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gmonahan

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Posts posted by gmonahan

  1. John La Porta is a favorite. Really nice ideas. And sound.

    And I really like Tony Scott, especially late Tony Scott.

    I like the La Porta stuff I hear on the Debut Story box. Is that set of his complete Debut recordings worth getting? I thought the Fantasy cd was so-so--a bit too much third stream for my taste.

    gregmo

  2. Someone may have mentioned it, but I don't remember seeing Art Pepper's name. He rarely played the instrument on records, but when he did (as on the "Winter Moon" album), it was lovely.

    gregmo

    On a recent Jazz Library programme on BBC Radio 3 about Art Pepper, Alan Barnes (mentioned by Bev in this thread) expressed a strong liking for Art's clarinet playing, clearly preferring him to Buddy DeFranco or Tony Scott on this horn.

    Well, I love all of Art's playing, but I'm not sure he played quite enough clarinet to rank higher than DeFranco and Scott, whose main instrument it was. That said, I do like the little of it I've heard.

    gregmo

  3. I can't imagine that will happen.. That's why IMHO it's in a library now...

    Why not? I don't follow. Do you mean that the museum and library think it would be too costly for them to do this? Because it would not. Internet Archives does it. Even the individual who has the Red Hot Jazz site manages to do it.

    I can't imagine Mosaic doing it if the music is all out there and available for free. And if the library can make some money on it, I assume that's why they're talking to Mosaic about doing it.

    gregmo

  4. I'd be curious to know what others think of George Lewis. I have a few of his recordings that I like a lot, though I don't think I know enough about earlier forms of jazz (or heard enough of his work) to really put him in any sort of "favorites list."

    I just ordered his Mosaic cds from an Amazon seller, so I'm looking forward to hearing more of him.

    For me, Bechet was the definitive traditional clarinetist ("Blue Horizon" is, for me, THE great clarinet performance), Goodman the greatest Swing clarinetist, and DeFranco the greatest bop one. Of more recent clarinetists, I like Eddie Daniels (especially the Goodman tribute album he did with Gary Burton). Anat Cohen is interesting. I'm listening to her. And yeah, Prez played really cool clarinet...when he played it.

    gregmo

  5. I believe that Frank Sinatra felt that his tenure at Columbia was undermined by Mitch when he was made the a&r man.

    Rosemary Clooney, although not "undermined" in any way, was not pleased with Miller's choice of material for her either.

    I think it was Ralph J. Gleason who claimed that Miller told Clooney to sing "Come On-a My House" "like you want to get laid."

    Although I appreciate the sentiment, I more than understand how it would grate on Clooney...

    The story of Miller and Sinatra is well told in the excellent notes to the huge "Blue Box" of Sinatra's Columbia recordings. Sinatra did blame Miller, and Miller countered that Frank *never* recorded anything he didn't want to record. It's an interesting "he said...he said." My guess is that Miller did recommend the schlockier songs (including the infamous "Mama Will Bark" with Dagmar), and that Sinatra, desperate for a hit and knowing how dumb the songs were, went along anyway. "Mama Will Bark" is definitely a hoot, and not exactly a high point of Sinatra's discography!

    gregmo

  6. Modern action flicks are especially impressive on Blu-ray. "Ironman" was my first, and it's gorgeous, but I think "The Dark Knight" takes the cake. The blu-ray version expands to the full screen on my 72-inch Toshiba during the IMAX shots, and the sound actually amps up. My house pops off its foundations and dances around the street. Way cool.

    gregmo

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