tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14790591.post115030897782298332..comments2023-11-05T02:59:27.283-08:00Comments on wordsandmusic: Monk, Miles, Ornette...Rod Warnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812717242954233213noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14790591.post-1150470095228712122006-06-16T08:01:00.000-07:002006-06-16T08:01:00.000-07:00I really enjoyed the music on this post - I listen...I really enjoyed the music on this post - I listened to it in my lunch break today. Excellent writing, excellent post, excellent music.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14790591.post-1150359139628398652006-06-15T01:12:00.000-07:002006-06-15T01:12:00.000-07:00Time lag alert ...do like Kenny Clarke's stuff, a ...Time lag alert ...<BR/>do like Kenny Clarke's stuff, a thoughtful player. And Milt Jackson's playing always has a nice jaunty sound to it - the vibes being mad efor that sort of thing.St. Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539878989031969603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14790591.post-1150358989671558522006-06-15T01:09:00.000-07:002006-06-15T01:09:00.000-07:00Ah, now, Ornette and 'Free Jazz' -where do you sta...Ah, now, Ornette and 'Free Jazz' -where do you start?<BR/>The word 'seminal' gets chucked around a lot these days but this album is about as seminal as it gets. What strikes me is the sense of control and musical intelligence you get ensemble - much of which would follow under the 'free' banner' would dispense almost totally with any idea of control (which I can enjoy, too, actually). Ornette knew where he wanted it to go - I love the idea of having the two quartets in stereo seperation(a young Lou Reed obviously picking up a few pointers)- it gives the whole thing an extra dimension - and gives it the edge over 'Ascension'(I'm sorry, St John). But everyone one here plays together - as you say, the implications, both social and political, are manifold. Ornette was nothing if not an ambitious thinker. And everyone plays up to their limits - they were so bloody young, most of them, too. There they were, changing their own little bit of the world.<BR/><BR/>Funny, since you mention the original record - in these days of CDs and MP3s and what have you, it's hard to remember that for most of the time people have been listening to this music it was on ye olde vinyl format - and that shaped one's experience, and one's history with any given album. An LP had a particular form, a particular set of parameters such as being split in two.. The way 'Free Jazz' was edited for the two sides is a good case in point. 'White Light, White Heat' will always be, for me, the record that ends with a lovely little melody on side 1, and then restarts with a second side consisting of 'Sister Ray' and 'I Heard Her Call My Name'. The Velvet's most Ornette-like album?<BR/><BR/>It's sad, in a way, that albums are losing that definitive form - then again, some other form will impose itself, I guess.St. Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539878989031969603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14790591.post-1150356972700755672006-06-15T00:36:00.000-07:002006-06-15T00:36:00.000-07:00Kenny Clake was always given his due and critical ...Kenny Clake was always given his due and critical caps were always dofferd accordingly - but he decamped to France and that left him away from New York - so he was subtly sidelined. I saw Jackson with the Modern Jazz Quartet a long time back and he was always brilliant - his bluesy lines added a swinging dimension to what might have a been a little over-serious at times... you've given me my next task, Anthony - dig out some Bags! May start with those old Blue Note sessions that Monk made...Rod Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14812717242954233213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14790591.post-1150356571126100522006-06-15T00:29:00.000-07:002006-06-15T00:29:00.000-07:00Well, you can't have too much Monk.Miles was a bit...Well, you can't have too much Monk.<BR/>Miles was a bit handy with his fists, by all accounts - Coltrane's departure from his band allegedly being down to Davis punching him, among other things.<BR/>Monk obviously missed nothing from behind those shades.<BR/>Whatever the tensions at the sessions, you don't get a sense of them from the music, which swings along in a fairly benign way.<BR/>I always think the vibes are under-valued - well, particularly when Milt Jackson plays them.<BR/>The funny thing is, Monk and Miles do gel musically, if not personally. I like these cuts, and should get some more stuff with Jackson on - Kenny Clarke, I like too, an intelligent player.St. Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539878989031969603noreply@blogger.com