Michael Fitzgerald

Golly - I would hope that a live thinking person doing free-form radio would be a billion times better than a randomly-generated shuffle feature. To my way of thinking, the whole point is to make connections and program a "set" that has continuity and growth - shuffle can't do this. The ability to draw from a wide range of genres shouldn't result in just a hodge podge, but should show similarities, contrasts, whatever. In some ways I'm a fan of the free-form idea, but in other ways, when I want to hear jazz, I turn to the jazz station and expect to get jazz, and when I want to hear rock, I turn to the rock station, etc. Mike

I'm missing the argument. Miles became huge based on his Columbia recordings (not his Prestige ones). And the ones that got him noticed in this big way were pre-Teo. Mike

My non-response was two years ago to the day. I did not follow up afterwards and have never heard back. Mike

I wrote to them regarding some proposed material involving Tony Fruscella and Gene DiNovi and received no response. This was several years ago. Mike

The interview was done by Gary Carner and was published in Cadence in January, February, March, and April 1986. Unfortunately, I can't find the January right now, but there is nothing on Chaloff in the others. Mike

There was an article in the NYT on this recently. http://tech2.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/techno...y8Jw&oref=login June 30, 2005 A Used Printer? No, It's a Refurb By MARCIA BIEDERMAN If renovated movie palaces are considered cool these days, why not a factory-reconditioned home theater? A refurbished Pioneer 50-inch plasma television with some previous history fetched $3,300 on eBay over Memorial Day weekend, after an auction that opened with a 99-cent bid. Even Pioneer Electronics, which arranged the auction as an experiment, wondered if the frenzied bidding that quadrupled the price in the last hours was just holiday madness, said Russ Johnston, senior vice president for marketing in Pioneer's home entertainment division. "We're in a test mode," Mr. Johnston said. Pioneer asked ChannelAdvisor, the intermediary that operates the Pioneer store on eBay, to repeat the experiment. Three days into another recent seven-day auction, bids for a reconditioned high-definition 50-inch plasma TV had topped $2,000. Once hidden in the back of electronics stores, "refurbs," as refurbished products are sometimes called, are everywhere on the Web. Eager to recoup their losses on returned goods, manufacturers like Dell, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Kodak sell refurbs on sections of their Web sites or through online factory outlets. And refurbs are proliferating on eBay. "Laptops are probably the king of them," said Karl Wiley, the company's director of computers and consumer electronics, followed by audio receivers, laser printers, car electronics and MP3 players. Most sellers of refurbs on eBay are independent dealers, but big names like the Sharper Image and Harman Kardon also offer them at their eBay stores, either through auctions or at a "buy it now" fixed price. Because sellers use various terms, like "factory reconditioned" or "remanufactured," to describe such goods, Mr. Wiley recommends searching for a product by price. Refurbs typically fall in a price tier just below those described as new. The Pioneer auction may also be the ultimate test for retreads. Some consumers are willing to risk thousands on a reconditioned TV, which, for repairs not covered by the 90-day warranty for labor, cannot simply be boxed and mailed back. The core refurb customer is someone who wants plasma living on a cathode-ray-tube budget. "They're people who have a price they can't exceed," said Liem Nguyen, a spokesman for Dell. Earlier this week, the Dell Outlet Web site offered a reconditioned Dell 1700n laser printer for $124, compared with the $299 Dell price for a new one for home use. Many consumers remain wary of refurbs, despite manufacturers' assurances that they have been carefully repaired and rigorously tested, or better yet, that they are "open box" items, returned by people who unsealed the package but never used the product. In offering refurbs to resellers, manufacturers typically describe them as "NTF," for no trouble found, and "B stock," for those requiring repair. There are no federal laws about the labeling of refurbished electronic goods other than general rules prohibiting false or deceptive claims, said Janice Podoll Frankle, a lawyer for the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Federal Trade Commission. Internet chat boards abound with complaints about refurbs, but, according to Randy Guttery of Meridian, Miss., this is "whining by people who haven't done their homework." Mr. Guttery said he was satisfied with the refurbished computers he bought from Hewlett-Packard and Dell. For the software company he owns with his wife, he has bought a number of heavy-duty Epson printers from an online reseller, the RefurbDepot (www.refurbdepot.com), at a savings of about $1,000 each on items typically costing $2,500 and he has encouraged others to do the same. Mr. Guttery advises checking the manufacturer's warranty for reconditioned items in advance, even when buying through a reseller. A reseller "is nothing but an agent," said Mr. Guttery, adding that he once received a defective printer from RefurbDepot, but that Epson resolved the problem. Judy Silver, a supervisor for RefurbDepot, confirmed that the responsibility for the goods lies with the manufacturers. "The company takes it through a special examination," Ms. Silver said. "Most of it comes to us in a package. We are just resellers." She said her company refers customer complaints to the manufacturer, applying its 30-day return policy at its discretion if a manufacturer fails to resolve a problem. The policy is described on the section of the RefurbDepot site detailing terms and conditions. A number of manufacturers, including Olympus and Pioneer, make their warranties for reconditioned products available on the Web. In many cases, the warranty applies only to goods sold through authorized resellers. Refurb customers can often buy extended warranties. Consumers who swear they would never buy a refurb may already own one. Warranties on consumer electronics often allow companies to replace a product with a comparable one - often a refurb - rather than repair it. This is true whether the item has been purchased new or refurbished. Cellphone insurance policies typically contain similar language. "People should understand this is part of the program," said Michael Powers, vice president for product marketing at Asurion, a leading cellphone insurer. Mr. Powers estimated that nearly half the cellphone replacements provided by Asurion, which provides insurance for many of the leading wireless companies, are refurbs. Apple Computer's battery replacement program for out-of-warranty iPods costs $99 plus shipping charges and replaces the iPod along with the battery, as described at www.apple.com. Critics have asserted that the replacement iPods are refurbs. Apple declined to comment. Loved or spurned, refurbishment is proliferating and becoming more automated. Asurion's refurbishing plant in Smyrna, Tenn., puts cellphones through a reskinning process that gives them new plastic coats and a new screen. And at Costco Wholesale's Electronic Hardware Services plant in Auburn, Wash., carts of computers roll past stations that wipe their hard drives and reimage them, often 20 at a time. Costco offers the refurbished products at its online store, www.costco.com, but sells most to dealers, said Mike Parrott, vice president for corporate purchasing and strategic businesses. "There are environmental advantages" to Asurion's replacement practices, Mr. Powers said. But environmental laws do not always afford special consideration to refurbs. Under the Electronic Waste Recycling Act in California, consumers who buy refurbished computers and televisions must pay a fee to cover the state's cost of electronic waste management, just as purchasers of new products do. ========== Mike

Well, I don't know about taking Miles Davis at his word. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don't. But Stitt was never one for stepping outside his comfort zone. Look at his entire career - he had his thing and he did it, basically the same start to finish. I don't want to give the impression that Kind Of Blue and Giant Steps aren't great records. They certainly are. My point was that they aren't so extreme. Those are instances of jazz that are if not next-door neighbors, then the next town over. I mean, Benny Goodman playing Bartok and then the blues, that's more extreme. Keith Jarrett's career has wider extremes, John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, lots of folks. And the vertical vs. horizontal thing has been overemphasized, in my view. Mike

I am not kidding at all. Mike

Well, he's not from Madrid - he's from Barcelona! Mike

Oh come on - those things aren't that different from each other. Both feature 4/4 swing, chorus structures, tonality of one kind or another. Managing both is a piece of cake - even then. I will certainly agree that Coltrane played absolutely wonderfully on both albums. Mike

Sounds exactly like you don't like *some* rock music. I believe there can be rock music without guitars and vocals. And besides, PF (even pre-DSOTM) does have guitars and vocals and you DO like them. Just because some people clueless about PF history don't know AHM shouldn't convince you of anything. I won't even get into the "then why are you in a rock band" question. Obviously it's just for the money! Mike

Right - what will the impact be on Albert Square? Mike

I think instead of making the artist the limiting factor, they should make the recording copyright owner - so now that there are only what - four? - big labels, you play one by Sony/BMG, one from Universal, one from EMI, one from Warner Bros. After that you leave the remainder of the hour as dead air as a memorial to the fallen. I mean, does the RIAA actually know of the existence of the little labels? Do those guys ever get a piece of the pie (or even a crumb)? Mike

OK.....so how is it that you can say you don't like rock music? Mike

I propose that the date of the above is c. June 1968 since Jordan (the limiting factor) was in Recklinghausen, Germany on June 14. He was in USA in May and July. Mike

Abrams is indeed on Fanfare. Mike

It's this one: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000...0337155-8093854 or http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000...0337155-8093854 unfortunately, unavailable. Details: http://sudo.3.pro.tok2.com/Quest/cards/C/C...eraHouse_x.html Mike

I happened to be reading the old issue of Jazz Forum, but actually, the interview is online. http://hepcat1950.com/footprin.html [Of course, Ju-Ju is 1964.....] I think I referenced this in the Shorter biography thread. Mike

I have very fond memories of hearing him many times with the Kenny Barron Quintet, which was a great, very underrecognized band - Eddie Henderson, Stubblefield, Kenny, Cecil McBee then David Williams, Victor Lewis. Every member had a strong personality and there was a great deal of contrast possible, but they worked beautifully as a unit. Boy, Stubblefield got around - recordings with Jarman, Braxton, Miles, McCoy, Gil, Hemphill, Ibrahim (and many others), and then some serious straightahead stuff with Louis Hayes and Nat Adderley! That's quite a resume. Mike

I guess we can hope to learn when the *other* session for ESP 1022 occurred. When did you get this from Brown? In my experience, some people are good with dates and sequence and some people are way off. Just saw an interview with Wayne Shorter where he was placing Africaine (with Blakey) as around 1962 - it's from 1959. Mike

Perhaps *released* before Ascension? I'd have to look into it. Maybe ESP had a quicker turnaround time than Impulse? Mike

I happened upon this, about halfway through, on New Jersey Network tonight. Saw some of the Paquito, all of the Wein, and then a young singer Renee Olmstead (apparently she is a TV star on CBS and she's a sophomore in high school). She sang OK, absolutely nothing special, then got all gushy about being in the presence of legends. I guess I have a bit of a problem with a high school sophomore singing "Taking A Chance On Love", having taught high school. It just isn't convincing to me. They tried to present the idea of getting youth into jazz, but a panel of old folks (and sorry, these aren't the biggest names just the ones who have stuck around instead of dying) with no audience - hmmm. Why not a live setting? Paquito played clarinet in a duet with electric bass, definitely rehearsed, but not any tune familiar to me and I am pretty sure no first-time viewer would take much away from that choice - nothing memorable. Where were the subtitles giving title, composer, names of musicians, etc. I mean, even MTV has those bookend credits. The stories I heard were fine, mostly standard things, Wein on the NJF, some stories about Billie and Pres, etc. The final question "Where is jazz going?" - Oh my god, are we still asking that one? No one was all that inspired to answer it. It's a stupid question. At the close, they played together (Wein didn't play, unfortunately), which could have been a good thing. Unfortunately, it was under the credits, and ended up being only something like 4 choruses total on the blues. Very sloppy and not all that inspiring. I'll try to catch a rerun to see the whole thing. I'm still surprised that no one has anything to say about this. Buehler? Mike

I believe another pianist Marc Cohen was already on the scene. I suspect these guys are mixed up in the discographies. I don't know enough about each of them to separate out at this point. Mike

From 1958, all arranged by Lennie Niehaus (not in any Mosaic). As the title implies, it's Broadway show tunes. Mike

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...73-570e35e61ba6 Jazz bassist Pierre Michelot dies at age 77; recorded with Miles Davis Canadian Press Monday, July 04, 2005 PARIS (AP) - Jazz bassist Pierre Michelot, who recorded with Miles Davis and arranged music for Chet Baker, has died, a fellow musician said Monday. He was 77. The bass player, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, died in Paris on Sunday, said pianist Rene Urtreger, a member of Michelot's longtime jazz trio, HUM. Michelot played with Davis on one of the great soundtracks of the 1950s, for Louis Malle's classic thriller Ascenseur pour L'Echafaud (Elevator to the Gallows). He recorded with artists including Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke and Django Reinhardt, and he arranged music for Baker's 1955-56 Barclay sessions in Paris. Michelot was considered Europe's best jazz bassist in the second half of the 1950s, Urtreger said. "He had a magnificent natural sound, clear, deep and true," Urtreger said. "It was a dream to play with him." Originally trained in classical piano, Michelot learned bass as a teenager, then performed for American troops stationed in France after the end of the Second World War. He was highly sought-after for concerts by American musicians in Paris in the postwar years. Michelot had a role in French director Bertrand Tavernier's 1986 film Round Midnight, about a musician on the skids in 1950s Paris. ======================= http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html Jazz bassist Pierre Michelot dies 05jul05 PIERRE Michelot, considered one of the best bass players in Europe who performed with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, has died in Paris at the age of 77, his family said overnight. Michelot died Sunday after battling Alzheimer's disease for several years, they said. Born in 1928 in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, Michelot recorded and toured with Davis and worked with other American and French jazz notables such as Sidney Bechet, Stan Getz, Thelonius Monk and Lester Young. The double-bassist, whose stylings were featured on the soundtrack to Louis Malle's 1957 masterpiece Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud (Elevator to the Gallows), also recorded with the swing guitarist Django Reinhardt just weeks before his death in 1953. ======================== Mike