Justin V

Happy birthday, Mr. Shorter. I saw him for part of a set at the Detroit Jazz Festival two or three years ago. I had to leave after about half an hour to catch the Heath Brothers. I've been waiting to see him again in concert, but he hasn't hit Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo or Pittsburgh since.

I have the Mosaic reissue, and there is no explanation offered for the track's absence.

Be on the lookout for a Gigi Gryce giveaway at AAJ in the near future.

Great news! I recently checked on Amazon to see whether it was available for a reasonable price, but the domestic release wasn't listed yet.

I think that Woody Shaw combined the pure excitement of Lee Morgan with the fat tone of Freddie Hubbard. I only have dates with him as a sideman, though, which is a major oversight considering how much I enjoy his playing.

WKNR is pretty sad, so I'm glad to hear that there'll be another option.

According to his website, Brubeck has canceled all of his performances and it taking a medical hiatus for 6 months. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery.

On the other hand, Brown gets to choose between allowing Palmer to retire, or getting something in return for him. I think that Palmer is overrated, but that would work in the Bengals' favor. Having finished last in the division, they could use the pick(s) or player(s). However, with other teams rapidly snapping up quarterbacks, the market for Palmer's services is dwindling. So Brown has a player who doesn't want to be there, a frenzied market where almost any QB is getting snapped up, and he...shoots himself in the foot by being a hardass and gets nothing for Palmer. There's a reason why the Bengals were recently voted the worst professional sports franchise. Elsewhere on the quarterback front, I'm interested to see where Orton ends up. He is the Rodney Dangerfield of starting quarterbacks. I would love to see the Browns pick up Orton or Vince Young as an insurance policy for Colt McCoy. Vince Young can be a basketcase, but he wins games. If he goes to the Eagles as rumored, he'll have a good chance to play given Vick's injury history.

I'm torn on the Palmer issue. In December 2005, Palmer signed a contract extension that added 6 years to the 3 years that were already left on his contract. "Hopefully this is the last place I'll end up playing," Palmer said. "That's so rare in this league these days. It's so rare to see a person have a 5-, 8-, 10-, 12-year career in one place. And I feel very fortunate that it looks like that's going to be my future." Things can change over 5 years, which is why he shouldn't have signed such a long term contract. On the other hand, Brown gets to choose between allowing Palmer to retire, or getting something in return for him. I think that Palmer is overrated, but that would work in the Bengals' favor. Having finished last in the division, they could use the pick(s) or player(s). However, with other teams rapidly snapping up quarterbacks, the market for Palmer's services is dwindling.

RIP. I've been impressed by what I've heard of him. The Manhattan Fever reissue, which featured a ton of previously unreleased material (with some early George Cables), is OOP and well worth acquiring.

I planned on making my first trip to Chicago to catch this concert, but car problems derailed that plan. It should be a great night of music, though. Vonski deserves the attention, and the lineup is top-notch.

as always, we hope and pray that sad sad news about this magnificent musician is not true. + 1

I hope that they'll stream the Odeon Pope Septet (with special guests Billy Hart and James Carter).

Does anyone have an opinion of the '84 reissue versus the '08 reissue as far as sound quality goes?

I've gotten various autographs in person, through running AAJ contests, buying online or stumbling upon them in stores: Jimmy Heath, Ira Sullivan, Gene Ludwig, Walter Norris, Henry Grimes, John McLaughlin, Mundell Lowe, Giuseppi Logan, Chick Corea, Louis Hayes, Wayne Escoffery, Johnathan Blake, Gene Bertoncini, Joe Locke, Uri Caine, Bobby Few, Wayne Krantz, Buster Williams, etc.

There's the Hank Jones/Oliver Nelson album, Happenings, which also features Clark Terry. Hank Jones plays electric harpsichord on many of the tracks. I've only listened to it once, but that might be because I acquired so many Hank Jones albums around the same time that I enjoyed more readily.

I've been listening to this in my car quite a bit. It's a strong blowing session with a fine song selection, including two tunes by Charles Moore(!).

I love Nash's playing, particularly on Jim Hall's Magic Meeting and Tommy Flanagan's Sunset and the Mockingbird: The Birthday Concert. Hell, he even recorded with Don Pullen (Random Thoughts, with James Genus on bass). Nash and Victor Lewis are really the gold standard for their generation of drummers.

I just purchased a 60s copy of Journey into Fear at a library book sale. I've found it a little dry at the beginning, but I think that it has potential and I plan on finishing it. I love the cover of this particular edition, which seems to have been abandoned in favor of less striking artwork:

A Google group page actually says that he is recovering from a stroke: On Jun 23, 11:07 pm, "gordo" <gordo...@comcast.net> wrote: > FACEBOOK is reporting that Jack has died................. Just spoke with Jack Sheldon at 8:15am (Pacific). Recovering from a stroke, but very much alive. Rumors of his death have been greatly exagerrated! - Kevin Gershan (Entertainment Tonight) kevin.gers...@cbs.com

I would have to add Hammett to that general list, of course (Hammett's The Glass Key is a rarely mentioned gem). If I had to pick one novel from Hammett, Chandler or Thompson, I'd pick Thompson's The Kill-Off, but James Crumley's The Last Good Kiss would also be a candidate for best novel. If I wanted to go with living authors, I'd go with Ellroy's The Black Dahlia or Paul Tremblay's The Little Sleep. By the way, fans of Hammett/Chandler/Cain/Thompson/etc. should check out Ross MacDonald. MacDonald's Lew Archer novels are underappreciated and consistently engaging. EDIT: Tremblay's The Little Sleep is from the 21st century. I'm keeping my mention of it so that someone picks it up.

And now Jon Hendricks is sitting in with the Tardo Hammer Trio for at least one song. He knows how to light up a bandstand.

I was watching the Stein Brothers 'Double Barrel' Quintet (Alex and Asher Stein both on tenor) before Fedchock. It was unexpected to see two young guys coming out of the Hawkins school (they even played 'Bean and the Boys'). The Smalls live feed is a godsend.

I don't own any dates led by Sheldon, but I have enjoyed what I've heard of him. It's good to hear that he is still around.

AAJ is doing a Live at Birdland giveaway.