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Welcome Scott! As I mentioned above, although I know of you, I really don't know your work that well no do I live/die/buy on critic's reviews.....but hopefully you'll stick around and post from time to time.....sure seems to add some excitement to an otherwise dull day!

Mark~

Edited by sheldonm
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My problems with the reissue, which I mentioned in my E-mail to Allen, are that he does not include the personnel listing for the music (which is really a ridiculous omission since this set is primarily for collectors who will want to know who a particular trombone soloist is), the surface noise is often intrusive even on well-known recordings by Jelly Roll Morton, and his interesting and lengthy liner notes often say nothing about particular selections. Many great gems are included on the reissue yet there are no comments about at least 1/3 of them. I would have liked to have learned more, and those who do not listen to early jazz as much as I will come away with many questions that should have been answered in the liners.

I absolutely loved the first set in the series and plan on getting the second when I have the $$$ to do so. However, I must second the comment about the lack of discographical data. I found it to be most disappointing to not be able to check the personnel, especially since Allen did such an amazing job assembling the set overall!

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I won't disagree that a full discographical listing would have been nice - but impossible, given the time factor in producing this set, which took 5 years writing and restoring recordings. Remember that this was a one-man job. I had absolutely no assistance in the writing, compiling, restoring, or mastering, and no financial support.

one more note on Scott's comments; I actually do mention Gene Green in passing in the notes (just looked back at them) in the context of the tune that both he and Bert Williams recorded, Ruff Johnson's Harmony Band. More importantly, as I just listened to the recording again, there is no scatting in it - just kazoo-like sounds which in no way resemble even the things that Cliff Edwards was doing. So much for musical listening -

Yes, not every recording is mentioned in detail - but those which I do not mention specifically I explain in stylistic/regional terms - remember, the book is not a tune-by-tune annotation but a parallel narrative to the boxes.

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yes, yes, sure sure - and by the way - just wondering, Dan - did the confidentiality issue apply to that note you got from your wife?

I posted solely about the implications of the note, specifically stated that I would not share details, and the only details that ended up being mentioned were her off-the-wall reaction to a B.B. King song I played in the car.

In addition to the fact that the contents of the note were not laid out for everyone to see, the purpose was to garner support and advice from concerned parties, not to say "see how much of an a-hole Yanow is".

Good point, Dan.

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Actually the Gene Greene recording I was referring to is the even earlier "King Of The Bungaloos" which definitely has a couple of choruses of scatting near its conclusion. It is scat-singing in 1911! I was made aware of Gene Greene when I acquired From Ragtime To Jazz Vol. 3, put out by the Timeless label. This version seems to be slightly different and a tiny bit earlier than the Timeless one though I need to play them back-to-back.

It's a great record to reissue, so its historic importance (being 14 years before Louis Armstrong's "Heebie Jeebies" and 12 years before Cliff Edwards) should have been mentioned. That was my point anyway, but enough of my nitpicking.

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Since Scott Yanow didn't object to his private email being posted, that should end the debate.

But as many of us have been warned, don't email want you don't want others to see. I sent an email response to an individual who contacted me via email that was perfectly honest, without attacks on anyone, discussing the radio station which I work for. Several others in the community (who had no knowledge whatsoever of the events behind the station's decisions) launched into an online diatribe about it and my personal email was even posted verbatim in a local printed weekly without my permission. I didn't even bother to respond.

A similar diatribe involved a newspaper editor who accused our station of losing half of its listeners. The only problem: he was comparing a Total Market Aribitron estimate survey vs. a Metro survey (a difference of around 24 counties vs. only six). Anyone with such little desire to do basic research needs to be demoted to cub reporter.

Edited by Ken Dryden
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Funny thread. This forum is thick with super savvy jazz knowledge and experience - the kind that can only come with many, many, many years of endeavour. Consequently it sometimes also seems widely populated by cantankerous, grumpy old coots. :P

It's full of something, I'll give ya that..... :w

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"This forum is thick with super savvy jazz knowledge and experience - the kind that can only come with many, many, many years of endeavour. Consequently it sometimes also seems widely populated by cantankerous, grumpy old coots. "

actually, I don't think Yanow is that old -

Gould, on the other hand, is pushing 80 -

Edited by AllenLowe
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"This forum is thick with super savvy jazz knowledge and experience - the kind that can only come with many, many, many years of endeavour. Consequently it sometimes also seems widely populated by cantankerous, grumpy old coots. "

actually, I don't think Yanow is that old -

Gould, on the other hand, is pushing 80 -

Scott hits 52 on Oct. 4th, one day after I do the same...

I'm sure you'll want to send him birthday greetings... :party:

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"This forum is thick with super savvy jazz knowledge and experience - the kind that can only come with many, many, many years of endeavour. Consequently it sometimes also seems widely populated by cantankerous, grumpy old coots. "

actually, I don't think Yanow is that old -

Gould, on the other hand, is pushing 80 -

Scott hits 52 on Oct. 4th, one day after I do the same...

I'm sure you'll want to send him birthday greetings... :party:

And if you'd noticed my birthday thread from one week ago ...

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Much ado about nothing. I thought the original email was curt, yet expressing a critical viewpoint. SY expounded about his point in the thread making it sound reasonable. I have not heard of this set, yet it sounds like a labor of love and should be appreciated by jazz historians. If a major company was putting the same set out for mass commercial sale, a criticism of not a full listing of musicians would not be acceptable. This was clearly not the case here. It seems that SY did not fully appreciate the context in which the set was made. We should merely applaud that the set was a good addition to the history of jazz, which we should all appreciate.

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Jesus Christ! Reading this is unbelievable. This was a private matter that should have been left private and dealt that way, rather than a public display. Whether or not Scott is correct or not, after he was challenged, he had no choice to respond. That doesn't change the fact that the whole matter should have been dealt privately.

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