Quite Possibly the Most Beautiful Thing Ever Said

After coining the hilarious phrase, "you cannot out-engineer crazy" in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine (Nov. 15, 2007, p. 124), Jon Stewart says quite possibly the most beautiful thing ever. When asked if he's still an optimist after coining the above phrase, Stewart responds:

"The reason I don't worry about society is, nineteen people knocked down two buildings and killed thousands. Hundreds of people ran into those buildings to save them. I'll take those odds every fucking day."

Pullen at Destination: Out

Check out this beautiful appreciation of Don Pullen at Destination: Out, posted on August 2. All I can add is an emphatic, "Yes!" These are many of the same basic points of my thesis. Props to writers and proprietors Chilly Jay Chill and Prof. Drew LeDrew (not joking). Note: read the comments.

Don Pullen Mixtape

Wes asked me for a mixtape covering some of the material I plan to discuss in my thesis. I gave it a shot, but got this instead. There’s plenty of Don Pullen, but fewer promised ‘80s jazz favorites. Maybe next time. Here’s my playlist and note to Wes:

‘80s Jazz? Well, almost. Perhaps “Don Pullen + Context” is better. Or “Pastiche, Vamps & Atmosphere.” Either way, it’s good. Dig in and enjoy.

1. Don Pullen, “Once Upon a Time” (New Beginnings, 1989)
2. Jan Garbarek & Bobo Stenson Quartet, “A.I.R.” (Witchi-Tai-To, 1973)
3. Don Pullen, “Healing Force” (Healing Force, 1975)
4. Jaki Byard, “Nocturne for Contrabass” (Freedom Together!, 1966)
5. Matthew Shipp, “Galaxy 105” (Harmony and Abyss, 2004)
6. James Blood Ulmer, “Love Dance” (Odyssey, 1983)
7. Don Pullen & George Adams Quartet, “Just Foolin’ Around” (Breakthrough, 1986)
8. Hank Crawford & Jimmy McGriff, “One Mint Julep” (The Best of Hank Crawford & Jimmy McGriff, 1986)
9. David Murray, “Milano Strut” (Shakill’s Warrior, 1991)
10. Sonny Sharrock, “Broken Toys” (Guitar, 1986)
11. Craig Taborn, “The Golden Age” (Junk Magic, 2004)

Notes: Gary Peacock (Ayler, Jarrett) and Tony Williams (Miles, his own bad self) accompany Pullen on “Once Upon a Time.” Pullen and Adams’s quartet (here playing “Just Foolin’ Around”) includes Dannie Richmond, who played consistently with Charles Mingus from the late fifties to Mingus’s death in 1979, then with Pullen and Adams until Richmond’s death in 1988. Pullen wrote “Milano Strut,” and plays organ with David Murray on this session from 1991; Andrew Cyrille (Cecil Taylor) is on drums. “Healing Force” is performed unaccompanied, and is the title track from one of Pullen’s own favorite recordings (and mine). Oh, and that’s George Benson on Crawford and McGriff’s “One Mint Julep.” Weird.

Close to the Edge

As a white American male aged 30, I have a certain closeted affinity for the band Yes. Waiting for my wife to get home from work this Friday night, I opened a beer and threw on "Close to the Edge" for the umpteenth time, marveling at the minor thrill I get when musicians strive to make music sound more complicated than it ever needs to be. This thrill comes at a cost, of course: just like every other time I listen to "Close to the Edge," I completely zoned out after about 9 minutes—at the beginning of "I Get Up I Get Down," I think.

In his capsule review for Tales from Topographic Oceans, Christgau writes, "the whole is definitely less than the sum of its parts, and some of the parts are pretty negligible." He could just as well be reviewing "Close to the Edge," and yet I get a very strong and particular thrill from this song and album that I don't get from, say, something by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Skeptics damn their virtuosity, but virtuosity doesn't tarnish The Inner Mounting Flame or Countdown to Ecstasy, and it doesn't usually tarnish Yes. And if their pomposity lacks taste or cool, at least its good-natured. So I love the thrill I get from Yes, even if it only lasts for half of a (20-minute) song (or less), and subjects me to some god-awful lyrics.

Speaking of god-awful, I urge fans to read the behind-the-scenes comments about Yes over at Wikipedia. Under the sub-heading "Incredibly Pretentious and Awful," fans discuss how to handle Yes's wealth of negative criticism. Fans dismiss the need for it, but bigger fans should want to include it. If you love them, a little bad press (and historical truth) can't hurt you, and more discussion is always far better than less. Yes is one of those great bands that made some terrible music. It's okay to embrace the truth.

Junot Díaz

I'm not a big fiction reader: I love stories and language, but I rarely know who and what to read. I spend most of my time reading up on music and film, which consumes my life, so I just haven't found the time to truly uncover the novel. But now that my sister-in-law works for a literary agency in the publishing industry, I think I should take a better swing at it. I do cherish what few contemporary writers I have investigated, like Walter Mosley, but I also find clunkers that just aren't for me. Perhaps when I find my Christgau of the literary world, I'll have a better ratio of success.

Thankfully, I may have found another writer to dive in to. In Sunday's Star-Ledger, Mosley is quoted naming Junot Díaz's Drown "a masterpiece," which piqued my interest. Then I open the latest New York Magazine, and there Díaz is again, promoting The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, his follow-up to the acclaimed Drown. If I was merely interested before, now I can't wait to devour his work, if only because of this sublime observation on the difficulty and subsequent rewards of the writing process:

"When I talk to people I'm such a dumbass. . . . [But] when I enter that higher-order space that's required to write, I'm a better human. For whatever my writing is, wherever it's ranked, it definitely is the one place that I get to be beautiful."

As you all know, when someone can be profound and find room for the word "dumbass" in the same statement, I'm in. Like anyone who loves words and sentences yet struggles to write them clearly, I know the allure of this beautiful place. Deep.

M.I.A.'s "Boyz"

If you haven't heard Arular, believe the hype. Becky and I do. Like early hip-hop, M.I.A. is both sonically avant-garde and completely accessible. And like any beautiful musical idea, M.I.A.'s style isn't a move towards complexity (e.g., Radiohead or Wilco), it's a move towards a different simplicity. Not that that simplicity is simple or easily obtained. In fact, making music sound difficult takes about an hour; making music sound simple takes years, sometimes a lifetime. Just ask Miles Davis or Duke Ellington. Or John Lennon. Or James Brown.

Anyway, her new single, "Boyz" could be catchier that "Sunshowers," or even "Bucky Done Gone." And it captures the world-wide musical zeitgeist better than Manu Chao, which is saying something. (His new single, "Rainin in Paradize," is great, too, by the way.) This may be my favorite video ever. If revolution can be this much fun, there may be hope for us yet.

Divine Intervention

Rolling Stone magazine reports Adam Samberg's SNL Digital Short Dick in a Box is nominated for an Emmy!



I guess there is a God, and He or She likes dick jokes. That makes me happy.

Jazz in the Nineties

Be sure to check out the Best Jazz of the 1990s at Destination: Out. The weblog polled over a dozen jazz critics for their favorite albums of the nineties, and their replies are crazy diverse. Over the last few weeks, I collected an assortment of albums from a few different lists, and found revelations. I especially recommend Charlie Haden & Hank Jones's Steal Away, Andrew Hill's Dusk, Randy Weston's Saga, and Dave Douglas's Tiny Bell Trio and Constellations.

I consider Matthew Shipp, David S. Ware, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Sharrock, Henry Threadgill, Nils Petter Molvaer and Joe Morris my people, so I'm happy to nod in agreement with the critics polled. If you're less inclined, however, why not get acquainted? eMusic is a great place to start.

By the way, Tom Hull took the trouble to make lists for the seventies, eighties, and the new millennium. (If you don't see them, keep scrolling.)

Rhymes With Oranges

I listened back to The Eminem Show (2002) last night, and found the stanza in "Business" where Eminem rhymes “oranges,” with “hinges,” “syringes” and “I’m inches.” He places the accent on the second syllable of "oranges" for a cleaner rhyme. And if that’s not enough, he says each word as the first word in each line instead of the last word, though the last word rhymes, too, but with “plums” instead of "oranges."

Oh God, Saddam’s got his own Laden
With his own private plane, his own pilot
Set to blow college dorm room doors off their hinges
Oranges, peach, pears, plums
Syringes, [chainsaw sound] yeah here I come
I’m inches, away from you dear fear none
Hip-hop is in a state of 911

You can also interpret the “oranges” rhymes as one line of verse, alternating with longer lines rhyming with “plums.” That would be written like this:

Oranges
Peach Pear Plums
Syringes
Yeah, here I come

However, when rapped, these lines are unbroken, so neither transcription is accurate. Notice, too, how the first set of rhymes— “God," "Saddam," Laden,” “private,” “pilot” and “college”—share their first vowel sound rather than their last. It's not as evident when written, but it's obvious when heard. My god, this man is a monster!

Mixed Signals

I never listen to Rush anymore, but last month I was finishing up my semester at Rutgers and procrastinated by listening to Signals and starting this weblog. Now, I LOVED Rush in high school—I remember making a mixtape for a minor crush of mine that included only three bands over an hour and a half of tape: just R.E.M., Genesis and Rush. That poor girl! I love Document more than ever, but Genesis and Rush remain in my own private time capsule, beloved only for the memories.

I discovered rock criticism my freshman year of college, and was forcefully confronted by the cold truth that Rush was not the best band in the world. Critics hate these guys, and looking back, this was a profound moment for me because I needed to know why. And over the next fifteen years, I passionately devoted my time to learning why, by studying music and aesthetic theory, and now music history. I stopped thinking about Rush a decade ago, but the combustion that initial conflict created stays with me. I still love hearing why others love the music they love or hate the music they hate, and this is the reason why.

With that in mind, I was very surprised by the unexpected charge I got listening to Signals again after all these years. Rush is definitely a riff-based band, but unlike Led Zeppelin or AC/DC, they don’t have a particular aesthetic agenda: they’ll try anything. Listen to the keyboard riff from “Subdivisions,” the opening guitar figure from “Analog Kid,” or the faux-funk bass synthesizer from “New World Man.” Notice how each signifies as a novelty where other bands search for meaning or self-expression. I mean this as a compliment: a “novelty” can be clever, while “meaning” is often leaden or cumbersome—just because an artist wants to say something meaningful doesn’t mean that they ever do. I like the sound of musicians making shit up, and Signals is a mismatched hoot.

I also like Rush’s lack of taste: where Led Zeppelin is “cool,” Rush is “neat.” Think of Neil Peart moving the beat around underneath “Subdivisions,” or the deliciously overblown synthesized choirs of “Analog Kid.” If their melodies and riffs could be better, their heated group interaction sometimes makes up for it. And if the first six tracks win me over as sound, the unlistenable romanticized pessimism of “Losing It” reminds me songs have lyrics, and kills the momentum.

So, like my brethren, I obviously no longer think Rush is the best band in the world. But I’m thirty, and the world is complicated, and sometimes a thing can be both good and bad, and it’s okay to enjoy the good parts. But it's also hard to stomach the bad parts. Ain’t that a bitch.

The Future of Jazz Scholarship

God help us all.



This is from Lewis's end-of-semester birthday party, starring Lucas, Luis, yours truly, Joe, Lewis, Darren, Lou, Tim, Lyn and Andrew. We played ping-pong and frisbee, and ate cake—it was the shiznit.



I did my best to keep a beat in a trio with Darren and Lewis, but I was in way over my head. But did I have fun, you ask? Yes. Yes I did.

My Favorite Records

In my College Teaching class, we studied the impact of student self-evaluation, which is exactly what it sounds like: an exercise that requires the student to reflect on what they’ve learned, and how that knowledge is now integrated into their identity and worldview.

Of course, as a teenager raised on rock criticism, I conducted self-evaluations again and again by sorting out my favorite rock albums. Even today, a top ten list prompts a reappraisal of my aesthetic agenda, reconnects me to significant moments of growth in my life, and reaffirms my emotional and intellectual identity.

So, with that on the table here are my favorite records, picked and sequenced by how much joy each brings to my life, either by forever changing the way I see and hear the world, or for just being so good that they offer a surprise every time.

1. Steely Dan, Can't Buy a Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy & Pretzel Logic
2. James Brown, Star Time
3. Sonny Rollins, Ken Burns Jazz & Silver City
4. DeBarge, In a Special Way
5. Billie Holiday, Ken Burns Jazz
6. Thelonious Monk, The Complete Prestige Recordings
7. Otis Redding, The Very Best of Otis Redding
8. X, Wild Gift
9. Billie Holiday & Lester Young, A Musical Romance
10. Ella Fitzgerald, Ken Burns Jazz
11. Rilo Kiley, More Adventurous
12. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
13. Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
14. Kanye West, Late Registration
15. Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A.
16. Franco, The Very Best of the Rumba Giant of Zaire
17. Chic, The Best of Chic, Vol. 2
18. Fountains of Wayne, Welcome Interstate Managers

A list of favorite albums is full of omissions: I love Miles Davis, John Lennon and The Rolling Stones as much as Otis Redding or Ella Fitzgerald, but I rarely go to one album over another. Conversely, I’m not an Eric Clapton fanatic, but I adore Layla. Top Ten lists are like that. Anyone else want to give it a shot?

Life With My Wife

Check out her blog Nickles. It rhymes with pickles.

Billie in Baltimore

I finished my Google Map for Billie Holiday's childhood in Baltimore. This is my semester project for Lewis Porter's Billie Holiday and Lester Young class. Using Stuart Nicholson's research, I plotted as many significant addresses as I could find on a present-day map of Baltimore, and drove around and took pictures of the properties, and wrote comments about the whole experience. Google Maps is extraordinary, by the way. I recommend viewing this map with Firefox.

Where I'm At

I have two small projects left to finish for my first year in the Jazz History and Research program at Rutgers-Newark, and one big exciting project left in my College Teaching class with Lion Gardiner. I'm expected to map out my first undergradute course and develop an entire unit from start to finish, using the research-based techniques that I learned in class. My first course is Rock Music & Culture, which begins in July, and the unit is Hip Hop. I can't wait! I also need to catch up on my internship with Jazz at Lincoln Center; this weekend, I plan to finish my Thelonious Monk timeline.

With all of this writing in my life, I decided to start a new blog. I want to publish my notes for the two Hip Hop classes I taught for my classmate Andrew's Intro to Music course, and of course, I want to share the exciting experience of my first teaching gig as a guest lecturer. I had revelations, difficulties, challenges, and one of the greatest moments of my life. I'll be sure to post them all if you're interested.

I also have an unusual new insight into the music of Rush (what?!), I want to publish a new list of my favorite records, and I'm assembling a Google Map for my project for the Billie Holiday and Lester Young course with Lewis Porter. In the next month, I should be able to post about each of these.

I hope you find all of this interesting to read. I want to keep up with everyone, so please post comments and email me. For those who don't know, Brian just got his first (of many!) dream jobs as an editor at a magazine. Mike and Stacey had their first child, Michael Prescott, last month. Steven and Kiersten had their third child, Kaylee Ann, in January. Sean should be finishing his first year of graduate school any day now, and Wes just opened a new art studio space in Minneapolis. I'm also emailing this to some of my classmates to add new spice for us old fogeys.

If anyone would rather I didn't post information about them on this blog, let me know privately, and I'll take it down, though note that I don't use last names. Thank you for reading and I'll catch up with you soon.