BillF

Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster (Verve)

Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges (Verve)

Yes, Chairman of the Board is a wonderful album. I've recently acquired the early chapters of the New Testament, so to speak, in the form of a 44 track 2CD release on the British Jasmine label called Count Basie Dance Sessions. As is so often the case with best-selling records, critical response to The Atomic Mr Basie is very divided, but it gets my vote with its wonderful Hefti compostions and arrangements and superlative Lockjaw Davis tenor work. But call me prejudiced, as I've never recovered from being on the front row of the Free Trade Hall Manchester in 1958 as the band went through the Atomic repertoire!

Thanks for the sound samples link. Pity they don't include any solo time from the rarely heard Louis Smith!

no evans expert here, but if i got this right one (amazon.de) is single cd live at ronnie scott's on the dreyfus label while the other is a box set live at the village vanguard... Yes, you're right. Looking more closely, I see that the £1,006 item is a 6CD set, which I suppose goes some way to explain, though not justify, the price asked! Still a tad beyond my range, though!

Interesting,Niko! Thanks for that! P.S.The amazon.de version has a different cover design. The priceminister version looks the same.

I notice that the cost of records is coming up for discussion quite a lot; e.g. in AotM, where increasing rarity of some OJC items is becoming an issue. I am astounded to find £1,006 (about $2,000) being asked on amazon uk for a new copy of the Bill Evans CD Turn Out the Stars! Who buys stuff at that price? I admit to having gone as far as £30 on a couple of occasions for used CDs that I particularly wanted. How much have you paid or would you pay? Confessions will be received in confidence!

Spoke with Australian-born tenorman Brandon Allen when he was playing with the Dylan Howe Quintet at the Wigan Jazz Festival in 2006. We both named The Sound of Sonny as a favorite disc.

Bob Cooper, Shifting Winds (Affinity/Capitol)

Don't know about that. Only additional information I have is that the album (Jazz Groove 006) is of "previously unissued concert performances recorded in England, March 1960". I bought it in 1983.

West Coast Jazz in England: Shelly Manne and His Men 1960 (Jazz Groove)

Frank Rosolino Quintet, Frankly Speaking! (Affinity/Capitol)

Bob Brookmeyer Quartet, The Blues Hot and Cold (Verve)

Dizzy Gillespie at Newport (Verve)

Dizzy Gillespie, Have Trumpet, Will Excite! (HMV/Verve)

Milt Jackson, Ballads & Blues (London/Atlantic)

Herb Ellis, Nothing But The Blues (Verve)

No doubt about that, Red!

(Bad) news flash: Evening Standard jazz correspondent Jack Massarik has just announced on BBC Radio 3's Jazz Line-Up that the Appleby Jazz Festival (mentioned so often in this thread) has been cancelled for 2008, following the withdrawal of Arts Council funding.

The Cannonbal Adderley Quintet at the Lighthouse (Riverside) My favorite Adderley Quintet album, not least because of Victor Feldman's sensational piano playing!

Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago (Mercury) (the 1959 Davis group without Miles: Cannonball, Coltrane, Kelly, Chambers, Cobb).

Most unusually, BBC 4's schedule last night read like this: 8.30 Brecon Jazz Festival 2007: Humphrey Lyttelton: Who Else But Humph? New series. The history of the popular music event. 9.0 Legends: Ella Fitzgerald. The jazz singer's life and work. 10.0 Oscar Peterson: Jazz 625. A re-edited performance by the pianist who died on December 23. 10.25 In Concert: Oscar Peterson. A 1974 performance. 10.55 Oscar Peterson: Words and Music. Part of Oscar Peterson Night. 11.40 Oscar Peterson: Omnibus. Part of Oscar Peterson Night. What sort of coverage does jazz get from television in your area?

I very much enjoy the music of multi-reedman Alan Barnes, who plays quite often in this part of the world. I saw him last month in a quintet with Bruce Adams on trumpet and am due to see him again on Monday with Jim Hart on vibes. Alan is a highly entrepreneurial individual who has his own record label, Woodville, on which you can hear him and many kindred spirits, such as Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Harry Allen, Mark Nightingale, Dave Cliff and Martin Drew. Unusually, he is a musician I know better from live gigs than from recordings. Does anyone have any recommendations from Woodville Records?

Yes, couldn't get Organissimo at about 8:30 a.m. GMT and during the morning. Was OK again when I tried after 5p.m.

Ornette Coleman, Ornette! (Atlantic)