This 6CD set combines all five of jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw's albums on Columbia, plus a sixth disc of never before released bonus tracks from the live Stepping Stones sessions. These albums represent the height of Shaw's creative output of the late '70s and early '80s, during a time in which he combined modal jazz, post-bop, fusion, and avant-garde improvisation into his own uniquely propulsive, melodic, and harmonically advanced style. Of all the albums, Rosewood is perhaps best known, as it earned Shaw a Grammy nomination and was voted Best Jazz Album of 1978 in the Down Beat Readers Poll. Not only do these albums showcase the technically proficient and improvisationally gifted Shaw in his prime, they also feature such sidemen as saxophonists Joe Henderson, Carter Jefferson, and Gary Bartz; pianists Onaje Allan Gumbs, Larry Willis, and Mulgrew Miller; drummers Victor Lewis and Tony Reedus; bassists Clint Houston and Buster Williams; and -- as on United -- the then young trombonist Steve Turre. These are not only must-hear albums for Shaw fans, but also required listening for any fans of forward-thinking post-bop.
CD1 - Rosewood (1977)
CD2 - Stepping Stones: Live at the Village Vanguard (1978)
CD3 - Stepping Stones: Bonus Tracks (1978)
CD4 - Woody III (1979)
CD5 - For Sure! (1980)
CD6 - United (1981)
To qualify for this fine set, tell us about a person you think is the greatest in their field of endeavor.
Well there was this bloke that had a music blog and he managed to keep at least 4, or even 5, guys (even the occasional gal) interested enough to keep coming back time after time, for many years. Long after other blogs had fallen by the wayside. Modesty will of course prevent him from coming forward to claim his prize, but could he be described as best in his field perhaps?
ReplyDeleteOh, crap! When did One Buck Guy stop blogging?
DeleteMy modesty has predictably prevented me from putting myself forward for this exalted position, but if popular demand finds my humility unnecessary who am I to gainsay the will of the common herd? Would it not be a wicked hubris and most egregious ingratitude to throw back the rose petals strewn at my feet by an adoring multitude? To kick away the trembling hands that reach to touch the hem of my garment? I cannot in all decency do such a thing - what man could have a heart so cold? Not I - and if in raising this laurel leaf to my patrician brow seems an arrogance (to those of narrow mind and shrewish disposition) then that is a small cross to bear when its noble acceptance brings so much happiness to so very many!
DeleteUm... trumpeters? Woody Shaw! Lazy on my part I know, but hey... Even a grump like Miles Davis thought Woody was the best in that field and Miles was not known for kind words about other musicians.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to approach this as an open ended question. While doing so, I'm reflecting on my personal luminaries. Everybody should have luminaries!
ReplyDeleteAnswer: Gregory Bateson was the greatest of those who took up multiple fields of endeavor. He is for me the ne plus ultra luminary. My studies spiral around his insights as does my art and as did my music.
Thanks Babs, for the real question. Good fortune here on babssez.
Oh, hold on:
"To think straight, it is advisable to expect all qualities and attributes, adjectives, and so on to refer to at least two sets of interactions in time." Gregory Bateson
This was the kind of comment I was hoping for.
DeleteThe mathematician Kiyosi Itô, founder of Itô calculus. His concepts of stochastic integral and stochastic differential equation, were life changing to me. Kiyosi was a very sweet man, whom I was honored to have met several times.
ReplyDeleteI'm always wondering on the workings of the human mind. I believe Terence McKenna was the greatest explorer of the human mind.
ReplyDelete& congrats on the blog. Looking babulous.
You stoned ape, you!
DeleteBest trumpeteer ever is Jack Nance on We Wanna Boogie.
ReplyDelete68 years on, still the best B-side ever
Except maybe Rain
Me n the Reeds: Little Walter no contest most influential Blues Harp player even today.
ReplyDeleteAgreed
DeleteLittle Walter was undoubtedly the most inventive harp player; of his time; his lines were jazz-like. But from that same era, it's hard to discount the rhythmic chops of Sonny Boy Williamson II, a master of space and time who even in his final years was jamming in Europe with the likes of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. And then there was Big Walter "Shaky" Horton who owned a tone so massive it defined the term "Mississippi saxophone".
DeleteWhich is better in the dark Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark....
ReplyDeleteMe n the Reeds: Shakyamuni Buddha, simple lessons for living a meaningful life. Millions of real followers not tickers.
ReplyDeleteWell, this is an easy one. Lionel Messi.
ReplyDelete"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! " - Andres Cantor
DeleteLovely quote!!
DeleteEven in his own era its questionable whether Messi is number one in his field. Ronaldo's career is just as impressive and indeed Ronaldo excelled in 3 top leagues whereas virtually all Messi's achievements were achieved at a single club. If you then put him in a list of the greatest of all time against the likes of Cruyff, Pele, Maradonna, Best and so forth again whilst he certainly deserves to be mentioned in the same breath he does not stand out as being ahead of the rest of them. Once again its debatable.
DeletePersonally if you asked me who the most naturally gifted footballer of all time that I have seen it was probably George Best but he simply didn't have the mentality nor the support to deal with the big time and never really fulfilled his potential as a result.
Gunter Netzer for humbling the English at Wembley in 72....thanks Gunter
DeleteWell, even at a single club (and I don't know why that should be considered a demerit), he is a world champion,. and Cristiano is not. And that also leaving aside the champions trophies. If you look at statistics, Messi has better average/match both in goals and in assists (in this latter case even by absolute numbers). I have not seen Best playing, but I've seen both Pele and Maradona. Maradona is the only one who comes close, IMHO, but he made his life a mess, and therefore gained less than Messi (and Maradona was awful at penalty kicks, missing several in his career -even important ones-). Pelé was extraordinary, but played mostly locally. And in the world cups, while he won three of them, he was joined by many players that were comparable to him -Garrincha, Didi, etc, Brazil played with 5 numer 10's-). As you say, all is debatable. And maybe even more in football!
DeleteClaude Shannon
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Shannon
Number one in a field of one.
My husband was a huge Claude Shannon fan.
DeleteHere's the link
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-k7veJ5qJGa
Enjoy!
As for a number one in his field the first name that jumped out to me was the racehorse 'Red Rum' who won the English Grand National a record 3 times and was placed in the top 2 in 5 consecutive races. He literally was number one in the field.
ReplyDeleteEconomist and philosopher E.F. Schumacher, progenitor of the small-is-beautiful movement and an appropriate-tech visionary.
ReplyDeleteColonel Sanders. His buckets of desiccated hen parts are if not bigger then at least as inedible as any in the fast food field.
ReplyDeleteAnd lets not forget how they have now embarked on the destruction of the humble chip (french fry) by no longer peeling the potatoes before cutting and frying them. Grotesque
Delete(I have a lot of luminaries.)
ReplyDeletePauline Oliveros - second to none as an 'action philosopher' of sound and the human system. No sincere encounter with her Deep Listening ethos escapes unchanged.
Which reminds me: isn't it killer that sound waves are invisible unless highlighted in some other mediums?
|| Deep Listening is expanding our attention. In Deep Listening we talk about two forms: focal attention and global attention. Focus [focal] is more like digital, in that focused attention needs to be renewed moment by moment, in order to exclusively follow a stream of some sort. A stream of speech for example; you have to keep renewing your attention to what is being said. All of us have the experience of being distracted for a minute and missing part of what someone has said. So, to keep your attention focused takes quite a bit of energy. Global attention is expanding to take in and listen to everything that is around you; inside of you. When we do this, and we can expand almost infinitely to include, and this is what I call inclusive listening, everything that is possible to listen to. Most of the time we are discarding what’s going on as not important, but in order to do what I call Deep Listening we have to include everything. ||
(source: http://archive.soundamerican.org/sa_archive/sa7/sa7-pauline-oliveros-on-deep-listening.html)
everything invisible yet heard
"Seriously"? Brian Wilson. Lost his wife recently, now diagnosed (retrospectively, I suspect) with Alzheimers. He ain't long for this world (but we said that about him in '68). He made music that transcended pop while still being pop. Took us all with him to the crest of that blue wave. Love and mercy, Brian.
ReplyDeleteLate to the game on this one, but figured I'd still lend my 2 centablas. Interesting quiery, babs, and I debated several choices:
ReplyDeleteGreatest jazz guitarist: Toss up between Pass and Django
Greatest trumpeter: With due respect to Shaw, its Louie to me
Greatest athlete I've seen play: Easy one, Gretzky
Greatest athlete I've played with/against: Charles White, USC. I have a mangled middle finger on my right hand as a remembrance of trying to tackle him.
But, all of these greatest lists ultimately are inherently personal and while they may spur debate or remembrances, they do little to actually change another's mind. So, with that, I decided to go truly personal and pick the category of greatest partner one could have - and the choice is Ms Pmac. She has been a daily presence in the greatest 10 years anyone could ever desire, and has been responsible for us retiring in Spain and traveling throughout Europe. I have no clue as to what I did to deserve this gift, but I have learned not to question but to accept and appreciate it.
In a private email, Mrs. Mac tells me she not only dictated this last paragraph but corrected your spelling.
Delete