Chuck Nessa

On Wednesday Ann and I will drive to Detroit (really Westland) to pick up our daughter (Carla) and continue across Ontario to Buffalo (really Tonawanda) to spend the holiday with our son Eric and his new family. He got married in July and acquired a delightful 9 year old daughter in the process. This is our 4th or 5th trip east to spend Thanksgiving with him. He's a chef so the meal and leftovers are always fantastic.

Keep it up. This method is really just a "lifestyle adjustment" to sanity. Keep everything in balance. Nobody likes a "fat cat".

Don't ignore any of the Columbia Rushing dates or the Master Jazz dates - many are reissued by New World. You can get the NW stuff from their website. It's a shame they have not reissued the Julian Dash date with Jimmy Shirley. Also explore the French Black & Blue catalog. It is "hit or miss" but the hits are wonderful.

And I just ordered the 12 disc 78 edition.

Go to "My Computer", select "drive C" and hit "delete". Life be simpler.

I fear that's the way a large part of the world looks at the US.

Amina.

Yes, we all know. Thanks for the memory.

Pontiac.

Sears "Silver-Tone" portable. My only problem is the cover is to small to close while the record is on the turntable. I wish it had a "pop-up" for 45s. I listen to cds in the car. This is a "trick question". Nomatter the answer, someone will "up you" and point out what a fool you are. I'll never tell. Everything is crap, real live music is the answer. Since there is no right answer, anything "reasonable" by your taste, is just dandy.

Thanks Slide - I didn't recognize your moniker! Thought of you today when I saw a picture of Dan in the IAJE mailing. Damn he looks old. If you don't know the Chaloff Uptown, you should check out Milt Gold on the last 4 tracks. He's something else.

My impression was "stronger drums" on the BN sides. Dan, give me some time to think - if you are getting nervious, get in touch to remind me. This is a great opportunity.

Noting the exception of Harry Carney, Serge is my favorite bari player. Blue Serge first (Thanks for the Memory is an all time ballad classic), followed by Boston Blow Up and Fabel of Mabel. After digesting those you might want to move on to the Uptown cd I helped produce. Sound is not the best but the music is special.

Don't have much experience with the reissues but at least some of them are dubbed from the shitty vinyl. They may be 24 bit dubs but who cares. I'll listen carefully to the stuff I have to see if it all seems to come from vinyl.

Anyone here tried to get a diaphragm down? Damn near impossible. I gagged the first couple of times.

Not going through hell and feeling much better. I am 6' tall and went through the first 40 years maxing out at about 180. Around 45 I started adding pounds until I arrived at 247 at age 59. Same deal happened to my wife and she had tried all kinds of diets with temporary success until Feb when she joined Weight Watchers. They have a group at her work. After about two months watching I started to follow her lead. This morning I weighed in a 199. I still have my 2 Scotches at night and don't deny myself anything - just change quantities, exercise moderately and eat 5 fruits and veggies a day. Used to be when Ann called to eat, first thing I'd do is put the butter plate on the table. That don't happen no more. It really is attitude and habits. The edit is to add this PS: Ann is a terrific cook and makes lots of new dishes all the time. She's such and interesting cook she influenced our son Eric who is now head chef at a decent restaurant. (side to Chaney - he's no longer in your neighborhood - he's developing a new menu for ZuZon in Williamsville.) I'm aiming for 184.

Hey, I'm on a diet/exercise program and have lost 45 pounds in the last 6 months. I be eatin' a pork/chicken wrap, etc for dinner tonight. Damn good. Thank god for Ann. She's extending my life.

My understanding: It has been shopped around to almost every recording company for 20+ years and she had no takers. Snippets, etc in bad sound. Not a complete issue worthwhile is my understanding. I think some, if not all, of this stuff has been issued by various labels. I think at least one major label bought something only to find out it had already been issued elsewhere. But then, I could happily be wrong. I think more likely sources are private collectors turning tapes over like the Bird in Boston cd I worked on. The trouble is these guys are dropping like flies and the tapes are being trashed by the heirs. You don't wanna know stories I've heard.

Stop the damn poll. This is an ego trip for everyone involved and could turn REALLY ugly. Not a single person in this series of exchanges comes out "clean" by my standards. As someone who pisses people off from time to time (and I try to sell stuff to all here B) ) I think this is all crap. If anyone wants to leave - GO. If you really want to stay - SHUT UP. Time to drop all this stuff and get back to music.

You might add Von Freeman to 1922.

Aren't they called Aftabs?

Sound is good although I am pretty sure that Chuck mentioned some time ago that the Nessa LP sounded better. Nothing wrong with the Ensayo sound but my mastering guy improved it. Lucky thought so too! The cd is currently available at Berkshire for $2.99. You'd be silly not to snap it up.

I had been talking with the guys about making a record since I returned to Chicago in 1975. First thing I recorded upon my return was a session with Von Freeman. After mixing the first lp from this date I went to Terry Martin's apartment to give him a copy so he could do the liner notes. While there Henry called to see if Terry could make a tape copy of their first date(Air had just done their first date for Why Not and needed individual copies for all members). Henry and Steve arrived a few minutes later and we listened to the wonderful Why Not date as the copies were made. As soon as that was done they wanted to listen to my Von tapes and Steve and Henry laughed in glee throughout the playing. Henry next played as part of a saxophone quartet (Roscoe, Jarman, Wallace McMillan & Henry) for Roscoe's Nonaah project. Suddenly late in '77 Henry called to say they were about to sign a 3 record deal with Arista/Novus and if I wanted to do a date it had to be soon. I borrowed some money and we did the date. They spent about a month in rehearsal for the sessions. We recorded on two successive nights and made sure nothing was touched in the studio between the dates. The most difficult to record was I'll Be Right Here Waiting... Over the two nights we made 7 incomplete takes and 4 complete. Steve kept stopping takes when it didn't feel right to him. The issued version was the last recording from the second night. I just checked the tape logs and was surprised to note that Keep Right On Playing was done in one take with no false starts. Damn! The band had the record sequence decided before the session. When they were ready to start a tune Henry would say something like "This will be the first track on the second side". Fred Hopkins was a very warm "down home" guy. The world is poorer for his absence. Don't know what else to say. I am very pleased with the way we were able to reproduce his sound on the date. This was achieved by recording it acoustically on one channel and taking a feed from his pickup directly to the board. We then mixed the two channels together for the stereo master. I decline rating the record against their other sides...They are all worthwhile. Concerning "how it fits in the Nessa catalog" - it is number 12. B)

First cd I heard (early '83) was a Philips disc by Art Blakey.

Couple of points: The AACM did have "critical coverage" at home. Remember Down Beat is based there, and at least 2 daily newspapers wrote about them. I first became aware of Muhal, etc. thanks to a Pete Welding concert review in DB. That piece prompted me to look them up as soon as I moved to Chicago. The "elders" in Chicago such as Von and Fred didn't need records in the marketplace to be held in high esteem by the younger musicians. One BIG reason the first tier of AACMers went to NY was to lose the mantle of being "local musicians" and all the baggage that comes with that tag. After making the move they could return home and command higher fees.