<B>DICK HYMAN: <I>Dick Hyman Plays Fats Waller</I></B><BR>
Dick Hyman, piano<BR>
Reference Recordings RR-33DCD (CD*), RR-33CD (CD**), RR-33LP (LP). Keith O. Johnson, recording eng.; Robert Harley, mastering eng. (RR-33DCD); J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., prod. D/DDD/AAA. TTs: 59:28,* 59:22,** 59:22
<B>Procrustean bed</B>: <I>a scheme or pattern into which something or someone is arbitrarily forced</I>.<BR>
<B>Procrustes</B>: <I>a villainous son of Poseidon in Greek myth who forces travelers to fit into his bed by stretching their bodies or cutting off their legs.</I>—Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
Friend and neighbor, Tris McCall, has been posting the results and analysis of his annual <a href="http://www.trismccall.net/critics_poll_2008_results.htm">Critics Poll</a>. My favorite bit—<a href="http://www.trismccall.net/critics_poll_2008_miscellany.htm">Miscellaneo… Categories</a>—went up today. I am even mentioned in the analysis. Always a thrill. Oddly, however, Tris notes that I am an "audiophile."
Keith Jarrett has also just released a trio CD called <I>Yesterdays</I> (on ECM), featuring Gary Peacock on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums, with whom he’s been playing for decades. The album might be described as outtakes from the group’s 2001 concert in Tokyo—portions of which were released the following year on a double-disc recording called <I>Always Let Me Go</I>—except that the new album is dramatically different. <I>Always</I> consisted almost entirely of improvisations; but it turns out the trio also played standards that night (the group is known as Jarrett’s “standards trio”), and they’re all assembled on <I>Yesterdays</I>. Often when a musician releases an album of previously unreleased takes, it’s clear why they didn’t make the original cut. But that’s not the case here. In fact, this is one of Jarrett’s loveliest albums, especially the ballads (“You’ve Changed,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and “Stella by Starlight,” as well as the title tune). Whatever one might say about the man’s antics and idiosyncrasies, his artistry cannot be disputed. I can’t think of another jazz pianist alive, and only a few from any era, who displays such seamless virtuosity, across so many styles of music, and still conveys the vibrant rhythms and true emotion of a song.
Now here's a fascinating album from only God knows where. Or maybe a few hipsters know. Maybe you know. I don't know. It's supposed to be from Thailand; that's all I know. It's from Mississippi Records, catalog number MR009, and it's very good.
The value of music as a commodity, and as one of mankind's wonders, has never been in such flux. Retail record shops are dying, the former major labels are focused on making records for kids (the same kids they're suing), and the business overall remains wedded to an incredibly short view (get a hit or get out), but the music itself continues to trickle through to those who want it—and, yes, on some level would die without it.
Getting the right components is half the battle. The other half is setting them up for maximum effect. How much time did you spend placing your loudspeakers?
I was walking through the woods one day when I happened on a large, flat rock near the base of an old ash tree. Conditioned as I am from such rambles with my daughter, whose interest in wildlife echoes that of my own childhood, I bent down and lifted one end of the rock, hoping to catch a glimpse of some exotic creature or another: perhaps a delicate ring-necked snake, or a plasticky-looking red eft. The rock came loose without too much effort and teetered on its broadest edge, but before I could let it flip to one side, I recoiled in horror: There, amid the millipedes and ant larvae, was a cluster of teeny-tiny, nasty-looking old men, writhing in such a tangle that I couldn't even count them. They were bespectacled, to a one, and mostly bald—I could tell quite easily, despite the berets worn by some of them—and each pair of feet was shod in a teeny-tiny pair of off-brand Birkenstock copies, with thin, shiny black socks underneath.
Sometimes, I think life would be easier if I were an audio customer. If I didn't have to wait on the priorities of the electronics companies, I might have gone out and bought a Blu-ray player months ago. Had I done so, I would have been shocked to find that almost all BD players are released with fewer than the advertised number of features, and sometimes require firmware updates—sometimes even a return to the manufacturer—to have them installed.