Maynard Ferguson-"Somewhere", "Maria"

Here's Maynard Ferguson playing "Somewhere" from West Side Story-late '60's vintage. What great ballad playing!

Maynard always took a lot of heat for "tasteless playing"-too many high notes, not enough "musicality." But Maynard could do so much more than play in the upper register with a great sound and romanticism. He was also a strong jazz soloist on virtually any brass instrument you can think of. And he was the principal trumpeter at Paramount Studios in the mid-'50's (you hear him in movies like The Ten Commandments) because he could play anything.

Of course, it is true that he recorded some junk-mostly in the mid to late '70's, when pretty much everybody in jazz was. But his body or work-about 70 albums under his own name, with the vast bulk being solid-stands up with almost anyone's.

Maybe most important, Ferguson's bands were jazz's great farm teams-players as diverse as Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Chuck Mangione, Don Menza, Don Ellis, and many dozens more grew under MF's tutelage. Maynard was a skilled bandleader, universally beloved by his players, as well being the 20th's Century greatest brass player.


UPDATE: Might as well throw Maynard's "Maria" (the original arrangement) on here-this was a set-piece for MF in the '60's. Any trumpeter who puts MF down-they would kill to have that sound-don't kid yourself. Plus the chart gives him essentially no rest. This is essentially unplayable. By anyone else, that is.

"We can have it altered"

"Some Like it Hot": Perhaps the best movie ending scene ever-Jack Lemmon's character, who's been posing as a woman to escape the Mob, tries to convince Joe E. Brown that he's not really marriage material.

Is Palin nuts?

I mean, as in certifiably, DSM-proven crazy? Well, why would she quit? It certainly doesn't look like a move a sane politician would make. But, as Palin's in an insane business, quitting it (if that's the plan) proves Sarah's actually quite sane. Who but a crazy person would go through what these people tolerate for a little fleeting glory and power? It's the Catch-22 of politics.

Maureen Dowd (stealing the idea from a Vanity Fair piece by Todd Purdum) thinks otherwise. Palin's got some sort of narcissistic disorder. (And MoDo doesn't?) Of course-being the ultimate media whipping girl, it's not enough for Sarah to be dumb, and maybe a little evil (like all conservatives.) She also has to be a little, maybe more than a little, nutso.

I like Ann Althouse's takedown of the usual MoDo BS:

"Memo to Purdum, Dowd, and the several people there in Alaska: Everybody who runs for high office will have a lot of check marks on the DSM list of symptoms of 'narcissistic personality disorder.'

"I mean, maybe Fred Thompson didn't, but you see, it's a problem if you don't have these things. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, etc. etc. — who among them lacks a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, blah blah blah? Oh, but they have empathy, you burble. Bullshit! Watch all the Democrats try to claim the empathy loophole to the narcissistic personality disorder diagnosis. Ha! Bullshit! They all have it. And don't throw your money at a prospective candidate who doesn't. He'll poop out, like Fred..."

Can you say, "hyper-inflation"?

Alan Abelson, Barron's finance and economics lead columnist, is always a fun read on topics most people consider about as sexy as orthodontics. Here's Abelson on the Fed's exit strategy from its current ludicrously easy monetary policy:

"That Bernanke and Co. will exit their easy-money mode is a sure bet. Our offhand guess is that it'll happen in your lifetime, especially if you're under 30."

With pretty much everybody agreeing that slow growth (when even that comes) is in our future for many quarters to come, the Fed will keep all that money slogging around the economy, and that makes big-time inflation a near surety.


And here's Abelson's take on Bernie Madoff, whose takings have left him with a 150-some year sentence:

"Ah, well, Bernie...look at the bright side: you're only 71, and you know where your next meal is coming from for the next century and a half. That gives you plenty of time to plan an exit strategy."

Twitter me this

Well, maybe not, since I'm not on Twitter.

Nobody reads this blog (I've achieved worldwide unpopularity); why would they read me on Twitter? Should I strive to be dull in yet another format?

Besides, my Twitter "posts", if you call them that, would merely make me look like a slightly hip curmudgeon-"My feet hurt, but man, dig that Chet Baker solo!"


UPDATE: Not that Twitter doesn't have its uses- it's a great place to score some dope, apparently.

Not that you read that here.

The White House Press corps-Are they finally weary of being Obama's puppets?

It's starting to look that way, at least as gauged by Chip Reid (of CBS) and Helen Thomas' grilling of White House press flack (and pompous ass) Robert Gibbs.

Even Nixon didn't try to manage the news as much as Obama does, says Helen.

Alan Greenspan, jazz star

I guess a lot of us know that Alan Greenspan played a mean sax in his day. Few know how good he was. Joe Queenan on Greenspan's jazz past:

"...In the recent PBS documentary Cut That Rug, Jitterbug! Carmine Napolitano, owner of San Francisco's legendary Café Tropicana, recalls with amazement a 22-verse solo Greenspan once took on 'Someday My Prince Will Come' while he was filling in with Charlie Mingus's octet.

"'Mingus's regular sax player came down with the flu this one particular evening, and Greenie was across town playing in Maynard Ferguson's big band,' recalls Napolitano.

"'Maynard was okay with cutting him loose for the night, thinking he would only be subbing in for that one gig. But Greenie went in there and blew the roof off the room. He's a big guy--massive chest--with an unusually large diaphragm, so he could really cook. The crowd loved it, and even Mingus, who was notoriously hard to please, ate it up. Greenspan toured Europe with Mingus for the next two years. Maynard never forgave Charlie.'"

But one night Greenspan met seductress/philosopher Ayn Rand, and The Great Bubble was in our future.

Van Dyke and Moore

The Dick Van Dyke Show - Rockitt Rob
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Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore hoofing it up, set to Herbie Hancock's Rockit. Moore was a trained dancer, but Van Dyke could keep up with her.

Eat your heart out, Seinfeld.


H-t-Don McClane.

A cat bellies up to the bar....

...no joke, just another fine piece of work by illustrator Greg Clarke.

Will Franken lower the tone in the Senate, or raise it?

New Senator Al Franken from formerly sober-minded Minnesota.


The state that brought us Hubert Humphrey has elected TV funnyman Al Franken. Who's next, Wink Martindale?

I guess I shouldn't say Minnesotans are sober-minded-they did elect the erratic adenoid-case Jesse Ventura Highway.

It's easy to make fun of Franken, and he probably deserves it. But all new Congress-critters should be given the benefit of the doubt, at least until their first vote to impoverish the rest of us, given how the old ones (term limits, please!) so successfully manipulate the system to their advantage, with earmarks and the like.

Good luck, Al! You'll need it.

Alison Balsom-Hummel Trumpet Concerto

Here's another in my series on my favorite trumpet players.

This is Alison Balsom playing the Rondo from Hummel's trumpet concerto. Actually I wouldn't consider Alison a fav-there's not a lot of individuality in her playing. But her matinee idol looks are good for the trumpet-playing profession, which, even as a hack amateur player, I support.


UPDATE: I guess I should've mentioned that Balsom plays this brilliantly-she gets just the right playful mood for this movement. I just haven't thought that her playing typically seems very original-skillful and assured though it is. Sergei Nakariakov is my classical trumpet hero.


Clip via the Trumpet Kings site.

Oh please!

Mark Sanford should emulate Snagglepuss and make a clean, ahem, breast of things, and exit. But no:

“A long list of close friends have suggested otherwise [i.e., Sanford won't quit] – that for God to really work in my life I shouldn’t be getting off so lightly. While it would be personally easier to exit stage left, their point has been that my larger sin was the sin of pride.”

No, your larger sin is being a complete ass. The last thing you should be talking about right now is God.

H/t-Ann Althouse.