 Monkery's The Blues 4:56 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

70 Little Butterfly [Remastered 2001] 5:15 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

71 Listen To Monk [Remastered 2001] 3:05 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

72 How I Wish... [Remastered 2001] 4:56 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

73 'Round Midnight [Remastered 20… 6:32 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

74 Still We Dream [Remastered 2001] 3:34 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

75 Suddenly [Remastered 2001] 3:41 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

76 Looking Back [Remastered 2001] 5:38 Carmen Sings Monk Carmen McRae

77 The Creator Has A Master Plan 4:25 Spirits Known And Unknown Leon Thomas

78 A Night In Tunisia 8:14 Spirits Known And Unknown Leon Thomas

79 You Are The Sunshine Of My Life 5:45 Full Circle Leon Thomas

80 Autumn Leaves 7:48 Autumn Leaves: The Songs of J… Jacintha

81 Moon River 8:32 Autumn Leaves: The Songs of J… Jacintha

82 Round Midnight 6:15 Jacintha Is Her Name Jacintha

83 Harlem Nocturne 09 6:20 Jacintha

84 Light My Fire 4:04 Jacintha Is Her Name Jacintha

85 I Want To Talk About You 2:41 The Legendary Big Band [Disc 1] Billy Eckstine

86 Early Autumn 3:21 Everything I Have Is Yours / The… Billy Eckstine

87 If You Could See Me Now 3:27 Everything I Have Is Yours / The… Billy Eckstine

88 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes 3:44 Everything I Have Is Yours / The… Billy Eckstine

89 Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No G… 3:41 Everything I Have Is Yours / The… Billy Eckstine

90 How High Is The Moon (Parts 1… 5:23 Everything I Have Is Yours / The… Billy Eckstine

91 St. Louis Blues (Parts 1 & 2) 6:21 Everything I Have Is Yours / The… Billy Eckstine

92 You'd Be So Nice To Come Hom… 5:24 W/Helen Merrill & Billy Eckstine

93 My Funny Valentine 3:33 W/Benny Carter Billy Eckstine

94 Here's That Rainy Day 3:52 W/Benny Carter Billy Eckstine

95 Summertime 3:54 W/Benny Carter Billy Eckstein

96 Over The Rainbow 4:40 W/Benny Carter Billy Eckstein

97 Autumn Leaves 3:44 Billy Eckstine Sings With Benny… Billy Eckstein

98 I'll Wait And Pray 2:47 The Legendary Big Band [Disc 1] Sarah Vaughan w/Billy Eckstine'…

99 Have You Met Miss Jones? (200… 2:22 The Divine One Sarah Vaughan

100 Ain't No Use (2007 Digital Rema… 3:54 The Divine One Sarah Vaughan

101 Just You, Just Me 3:04 The Complete After Midnight Se… Nat King Cole Trio

102 Sweet Lorraine 4:39 The Complete After Midnight Se… Nat King Cole Trio

103 Blame It on My Youth 4:13 The Complete After Midnight Se… Nat King Cole Trio

104 What Is There to Say 3:37 The Complete After Midnight Se… Nat King Cole Trio

105 Sometimes I'm Happy 4:11 The Complete After Midnight Se… Nat King Cole

106 It's Only A Paper Moon 3:10 The Complete After Midnight Se… Nat King Cole

107 Tea For Two 2:48 Do You Long For Oolong? Joe Mooney Quartet

108 September Song 3:17 Do You Long For Oolong? Joe Mooney Quartet

109 Just A Gigolo 3:11 Do You Long For Oolong? Joe Mooney Quartet

110 What Is There To Say? 2:53 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

111 Ain't Misbehavin' 2:51 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

112 I Fall In Love Too Easily 2:26 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

113 We'll Be Together Again 3:03 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

114 They Didn't Believe Me 2:37 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

115 I'm Glad There Is You 2:33 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

116 When Your Lover Has Gone 3:11 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

117 I'll Remember April 3:12 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

118 I See Your Face Before Me 3:35 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

119 September Song 3:53 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

120 Moonlight In Vermont 3:08 Johnny Hartman - Songs From T… Johnny Hartman

121 Dedicated To You 5:34 John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

122 My One And Only Love 4:58 John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

123 Lush Life 5:30 John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

124 You Are Too Beautiful 5:36 John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman

125 Straight Ahead 5:25 Straight Ahead Abbey Lincoln

126 Blue Monk 6:40 Straight Ahead Abbey Lincoln

127 Left Alone 6:48 Straight Ahead Abbey Lincoln

128 You Don't Know What Love Is 5:30 Heart Of A Woman Etta James

129 At Last 4:42 Heart Of A Woman Etta James

130 Solitude 2:09 Day Dream: Best Of The Duke E… Ella Fitzgerald

131 What Reason Could I Give 5:18 The Cherry Thing Neneh Cherry & The Thing

132 What Reason Could I Give 3:48 Dona Nostra Don Cherry

133 A Closer Walk With Thee 4:23 Speaking in Tongues David Murray feat. Fontella Bass

134 Take My Hand, Precious Lord 10:09 Don Byron New Gospel Quintet

135 Precious Lord 3:59 W/Bob Stewart, Tuba James Baldwin

136 Suffering With The Blues (LP Ver… 5:39 W/Fontella Bass World Saxophone Quartet

137 You Don't Know Me (LP Version) 6:36 W/Fontella Bass World Saxophone Quartet

138 Its The Talk Of The Town 8:21 W/David Murray & Teresa Brewer

139 Skylark 4:25 W/David Murray & Teresa Brewer

140 Blue Moon 6:06 W/David Murray & Teresa Brewer

141 Misty 4:39 W/David Murray Teresa Brewer

142 Say It (Over And Over Again) 6:03 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson

143 You Don't Know What Love Is 5:38 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson

144 Too Young To Go Steady 5:44 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson

145 I Wish I Knew 4:22 Ballads: Remembering John Coltane - Karrin Allyson

146 What's New? 5:55 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson

147 It's Easy To Remember 6:03 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson

148 Naima 6:39 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson

149 Why Was I Born? 3:42 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson

150 Every Time We Say Goodbye 6:01 Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane - Karrin Allyson