Ted O'Reilly

The multi-talented and determined Bill Kirchner is getting some due appreciation, and my friend -- bassist and blogger Steve Wallace -- is in the lead. http://wallacebass.com/a-portrait-of-bill-kirchner-part-one/ I look forward to Part 2, whenever it shows up...

That would be Hal Hill, who died about three years ago. He had a once-weekly jazz show over the years that ran on a couple of just-out-of-Toronto cities; did a bit of record distribution and worked in a Sam The Record Man franchise jazz section; took over John Norris' Jazz and Blues Record Centre in downtown Toronto for several years; started and ran the Markham Jazz Festival (Markham's a satellite-city); and made a record or two of his favourite players over the years. Hal was a very nice man, and a big fan of Art Pepper, and I recall him being at the Bourbon St. club every night Art played there. Most likely did the interview there, or at his hotel. I talked to Art, too, but don't have a copy of the interview. All 300+ that I did over the years were on the shelf when I left CJRT-FM, but I have no idea if they survived management changes and studio moves.

https://www.utoronto.ca/news/born-be-blue-u-t-music-experts-who-helped-ethan-hawke-play-chet-baker The young trumpeter, Ben Promane is the son of Terry Promane, a fine trombonist/arranger/composer who also teaches at UofT...

The trumpet work is ALL done by Kevin Turcotte. He was tasked with playing a la Chet Baker, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. All the music was pre-recorded, of course, so to help distinguish the players Turcotte used a harmon mute for Miles' solo. I guess nobody noticed that, so on-screen Miles is on an open horn. It was finally recognized in the editing process, so a year later, Turcotte had to go back in and re-recreate Miles, this time without a mute. For the record, the music was done by pianist David Braid, with Turcotte as the horns, Steve Wallace on bass, and as noted earlier, Terry Clarke on drums. ...and Ethan Hawke did the Chet singing himself.

...and such a great cover!

Sometimes you just have to go back to the good stuff...even if Mezz is there

Certainly not the Corporations who now own Rights once owned by individual creators. It ain't Art, it's an asset!

Of course, "stride" players have powerful left hands...Donald Lambert, Dick Wellstood, Ralph Sutton, Don Ewell, Dick Hyman, etc.; even the elegant Claude Hopkins and to a certain extent Teddy Wilson.

Apparently there are deep copyright issues. (Gotta make sure the Irving Berlin estate et al. stay wealthy!) Speaking of collections: https://tonedeaf.com.au/aussie-built-house-for-record-collection/

Just an odd-ball thought, Larry: both Georgie Auld and Ross Macdonald were Canadian born, and both were known by pseudonyms. Auld was born as John Altwerger, Macdonald as Kenneth Millar. Boy, we Canadians have to hide to get into the USA! (When Shaw allowed Dick Johnson lead the Artie Shaw Orchestra in the early '80s, he came to Toronto for a gig the band did at the Royal York's Imperial Room, and I did an interview with him. He was still VERY proud of himself.) (Another quick memory of that...Johnson was a Brockton, MA native, with the broadest accent of the area you can imagine. The story is that he phoned a musical supplies company to get covers for the band book. You know, "The Artie Shaw Orchestra, led by Dick Johnson". What arrived was "The Ottie Shore Orchestra, led by Dick Johnson".)

Sure -- he's a friend, and I've done concerts and recordings with Ed for more than 40 years. He's been retired for a long while now, but I still talk with him every now and then. He's much-lauded and admired around Toronto and one sees him about concerts and clubs occasionally. Ed's always been a bit of a hermit, though. We used to think that if it hadn't been for his lovely outgoing wife he'd be happy just playing his wonderful music in his basement. With a fine photographer Pat LaCroix (who's had a singing career as well) we created "Toronto Jazz Treasures", a portrait book with bios of 100 jazz masters here. Ed's picture is, appropriately, the first! This video includes the shot as the book is displayed... http://www.torontojazztreasures.com/

Yes! Though it's variable album-to-album, the version of Satin Doll on disc 2 is the only one (other that the original Duke version) that I can comfortably listen to...

The Farnon album is wonderful! But I know that Gene Puerling LOVED doing the album with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass. Probably did with everyone else too, but LOVED working with Rob. (Gee two great Canadian arrangers -- Farnon and McConnell...)

Well, welcome to the Niagara Frontier Chuck! Some quick trips over the border to Toronto and vice versa should be under consideration. Yup, "beef on weck", but also real Anchor Bar chicken wings! (And the Albright-Knox Gallery -- one of the good ones!)

This is a terrific series -- the sort that's so small it's universal. I'm looking forward to Series 3!

The original release of this was in Japan and Canada only... The Atlantic rep in Toronto was a friend who sent me a pre-release Japanese pressing, and I convinced him to put it out in Canada. I did the liner notes for it, but of course the current CD release is strictly Japanese. mjzee has it exactly right: sophistication/fire!

Happy Birthday! Sorry our window of opportunity was so narrow on your trip to Toronto. Let's hope we can meet up next time you're in town.

What about the Chicago Jazz album of 78s from Decca? Wasn't that a specific album project c. 1939/40 from the young George Avakian? (PS: my copy of the Granz package -- numbered somewhere around 4500ish -- is in much better shape that the copy shown above. Was a mouse chewing on it???)

Maybe a lot are gone, but not all. And not erased...they would have saved as kinescopes, which are films and thus not 'erasable'. Allen really did invent *late night TV*.... Here's the first one:

A good one! If you're a Red Garland fan, you'll get a kick out of Mark's playing...

I recorded for radio broadcast a Toronto concert (1987.06.25) by Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya, and recently sent him the masters... It was a fine concert, and releasable, I'd say, though the material is all 'the usual' for the band. That band, incidentally was Abdullah Ibrahim, piano & voice; Dick Griffin, tbn; Carlos Ward, alto/flute; Sonny Fortune, tenor/flute; Charles Davis, baritone/flute; Essiet Essiet, bass; Victor Jones, drums; and Ricky Ford, tenor (who played elsewhere with another band that evening, came to sit in on the last set).

Greed? Gotta pay for TV downloading? Washington Post putting together a defense fund?

I've long admired this one -- "Christmas with the New Black Eagle Jazz Band" from two decades back... Think I'll play it right now!

I recorded Milton Sealey at Café des Copains in Toronto, in what was supposed to be a solo piano performance, but he had brought along an amped bass box of some description (played with pedals a la an organ) which I hadn't anticipated. I only had two mics, direct to digital recorder, so the bass box did naught but muddy the sound. He didn't wish to play without it, so the end result was somewhat unsatisfactory. I went out of my way to get this one, on the recommendation of Gene Di Novi, who approved mightily of Jimmy Jones' solo performances, but it didn't get to me the same way...

Okay, Ron Carter.... But who is Ron Cater???