Is Fresh and Unnerving

Wife wanted to go to nursery today and though I was busy, of course, as always, I tried to clear out my work and join her as I was curious to see the place, as well.  Sabellico is where my stepdad, the grand-man of gardening in our family, secures his flora.  My wife had joined him once before and so this was my wife's chance to turn-me-on to the place.  Sabellico is large but not huge.  There were more trees to consider than any other place I’ve seen around the area, but at the same time none of the simple trees I’d hoped to find, like, say, a copper beech or a sycamore, were anywhere to be found.  I took mental notes, mostly and decided I wasn’t going to buy anything this time.  I’m supposed to call back and ask for the rather easy name to remember:  John.  

I had a book, a pamphlet really entitled “The Confessions of Nat Turner."  It’s a gruesome remembrance from death-row, the protagonist of which, not unlike Hong Xiuquan of Taiping Rebellion fame, Turner believed he was touched by God to reinterpret the Good Word.  The narration was formal and largely devoid of the vernacular or the vengeance I'd expected, that it made one wonder to what extent this was an accurate rendering of what his final words.  Did he narrate things that couldn’t be repeated?  Was he, in fact quite capable of speaking in the manner so provided?

John Gilmore sure is nice to spend some time with.  Not sure what brought me over to listening to him again this week.  I think I must have had “Artistry of Freddie Hubbard” and been shaking my head at one or another of his majestic solos.   I knew that he never really any headlining sessions, but what besides all the rich materials he recorded with the Arkestra, other sessions are there of John Gilmore as a sideman?

These last few days I’ve gone through all that’s listed obtainable.  I’d heard that album of Pete La Roca’s before: "Women at the Turkish Bath” but I don’t remember it being so singularly compelling.  Chick Corea’s work is fresh and unnerving and Gilmore’s solo on "Love Planet" for example, is like a parade of bull elephants.  The two sessions with Andrew Hill who I tend to like, but not love, were also good to consider anew.  And there is, fortunately that remarkable live session recorded in Europe in 1964, when he was in the Jazz Massagers with Art Blakey, Lee Morgan and John Hicks.   .  I’m listening to their version of “I Can’t Get Started” with almost uncomfortably close close-up of John Gilmore at the outset.

Tuesday, 06/02/20