Bill Nelson

No 'expertise' required. Just visit the Hoffman forum and peruse the hundreds of comments from Tone Poet customers. This past March when the first Tone Poets were released, keyboard flaws were easily heard on Andrew Hill's 'Black Fire', setting off a flurry of angry messages followed by returned LPs. The complaints about this and other TP releases are directed toward specific keyboard moments which customers have described as "warble", "wobble", or "pitch stability". Even more maddening, until the Tone Poets, these brief flaws had never been dramatically revealed in previous same Blue Notes on vinyl or CD -- as recently as Liberty, United Artists, Blue Note 75th vinyl, or CD issues be they early McMasters or Connoisseur series.

The state of the art in 1966 when it comes to white blues bands. For those wary of various artist albums, there's not a clinker anywhere on this.

Both of Emil Richards albums on Uni were released in 1967. Uni had just been formed by MCA for rock and soul releases that had more 'edge' than its staid Decca label. Richards' 'New Time Element' was the third album released on Uni and 'New Sound Element - Stones' was the eighth. I'll briefly describe each: 'New Time Element' is more traditional than its follow-up, venturing out with unusual time signatures on standards, movie themes, and hits of the day. It has Richards on vibes and all percussion, David MacKay - piano and organ, John Morell - guitar, Chuck Domanico - bass, and Chino Valdes on bongos nd congas. 'New Sound Element - Stones' goes much further 'outside' into a trippy world of synthesizers and oscillators which produce frequent 'effects' during all 12 compositions by Richards. Or as Johnny Carson would say, "That's some wild, wild stuff." As such, it's the more sought-after of the two by current collectors. Richards on synthesizer and all mallet instruments, Paul Beaver on Moog synthesizer and clavinet, David MacKay - piano, Bill Plummer - bass, Mike Craden - percussion, and Joe Porcaro - drums. Beat heads probably also have Richards' 'Journey to Bliss' (1969) and Bill Plummer's 'Cosmic Brotherhood (1968), both on Impulse. (You can see the progression from these 1967 Uni albums.)

Let it stand as is. No need for changes. I sent it to a professional journalist buddy who responded, "Brilliant!" For those having difficulty with the non-sequitur crepes rant, would you expect sequentially rational thinking from a madman?

The Eagles and crepe-themed captions matched the video superbly, esp. when you riffed from the sounds of the German words. Given that the video sequences and audio dialog are beyond alteration, you went nicely with the hand as dealt.

As HutchFan and Dan Gould noted above, the ordering of RSD items by each store varies, as does the certainty of shipment. (These are limited edition goodies, after all.) At 8:45 this morning (they opened at 8), I got the last copy of Tamba 4. (It could well be the only one they ordered -- I had to wade through vast duplicates of meat-and-potato rock items.)

Picked up 'California Soul' today and it's a sublime successor to 'Samba Blim'. It was $29 at my local indie Record Store Day. Mastering is by Kevin Gray at Cohearant and the vinyl is a solid black 180-gram. The jacket comes with a very informative insert sheet with details of finding the original tapes (as posted above) and why it never saw release until today-- 50 years later.

Only for instances of job interviews and airline flights, otherwise never in 66 years. I'm heavily right-hemispheric. Good topic, BTW.

In the original edition from 1988, Keepnews held his cards close and refrained from naming names. Since he still had one foot in the biz, Keepnews was careful not to disparage anyone who might hire him for future projects and deals. The book is basically a reprise of Keepnews' liner notes rather than an insider's tell-all of the record industry.

The DownBeat article of 4/12/73 cited above, 'Duke Pearson's Back In Town', is confined to the re-emergence of his big band on Sundays at the Half Note in December 1972. Blue Note records are mentioned just once in reference to Pearson's previous big band LPs for the label. The only hint of future activity is that his Sunday night band might, once established, complement the Jones-Lewis band on Mondays at the Vanguard.

Joe Biden heard earlier today: "Listen, I've taken enough shit from Castro and I sure don't need a box set of it! Joe Biden may well have thought that. I couldn't possibly comment." :-)

'Culture Factory' appears to be a French label -- located a mere stone's throw north of Andorra. Their chutzpah in using the tag 'Blue Note Collectors Edition' is perfect for pulling punters.

Stan Kenton did this electrifying version (after 3:34) on his 'Live at Redlands' album, August, 1970. The band goes wild at 3:34 after a lame attempt singing the basic lyric -- waving their arms in circles at the point of "looking at the sun". I had the pleasure of sitting front row center when they did this at Boise State in 1972 and it was indeed a thrill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM6HacD_5hu

A quote from a 'Seinfeld' episode might apply: "Yes, they're real... and they're spectacular!"

The Master of Ceremonies interrupted the program with, "Paging Mr. Johnson... Paging Mr. Johnson." During the intermission, the MC announced, "Our guest conductor needs no introduction." Afterwards, the performance received a standing ovation.

Two days ago marks the 5th Anniversary of Lauren Bacall's passing. Y'all must be feeling some lingering 'tugs' from the great beyond. Or visit your nearest Tuesday Morning and say, "Miss Bacall sent me. You'll need to apply a 25% memorial discount."

Two years after Stafford's 'New Orleans', husband Paul Weston did an all-instrumental LP, Crescent City', (Columbia CL-977, 1956) which serves as his quasi-jazz NOLA tribute.

My copy was a mono white label promo from the collection of the (then) general manager of WSB-AM in Atlanta (along with 150 more LPs at $3 each, my biggest score).

Recorded live in Vegas, half of the songs are gambling-related and it seemed they were 'playing to the audience'. For Brubeck completists only. My copy was a mono promo with pasted-on timing strip and yes, I sold it to a completist..

Gregg presented a lasting gift to the Univ. of Georgia about two years before he passed. https://news.uga.edu/gregg-allman-scholarship-to-hugh-hodgson-school-of-music-0115

Mosaic Hines sets missing #1 and #2 seems to be an epidemic. eBay seller bluenotesound has got one with the same predicament. As my mother-in-law often said, "It could be worse."

"So maybe it is across from the cop shop -- you got a problem wit' that?"

Since Herbie Mann gave William Fischer a shot with his own LP for Embryo in 1970, check this out: specifically, 'Green Forever' running up to 4:35 (shades of Tony Williams' Lifetime w/McLaughlin) Guitar and drums courtesy of Hugh McCracken and Billy Cobham. Electronic noodling after 4:36 by Fischer.

Glad you mentioned 'Stone Flute' (1970), which has to be inspired by Miles' 'In A Silent Way'. 'SF' s overall sound is unhurried and very inside. With the help of Roy Ayers, Ron Carter, Sonny Sharrock, and Miroslav Vitous, it's completely atypical of anything else Mann has done. The string arranging by William Fischer and Selwart Clarke take the music out even further. Atlantic entrusted Mann with his own label, Embryo, and gave him full creative control on this.