Music Week/Jazz Prospecting

Music: Current count 22520 [22482] rated (+38), 580 [574] unrated (+6).

Published my Best Jazz Albums of 2013 last Wednesday, so I'm on the hook for that. Was pleased that it was picked up in Largehearted Boy's 2013 Year-End Online Music Lists. I've spent a lot of time the last few days looking at end-of-year lists and factoring them into my metacritic file. I've made some adjustments to my methodology, so I doubt that I'll wind up counting as many lists as in previous years, but at least it will be easier to figure out who picked what. Biggest surprise for me has been the rise of an Arctic Monkeys album I regard as damn near unlistenable: it's topped the lists as NME and Quietus, come in second at TimeOut London, fourth at Mojo, ninth at Uncut and (showing the interest isn't exclusively UK) Rolling Stone. Another surprise is that Vampire Underground isn't running away from the pack: it's currently tied with My Bloody Valentine for second (MBV was the leader before I started adding EOY lists), having been passed by Kanye West (7th before the EOYs). Also notable: that Yo La Tengo album so many people adored back in January, still third before the EOYs, has faded into obscurity, much as the title promised -- slipped into 16th at the moment.

I'll keep adding EOY lists as they come out, most likely until the end of the month. Main thing I know about the Jazz Poll is that we had a record number of critics voting this year: 136. Results are scheduled to go up at NPR next Monday, December 16. Haven't seen them yet myself, but I'll have a lot of work to do when I do, as I'll be hosting the individual critic ballots as I've done the last few years. The metacritic file jazz list is hard to read: I'm mostly tracking rock magazines, so albums that crossover toward post-rock often do much better than even mainstream jazz, as witness the standings of Colin Stetson, Ceramic Dog, and Melt Yourself Down.

Two A-list records this week: one (New York Art Quartet) found before I posted my Best Jazz Albums of 2013 list, the other (Anna Kaluza) after. Took about three days, which seems to be par when one closes a year-end list in December. Actually, the whole Clean Feed batch came close, with Pascal Niggenkemper enjoying peak moments. You'll also find a few Christmas records below. I have probably close to two dozen in the queue, some carried over from Christmases past. At one point I was thinking that the week after Thanksgiving I'd knock them all off as some sort of special, but didn't manage that, and don't know when (or if) I ever will. You read right-wingers writing about some "war on Christmas," but when you go out this time of year it seems more like Christmas is waging war on you.

Jason Paul Curtis: Love Holiday (2012, self-released): Singer, first album, calls his piano trio (Ray Mabalot is the pianist) Swinglab (10 cuts), and his big band Swing Machine (2 cuts). Wrote 5 (of 12) songs here, the holiday themes discreet enough I didn't realize what I was getting into until Santa Claus popped up. Also co-opts two Cole Porter songs, winter (if not holiday) fare: "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" and "In the Still of the Night." B+(*)

Kris Davis: Massive Threads (2012 [2013], Thirsty Ear): One of the most impressive pianists to emerge in the last decade, even if the more obvious reason why her Quartet albums were so successful was saxophonist Tony Malaby. Second solo album, a mix of loud and quiet exercises, each impressive in its own way. B+(***) [advance]

Kaja Draksler: The Lives of Many Others (2013, Clean Feed): Pianist, b. 1987 in Slovenia, shortly before the breakup of Yugoslavia, currently based in Amsterdam. Plays in European Movement Jazz Orchestra, leads Kaja Draksler Acropolis Quintet. This is solo, has some dramatic passages but mostly sneaks up on you. B+(**)

Nnenna Freelon/John Brown Big Band: Christmas (2012 [2013], Brown Boulevard): Singer, has more than a dozen albums since 1992 including tributes to Stevie Wonder and Billie Holiday. Brown plays bass, leads a swing-oriented big band, and joins in on one vocal. Many of the obvious Xmas tunes get wrapped up in two quick medleys, leaving room for "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Nothing wrong with this if you want something a little more, uh, contemporary than Ella Fitzgerald, but it still leaves me cold inside. B

John Hébert Trio: Floodstage (2012 [2013], Clean Feed): Bassist-led piano trio, Hébert composing all but two pieces: one by pianist Benoît Delbecq and the trad gospel "Just a Closer Walk With Thee." Gerald Cleaver is the drummer. Delbecq opens on "analog synth and tronics" throwing the sound off a bit; otherwise a fine piano trio album. B+(***)

Marquis Hill: The Poet (2013, Skiptone Music): Trumpet player, age 26 (can we assume 1987?), based in Chicago, second album, backed by alto sax, vibes, piano, bass, drums, percussion, featuring spoken word (i.e., raps) by Mary E. Lawson and Keith Winford, poetry by Kevin Sparks. The vibes gives this a certain bubbliness, and the closing rap works for me. B+(**)

Brad Hoyt: Far Away From Everyday (2013, Harp Guitar Music): This seems to be a showcase for harp guitar, which is a guitar with an extra set of strings to one side spread out like a harp, although there seem to be a wide range of design. Hoyt's previously recorded as part of the Harp Guitar Collective, and he has various of his cohort here, as well as a lot of strings, flutes, etc. Does make for fairly lush instrumentals, of a new agey sort. B

Anna Kaluza/Artur Majewski/Rafal Mazur/Kuba Suchar: Tone Hunting (2012 [2013], Clean Feed): Alto sax, trumpet/cornet, acoustic bass guitar, drums/kalimba. Kaluza is German, from Köln, has a couple previous albums. The others are probably Polish -- I've run across Mazur and Majewski before. Group improvs, no titles (unless you count "Track 1," etc.), no clash, just even-tempered exploration. The kalimba is a nice touch. A-

Wouter Kellerman: Mzansi (2013, self-released): South African flute player, b. 1961; Wikipedia article says more about his philanthropy than his music, although it doesn't omit opening for Johnny Clegg's 2009 tour, so maybe there isn't that much to write about. Does look like he has a couple previous albums. This one is MOR South African pop, pretty pleasant unless you're hung up about flutes. B

New York Art Quartet: Call It Art (1964-65 [2013], Triple Point, 5LP): Extravagant packaging, with the 5 LPs each in its own jacket, packed alongside a 156-page clothbound book, both enclosed in a very handsome plywood box. The group, with Roswell Rudd on trombone and John Tchicai on alto sax, was more at home in Copenhagen than in New York. They cut the one album they're known for on ESP-Disk, another for Fontana in England, but other recordings have leaked out over the years -- notably Old Stuff, released by Cuneiform in 2010, and now this stack of "previously uncirculated" vinyl. Hard for me to evaluate -- among other things I'm just not accustomed to evaluating things in 15-20 minute chunks anymore -- but everything I play has its fascinating points. Retails at $340 (plus shipping), which I regard as insane. But it is quite a piece of product, and presumably the market knows best. A-

Pascal Niggenkemper Vision7: Lucky Prime (2012 [2013], Clean Feed): German bassist, based in New York, I first noticed him in HNH (with Joe Hertenstein and Thomas Heberer), but he has a couple of trio records with Robin Verheyen (sax) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums), and now this expansive septet. Emilie Lesbros wrote lyrics to most pieces, sings, and directs traffic, which can get chaotic -- Frank Gratkowski (bass clarinet, alto sax), Eve Risser (piano), Frantz Loriot (viola), Els Vandeweyer (vibes, marimba), and Christian Lillinger (drums): combinations that are inherently risky but succeed more often than not. B+(***)

Ted Rosenthal Trio: Wonderland (2013, Playscape): Pianist, fourteenth album since 1989, one of the 40-50 mainstream masters with a Maybeck Recital Hall Series album. I was aware of the name but hadn't listened to him until Out of This World turned out to be my favorite piano trio album of 2011. This is his Xmas music album, and he quotes the overly familiar refrains often enough to remind you of the fact, it's also a prime example of how to jazz up such material. B+(*)

Angelica Sanchez/Wadada Leo Smith: Twine Forest (2013, Clean Feed): Piano-trumpet duets, the songs composed by the pianist, who makes a strong impression when leading then falls to the side when the trumpet takes over. He's impressive too, and when the pair connect they can blow you away. Then they back off leaving you to wonder what's going on, before they attack again. B+(***)

Elliot Sharp Aggregat: Quintet (2013, Clean Feed): I think of him as a guitarist but I'm barely familiar with the many dozens of albums he's released since 1979. But he played tenor and soprano sax as well as guitar on his 2012 trio album Aggregat, and here he ditches the guitar in favor of clarinet, while adding two more horns -- Nate Wooley on trumpet and Terry L. Green on trombone -- to get to a quintet. B+(**)

Lizzie Thomas: Easy to Love (2013, self-released): Standards singer, based in New York, second album, with Xavier Davis arranging and playing piano, and Ron Affif on guitar (7 of 10 cuts); uses trumpet (Antoine Drye), sometimes clarinet and/or trombone (Frank Lacy) but no sax. Nails nearly every song, even the obligatory Jobim ("One Note Samba"). B+(**)

Cory Wright Outfit: Apples + Oranges (2012 [2013], Singlespeed Music): Tenor saxophonist, studied at Oberlin and USC, based in Bay Area; second album, plus side credits with Vinny Golia, Anthony Braxton, Yusef Lateef/Adam Rudolph, Industrial Jazz Group. Quintet, with Evan Francis on alto sax, Rob Ewing on trombone, Lisa Mezzacappa on bass, and Jordan Glenn on drums -- the trombone a nice touch. B+(**)

Xiu Xiu: Nina (2013, Graveface): Jamie Stewart, who has done business as Xiu Xiu to the tune of more than a dozen post-rock albums since 2002, offers his "tribute" to Nina Simone. Good news here is the band, who offer all the jazz cred you'd ever want: Tony Malaby (tenor sax), Tim Berne (alto/baritone sax), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Andrea Parkins (accordion, electronics, piano, hang), and Ches Smith (drums). On the other hand, there's the guy with the creepy "vox" -- only reminds you of Simone at her most overwrought, although this coming is more farce than tragedy. B+(*)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• T.K. Blue: A Warm Embrace (Blujazz): January 7
• Daniel Carter/Daniel Levin/Satoshi Takeishi/Devin Brahja Waldman: Say Hello to Anyone I Know (Fast Speaking Music)
• Rob Drake & the NY Jazz Quartet: Blue Divide (Zoho): January 14
• Scott Feiner & Pandeiro Jazz: A View From Below (self-released): March 25
• Jörg Fischer: Spring Spleen and Twelve Other Pieces (Gligg)
• Jörg Fischer/Matthias Schubert/Uli Böttcher: Lurk Lab (Gligg)
• Ben Flocks: Battle Mountain (self-released): February 11
• David Helbock's Random Control: Think of Two (Traumton): January 31
• Lurk Lab: Live at Shelter Sounds (JazzHausMusik)
• Zara McFarlane: If You Knew Her (Brownswood): January 28
• Moutin Factory Quintet: Lucky People (Blujazz/Plus Loin Music): January 7
• M13: 1 Human, Too Human (Blujazz): January 7
• William Parker Orchestra: Essence of Ellington: Live in Milano (AUM Fidelity, 2CD)
• William Parker: Wood Flute Songs: Anthology/Live 2006-2012 (AUM Fidelity, 8CD)
• Robert Prester: Dogtown (Commonwealth Ave. Productions): February 4
• Adam Unsworth/Byron Olson/John Vanore: Balance (Acoustical Concepts): January 28
• Nils Wogram Root 70 With Strings: Riomar (NWOG): January 28

Miscellaneous notes:

• Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Rough Guide to Blues Legends: Blind Lemon Jefferson (1926-29 [2013], World Music Network): A- [rhapsody]
• Fela Kuti: The Best of the Black President 2 (1971-92 [2013], Knitting Factory, 2CD): A- [rhapsody]

Daily Log

This from DC Eugene at Expert Witness:

After Lou Reed died, I started going through his post-VU recordings, listening closely to his pre-Blue Mask music, a period I wasn't very familiar with. After getting frustrated by the extraordinary amount of crap on his seventies releases, I decided to take a different approach and try to find one song to represent each recording. Normally I don't think approaching an artist chronologically makes a lot of sense because I don't believe people develop their art in a straight timeline. It can be much more rewarding to structure a compilation around a songwriter's thematic obsessions, for example, which ebb and flow during a long career.

Turns out Lou Reed is an exception. Putting his songs in chronological order reveals a drunken junkie prick maturing into a clean and sober a$$hole with lots of help from two wives and many therapists. I did cheat. The production values of Berlin, for instance, are so bad that I used a live version of "The Kids" to represent that release, and did the same for "Kill Your Sons." I don't think the studio version of "Walk It Talk It" is as good as the one with The Tots found on the live in Hempstead broadcast, sometimes called "American Poet." And I know some people can't stand "Little Sister," but I think everyone would agree Reed owed her that song after his cruel description of her in "Kill Your Sons." Still couldn't find anything I ever wanted to hear again from The Bells and Mistrial, so they're MIA.

Half way through, it's a jolt to suddenly hear him clean and sober and serious, in stark contrast to the entertaining junkie business he puts across on the first half. And yeah, I had to honor our host by putting on an excerpt of "Walk on the Wild Side" from Take No Prisoners because it shows Reed at what must have the most obnoxious point in his career: coked out of his mind and speeding toward an early grave, which he narrowly avoided. RIP

Lou Reed: A Solo Career Considered As A Twelve-Step Program

1. Walk It Talk It [live in Hempstead, NY, 12-26-72; song from Lou Reed, 1972]
2. Perfect Day [Transformer, 1972]
3. The Kids [live at Royal Festival Hall, London, 7-3-97; song from Berlin, 1973]
4. Kill Your Sons [live in Italy, 9-7-83; song from Sally Can't Dance, 1974]
5. Coney Island Baby [Coney Island Baby, 1975]
6. Metal Machine Music [90 second excerpt, Metal Machine Music, 1975]
7. A Sheltered Life [Rock And Roll Heart, 1976]
8. I Wanna Be Black [remixed version, Street Hassle, 1978]
9. Walk On The Wild Side [excerpt, Lou Reed Live: Take No Prisoners, 1978]
10. The Power Of Positive Drinking [Growing Up In Public, 1980]
11. Underneath The Bottle [The Blue Mask, 1982]
12. Home Of The Brave [Legendary Hearts, 1983]
13. Little Sister [Get Crazy soundtrack, 1983]
14. New Sensations [New Sensations, 1984]
15. September Song [Lost In The Stars: The Music Of Kurt Weill, 1985]
16. Beginning Of A Great Adventure [New York, 1989]
17. Work [with John Cale, Songs For Drella, 1990]
18. Trade In [Set The Twilight Reeling, 1996]
19. Big Sky [Ecstasy, 2000]

Best Jazz Albums of 2013

Pick up text here, minus ACN.

Greg Morton wrote at EW:

Best Jazz Albums of 2013 on Tom Hull's site right now. Lengthy and more than just the list, copied (looks like anyway) his previous comments on each one. A whole year of excellence in one spot.

I replied:

I started with the old Jazz Prospecting notes, but wound up doing a lot of editing. Also did a lot of reordering as I replayed things or just reshuffled from memory. I think there's only one new record there, and it's not one you're going to want to rush out and buy. There is a link there to the entire rated list (610 records), and a first draft of a list of things I wish I could have heard. I'll expand the latter over the next few weeks.

Daily Log

Chris Drumm reported (via facebook, ugh!) that when he searches for "The+Vibrators" in the Christgau website CG Search widget, he gets a 403 (unauthorized error). I did some tests and the problem appears to be rather limited (not to mention peculiar). I responded:

Regarding CG Search: actually, "vibrator" works, and gives you the Vibrators' page you want; "vibrators" fails, giving you the 403 error. "dildos" also fails, but "dildo" works (not that there are any artist entries for "dildo"). Don't know what else triggers this. More plebian obscenities don't seem to be a problem (although "ass" gives you a surprising list, showing you how the fallback search algorithm works). The problem does not occur on my local copy of the website, so it has something to do with the web server configuration as opposed to the website itself -- probably the Apache's url rewrite rules. Not sure how to debug them, or even how much access I have. Unless more cases show up, I'm not going to treat this as a high priority, although I will keep it in mind.

I also sent this to Expert Witness comments:

Chris Drumm reported a problem with the Christgau website: when he does a CG Search for "The Vibrators" he gets a 403 (unauthorized) page. This problem does not occur on my private copy of the website, indicating that it is a problem with the web server configuration and not the website code itself. Search for "vibrators" yields the same problem, but "vibrator" gets through. I've found one other test case that fails: "dildos" (but "dildo" is ok). Of course, I've only tested about a dozen cases, out of 7000 valid names and trillions of unrecognized strings. Unless the problem is more common than it currently appears, I'm not going to treat it as a high priority.

Laura suggested googling for similar cases, and I found one. I wrote to facebook:

Did some further research. Found one report of a similar problem, and it turns out the forbidden search term list also includes "buttplugs". Nonetheless, you still can search for "butthole surfers". Also "steely dan" still works.

Suggested fix was to uninstall "SEO" -- presumably search engine optimization. Don't know whether we have any of that.

Music Week/No Jazz Prospecting

Music: Current count 22482 [22445] rated (+37), 574 [565] unrated (+9).

No Jazz Prospecting this week. Only have two reviews in the scratch file -- at least of records that are out in 2013. Dropped 100 reviews in Saturday's Rhapsody Streamnotes, and since then I've been thinking more about Recycled Goods, which is customarily due about now and at the moment doesn't amount to much. Also, the Jazz Critics Poll, with my ballot due tomorrow. I came up with the idea of substituting that ballot for today's Jazz Prospecting, but didn't get that done either. Hopefully, I'll get my year-end (in jazz, anyway) review posted late tomorrow.

Meantime, note the latest batch of Clean Feeds in the unpacking. Given that they are 2013 releases, I'll move them up toward the head of the queue -- not that I expect any will bum rush my top ten. On the other hand, the average ellapsed time from when I send my ballot in until I find another A- record is about 2 days, and until I find something that cracks the top ten happens more years than not within 30 days. I've worried a lot about that in the past, but figure it's inevitable now, no matter how well prepared I am.

A demain.

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Kaja Draksler: The Lives of Many Others (Clean Feed)
• Ayman Fanous/Jason Kao Hwang: Zilzal (Innova)
• John Hébert Trio: Floodstage (Clean Feed)
• Anna Kaluza/Artur Majewski/Rafal Mazur/Kuba Suchar: Tone Hunting (Clean Feed)
• Peter Kerlin Octet: Salamander (Innova)
• Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips: Moment to Moment (self-released): January 21
• Pascal Niggenkemper Vision7: Lucky Prime (Clean Feed)
• Angelica Sanchez/Wadada Leo Smith: Twine Forest (Clean Feed)
• Elliot Sharp Aggregat: Quintet (Clean Feed)
• Cory Wright Outfit: Apples + Oranges (Singlespeed Music): December 3

Trust

No Weekend Update this week. I want to focus instead on a single article, which appeared on the front page of the Wichita Eagle this morning: Connie Cass: In God we trust, maybe, but not each other. The article cites polls that show that Americans are less inclined to trust one another than they were in the past:

These days, only one-third of Americans say most people can be trusted. Half felt that way in 1972, when the General Social Survey first asked the question.

Forty years later, a record high of nearly two-thirds say "you can't be too careful" in dealing with people.

An AP-GfK poll conducted last month found that Americans are suspicious of each other in everyday encounters. Less than one-third expressed a lot of trust in clerks who swipe their credit cards, drivers on the road, or people they meet when traveling.

"I'm leery of everybody," said Bart Murawski, 27, of Albany, N.Y. "Caution is always a factor."

One cannot overstate the importance of trust. It quickly becomes impossible to do anything to do anything in a crowded society without assuming that others will act and react in sensible ways according to commonly understood rules. Those essential rules are moral, and many are codified in law, and enforced more or less coercively by agents assigned that task. One trusts, for instance, that one can go outside, for a walk or for a drive, without the constant risk that there are people out to harm you. One trusts that one can exchange work for money that will in turn can be exchanged for goods, that in turn will be much as one expects -- e.g., food that will nourish and not sicken.

We may be aware of exceptional cases where trust is not warranted, and to some extent we compensate for this by being alert to warning signs. For instance, we are advised to "drive defensively" -- to look out for cars behaving erratically, to consider the possibility that the car in front of you might suddenly stop, or that someone approaching an intersection might fail to yield, but even so you probably trust that other drivers are not suicidal. It's really hard to live in a world under constant threat of malevolence.

So when we read that Americans are losing their ability to trust in one another, what does this mean? It doesn't mean that we've hit rock bottom yet, although trust is so important that even small reductions in it can cause a lot of discomfort, and that can in turn cost us a lot of time and effort. The more dangerous you regard your neighbors, the more guarded your interactions with them, the more defensive they become. The more you rely on the force of law to limit behavior as opposed to expecting that people will act according to common morality, the more difficult it is to ensure moral behavior. Once some number of people move from doing what's right to simply avoiding getting caught, your ability to trust in the law starts to slip. And the situation deteriorates rapidly if law enforcers themselves become corrupt.

Cass' article attributes the lost of trust to various things, like "bowling alone" where individuals give up many of their social networks for solitary pursuits, like watching television. But Cass misses the most obvious problem, which is that we have an economic system that is increasingly based on predatory business practices. We have a lot of experience with the basic capitalist idea, which is one of everyone pursuing their own self-interest, seeking solely to maximize their own gains. And as such we've seen many of the ways such pursuits can cause great harm: the various waves of "progressive" political movements strived to limit the potential for businesses to abuse their powers, in large part attempting to ensure that they produce and sell goods and services according to standards that we can trust. Older still than progressivism were basic moral constraints against abuses such as usury.

But since WWII, and especially since the late 1970s, businesses have made considerable inroads undermining the moral character and social fabric of the nation. This started in the cold war exaltation of capital, with its immediate goal of fragmenting and disempowering labor. By the 1980s the right was destroying the nation's binding sense of equality and was trumpeting a new ethos of greed. Nowhere was this clearer than in the business schools, which trained the nation's future CEOs to grab every possible source of profits: if "greed is good," rent-seeking must be glorious.

The final coup here is the destruction of the idea of commonwealth, indeed of any common interest. Business propagandists used to like the idea, expressed as irony by Adam Smith, that the pursuit of self-interest could result in greater wealth for all. They scarcely bother any more, because they've convinced us that there is no society, no social values, just aggregates of individuals. And indeed, they seem to believe that assertions of common interests -- even things like clean water or air, or a stable climate -- are nothing but encumbrances on individuals. And that individuals should be as "economically free" as possible, even when all that means is free to deceive and defraud everyone else.

This lost measure of trust is a consequence of denying the value of social relationships. After all, to a large extent the economic liberation of individuals has taken place at the expense of society as a whole. You can argue whether this has happened because technology -- suburbs as much as television -- has split individuals apart, or vice versa. But the costs do mount up, and you see them in myriad ways: the explosive growth of prison population, increasing litigiousness, the influx of money into politics seeking special favors, and so forth.

And as the article points out, once you lose trust it's all that much harder to win back.

Curiously, the other big front page article today was titled "Shelter operator's tough question: Can charity hurt?" That's a serious question that I don't have time to go into, but it's also been a harping point on the political right going back to Daniel Moynahan and Martin Feldstein -- to pick on two big names who built their careers arguing against safety nets on the grounds that they are a crutch that corrupts. The fact is that they usually exist only to provide such immediately necessary relief that withdrawing them would be far worse. But sure, charity can hurt -- mostly through the patronizing and demeaning attitudes of the people administering the programs.

Rhapsody Streamnotes (November 2013)

Pick up text here.

Daily Log

Greg Morton posted his Julieta Venegas review that I had omitted from the Turkey Shoot.

Julieta Venegas: Los Momentos (Sony Music Latin)
Music in languages I don't understand presents a barrier only if the music qua music is boring or if the performances are weak. Otherwise, it's an enlightening window into a different way of life and frequently an exciting testament to our common humanity by using a universal language, cf., Mahlathini and the Queens, Orchestra Baobab, and to the point, Julieta Venegas. Affirming as Mexican though born in Long Beach, CA in 1970, singing only in Spanish on now six studio albums, one live one, and one Greatest Hits, she became a national success with the string of Bueninvento, Si', Limon y Sal, MTV Unplugged and Otra Cosa that covered the last decade. While Bueninvento feels transitional, a teenager trying to fill out an adult's wardrobe, and the MTV album peaks high but levels off, the two strongest, Si' and Limon y Sal are chock full of pop enjoyment -- harmonies, hooks, humor, love, dancing, even the occasional social commentary. Fun, fun, fun with smarts and a heart, you might say. Like Smokey Robinson on a good day. Otra Cosa was the insular version; as if recorded in a hermetically enclosed studio with no air movement. Los Momentos triples down on that tendency. Thin vocals that used to be exuberant, tame or even nonexistent instrumental interplay, mild tempos, dim/mechanical production, an overall sonic deadening. Quoted as "inspired by the situation in Mexico and the difficult times the country is experiencing"; in this case, I guess you do have to speak the national language because the universal one has lost its charm. B MINUS

Black Friday Special: 2013

Pick up text here.

Turkey Shoot: 2013

Pick up text here.

Music Week/Jazz Prospecting

Music: Current count 22445 [22396] rated (+49), 565 [559] unrated (+6).

Rated count continues high because I'm focusing more on Rhapsody than on the physical jazz records covered here. November's Streamnotes column is up to 72 entries at the moment, and will have more by the end of the month when it finally runs. On the other hand, the jazz queue has been shrinking. The 18 records in this week's unpacking would have been an average week in years past but this is the first week with that many since October 7, and the overwhelming majority of this week's catch are 2014 releases.

I'm thinking about abandoning my practice of holding reviews until release weeks. Not much difference this week, nor likely to be in the near future, except that I do think it makes sense to hold back on 2014 releases until all the 2013 list-making madness ends. I have made one format change this week. It's nice to have a picture or two at the top of the post, but until now those have been reserved for A- (or better) albums. I usually reformat and cache those cover scans, but for last year's Turkey Shoot albums, and more recently for Tatum's trash albums, I've started linking album covers at cdconnection.com with my preferred size constraints. So it occured to me that I could use the same trick to grab a high B+ record when I have nothing A-. The source only has about half of the jazz albums I look for, and they don't show new records until release date so that presents a Monday/Tuesday problem. But at least I found my first choice today.

Big music review week coming up: Turkey Shoot on Thursday, November 28, followed by Black Friday Special on Friday and my wrap-up Rhapsody Streamnotes column on Saturday. One reason the latter looms to large is that I've benefited from the research of the dozen critics taking part. Another is that as the year closes I've been tightening up the metacritic file. Maybe the week after we can do some handicapping on year-end lists. I haven't seen any such lists yet this year, but they should start coming in fast and furious. (UK mags, in particular, seem to like to run them in December.) And Francis Davis is already bugging me for my Jazz Critics Poll ballot (deadline December 8), so the season will soon be upon us.

Dewa Budjana: Joged Kanyangan (2013, Moonjune): Guitarist, b. 1963 in Indonesia, has been in the band Gigi since 1994; sixth solo album since 1997, although only two are listed at AMG. Fusion-oriented band -- Larry Goldings (organ, piano), Bob Mintzer (saxes, clarinets), Jimmy Johnson (bass guitar), Peter Erskine (drums) -- although the rhythm picks up something I take to be Indonesian. Janis Siegel sings one song, breaking the flow and adding nothing. B-

George Colligan: The Endless Mysteries (2012 [2013], Origin): Pianist, has put together an impressive discography since 1996. Front cover also names, in slightly smaller type, Larry Grenadier and Jack DeJohnette -- a rhythm section you'd want to brag about too. B+(**)

Foreign Motion: In Flight (2013, self-released): Sort of a fusion band, with Cory Wong (guitar), Kevin Gastonguay (keyboards), Yohannes Tona (bass), and Petar Janjic (drums) -- based in Minnesota, I think, although Yona was born in Ethiopia and Janjic in Serbia (the others were born in the US). Wong has a previous album and seems to be the leader but all four contribute songs, and the grooves offer some pleasant surprises. B+(**)

Brian Gephart: Standing on Two Feet (2012 [2013], Origin): Tenor saxophonist, based in Chicago, has a handful of records with Bob Long as Gephart Long Quartet going back to 1992, and at least one Brian Gephart Quartet album. Sextet here, with trombone, guitar, piano, bass, and drums. Upbeat, hard boppish stuff, nothing grabbed me but it's certainly listenable. B

Aaron Germain: Chance (2013, Origin): Bassist, electric and acoustic, leaning electric on his second album, with Nguyen Le on guitar, Frank Martin (piano and, mostly, keyboards), and drums, plus one-track guests on flute and dan t'rung. B-

Harold López-Nussa: New Day (2013, Jazz Village): Pianist, from Cuba, still lives in Havana, has at least three previous albums. Mostly trio, favoring intense rhythm as opposed to the usual Afro-Cuban start-stop time shifts. Some cuts add Mayquel González on trumpet, dropping the piano back to a comping role. B+(***)

Sue Maskaleris: Bring Nothing but Your Heart (2013, Jazilian): Singer-songwriter, has at least one previous album; wrote everything here but "Lush Life," with a couple songs in Portuguese. Also plays piano/keyboards, violin, guitar, bass, and percussion, and gets help from a long list of musicians. B

Mumpbeak: Mumpbeak (2013, Rare Noise): Hype sheet says "takes prog-rock to a new place," but bass-heavy groove music with free frissons has been around a long time, not least in producer Bill Laswell's archives. Group includes Roy Powell (Hohner clavinet, FX pedals), Pat Mastelotto (acoustic and electronic drums, percussion), and various electric bassists -- Laswell and Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz double up on most cuts, adding Tony Levin on one, replacing them with Lorenzo Feliciati on another. B+(*) [November 28]

Quartet San Francisco: Pacific Premieres: New Works by California Composers (2013, Violin Jazz): Conventional string quartet: Jeremy Cohen (violin), Matthew Szemele (violin), Chad Kaitinger (viola), Kelley Maulbetsch (cello). Group has at least six previous records since 2002 -- two playing works by Dave Brubeck. The California composers here are Gordon Goodwin, Vince Mendoza, Patrick Williams, and Cohen himself -- the first two are well-known big band composer-arrangers. B+(*)

John Stowell & Dave Liebman: Blue Rose (2012 [2013], Origin): Duets. Stowell plays guitar, has about two dozen albums since 1977, should be better known than he is -- AMG, for instance, doesn't have a biography page on him, although they list twice as many albums as his Wikipedia page. Liebman plays soprano and tenor sax, a little piano and a bit of wooden flute. They've recorded together before, but Liebman's recorded with damn near everyone (I'm not up to counting, but it's conceivable he has more album credits than any other active saxophonist, although he's spotted Braxton and Brötzmann a decade and they're contenders). This can be a bit skimpy, but Liebman's as engabed and enjoyable here as he's been in years, probably because the guitarist is always in the right place. B+(**)

Craig Yaremko Organ Trio: CYO3 (2013, Origin): Saxophonist -- credits here are soprano, alto, tenor, flute, alto flute -- third album, with Matt King on organ, Jonathon Peretz on drums, and adding Vic Juris' guitar on two tracks. Starts off marvelously with "Jitterbug Waltz," and is generally most fun when they give you something familiar, like "Bye-Ya" or "Isfahan"; less fun when the leader shows off his flutes. B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Jane Ira Bloom: Sixteen Sunsets (Outline): January 7
• Barry Danielian: Metaphorically Speaking (Tariqah): December 10
• Annette Genovese: Dream With Me (self-released): November 26
• Brad Hoyt: Far Away From Everyday (Harp Guitar Music): December 3
• Mike Longo and the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble: Live From New York (CAP): December 10
• Earl McIntyre: Brass Carnival & Tribute (self-released): December 10
• The Ocular Concern: Sister Cities (PJCE): January 15
• Dave Rempis/Joshua Abrams/Avreeayl Ra: Aphelion (Aerophonic): January 21
• The Rempis/Daisy Duo: Second Spring (Aerophonic): January 21
• Pete Robbins: Pyramid (Hate Laugh Music): January 28
• Brandon Ross/Stomu Takeishi: For Living Lovers: Revealing Essence (Sunnyside): January 21
• Anton Schwartz: Flash Mob (Anton Jazz): January 14
• Sarah Silverman: Sarah (self-released): November 26
• Edward Simon: Venezuelan Suite (Sunnyside): January 21
• E. Doctor Smith: Quantum (Edgetone)
• Soar Trio: Emergency Management Heist (Edgetone)
• Steve Treseler Group: Center Song (Creative Music Adventures): February 5
• Volcán (5Pasion): December 17

Miscellaneous notes:

• Ryan Maffei: Country Town (2013, Jamrag): B+(***) [download]
• The Pozniaks: Pozniak Street (2013, Jamrag): A- [download]

Weekend Roundup

The big news this week is the deal Iran signed with the world's "5+1" superpowers -- you know, the ones who actually have nuclear weapons programs capable of destroying most life on earth, or in the case of Germany, one that has mastered all of the so-called "peaceful" technologies of nuclear power that Iran says it aspires to without wasting extra effort into packaging that power in bomb form. (Curious that Japan didn't make the cut, especially as they have some painful experience with the blessings of nuclear power -- what Iran so much wants to experience itself.) If one goes by history, an Iranian bomb might actually stabilize the Middle East inasmuch as it would deter Israel and Saudi Arabia from starting another war with Iran, but Iranian nuclear power plants could turn into a real environmental hazard. Still, the agreement is good news, especially in that it represents a step away from war.

War in Context has a good series of links on the agreement:

• Iran, six world powers clinch breakthrough nuclear deal: cites Michael R Gordon at New York Times.
• How Iran and world powers finally got to yes on a nuclear deal: cites Barbara Slavin.
• New US sanctions would spell 'end of deal' to limit nuclear program: which is, of course, why Israel stooges like Chuck Shumer and Bob Corker are working to pass them.
• With Iran deal sealed, don't expect Israel to send out the air force: cites Amos Harel at Haaretz; also notes that Israel's stock market responded favorably to the deal (unlike Israel's Prime Minister).
• Geneva deal seals Netanyahu's legacy: An ineffectual leader: cites Amir Oren at Haaretz. ("This morning, in Switzerland, Netanyahu had his toy gun taken away. In Basel, Herzl founded the state of the Jews, and in Geneva, Obama ended Netanyahu's era.") Actually, the deal wouldn't have been made except for Netanyahu, because without his relentless propagandizing for war no one would have seen the issue as needing such a solution. And if, as I suspect, Netanyahu's real purpose was merely to avoid talking about the Palestinians, he's managed that rather successfully, if not very elegantly.
• A path towards peace with Iran -- Netanyahu's worst nightmare: with another link to Haaretz you can't read. Paul Woodward adds: "Netanyahu's goal has never been for the nuclear issue to be resolved. It's political value resides wholly in this remaining an unresolved issue and in Israel's ability to cast Iran as a perpetual threat. For Netanyahu, any deal is a bad deal because absent an Iranian threat, Israel will find itself under increasing pressure to address the Palestinian issue."
• A nuclear deal to which no one can reasonably object: cites Fred Kaplan in Slate: "It's everything Obama hoped to achieve in Geneva."
• Secret US-Iran talks set stage for nuke deal: cites AP and Haaretz.
• After rapid release of hot air, Israeli leaders may soon run out of cliches: cites Jodi Rudoren at New York Times, and Jeffrey Goldberg. Rudoren quotes Efraim Inbar: "At a time when appeasing Iran seems to be in vogue, an Israeli strike could invigorate elements in the international arena who are unwilling to accept an Iran with a nuclear breakout capability. In addition, many people around the world would be reminded that muscular reactions to evil regimes are often truly necessary." Not a lot of self-awareness in that invitation.

Some scattered links this week:

• Tom Engelhardt: Boo!: On our national psyche:

  On August 1, 1966, a former Marine sniper took to the 28th floor of a tower on the campus of the University of Texas with an M-1 carbine and an automatic shotgun, killing 17, while wounding 32. It was an act that staggered the American imagination, shook the media, led to a commission being formed, and put those SWAT teams in our future. But no one then could have guessed how, from Columbine high school (13 dead, 24 wounded) and Virginia Tech university (32 dead, 17 wounded) to Sandy Hook Elementary School (26 dead, 20 of them children), the unhinged of our heavily armed nation would make slaughters, as well as random killings even by children, all-too-common in schools, workplaces, movie theaters, supermarket parking lots, airports, houses of worship, navy yards, and so on.

  And don't even get me started on imprisonment, a category in which we qualify as the world's leader with 2.2 million people behind bars, a 500% increase over the last three decades, or the rise of the punitive spirit in this country. That would include the handcuffing of remarkably young children at their schools for minor infractions and a fierce government war on whistleblowers -- those, that is, who want to tell us something about what's going on inside the increasingly secret state that runs our American world and that, in 2011, considered 92 million of the documents it generated so potentially dangerous to outside eyes that it classified them.

• Steve M: Sam Tanenhaus Doesn't Print the Legend, but Why Is That the Legend? Cites Peggy Noonan claiming, "We all talk about JFK's death because for the 18 years leading up to that point -- between the end of the war, as we used to say, and 1963 -- America knew placidity": Kennedy's assassination brought that to an end, revealing a bitterly (and violently) divided nation. Tanenhaus has a variation on that theme. M. writes:

  I was four years old when JFK was shot, so this isn't my nostalgia; I have trouble looking back and understanding how people saw the era as placid.

  The fissures that became obvious in the post-assassination era were evident in the very first presidential election after World War II, when Henry Wallace ran to the left and Strom Thurmond ran to the racist right. Beyond that, I could run through the whole "We Didn't Start the Fire" litany: McCarthyism, China going communist, Cuba going communist, integration of the military and baseball and Little Rock and Ole Miss (and the backlashes), the Montgomery bus boycott, the Freedom Rides, the fear of "juvenile delinquents" and comic books and rock and roll, the Pill, Bircherism. . . . I wasn't there, but did Joe and Jane America really feel that the era was placid?

  Maybe compared with the Depression and the war it was. Maybe a fairly broad-based prosperity made it all go down easy -- maybe that's all it takes.

  Let me add a couple points here: First, before the civil rights movement challenged Jim Crow and exposed the violence that it had always been based on -- a violence which if anything was much more ominous when it didn't have to appear. The civil rights movement didn't divide America and didn't lead to more violence. Pre-civil rights Jim Crow was already as divided and as violent as it could get.

  Second, isn't the word "placidity" a bit quaint? What Noonan means was that most people accepted their place in the social and class hierarchy, and that they seemed to conform to a set of common beliefs about what it meant to be an American. This was at least partly because coming out of the New Deal and the reinforced unity of the World War those beliefs were overwhelmingly liberal. And it had at least something to do with the sense that class differences would melt into a common middle class -- the result of the leveling measures of the New Deal (more union membership, higher taxes on the rich) and the postwar boom. But that consensus was also based on hypocrisy -- on ignoring the exceptions which became obvious as young people in the 1960s discovered poverty and prejudice, and how cold war ideology advanced the right-wing against workers here and around the world. Only conservative shmoozes like Noonan look back on those naďve years as a golden age of placidity.

  Steven M. has another quoteworthy paragraph in Republican Obstructionism: But Aren't Republicans the Real Victims?:

  Actually, that's not true. Republicans are not "eager to show they have not been stripped of all power." Republicans are never "eager to show they have not been stripped of all power." Republicans are almost always eager to convey the impression that they have no power, that power is something they've been viciously cheated out of, but that they are nonetheless plucky, determined underdogs who have God and the Constitution on their side, which helps them fight for freedom despite the tyranny of the Liberal Monolith. Even when Ronald Reagan could bend Democratic Blue Dogs to his will, or George W. Bush and a Republican Congress ran the country with impunity, the message was that they were under the bootheel of Sam Donaldson or Dan Rather, or persecuted by left-wing college professors, or by Michael Moore and the Dixie Chicks, who had all the real power.

  After all, if you thought the Republicans had power, you might think the Republicans were responsible for the consequences of their actions -- which is kind of what happened in the 2006 and 2008 elections, before Iraq and Afghanistan and the Great Recession and dozens of other disasters suddenly became Obama's fault.

  Steven refines this further here: The GOP Is Not in the Business of Governing -- It's a Propaganda Operation That Also Runs Candidates for Government Offices.

Also, a few links for further study:

• John Cassidy: American Inequality in Six Charts.

• Mike Konczal: Do Negative Rates Call for a Permanent Expansion of the Government?: Starts with Larry Summers' recent remarks on "secular stagnation" (which, since that's not obvious, means stagnation indefinitely into the future -- see Paul Krugman), then argues that long-term expansionary public investment is one way (perhaps the only way) out of the liquidity trap. The only other way, I would submit, is massive wealth redistribution. I wonder whether the Tea Party would find that even more objectionable. (I'm sure their sponsors would.)

• Rick Perlstein: The Grand Old Tea Party: Argues that right-wing Republicans today aren't all that different from their forebears in the Gingrich, Reagan, Goldwater, or McCarthy eras. Also note the list of Perlstein links at the bottom:

  • Mass Shootings and Gun Control
  • Biding Time on Voting Rights
  • On Shutting Down Government
  • Goalpost Moving
  • Epistemology and Empathy

• Clay Shirky: Healthcare.gov and the Gulf Between Planning and Reality: Useful reminder of what software engineering is really like.

Daily Log

Afternoon was chewed up with new refrigerator install. The squeeze into the kitchen was tighter than the 1/4-inch the specs said we had, and the deliverers were ready to give up for a minute. Got a few smudges on both sides, but got it through. Loaded the new one up with contents from the old refrigerator. Main complaint now (aside from that it will take some time to get some fresh ice through) is that I'm not sure I like the shelf arrangements.

I had to take a piece of baseboard off and it split in two, so I'll have to repair that. Also took the edging off the refrigerator box. The box itself is slightly skewed -- turns out that the left wall I built it off of wasn't plumb. Need to see if there's some way I can jigger the trim to make it look less skewed.

Daily Log

Looking through old JP/RS columns for reviews reusable for JP/BFS. The following look like candidates:

Billy Martin's Wicked Knee: Heels Over Head (2012 [2013], Amulet) Drummer, best known as the middleman in Medeski, Martin & Wood; has released a large pile of specialist albums, but nothing like this before. Here he's lined up a small brass band -- Steven Bernstein (trumpet, slide trumpet), Curtis Fowlkes (trombone), Marcus Rojas (tuba) -- and gone back to New Orleans, at least for King Oliver's "Sugarfoot Stomp" although they jump off with a Frank London piece called "Chumba Zumba," and never settle into anything obvious or derivative. Bernstein does most of the arranging, and Rojas takes most of the leads. And lest you think that I think every vocal incursion is a waste, check out Shelley Hirsch's song about hobbling through an Occupy Wall Street march as one of the "99%." A

Barbara Morrison: A Sunday Kind of Love (2010-12 [2013], Savant) Singer, b. 1952 in Michigan, got her start opposite Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson in 1974, toiled a couple decades in the Johnny Otis Show, has a dozen records since 1995. I haven't heard any of them, but would be real surprised if any hold a candle to this one. The secret isn't a fine-but-who-are-they pianio trio -- Stuart Elster? Richard Simon? Lee Spath? -- so it must be Houston Person, who is more than just featured here. But it's the singer who hits one softball after another out of the park: "I'm Just a Lucky So and So," "The Green Door," "A Sunday Kind of Love," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Let's Stay Together" -- only "I Cover the Waterfront" is out of her zone. Exquisite: the medley of "Smile/Make Someone Happy." I dare anyone not to. A

Lucian Ban: Elevation/Mystery (2010 [2013], Sunnyside) Pianist, b. 1969 in Romania, based in New York. Seventh or so album since 2002, most with baritone saxophonist Alex Harding, and second one this year, following Transylvanian Concert with Mat Maneri on ECM. That stretched out his folkloric/classical side, but this one -- a quartet with Abraham Burton (tenor sax), John Hébert (bass), and Eric McPherson (drums) -- recorded live at Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC sets him in an avant context, especially when the saxophonist works up a full head of steam. Nor is a quiet spot with just the bassist any less interesting. By the way, the "Mystery" part of the title is obscured -- how clever some graphic designers are! I missed it on unpacking, and most likely others will too. A-

As I was looking at RS, I noticed this list of 2012 releases that I complained about being unable to find on Rhapsody:

• Khaira Arby: Tchini Tchini (Clermont Music)
• Cooly G: Playin' Me (Hyperdub)
• Brian Eno: Lux (Warp)
• Four Tet: Pink (Text)
• Mats Gustafsson/Thurston Moore: Play Some Fucking Stooges (Quasi Pop/Dumpster Diving Lab)
• The Human Hearts: Another (Shrimper)
• Darius Jones Quartet: Book of Mae'bul (Another Kind of Surprise) (AUM Fidelity)
• Peter Karp/Sue Foley: Beyond the Crossroads (Blind Pig)
• LV: Sebenza (Hyperdub)
• Getatchew Merkuria & the Ex & Friends: Y'Anbessaw Tezeta (Terp)
• Joe Morris/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver: Altitude (AUM Fidelity)
• William Parker Orchestra: Essence of Ellington (AUM Fidelity)
• Royal Band de Thiés: Kadior Demb (Teranga Beat)
• Shackleton: Music for the Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ EPs (Woe to the Septic Heart)
• Andy Stott: Luxury Problems (Modern Love)
• Trio M: The Guest House (Enja/Yellow Bird)
• Voices From the Lake: Voices From the Lake (Prologue)
• David S Ware/Planetary Unknown: Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011 (AUM Fidelity)
• Wreckless Eric/Amy Rigby: A Working Museum (Southern Domestic)

Albums I now see on Rhapsody:

• Don't Talk to the Cops: Let's Quit (Greedhead)
• Mary Halvorson Quintet: Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12)
• Rihanna: Unapologetic (Def Jam)

Albums I managed to hear in 2013:

• Actress: RIP (Honest Jon's) [***] **
• Allo Darlin': Europe (Slumberland) [A-] **
• M. Geddes Gengras/Sun Araw/The Congos: FRKWYS, Vol. 9: Icon Give Thank/Icon Eye (RVNG Intl.) [*] **
• Moreno and L'Orch First Moja-One: Sister Pili+2 (Sterns) [A-] **
• Public Enemy: The Evil Empire of Everything (Enemy) [A-]
• Public Enemy: Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp (Enemy) [A-]
• Taylor Swift: Red (Big Machine) [***] **

Daily Log

Had to go out for yogurt today. Weather has been sub-freezing all day, threatening to snow or break into some kind of ice storm, but wound up just being gray and gloomy all day. Laura needed the newer car, so I tried the '93 Nissan, but it wouldn't turn over. Need to recharge the battery, but didn't feel like bothering with it today.

Jessica Linker nagged me about the new Thing album today, so I wrote the following back:

I don't recall whether I downloaded this or not. I find it maddening to try to keep track of what I have downloaded and whether I've listened to it, and find my marginal interest is approaching the music's marginal value (i.e., zero). ECM and Cuneiform have recently switched me over to download-only status, and it's proving difficult to deal with them. Since that looks like the wave of the future, the future looks like it will be one without me writing about jazz.

I did, however, find Boot! on Rhapsody, and wrote up a little thing on it for my November Streamnotes column -- I'll run it on Nov. 30, holding it back until after the Turkey Shoot/Black Friday Special Thanksgiving posts (lest someone think I'm trading on inside info, not that it applies here).

Not bad but less interesting than the average Thing record, I'd say, maybe because Flaten isn't as good on electric bass as on acoustic, and because roughhousing Coltrane doesn't have the novelty value of covering the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. You probably know this, but a year or so ago I noticed that Flaten had collected virtually every record he had played on and made them availale through his bandcamp site, so I wrote about everything I hadn't heard previously. Since then, the new Atomic came out but he only put two cuts up -- so that's their first release I haven't written anything about. Wrote a lot about jazz on the Polish label Not Two recently, but couldn't find any of Gustafsson's Swedish Azz releases, so that's another gap in my coverage.

Daily Log

Got up late. Took Laura to acupuncture -- first time in months. Went to Bagatelle for lunch but the cupboard was bare, so went to N&J's. Went to Lowe's after that, and ordered a new refrigerator: a Samsung 28.5-cu ft 3 French Door unit with dual icemaker (Model RFG298HDRS). We were wanting to get the larger Samsung, 31.5 cu ft, but couldn't figure out a way to maneuver it into the kitchen: it's at least an inch deeper, and we only have about 1/4 inch clearance on the smaller model. Delivery is Sunday afternoon.

A Downloader's Diary (34): November 2013

Insert text from here.

This is the 34th installment, (almost) monthly since August 2010, totalling 830 albums. All columns are indexed and archived here. You can follow A Downloader's Diary on Facebook, and on Twitter. Comments are open (subject to moderation).

Daily Log

Fixed Sofrito for dinner, using Ottolenghi's Jerusalem recipe. Chicken came out nice and moist, although as roast chicken goes I prefer a little crispness around the edges. As it was, it was slightly browned to start, then seasoned and steamed. The potatoes, down in the fat and moisture, came out pretty well blackened, very tasty but a bit hard to scrape off the bottom of the pan.

Updated some metacritic scores and I see an album by Ryan Hemsworth called Guilt Trips, released 10-22 on Last Gang. Surprised to find the album in my file only titled Quilt Tripe. More likely my bad eyes than deterioration of my typing skills.

Music Week/Jazz Prospecting

Music: Current count 22396 [22346] rated (+53), 559 [563] unrated (-4).

Ratings glut is partly slop over from last Recycled Goods -- I ended the previous week early because the rated count was already ridiculous -- and partly looking at new releases for Rhapsody Streamnotes. Jazz Prospecting continues to lag, although both the review count and the incoming mail are up a bit from last week. Very little in the queue by familiar names right now, and one might note that the best records this week came from the best known musicians -- I'll even add that Jon Hamar and Doug Webb, down in the mid-B+ range, are names I know and look forward to.

I go back a long ways with Roswell Rudd, to two records of his I picked up in the mid-1970s: Numatik Swing Band, recorded for JCOA and impossible to find nowadays, and Flexible Flyer originally on Freedom, picked up by Arista, and wound up in the Black Lion catalog which has been kicked around several times but is easy enough to find online these days. Those two albums introduced me to Sheila Jordan, my favorite female vocalist ever since, but Rudd's combination of playing avant and retro made a huge impression. Trombone for Lovers may be his best record since then -- or maybe Regeneration in 1982 with Steve Lacy. I got my copy at least a month ago, played it immediately, and gave it a lot of time since then. It took a while to sink in -- I was thrown at first by the Bob Dorough vocal, and then by the extended Joe Hill opus, but worked through them. In theory, if I spent comparable time with other records they might grow on me in the same way, but Rudd is really a unique character.

That reminds me that I still haven't cracked open Call It Art, a fancy wood box with five vinyl LPs in it collecting a previously unavailable sessions by the New York Art Quartet. I complain about all the things I haven't gotten, yet I've been sitting on this (and several other vinyl-only releases) for months (and in other cases for years). (Also recall that Rudd's partner in that venture, the late John Tchicai, led another vinyl-only outing this year, Tribal Ghost, which I graded A- on the basis of a CD-R.)

Seems like I was offered a download of the New York Art Quartet box, but lost track of that. I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out how to handle downloads: in particular, I have at least half a dozen items on my computer that I can't figure out how to play more than a single track of -- some programs don't with with .wav files, most can't handle .zip archives (which in the Windows file manager look like they've been exploded even when they haven't). I sent out a letter to a couple dozen friends and associates last week begging them for info on how they cope with this mess. Got a few answers back, but nothing especially helpful. I would also like to move as much music as possible onto Linux if I can get that to work, but haven't had much luck there either. If you have any advice, please mail me.

A Downloader's Diary will run tomorrow. Turkey Shoot looks to be in good shape, although I'm a little disappointed we didn't get more proposals for the Black Friday Special -- not that we won't have some surprises there. I'll run November's Rhapsody Streamnotes after the Thanksgiving specials -- I think there's one more day left in the month. I have close to 35 records in the draft file already, and expect to have quite a few more -- especially if I can figure out how to play those damn downloads.

Tarun Balani Collective: Sacred World (2012 [2013], self-released): Drummer, from India, based in New Delhi; first album, all original pieces by Balani, backed with piano, guitar, bass, and sarangi (a bowed string instrument said to resemble a human voice, although its player, Suhail Yusuf Khan, is also credited with vocals). B+(*)

Laurent Coq: Dialogue (2012 [2013], Sunnyside): French pianist, eighth album since 1998, also shared the headline on Miguel Zenón's recent Rayuela. The dialogues are pretty straightforward here, mostly with Ralph Lavital on guitar, and on 5 (of 11) tracks Nicolas Pelage sings. B+(*)

Phill Fest: Projeto B.F.C. (2013, self-released): Guitarist, b. in Minneapolis, based in Florida; father was Brazilian keyboardist Manfredo Fest (1936-99), who recorded a number of albums for Concord back in their heyday. Second album, previous one called Smooth Edges. Front cover makes a point of "Introducing Robert Prester" -- keyboard player, I gather (credits are hard to find as most of the type is illegible, but I did notice a pic of harmonica player Hendrik Meurkens. B+(*)

Ricardo Grilli: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (2012 [2013], Dark House): Guitarist, b. in Săo Paulo, Brazil; studied at Berklee, now at NYU. First album, with sax (Gustavo D'Amico), piano (Christian Li), bass (Jared Henderson), drums (Lee Fish). B+(**)

Jon Hamar: Idyl Wild (2012 [2013], Origin): Bassist, based in Seattle, fourth album since 2005, quartet with two saxes (Rich Perry on tenor and Todd DelGiudice, who wrote two pieces, on alto) and drums. The saxophonists are aggressive enough to generate an interesting postbop clash. B+(**)

Clarence Johnson III: Watch Him Work (2013, Like Father Like Son Music): Tenor saxophonist (soprano too), fourth album, not smooth enough for smooth jazz, more like a throwback to the honking r&b saxophonists of the 1950s but with all the modern keyboard "sound design" doesn't quite reach there either. Fun, at least, until he lays it on too thick -- definitely in the closer. B

Ray Marchica: A Different View (2013, Sons of Sound): Drummer, second album, a group effort with Tim Ries (tenor/soprano sax), Ted Kooshian (piano), and Rodney Jones (guitar) contributing ten songs to the leader's one. Group adds a second sax (Morris Goldberg), bass, and percussion. Mainstream leaning a bit toward swing, jaunty even. B+(*) [November 19]

Roswell Rudd: Trombone for Lovers (2013, Sunnyside): With the "Joe Hill" suite at the end, this could have been called Trombone for the Masses: I don't mind the rapper there but the NYC Labor Choir takes some getting used to even though I feel like saluting the political point. Everything else is just superb: the opening "Ghost Riders in the Sky" with Steven Bernstein's slide trumpet, Bob Dorough on "Here, There & Everywhere," Fay Victor on "Trouble in Mind," Michael Doucet's violin on "Autumn Leaves" and "Tennessee Waltz," familiar songs that seem perfect when they pop up: "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "Struttin' With Some Barbecue," "Green Onions," "Unchained Melody," "September Song." As for "Joe Hill," well, organize. A [November 19]

Tim Warfield: Inspire Me! (2013, HHM): Mainstream tenor saxophonist, has mostly recorded for Criss Cross -- I thought his early records there were terrific (e.g., A Cool Blue and Gentle Warrior) -- but the label tends to underwhelm, and Warfield's releases have tailed off over the years. (Some Criss Cross artists also show up on labels like Sharp Nine and Posi-Tone that consistently get sharper, more vibrant sound.) Warfield returns here with a warm and comforting sound, with Antoine Drye's trumpet on five cuts, Kevin Hays on piano, plus bass and drums. Herb Harris produced, and sings two pieces -- offhand and odd at first, now just part of the flow. B+(***)

Doug Webb: Another Scene (2013, Posi-Tone): Tenor saxophonist, based in Los Angeles, did a lot of studio work early on and only recently established himself as a lead artist. Quartet, with Peter Zak (piano), Dwayne Burno (bass), and Rudy Royston (drums). I figured him to be a mainstream guy but this is mostly fast stuff, postbop with the emphasis on the bop. B+(**)

Randy Weston/Billy Harper: The Roots of the Blues (2013, Sunnyside): Piano and tenor sax duets, with each taking one solo turn. Pianist is 85, one of the few still working who started in the 1950s. Mostly his songs (10-to-1 over Harper -- the covers touchstones like "Body and Soul," "How High the Moon," "Take the A Train"), and most with allusions to Africa, at least in the title -- no American pianist has searched deeper or longer into the mother continent, going back as far as Weston's 1955 album African Sunrise. Harper is pushing 70 himself, still possessing that rich, gospel-infused tone. B+(***) [November 19]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• George Colligan: The Endless Mysteries (Origin): November 19
• Brian Gephart: Standing on Two Feet (Origin): November 19
• Archie Shepp: Attica Blues Orchestra Live: I Hear the Sound (Archieball): January 14
• Suzanna Smith: Halfway Between Heaven and Love (Ink Pen): Novemer 19
• John Stowell & Dave Liebman: Blue Rose (Origin): November 19
• Craig Yaremko Organ Trio: CYO3 (Origin): November 19

Weekend Roundup

Front page story in the Wichita Eagle today is titled "Obama struggles to save his health law." Anyone able to recall back more than a week -- a group that evidently excludes most of the political media -- knows that a month or so ago the Republicans in Congress forced a government shutdown to try to extort the president into surrendering his signature health care insurance reform. He didn't buckle then, so why should he "struggle" now. All he has to do is to sit tight while his minions fix some buggy software and let the crisis pass. As it is, he tripped himself up a bit on his "promise" that people who like their current insurance policies can keep them. In theory, the only insurance policies that are being canceled now are ones that don't meet the new law's minimum standard. He might have been better advised to simply point out that no one should be happy with an insurance policy that doesn't protect you from financial ruin, noting that a very large percentage of people who go bankrupt due to medical bills do so despite having active, but deficient, health insurance policies. His equivocations have in turn unnerved some Democrats, but he can stop any damaging changes to the law, and hardly needs to "struggle" with whether to do so.

The story, by the way, is here, and doesn't support the headline hysteria, nor for that matter the cheekiness of its longer web title ("Obama struggles to save his cherished health law").

Some scattered links this week:

• Dean Baker: No, Obama Didn't Lie to You About Your Health Care Plans: This goes through the various cases of insurance plans that are being cancelled -- in all cases because they are not up to ACA standards. This even includes some plans that had been grandfathered until the insurance companies jacked up the rates and/or deductibles beyond what the law allows. Also, note this:

  Finally, there will be many plans that insurers will stop offering in large part because of the changed market conditions created by the ACA. For example, last week the Washington Post highlighted a plan for the "hardest to insure" that was being cancelled by Pathmark Blue Cross of Pennsylvania.

  This plan is likely being cancelled because it is unable to compete with the insurance being offered through the exchanges. The exchanges charge everyone the same rate regardless of their pre-existing health conditions. A plan that is especially designed for people who have serious health conditions would almost certainly charge a far higher rate. If these high-priced plans no longer exist because they cannot compete with the exchanges would this mean that President Obama had broken his pledge?

  I'll also note that many individual "high risk" plans were developed without any chance of competition driving the prices down. A major effect of the exchanges is to allow comparative shopping, and as such to create a competitive market where none existed before.

• Steven M: No, Because We Don't Lie to Ourselves: Responds to a piece by "concern troll" Conor Friedersdorf titled Will the Left Turn on President Obama Like the Tea Party Did on President Bush. Makes several points, starting with the fact that the Tea Party activists were never that unhappy with Bush, especially nowhere near unhappy enough to defect to someone like Obama:

  Teabaggers feel no authentic "chagrin at the ways he [Bush] had transgressed against their values." The only "chagrin" they feel is at the fact that he was their dreamboat and everything they cheered him for doing failed, the result being humiliation for them and and a national rejection of their holy conservative Cause. They can't bear to hate themselves for this, or question the way they mooned over Bush's codpiece for eight years (or at least six, until Democrats won the '06 midterms), so they lie to themselves now and say they never liked all those deficits and expenditures they didn't give a goddamn about when Bush was riding high. They tell themselves that fiscal prudence has always been their core principle, when in fact their core principle is now what it has always been: liberalism and the Democratic Party must be destroyed so that we can rule forever. Wearing tricorn hats and putting the word "constitutional" into every sentence they utter is just their latest scheme to achieve that end.

• Ted Snider: Their Hardliners Are Right; Our Hardliners Are Wrong: On the Iran negotiations:

  That the American hardliners' ideology has infiltrated the Western P5+1 negotiating team is suggested by reports coming out right after this past weekend's disintegration of the promised preliminary agreement that, at least publicly, the diplomats from the other five countries were not angry with France for breaking ranks on the potential deal, but for breaking protocol and announcing the failure prior to the final press conference. It appears that the six countries may have been in agreement about questioning Iran's "right" to enrich and about questioning the heavy-water reactor at Arak. Though originally presented as France's breaking ranks with the other five countries, no one but Iran has publicly criticized France, and John Kerry has said "The French signed off on it, we signed off on it" and that "We're grateful to the French for the work we did together." [ . . . ]

  But while American hardliners are wrong about their claims, the Iranian hardliners are historically justified in their claims that the Americans will sabotage the talks and will never make a fair deal with Iran. While talks progress more positively than they have in a decade and a deal seems possible for the first time, American hardliners continue to press for sanctions on Iran and continue to raise the bar of what would constitute an acceptable deal.

  Gareth Porter has more on the Iran talks: Why Iran Nuclear Talks Failed and Why They Will Get Tougher.

• Stephem M Walt: Why Do We Keep Insisting That Use of Force Be 'On the Table'?

  The more I think about it, however, the dumber that expression sounds. Why? Because for the United States, the option of using military force is always on the table, especially when we're dealing with weak states like Iran. After all, since the end of the Cold War the United States has used force over and over: in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Bosnia, Serbia, and a host of other places too. We've fired cruise missiles, Hellfires, and other sophisticated chunks of ordnance at a wide variety of targets, and you could add Special Forces operations and computer viruses (e.g., Stuxnet) to the list.

  Of course, people do not use this admonition to keep force "on the table" in a serious or sophisticated fashion; it's just an easy way for politicians and pundits to show they're tough-minded and not averse to using the pointed end of the stick. In other words, it's a way to maintain your inside-the-Beltway street cred. But it's really a meaningless phrase, because countries like Iran (and others) are well aware that the option of using force is right there and could be used if U.S. leaders ever decided it would accomplish a genuine positive purpose.

  In fact, this constant insistence that force must be "on the table" also reveals a pervasive blindness about how the United States looks to others. People repeat this phrase because they seem to think that other countries see the United States as a feckless wimp that will never do anything to harm them and that our politicians need to rattle sabers and bluster just to get other countries' attention. News flash: That's not how the rest of the world sees Uncle Sam these days. In reality, everybody knows the United States is still very powerful -- the sequester notwithstanding -- and other countries are well aware of the frequency with which we've been blowing things up in different places for the past 20 years. Our politicians may be trying to remind U.S. voters that they are willing to use force, but the rest of the world hardly needs to be told at this point.

  This great fondness for threatening force, and the propensity to use it, strikes me as the institutionalization of Nixon's "madman strategy." Back when Nixon was president and trying to figure out some way to get the Russians to pressure Vietnam into capitulating to the US in negotiations, he tried scramgling SAC bombers and pointing them at Moscow in hopes of convincing the Russians that he was crazy enough to start World War III. It never really worked, mostly because the Russians didn't have that kind of control over their Vietnamese allies. (But it did lead to the Russians to great paranoia over Ronald Reagan, who unlike Nixon was certifiably loony even if he was less personally inclined to incinerate the world.)

  Washington is awash with clichés, and this is just one of them. The bigger question is why anyone still thinks that such acts of force actually work. After all, we have performed many experiments over the years, bombing places and finding that no desired outcome ensues. The bluster of Obama's planned punitive attacks on Syria for using chemical weapons are a case in point. Maybe you can argue that the threat of force was what caused Assad to surrender his weapons, but you can be sure that it wouldn't have happened had the US actually acted on its threats. Moreover, it is only through agreement and inspection that the US could ever be assured that Assad had indeed given up those arms. (Iraq, where the US refused to allow inspectors to do their work, is the obvious comparative.)

  Teddy Roosevelt's motto was "speak softly, but carry a big stick." But now that US presidents do little but speak, they feel the need to shout, then they get taunted to use the stick anyway lest their rants no longer be taken seriously. Nixon's "madman" terminology is really too kind.

  Walt also has a useful post How Not to Think About the Israel Lobby, especially given Israel's prominence among those who want to scuttle any sort of diplomatic deal between the US and Iran:

  Finally, if you're not wearing blinders, it is impossible to miss the fact that AIPAC, WINEP, JINSA, the RJC, the ADL, and a host of other hardline groups in the lobby are now the principal opponents to a diplomatic deal with Iran. Just look at this article from The Forward, or this one from Ha'aretz, which make it clear that these are the principal groups holding Obama's feet to the fire on this issue. And of course it is many of these same groups or individuals who have been insisting for years that the U.S. keep all options "on the table" and use force against Iran if necessary. Absent pressure from these groups, it would be much, much easier for the United States to come to terms with Tehran.

Also, a few links for further study:

• Ira Chernus: If Only Right-Wing Christians Knew Where Their Ideas Came From: Looks back at 19th century evangelicals, who tended to be progressive more than conservative, and find a resurgence in that same radicalism today, positing it as an opportunity for the left. William Jennings Bryan is one of Chernus' cases-in-point, but I must point out that he's remembered today as much for his embarrassing role in the Scopes "monkey trial" as for his "Cross of Gold" speech. Curiously, Bryan's opposition to teaching about evolution was rooted at least as much in his sense of social justice as in Biblical literalism. And he's not remembered at all today for leaving the Wilson administration as it marched off to war. Sometimes this is tricky, but if you believe that the major political problems of our day are gaping inequality and war, it is certainly true that you can find allies among evangelicals. Reaching and keeping them is another problem.

  Chernus also has a post on the Obamacare nonsense: "End Times for Obama": A Dangerous Conservative Myth.

• Jonathan Cook: Why Israel wanted Arafat dead: The recent autopsy of Arafat shows traces of Polonium-210, which is not something you run across in everyday life. You generally have to have a nuclear reactor to obtain significant quantities of the toxic, radioactive isotope, which makes Israel a candidate. You also have to be willing to engage in assassination, which also makes Israel a candidate. Cooks lists more reasons.

• Ann Jones: War Wounds: An excerpt from Jones' new book, They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America's Wars -- The Untold Story (Dispatch Books/Haymarket Books). Jones previously wrote two books coming out of her experiences in Afghanistan: Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan (2007), and War Is Not Over When It's Over: Women Speak Out from the Ruins of War (2010).

• David Kenner: Why Saudi Arabia Hates the Iran Deal: One thing that will seem strange to American observers is how intensely Saudi Arabia orients itself against Iran, so this at least helps a bit to illuminate it. It could, of course, go further. One of the first things that Ayatollah Kohmeini did on taking power in 1979 was to explicitly challenge Saudi Arabia for leadership in the Moslem world. Before that the Saudis had a long-time rivalry with Arab nationalists like Nasser, but that had cooled off after the Arabs' disastrous showing in the 1967 Israel war. However, after 1979 the Saudis started spending billions of dollars to promote abroad their own quaint and antiquated form of Islam -- Wahabism, which relates back to the older school of Salafism -- with its peculiar emphasis on jihad as a political tool. US officials, in the naďve belief that any conservative religion was preferable to Godless Communism, approved, especially as the Saudis invested billions in Afghanistan. And Saudi Arabia has continued its pro-Islamist interventionism to this very day: they berate Iran for supporting political factions in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, precisely because those factions are rivals to the factions Saudi Arabia supports. It is easy to say that Iran is wrong to intervene in foreign countries, but Saudi Arabia is every bit as guilty on that charge, and the results of its interventions have been at least as damaging. The US has long backed Saudi Arabia in its aggressive foreign policy but must be having second thoughts now -- especially given the ease with which Saudi-backed militants have gravitated toward Al Qaeda. (Saudi clerics are quick to condemn Al Qaeda, but not very effective at dissuading them.) At this point, the best thing for all concerned would be to mutually withdraw from interfering in other countries.

• John Quiggin: Wall Street Isn't Worth It: Argues that "society as a whole would be better off if the financial sector were smaller, and received much smaller returns." I don't have any doubts about that.

• Joseph Stiglitz: The Insanity of Our Food Policy: Much more on the Republican cuts to the food stamp program than on farm subsidies, although he points out that as originally implemented in the 1930s farm "subsidies were an anti-poverty program." They've largely become a subsidy to corporate agriculture since then, which still -- my opinion here, since Stiglitz doesn't really address it -- doesn't mean they're unnecessary (although could mean they're unjust as currently implemented). For the most part, US agriculture policy has been based on a grand bargain of rural and urban interests: subsidies ensure that the food supply will not be disrupted by the vagaries of the market, and those surpluses will be used to end hunger. The Republicans have broken that deal. What Stiglitz is describing is more immoral than insane, but if they manage to return agriculture to laissez faire markets that will indeed be insane.

Daily Log

Cal Thomas: Why Agree When We Can Go to War?

It isn't exactly surprising that Israel should want to sabotage the new round of talks between Iran, the U.S., and other major powers. Nor that they would employ their vast lobbying networks in the U.S., nor that this would bring out their most obsequious media flacks to the forefront. Still, it is downright shocking the extremes to which Cal Thomas went in his column Iran agreement shouldn't stab Israel in the back. He starts with a story about a 1994 promise North Korea made to ex-president Jimmy Carter to "close a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon in exchange for food and humanitarian aid." He notes then that North Korea reopened the reactor, concluding that "Tyrants lie" -- without mentioning that the US failed to fulfill its end of the agreement, or that the US maintained a blockade and crippling sanctions, or that Bush dubbed North Korea a member of "the Axis of Evil."

Thomas goes on:

Unlike North Korea, an officially atheist state, Iranian mullahs have repeatedly said they have a religious duty to annihilate Israel, not to mention America. How do secular diplomats negotiate with people who, in their minds, would be violating "Allah's will" by making deals with the "great Satan"?

Thomas' argument here is not just a "big lie" -- it's based on a total fabrication. No such fatwa has ever existed, nor is any such "religious duty" consistent with any official Iranian position. Iran, like most nations -- judging from UN resolution votes virtually every nation except for the US and Micronesia -- disapproves of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, or Israel's refusal to allow Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars to return to their homes, and Israel's frequent aggression against neighboring countries. But Iran has also taken the position that it is up to the Palestinians to decide how to deal with Israel. Iran has gone beyond other nations in that they provide substantial military aid to Hezbollah in Lebanon, but thus far at least Hezbollah has only used Iranian rockets in response to Israeli bombing of Lebanon. (Nor have those rockets been very effective.) That is a far cry from a plan to "annihilate" Israel.

The revolutionary Islamic government in Iran has had many reasons over the years to be critical of the US, starting with the CIA-directed coup against Iran's democracy in 1953, the US alliance with the Shah and US training of the Shah's secret police, the US harboring the Shah after he was deposed, the US freeze of Iranian assets, the US role in supporting Iraq in its 1981-88 war against Iran, as well as various acts of American terrorism against Iran, such as shooting down a civilian airliner and attacking an offshore oil platform. The Iranian government hasn't always acted honorably, but since the Iraq war ended and Ayatollah Khomeini, who came up with that "Great Satan" rhetoric, died, it's been the US that has repeatedly rebuffed efforts by Iran to put relations on a less confrontational level.

On the other hand, Israel has frequently threatened to attack Iran. Israel supports the anti-Iranian terrorist group MEK. Israeli agents have murdered Iranian scientists. Israel has used cyberwarfare against Iran (evidently with US help). Israeli security experts openly talk about their hopes for "regime change" in Iran. And since the early 1990s, Israel has lobbied the US heavily to isolate and undermine the Iranian regime. The interesting thing about that last sentence is that Israeli-Iranian enmity didn't start with the revolution in 1979, with the ascension to power of Ayatollah Khomeini and his "Great Satan" rhetoric. Throughout the 1980s, Israel maintained a close alliance with Iran, shipping it arms, and actually intervening in the Iraq-Iran war in 1982 when Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor project site. Perhaps Israel's interest in Iran was cynical -- the hope that by supporting Iran they could weaken their closer enemy, Iraq.

However, after the US-led coalition defeated Iraq in the 1990 Gulf War Israel began to cast about for a new "existential" enemy -- a role that could no longer be plausibly imagined for any Arab state. Iran fit the bill for several reasons: first, the US still harbored resentment against Iran for holding its embassy staff hostage from 1980-82, so it was relatively easy to push American hot buttons; second, Iran's government explicitly identified itself as Islamic, which also raised some hot buttons with America's Christian right, even when none of the latter had any clue about the differences between sunni and shiite; and third, Iran had been fascinated with nuclear power starting with the Shah before ther revolution, and thanks to self-isolation and sanctions, they could only pursue nuclear energy by developing their own capabilities so it was easy to characterize Iran's program as intending to develop nuclear weapons. And, of course, the prospect of a nuclear-armed nation hostile or even merely opposed to the Israel -- populated by the residual victims of genocide -- and/or the US excited all sorts of paranoid fears. And recall that for the post-9/11 Bush administration, those fears were very useful for advancing their ambitions against Iraq, which was supposedly all about "weapons of mass destruction" -- e.g., Condoleezza Rice's taunt that "the smoking gun may be a mushroom cloud."

Problem was, in order to convince people that their fears were based on solid intelligence, Israel had to project a time frame for Iran's "nuclear programme" to come to fruition. In the mid-1990s, they cautiously projected that Iran was five years away from having the bomb. At various points after that, they even projected shorter time spans, but the fact is that 15 years after the Iranian bomb was due, it still hasn't been built. And when the CIA assessed its own intelligence, they concluded that Iran didn't have actual plans to build a bomb. Which, coincidentally, is what Iran's leaders have said all along.

Thomas' next ploy is to cite an anonymous item from "ynetnews.com" -- the website run by Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharanot. If he had a non-Israeli source, don't you think he'd use it? Conservatives love to quote the Wall Street Journal or New York Times not because they revere those papers as because they realize their reports usually look less fishy than "Rush Limbaugh says . . ." or "according to an anonymous tip reported by Drudgenet . . ."

Thomas ends up with a dubious historical analogy, concluding, "Roosevelt and Churchill were wrong about Stalin, and the Obama administration is wrong about Iran." Given that Obama's "go to" guy on Iran for most of his time in office has been Dennis Ross, the Obama administration has usually been wrong about Iran. But even if they're wrong now, you have to ask yourself what are they trying to do, and how does that compare to all the alternatives. If the goal is to keep Iranian maniacs from using nuclear weapons against Israel and/or the United States (or any other enemy they have, something Saudi Arabia is especially keen on being), then first of all you have the time-tested standard approach: Israel and the US have enough nuclear weapons to deter any Iranian plot by making it suicidal. (That approach, after all, deterred the Soviet Union, who as Thomas no doubt said dozens of times were a bunch of godless fanatics convinced that capitalism must die and that history was on their side.) It also wouldn't hurt if the Iranian people were given a better stake in the future, which is a reason for relaxing sanctions, normalizing relations, increasing trade and investment, and so forth. It's worth noting that the only communist nations that didn't democratize were the ones the US fought hot wars against and have nurtured grudges against: China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba. Ill will only begets ill tidings.

Realistically, that should be enough, but given how wholeheartedly Israeli and American officials have swallowed their own propaganda, the concerned countries should work to establish greater transparency and more open review of Iran's nuclear power efforts. Iran is a member of the NPT, which commits them not to build nuclear weapons and not to aid in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. (Israel, by the way, is not, so if you want to look at renegade states bearing weapons of mass destruction, start there.) Under the NPT, countries such as Iran are still entitled to develop nuclear power, and some countries have done just that without ever considering a weapons program -- most notably, Germany and Japan. Iran is unusual in this regard solely because they are so isolated -- especially due to UN-supported sanctions -- and that produces unique dangers. One thing that we should worry about is whether Iran has access to the latest methods and equipment needed to make sure that their nuclear power plants are safe -- and that won't happen if we keep Iran isolated and force it to be self-sufficient. Again, the way forward here is through more openness and less hostility -- exactly the opposite of what Thomas is arguing for.

It is, therefore, easy to see that the path opened up in this new round of negotiations with Iran can lead to allaying Israel's (and America's) fears, and indeed of defusing one of the world's most dangerous hostile fronts. On the other hand, you need to look at Israel's approach -- which aside from sanctions, espionage, and acts of terror within Iran, might add military strikes to destroy Iran's physical plant -- and what its prospects really are. Bombs may do some damage, but they're most likely to drive the nuclear project ever deeper underground, into deeper security. Moreover, they'll drive more Iranians into believing that nuclear weapons are necessary to defend Iran against outside aggressors. Espionage and terrorism will only make Iran's government more closed and more paranoid, and they will invite Iran to do the same in turn. And sanctions again will impoverish Iran, encourage autarky, and a stubborn resolve to fight back.

It should be understood that Israel has its own reasons for making and maintaining enemies: the idea of external threats helps politically unite the Jewish population and keeps the military-industrial complex humming along, and the security issue distracts from the fundamental problems caused by the occupation and treatment of Palestinians. On the other hand, as Americans we have to ask ourselves whether fondness for Israel is really a good reason for the United States to let Israel decide who our enemies are and how we should deal with them. Certain elements of the US right-wing like the idea of letting Israel lead us around by the nose because they wish us to have the same degree of militarism and war-lust Israel has, but most people think that our "enemies" selected us, not the other way around. And so when a nation like Iran comes to us seeking peace and understanding, why should we reject them?

If you believe everything Cal Thomas says here, and buy into all the bogus historical analogies and suppositions, all he's really saying is that we can't trust Iran, so we should go to war with them now instead of waiting until they, like Hitler and Stalin, inevitably go to war against us. (Ignoring the fact that Stalin and his successors never did start that inevitable war.) Fortunately for us, Thomas is as wrong on his facts as he is ghastly in terms of morality. An agreement with Iran wouldn't "stab Israel in the back"; it would save Israel from making the worst mistake a nation could make.

Daily Log

Oh the days come and go, too uneventful even to notice.

Jody Rosen generated a list of 60 Great Albums You Probably Haven't Heard. I've heard 15 (25%), noting my grades below (A+:1, A:1, A-:5, B+:6, B:2).