Ted O'Reilly

Gene DiNovi is still with us, alive and well and playing in Toronto. Well, playing....y'know: covid 19. I loved Junior Mance's playing, and him personally. A lovely, sweet man was Julian C. Mance Jr. I recorded him for broadcast many times at Cafe des Copains and the Montreal Bistro in Toronto, then would go in to hear him again and again the same week. He was a great dinner companion too, with lots of stories, some of which can't be repeated in polite company. In my always-changing list of top-five Favourite Piano Players Junior and Ray Bryant are always included.

Wow, I'm naive. I'm not Murcan (wtf is Trudeau Tea?) , so therefore stupidly ignorant. Thank you for explaining that everything I've ever learned and appreciated about jazz for the last 60+ years is wrong, wrong wrong, and that everything needs to be viewed through your/Organissimo's lens. I bow down to your superior knowledge and world-understanding. I met and talked with Dizzy. Did you? I met and recorded/interviewed with Duke, Basie, Braxton, Lloyd, Cannonball, Chet, Bill Evans, Carmen McRae Russell Procope, Ella, Paul Desmond, Jay; McShann, Duke Pearson, Cedar Walton, Zoot Sims, Buddy Tate, Don Pullen, Ed Bickert, Flip Phillips, Kenny Barron,Martial Solal, Earl Hines,James Moody, Kenny Wheeler, Moncef Genoud, Geoff Keezer, Cab Calloway, Rob McConnell, Don Menza, Jimmie Rowles and several dozens more, yet have never bothered to try to understand about jazz. I'm naive. I'm also out of here. I just can't take the JSangrey-only worldview any more. You're right, everyone else is stupid/naive/wrong. Bye.

I always understood that Dizzy believed he gave his music to the world, that it was not stolen by his followers. If you want to ignore that, and bring Filthy Lucre into it, that's up to you.

White guy Gene Lees, quoting Dizzy (Ithink it was...)

Aha...now I understand: you have 1 of 7.

...and the other 5 discs?

...and I remember when RCA Victor said Dynagroove and Dynaflex was 'the schitz...'

There's a really good radio show about marketing on CBC called Under The Influence hosted by Terry O'Reilly (no relation) which covered that topic a couple of years back -- and it's available here: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-70-under-the-influence/clip/12424026-when-madison-avenue-met-broadway-the-world-of-industrial-musicals-an-encore-presentation Lots of the music stands, if you drop the lyrics...

I think you've described him perfectly: about his music, and his personality.

That's one I recorded for Sackville, so I took that one off the shelf too, John. And followed it up with this one we did at Don Thompson's comfy home studio. Ne I see Delmark, who now owns Sackville has kept this duo album of Harold Mabern and Geoff Keezer (which I recorded) in the catalog...

Yeah -- Adrean is FINE! and the youngest guy here... Rob Piltch is a terrific guitarist, sort of musical son of Ed Bickert, as all guitarists should be... with a great range... Andy is a deep musician, playing all the reeds with a great knowledge of styles, and is a fine writer and orchestrator for all band sizes. Great teacher, too. Should be much better known, but is as so many Toronto guys are, quite happy to live and work at home. Neil and Terry are of course internationally known, as they should be.

A new release from a Toronto stalwart Andy Ballantyne, with hommages to his influences. A set of rewarding originals from a gang of greats... You'll be able to get it here: https://www.andyballantyne.com/playlist/play-on-words/

Died earlier this week...not as well known as he should have been... https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/vic-vogel-emc

Here's a link to a very recently released CD of Harold, with some great Toronto players led by Kirk MacDonald. It's from 18 months ago, and must be among Mabern's last recordings. I was delighted to be asked to write the notes for the album... https://kirkmacdonald.com/album-item/generations/

The great Canadian reedman P J Perry, in a duo setting with Bill Mays...

OH...such sad news. A lovely gentle man. Like a linebacker with genuine friendliness and deep soul.

Listening to Disc 1, and loving Ed Shaughnessy's drumming as a sub for Louis Bellson on disc 1... I I I I I took this off the shelf in regard to

On behalf of Steve Wallace, Berigan "... interesting comments and thanks. Whether Herzog interfered or not, I don’t really see ted Simmons as a Hall-of-Famer. It wouldn’t be a total injustice if he was in there, but there are a lot of really good players from that time who didn’t make it either. Al Oliver, Keith Hernandez, Amos Otis, Ron Cey, Kent Hrbek, Ken Singleton, Jack Clark, and on and on." And I (O'Reilly) will add that Curt Flood might qualify in his own way, too... If Marvin Miller, why not Flood?

Yeah, that was mentioned back on Aug. 10 by Chuck Nessa...

Did not the Mercury "Living Presence" series of recordings include sessions recorded to 35 mm film stock rather than audio tape, as it was considered a cleaner sound?

My test record was Vic Dickenson Septet, on Vanguard. Lovely natural sound, even today, though I think my 78 year old ears have finally caught up with 78 RPM sound.

I'm not on the Lord TJD website, but Don Brown, a contributor here is, and printed it out for me. As I mentioned, I am not sure it's yet complete, but I'll go with what it says, likely given by Mosaic. I'm not going to reproduce it (too much keying-in for these fingers, but as a sometime-band, the repertoire is a bit limited so there are many titles presented several times. Given the artists involved, they're always different, not just 'alternates' as they come from different circumstances. I count 51 titles, 37 never issued. And let me say, from what I've heard, even the tracks that have been heard are all now remastered by a terrific engineer, Chad Irschik working with Don Thompson, and they sound WAY better than before... Session dates, all at Bourbon St. Toronto March 25,26,28 1975: 17 tracks never issued. March 29 1975: 6 tracks, released on Telarc 83319 October 25,26 1975 7 tracks never issued October 27,28,29 1975 6 tracks, on Artist House (one also on a Verve), bootlegged on Domino October 27,28,29, 1975 8 tracks, the best-known "Live..."etc on 2-LP A&M Horizon, Verve CD October 30,31 1975 with Rob McConnell for Ed Bickert, 7 tracks. This session was once assembled for release, I recall, but then never issued. I see that TJD indicates there is a substitution for one of the intended tracks, so perhaps despite Mosaic calling it "The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings", there's gonna be at least one orphan track. And I recall one of those nights that both Ed Bickert and McConnell were on stage together (Ed had heard of his father's passing and asked Rob to sub -- could have been an overlap, I don't recall these many yearts later) so it might have been taped, too... As we learn from the never-ending world of Duke Ellington, complete is never complete. That's exactly right. George's widow, Ellie had the tapes and wanted them released, and arranged with Don Thompson to get them out. Very intimate, beautiful music there, from master musicians.

Is it in fact 'privately issued'? That means to me no distribution save from the producer, but I know someone who bought that from Amazon, so it must be available online... It's really good, as you note. George playing his own piano in his own home, with no time limits, no producer asking for a smooth-jazz version of Justin Bieber's Greatest Hits...heaven for an artist. I really don't know. After A&M/Horizon, there was later private production from John Snyder through Artist's House from what I assume was that 'eloped' batch, so the tapes may have avoided that fate if they were in someone else's hands. We may know the whole story anon...

...as he wished -- Ed was a homebody, pure and simple. He made a solid living, raised a beautiful family and slept in his own bed every night. Though many implored him, he wasn't interested in a life on the road. I personally think that if he had taken that trek, his music would have be somehow diluted, or lessened in some way through repetition. That's certainly not the case for all artists but I think it would have been for Ed. Don played with everyone, including -- on the road -- Handy, Shearing (for much more than 'a while'), Jim Hall; and many others who came through Toronto and wanted him to play in their groups. But as in Bickert's case, why, unless for purely musical reasons, admiring the leader? For the most part, there was no reason to. He got to play a couple of weeks with everyone who came through the city (say: Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Jay McShann, Zoot, Al, Rosolino, Fred Hersch, Don Friedman, etc. etc.) and in the afternoon play a film score or jingle or pop recording, and make some more bread and pension money AND sleep in his own bed. Meanwhile, have their own music made with their 'local' friends on gigs they could control... Most of the world has no idea of what a solid musical scene it was in those guys' heydays of the 1950s on for a few decades. Not even a half-step behind New York or LA or London. (Oh yeah: we have universal medical coverage and WAY fewer guns. Too many, but WAY fewer.)

You dummy! That's one of those new TRANSISTOR pocket radios! Haven't you noticed nobody answers when you say "Over!"? Geez... (But how is it for streaming?)