on 7/3/02 8:29 PM, Frank Malczewski at malczewski@earthlink.net wrote:
Wondering when this topic would come up...
Uri Caine: I have a couple of his JMT CDs (Toys, Sphere Music) that everyone was so thrilled about, but didn't do a thing for me. At least Urlict/Primal Light was somewhat interesting.
urge to flame... growing. I kind of agree with you on SPHERE MUSIC. But TOYS is another matter. I remember Uri bringing the rough mixes of TOYS to my apartment about two or three days after it was done, and I was in utter disbelief. While he was getting the arrangements together, he was calling me every night ("Can you tell if that bottom note in such-and-such bar of 'The prisoner' is a G or an F?"') dead on his feet. I think he knew he was set to make some sort of measurable statement -- or fail in front of Dave Holland et al. He really excercised a discipline beyond any I'd seen from him. When he played it for me, I was awestruck. I'd been his personal Dean bendetti since 1983, and I thought I knew what he was capable of. But, from the opening of "Time Will Tell", it was pretty clear that he had staked out some new turf, totally his own. It was a pretty emotional listen -- it was pretty obvious he had just made the sort of record that major careers spring from. He was really worried that it was good enough, and if the title was okay. At the time, it was to be called HERBAL BLUE, and I didn;t really like it. Soon after, it was TOYS. I think a number of us didn;t go for the title. But when the reviews hit, I really felt vindicated. I had been pushing for the guy since I was in high school. The piano player everyone in Philly was raving about at the time was Sumi Tonooka. Francis davis predicted she'd be the one to really make the big splash. But TOYS really made a mark that nobody around me had managed to make (Blasters and X notwithsatnding). Hearing that record for the first time and seeing Uri reach his first plateau are really lovely memories for me. skip h NP: my own 'best of stevie wonder' mix