max abelson's super groovy music video spectacular

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"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul


"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck


see the archives & a random post


"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso


"gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom


"keep a clean nose, watch the plain-clothes." -bob dylan


"it took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, nightlife. most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. do it very slowly and don't confuse him." -charles mingus


"she had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits


"you can't hold the hand of a rock 'n' roll man." -joni mitchell


"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" - shoot the piano player


"hey there, hey now, well, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thing, make a man's heart go bibbity bom like a gentle drum. -john cale


"i’ve still got things inside me, sad things, happy things, that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn


"to try to maximize the relationship of listening to a record through promotion is like experiencing driving a car by reading about stimulus programs." -bonnie 'prince' billy


"after cheesecake with all of your friends and family, who's gonna front the bill? me... say you want to take first-class trips, well i want to work those first-class hips. yes i do." -r. kelly


"we can make each other happy, or we can make each other happy." -harry nilsson


"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson


"i'm an idiot for you." -iggy pop


"i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne


"lyrics choochoo from my mouth like locomotion." - pato banton


"i'm going to boogie my scruples away." -lowell george


"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex


"i'm dealing in rock and roll. i'm not a bonafide human being." -phil spector


"at a certain point phil approached me with a bottle of kosher red wine in one hand and a .45 in the other, put his arm around my shoulder and shoved the revolver into my neck and said, 'leonard, i love you.' i said, 'i hope you do, phil.'" -leonard cohen


"they’d whisper at each other and look at phil and whisper at each other. finally this lady, tanked, comes over to phil and says, 'alright, sonny, what’s your problem?' and he said, 'premature ejaculation, what’s yours?'" -tom wolfe


"he's got a mind like a sewer, and a heart like a fridge" -elvis costello


"i bite my nails and if that fails i go get myself stoned, but when i do i think of you and head myself back home." -gram parsons


"i would say groucho marx, to name one thing, and willie mays, and the second movement of the jupiter symphony, and louis armstrong’s recording of potatohead blues, swedish movies, naturally. sentimental education by flaubert, marlon brando, frank sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by cézanne, the crabs at sam wo’s, tracy’s face." -woody allen


"where have you been all my life?" -emmylou harris, to my brother tommy


"the first time i got stoned on grass was with john paul jones of led zeppelin. we'd been talking to ramblin' jack elliott somewhere and jonesy said to me, 'come over and i'll turn you on to grass.' he had a huge room with nothing in it except this huge vast hammond organ, right next door to the police." -david bowie


"tired of the tango? fed up with fandango? dance on moonbeams, slide on rainbows, in furs or blue jeans. you know what I mean." -roxy music


brian eno songs that will make good book titles for my 10-volume memoir, in order: here he comes, baby's on fire, golden hours, brutal ardour, taking tiger mountain, events in dense fog, through hollow lands, some of them are old, everything merges with the night, dead finks don’t talk


ry cooder albums that every man should own: into the purple valley, boomer's story, paradise and lunch


thelonious monk's middle name: sphere


"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff." -radiohead


#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun


"the only word is love." -john lennon


"i love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. and mother. and god." -johnny cash


"i could even find it in my heart to love mike love." -belle & sebastian


"the moon is clear, the sky is bright, i'm happy as the horse's shite." -the pogues


"i hope that you all out there, young, old, tall, short, fat or thin, quick or slow, no matter what kind or color or shape or person you are, if you like to make music, why, go ahead.” -pete seeger


"but chuck berry isn't merely the greatest of the rock and rollers, or rather, there's nothing mere about it. say rather that unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports chuck berry as well as it does marcel proust, we might as well trash it altogether." -robert christgau


mashable.com says about us: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy," 33 1/3 says: "it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction," others say: "pulitzer."


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February 11
the gerry mulligan page on the website brainy quote is the horse e books of jazz. “new york is still where i live most of the time,” gerry mulligan once said, it claims. “i’ve appeared on some other people’s albums,” he reportedly stated another time. because gerry mulligan played the baritone saxophone like an ice pick, an ice pick made out of ice (especially on mainstream of jazz), one can only assume he had much profounder things to say. in fact—after writing that sentence i’ve found a recording of his oral autobiography about being a scratch-your-eyes-out drug addict, on the library of congress’ website. it’s about the “one time when we gave artificial respiration for about eight hours straight to keep a guy going,” and when “after gail and i split up, i started to get back into my old habits with heroin. not ever to the extent that i had been involved in new york, but still enough that it was an ongoing thing, and it was time-consuming and constant.” in other words, gerry mulligan’s period after splitting up with whomever gail was of constant heroin use was somehow not as horrible as another period in new york city. to imagine what could possibly have made that other period worse provides a small peak into the misery of the word “habits.” update: and so does the story about whitney houston’s death on the cover of the times. 

the gerry mulligan page on the website brainy quote is the horse e books of jazz. “new york is still where i live most of the time,” gerry mulligan once said, it claims. “i’ve appeared on some other people’s albums,” he reportedly stated another time.

because gerry mulligan played the baritone saxophone like an ice pick, an ice pick made out of ice (especially on mainstream of jazz), one can only assume he had much profounder things to say. in fact—after writing that sentence i’ve found a recording of his oral autobiography about being a scratch-your-eyes-out drug addict, on the library of congress’ website. it’s about the “one time when we gave artificial respiration for about eight hours straight to keep a guy going,” and when “after gail and i split up, i started to get back into my old habits with heroin. not ever to the extent that i had been involved in new york, but still enough that it was an ongoing thing, and it was time-consuming and constant.”

in other words, gerry mulligan’s period after splitting up with whomever gail was of constant heroin use was somehow not as horrible as another period in new york city. to imagine what could possibly have made that other period worse provides a small peak into the misery of the word “habits.”

update: and so does the story about whitney houston’s death on the cover of the times. 

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January 16

#892: john coltrane, mccoy tuner, jimmy garrison & elvin jones - alabama (1963)

this is the song that john coltrane played in rhythm to martin luther king’s funeral speech for three of the girls who were killed by the bomb in the 16th street baptist church in burmingham in 1963. “history has proven over and over again that unmerited suffering is redemptive. the innocent blood of these little girls may well serve as a redemptive force (yeah) that will bring new light to this dark city. (yeah) the holy scripture says ‘a little child shall lead them.’ (oh yeah) the death of these little children may lead our whole southland (yeah) from the low road of man’s inhumanity to man to the high road of peace and brotherhood,” he said. “good night, those who symbolize a new day (yeah, yes) and may the flight of angels (that’s right) take thee to thy eternal rest.”

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December 17
the first annual spectacular gift guide (holidays 2011, no. 1) if you really love your special someone, and want to let him or her know that you have not only good taste in jazz but also an acute sensitivity to the passage of time, won’t you try charles mingus’ oh yeah from 1961, now quietly celebrating its 50th anniversary? best of all it’ll prepare your gift recipient for christmas 2013’s the black saint and the sinner lady, which will then be half a century old too and is the most cosmic and extraordinary thing charles mingus ever recorded (despite my regularly omniscient father danny’s preference for mingus ah um). for gift givers on a budget, just click on the high-resolution image above and print your sweetie a nice big version of the oh yeah cover, which has something for everyone. if that’s too much work for santa, try singing the lyrics to eat that chicken at the dinnertable on christmas eve—he and she are sure to love it. but if even that’s too much, and you’re a thief, click here.

the first annual spectacular gift guide (holidays 2011, no. 1)

if you really love your special someone, and want to let him or her know that you have not only good taste in jazz but also an acute sensitivity to the passage of time, won’t you try charles mingus’ oh yeah from 1961, now quietly celebrating its 50th anniversary? best of all it’ll prepare your gift recipient for christmas 2013’s the black saint and the sinner lady, which will then be half a century old too and is the most cosmic and extraordinary thing charles mingus ever recorded (despite my regularly omniscient father danny’s preference for mingus ah um). for gift givers on a budget, just click on the high-resolution image above and print your sweetie a nice big version of the oh yeah cover, which has something for everyone. if that’s too much work for santa, try singing the lyrics to eat that chicken at the dinnertable on christmas eve—he and she are sure to love it. but if even that’s too much, and you’re a thief, click here.

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December 11
did you know: wkcr 89.9 fm, the greatest radio station in new york city—great despite its affiliation with lowly columbia university—is playing adolph johannes “dollar” brand, the man you may have known as abdullah ibrahim in the 1970s, all day long?

did you know: wkcr 89.9 fm, the greatest radio station in new york city—great despite its affiliation with lowly columbia university—is playing adolph johannes “dollar” brand, the man you may have known as abdullah ibrahim in the 1970s, all day long?

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December 5
dukes, in order: 13. david duke 12. duke cunningham 11. the dukes of hazzard 10. the noble duke of york 9. duke nukem 8. duke u. 7. duke zeibert 6. orlando “el duque” hernandez 5. john wayne 4. duke kahanamoku 3. david bowie 2. uncle duke 1. duke ellington

dukes, in order:

13. david duke

12. duke cunningham

11. the dukes of hazzard

10. the noble duke of york

9. duke nukem

8. duke u.

7. duke zeibert

6. orlando “el duque” hernandez

5. john wayne

4. duke kahanamoku

3. david bowie

2. uncle duke

1. duke ellington

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#877: duke ellington - tchaikovsky’s nutcracker suite & interview (1960)

wouldn’t you know it, readers? we’re 20 days away from christmas, which means it’s time to start playing the inarguably most essential holiday albums in the entire history of snow, candy canes, multicolored menorah candles and hearty good cheer—ella fitzgerald wishes you a swingin’ christmas, the new possibility: john fahey’s guitar soli christmas album, phil spector’s a christmas gift for you from philles records, and, of course, duke ellington’s the nutcracker suite, which you should get for toot toot tootie toot (dance of the reed-pipes) and replay daily for the next three weeks for sugar rum cherry (dance of the sugar-plum fairy). watch ellington and his band record that last song, one that’s as fat and glowing as kriss kringle on a coke can, at the finale of the totally astonishing video above. and to all a good night.

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December 3
maybe most readers of the super groovy music video spectacular don’t know what i look like: dexter gordon is a pretty good approximation. sometimes people stop me on the street and say, “excuse me, dexter?” and i have to smile and explain their mistake.

maybe most readers of the super groovy music video spectacular don’t know what i look like: dexter gordon is a pretty good approximation. sometimes people stop me on the street and say, “excuse me, dexter?” and i have to smile and explain their mistake.

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November 27

#872: art tatum - yesterdays (1954, spike jones show)

one good thing about the holiday season is that we can all take time off from our busy schedules to pause and appreciate the only thing in life that matters, art tatum’s piano playing. and we get together to express our joy and gratitude that by some fluke of archival technology we all have access to film of him performing not only humoresque but yesterdays live. deck the halls!

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November 13
this is from the cover of one of the charlie christian/benny goodman albums i found the other day, which has fletcher henderson and count basie playing piano, cootie “no cooties” williams on trumpet, lionel hampton playing the vibe-iest instrument in the world, and the alliterative cutty cutshall and billy butterfield on brass on the last song. here’s something related.

this is from the cover of one of the charlie christian/benny goodman albums i found the other day, which has fletcher henderson and count basie playing piano, cootie “no cooties” williams on trumpet, lionel hampton playing the vibe-iest instrument in the world, and the alliterative cutty cutshall and billy butterfield on brass on the last song. here’s something related.

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more magic christian.

more magic christian.

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October 17

#856: laurindo almeida & the modern jazz quartet - one note samba (1964)

the wonderfully sneering, dead-eyed, condescending, jowly, ahistorical and nearly-charming idiocy of the introduction (“i don’t think any instrument has received quite such maltreatment in recent years or perhaps ever as the guitar, the once noble instrument which has now been appropriated by almost any teenager who can learn three chords”), is outmatched only by the same announcer’s cruel and curious postscript denouncement of guitar picks. but nothing he says matters, because together the modern jazz quartet and the guitarist laurindo almeida sound like the please hold music at the pearly gates. it is very nice.

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October 16

#855 - the modern jazz quartet - winter tale (1964)

i just had an epiphany, the vibraphone is the thinking man’s electric guitar. milt jackson and lionel hampton should be on posters on college dorm walls, with mallets.

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a free recommendation to the staff of esquire magazine: change your magazine logo to the late british record label’s as it appeared here on this modern jazz quartet album.

a free recommendation to the staff of esquire magazine: change your magazine logo to the late british record label’s as it appeared here on this modern jazz quartet album.

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October 3

#849: thelonious monk - ‘round midnight (1963, baden-baden)

it’s the first weeknight of october, but new york has somehow frozen into a winter evening, so i’m going to sleep in a wool hat. i feel just like thelonious monk, except i can’t play the piano like a philosopher-poet.

update, october 10: happy birthday, monk.

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July 11

#817: mama cass elliot - dream a little dream of me (smothers bros, 1968)

there really aren’t many ways to get, stay, or be cool when a new york city summer goes from the gruelingly hot to the atrociously sticky and sickly and sweat-stained.

one thing is to (a) wake up to art tatum, then (b) eat your breakfast with art pepper, (c) siesta to art farmer, (d) spend the afternoon with the first volume of art of field recording to mix things up, and then (e) go to sleep with art blakey.

realistically, the only other option is to sit around listening to lots of mama cass (and a lot of papa john phillips, especially the first song on john, the wolf king of l.a.)

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