mmcgerr

For those unsure about what's new, go to the Discography page of Mosaic's web listing and search for "previously unissued." It's not as much new material as I'd hoped, but I still intend to buy. When I started listening to jazz as a teenager, it was the sophisticated thing to look down on JATP. I grew out of that. There are some fine sessions and great moments.

When I was in high school, I saw him play one evening in an NYC club with Mingus. After a certain amount of back and forth, the drummer walked out, Mingus said to the audience "he must have got his period," and then Johnson came forward with his tuba to anchor things for the rest of the night. I was young and impressionable, so it was quite an event. Johnson was wearing sneakers and bounding around with incredible energy.

It's interesting how Armstrong got put down by the mid-60s, considering that many Black musicians in other genres had had little or nothing to say about race. Sam Cooke has been retrospectively re-engineered on the basis of "A Change Is Gonna Come," a one-off moment. Armstrong had his own one-off but very revealing, moment when he condemned Eisenhower's handling of Little Rock in 1958. Berry Gordy, Jr.'s roster of Motown/Tamla artists didn't speak out in the early 1960s. Gordy put out a spoken-word line of records, including King's speech at the March on Washington, but the Supremes and the Temptations? What Black artists appeared at the March? Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson. There were Black musicians in attendance, including Josephine Baker, Diahann Carroll, and Sammy Davis, Jr., but they didn't perform (why that was so is an interesting topic). Duke Ellington? His urbane polish let him do things that Armstrong couldn't--but Ellington's wonderful music about race evoked Black history and "Black Beauty," but was never overtly political. Which makes a point about Armstrong's critical reception. There was a kind of condescension towards him because he was a working-class man of limited education, but he was too sophisticated to fit the beloved white stereotype of the unlettered Black blues musician. Much of the criticism of Armstrong came from non-Southerners, who expected Blacks to carry themselves differently--rather presumptuous, especially on the part of white critics such as Andrew Kopkind. In part because of his experience growing up in the South, Armstrong was understandably cautious about the more violent-sounding side of Black Power. And, as his Reverend Eatmore and "Lonesome Road" records indicate, he was suspicious of smooth-talking leaders who would leave ordinary people in the lurch. In a way, Armstrong shared a lot with James Brown who finally did put Blackness at the center of popular music (rather than the periphery) in the later1960s ("Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud"). Both came out of the South, both believed in Black entrepreneurialism, both believed in "crossing over" musically. Who knows what Armstrong would have been like if he had been born later, but in some ways, his career would might have been like Brown's; Armstrong might have put race more towards the center of the music he created.

PM sent

PM sent for the Nichols.

I have the right issue. The bonus tracks are an R&B-ish date with Wini Brown from 1957. As my friend JazzTrain would say, they're not essential.

Thanks, Ghost! You're on.

Two things in particular: the Shorty Rogers Mosaic set & Ted Gioia's book West Coast Jazz.

Love his Sibelius symphonies, Mozart operas, and the Harold in Italy with Menuhin

Volume 9, "Piano Music," of the Complete Mozart Edition on Philips includes 5 discs of sonatas--all 18 by Uchida, along with her recording of the Fantasia in C Minor. There is also a sixth cd of Uchida playing various short pieces: a couple of rondos, a fantasia, a minuet, etc.

Thanks for sharing the obituary. I admire Leonard's book, which was before its time in a number of ways. That must have been an interesting undergrad course!

According to Jos Willems' Armstrong discography,All of Me, there were only two issued takes of "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams." The uncommon take--take 2--is available on the first Neatwork cd of Armstrong alternate takes (RP2020) as well as the Fremeaux series.

A truly great historian and writer. His books helped shape my life.

I find this site very helpful for comparing all the Amazon sites' prices, including shipping: pricenoia.com

I bought the Fitzgerald set and have this problem, which is not with the booklet but with the cds. Disc 3, track 20, wrongly plays "Wacky Dust." Disc 11, track 4 plays "Oops." Track 7 is "Baby Doll." Track 8 is "What Does It Take." Track 10 is "Two Little Men." So there are some tracks that appear twice on the set and some tracks that are, as a result, omitted. I've written to francois.lexuan@sagajazz.com to see if I can get the discs replaced.