The Opinion of William Gibson

In tuesdays New York Times William Gibson published an article on Google. Read more here.

Thelonious Monk page

I just added a Thelonious Monk page (all the different pages can be found right on top of the blog just under the title) dedicated to the pianomaster and uploaded a flyer of a concert he gave in the Koningin Elisabethzaal, Antwerp on February 29, 1964. The concert is not mentioned in Robin Kelley's excellent biography.

Laurent Fignon R.I.P.

Laurent Fignon passed away today at age 50. Although it was widely known he was ill since last year his passing comes still as a surprise. He delivered fine commentary on last Tour de France and will be sorely missed.

Blog updates

I added two more interesting blogs to the 'Share the Music' links and I discovered I could add 'pages' to my blog. This is very usefull since it allows me to post stuff which can be used as research material.

So i added three pages up till now. As you can see some are still under construction but I can already confirm they will mostly contain jazz stuff as for example discographies etc...


Check them out and stay tuned!

Alain Corneau R.I.P.

Alain Corneau passed away last night.

He was the director of :
Polic Python 357
Le Choix des Armes
La Menace
all with Yves Montand

Furthermore he directed
Serie Noire with Patrick Dewaere
Fort Saganne
Tous Les Matins Du Monde

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006734/

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100830/API/1008301069

http://www.lemonde.fr/carnet/article/2010/08/30/le-realisateur-alain-corneau-est-mort_1404505_3382.html#ens_id=1404510

Film Poster : Tierra Brutal aka The Savage Guns [1961] (Proto-Spaghetti Western)

Jimmy Cobb and K.O.B.

The Daily Times has an article on legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb and his K.O.B. tribute band. Read more here.

Louis Ferdinand Céline à Comines

Just a short message to draw your attention on an article in La Voix du Nord on Louis Ferdinand Céline.

Film Poster : J.X Williams - Peep Show [1965]

1st Anniversary of Tune Up

Today a year ago i changed my old blog from 'skynet' to 'blogger'. Thanks to all who passed by on a regular basis and we hope to see you soon again. In the mean time enjoy holiday season!

Film Poster : Pierre Schoendorfer - La 317e section [1965]

Don Ellis - Live In India

I got this email in the 'Inbox' a few days ago :

"At last, I can now report that "Don Ellis Live in India" - recorded at the "Jazz Yatra" Festival, Bombay in 1978 - is now available from www.sleepynightrecords.com (go to Media to hear music clips and Info for more details).
The quintet was specially formed by Don Ellis for the very first "Jazz Yatra" presentation.
Niranjan Jhaveri - founder and honorary secretary-general - was a long-time close friend of Don's, so it was a natural choice for him to invite Don - along with another close friend, Sonny Rollins, to perform at the festival. Both groups appeared for "expenses only".
Just over 2 years ago, I spoke to Gary Gillies about the possibilities of his record label - Sleepy Night Records - issuing "lost tape" material, in a series dedicated to Don Ellis. We agreed that these "Jazz Yatra" sessions would make an excellent Volume 1.
I had been in contact from time to time, over a number of years, with Niranjan, so I asked him for further details. Niranjan was by then very ill and approaching the age of 80. Nevertheless, he was very helpful and gave permission - on behalf of "Jazz Yatra" - for us to go ahead with the project.
My next step was to try and contact the remaining members of the quintet: Emilie, Randy, Leon and David (luckily, I managed to trace them all) and also Don's son Brav, for permission from Ellis Music Enterprises. Photographs, program, memories, etc, came and are included in the 20-page booklet accompanying the C.D.
Emilie checked out listed items we believed were the "master tapes" housed in Don's collection at U.C.L.A. These turned out to be 8mm film, that Don had shot during their "vacation periods" in India and Egypt. This, in itself, was a "lost" recovery, for Emilie knew of Don's filming, but the footage was presumed lost. We were left with what Emilie had already: the cassette tapes of the sessions, that Don had given her on their return to the U.S.A.
David undertook the huge task of clean-up and editing of this problematic source material and the results are superb.
This whole project has been a "labor of love" by all. Gary and Sleepy Night Records have financed the manufacture of a limited edition of just 1,000 copies and I sincerely hope that he will recover the cost through sufficient sales, which would also allow us to go ahead with a planned Volume 2 of the "Lost Tapes of a Musical Legend".
There is a limited number of copies available free to review by interested writers, magazines, etc, who wish to transmit their views to a wider public.
To close this report on a very sad note, I learned just a few days ago - by checking the Jazz Yatra Internet site - that Niranjan Jhaveri passed away on May 21st of this year (cancer). If we had known of this sooner, a special tribute would have been inserted within the C.D booklet. We now dedicate this album to the memory of Niranjan Jhaveri, whose love and involvement in jazz music were monumental."

Laurent Cugny - Electrique Miles Davis

Here's a PDF of Laurent Cugny's book 'Electrique Miles Davis' which explores Miles Davis's electric period between 1968 and 1975. For those of us who are monolingual, the text is  in French. This book is now OOP for years...

Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

Speakin' of Beats, there's an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 2–September 6, 2010 of pictures by Allen Ginsberg. The NYRB has a review of the exhibition by Edmund White.

Bruno Cremer R.I.P.

Cremer began his career in the 1950s and starred in a variety of stage plays, including a starring role as Thomas Beckett in the world premiere of Jean Anouilh's Beckett in 1959.

He starred in films such as director Rene Clement's Is Paris Burning? (1966), The Time to Die (1970), and Noce Blanche in 1989, appearing alongside Vanessa Paradis. (this one is shown toniight at FRANCE 2 as special ommage to Cremer). His first famous role was in 'La 317 ème Section' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058863/) as adjutant Willsdorf who tries to

But he will perhaps be best remembered for playing the famous pipe-smoking detective Maigret in the TV series which debuted in 1991 and ran until 2005.

Read more here in Libérations obituary or just have a look at Cremer playing le Commissaire Maigret in 'Maigret Chez Les Flamands'

Those were the days!

Ava Gardner, Stan Kenton, Peter Lawford and Spike Jones!

Film Poster : Mark Robson - The Little Hut [1957]

Sous le nom de Melville - Code Name Melville

This documentary by Olivier Bohler was broadcasted this spring on a french television channel. I missed the opportunity to record it. If someone ahs this in his possession please contact me, PLEASE!!!!
Thanks a lot in advance.

JACK KEROUAC AND ALLEN GINSBERG: THE LETTERS

Read a review of this new book in the NYT Book review here. And there's even an excerpt available here. Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

Miles Davis was Cool

Miles Davis was the personification of cool. Todd Boyd explains why in an article in The Root.

Film Poster : Syndey Pollack - The Yakuza [1974]

Comments on this blog

Some people leave comments and the redaction of this blog appreciates this very much.

But please do always leave them in english, french, german, dutch. Our redactor in chief received comments in japanese or chinese which he's unable to read and he considers it automatically as spam and those comments are deleted.

Thanks in advance for your comprehension.

Je me souviens de Miles : complete series

I captured all the broadcasts on France Musique, some from radio most as webcasts and made them available as MP3 @320 kbps.

Here are the complete details of the series :

Feuilletons l'été
Je me souviens de Miles Davis
Présenté par Franck Médioni

lundi 26 juillet 2010 (1/5)

Programmation musicale du jour

"Kind of blue" - Miles Davis
Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis)
Columbia 494853 2

"First Miles" - Miles Davis
1. Milestones (Miles Davis)
2. Half Nelson (Miles Davis)
Savoy 0159

"Birth of the cool" - Miles Davis
Move (Denzil Best)
Deception (Miles Davis)
Capitol 724349455023

"The complete Columbia recordings" - Miles Davis & Gil Evans
1. Springsville (John Carisi)
2. Miles Ahead (Miles Davis)
3. Lament (Jay Jay Johnson)
4. Summertime (George Gershwin)
5. Corcovado (Antonio Carlos Jobim)
Columbia 67397

mardi 27 juillet 2010 (2/5)

"Kind of blue" - Miles Davis
Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis)
Columbia 494853 2

"Workin'" - Miles Davis
It never entered my mind (Hart/Rodgers)
Prestige 98404

Miles Davis & John Coltrane
"Miles Davis comments" et "Round midnight" (Thelonious Monk)
Columbia 65833

"Ascenseur pour l’échafaud" - Miles Davis
Florence sur les Champs-Elysées (Miles Davis)
Dîner au motel (Miles Davis)
Fontana 836 305–2

"Kind of blue" - Miles Davis
Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis)
Columbia 494853 2


mercredi  28 juillet (3/5)

"Kind of blue" - Miles Davis
Blue in green (Bill Evans)
Columbia 494853 2

"Les années Jazz Magazine"
Round Midnight (Thelonious Monk)
Verve 525 282–2

Miles Davis & John Coltrane
Someday my prince will come (F. Churchill/L. Morey)
Columbia 65833

"Quintet" - Miles Davis
ESP (Wayne Shorter)
Columbia 67398

"The complete live at the Plugged Nickel" - Miles Davis
Stella by starlight (N. Washington/V. Young)
Columbia 67095

jeudi 29 juillet 2010 (4/5)

"Quintet" - Miles Davis
Pinocchio (Wayne Shorter)
Columbia 67398

"In a silent way" - Miles Davis
Shhh/Peaceful (Miles Davis)
Columbia 450982 2

"Bitches Brew" - Miles Davis
1. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (Miles Davis)
2. Orange Lady (Joe Zawinul)
Columbia 65570

"On the corner" - Miles Davis
Mtume (Miles Davis)
Columbia 88697062392

vendredi 30 juillet 2010 (5/5)

"Decoy" - Miles Davis
Decoy (Robert Irving III)
Columbia 468702 2

"Tutu" - Miles Davis
Tutu (Marcus Miller)
Warner 925 490–2

"You won’t forget me" - Shirley Horn
You won’t forget me
Verve

"Dingo" - Miles Davis & Michel Legrand
1. Concert on the runway (Miles Davis/Michel Legrand)
2. The departure (Miles Davis/Michel Legrand)
Warner 7599–26438–2

"Doo-bop" - Miles Davis
Blow (Easy Mo Bee)
Warner 7599–26938–2

Kim Novak

The American Cinematheque honors Kim Novak with screenings of 'Vertigo,' 'Pal Joey' and other films at the Egyptian Theatre. Read an interview with Miss Novak here.

R.O.I.O. Of The Week : Joshua Redman à Juan Les Pins 20.07.2010

I captured this direct broadcast recently from the radio the same day as the Roy Hargrove concert i shared already here. In fact i almost forgot about the broadcast since i had professional obligations and only could leave for home at around 20.00 p.m. and with a half hour drive. The concert would be broadcasted at 20.30 p.m.. I put on the radio and listened on the radio the studio program where they were talking about Joshua Redmans career and they played some tracks from his earlier recordings nota bene Moodswing. It was as if i heard them for the first time again so many years already ago (16 to be precise) and realised that his group of those days consisted of what are nowadays some heavy cats : Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade.I arrived just in time at home, left wife and kid where they were and started the recording. I haven't been following Joshua Redmans career all the time and did not what to expect with his double trio but after listening at it twice i start to dig it more and more and esally 'Identity Thief' (Trane is not far away), 'Ugly Beauty' and the encore 'Moonlight'. Enjoy!


JOSHUA REDMAN double Trio
Antibes / Juan Les Pins Jazz festival
Pinède Gould
2010 july 20th,
France Musique broadcast -)HD -) cd wave -) FLAC

01 Radio 01:06
02 Identity Thief 06:27
03 J.R. speaks -) Ghost 10:35
04 Hutchhiker's guide 08:01
05 Radio 00:17
06 Ugly Beauty 12:37 (cut due to signal loss by radio station)
07 Ugly Beauty cont'd 00:30
08 Faraway 13:39
09 Intro 00:47
10 Little Ditty 10:44
11 Barracuda's 11:52
12 Crowd 02:14
13 Encore - Moonlight 04:59
14 Radio 00:54

Joshua Redman / saxes
Matt Penman / contrabass & cello
Reuben Rogers / contrabass
Gregory Hutchinson / drums & percussions
Bill Stewart / drums

Je me souviens de Miles - I remember Miles

France Musique broadcasts a summer series which is dedicated this week to Miles Davis. Franck Medioni who wrote a book on Miles last year recollected from 80 musicians their impressions of Miles. He turned his book now in a radio series.

The first part was broadcasted yesterday afternoon and i was able to record it and it's available as an MP3. Part 2 and the other parts are broadcasted every afternoon this week at 17h30.

Let's play : magical penalty

Film Poster : Jacques Deray - Avec la peau des autres [1966]

Somerset Maugham

The Secret Lives Of Somerset Maugham by Selina Hastings is been reviewed in this weekends NYT Sunday Book Review here.

Willem Breuker R.I.P.

Just got this sad news in, one can read a brief obituary here.

Jimmy Heath in the Wall Street Journal

Will Friedwald wrote an article about tenorsaxofonist Jimmy Heath called 'A Jazz Colossu Steps Out' and it appeared recently in the Wall Street Journal.

Elmore Leonard : Djibouti

Djibouti is the name of the new Elmore Leonard. One can find out more at the website of the Master himself.

ROIO of the week : Roy Hargrove - Juan Les Pins 20.07.2010

Here's a short upload but it's a very recent recording! Enjoy!

Roy Hargrove Quintet
Jazz à Juan, Pinède Gould
20.07.2010
RB France Musique -) HD -) cdwave -) FLAC

01 Radio 01:11
02 title 12:22
03 title 08:06
04 Radio 00:20

R.H. tp
Jason Robinson as
Jonathan Batiste p
Amin Saleem b
Montez Coleman ds

Looking for early Monk

I'm reading Robin D.G.Kelley's bio on Monk right now and came upon a few early recordings which i never heard before. Does anyone here around happen to have them? Please contact me or leave a message, thanks a lot in advance :

Thelonious Monk Quartet
Idrees Sulieman (tp) Thelonious Monk (p) Curly Russell (b) Art Blakey (d)
WNYC radio broadcast, "Festival Of American Music", February 16, 1948
    All The Things You Are    Chazzer 2002
    Just You, Just Me    -
    Suburban Eyes    -
* The Vibes Are On Art Tatum/Thelonious Monk (Chazzer 2002)

Thelonious Monk Quintet
Idrees Sulieman or Kenny Dorham (tp) Charlie Rouse (ts) Thelonious Monk (p) unknown (b) unknown (d) Frankie Passions (vo)
NYC, 1951
    Especially For You    Spotlite (E) SPJ 135
    Nobody Knows    -
* Various Artists - Cool Whalin' - Bebop Vocals (Spotlite (E) SPJ 135)

Film Poster : Harmon Jones - Target Zero [1955]

Herbie Hancock 70th anniversary

The L.A. Times features H.H. in its actual edition here. Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

Film Poster : Ray Nazarro - The Hired Gun [1957]

Quincy Troupe Remembers Miles Davis in ‘Miles and Me’

One might wonder when the interview was done, but anyway it's about the Prince of Darkness, enjoy the read!

*I was young and barely off the farm when I met Miles Davis.  He entered my life like a whirlwind scooping up all in his path.  I knew him for a summer when he dated my then roommate.  His visits could be disconcerting and as a young girl I was unequipped to handle this very complex, complicated and oftentimes paranoid man.

His dominant and sometimes harsh and combative personality could cower the  fiercest gladiator.  However, it was Miles who decided I should work at his record label.  Shortly afterwards, I found myself ensconced at the receptionist desk on William Paley’s floor at Columbia Records.  Miles could be endearing if he liked you.  Yet, there was something about his aura that said ‘don’t mess with me.’  Most folks didn’t.  I was both repelled and in awe of this genius who had chosen to put me in his inner circle wherein he took me on a sometimes fun and sometimes maddening adventure that I now look back on fondly.

I had the pleasure of swapping stories with poet/author/screenwriter Quincy Troupe who wrote “Miles: The Autobiography and his memoirs on Mr. Davis in his book “Miles and Me.” Mr. Troupe is also, the co-author of “The Pursuit of Happyness” with Chris Gardner.  “Later Will Smith starred in the movie version of the book,” remarked Troupe.  “I also wrote the “Miles and Me” screenplay which is about to go into production starring Samuel L. Jackson.  Initially, I suggested Don Cheadle for the Miles role.  The filmmakers considered a few actors including Wesley Snipes but at the time Snipes was having problems.  Hollywood makes the final decisions and ultimately it comes down to money and who has the greater box office appeal.  Laurence Fishburne was approached to play me but he has CSI commitments, so the movie makers may have to go with another actor” commented the St. Louis reared poet who appeared on two PBS television series on poetry: The United States of Poetry and Bill Moyers’ The Power of the Word wherein Troupe’s segment, “The Living Language,” received a 1990 Emmy Award for Television Excellence.

“Miles was from East St. Louis so I never met him as a youngster although Chuck Berry lived a few blocks from me.  I knew Chuck was famous but he used to love young girls.  He would occasionally come around the young athletes because we had the prettiest girls. I’d steer my girl out the door whenever I’d see Chuck.  He would yell after me “Hey, Young Troupe!  Young Troupe.  Where you going, Young Troupe? He was funny,” chuckled Quincy tickled by the memory of Chuck Berry trying to steal his high school girlfriend.

“I first became aware of Miles Davis at age 15.  I went into this fish joint where I noticed these 4 hip looking guys.  They were talking and eating ‘jack-salmon’ sandwiches and listening to music.  Their heads were bopping to the music.  They were playing a tune called “Donna” and saying it was by a trumpeter and St. Louis homeboy named Miles Davis.  It was my first exposure to jazz.  After they left I played the song a few times and I was hooked.  I started listening to whatever Miles Davis music I could find.  He became my hero.  However, it wasn’t until 1956 that I first saw Miles play live in a St Louis jazz spot called Peacock Alley.  I watched Miles from a distance noticing few were approaching him as he stood at the bar.  Then this gushing white couple approached, “stated Quincy. ‘”Thrilled to meet Miles the white man stuck out his hand and was about to state his name when Miles took off his dark glasses and gave them a withering look followed up with a profanity-laced “get out of my face MF and take yo silly-a__s “B” with you.”  I would hear the “MF and “B” word coming from Miles many times during the course of our friendship, sometimes even directed toward me.  Miles could be very jealous regarding women, complicated and paranoid.  He was also generous, loyal and comical.  He loved boxing, sports and respected musicians such as Clark Terry, Hugh Masekela, Santana, Monk, Charlie Parker, Sly Stone, Prince and Michael Jackson.  There were quite a few musicians Miles respected but Mick Jagger wasn’t one of them.  Miles told me that one day Mick showed up at his house unannounced.  Miles came to the door and Mick was standing there.  Mick said “Hi, Miles. “I’m Mick Jagger.”  Miles said “So, what!” and slammed the door in Mick’s face.” recalled the Peabody Award winner.

“The first time I had a chance to actually talk to Miles was at my friend Leo’s party.  Miles was sitting by himself so I took a seat nearby.  We actually exchanged a few pleasantries and then Miles got up and said “Later,” and left the party.  It wasn’t long after I saw him in the street and greeted him but Miles kept walking and completely ignored me.  I was with a girlfriend who I had told I knew Miles.  Then Miles just dissed me.  It was embarrassing.  When I had the occasion to see him again I asked him why he had treated me like that.  Miles replied with a profanity laced sentence that amounted to he didn’t have to speak to me every time he saw me.  He then walked away leaving me hurt and confused.  After that I stayed away from Miles until I was commissioned to write his autobiography.

“It was while writing his autobiography that we became true friends and remained friends until his death.  My wife Margaret and I truly loved Miles and he loved us.  I noticed Miles was getting sick.  He became secretive about his illness.  Later, Miles admitted he was taking AZT as part of his medication,” said Quincy.

To hear more about  Quincy and Miles’ friendship listen to my “Topically Yours” show on Blogtalkradio.com via the BlakeRadio network or see http://writeblog-deardra.blogspot.com/

Summertime

It's Summertime and the news reflects it (read the 1st § LOL):

Wed Jul 07, 2010 @ 10:13AM PST

Snoop-dogg <http://reporter.blogs.com/.a/6a00d83451d69069e20133f21ee7e8970b-pi>
*By Eriq Gardner*

EXCLUSIVE: It's been more than 30 years since the birth of hip-hop,
and in that time, one axiom holds true: If the ride is more fly, then
you must buy.

We're quoting Snoop Dogg, who allegedly didn't buy.

So says Michael Henderson, one of the most influential jazz musicians
of the past 40 years. Henderson played bass guitar and sang and, along
with bandmate Miles Davis, he put a funky groove in a genre of music
called fusion jazz.

Now, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in Michigan, Snoop Dogg
took a sample from Henderson's "Do It All" album and incorporated it
into his own works without permission. Snoop Dogg isn't alone. In a
separate lawsuit, Henderson also targets rappers Nick Carter (aka
"Murs") and Patrick Douthit (aka "9th Wonder") for doing the same.

These rappers are now embroiled in a debate as old as hip-hop: Is
sampling legal?

For the most part it is. In the late 1980s and early '90s, though,
some courts started frowning on excessive sampling. In cases such as
/Grand Upright v. Warner
<http://cip.law.ucla.edu/cases/case_grandwarner.html>/, judges began
to see flagrant uses of sampling as copyright infringement.

Some legal experts argue that sampling might be a "fair use"
<http://www.artistshousemusic.org/videos/sampling+and+copyright>
depending on how much is used and for what purpose. They believe that
courts should recognize a "de minimis" standard for insignificant use
of a copyrighted work.

However, some judges haven't abided by that standard. Of particular
note, a three-judge panel at the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed
a lower court decision in 2005 in /Bridgeport v. Dimension Films
<http://fsnews.findlaw.com/cases/6th/04a0297p.html>,/ saying that
musicians should pay for samples --- even unrecognizable snippets.

It's probably not a coincidence now Henderson is now targeting a pair
of prominent musicians in that same jurisdiction. He claims the
defendants had actual knowledge that they didn't have permission but
decided to take full credit for the work.

Henderson is targeting the Snoop track "Flashbacks," as well as a song
Snoop created with the group Warzone entitled "Hands on the Wheel,"
which is posted below. He's also claiming an infringing use in "3:16
pt. 2" by Murs and 9th Wonder.

Henderson is claiming statutory damages for the alleged infringement
as well as any profits made from the songs. He's asking the court to
enjoin the defendants from manufacturing, distributing and selling the
works further. Here's the complaint
<http://reporter.blogs.com/files/mied-09704306479.pdf>.

Holidays Upload : John Coltrane - Newport 02.07.1966

Sorry for the infrequent posting the last weeks, way too much to handle but to make it up to you here's a special holiday upload :

It has been around on a Coltrane Tree and was issued by Free Factory.
Details are as follows : (scan of cover art and booklet is included)

John Coltrane (ss, ts, per)
Pharoah Sanders (ts, picc, per)
Alice Coltrane (p)
Jimmy Garrison (b)
Rashied Ali (d)
"Newport Jazz Festival", Newport, RI
July 2, 1966

01. My Favorite Things (incomplete)  
02. Peace On Earth  
03. Leo

Film Poster : John Huston - The Unforgiven [1960]

Elmore Leonard updates

Some not so very recent, but still interesting news on Elmore Leonard :

Fits his novel 'The Switch' might be adapted for film says the Guardian,
and then the 'missing link' in the Carl Webster saga will be filled this autumn when 'Comfort to the Enemy' will be published as a trade papaberback, after its initial publication as a series in the NYT.

Film Poster : James Neilson - Flareup [1969]

Bill Dixon R.I.P.

Just got this email in :

"I've just been asked by his estate to deliver the sad news that
trumpeter/composer/educator Bill Dixon died last night in his sleep at
his longtime home in North Bennington, Vermont after a two-year
illness.

He was 84 years old.

Dixon is survived by his longtime partner Sharon Vogel and two children.

Information about a memorial service and where to send donations in
his name is forthcoming.

An official obituary is in the works and will be available shortly."

Not only Kind of Blue

Maybe Kind of Blue isn't the only recording we listened at at a wrong speed. Robert Johnsons 'King of The Delta Blues might be in the same league.
Read more here.

Film Poster : Olivier Austen - Jesuit Joe [1991]

Film Poster : Giuliano Montaldo - Machine Gun McCain [1969]

James Ellroy meets Joseph Wambaugh

Here's a report of (more or less) recent meeting and discussion between James Ellroy and Joseph Wambaugh. Enjoy the read!

ROIO of the week : Bud Powell - Relaxin' At Home, 61-64

Here's the (for the time bein') last one in our little series of rare Bud Powell recordings. Cover art included. Enjoy!

Earl Bud Powell, Vol. 4 - Relaxin' At Home, 61-64  (Mythic Sound MS 6004-2)

Bud Powell (p, vo) Francis Paudras (brush -2)
Francis Paudras' home, Rue De Boursault, Paris, France, 1961
1.Christmas Song
2.Groovin' High
3.Yeheadeadeadee
4.La Marseillaise

Bud Powell (p) Francis Paudras (brush)
Paris, France, 1962
1. In The Stage Door Canteen
2. Monopoly

Bud Powell (p, vo -1, p -2,3) Francis Paudras (brush -2,3)
Francis Paudras' home, Rue De Clichy, Paris, France, 1963
1.Darn That Dream
2.Crossin' The Channel
3.Lady Bird

Bud Powell (p, vo -1/4, p -5/9) Michel Gaudry (b -7/9) Francis Paudras (brush -1/4,7/9)
Francis Paudras' home, Rue De Clichy, Paris, France, early 1964
1.Conception
2.Relaxin' At Camarillo
3.Celia
4.Gone With The Wind
5.I Know That You Know
6.How High The Moon / Ornithology
7.Una Noche Con Francis
8.In Th Mood For A Classic
9.I Wanna Blow Now
** also issued on Mythic Sound MS 6004-2.

Bud Powell (p, vo) Francis Paudras (brush)
Francis Paudras' home, Rue De Clichy, Paris, France, early 1964
1.Lady Bird (alt. take 1)
2.Lady Bird (alt. take 2)
3. Be-Bop
** reissue of Mythic Sound MS 6004-1 + 3 bonus tracks.

Film Poster : Jerry Hopper - Naked Alibi [1954]

Dennis Hopper R.I.P.

.
More news to follow but here's one obit already...

Film Poster : William Castle - Battle of Rogue River [1954]

James Ellroy : The Hilliker Curse Update

Apparently the new James Ellroy book will be published on September 7th. Mr. Ellroy will be touring in the fall and apparently will pas by in NY, SF, LA, London, Finland, Italy and possibly France.

Hank Jones RIP

Bad news again and it hits hard. Hank Jones left us at the age of 92. I had the opportunity to see him a few times the last years each with Joe Lovano in 4tet or duo. Here's the NYT obit and a shorter one from Jazztimes.

Film Poster : Peter Yates - The Friends Of Eddie Coyle [1973]

ROIO of the week : Bud Powell - Birdland 30.09.1964

We continue our Bud Powell saga, here with a recording from Birdland in 1964. It's taken from a bootleg on Mythic Sound, scans of the cover art are included.

Here are the details, enjoy!

Bud Powell (p) John Ore (b) J.C. Moses (d)

"Birdland", NYC, September 30, 1964

	The Best Thing For You	Mythic Sound MS 6009-1
	'Round About Midnight	-
	I Want To Be Happy	-
	Polka Dots And Moonbeams	-
	Wee	-
	Body And Soul	-
	That Old Black Magic	-
	Hallucinations (Budo)	-
	It Could Happen To You	-
	Lullaby Of Birdland	-
	Buttercup	Mythic Sound MS 6009-2

Wayne Shorter receives Honorary Doctorate at NYU

 
May 12, 2010

New York University President John Sexton today bestowed an honorary doctorate on award-winning jazz saxophonist, composer, and NYU alumnus Wayne Shorter at NYU's 178th Commencement Exercises in Yankee Stadium.  Over 25,000 graduates, faculty, staff, and guests attended the morning ceremony.

The following citation was read in conferring the Doctor of Fine Arts degree, honoris causa, on Wayne Shorter:

"Wayne Shorter—pivotal figure in the history of jazz, unique composer and astonishing improviser, your work of five decades has helped shape a fundamental transformation of modern music. Your early teenage brilliance on the tenor saxophone earned you a nickname, ‘The Newark Flash.’ One of Art Blakey’s renowned Jazz Messengers, you won the DownBeat magazine ‘New Star Saxophonist’ award in 1962, and two years later joined Miles Davis and his quintet—following his excursions into electric jazz. With your colleagues from Weather Report and later your own groups as a leader, you in large measure helped define the genre of jazz fusion and modern jazz. Your compositions are considered standard repertoire by jazz musicians from around the world. Informed by your far-reaching intelligence and deep interest in philosophy, literature, and film, your music knocks down walls between classical and jazz and embraces peers, critics, and fans alike in a consensus of awe. You have earned 9 Grammy Awards and 13 Grammy nominations, and you are a designated ‘Jazz Master’ of the National Endowment of the Arts. We proudly salute you, a 1956 Bachelor of Music Education graduate in our Steinhardt School, as the singular musician roundly considered to be the greatest living composer of jazz.


"Wayne Shorter—esteemed alumnus, an American original, your masterful music interweaves the popular and progressive as you soar into flights of genius that make your life’s work a unique echo of the eternal. By virtue of the authority vested in me by New York University, I am pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa.

The Pacific

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100507a1.html

May 7, 2010

War epics on screen skip mass slaughter of civilians
by Charles Burress, Special to The Japan Times

SAN FRANCISCO ­ Does the history diet fed to Americans by Hollywood promote an unhealthy national memory? The latest screen epic about American heroism in World War II ­ the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" ­ is clouded by an unintended irony.

Creators Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who teamed up also on "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan," have sought to strengthen the authenticity of Hollywood renderings of World War II. But while such portrayals may give us a keener appreciation of the courage and suffering of U.S. troops on the battlefield, they also add further weight to a lopsided World War II history that leaves the dishonorable part of America's wartime behavior buried deeper in national amnesia.

In what may be added irony, the widely reported premier of "The Pacific" came but four days after the little noticed anniversary of one of the darkest events in American war history ­ the March 10, 1945, firebombing of Tokyo. The two-volume World War II history "Total War," by Peter Calvocoressi, Guy Wint and John Pritchard, describes the massive napalm attack on Japan's capital as not only "the greatest air offensive in history" but also "deliberate, indiscriminate mass murder."

The raid by B-29 bombers probably ranks as history's largest mass killing of civilians in a short time span. The estimated death toll of 100,000 exceeded the immediate deaths in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, or the Dresden firebombing.

"The street was filled with blackened corpses," air raid survivor Haruko Nihei recently told a U.C. Berkeley audience on her first trip to tell her story in America. "There were so many of them that it was hard to walk on the streets."

Then an 8-year-old girl, Nihei survived after falling in the panicked tumult and being covered by other people. When she came to, she found the bodies on top of her were "black as charcoal."

The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey said at the time that "probably more persons lost their lives by fire in Tokyo in a six-hour period than at any time in the history of man." The inferno was so intense that fleeing victims burst spontaneously into flame and were boiled alive in canals into which they had plunged to escape. Their agonies were no less severe than those suffered at Hiroshima.

Confronting U.S. mass killing of civilians in WWII ­ particularly the Tokyo firebombing ­ is important now, not just because Americans should remember both the good and bad about their history. The U.S. has trouble winning hearts and minds in today's war against terrorists in part because the terrorism blood on America's own hands leaves it vulnerable to effective enemy propaganda and charges of hypocrisy.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Osama bin Laden cited Hiroshima, as if to say the World Trade Center deaths represented only a small taste of the type of warfare that the U.S. had long ago sanctioned.

America was far from the first to bomb cities. The tactic began as early as the 19th century with bombs dropped from balloons over Venice. Indiscriminate killing of noncombatants from the air began, according to many historians, in the 1930s. The Japanese bombing of civilians in the Chapei section of Shanghai in January 1932 "horrified much of the world and anticipated the mass bombings of populations a decade later," wrote Cornell University historian Walter LaFeber. The most infamous early example, immortalized in a painting by Picasso, came five years later in 1937 when more than a thousand people died in the German bombing of Guernica.

The Japanese military embraced the tactic during the Second Sino-Japanese War, bombing several Chinese cities. The most destruction came from repeated air raids on Chongqing, China's wartime capital after the 1937 fall of Nanjing. Aerial attacks on Chongqing in May 1939 alone claimed an estimated 5,400 lives, according to Mark Selden, a Japan specialist at Cornell.

In WWII in Europe, bombing tolls mounted, beginning with German air raids on Warsaw in 1939 and Rotterdam in 1940. German bombing of British cities in the eight months following September 1940 claimed about 30,000 lives. British bombing of German cities began in 1942 and was later joined by the Americans. About 45,000 were killed in raids on Hamburg alone in July and August of 1943. Nearly as many were killed at Dresden in February 1945.

The concentration of carnage saw a significant escalation when America sent waves of bombers over Japan, especially in 1945. In attacks on 66 Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the number of civilians killed by American bombs was "probably close to four hundred thousand," estimated MIT historian John Dower.

In the 2003 documentary "Fog of War" Robert McNamara, who served in World War II under the architect of the bombing campaign, Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, quoted LeMay's postwar assessment: "If we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals."

McNamara, who later became U.S. Secretary of Defense, added, "I think he's right. He, and I'd say I, were behaving as war criminals."

But if the U.S. was guilty of war crimes, then weren't Japan, Germany and Great Britain also guilty? All of them rained bombs indiscriminately on civilians. America may have done so with the largest kill ratio, but virtually all laws against killing of innocents are not conditional on the number killed.

International law on bombing cities at that time was not clearly established. A Hague Convention that was drafted in 1923 explicitly banned aerial bombardment of civilians but was never ratified. The League of Nations unanimously passed a resolution in 1938 outlawing aerial bombing of civilian populations, but Japan and Germany by then had withdrawn from the league and the U.S. had never joined.

The most relevant agreement was the earlier Hague Convention Respecting Laws and Customs of War on Land of 1907, which had been ratified by the major combatants of WWII. It forbade bombardment of "undefended" towns, bombardment without prior warning and destruction of enemy property not demanded by military necessity. But those who ordered the later bombings in Asia and Europe, though they were accused by their adversaries of violating international law, typically said they had met the required conditions.

At the Tokyo war crimes trial, bombing of cities was not one of the charges brought against the Japanese defendants. Nor was it charged against German leaders at Nuremberg. "Aerial bombardment had been used so extensively and ruthlessly on the Allied as well as Axis side that neither at Nuremberg nor Tokyo was the issue made a part of the trials," recalled Telford Taylor, chief prosecutor at Nuremberg.

So, should anyone be blamed? One Japanese scholar said the 20th century's ghastly record of civilian slaughter from the air had its origin in Japan's attacks on Chinese cities.

In the book "Bombing Civilians," Tetsuo Maeda, who retired in 2007 as a professor of international studies at Tokyo International University, wrote, "The sudden horror from the skies that took place in wars of the 20th century had its roots in tactics used by the Japanese forces during the Asia Pacific War. This horror boomeranged back to Japan in extreme form with the disasters of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

The argument that "Japan started it" is often expressed, especially by American patriots, in the many debates over "victors' justice" at the Tokyo war crimes trial and American misdeeds in the Pacific war. Can earlier Japanese bombing in China ­ along with German and British bombing in Europe and the uncertainty of international law at the time ­ exculpate the later American bombing of Japanese cities?

International laws of war, though not precisely defined, are generally viewed as including more than just signed treaties and agreements. Many scholars and jurists, including the judges at Nuremberg, have held that nations are bound also by "customary laws of war," regardless of what particular treaty was signed by what country.

The indiscriminate slaughter of noncombatants violates customary laws of war as well as universal moral values. It sickens the human soul. Saying "Somebody else did it too" is no excuse.

All nations that bomb civilians are guilty and should account for their actions, and I believe the U.S. owes a special accounting. The scale and intensity of American bombing crossed a new threshold and, in the view of some critics, turned the bombing of cities into America's chief weapon in concluding its war against Japan.

"If others, notably Germany, England and Japan led the way in area bombing, the targeting for destruction of entire cities with conventional weapons emerged in 1944-45 as the centerpiece of U.S. warfare," Selden wrote.

It was the Tokyo attack that "initiated the U.S. government's embrace of urban terror bombing as a legitimate form of warfare," wrote Cary Karacas, an assistant professor at the College of Long Island who studies bombing of civilian populations.

In 1945, U.S. Brig. Gen. Bonner Fellers described the U.S. air raids over Japanese cities as "one of the most ruthless and barbaric killings of noncombatants in all history."

The U.S. ­ and especially Hollywood's shapers of national memory ­ have a special responsibility also to make amends for past omissions and tell the full truth about the past. A more forthright confrontation by Americans with their own war crimes would not only provide a model for other nations with dark pasts but also undermine the ability of America's present enemies to win recruits for committing similar crimes against the U.S. and its allies.

Charles Burress is a San Francisco Bay Area freelance journalist who researched war memory as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Tokyo and Keio University.

Another book on Kind Of Blue

Richard Williams' new book, The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music' is bein' discussed at NPR and one can read and download the review here.

Film Poster : Sam Fuller - Underworld USA [1961]

Omega Minor - Paul Verhaeghen

Omega Minor, which was written by the flemish author Paul Verhaeghen and originally published in english
is now finally translated in french. I read it last year in the dutch version and it's one of those few books that still follows you all the way.

Vous pouvez lire quelques critiques publié  par Pierre Assouline sur son blog et également la critique par Le Soir ici.

Don't forget to check out the blog by the author himself which can be visited here.

Artie Shaw biography

The NYT had a review last weekend of a new Artie Shaw bio. Tought it might be of interest to some of you. Enjoy

Band Of Brothers author accused of fabrication for Eisenhower biography

US academic world shocked as respected historian is said to have 'made up'
meetings with 34th US president

Paul Harris
The Observer, Sunday 25 April 2010

His book Band of Brothers – which chronicled the exploits of one company of
US airborne troops in second world war Europe – was turned into a highly
praised TV series.

But now American historian Professor Stephen Ambrose, who was President
Dwight D Eisenhower's official biographer and wrote or edited more than a
dozen books about him, is embroiled in a posthumous controversy. It is
alleged that he invented many meetings he claimed to have had with
Eisenhower, and even fabricated entire interviews with him. The revelations
have sent shock waves through the scholarly community in the United States.

The books written by Ambrose, who died in 2002, brought him popular acclaim,
and director Steven Spielberg used him as a military adviser on his 1998
Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan. Band of Brothers became a cultural
milestone when it was turned into a TV series on which Ambrose was a
producer. It was hailed for educating an entire generation about the
sacrifices of their forefathers. But it appears that Ambrose indulged in
some sort of fantasy about the extent of his relationship with Eisenhower.
In TV interviews, he claimed to have spent "hundreds and hundreds of hours"
with the former president. He even once said he would spend two days a week
working with Eisenhower in his office.

However, recently studied records of Eisenhower's meetings contradict the
notion that the pair had any lengthy face-to-face contact. "I think five
hours [in total] is a generous estimation of the actual time they spent
together. I personally would push it back to less than two or three," said
Tim Rives, deputy director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library in
Abilene, Kansas.

The discovery came to light almost by accident. The museum had been planning
an exhibition exploring the relationship between Ambrose and Eisenhower.
Rives found that the records showed that Ambrose and Eisenhower had met only
three times, and never alone. He found that on seven occasions when Ambrose
had claimed in the footnotes to his book Supreme Commander to have met
Eisenhower, his subject was either elsewhere in the country or holding
meetings with other people at the time. In one example, Ambrose claimed to
have had an interview with Eisenhower in Pennsylvania, when Eisenhower was
in Kansas. "The whole story kind of unravelled from there. It was quite a
surprise. We were not looking for it, so it sort of happened almost by
accident," Rives said.

Given that the lives of former presidents are meticulously detailed by their
staff, there is almost no chance Ambrose could have held interviews with
Eisenhower that went unrecorded.

Later claims by Ambrose in other books to have interviewed Eisenhower lack
specific dates or places, but were just footnoted as "Interview with DDE".
However, the range of subjects Ambrose claimed to have discussed with
Eisenhower increased to take in topics such as giving up smoking or the
Vietnam war.

Rives believes there is no way that Ambrose could have discussed such a vast
array of subjects in the tiny amount of time he actually spent with his
subject. "I find that very doubtful. That should be something that would be
a concern for scholars. It could cast doubt."

Ambrose claimed that Eisenhower asked him to be his biographer by ringing
him out of the blue in 1964. But Rives found letters from Ambrose to
Eisenhower introducing himself and then asking him to agree to Ambrose
writing his biography. This is not the first scandal over Ambrose's work. In
2002 he was accused of plagiarism in his book The Wild Blue. His publisher
issued an apology but Ambrose said he had merely failed to put some short
passages taken from elsewhere in quotation marks.

Rob McConnell R.I.P.

Rob McConnell died in a Toronto hospital on May 1st, from liver cancer. His health had been declining for the last couple of months. The valve trombonist, composer, arranger, teacher and leader was best known as the leader of The Boss Brass, a 22-piece jazz orchestra, and the Rob McConnell Tentet. He was 75 years old.

Film Poster : Henry Hathaway - The Black Rose [1950]

Kojak Main Theme

I recently obtained the entire series on dvdr, since only the first season is officially available and here's what's to be seen on youtube :

Anthony Braxtons 65th anniversary

Although Anthony Braxton isn't my favourite musician, this might be of interest to some of you :

The Tri-Centric Foundation, and co-producers Darmstadt Institute, are proud to announce "Tri-Centric Modeling: Past, Present and Future," a two night, multiple venue concert event celebrating the legacy of venerable saxophonist/composer/educator Anthony Braxton in honor of his 65th birthday. 

On Friday, June 18th at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York and Saturday, June 19th at the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, dozens of prominent musicians, including Braxton himself, will take the stage to participate in exclusive collaborations and one-of-a-kind performances to benefit the Tri-Centric Foundation, a newly revived not-for-profit organization dedicated to realizing Braxton's most ambitious projects and inspiring younger generations of creative artists. 

Beginning at 5:30 p.m., Friday night at (Le) Poisson Rouge will feature performances by Steve Coleman & Jonathan Finlayson, Marilyn Crispell/Mark Dresser/Gerry Hemingway, Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Strings, Richard Teitelbaum, Matthew Welch, John Zorn/Dave Douglas/Brad Jones/Gerry Hemingway and other special guests.  The headline act will be the Anthony Braxton 12+1tet, which has not performed in New York since its historic four-night run at Iridium Jazz Club in March 2006 (documented on the renowned 9 CD + 1 DVD box set, 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006, on Firehouse 12 Records).  Advance tickets are available online for $35.  Any remaining tickets will be available the day of the show for $45.

Also beginning at 5:30 p.m., Saturday night at ISSUE Project Room will highlight a younger generation of musicians that has studied and performed with Braxton in recent years and adapted his concepts into their own distinctive sounds.  The line-up includes Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Chris Jonas & James Fei and Tyshawn Sorey, as well as others yet to be announced.  The night will begin and end with Braxton conducting live excerpts from his four-act opera, Trillium E, featuring members of the 60 person cast from its first-ever studio recording in March.  Advance tickets are available online for $25 ($20 for students).  Any remaining tickets will be available the day of the show for $30. 

About Anthony Braxton

I know I'm an African-American, and I know I play the saxophone, but I'm not a jazz musician.  I'm not a classical musician, either.  My music is like my life: It's in between these areas. 

Anthony Braxton (b. June 4, 1945) has boldly redefined the boundaries of American music for more than 40 years.  Drawing on such lifelong influences as jazz saxophonists Warne Marsh and Albert Ayler, innovative American composers John Cage and Charles Ives and pioneering European Avant-Garde figures Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis, he created a unique musical system, with its own classifications and graphics-based language, that embraces a variety of traditions and genres while defying categorization of its own. 

His multi-faceted career includes hundreds of recordings, performances all over the world with fellow legends and younger musicians alike, an influential legacy as an educator and author of scholarly writings, and an ardent international fan base that passionately supports and documents it all.  From his early work as a pioneering solo performer in the late 1960's through his eclectic experiments on Arista Records in the 1970's, his landmark quartet of the 1980s, and more recent endeavors, such as his cycle of Trillium operas, a piece for 100 tubas and the day-long, installation-based Sonic Genome Project, his vast body of work is unparalleled.

Critics have called him "an obvious genius" (Scott Yanow, AllMusic.com), "an unprecedented figure in the music" (Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia), "quite possibly the most prolific musician of our age" (David R. Adler, JazzTimes) and "a brilliant musician who is constantly pushing himself and the musicians with whom he surrounds himself" (Michael Rosenstein, Signal to Noise).  Time Out New York's Hank Shteamer adds, "Even if you ignore his purely conceptual triumphs, Braxton has amassed one of the meatiest and most varied bodies of work in experimental music."  Learn more at http://anthonybraxton.wordpress.com

About The Tri-Centric Foundation

The Tri-Centric Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that supports the ongoing work and legacy of eminent musician/composer Anthony Braxton, while also cultivating and inspiring the next generation of creative artists to pursue their own visions with the kind of idealism and integrity he has demonstrated throughout his long and distinguished career. 

Specifically, it encourages broad dissemination of Braxton’s music through creation of, and support for, performances, productions, recordings and other new media technologies.  It also documents, archives, preserves and disseminates Braxton’s scores, writings, performances and recordings and advocates for a broader audience, appreciation, funding and support base for Braxton’s work. 

Through its new Web site, coming mid-2010, the Tri-Centric Foundation will provide one-stop access to Braxton's writings, a variety of interactive sound and video components and exclusive digital-only recordings of past live performances and archival studio releases.  In the meantime, donations can be made online through PayPal at http://bit.ly/cfLLun

About Darmstadt Institute

Darmstadt Institute is a month-long festival of experimental music at ISSUE Project Room curated by Nick Hallett and Zach Layton, connecting the live performance of works by emerging and established composers to discourse and pedagogy about relevant topics, creating dynamic and educational events for practitioners and audiences alike.  Lectures, film screenings, workshops, and panels are presented alongside premieres of new compositions, in addition to bold interpretations of cherished works from the avant-garde canon played by New York city's leading musicians and ensembles.  Learn more at http://www.darmstadtnewmusic.org

ROIO of the week : Bud Powell - Oslo 1962

The series presented on BBC concerning BeBop made me wonder about Bud Powell. His influence on the Bop must never be underestimated and is a good reason to start a series of ROIO's on Bud.
Here are the details, links are at their usual place. Enjoy.

Bud Powell trio
Oslo, Norway
September 1962

Bud Powell (p)
Erk Amundsen (b)
Ole Jacob hansen (d)

1) I Remember Clifford
2) Hot House
3) 52nd Street Theme
4) Dance of the Infidels

Radio broadcast>reel−to−reel> music casette> Sound Forge>CDR

This was recorded by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation during Bud’s stay in Oslo, in the last third of September. Some tracks are missing either at the beginning or at the end. Definitely not hi−fi.

Miles Exhibition in Montréal

For those who have missed the expo in Paris there's a lenghty articile on the Miles Exhibition in Montréal available at 'The Montréal Gazette'