Stereojack

Superb pianist! Took some heat from some critics because of his prodigious technique, but I think he backs it up with great ideas and powerful swing. Made a series of great albums for Contemporary (all available on OJC); also recorded for RCA, Atlantic, Pablo, & Roulette. I heard a few years ago that Capitol was going to reissue the two Roulette albums on one CD, but AFAIK it hasn't happened. Shanachie has released a great TV appearance he made in the early 1960's on VHS, don't know if this has made it to DVD yet.

Coleman Hawkins & Roy Eldridge At the Opera House (Verve)

Perhaps the same reason Johnny Hodges stopped playing soprano sax?

Many of these albums were issued long after Cash had left Sun. I believe many of the later releases repeat tracks from earlier ones. If these are programmed exactly as the original LP's were, there's going to be a lot of duplication.

And I'd bet that these are long term sales figures. Each of these records has achieved the status of an acknowledged classic, which has helped their continued sales over the years.

When Sonny Rollins signed with RCA back in 1961, it was for a figure that was considered to be pretty substantial at the time (can't recall the actual amount). I don't believe that "Alfie" was any more of a "hit" than a number of other Rollins LP's; it appears that Mr. Crouch is talking through his hat again. And as for the Marsalis reference, I'm with you Marty!!!

After Connie Kay's passing the MJQ did play a number of gigs with Mickey Roker and later Tootie Heath. Did anyone here ever hear this lineup?

I've been a satisfied Netflix customer for almost 2 years now. We were originally given a 6 month membership as a gift, and continued our membership after the gift period ran out. In the time we have been members we have seen a price increase and then a decrease to below the initial price. We are very happy with the service, and in a few instances when the disc arrived damaged, the replacement process was smooth and hassle-free. The turnaround time is usually 2 or 3 business days. Netflix has revolutionized the movie rental business, and Blockbuster and a few others are getting into the act now. Netflix is now offering a wider variety of plans to suit the needs of individuals, responding to the competion, I guess. I've been a 3-at-a-time member all along, and it works fine.

Canyon was primarily an R & B label. Swamp Dogg's first album "Total Destruction To Your Mind" was Canyon 7706. Swamp Dogg produced Doris Duke (2 LP's, I think) and Irma Thomas (at least one single, no album) for the label as well. I think the label was owned by Wally Roker. There is also a Canyon label which features Native American recordings - no connection.

Mine is not the current edition. I have the series of paperbacks with the brownish covers that came out in the 1980's.

My edition of Bruyninckx says November 5, 1957, San Francisco. I'd be willing to bet that this track can also be traced to Fantasy, but somebody's gotta sit down and compare tracks, and I just don't have the energy.

Bruyninckx has it wrong. "Jazz Latino" is actually "Bill B" from the Fantasy LP "Jazz at the Blackhawk". It runs 6:50. My edition of Bruyninckx shows "Jazz Latino" as being from the 1/20/57 Blackhawk session, but what Mr. B doesn't know is that it is simply a retitling of one of the tracks on the LP. Years ago I had a Crown LP that featured Dave Brubeck and Cal Tjader, among others. The Brubeck track was entitled "At a Perfume Counter", and the Tjader was "Jazz Latino". Eventually I determined that the Brubeck & Tjader tracks were from Fantasy, and once I had the Fantasy albums, there was no need to keep the Crown record, so I can't confirm the catalog number. However, I can tell you with certainty that these tracks are not exclusive to Crown. "At a Perfume Counter" was actually "Crazy Chris", btw, and I see that Raben does show this as being on Crown 5056/5288 as well as the Fantasy issues. So I guess that the Crown LP I had years ago was the one that was offered on Ebay.

There are different versions of this available. My copy is a little different from yours: 1. Crazy Time (aka Crazy Chris) 2. Blue Lou 3. Body and Soul 4. Cold Night 1. Journey's End - Cal Tjader 2. Big Boy (Part 1) 3. Groovin' High 4. Wash Out Big Boy - Lighthouse All Stars - June, 1952, location unknown Shorty Rogers (tp), Milt Bernhart (tb), Jimmy Giuffre (ts), Frank Patchen (p), Howard Rumsey (b), Shelly Manne (d) Groovin' High - "Just Jazz" All Stars - April 29, 1947, Pasadena, CA Howard McGhee (tp), Sonny Criss (as), Wardell Gray (ts), Dodo Marmarosa (p), Red Callendar (b), Jackie Mills (d) Cold Night - this track also appears on Crown 5008 (Jazz Surprise) as "High Time". The track features an R&B style tenor sax, no idea who it is. Wash Out - again, no details, but the alto player sounds an awful lot like Jackie McLean. Another track by the same alto player (These Foolish Things, issued on a Stan Getz LP on United) has been accredited to Sonny Stitt in some discographies, but I believe that this is false.

I had the pleasure of having Jimmy as a guest on my radio show one afternoon back in the 1980's. Needless to say, it was a delight and he was a gracious person who was happy to reminisce about his many experiences in music . I saw him a few more times in the following years and always enjoyed his company. This is very sad news.

The Commodore album is from a broadcast and has pretty good sound quality. It was first issued as a 2-LP set in the early 1980's, and later included on the Mosaic set. Kelley's playing is quite extraordinary, somewhere between Art Tatum and Lennie Tristano if you can imagine that. Unfortunately the music is hampered by a very mundane clarinet player (who happens to be the leader of the session), a Benny Goodman wannabe. The Arcadia album, not actually issued by the IAJRC but by a prominent member of the organization, Dick Raichelson, on his own label, is marred by poor sound quality. Some of the tracks were made on a defective tape recorder which did not erase what was previously on the tape, so there is interference. Still, it is worth checking out since there is so little Kelley in existence. Years ago I read an article about Kelley in Down Beat in which a broadcast of "Flying Home" from 1948, I think, was mentioned and praised. That track has yet to surface, to my knowledge.

I can't speak for other Monk compositions, but Brilliant Corners was definitely spliced together. Apparently the musicians were introduced to the tune at the recording session, and just couldn't make one flawless take.

Oh man, what a terrible day. NHOP and now Stan Levey. Just last week I was listening to "This Time the Drum's On Me" in the car and marvelling at Stan's beautiful playing!

Actually both are correct. Newborn's name was actually Phinus, pronounced FINE-us, but kids in high school used to taunt him and call him "fine-ass", so he changed it to the more conventional Phineas, even though his friends still called him Phinus. I heard this from his brother, Calvin Newborn.

Another Robison tune I like a lot is "'Round My Old Deserted Farm". Teagarden's version was the first I heard, but my favorite version is by Mildred Bailey, who also did a pretty nice version of "Old Folks".

Theo-lonious Monk Winston Marsalis Lawrence Marablay

I guess I ought to mention that most of the Charlie Parker & Lester Young stuff that was issued on this label has been issued elsewhere, so there is nothing to get excited about there. However, there were some good records by Cecil Payne, Mundell Lowe, Yusef Lateef, Duke Jordan, and a few others that are worth having. It's funny - this label started out as a deluxe label with laminated gatefold covers, and ended up a cheapie budget label by the 70's.

I share everybody's enthusiasm about this set. It doesn't get any better. These have been admired as audiophile quality recordings since the LP era, when there were only four volumes. The albums were originally released on Contemporary, a label renowned for great sound quality. It is to Fantasy's credit (and to remastering engineer Phil DeLancie) that the CD's came out so good. I do have a few quibbles with the programming choices for the CD bonus tracks. Each of the four original volumes contains an alternate version of a tune on the set. It seems to me that they could have put these tracks on different volumes just for the sake of variety. Volume 5 was created for CD, and includes a tune "How Deep Are the Roots", creited to Horace Silver. I've been a Horace fan for forty years and have never heard of this tune. Does anybody know its origin?

Booker T was married to Priscilla Coolidge, sister of Rita. Made several LP's as "Booker T and Priscilla".

I was gonna name this one but Harold Z beat me to it! As an rhythm section, these guys are the best. Always economical, always in the groove.

This is true - I have seen a few. I believe that when Lion & Wolff sold the label, they may have turned over whatever label stock they had, and it was used up on the next releases. Liberty pressings with New York USA labels are rare, but they do exist. I have seen certain collectors refer to these as "originals", but I suspect that they were pressed concurrently with the more common Liberty pressings.