Thursday, July 24, 2014

Specs on the Yellow Toad

The familiar sound of Jackie McLean’s bright alto matched beautifully by Tina Brooks’ tenor.  What a lovely pairing.  The tune, “Shadows” from the Freddie Redd album “Shades of Redd” in that magic jazz year of 1960 when Rudy Van Gelder must have been recording 365 days in a row.   I’ve always had the score for “The Connection” the Jack Gelber play about junkies waiting to cop heroin, which was recorded a year before this.  Freddie Redd was responsible for all the songs, as I recall.  I seem to remember reading the liner notes and seeing that Leonard Bernstein attended a performance and was overheard whistling “Who Killed Cock Robin” on the way out.

Born in Harlem in 1928 I’m happy to report that Freddie Redd is still alive and seemingly active, from his residence in Baltimore.  Listening to this follow-on album “Shades” it is lovely from start to finish and it is hard to understand why it didn’t launch a string of such releases throughout the decade.  It looks like he only recorded one other album the following year on Blue Note, that wasn’t even released until 1988.  As explored earlier, it would appear that he had a similar experience to Tina Brooks who recorded incredible albums that Blue Note decided not to release until later.  Perhaps, like Brooks, he had a habit that tainted his relationship with the label and eventually with everything.  Like so many of his peers, Dexter Gordon, Joe Albany, he fled New York and spent the next decade in Denmark and France, returning in the mid seventies.



Today, I’ll head back up to Lisbon.  My little Volkswagon rental only lists the speed in KPH and, a typical American I have next to no idea how fast I was going.  I only know it was very fast, I made good time, and occasionally there were still people passing me.  I figured I was pushing ninety MPH but it turns out that I was pushing 120 MPH, which is silly with or without proactive highway policing.   We’ll budget a bit more time for today journey.   No need to whatsoever to 凭轼结辙[1] in my little rental.

Sitting back at my perch at the Presidente Hotel, where I’ve come for the last three days so that I can get online.  The same Germanic family is sitting across from me again this morning.  Caught mom staring at me.  I must look off with my headphones on, sitting here alone, typing for the third day straight.  The kids all look just like mom with their straight blond hair and slightly suspicious looks.  Dad doesn’t look so Teutonic, from the back.  



Catching up on the news it’s rough out there.  The Times had an interesting summary article examining Obama’s foreign policy challenges, suggesting the complexity of so many cross cutting cleavages and their interrelations.  How can you push Egypt on Gaza when you cut off aid?  How can you push Russia on Syria when you need to be stern about the plane shot down?  How can you buttress the Shias in Iraq without the help of the help of the Iranian’s who you are trying to impose sanctions on?  I think he is being tested sorely and I’m still glad he’s in there rather than a hothead showman.  Take your time and be judicious, Barak.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/23/world/crises-cascade-and-converge-testing-obama.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%221%22%3A%22RI%3A7%22%7D

And amidst all this China has, fortunately been comparatively quiet.  The manufacturing sector is picking up.  Food safety and energy plans’ potential to pollute are being discussed but otherwise the only news fit-to-print is an uplifting story about a giant yellow toad.  Chinese netizens did a mock up photo of the grinning toad with a pair of specs to suggest he looked just like Jiang Zemin.  Now Xinhua, China’s news agency has deleted all references to the giant toad.  I hope Obama has a chance to read the article and steal a laugh amidst so much noise.


 





[1] píngshìjiézhé to drive non-stop as fast as one can (idiom)

No comments:

Post a Comment