top of the world, ma...

white heat ?

When I was growing up, I was criminally obsessed with the films of James Francis Cagney, Jr: Public Enemy No.1. Repeats of repeats of repeats on Sunday TV. Old people with false teeth smiling at me over a whiskey. You know the score. For every Edmond O' Brien there has to be some f@cker prepared to light the fuse.

In the seventies' it was James Caan. These days, it's James Caan't.

My father's aunt could name every last one of the Bowery Boys, I swear...

A spinster who worked all her life in a shoe factory less than 200 yards from her house, she spent most of her free time in church. I know. She would save up for the summer months and take coach holidays to Italy and France to immerse herself in a Passion Play.

Big romance without the guilt. Consummation without torn pantyhose. Intact.
She outlived both my father and his brothers.

There is much to be said for living a pure life. And as much to be said against.

"Ha! He'll never get to heaven, now!"

I watched a John Wayne movie last night. It reminded me why I liked James Cagney.

Written by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn.
Arranged by Gordon Jenkins.
Recorded March - May 1959, Studio A, Hollywood.

▼ FRANCIS ALBERT SINATRA: THE ONE I LOVE (BELONGS TO SOMEBODY ELSE) from "No One Cares" LP (Capitol) 1959 (US)

sketches of spain

picasso's sketch book:
"toro y toreros lavis dencre de chine sur papier, 1959."

It is impossible to think on Miles Davis' collaboration with arranger, Gil Evans on 1959's "Sketches of Spain", without acknowledging the marriage in popular culture between jazz and the visual arts which simultaneously saw Picasso's most fluid artistic expression pass directly into the mainstream. Recorded between November, 1959 and March, 1960, "Sketches of Spain" - a compendium of arrangements loosely derived from the European folk tradition - is widely regarded as the most commercially accessible milestone in Davis' career. No surprise when one considers how this key release conspicuously tapped into the zeitgeist which fueled the very public celebration of Latin culture which would carry over from the decade's closing chapter well into the 1960s and beyond.

Not nearly as improvisational in approach as more cerebral later statements which would culminate in "On the Corner", this LP nonetheless serves as a defining moment which led jazz out of the Bebop cul-de-sac which had dominated the better part of the preceding decade with its faster tempo and predictable structure. Most irritatingly, in turn, it was derided in some hardcore jazz circles as being little more than sophisticated easy listening.

A similar parallel can be observed in those bohemian loft space coteries antagonized by Picasso's own commercial success in the same period; a sneering derision that he could sell out so brazenly as the straight bourgeoisie embraced and bought up tourist kitsch with a Spanish or Mexican theme by the vacationing trunk load.

Elevator music, maybe. But what a f@cking lift.

Composed by Joaquín Rodrigo.
Recorded November 20th, 1959.

▼ MILES DAVIS: CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ (ADAGIO) from "Sketches Of Spain" LP (Columbia) 1960 (US)

PURCHASE SKETCHES OF SPAIN REMASTERED

blue rondo a la turk

'nancy' by emmet gowin; virginia, usa, 1969.

9/8 time, alternating 4/4. If that sort of thing turns you on.

Dave Brubeck: piano; Paul Desmond: saxophone; Eugene Wright: bass; Joe Morello: drums. California sophistication, and a big influence on Vince Guaraldi by the sound of it.

You've come a long way, Charlie Brown.

From Wiki:

"The zeybek or zeybeği is a Turkish, Turkmen, or Afshar folk dance, named after Zeybeks. All zeybek dances have a common characteristic form, but the positioning of the arms and body differ according to the different regions. The rhythm is also very characteristic, a rhythmic pattern of a slow nine beats: 9/4 = 2+2+2+3 beats or 3+2+2+2 with occasional variations."

Composed by Dave Brubeck, with a nominally 'Arabic' nod to Mozart, and recorded during one of three sessions between June and August, 1959. Did Mozart ever play big with Linus or was it just Ludwig Van ?

▼ THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET: BLUE RONDO A LA TURK from "Time Out" LP (Columbia) 1959 (US)

BUY TIME OUT

take five

columbia records CS 8192.

Featuring cover art by Neil Fujita, the album comprises all original compositions in a variety of time signatures.

Dave Brubeck: piano
Paul Desmond: saxophone
Eugene Wright: bass
Joe Morello: drums

Written by Paul Desmond. Wickedly restrained - but flamboyant enough - drumming from Joe Morello in the breaks.

▼ THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET: TAKE FIVE from "Time Out" LP (Columbia) 1959 (US)

TIME OUT