The whole Wynton argument is very much a way to figure out who's on which team. In total, I'm glad he's been on the scene, just for his ability to get people arguing about the history on the music again. If you remember the early 1980's and the way jazz was more marginalized than it is now, you likely remember the way in which somebody like Louis Armstrong was kind of shunted away into a sort of graveyard. Then Wynton showed up, beating his gums at top speed about Mssr Satch, and suddenly people were forced to pay attention, just because Wynton was making sure they were paying attention. His passion for Lester Bowie and Don Cherry was something he remarked upon often back then. An interesting thing happened. Wynton sort of decided for himself upon a curatorial role, whereas the press decided he would be more in a subjective zoo position -- "here is the balck trumpet player exhibit", and the Wynton War of Ambitions was on. After BLACK CODES, he got a bit more antagonistic with the press, and I think his energy went from his music to defense and maintenance of his viewpoint. He started getting into this Louis Armstrong philosophy rap as a way to separate his generic hard bop from everybody else's, which is as fraudulent as when "avant garde" musicians play in a 45 yr old style and claim to be "innovating". In Wynton's defense, he's a very good musician. And his Lincoln Center programs -- and his ability to sell his ideas to the bluehairs who cut the checks -- has probably resulted in more previously lost worthwhile music getting new respect, and the deepest price for that enormous service is that we have to hear Wynton talk about it at length. The thing I find unforgivable about Wynton is, once he had Ken Burns' ear, he did his best to stalizine any mention of rhythm'n'blues from the sacred history of jazz. But that's another screed. -- skip h http://www.skipheller.com np: the beau hunks play the modern amercian music of ferde grofe