Still Here
I must admit it has been difficult to get motivated to write about jazz records at a time when the world seems to have flipped upside down and we are all worried about the health and safety of ourselves, families, friends and other loved ones. But, I also realize our love of music and passion for our records can be a comfort and escape at a time like this. Funny, I got a note from my daughter late last night. She had called me earlier in the day, feeling a lot of angst, just generalized and starting to get a little cabin fever because she’s not working and cooped up in her apartment. A few hours later this was the note she sent: “Spent the day in my office, listening to records and organizing them. Felt good.” Is that a chip off the old block, or what?
As for me, The Lovely Mrs. JC and I relocated to The Berkshires last Thursday to get out of Manhattan and our little studio apartment. She is a psychotherapist, as many of you know, and has been able to set herself up with video conferencing so she can continue to see her patients remotely. This is great, of course, because they need her now more than ever and, she is truly compassionate and empathetic and a professional in every way, so I’m sure she is a great comfort to them. We are staying safely inside, avoiding physical contact with people, taking walks, watching TV in the evenings and listening to some music.
As for me, my work is also continuing uninterrupted. If anything, it has perhaps increased a bit. I write about technology and one of my clients has asked me to contribute to an ongoing series focused on cybersecurity during this time. Yesterday I spent an hour on the phone with a retired Army general who was also a deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy here in the U.S. It was enlightening and gives me the chance to write about something that people will find of value whereby I can offer some degree of guidance.
As for music, records, etc., I have found that I’m using my listening time to go a little deeper into my collection and discover records that I haven’t listed to in a while. The other day I put on the Roland Kirk album “I Talk to the Spirits,” which is one of his best. I’ve written about this before, but I never felt he got the recognition he deserved because his talents weren’t truly captured on records. To be fair, the excitement and energy of his live performances were very hard to match by any jazz artist. I saw him probably a couple of dozen times and he was magical. In addition to “I Talk With the Spirits” I highly recommend Side Two of “Volunteered Slavery,” which was recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival. He blows his ass off on the Coltrane tribute, and throughout you can feel the energy from Kirk, the musicians and the audience. Also, you can try to find the documentary The Case of the Three Sided Dream, which I’ve seen on Amazon Prime.
Speaking of documentaries, this will be a great time to catch up on viewing. I know there was a recent Miles Davis bio on PBS that is available on Netflix, called Birth of the Cool. I also recently re-watched, probably for the fifth or sixth time, the Bill Evans documentary Time Remembered, which is great and heartbreaking at the same time. I find that watching the documentaries doesn’t get old, because it is like spending an hour or two in the company of that person, and in the case of someone like Evans, spending it in the company of genius. Outside of the jazz realm, I also recently watched (again) two documentaries on Mike Nichols, one called Becoming Mike Nichols, the other the American Masters bio directed by Elaine May. The other night, the Lovely Mrs. JC and I watched Six By Sondheim yet again on HBO. I recommend all of these.
I have many more to recommend, but instead, I will turn it over to my loyal readers, if you are still out there after my latest long gap, to share some of your favorites with us. I am always looking for great documentaries to watch and, at this time, whilst spending the bulk of my hours indoors, I can think of few better things to do than to spend this time in the company of people and artists I admire. Also, now that I am relatively cooped up, as pleasant as it is here in The Berkshires, I hope to be listening more to my records and writing more for Jazz Collector. I am wondering about the impact of the pandemic on our world of eBay, so I will explore that in a future post. In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy.
Here’s a few of my favourite documentaries:
“In no great hurry,13 lessons in life with Saul Leiter”. Not jazz but a great little film about this influential New York photographer.
“Ornette,made in America”. A film by Shirley Clarke about the great alto sax. player.
“Jazz on a summers day”.An all time classic.
“Soldier of the road,a portrait of Peter Brotzmann”.Interesting film about one of my favourite free players and graphic artist.
“The jazz baroness”.Lots of interviews with Rollins,Chico Hamilton and many more as well as the story of her long term relationship with Monk.
Enjoy and stay well everyone!
James
Yea, I hear ya…the short list:
Matt Dennis – relax
Bird – relaxing at Camarillo
Erroll Garner – relaxin’ at Sugar Ray’s
Miles – relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (album)
I hope my advice helps.
Great advice Art?!
The Monk documentary “Straight No Chaser” is the best.
“Amazing Grace” the recently-released Aretha Franklin church performance documentary. Beautiful.
“Gimme Shelter” of course. Harrowing scenes at Altamont, but the performances leading up to it are terrific.
While perhaps not of interest to many our of friends who read this website, and while it covers music and a scene that may well be the direct opposite of jazz, “The Decline of Western Civilization” is a tremendous music doc, maybe the best ever IMHO.
I’m jealous that you saw Roland Kirk so often!
“Rip Rig and Panic” and “Now Please Don’t You Cry Beautiful Edith” are my two all-time favorites – completely different bands, completely different approaches, completely different sounds, and Kirk still just tears it up on both. True genius.
Thanks for this writing, I’ve not heard of Roland Kirk before – although I’m kinda new to the world of jazz. Will give it a try. Awesome sleeve too.
I noticed Chasing Trane is on Netflix, started off a bit abstract so I saved it lol, but I fancy watching that one during the next few days.
I found this forum while trying to identify the pressing of my copy of “Miles Ahead” typing the stamped matrix on google. like everyone I know, I’ve been impacted by the current state of affairs, and am unclustering, to prevent the replicator from using the ribosoms from my cells to continue to replicate! I’m also currently reading “Visions of Jazz, The first century” by Gary Giddins. I also visit and am a member of the ‘vinylengine’ forum, where all-things-analog-vinyl…..and not, are discussed by music lovers via posts. I deciced to create a new topic: “Visions of JAZZ: what are you listening to? “Miles Ahead” is becoming my favorite Miles Davis album!
Cheers!
P.S. if you are an amazon prime member, Amazon has some excellent documentaries about Jazz
RRK is one of the greatest!
One film I recall from the VHS era featured both Roland Kirk and John Cage. I remember it being quite interesting, especially because Cage really disliked jazz and improvisation (and black music in general — probably for another thread). It is called Sound and appears to be on YouTube…
American Epic on Amazon is magnificent. So many amazing stories I didn’t know about music. The archive footage is mind boggling! Although it’s not a jazz doc per se it does have a wonderful story in episode two of 1920s inspiration for one of the greats of be bop. I won’t spoil the surprise.
Thank you for posting Al. It is deeply comforting to read the calm words of reason in these troubling times and those of JC community. I generally don’t post but I look every day and today’s post brightened my day considerably.
I’ve started pulling some 78s from the shelves. Just gave Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing” and Louis’ “West End Blues” a spin. Marvelous.
Stay safe everyone
“The Man Who Cried Fire” is a Rahsaan Roland Kirk comp that I played to death I loved it so much. There are some beautiful moments. Al, you’ve inspired me to go back to that record and also to check out your favorite “I Talk With Spirits.” I haven’t listened to the comp in a while, but I remember that It’s a strange comp bc for at least one track it plays Kirk’s solo then fades out the rest of the track. That kind of cutting up tracks would usually turn me off, but whoever put this together had access to some cool tapes and they really knew how to showcase Kirks artistry imho. Welcome back Al and stay healthy everyone.
Just watched the more recent Kirk documentary — very nice. Thanks for the tip.
Indeed, hope everyone can stay safe & healthy right now!
they just showed Elevator To The Scaffold on TCM and let’s not forget Round Midnight.
Thanks for putting me onto the Bill Evans documentary. I was unaware of it and enjoyed it very much.