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Great to see Ozzy's obituary on the front page of today's New York Times. The obituary continues inside the newspaper (it fills up an entire page inside the newspaper). Of course I bought a copy.

Anyone read the Grasse biography? I just saw it on a bookstore. Wavering on whether to buy, in the process of looking for reviews. Looks like it's a near exhaustive discussion of recordings, but not really a bio. In which case I'll likely pass and hope for interlibrary loan availability.

Well recorded in the first year, released in the second. . . .

That's a weird record...a lot less CTI-ish than I was expecting. More like a really good club band, One of the earliest CTIs though, right?

One of my most treasured BN releases. I paid about $30 for mine 16-17 years ago, which was a deal at the time.

Fats Theus “Black Out” CTI Supreme King Records Japan cd Bass – Chuck Rainey, Jimmy Lewis Drums – Idris Muhammad Guitar – Grant Green Organ – Clarence Palmer, Hilton Felton Saw – Eddie Moore Tenor Saxophone – Fats Theus Recorded at Van Gelder Studios. Recorded July 16, 22, 1970.

More Moravec & Chopin: - Barcarolle in F# Major, Opus 60 - Etude in C# Minor, Opus 25, No. 7 - Mazurka in C# Minor, Opus 50, No. 3 - Mazurka in C# Minor, Opus 63, No. 3 - Mazurka in A Minor, Opus 7, No. 2 - Mazurka in C Major, Opus 24, No. 2 - Mazurka in A Minor, Opus 17, No. 4 - Scherzo, No. 1 in B Minor, Opus 20

Now on my turntable: Chopin's Ballades performed by Ivan Moravec, as heard in this set: Exquisite. I've been on a Chopin kick lately. Sounds like I should track down that Cherkassky recording.

The American Jazz Institute presents Mark Masters Ensemble “Peggy’s Blue Skylight” Capri Records cd Arrangements (arguably “recompositions”) by Masters of Mingus and Mulligan material. A real showcase for the system–superb engineering.

Next up:

George Robert-Tom Harrell Quintet “Cape Verde” Mons Records cd Alto Saxophone - George Robert Bass – Reggie Johnson Drums – Byron Landham Flugelhorn, Trumpet – Tom Harrell Piano – Dado Moroni Recorded live in Rheinfelden, Switzerland on September 24-25, 1992

Now spinning:

Taormina is nice. You should have taken of the photo of the theater wall with the Etna in the background.

Sorry for the typos - my keyboard sometimes doesn't accept my light attacks. Tjader had put the focus on Latin Jazz in his performances during those years, for commercial reasons - that's what most audiences expected. Vince Lateano complained for a more varied repertoire. BTW- like all drummers before him, he learned Latin drum styles and timbales from Tjader and the respective conga drummers, Willie Bobo and Johnny Rae being the exceptions. Tjader played his beloved straightahead jazz on the following albums, two to four tracks each; see my discography for details. The latter was his last session, the only jazz outing by Japanese pop singer Anli Sugano. She has a nice voice and fares surprisingly well in this context. It was recorded in California, but released only in Japan. One more interesting item is Tjader's paricipation in an all star tour through Japan for the Aurex Jazz Festival in 1980. Tjader was not very fond of cutting contests which ended up in virtuosic technical display, so it is surprising and somewhat admirable how he managed to turn the performances of fast tunes to his taste by playing shimmering cascades of vibes chords and the like. These were only on LP in Japan, compiled from several concerts. There should be some unreleased material, but I doubt we will ever hear this.

Thanks for this.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 85. Works by Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss.

Since I’m spinning Impulse Japan SHM-SACD Duke Elllington John Coltrane

I intend to be there.

RIP, Prince of Darkness. Big fan of Black Sabbath’s first four/five discs and of Ozzy’s two first solo discs. As already mentioned, they were able to initiate and define a style. And they were so influential for so many groups for decades…

So do I. I'll give it away. This is just so much better sounding on my system.