One of my favorite BNC’s!

Kenny Cox deserved far more acclaim than he received. He was also a funny and kind man.

Yeah, he's on all the material.

“If they ask me, I could write a book…” Those cats are swinging! Well done sir!

Ray's nickname was "Floorshow." Here's why: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xCx...

That's basically Cootie paraphrasing/riffing on Ray Nance's original improvised solo from 1941, which itself was worked out and codified over time.

The guitar and alto were in unison and Charlie and Jack were just laying down the beat nice and easy. The dry ping of Jack's cyrstalline ride cymbal in that moment remains one of my clearest sonic memories.

(I had not heard "Song X" before the concert.) But then the electronic carpet bombing stomped suddenly and out of the rumble, came the rest of the band, swinging beautifully at a human volume, playing Ornette's blues, "Turnaround."

Part 2

The first time I heard Jack DeJohnette live was w/ Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman in 1986 in Urbana. The first sounds of the concert, a kind of overture, were a barrage of Denardo Coleman's electronic drums at an assaultive volume. I thought, "Shit, this is not gonna be what I had hoped."

So we're on the same page, which alternative melody exactly are you referencing?

H/T @natechinen.bsky.social for a kicker: On Jack’s first night in NYC he sat in at Minton's w/ Freddie Hubbard, whose drummer was (wait for it) Al Foster. Nate relays a passage from Jack’s oral history for the Smithsonian and imagines Foster being impressed and perhaps taken aback by the new kid.

Some losses are tougher than others, but losing Al and Jack within five months? Goddman. ... All I can say is that whoever is running this fucking circus better be taking damn good care of Billy Hart and Louis Hayes.

Al might opt for minimalism where Jack might choose a maximalist approach. These are just generalities, of course. The decision making of both drummers was both remarkably advanced and unpredictable. I never heard either make a bad choice on the bandstand.

It’s interesting to think about the similarities and differences between them. Both were first-rate colorists, masters of texture and dynamics, each able to strike a groove across a dizzying array of idioms. There was more pure bebop in Al’s DNA than in Jack’s.