WRITE A SONG

I'm posting this here, rather than on Burning Ambulance, because I haven't posted here since May, and because it's more of a rant than a considered essay, or a review of a specific album.

Indeed, it's the opposite of an album review—it's an explanation of exactly why I will not be listening to an album I just received in the mail.

Yesterday, I got a copy of Live at the Blue Note, a disc featuring alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Joey Baron. All talented players, all featured on albums I've enjoyed in the past. So I flipped it over to look at the track listing. Here's what I found: "What Is This Thing Called Love." "Body & Soul." "Stella by Starlight." "I'll Remember April." "I Remember You." "I Can't Get Started."

Are you fucking kidding me? Do you know how many versions of each of these songs exist already? Does any human being alive need to hear one more version of "What Is This Thing Called Love"? Or "Stella by Starlight"? Or "I'll Remember April"? Who can fucking forget April, at this point?

The very first sentence of the brief liner notes told me everything I needed to know. It reads, "When the leaderless group of Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Gary Peacock and Joey Baron came together for a week-long engagement at the Blue Note, they brought little more than their instruments with them—no set lists, no prior discussions about the music they wanted to play." The third paragraph elaborates on this idea, saying, "Though these standards serve as jazz's lingua franca, having been performed and recorded countless times, they exist as reborn songs by dint of those interpreting them. Konitz, in particular, has been partial to this repertoire for years. Yet, at the Blue Note, he played this material with these guys for the first time. Presto, new music!"

Speaking as a consumer and a jazz fan, I gotta say, with all due respect...fuck you guys. You wanna know why jazz albums don't sell for shit? Because labels release recordings of lazy, entitled old-timers coasting on name recognition, sleepwalking through tunes everyone who's into jazz has already heard 500 times before. This is Konitz's regular MO, as the quote above pointed out. Last year, he put out an album on ECM, Live at Birdland, recorded in 2009, on which he was backed by pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Paul Motian. That album featured versions of "Lover Man," "Lullaby of Birdland," "Solar," "I Fall in Love Too Easily," "You Stepped Out of a Dream," and "Oleo," and it was duller than listening to paint dry. Now, granted, even back in the '50s, Konitz's albums tended to feature only one or two of his own compositions, buried in a pile of standards and interpretations of other jazz players' tunes, but the fact that he doesn't even play his own older pieces, choosing instead the most uninspired possible set list, is almost criminal.

This is not a diatribe directed solely at Lee Konitz, by the way—I want to make sure that's crystal clear. This is a problem afflicting the music across the board, and I think it may be time to lay down the law: Jazz musicians need to stop recording standards. (I'd like to see musicians play only songs they or their bandmates wrote, but I've still got to leave room for stuff like bassist William Parker's new Duke Ellington project, which is awesome.) Play the old standards live if you want, if you've got so little respect for your audience that you think they still want to hear "Body & Soul" in 2012 (if you do still want to hear "Body & Soul" in 2012, seek professional help). But if you're headed into a recording studio, or even putting out a live album, you better have some brand-new music prepared, or you're not getting my money.

95 DVDS 95

I have seen 95 movies from the Criterion Collection. The titles are below. The ones I actually liked, or would watch again, are in all caps.

The 400 Blows

Armageddon

The Bank Dick

The Battle of Algiers

Being John Malkovich

Belle de Jour

BLAST OF SILENCE

The Blob

Blow Out

Border Radio

Bottle Rocket

BRAZIL

Breathless

CARLOS

Chasing Amy

Chungking Express

Crumb

Dazed and Confused

DEAD RINGERS

LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE

Do the Right Thing

DOWN BY LAW

Easy Rider

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

FISH TANK

THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE

Gimme Shelter

Gomorrah

La Haine

Hard Boiled

High and Low

Homicide

HOUSE OF GAMES

The Ice Storm

In the Mood for Love

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES

KAGEMUSHA

The Killer

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

KISS ME DEADLY

THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO

The Last Emperor

The Last Temptation of Christ

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The Long Good Friday

M

The Man Who Fell to Earth

METROPOLITAN

MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS

Mona Lisa

Monty Python’s Life of Brian

My Own Private Idaho

Mystery Train

Naked

NAKED LUNCH

Night on Earth

THE NIGHT PORTER

Paris, Texas

PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET

RAN

Rashomon

Repulsion

Ride With the Devil

RIFIFI

Robocop

THE ROCK

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

Rushmore

Salo, Or the 120 Days of Sodom

Schizopolis

SHALLOW GRAVE

Short Cuts

Sid & Nancy

The Silence of the Lambs

Slacker

Something Wild

STRANGER THAN PARADISE

STRAW DOGS

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

This is Spinal Tap

Three Colors: Blue

Three Colors: Red

THREE COLORS: WHITE

Time Bandits

Traffic

TWO-LANE BLACKTOP

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Vanishing

VIDEODROME

W.C. FIELDS – SIX SHORT FILMS

Walkabout

WALKER

WHITE DOG

Wise Blood

Yojimbo

MUSIC DIARY 2012

I didn't find out about this "Music Diary" project until I saw entries about it on my Twitter feed. But whatever. This post will be updated throughout the week.


MONDAY, MAY 7
Deep Purple, Made in Japan (all tracks)
Cactus, Ultra Sonic Boogie 1971 (tracks 1-5)
Defiance, Void Terra Firma (tracks 1-3)
Anthony Braxton, The Montreux/Berlin Concerts (tracks 1-3)
Walter Smith III, Live in Paris (tracks 1-3)

TUESDAY, MAY 8
Robin Trower, For Earth Below (all tracks)
Lee Morgan, Search for the New Land (all tracks)
Rhapsody of Fire, From Chaos to Eternity (tracks 1-3)
Rhapsody of Fire, The Frozen Tears of Angels (all tracks)
Peter Brötzmann, Nothung (all tracks)
Trivium, "Kirisute Gomen"
The Black Dahlia Murder, Ritual (tracks 1-3)
Coroner, No More Color (tracks 1-3)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9
Miles Davis, Sorcerer (tracks 1-6)
Vader, Necropolis (tracks 1-9)
Perfume, JPN (tracks 1-10)
Ornette Coleman, Of Human Feelings (tracks 1-6)

THURSDAY, MAY 10
Sleep, "Dopesmoker"
Earthless, Live at Roadburn (all tracks)
Fishbone, Truth and Soul (all tracks)
JD Allen Trio, I Am I Am (tracks 1-3)

FRIDAY, MAY 11
JD Allen Trio, I Am I Am (tracks 4-10)
Jerome Sabbagh, Pogo (tracks 1-6)
Joshua Redman, Compass (tracks 1-7)
The Cult, Choice of Weapon (tracks 1-8)

SATURDAY, MAY 12
Elvis Presley, Good Times (tracks 3-6)
Wadada Leo Smith, Ten Freedom Summers, Disc 1 (all tracks)
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Green River (all tracks) & "Born On the Bayou"
A shuffling mix of tracks from the following albums: Jones Very, Words and Days; No For An Answer, A Thought Crusade; Pagan Babies, Next; Token Entry, Jaybird; Wrecking Crew, Balance of Terror; Various Artists, Free for All
Belanova, Fantasía Pop (all tracks)
Wire, Read & Burn 01 (all tracks)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It's Blitz (all tracks)
Peter Brötzmann Trio, For Adolphe Sax (all tracks)

SUNDAY, MAY 13
Interpol, s/t (tracks 1-3)
Darius Jones Quartet, Book of Mae'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise) (tracks 1-7)
Diego Schissi Quinteto, Tongos (all tracks)
Juilliard String Quartet, Shostakovich Quartets, Disc 1 (all tracks)
Steve Noble & Stephen O'Malley, St. Francis Duo (all tracks)
Sam & Dave, The Definitive Soul Collection (all tracks)

OTTO WHAT? OTTO PARTS?

L'ARC-EN-CIEL LIVE IN NEW YORK

Last night, I saw the Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel (who I profiled for the current issue of Relix) at Madison Square Garden. I was there for the Village Voice; you can read my review of the show here. They only used one of the photos I sent them, though, so I'm posting the rest below. Enjoy!