AllenLowe

I would pick certain Deccas where the trumpet is out front and in full solo dressing - this is where Louis sounds best to contemporary ears - try Eventide, for example. If you have my set look at circa 1938 - can't remember which tune I used, but it's a great solo. Or the big band stuff from 1929-33, incuding Stardust - or listen to his solo, only, on Sweethearts on Parade - sounds like bebop, I kid you not - in terms of source material, I will say what I have said before as I work on my latest project - there are some astonishingly good LPs made of this material and other things, issued in the 1960s and 1970s, when they still had the original masters and before they started doing bad restoration work. It's such an unmitigated pleasure to listen to some of this stuff, it has a clarity and definition that begs for listening, hiss and crackle and all. For example, the LPs of Morton's Generals sound better than the CD reissue because they obviously had original parts; same with the Billie Holiday Commodores. Even an old 10 inch of Jay McShann had a better sounding Hootie Blues than the CD reissue -

"Why Won't This Clear Up?" "Venereal Disease for Dummies" (not the inflatable kind) (a book I am currently working on)

"For sessions (QQ), (RR) and (SS) we were unable to obtain the original sources because of a devastating fire that claimed the life of metal parts, lacquer discs and various configurations of tapes. This is why we have had to utilize second generation LPs and CDRs as transfer sources for this set." so much for original recordings - I've already got lots of good Decca LP sources - will not pay for something I can do just as well myself -

"Chuck Nessa: Moldy Fig"

"Chris Albertson's Bar Mitvah"

"Englewood and Lowe: Just Friends"

Maine: Not Everyone is Married to Their Sister (apologies to Tom Keith)

Genocide: Good or Bad?

the solution: asbestos pants -

try CVS -

just for a digression, I agree that Ram Ramirez was a terrific pianist - I saw him many times at the West End -

is that the Hot Line?

true, true - beyond that (and I should write this in small print in case Peter Keepnews is reading this site) I remember once that an excerpt from the Monk bio was actually printed in the Voice - and it just was not, sadly, very good at all -

yes, page 8 is the Holy Grail -

yes, we need to see that book before it ends up filed with Keepnews' Monk bio -

well, I have a theory that Brian is really Murray and that, in fact, there is no Brian Wilson; whoever "played" him was just a front because Murray was too old to be in a rock and roll band (and let us not forget his reminder that "I'm a genius too"). I mean, has anyone here ever seen Murray and Brian in the same room? and for all we know, Murray might have written most of the Beatles' stuff -

where are you located? There's a guy in Boston who's pretty good, but if he has to do any traveling he gets expensive -

well, where I work, bewildered as they are by this Jew-out-of-water who works for an insurance company in Maine (and also by one nice lady who had never seen a Yid before), they call me Professor. Unfortunately I have yet to be awarded tenure - or a decent salary.

for all his dopiness, some of Murray's commentary is pretty good - at one point he says to one of the boys, "whatsa matter? Make too much money, buddy?"

maybe it's a typo for "third rate mono."

well, sorry to bring it up, but Englewood was probably right - I'll never let you guys hear the end of it -

by the way, I am finding Young on a bunch of old Decca blues cuts as I work through my new project -

well, Mr. Beach Boy Sr. and his wife were both from another planet - years later someone asked the wife what Charles Manson was like, as he'd spend a bit of time around her with son Dennis. "Charlie," she said, "had such a nice smile."

contains an article about the blues

it is true that at the time I saw him he was going in and out of it (Barry Harris told me, later, that Monk would start a conversation with him, stop talking, and pick up the same conversation 6 months later as though nothing had intervened) -