Russell Hall Septet

My first wife questioned the way I like jazz. I like the idea of it, and I'm even willing to listen to my least favorite forms, which is free, avant garde jazz. I find merit even in my least favorite form of jazz. This set is eclectic like Hall.

Imagine when jazz was so revolutionary that people were afraid of it. See this video on Twitter of Django.

Russell Hall Septet set is on Smalls YouTube. Septet is seven and there's even a trombone.

I love the women in the little black dress crossing the set. Everyone is bundled up for the cold, and she's practically streaking in that little black dress. She might be a waitress with how much she's walking around. Yea, she's a waitress. I love the old guy who's somehow connected to the group, who shakes everyone's hands and yells a lot in the background, at the appropriate moments.

Russell Hall is the bassist. "Russell Hall (b), Ben Seacrist (t), Mike Troy (as), Bruno Tzinas (tr), Leo Larrett (g), Esteban Castro (p), Matt Lee (d). Live at Smalls Jazz Club - 1/16/24"

Love a sextet with a bone in it (Ben Seacrist). I hear shades of Trane in the sax solos by Mike Troy. Guitar guy Leo Larrett cross legs on a bar stool. The pianist Esteban Castro doesn't move when he's playing sometimes, I thought the video was frozen. He's amazing.

Russell Hall's latest album is Black Caesar (2023) (spotify).

Hall article in No Treble for background, great article. He mentions The Feeling of Romance (2019) (Spotify).

A vocalist sings on last night's set, "you go to my head," the Billie Holiday song. The video is off, which is most noticeable with the vocalist. I don't know if that's a technical glitch on my computer or the stream. She sings "I love all of you." Not sure where that's from.

Georgia Heers is the vocalist. Here's a video that really features her on YouTube singing "Laugh, Clown, Laugh". Spotify created a playlist. Here's a longer set. Here's another. Here's another that is in a Christian context. Insta.

They take a break. Hall plays the bass with one hand while he takes a sip. They bring up Georgia Heers again in the second set. Russell Hall sings along with "Embraceable You". Then it becomes a jam session and other people come up and play with the people who aren't replaced, which are drums, bass, trumpet and piano.

Go online to Smalls and get tickets, last time I was there you had to order online to get in, you couldn't do it at the door, and catch a set at smalls, this is an amazing sextet.

This club has graduated past it's early humble years, and really taken off, and all the the sets are amazing. Last time I went on a Monday, they were all sold out. On a Monday. I'm pretty sure seeing anyone there were instantly put you into the realm of jazz knowers. All the up and coming stars play there, and veteran talents.

I don't know whether I'm more concentrated these days, or what, but I find the music on this video transcendental. Ari Hoenig gave me a look when I told him that, but man, this stuff is really exciting to me.

There's no google entry for the word zebtet, but Saturday 10:30 is one Saul Rubin's Zebtet. The prefix zeb means maybe portion of the lord, gift from God.

Manet and Degas

Brilliant video explaining the exhibit. Go to the Met and see the exhibit! It's really quite special. In the last gallery the painting this sketch is based off of, of the execution of a Mexican president. The painting has been cut into sections, and the surviving Degas has reassembled them. NY Times review

The case for Harris

Motley Kamuka Blog endorses Kamala Harris. In general, Trump just wants to lower taxes on the rich, and do nothing, sell whatever influence he can to line his pockets. Apparently the emoluments clause in the constitution has no teeth. Harris has a set of ideas about policy that are fairly middle of the road. In most countries she's would be seen as a centrist. Spin about her radical agendas are exaggerated. I'm not sure how he got past " grab them by the pussy ", but he did and here we are. Women: Obviously the idea of giving women pregnancy tests at the borders of the state, and then if they come back and don't have a baby, they go to jail, isn't really what most women want. Pick Harris. I understand if you think abortion is murder, maybe you've been told that by the Catholic church, which has the same ideal of Buddhism that you don't kill--so follow your religion for yourself. Not everyone is Christian or Buddhist or even has a religion. Women are ...

AOC

Dark Brandon meet Dark Alex. I see her advising the republicans to stick to their guns and never compromise. They don’t want to do anything, only obstruct. So they don’t actually need to be unified. Chaos isn’t organized. This is fine. Read all about it from Heather Cox Richardson , a historian who covers current events. "As their policies threatened to lose voters by concentrating wealth upward and hollowing out the middle class, Republicans increasingly warned that minority voters wanted socialism and were destroying the nation to get it. Trump rode that narrative to power, and now tearing down the current government is the idea that drives the Republican base." While we're at it, here's another funny photo from the Onion: And then: I listened to the Times podcast about George Santos . He basically lied about, I don't know, 80% of his resume, and has a mysterious $700k in his "corporation" which has no clients. So he's a Russian or Chinese plant, o...

Motley Kamuka

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