Matthew

happy birthday

Check out his other books, too. Thanks for the link, on my way to some book stores this evening.

Thanks, I loved the quote so much that I have to buy the book.

The recent Classic Records 200gm of Peter Gabriel's So. Just a great sound to it.

Joe: Could you please give some more details on The Listening BooK you quoted from. Who wrote it? Thanks.

Even more....

Some more...

Something to get us ready for the hollidays.

Not as heavy duty as some of the above books but I enjoyed reading Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, by John Edward Hasse. It didn't have any great insights but presented a straight forward outline of Ellington's life. It is a good read for the purpose of getting an overall feel for Ellington's life, and now that I've read it, I can go on to some more detailed books on various aspects of Ellington's life and music.

Give me a chance! I'm still trying to get my thoughts together about Jimmy Smith.

Well, I don't think there are too many people in this world that can internalize 40 cd's of a musician like Ellington -- certainly I'm not one of them. The question for me in regards to the RCA box was this: Yes I loved the music I was hearing but how do I get the rest of his early stuff without spending an fortune? This, for me, was the best way to go. It might not be perfect but I'll live. yrs. in more velvet tones. Matt

I know it's a matter of personel taste but I also didn't care for the RCA box either, in fact, I traded it in after a year. Why didn't I like it? Just way too many gaps in the years for me, and too many alt. tks. I am much happier with this History 40 volume set, and am very pleased with the sound quality. One big plus for the History set for me is not alt. tks. I would die a very happy man if I never had to pay for another cd with alternate takes in my life!

For some reason I got to thinking on this question. I know a ton of solo piano records, solo sax, solo trumbone, solo drum, etc, but I've never heard of a solo jazz organ date. Does anyone know of one?

Then there's the great one: Jack Teagarden

Read an interesting fact recently. This cd sold 33,972 units in its first week. Not too bad, and the resaon BN signed Green in the first place. I wonder how Green's numbers stack up to someone like Jason Moran.

Now that would have been interesting. Never heard that before. Anyone else have any information about this? Think it was in some "History of Jazz" book I checked out of the library a couple of years ago. Can't, for the life of me, remember the author.

From the article: Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called later Friday to ask about her sister, and the store apologized and offered to put a DVD player on hold for her. If this isn't the most unbelievable thing I've read, I don't know what is. I mean, does she still get the discount? Looks like it's not just the other shoppers that couldn't give a damn about the woman.

I've decided that I will devote the year 2004 to the one and only -- Duke Ellington. I got my 40 cd set of his early stuff, and picking up cds right and left. So, I'm wondering what lps I should pick up of the Duke? What is on lp only? What sounds much better on lp than cd? For example: I recently saw a lp copy of Uptown in pristine shape but for $40.00. Should I have bought that? Any help from you Ellington nuts would be a great help.

They add up to 79:41 minutes, which, I think, is just too long for a cd. A great two-fer might be these two lps, and maybe some unrealesed live recordings. One of the things I've always wondered about is if there are any unreleased tapes around the vaults. I always read where BN recorded a TON of live Smith in his first couple of years. In fact, didn't I read somewhere the Alfred Lion wanted to quit BN and just follow Smith around taping his concerts?

I just got tired of waiting for Jimmy Smith to come out on domestic RVGs, so I've been buying his JRVGs as they come out. Van Gelder does a great job on them, it's just that they are so $$$$$$. The recent group is very nice.

The JRVG of this is great! To my ears it's so much better that the domestic it's not funny. Same with "Midnight Special", another fantastic treatment By RVG. Why BN haven't RVG'd "... Chicken Shack" & "Midnight Special" is a mystery since RVG is a master at re-doing organ albums. It just doesn't look like it will happen in 2004.

How can you not have Entroducing by DJ Shadow??? I didn't see David Crosby's first solo album either. And all of Big Star's albums are in it?? This comes from some alternate universe right? You know, the universe that the crew of the original Star Trek were transported to, the evil one.

A Baskin & Robbins large Chocalate Milk Shake.

Well, I bought this recently and have begun to listen to this set. I only listened to about 4 cds spread thoughout the set. I'm going back now to to listen to the music in order. Impressions: On disk one, the first ten tracks sound like pure crap. I was wondering if my $90.00 had just gone down a rat-hole. Thankfully, the sound quality really improved after those tracks, and I have to say that, to my ears, the sound is very good (I admit I'm not overly fussy in this area). Everything else I've heard is clear, the instruments are easily distinguished. The downside is that the liners are same of the worst I've ever seen. They list the musicians, date of recording, and that's it. No mention of what label the cut is from, or any other information. The box it comes in is worthless, I threw mine away the minute I got home and put the cds on a self. However, with all that said, this is a great buy. 40 cds of Ellington, well over 740(!!) cuts, with good sound, that covers the first half of his career, all for $90.00, what's not to like? I'm very happy with my buy, and I'm looking forward to many hours of enjoyment.

Thanks for the update Mike. I'm really, really, looking forward to Pullman's biography -- he's a quality writer. I have a feeling that he will uncover aspects of Powell life that will be surprising, which, in turn, will cause a complete re-evaulation of Powell's life and work.