Comments on: Guest Column: Ornithology, By Irving Kalus

By: Later Pressings and Rising Prices: Merry Christmas | jazzcollector.com

Later Pressings and Rising Prices: Merry Christmas | jazzcollector.com — Fri, 25 Dec 2015 16:16:59 +0000

[…] commonly seen. We’ll keep an eye on this trend. I saved a lot of the MGM pressings from the Irving Kalus collection. I grew my collection on these pressings, almost all purchased from my late friend Red […]

By: jud

jud — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 19:20:58 +0000

So you think paragraph 7 is Irving quoting Miles Davis? That would be interesting given the last events of his life.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 03:10:06 +0000

Yes, but I don’t believe that my father would have ever had anything bad to say about Satchmo at any time in his life. Whenever he heard his voice or the sound of his trumpet, my father would smile and say “Ah, Louey.”

By: Al

Al — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:05:39 +0000

Hey, Gary. I’m with your dad on Benny Goodman, particularly if you look at it through the prism of 1949. Bebop was the music of the times, of the next generation, of youth, and it was an innovation that had passed over many of the stars of the previous generation. There were many jazz greats who had the passion, talent and belief to make the transition to the new music, Coleman Hawkins is a favorite of your dad’s who comes to mind, while others continued to play in the style that had brought them fame and, in Goodman’s case, fortune. In 1949 it’s easy to see where fans of bebop would resent some of the musicians of the previous generation, no matter how great they may have been in their era, for not fully supporting and embracing the new music and the new generation of musicians. Louis Armstrong sung of the boppers — “They are poor little cats that have lost their way.”

By: Joey

Joey — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 23:34:38 +0000

Great article. Something I would have loved Irv to share, but he never did. I know one of his favorite tenor sax men was Brew Moore. He recounted many of the club dates he saw Brew and the sidemen in New York in the late 40’s and early 50’s. He met him as well. Well written and as articulate as Irv was in spoken word as well.

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 15:43:39 +0000

There is much in this paper I would have loved to discuss with my father, but I actually never read it until after he died on December 22. My sister had kept it with her valuables. I knew he had a deep understanding of the music he loved so much and it spoke to him. He would often tell me how the “hornman” was speaking through his horn.

I was floored by his comment about Benny Goodman, who he always spoke highly of. I asked Al to count the number of Benny Goodman records in his collection and they numbered about 50, so his view in 1949 about the greater jazz world was tempered pretty soon afterward. Not so his love of Bird. An often repeated quote from my father throughout the years, whenever he saw or heard a popular musician who was making a ton of money, but whose music held little value in my father’s view, was “And Charley Parker died a pauper.” The comment was always accompanied by a look of disgust at the injustice of it all.

By: DARYL

DARYL — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:05:43 +0000

While the piece on Bird is valuable for both its timing and insight, its location within the broader narrative that Al has constructed surrounding Irving’s life, his love of jazz, and his lp collecting increases its value for this reader.

By: Dan Axelrod

Dan Axelrod — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:27:47 +0000

This is the best description of Bird I’ve ever read. More feeling here than in the whole Ross Russell book.
And that smile-oh my god! All the balls and hope of the old world Jewish lefties like Abel Meeropol—composer of “Strange Fruit” and adopter of the Rosenberg orphans.
And your own grandpa too, Lit. These were good people-

By: Bill Shep

Bill Shep — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 14:52:32 +0000

This is a wonderfully well-written piece. I don’t know if Nat Hentoff or Orin Keepnews could have written it any better. Wow! Hat’s off to Irving Kalus.

By: Rich Hetrick

Rich Hetrick — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 13:29:26 +0000

Great piece of writing! I wonder what the instructor thought, and what he received for a grade!