Hey, one more message. Surprisingly enough, even many jazz fanatics don't know about it. On youtube you can find a 5-minute clip of Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker jamming in a studio in 1950. Look at the smirk on Bird's face while Hawkins solos, and then the astonished/devastated look on Hawkins's face when Bird takes his solo. Colossal and brutal.
Without name-dropping, Miles Davis told me that Bird was the greatest musician of all time. And that there were nights in clubs when Miles was in Bird's quintet in the 1940's where Bird was so extraordinary that Miles was too terrified to take a solo afterwards. Listening to the astonishing Benedetti box set of Bird solos is like getting a chance to be inside the brain of Da Vinci or Einstein.
Thanks for your excellent new post. But surprised you, like all the other obits/homages to D'Angelo, didn't mention that at the height of his fame, he was arrested, high on drugs, for propositioning a female undercover cop for sex. After his arrest, he disappeared for years. An interesting parallel with George Michael's arrest for propositioning a male undercover cop in a public toilet. Both men could have had anyone they wanted, but were driven to take dangerous risks.
I often saw Prince in Paris, concerts, late-night shows, unannounced gigs in clubs, once with a French country music band! But I have never seen such hysterical female reaction to a live performer (other than to Jeff Buckley in Paris, where he was a living god; listen to him singing Piaf in French at the legendary Bataclan concert, which is on an official EP CD, with the female screams) as the D'Angelo concert in Stockholm during the "Voodoo" tour , available as a 2cd bootleg. It was almost frightening to be a male in the audience.
PS D'Angelo famously said he wanted to produce Prince. Just as Prince and Rick Rubin both famously said they wanted to produce Céline Dion.
There's a fun clip on youtube of D'Angelo, Christian McBride, and Questlove doing a cover of James Brown/Claude Stubblefield's "Funky Drummer".
There are *lots of D'Angelo stories of screwed up shit that happened when he was drunk or high, most famously his car accident - and I didn't mention any of them, except as a general reference to "chronic dysfunction," because a remembrance a few days after someone's death isn't really the place for it. I don't think the arrest was the only catalyst for his disappearance.
Thank you for the heads up about the Meredith Monk doc! I'd never heard of it -- great to know that it's on Apple TV+ or whatever they call it. Can't wait to watch it.
I didn't even know that the Monk documentary was screening, which speaks to (maybe only my experience?) the current iteration of the internet's uselessness as a tool to spread news?
Partly my fault - I only added it to my listings page after it went out, because I forget to make a habit of checking all the rep cinemas' pages beforehand.
I want to answer your D'Angelo response in depth, but not on substack for anyone to read. And I assume you noticed my subtle homage to your Céline Dion book masterpiece in my comments about D'Angelo. You have no idea how many (including famous) musicians/criiiiiitics/friends I literally forced to read that book (preferably both editions). And how impressed they were when they finally did.
There was a nice tribute to DK from Elliott Gould that I shared recently. And we both know that EG is the coolest guy on the planet.
Thanks for telling me about that but what is that weird "Smart News" thing? Seems like an aggregator that rips off media outlets? Here's a link to the actual source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oct/16/elliott-gould-remembers-diane-keaton
Hey, one more message. Surprisingly enough, even many jazz fanatics don't know about it. On youtube you can find a 5-minute clip of Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker jamming in a studio in 1950. Look at the smirk on Bird's face while Hawkins solos, and then the astonished/devastated look on Hawkins's face when Bird takes his solo. Colossal and brutal.
Without name-dropping, Miles Davis told me that Bird was the greatest musician of all time. And that there were nights in clubs when Miles was in Bird's quintet in the 1940's where Bird was so extraordinary that Miles was too terrified to take a solo afterwards. Listening to the astonishing Benedetti box set of Bird solos is like getting a chance to be inside the brain of Da Vinci or Einstein.
Enjoy.
Found it! Looking forward to watching.
Thanks for your excellent new post. But surprised you, like all the other obits/homages to D'Angelo, didn't mention that at the height of his fame, he was arrested, high on drugs, for propositioning a female undercover cop for sex. After his arrest, he disappeared for years. An interesting parallel with George Michael's arrest for propositioning a male undercover cop in a public toilet. Both men could have had anyone they wanted, but were driven to take dangerous risks.
I often saw Prince in Paris, concerts, late-night shows, unannounced gigs in clubs, once with a French country music band! But I have never seen such hysterical female reaction to a live performer (other than to Jeff Buckley in Paris, where he was a living god; listen to him singing Piaf in French at the legendary Bataclan concert, which is on an official EP CD, with the female screams) as the D'Angelo concert in Stockholm during the "Voodoo" tour , available as a 2cd bootleg. It was almost frightening to be a male in the audience.
PS D'Angelo famously said he wanted to produce Prince. Just as Prince and Rick Rubin both famously said they wanted to produce Céline Dion.
There's a fun clip on youtube of D'Angelo, Christian McBride, and Questlove doing a cover of James Brown/Claude Stubblefield's "Funky Drummer".
RIP D'Angelo.
There are *lots of D'Angelo stories of screwed up shit that happened when he was drunk or high, most famously his car accident - and I didn't mention any of them, except as a general reference to "chronic dysfunction," because a remembrance a few days after someone's death isn't really the place for it. I don't think the arrest was the only catalyst for his disappearance.
Did you get my response? It may have gone to your e-mail? It doesn’t show up on the thread but I replied to it.
I've only seen the ones that showed up here
Thank you for the heads up about the Meredith Monk doc! I'd never heard of it -- great to know that it's on Apple TV+ or whatever they call it. Can't wait to watch it.
I didn't even know that the Monk documentary was screening, which speaks to (maybe only my experience?) the current iteration of the internet's uselessness as a tool to spread news?
Partly my fault - I only added it to my listings page after it went out, because I forget to make a habit of checking all the rep cinemas' pages beforehand.
Can I have your e-mail? Please send it to mine: jrsedsenoimusic@gmail.com
I want to answer your D'Angelo response in depth, but not on substack for anyone to read. And I assume you noticed my subtle homage to your Céline Dion book masterpiece in my comments about D'Angelo. You have no idea how many (including famous) musicians/criiiiiitics/friends I literally forced to read that book (preferably both editions). And how impressed they were when they finally did.
Respect.
PS You were amazing in your one and only acting role, so charismatic, in the very cult classic : "Two-Lane Blacktop'.
Art Garfunkel. His girlfriend's suicide. Joni Mitchell... During or after the film.