gmonahan

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Posts posted by gmonahan

  1. Posted

    Local record store (Music Millennium) had a bunch of these Avid comps for sale, so I got a few, including this one. Gotta love Toots! Now, there's an artist whose stuff is spread out all over the place. I have some of this already somewhere, and I'll figure that out at some point, but I'm enjoying it right now!

     

    toots.jpg

  2. Posted

    On 10/27/2020 at 0:29 PM, Larry Kart said:

    in Dan Morgenstern's fond reminiscences of Ira, he mentions that estimable and outspoken mainstream trumpeter Joe Thomas confronted Ira after he sat in at a session and told him that he should never again get up onstage with professional musicians. Soon after that, Ira put down his horn for good.

    What is it Dirty Harry said? "Man's gotta know his limitations." That's a great story! I think Gitler did the music a great service as a chronicler, booster, and, yes, critic.

     

     

    gregmo

  5. Posted

    9 hours ago, EKE BBB said:

    Ken, I guess you are referring to:

    cdcover.gif

    http://fatswaller.org/fatscd.html

    Jim:

    In any case, there are plenty of Fats Waller broadcasts and airchecks out of the JSP collection, plus several private recordings, as well as some alternative takes from commercial recordings. So, being a Fats Waller completist is not that easy.

     

    Yeah, radio broadcasts are the Achylles heel for anybody who wants to be a completist on artists who were active from the 30s to the early 50s. I have over 25 cds worth of Sinatra singing on the radio and an additional 30-cd set of him in speaking roles, and I'm sure there are more.

     

     

     

     

    gregmo

  7. Posted

    On 10/21/2020 at 7:34 PM, Ken Dryden said:

    If he is still living, he turns 90 this year. 

    Apparently so, a group of musicians showed up to serenade him on for his 90th birthday in Quincy. Here's the report on a local news channel.

     

     

     

    gregmo

  8. Posted

    Ok, I'm sort of embarrassed to say I had never heard of this very fine trombonist. I was in my study where I keep my vinyl, closed my eyes, and my fingers lighted on, of all things, a Pete Fountain LP, "Standing Room Only." I think I must have found it in an old cut-out bin years ago and bought it because Charlie Teagarden was on it. Anyway, on the turntable it went, and suddenly, this trombone solo came on, and I thought, what the hell? Is JACK TEAGARDEN on this record?? So I looked. Nope--made after Big T had died. It was Bob Havens, who apparently spent most of his career playing with Lawrence Welk. I looked him up and found a couple of cds. I don't think I've ever heard anybody so influenced by Teagarden. Anyway, I'm listening to this one right now, and there is some very fine trombone playing on it! Apparently, Bob Havens is still with us--90 years old and retired!

     

    havens.jpg

  12. Posted

    As I read through this it occurs to me there are different definitions for "completist." For me, it means having one copy of every track ever issued by an artist in some format. Thus one could have a track on LP or disc or cassette or MP3 but not necessarily duplicated in every format. But I have a friend who is what I call a "radical completist" for Elvis Presley. Not only does he have every track, but he has every LP and cd, even duplicates (including original vinyl pressings of all those 60s movies soundtracks). Given that many of us have duplicate versions of any number of recordings in the eternal search for the best version, are there any "radical" completists here?! I mean, I have all of Sinatra's Reprise recordings on cd, but I don't have all the LPs!!

     

     

     

    gregmo

  13. Posted

    I have the Bixology series which makes me pretty close on Bix. And like Jim says, JSP has done a nice job on Fats and Django.  And over a fair number of years, I think I'm pretty close on Sinatra. And Ella. And Teagarden. And even Frank Rosolino. But Ellington? Nah, and I have more by him than any other artist!

     

     

     

    gregmo

  17. Posted

    On 10/4/2020 at 2:20 PM, Larry Kart said:

    Maybe it's just me or the sound quality of these clips,  but while  I've heard  and enjoyed a good deal of live Ella, her voice here sounds rather harsh, forced, and blaring to me.

    I've been listening to the cd, and it sounds good to me--typical live recording--but Ella is really on fire in much of it.

     

     

     

    gregmo

  20. Posted

    13 hours ago, BFrank said:

    I might be mistaken, but I think she "forgot the words" in multiple performances making it somewhat of a gimmick in the song.

    You're right. Jim was just being...Jim! Ella's 1960 version became so famous and successful, that, as Jim puts it, she remembered to forget the words from then on.

     

     

     

    gregmo

  23. Posted

    On 9/22/2020 at 5:52 PM, medjuck said:

    Maybe the upcoming Pops will sell so well that they and Sony could be convinced to do a package of the post Hot 5 and 7 big band material owned by Sony. (I'm reading Ricky Riccardi's new book so I'm having pipe dreams-- though most of what he writes about is available now.) 

    If we're going back into the 20s, it would be nice to have a complete Ellington set of Sony-owned material. That old 2-cd set has lousy sound.

     

     

     

    gregmo