"You can't teach seven foot." -- Frank Layton, Utah Jazz basketball coach, when asked why he had recruited a seven-foot tall auto mechanic
Sometimes I get the feeling that there are orgies going on all over New York City, and somebody says, "Let's call Desmond," and somebody else says, "Why bother? He's probably home reading the Encyclopedia Britannica." -- Paul Desmond, jazz saxophonist
There are two jazz musicians who are great buddies. They hang out and play together for years, virtually inseparable. Unfortunately, one of them is struck by a truck and killed. About a week later his friend wakes up in the middle of the night with a start because he can feel a presence in the room. He calls out, "Who's there? Who's there? What's going on?" "It's me -- Bob," replies a faraway voice. Excitedly he sits up in bed. "Bob! Bob! Is that you? Where are you?" "Well," says the voice, "I'm in heaven now." "Heaven! You're in heaven! That's wonderful! What's it like?" "It's great, man. I gotta tell you, I'm jamming up here every day. I'm playing with Bird, and 'Trane, and Count Basie drops in all the time! Man it is smokin'!" "Oh, wow!" says his friend. "That sounds fantastic, tell me more, tell me more!" "Let me put it this way," continues the voice. "There's good news and bad news. The good news is that these guys are in top form. I mean I have *never* heard them sound better. They are *wailing* up here." "The bad news is that God has this girlfriend that sings..."
If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know. -- Louis Armstrong
Doesn’t the student council have anything better to do than decorate the shit out of everything? It looks like Jingly the Glitter Fairy jazzed all over the damn place.
Meanwhile the literary activity of the Jews in Spain had its effect on those of France. The fact that many of the most important works were written in Arabic, the vernacular of the Spanish Jews under the Moors, which was not understood in France, gave rise to a number of translations into Hebrew, chiefly by the family of Ibn Tibbon (or Tabbon). The first of them, Judah ibn Tibbon, translated works of Bahya ibn Paqudah, Judah ha-levi, Seadiah, Abu'lwalid and Ibn Gabirol, besides writing works of his own. He was a native of Granada, but migrated to Lunel, where he probably died about 1190. His son Samuel, who died at Marseilles about 1230, was equally prolific. He translated the _Moreh Nebhukhim_ during the life of the author, and with some help from him, so that this may be regarded as the authorized version; Maimonides' commentary on the Mishnah tractate _Pirqe Abhoth_, and some minor works; treatises of Averroes and other Arabic authors. His original works are mostly biblical commentaries and some additional matter on the Moreh. His son Moses, who died about the end of the 13th century, translated the rest of Maimonides, much of Averroes, the lesser Canon of Avicenna, Euclid's _Elements_ (from the Arabic version), Ibn al-Jazzar's _Viaticum_, medical works of Hunain ben Isaac (Johannitius) and Razi (Rhazes), besides works of less-known Arabic authors. His original works are commentaries and perhaps a treatise on immortality. His nephew Jacob ben Makhir, of Montpellier (d. about 1304), translated Arabic scientific works, such as parts of Averroes and Ghazzali, Arabic versions from the Greek, as Euclid's _Data_, Autolycus, Menelaus (Hebrew: Milium) and Theodosius on the Sphere, and Ptolemy's _Almagest_. He also compiled astronomical tables and a treatise on the quadrant. The great importance of these translations is that many of them were afterwards rendered into Latin,[12] thus making Arabic and, through it, Greek learning accessible to medieval Europe. Another important family about this time is that of Qimhi (or Qamhi). It also originated in Spain, where Joseph ben Isaac Qimhi was born, who migrated to S. France, probably for the same reason which caused the flight of Maimonides, and died there about 1170. He wrote on grammar (_Sepher ha-galui_ and _Sepher Zikkaron_), commentaries on Proverbs and the Song of Solomon, an apologetic work, _Sepher ha-berith_, and a translation of Bahya's _Hobhoth ha-lebhabhoth_. His son Moses (d. about 1190) also wrote on grammar and some commentaries, wrongly attributed to Ibn Ezra. A younger son, David (Radaq) of Narbonne (d. 1235) is the most famous of the name. His great work, the _Mikhlol_, consists of a grammar and lexicon; his commentaries on various parts of the Bible are admirably luminous, and, in spite of his anti-Christian remarks, have been widely used by Christian theologians and largely influenced the English authorized version of the Bible. A friend of Joseph Qimhi, Jacob ben Me'ir, known as Rabbenu Tam of Ramerupt (d. 1171), the grandson of Rashi, wrote the _Sepher ha-yashar_ (hiddushin and responsa) and was one of the chief Tosaphists. Of the same school were Menahem ben Simeon of Posquières, a commentator, who died about the end of the 12th century, and Moses ben Jacob of Coucy (13th century), author of the _Semag_ (book of precepts, positive and negative) a very popular and valuable halakhic work. A younger contemporary of David Qimhi was Abraham ben Isaac Bedersi (i.e. of Béziers), the poet, and some time in the 13th century lived Joseph Ezobhi of Perpignan, whose ethical poem, _Qe'arath Yoseph_, was translated by Reuchlin and later by others. Berachiah,[13] the compiler of the "Fox Fables" (which have much in common with the "Ysopet" of Marie de France), is generally thought to have lived in Provence in the 13th century, but according to others in England in the 12th century. In Germany, Eleazar ben Judah of Worms (d. 1238), besides being a Talmudist, was an earnest promoter of kabbalistic studies. Isaac ben Moses (d. about 1270), who had studied in France, wrote the famous _Or Zarua'_ (from which he is often called), an halakhic work somewhat resembling Maimonides' _Mishneh Torah_, but more diffuse. In the course of his wanderings he settled for a time at Würzburg, where he had as a pupil Me'ir of Rothenburg (d. 1293). The latter was a prolific writer of great influence, chiefly known for his Responsa, but also for his halakhic treatises, hiddushin and tosaphoth. He also composed a number of piyyutim. Me'ir's pupil, Mordecai ben Hillel of Nürnberg (d. 1298), had an even greater influence through his halakhic work, usually known as the _Mordekhai_. This is a codification of halakhoth, based on all the authorities then known, some of them now lost. Owing to the fact that the material collected by Mordecai was left to his pupils to arrange, the work was current in two recensions, an Eastern (in Austria) and a Western (in Germany, France, &c.). In the East, Tanhum ben Joseph of Jerusalem was the author of commentaries (not to be confounded with the _Midrash Tanhuma_) on many books of the Bible, and of an extensive lexicon (_Kitab al-Murshid_) to the Mishnah, all in Arabic. Entry: HEBREW