"My Very Good Friend in the Looking Glass" is a tune I hadn't known before this record, and it strikes me as a perfect piece. It can withstand any level of attention and thought, and Paris brings it to beautiful life on this.

I feel lucky to have found this copy of "The Song is Paris," in great shape at a reasonable price, because it's one of the small group of truly perfect vocal jazz records I know. Among other things, it's really varied. Paris was under-recorded, and it's as if he knew it, and put everything in.

His stuff is often great, even. I think because he was able to make something like real money people see him as a lightweight. But in 1975, he was really an outsider, he had his own thing, and basically he's stuck to it. This is what any musician ought to do, and he's done it.

Glass gets dismissed a lot and I might say that there are composers of his generation or approximate type who maybe have more to offer. But I'll also say that over the course of my life I've kept coming back to Glass. Maybe it's because it was formative for me, but also because it's really good.

The only Glass record I had, a tape actually, as a kid was "Koyaanisqatsi." I first heard "Lady Day" as it was sampled on Cannibal Ox's brilliant "Scream Phoenix." If you asked me to judge, I'd actually say Cannibal Ox improved the piece, but Glass' version is nonetheless great.

Haven't heard the Escolas de Samba do Grupo 1A record but the Gilberto is predictably wonderful.

This definitely isn't peak Kraftwerk but there's no better example of how effortlessly engaging and melodic their music is, two minutes of pure bliss.

I feel like this is the last recording of the early Kraftwerk that peaked on the second side of Autobahn, when Autobahn's first side was the new Kraftwerk. I don't know how composed "Transistor" was but it sounds like it could have been a particularly inspired stretch in a longer improvisation.

I assume this cut costs somehow, and my first copy of "The Band" had "King Harvest" removed. Obviously this is an obscenity, but made worst for the Kraftwerk because it's one of the very best tracks on the record and somewhat singular in their work.

At the same time, there's something to be said for having a single statement of a particular type that is absolutely unimpeachable, completely one of its kind. He must have been a lovely person because the talent he was able to call in for these sessions is as good as any, ever, in jazz.

Legrand obviously had a great career and while I don't know from actual reading I imagine that going into primarily film work was a smart decision financially, and he did it with real artistic merit. But there was also a trajectory for him along a Gil Evans/Gerald Wilson line.

But with all these young composers doing such great work, it's obvious that there is no end of beautiful music to be made, and people will definitely show up and make it.

I had a strong feeling, watching the whole thing, that too often I get trapped because while I can remember the past I can't see the future, and right now that is not a comfortable position.

This is the Negrón piece, in a different performance. I am not aware of any recordings of it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FHp...

Everything on the program was excellent, though some more excellent than others. I was especially happy to hear composed music from not only living but young (younger than me) composers. Angélica Negrón's piece and Darian Donovan Thomas' performance stand out in memory but it was all great.

It's not an original comment to point out that what Joni doesn't get enough credit for is her ability as an arranger, and this tune is as good an example as any of her ability. Everything is in place, and everything serves to heighten the musicality of the piece.

But beyond her point, she uses the musicality of language as well as anyone. If you didn't know any English and listened to her, the words would be obviously beautiful.

When I was younger and people paid attention to Rolling Stone, people would talk about who was the supposedly best lyricist in RS-approved "rock." The discussion is worthless but I'll say that nobody is better than Joni, and this is as good as she gets. She has a point, though a complicated one.