AllenLowe

on the sound issue - let me add that I have French RCA LPs (the Black and Whites) of the Original Memphis 5 and Thomas Morris that are absolutely clean and clear and noiseless - and recorded in the 1920s - I also have an LP of early Jug Bands and Jive recorded on Brunswick in the 1920s and 1930s - that would astound you in terms of recording quality - if we have the masters, the stuff sounds as good (or really better) than new digital recordings - because they were dependent not on acoustic modeling (aka fake reverb) but on the natural room acoustics of the place they were recording - and we won't even get into the issue of condenser microphones; I have, however, proposed legislation which would outlaw all other kind of mikes. Bad recording is the only crime for which I favor capital punishment - slow and painful, like the way they killed Mel Gibson in Braveheart -

let me add that all of the above sounds, to me, much closer to performances I have heard in the flesh than about 99% of current CD-issued new recordings -

"To be able to hear what Bird was laying down at the Dial sessions in modern hi-fi would be nothing short of mind blowing. Same with Armstrong and people like Lonnie Johnson, ect." I disagree with this - because - 1) there's plenty of great-sounding Bird recordings - the Savoys are excellent quality, everything sounds "live" and audible - as are the Verve's - also the Carnegie Hall concert, as well as the Massey Hall - of course, don't forget the Town Hall stuff that came out - crystal clear recordings - AND, I would argue, they sound more like "real" performances than new multi-tracks recorded in isolation with artificial-sounding group spreads 2) there are plenty of great sources for early Armstrong - find the original Columbia domestic LP issues - beautiful stuff, crystal-clear; also, the Deccas were beautifully recorded - real room sound, once again probably MORE accurate than current recordings - 3) For Lonnie Johnson, pick up the Sony Legacy stuff issued 10-15 years ago (from the 1920s) . Well recorded, nicely re-mastered, perfectly clear and clean -

well, it fell out of a window - or maybe it was pushed -

Prices include media mail shipping; paypal preferred, my paypal address is alowe@maine.rr.com email me at that address- Sinatra: The Song is You; hardcover - Will Friedwald $12 Too Marvelous For Words: The Life and Genius of Art Tatum, hardcover, James Lester - $10 Marshal Royal: Jazz Survivor, hardcover autobiography - $8 Chet Baker: His Life and Music - paper, ok condition, j.de-valk - $6

there's an LP that Zim released, recorded in a basement apartment in which one of the pianists is identified as AL Haig - when Haig was asked if that could have been him, he replied: "I'd never go into any basement with Charlie Parker."

well, as Al Haig said about Bird: "he was a pleasure to work with - no problems, no hassles.... ......no money - "

wait - are you sure it wasn't Groovin' by the Young Rascals?

actually, that's a Dizzy tune, not a Bird composition, based on the changes to Whispering. So you all flunk - Big AL is not alone -

actually, that's Chuck Nessa's old address - from when he worked in the Garment District -

Strangest encounter - Jack DeJohnette at Tower Records, NYC, middle 1980s - I said "are you Jack DeJohnette?" and he glared at me like he was a crazy man. Did not answer, just stared like he wanted to kill me. I took that as a "yes."

looks like an interesting project; the whole roots thing is worthy of some deeper examination, as it has become something of a bandwagon thing. Still, if the music is good the music is good, and sometimes you just need a way of getting people to pay attention. Ditto with Clem on Greil Marcus; Marcus wrote one great book, I think, and than proceeded, intellectually, to jump the shark. He just works too hard at it and has succumbed to stardom, in the media/commentary sense. And some of his stuff is just plain silly. As I said, I have some more thoughts on the whole "roots" phenomenon. My main observation is that, from my experience, few of the contemporary musicians who profess to like the deeper aspects of the American vernacular have really listened to a lot of it (Rudd, by the way, is a notable exception). I try to deal with this somewhat on a CD I have coming out in January - I refer to contemporary musicians in their generally shallow deference to roots musical heroes as name-droppers in a post-modernist gossip column. Obligatory reference, big on surface, not a lot of depth. Look at the NPR show American Routes - same three musicians played every week (Ray Charles, Alan Toussaint, Lee Dorsey, I kid you not - almost) - American Music History Light, I call it -

Marcello - I think that's just the way Taylor played, as I saw him on occassion around NYC in the 1970s in addition to working with him later on once or twice. He was a nice guy but a little edgy, so I was never comfrotable trying to discuss anything like that with him.

another musician unfortunately listed as "unidentified" in the original edition is pianist Dick Katz -

definitely - as a matter of fact I remember listening to Barry Harris plays Tad Dameron, I think it was, with Gene Taylor on bass - I worked with Taylor once or twice and he played some weird notes - maybe wrong, maybe just his style, I never wanted to ask - and on that LP, because of the direct-to-board hookup, it just sticks out like a sore thumb -

that's the guy - he was Schlitten's favorite engineer. IMHO he's better than Van Gelder- gets a more natural sound -

way too expensive - I've done plenty of my own CD production and current costs do not warrant such high retail, even if bought through a third party-

I worked for Schlitten years ago - middle 1970s - and he told me his favorite engineer was ___ Goodman (can't think of his first name, but I'm at work and he's on the credits to many Xanadu albums) - whom I think work for RCA/BMG (he later did a fair amount of CD reissue work, I think) - someone should check the liners, as I'm not even 100 percent sure I'm getting the engineer's last name correctly - I think he also may have done some work for Riverside - my point, however, is that, knowing Schlitten, while there may have been other factors, he used that engineer because he liked the sound he got on those "live to 2 track" recordings, something which by now is largely a lost art - and that he may have thought Rudy was over-rated -

stay away from the Ross Russell book - it is a work of fiction -

actually, I've got a motorized wheelchair now -

well, I only bought the earlier ones because they described me as a "cult" figure - I figured, being associated with Charles Manson and Jim Jones could only help sales - sad to say, however, I'm not in the latest edition -

I think he learned that rag from Wynton - who, of course, learned it first-hand -

virtually my entire mastering studio is filled with stuff I bought from Vladamir - honest, no problems on returns, no padded shipping costs, really know his stuff.

Ralph, Vic - who can tell the difference in the dark?

well, I was gonna buy the whole lot, but it's Wednesday, so I figure the sale is over -