Michael Fitzgerald

Here's a thought - how about an online index? If you'd like me to host it on my website, I'd be more than happy to. Mike

Nothing so far as I can tell. Possible entries in the Social Security Death Index are: 1922-1986, 1922-1995, 1922-2001, 1923-1993, 1925-1996, 1932-1982. Only the last has a residence of NYC, but 1932 would be young for someone recording in 1947. Then again, could be still alive. Don't know anything more about this guy. Mike

Thanks for your diligence. A real drag that this kind of confirmation isn't possible for everything since the LOC now allows sound recordings to serve as deposits. Mike

It was recorded over four consecutive days at Avatar Studios in NYC. But then there's mixing, mastering, (the credits also list "post-mixing and pre-mastering"), rehearsals, parts copying, copyright registrations and other administrative things - and remember, the cost of other big band sessions might not include the pressing, packaging, printing, photos and design artwork, etc. that are necessary for a completely self-done issue. I don't know it for a fact, but I imagine that MS pays her musicians very well to get them to make themselves available when needed. Could be over and above the going rate. Mike

A quick check of discographies does not turn up a John Handy trio album - bassists on mid-late 1960s Handy records include: Don Thompson, Albert Stinson, Bruce Gale. My guess would be Gale, on the Projections quintet album from 1968 (the prime period of Kofsky ranting). Mike

The Lima and Garbanzo Foundations demand equal time. The Pinto would have too, but someone rear-ended them and they blew up. Mike

Dialectics? No, man - I'm not into that L. Ron Hubbard crap. Mike

Yes. It's the real deal. It looks great and has so much stuff that I haven't seen before (the Chicago Tribune material). I'm really liking the organizational aspect - it's not just a bunch of essays, there's the grouping that helps create some meaning. I also like the fact that subjects are revisited. I think this will be a book that will really have some influence (at least I hope it will). It's not just parrotting back the liner note conventional wisdom - there's thought here, individual thought - which is not all that common in these kinds of pieces. In paging through I find so many things that are interesting - for example, talking about Donny McCaslin in 1986! I look forward to digging in this weekend. Thanks Larry! Mike

Well, sort of, but not really. The Friday listings are selected and annotated. So today has 20 pop/rock and 11 jazz events. The old Sunday listings had many many more and it wasn't so "elitist". Fridays used to have a few short blurbs similar to the new Friday, but that was in *addition* to the Sunday spread. Mike

Well, considering that the Lincoln piece isn't about water, has no mention of "sun becomes rain" etc., doesn't have anything in Portuguese - yeah, I'd say that was definitely a WILD guess. Mike

The NYT has been in serious decline in recent years. They are trying to be "hip" and "with it" so we get dumbed-down articles by ignorant writers (not to mention just plain made-up news stories by irresponsible "journalists"). They even have a little gossip column called "bold face names" where you can read about all your fave stars - they're catering to the People magazine crowd. The loss of the arts listings is so damaging in a long-term way. Where I can go back and find who was playing in the clubs decades ago through their excellent online archive, now it will be as though today's gigs never existed. The Blue Note is pretty much the only club that can still afford to advertise in the NYT and the jazz reviews have been cut way back, so you're not going to find an ad, you're not going to find a review. The listings were the last bastion and now they're gone. The "improvement" is a smaller selection of annotated listings - which means the "big-time" shows (Lincoln Center, etc.) will get even more of a piece of the pie. They can afford to advertise, they get reviewed, they'll get mentioned in the new annotated listings. The hugely diverse cultural offerings will appear to have disappeared. I strongly encourage signing the petition. Mike

But the project's scope was dramatically altered. With Verve it was planned to include all the Impulse recordings, the Freedom Now Suite (licensed from Candid), and the never-issued outtakes from Freedom Now which are in the possession of a private collector. The Mercury LP of Roach with the Boston Percussion Ensemble would have been included too. Also, photos would have been much more varied, rather than all from one source. But after years of no activity at all, at least it's good to have what Mosaic issued. Mike

The 1962 performance is of the Howard Dietz & Arthur Schwartz standard tune. Mike

Most's first recordings were done in 1953 for Prestige, then Debut. Mike

I think Chuck was talking about paper sleeves with rounded corners, not the abomination that is basically a clear plastic bag (rounded on one side, straight and too long on the other). Mike

The influence was acknowledged. The notes to the first album: "Serenade to a Cuckoo is this Roland Kirk one which was the first thing Ian learned to play on flute (so he says) - it's probably all right." I mean, just the fact that they include a RRK tune on the album tells me they're paying tribute. I bet RRK got some nice royalty checks as a result. Sometimes Anderson made sure to deprecate his own playing in regards to RRK: "Anyone who compares me with Roland Kirk obviously does not understand what Kirk is doing. Roland Kirk is a jazz musician who leans heavily towards blues — loose, free blues. Technically he's a master of his style and he certainly understands his instrument. Now I don't have a style; but I do have a sound. The fact that I use my voice with the flute doesn't mean I'm imitating Kirk. Really, the comparison is irksome. He's been playing flute for years — many, many years. I've been playing flute only since 1968. I don't even know the mechanics of my instrument." http://www.tullpress.com/db25jun70.htm Here, he notes that he was playing before he heard Kirk: http://www.jimnewsom.com/IanAndersonInterview.html Now, I think that Sam Most got the vocalizing thing with the flute on record before Kirk did. Can someone confirm that? Mike

I thought it might be a ploy to avoid having the LP deleted from the catalog. Snip, Snip, Snip...."Hey...." Mike

All right, next question: what about Traffic's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" and "Shootout At The Fantasy Factory" - what's the deal there? http://www.connollyco.com/discography/traffic/lowspark.html http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=258880 Mike

This is incorrect. Anderson plays harmonica on only three tracks of the first album (Some Day The Sun Won't Shine For You; It's Breaking Me Up; Song For Jeffrey). He plays flute on all the rest (6 - including Song For Jeffrey), save for the two where he plays neither (the Mick Abrahams features: Move On Alone; Cat's Squirrel). Mike

For those interested, all sessions in the following Mosaic sets are now entered in BRIAN: Clifford Brown, Monk Blue Note, Herbie Nichols, Bud Powell. Mike

The (very fallible) Lord CD-ROM lists Off The Wagon as a track on a 1966 Dick Morrissey date (w/Harry South, Phil Bates, Bill Eyden), on Mexican Green by Tubby Hayes from 1967, on the album in question, and on a live set from 1969 by Hayes. [i believe a reference to a tune of this title by Tony Martucci in 1992 is unrelated.] Change of Setting is only listed on the World Record Club issue. As expected, the (nearly as fallible) Bruyninckx CD-ROM info is identical. There is an additional 1999 performance of a tune titled "Off The Wagon" by Theo Travis live at Ronnie Scott's. Now that might be unrelated, might not. Mike

Egads - could we please check a REAL source? That crappy Goldsher book just used my information anyway. Art Blakey chronology on my website. Peterson worked in the Art Blakey Jazz Messengers big band in 1983. Also guested at two shows at the 1988 Mt. Fuji Festival (one combo, one big band. Mike

Any chance we could just leave that idiot over at All About Jazz? He's not here and that's a good thing. I like the questions that are being raised about whether the Jazz At Lincoln Center mission is a worthy one - how about asking whether a high school jazz competition is a good thing. How about asking whether Duke Ellington's music should be the ONLY music performed in this competition. I mean, yes, it's great to get those charts out to schools, yes, Duke Ellington is wonderful, but - THERE'S SO MUCH MORE!!!!! And I like even more "The Band That Reads The Blues" sobriquet. Mike

FWIW, my CD of "For Members Only" is CDCHE10 issued by Mastermix Music Ltd. Tracks are: Dear Johnny B. Finky Minky This Is All I Ask For Members Only Dolphin Dance You Know I Care Mexican Green Conversations At Dawn Nobody Else But Me Dedicated To Joy Off The Wagon Second City Steamer Unfortunately (?), I picked this up used for a pittance and the booklet was missing, so that's everything I know from the back insert. Mike

She is indeed horrible on this album. Emmylou Harris, on the other hand, is quite wonderful. I'm not overly impressed with this one. Some OK things, but I certainly disagree that this is up there with EC's best work. At the same time, I picked up Il Sogno, the EC classical album with his music for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Again, not too impressed. There are thousands of basically unknown composers who deserve a record on Deutsche Gramophone conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas more than Elvis Costello who is a rank amateur in this area. I mean, it's not horrible to listen to, but it's rather boring and noticeably "diletante" in things like orchestration. Ooooh - what about a piccolo trumpet! Ooooh! Composition majors at college get that kind of thing out of their system by the time they're done with their "student works." Another particularly bad aspect is when EC tries to write jazz. He does it a couple of times in Il Sogno. He just plain doesn't know enough. He's out of his depth. How I long for something like the Bacharach album where Costello had someone who was eminently qualified in the area of music composition, arranging, and orchestration by his side (sometimes only figuratively). Mike