response 31 of 65:

Feb 24 12:40 UTC 2000

(Funny, I'd thought he'd only played with a guitarist very early on in his
career.  (Or at least, so my liner notes claim (which is what I get for
trusting liner notes, I guess)).  When was the CD you've got recorded?)

response 33 of 65:

Feb 25 13:22 UTC 2000

Jazz guitarists often play an "archtop", which is an acoustic guitar
constructed a bit more like a violin.  Often these guitars have pickups.

response 35 of 65:

Feb 26 17:54 UTC 2000

Standard magnetic pickup; typically a humbucker.

response 37 of 65:

Feb 28 15:38 UTC 2000

Any type of pickup on an acoustic guitar is more susceptible to feedback. 
That's because the thin body walls can pick up external noises.

Archtops tend to have pickups mounted to a solid part of the guitar such as
the end of the neck, which helps.

response 39 of 65:

Mar 4 05:01 UTC 2000

(brief interlude:  I have to program a jazz show tomorrow, and I'd
like to tie it in to Mardi Gras by focusing on the Louisiana scene.
any suggestion on what to play?)

response 41 of 65:

Mar 4 19:06 UTC 2000

 :)

(no, seriously. I'm completely clueless and don't know which artists
are actually from the Louisiana area and which ones are relative
newcomers. I also want to [mostly] stay away from tracks that were
recorded by N.O. artists while away from the area.)

(I have some ideas, but suggestions are always helpful.)

response 43 of 65:

Mar 5 05:36 UTC 2000

(I got out Miles' _Sketches of Spain_ from the library and really like a lot
of it but don't have time to write about it now, wait a day or two...)

response 45 of 65:

Mar 5 17:40 UTC 2000

(I ended up pulling out covers of old Jelly Roll Morton tunes. I would
have liked to have played some covers of Joe "King" Oliver, but I
couldn't find any on CD; the public radio station rid itself of turntables
a few weeks before I began working there. I also found a couple of New
Orleans-specific works whose names I can't recall at the moment.)

(I did play three non-N.O. tunes: Ella & Louis, "Summertime"; Bob James,
"Nautilus"; Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Take Five.")

response 47 of 65:

Mar 11 06:08 UTC 2000

'Reinhardt', IIRC.

So, _Sketches of Spain_: an album of Spanish classical music and folk tunes,
including a reworking of the middle movement of Rodrigo's Concierto de
Aranjuez, with Miles taking the guitar part on trumpet. Actually, I don't
think that's the best piece on the album; it doesn't stay completely true to
the spirit of the original (especially at the points where the orchestral
backing goes into a swing rhythm behind Davis' solos). But the solos themselves
are really good, and the other cuts on the album (apart from a march piece 
whose rigid rhythm just annoys me -- fortunately it's short) are great. 
Probably my favorite track is the final one, which is of a similar length to
"Concierto" but quite a bit more free-form.

Anyway, today, without returning _Sketches of Spain_, I checked out vol. 2 of
Coltrane's "Complete 1961 Village Vanguard recordings" (the only volume that
was there --  I have given up trying to find specific CDs at the library and
now just check out whatever looks good; unfortunately most of their best CDs
get stolen as the anti-theft system doesn't work). I personally would consider
this Free jazz, at least as far as the soloing style goes, but as it is firmly
anchored in swing rhythm and (most of the time) scales or chords, it is much
more understandable than Coleman. Two of the tracks (of those I have heard so
far) sound more or less like the recordings on Atlantic's _Best of John
Coltrane_, but the ones that made the greatest impression on me were the first
and third. The first track's head sounds very much like the written-out breaks
in Coleman's _Free Jazz_ -- no discernible beat, oddly random-sounding melody;
when the solos begin it seems to be returning to the realm of straight modal
jazz, but the squawks, trills, and virtuosic runs over the horn's whole range
that Coltrane produces make it something much more wild and strange. (The 
playing of the bassist & drummer, including an extended bass solo, is 
incredible too). The third track, appropriately titled _India_, opens with the
drummer playing something that *almost* sounds like a swing beat, except that
it's either in an odd time signature or in no time signature at all; then
suddenly there's an unexpected metallic note in the right channel -- some 
classical Indian instrument, I'm sure, though I couldn't tell you its name;
a few bars later, the bass enters, and then a little later begins  a solo on
a horn that sounds more like an oboe than a saxophone, though I'm not sure
an oboe is what it is. There's also unusual-sounding backing from a couple more
horns, and a solo that I think is either a clarinet or a bass clarinet. 
Awesome track. Awe-inspiring record.


question: this CD doesn't have any liner booklet for some reason, so I don't 
know who the players were for this session. I'd suspect Scott LaFaro or maybe
Charlie Haden on bass, just because the solos sound so much like those on
_Free Jazz_, but it might also be someone else playing in that style. My best
guess for pianist would be Wyn Kelly (because Coltrane recorded with him in
1960), but again I could be completely wrong. Possibly Eric Dolphy as one of
the other horn players. I dunno. Does anyone else?

response 49 of 65:

Jun 21 13:44 UTC 2000

*giggle*
http://www.riffage.com/Features/Features/Metheny_KennyG/0,4780,0,00.html

---
Metheny Gets Medieval on Kenny G
by Jim Willcox

If you thought confrontational exchanges between musicians were confined 
to more aggressive musical genres like rap, rock or heavy metal, think 
again. Recently, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny teed off on new age 
saxophonist Kenny G, (full name Kenny Gorelick -- Ed.) calling his 
playing "lame-ass" and "wimped out" in a posting on his website
(http://www.patmethenygroup.com).
                    
The controversy, which started when Metheny cautioned his fans that not 
all music classified as jazz was, in fact, jazz, pointed out Kenny G's 
music as an example, saying the saxophonist played "the dumbest music on 
the planet." Of course, Metheny was then asked by visitors to expound 
on his feelings toward his top-selling contemporary.

Rather than backtracking, Metheny plowed ahead with a full-scale assault 
on Kenny G's abilities in general, but taking particular offense at 
Kenny G's recent electronically engineered duet with the late Louis 
Armstrong. Metheny, who believes that Kenny G's overdubbing on 
Armstrong's song was a desecration of his musical legacy, called the 
track an example of "musical necrophilia." Metheny said he though it 
"weird" when Natalie Cole did it with her father, Nat King Cole, and 
"bizarre" when Tony Bennett did it with Billie Holiday, but added, "But 
we are talking about two of the greatest singers of the 20th century who 
are roughly on the same level of artistic accomplishment."
                  
Then Metheny really let loose. "When Kenny G decided that it was 
appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the 
greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, 
jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, f*cked up 
playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser 
ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in 
one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused (sic) 
musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit 
all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have 
risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years, 
developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis 
Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing 
lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and by 
default, everyone who has ever tried to do something positive with 
improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G has created a new low point 
in modern culture - something that we all should be totally embarrassed 
about - and afraid of. We ignore this - 'let it slide' - at our own 
peril."

Metheny wasn't quite done, however, saying the only reason for Kenny G 
doing something "inherently wrong - on both human and musical terms" was 
for record sales and money. As a result, Metheny called for a boycott of 
Kenny G's albums and concerts. Metheny finished by taking music critics 
to task for not writing about the issue, and adding "everything I said 
here is exactly the same as what I would say to Gorelick if I ever saw 
him in person. And if I ever DO see him anywhere, at any function - he 
WILL get a piece of my mind (and (maybe a guitar wrapped around his 
head.)"

In a subsequent post to the responses he received, Metheny said that he 
actually wouldn't be hitting anyone with a guitar "despite the fact that 
El Kabong WAS probably my first major guitar influence as a kid."

Metheny acknowledged he was surprised by how much notice "my little rant 
on this topic" has generated in the press, and was disappointed that 
"controversy has the chance to 'win' over musical substance" in what 
gets discussed. "I wish the actual playing and writing could generate 
(this) type of discussion" As a final aside, Metheny jokingly said he 
suggested to an animator at MTV's "Celebrity Death Match" that they 
arrange a bout between Kenny G and the ghost of Louis Armstrong "to 
settle this for once and for all!"

response 51 of 65:

Jun 21 14:28 UTC 2000

  Makes you want to weep doesn't it? *weep*   ;)

response 53 of 65:

Jun 21 19:42 UTC 2000

I always have

response 55 of 65:

Jun 29 04:16 UTC 2000

(I agree completely with Pat Metheny's rant about Kenny G, btw, don't know
how I forgot to mention that..)
(and thank you Stacie for posting something else to this item, it makes me
feel a little less like it's a lost cause ;)
Oh, and I just noticed that the last line of the second-to-last paragraph
in my previous response should say exactly the opposite of what it does:
"but haven't *listened* to them..."