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Just For Fun


Ken Dryden

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One of the oddities about this April Fool's piece is much of the stuff in the opening paragraphs is true. Everyone there that night remembers Al's putdown of Stanley Crouch, the audience reaction was "Whoaaa..,"  followed by laughter. I even had a brief conversation with Al Lewis before I went up to announce the award for best baritone saxophonist.

These April Fool's reviews practically write themselves once an idea takes hold. By making it so obvious that it's a joke, that cuts down on the email requests to help track down a release.

Some of the ones that did provoke email requests:

Michael Bolton Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (it provoked a phone call from a nameless promoter, who was trying to land the account and couldn't find the ficticious Jazzemup label on the web)

Yanni: A Tribute to Art Tatum (the late Arnold Laubich, the Tatum discographer, wrote me about it and I was apologetic in my reply - He was a good sport and said he should have recognized the gag)

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Frank Zappa (a publicist wanted a copy of the non-existent broadcast I described, though I should have warned Marian McPartland about it, because someone else actually got in contact with her about it)

Another review provoked the artist's attorney to get in touch with me, asking where I had gotten ahold of this "obvious bootleg." Given the ridiculousness of the described recording, it was obvious that the attorney never got in touch with his client about it.

 

Edited by Ken Dryden
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The Al Lewis thing had more than a little credibility going in, though....considering the very real Tina Louise record from the same time (which is not at all a bad record)...who knows got what kind of idea back in the day. And that rhythm section would have been exactly who would have been on that record!

Nicely played, sir!

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13 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

One of the oddities about this April Fool's piece is much of the stuff in the opening paragraphs is true. Everyone there that night remembers Al's putdown of Stanley Crouch, the audience reaction was "Whoaaa..,"  followed by laughter. I even had a brief conversation with Al Lewis before I went up to announce the award for best baritone saxophonist.

These April Fool's reviews practically write themselves once an idea takes hold. By making it so obvious that it's a joke, that cuts down on the email requests to help track down a release.

Some of the ones that did provoke email requests:

Michael Bolton Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (it provoked a phone call from a nameless promoter, who was trying to land the account and couldn't find the ficticious Jazzemup label on the web)

Yanni: A Tribute to Art Tatum (the late Arnold Laubich, the Tatum discographer, wrote me about it and I was apologetic in my reply - He was a good sport and said he should have recognized the gag)

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Frank Zappa (a publicist wanted a copy of the non-existent broadcast I described, though I should have warned Marian McPartland about it, because someone else actually got in contact with her about it)

Another review provoked the artist's attorney to get in touch with me, asking where I had gotten ahold of this "obvious bootleg." Given the ridiculousness of the described recording, it was obvious that the attorney never got in touch with his client about it.

 

I'd want to know the name of the artist on that last one.

And there should be a toasty place in hell for anyone who wants to sell Michael Bolton/Duke Ellington Songbook. (Actually this one shouldn't have been written for fear it would become a reality, following in the steps of Rod Stewart.)

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It's nice to have an air of credibility. What sold the McPartland/Zappa Piano Jazz Not For Sale piece was the fact that George Duke did appear on her program and played a bit of Zappa's "Echidna's Arf" while discussing how much fun he had playing with the bandleader.

I'll have to admit that I had a lot of fun creating Rod Stewart: Just One of Those Things, a tribute to Mel Tormé, as well as the live radio transcription pairing Larry Fine with Stuff Smith: Fine Stuff.

 

8 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

I'd want to know the name of the artist on that last one.

And there should be a toasty place in hell for anyone who wants to sell Michael Bolton/Duke Ellington Songbook. (Actually this one shouldn't have been written for fear it would become a reality, following in the steps of Rod Stewart.)

What is hilarious is that my Bolton review preceded the release of his awful Sinatra tribute on Concord (one of many releases that probably had its founder spinning in his grave). Bolton's vocals remind me of someone with chronic diarrhea and hemorrhoids.

Here's the other piece from yesterday.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/nocturnal-mission-fourplay-provolone-review-by-ken-dryden.php?width=1920

56fd6ca14d9507305d73796da7299005.jpg

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