AllenLowe

direct quote from an old friend, who was one of the first house pianists at Motown: "The Four Tops were a jazz group first, like the Mills Brothers. One day I was sitting with Stevie Wonder on the front steps of the office and these guys came in with shark skin suits; next thing we knew, the Four Tops were a pop group."

Garment did hire Haig for the bar mitzvah - when I worked for the Jazz Museum in Harlem I asked him about this -

hmmm.....maybe it was Kubek to Richardson to Skowron -

just as an aside, and I don't know if it relates, but Bob Mover told me some time ago that his fellow musicians considered Eager to have a terrible ear -

weird thing about Earl Palmer is, if you read his autobiography, is that unfortunately, in that jazz-musician way, he puts down virtually all the pop people he played with as being beneath the music he really wanted to play - this really bugged me when I read it -

uhh, is that Michele Mercer, above? not exactly an uninterested observer, re-the Shorter book (she wrote it) - see Mike Ftizgerald's posts some time ago for his take on the problems with that book - Francis told me some time ago that he is working again on the Coltrane book - I will be talking to him this weekend and so will get an update on other activities - other than that, I do not believe he contributes to Atlantic anymore, but I will ask about it - the Voice gig is definitely over -

I never mentioned that session, Chuck - is that in the box? haven't listened to it for a while - though the most interesting stuff in the box for me is Eager on alto - I was thinking of the Handyland session where he sounds bored and tired -

he was terrible at Newport, too - but than, he was sounding weak and unfocused after about 1954 -

there's a very decent tv movie based on Kovacs' life, with Jeff Goldblum as Kovacs -

and someone once pointed out that Richardson to Tresh to Skowron resulted in a LOT more double plays than Tinkers to Evers to Chance -

I still have his autographed picture which I got at a signing at Mays Department Store, maybe 1966 -

they do include the "missing" session with Billie Holiday, but she's not in very good voice - the only interesting thing is the appearance of Jo Jones on an out-take of Freddie the Freeloader - the book is ok but naked pics of Miles are just not my thing - also could have done without the copy of his 1957 tax return -

when I was first listening to bebop in the 1960s, Eager was this elusive and legendary figure and I tried to locate him to do an interview, even went so far as going through the phone booke and calling people with the same last name - and than Dave Schildkraut told me Eager's family had owned a Catskill resort called Eager's Garden, but that was out of business. I even had a recurring dream about running into Eager and Lester Young at the West End in New York - finally Eager came to NYC to appear at Newport/Jazz in the early 1980s, I think, and I found out which hotel he was staying in and I called him up and he turned out to be one of the biggest jerks I ever spoke to, so I gave up - oh well....

when I saw him at the Fillmore (one of the nights they taped) I was standing in the lobby during intermission and my friend whispered to turn around, and there he was right next to us - not very big, and he looked like he was wearing a red velvet rug - my friend tried to get me to say something to him but I was too intimidated - his glasses were the size of overgrown mushrooms -

there are parts that are different - however - the main thematic intervals are the same - I would sue - but than, I need the money -

they are identical melodies - Bags Groove and the Odd Couple Theme -

I've been working here 6 years - I figure no one will fire a psychotic Jew with a black belt, frequent LSD/Vietnam flashbacks, a prosthetic leg, a glass eye, 4 shotguns, and the nuclear launch codes to several silos in the Midwest -

I don't know if it's just the way that picture looks on the internet, but it sure explains a lot of things..........

you're right - actually I'm Spartacus -

I'm assuming she still looks like that -

even better, can I get HER phone number?

I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE I'M CLEMENTINE

by the way, I always liked his stuff but was surprised Milt Jackson never sued him for the Odd Couple theme (think Bag's Groove) -

I met Hefti when he first moved to Brookline Massachusetts, probably around 1975, 1976 - I was writing for a music paper and went to interview him - I met his wife, Francis Wayne, a beautiful woman - he explained to me that for years she had been trying to get him to leave Hollywood as she hated the place, and he finally agreed, but as soon as they moved East she was diagnosed with cancer. It was very sad, because as I recall she died not long afterwards -

I think it's ok as long as she wasn't an Arab -