Jazz for aficionados

Frogman, This is the September 97, issue; Wes Phillips is the reviewer, and the context is in regard to the music, not the instrument.

On my first post, that paragraph is from the magazine; they gave "Moanin" to Benny Golson.

Preceding this sentence, they spoke of Morgan's rich tone. "It sounds as though Timmons is playing a less than stellar piano, but the power of Blakey's drums, which drive the show, is especially well rendered- with lots of room sound and natural decay."

Since he spoke of "Morgan's rich tone", before "stellar piano" and the power of Blakey's drums, after "stellar piano". We clearly have the musicians performance before and after "stellar piano"; therefore it's impossible for me to assume that's in reference to an out of tune piano, although it's possible.



Enjoy the music.

***** Timmons is playing a less than stellar piano*****

If he was speaking of his playing, he would not have included the letter 'a' in the sentence.   He would simply have said "he was playing less than stellar piano".

He was speaking of the piano itself.

Cheers

Maybe if he had a"stellar" piano, the tune would not have turned out nearly as good. This music conveys the thought, and emotions behind the music better than any I've ever heard. Without the words, Bobby Timmons music tells a complete story; maybe a stellar piano would not have communicated the helplessness as well.

I doubt it; a great instrument always helps. This is one of those situations where, in my opinion, it’s important to understand the context. I am not going to defend Stereophile; it is an audiophile magazine and we are concerned about music first. Having said that, I have read some record reviews in that magazine that consider the music to a significant degree; iow, I personally would not be too quick to bash them. If insightful opinions about music is what I am looking for there’s much better sources out there.

Still, I know Wes Phillips from the days when he was a salesman at the original "Stereo Exchange" in NYC and and started writing for TAS, and I can tell you that the guy has ears and is an avid music lover and live concert goer. I cannot think of too many audiophiles (or even music lovers) who can name members of the NY Phil and is into jazz more so than most.  That they credited the tune to the wrong composer is not good; but, again, "JazzTimes" probably wouldn't have.  In keeping with the fact that he wrote for an audiophile mag, the comments about "Moanin" all have to do with "sound" and less about performance which was the reason I surmised he was talking about the piano: "rich trumpet tone", "power of the drums", "ambience", "decay", all audio-speak.

Frogman;

This debate boils down to one Letter of the alphabet in one sentence, not Wes Phillip's life history, and Rok spelled that out. This is the same as the last debate that revolved around 1 individual who did not practice for 1 summer when he was performing three times a week.

Serena Williams lost an early round match in Australia after coming off an illness that prevented her from playing in tournaments. When asked about that loss, she said she practiced hard and prepared for the match, but that's not the same as tournament competition. The only thing that can prepare you for that, is playing matches.

My friend was playing his instrument before he started school, similar to Mary Lou Williams; performing in front of a live audience is what he needed, not practice. Just as Serena Williams could only get tournament tough by competing in tournaments, he needed the live audience; that was his competition play, especially since this was new music. You and Learsfool took what I said, to mean that I said no jazz musician need ever practice.

What I said in regard to making a fire in the fire place was in jest, how else could I have had a September 97, magazine in my possession. Since I have many more before and after that date; evidently I consider the magazine worthy of better things than starting fires.

Have you ever heard the expression of "Making a mountain out of a molehill"?