Chuck Nessa

Hope you have a good audience. Best wishes for the new year.

Don't have the new ones - just some of the older titles.

I had the pleasure of producing a reunion concert of the Ray Charles band - Fathead, Hank Crawford, Hog Cooper, Marcus Belgrave, etc. After the gig, at a party Hank kissed me on the friggin' lips to thank me for the experience. Fathead took two steps back.

Ornette on Fathead is an ugly image at this late date. Thanks for the message.

I'm watching a tiny spider drop from my ceiling to my field of vision. Any guesses about the outcome?

Happy you are home. "Producers" don't play gigs, so I'm home free to stay out of the way.

J Fred Muggs Fred Anderson Anderson Cooper

An old favorite - Wesley Wallace playing No. 29.

Linemen?

We get to use the heated seats a bunch up here. Glad you be home safe. Guess you didn't need to clear the driveway.

The main problem with all these lists is they are predominantly limited to discs received as promos. Most of these folks don't actually seek many out.

Your Subaru looked mighty frosty this morning.

Got in at 7:30 tonight. The drive was uneventful but we were greeted by 10 inches of snow in the driveway and a 2 foot ridge from the snow plows. Had to park in the street and dig to get the car in the garage. How was your drive?

Had the good fortune to hear Paul McKee (Free For All) with the Des Moines Big Band last night. They played a number of Free's arrangements and he displayed his beautiful sound on the trombone. He writes some damn fine charts.

Brother Woodman?

For folks coming on board post RT, he was our resident "print morgue". Always something of value.

Welcome back and continued recovery!

Not on BN.

Find the Commodore solos and the Good Time Jazz session The Lion.

No JR connection (though I went there with him to see Coltrane at the Plugged Nickel) but Eddie Harris was very much an Chicagoan.

Had one tonight - w/ american cheeze, onion slice, ketchup, dijon mustard on flatbread. Dandy.

You win!

Intervention!

No. I started buying jazz in 1959 (when I was 15) and that was the first Buddy I encountered. The lp (stereo - red vinyl) was stolen from my dorm room in the summer of 1962. About 2 months later I saw Conte in Des Moines with the Shelly Manne group and told him of my loss. He told me to meet him at the hotel later and he'd give me a new copy. I waited in the lobby and he came down (with Russ Freeman), sat down, talked a while and gave me another copy (mono, black vinyl). He said Crown gave him a box to spread around as promotion. I had an opportunity to tell him this story about 20 years later in the Jazz Showcase. He was in town for the Chicago Jazz Festival and caught a gig at the Showcase. I spoke to him at the bar between sets. He was sitting the bar with Jaki Byard. He thanked me and said he remembered. Not sure about that. He did buy me a drink.

I think I know someone with one of those coughs on a napkin!