duaneiac

Not a jazz album at all, but quite listenable for what it is. "Produced by Sergio Mendes" -- ah, but if that collaboration could have happened back in the 1960's instead of the 1980's, what an album that would have been!

Proof that "rarities" does not equal "necessities". The good stuff comes at the very beginning and the very end of this collection of tidbits. The CD starts with 8 tracks from a 1955 octet session. It's some of the usual Kenton guys (Carl Fontana, Bill Perkins, Charlie Mariano, Mel Lewis), playing textbook West Coast jazz. One realizes quite quickly however that that is not Smiling Stan, You Used Car Dealin' Man (as seen on the cover and late night TV commercials), but in fact, a real piano player. And it is -- surprise, surprise -- Dave McKenna! Never would have thought him to have been ensnared in the Kenton sphere, but there ya go. The CD ends with a couple of leftover tracks recorded in 1959 for the Tropicana album. In between is some pretty forgettable stuff including -- hey, ya remember how the band had a bit of a hit with their version of "September Song" when the band sang a unison vocal? How would you like to hear 4 more like that including such timeless classics as "Serenade In Blue" and "Harbor Lights"? Or would you rather hit yourself in the head with a ball peen hammer? Yeah, me too.

An interesting excerpt from Rickie Lee Jones' new memoir chronicles her first time meeting Van Morrison in the flesh in 1983. There he was with his shock of eyebrows and his red, red hair. His blue eyes made bluer by the contrast with his white skin. His poor taste in clothes too. All of it made him the sexiest man I’d ever imagined. The fairies were out and the people were singing. And Van Morrison was actually smiling! https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/met-leprechaun-read-rickie-lee-131225987.html

I recently found a copy of this set at a local Goodwill store and am now halfway through Season Two. Stephen Fry is a delight as Jeeves. The man can express at least a half dozen different things with the mere phrase, "Indeed, sir". Hugh Laurie is okay in his way, but he's not really the Bertie Wooster I had imagined from reading some of the books years ago. I never pictured Bertie being quite the imbecile Mr. Laurie specialized in in those pre-House days.. I saw a few of these episodes back when they aired on PBS some 30 years ago and they kind of left me cold. It seems like in any Wodehouse TV adaptation I have seen, the characters come across as far more insufferable and unlikable than they do on the page. The women especially all come across as either domineering, scheming or manipulative. Perhaps part of the problem is seeing all these characters in such lavish surroundings, far exceeding what my imagination set designed when I read the stories. One of the locales used in some Season One episodes was Highclere Castle, made famous as the setting for the Downton Abbey soap opera.. It's hard to feel any sympathy for the comic travails of these upper class twits when you see them surrounded by every luxury one could desire.

I love that disc. Hank Jones as a solo performer was just as great as Hank Jones in a trio setting. He was gracious enough to autograph my copy of this CD when I saw him at the Stanford Jazz Festival many years ago. Now playing: Disc 2 of 2. NBC All Star Parade of Bands radio broadcasts from 1953 with Konitz, Kamuca and Holman in the sax section.

It was a couple of weeks ago that I read an article about this year being the 50th anniversary of Tapestry. That sent me searching for my CD copy of the album. When I couldn't find it anywhere, it slowly dawned on me that I had never bought the CD. I had a vinyl copy but all my LPs are in storage. So I bought a CD (which includes a pair of nice bonus tracks) and while it is still an incredible work of art, it's also an album, for me, that sounds most authentic with the added pops and crackles which come from used vinyl. Over the decades, I wonder how many people have discovered this classic album through an old scratchy copy borrowed perhaps from an older sibling, or loaned by a "you gotta listen to this" friend, or borrowed from a library or perhaps best of all, borrowed from a high-school library -- you know that disc in particular would have been played a lot. While I was familiar with many of the songs from the album from the days when they were Top 40 hits, I never encountered the whole album until 1980. I spent 5 months that year as a volunteer working for a community group in Washington D.C. which ran a soup kitchen and a day center for homeless women. At the women's center there was an old beat up stereo and a small stack of old records, Tapestry among them. That beat up record became a treasured friend. Who knows how many years it had been there and how many fearless windmill jousting, world fixing, college age do-gooder volunteers had played and experienced that disc before (and after) me? Through the power of music, listening to this album now brings back both fond and bittersweet memories of the people and places of that time. My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue . . .

George Wettling didn't make the list? I'm really surprised about Steve Gadd at Number 10. I bet if I looked, I would find twice as much Sam Woodyard in my music collection as I would Steve Gadd.

The calendar may say April, but for me it's June!

Am I missing Louis Bellson's name in there somewhere? How about one of my favorite jazz names, Buzzy Drootin?

Disc 1 of 2, which comprises a 1970 concert at The Forum in L.A. I am of an age where the first thing I often think about when hearing "The Jackson Five" is the Saturday morning cartoon which from 1971-72 detailed their fictionalized adventures. (Can you guess which American TV network aired that program? The answer, my friend, is found in the title of one of the group's early hits. ) So at an early age, I put the J5 in a sort of adolescent music category alongside such other Saturday morning singing cartoon idols of the 70's such as The Osmonds, Josie & The Pussycats, The Archies, Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids, etc. It was years before I could take the J5 seriously. This 1970 concert features a still 11 year old Michael proving himself to be impressive performer in front of 18,000 people.

I listened to the 2 disc The Philosopher's Stone set last night. It's an assortment of previously unreleased tracks that came out in 1998. Most of the material would be of interest to the dedicated Vanthusiast, but it's not really an essential set. What is essential is this version of "Bright Side of the Road". It's like 100 times better than the released version. I love the down home jug band feel of this version and Van sounds, if not exactly happy, then at least significantly less grumpy than usual. Go ahead and give a listen. You'll be glad you did.

Disc 2 of 7 from this rather quirky Rhino boxed set -- In a surprising upset win, nosing past such notable performers as Al Green, Rod Stewart, Bill Withers, The Main Ingredient and Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose, our judges have selected as winner of "Best Fifty Year Flashback Track of Disc 2" none other than . . . The Honey Cone Lead singer Edna Wright was the sister of Darlene Love.

I've seen Dianne Reeves in concert 3 times and while I like some of her CDs, she really seems to come across best in front of an audience. Here's one of my favorite live performances by her which, fortunately, was taped. I wish these two had recorded a duo album. They seem like a comfortable musical pair.

Not wishing to be too nit-picky by fact checking a cartoon, but Eugene Wright was not yet a member of the DBQ in the spring of 1954.

Saddened to hear of the passing of actress Jessica Walter. She certainly gave an unforgettable performance in Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me, but I will always happily remember her for her roles in the TV series Arrested Development and Archer. In fact, I just watched Season 8 on Archer on DVD just last week. She was a very talented actress. May she Rest In Peace.