Ted O'Reilly

Have we had this one? "Definition of perfect pitch: when you throw a banjo in the trash can, and hit an accordion."

I agree, likely a promo set. I have a similar set, for a different reason. The late Torontonian Gord Grieveson was an acknowledged Nat 'King' Cole expert and collector who supplied quite a bit of the material for the Mosaic set of the complete Capitol Cole trios. I suppose he was repaid in kind: several sets that he could keep or sell to his own advantage. He was kind enough to offer one to me at a quite reasonable price, and I grabbed it. In place of the number, his name is hand-written.

When I was at a public station here in Toronto, I offered to play listeners' favourites when they made a donation. One of the telephone volunteers passed on a request for "Big Spider Beck". :lol: So it wasn't the listener who sent in the request that way but some clueless typist transcribed the listener's phone call like that?? (Sorry it has taken a couple of days to get back: internet troubles). The volunteer who took down the request was a young fellow, about 14 - the manager's son, as it happens - and he was a burgeoning blues fan, so he heard what he wanted to hear, I suppose. Likely had never heard of Bix, and besides, who would ever name their kid Bix? (Other than Randy Sandke, of course ).

I have a friend here in Atlanta whose screen reader had the hardest time pronouncing "Bix Beiderbecke." It came out something like "By-der-be-kee," with the emphasis on the second syllable. When I was at a public station here in Toronto, I offered to play listeners' favourites when they made a donation. One of the telephone volunteers passed on a request for "Big Spider Beck".

Maybe a good term could be "Artisanal"... Meanwhile, I'm glad to see that "conservative" music itself isn't being whacked around. Raymond Chandler, in a novel's preface said "Only a hack tries to break the mold. A true poet tries to go as big as you can within the fold..."

Originally, that article said the concert started with "Dave Brubeck's Caravans", but that was corrected. It further stated that Brubeck was in Kabul in 1952, corrected to 1953, but that's still wrong. Brubeck was there in 1958.

I'm with you, Larry... The only acceptable versions for me are the original Ellington version on Capitol, and (again on Capitol) a great blues-drenched chart by Onzy Matthews for his big band's Blues With A Touch Of Elegance. It has a passionate tenor solo by Curtis Amy. Fortunately it made it to CD in a Mosaic Select.

Here's a two-piano effort: Harold with the young Geoff Keezer...a live recording in Toronto that I did for Sackville Records.

Have adverbs become extinct? It's been years since I've heard one...

Is this band angry that Blood Sweat and Tears was taken, and had to go one 'better'? And couldn't they have managed to toss in 'fart' somewhere?

In The Hot Kid, set in the '30s, the lead character, Carlos Webster has a sit-down chat with a young jazz piano player: Jay McShann! http://www.elmoreleonard.com/index.php?/novels/the_hot_kid1//=

Just looking at the website, it seems to be the orchestral versions that Ellington recorded on a few occasions, but no credits are indicated for the arrangers. Probably given on the CD. It's possible that the suite "The River" is the work of the late Ron Collier, a fine Torontonian who worked a lot with Duke after Strayhorn's death. On the occasion of Ellington's 75th birthday, I produced a for-broadcast concert with a large orchestra conducted by Collier, including the world premiere of his orchestration of The River, which ran about 30 minutes in length. The BPO/Falletta on the Naxos runs a bit over 20 minutes, so it could be a different version. I see that Salvatore Andolina is noted as a clarinet soloist on a couple of the performances. While he's a 'legit' player, he also performs in jazz settings, and I have an impressive tribute to Benny Goodman that Andolina released about15 years back.

"And I'm guilty in this case, too. I do not own, nor have I heard (in fact, have not even heard of it) the Tale of the Fingers CD you mentioned." It's a good one -- see if you can search it out. I accept your description of 'obscure': too bad that so many people think jazz only happens in the US, or the UK....

John, you're right that they're both very good, but I'm not sure I'd call any release 'obscure' with those musicians contributing, to say nothing of the fact that I wrote the liner notes for Volume One! (There's also a Volume Two, which doesn't include Cedar but does have Ellis Marsalis, Cyrus Chestnut, Oliver Jones, Kenny Barron, Barry Harris and Renee Rosnes as pianists with Dave on bass. Cedar is a particular favourite of Young, 'cause there's yet another trio release not yet noted: "Tale Of The Fingers" (Justin Time JUST 143-2) with Cedar, Dave Young and drummer Barry Elmes, recorded in Toronto on Feb. 24 & 25, 2000. It features two of Cedar's compositions: Bremond's Blues and A Bell For Bags. It's a terrific 'groove' album, and I recommend it highly... Edited to add that the duo releases are all on Justin Time, and Walton's NPS is one of the three tracks Young and he recorded for the duet project.

Is it this one? Yes.

Back in post #35 I wrote "I have a 1971 live-in-Tokyo album that was only issued in Japan (and Canada!) that has some good stuff, too -- Sam Brown's on guitar, with Tony Levin on bass." It has been quite a rarity, but no more! Organissimo member Tony Reif informed me that it's just been released as a CD in Japan, so I've ordered it (Atlantic WPR-27379) and await its arrival. I wrote the English liner notes for the Canadian issue, but I doubt that they'll use them, if they're even aware that they exist. I'll have to figure a way to get the Japanese notes translated.

There's an interesting album done in Toronto (Evans' birth city) in early 1985, called The Mother Of The Book. A medium-size band, co-led with Glen Hall it was released on CD as InRespect IRJ009302. Gil's on various keyboards.

I found it interesting (way back when) to learn that Fats Waller had to expand his quintet into a big band because the demand was for big bands, not small groups like his six-piece gang. (BTW: When did the word "Combo" go out of fashion?)

Consumer Reports gives the highest rating to Costco...

Agreed. Bill Evans' Peace Piece rates highly, too...

Wow. Incredible prices on those. I'll bet the shipping charges are high, though. Might double your cost, but it still may be less than other sources...

Gene DiNovi is alive and well and still playing great. I saw him last week, and he talked about playing once (at 15!) with Bird... BTW, he's been co-operating with a good writer (Jack Batten) on a biography. Gene has a remarkable memory, so it could be a darn good book...

Close then.. Geez that's a funny idea of "close". Dildo to the Manitoba border is about 2800 miles (4500 km), not even half-way across Canada. London to Tel Aviv is about 2200 miles (3500 km) apart, but would you consider them to be "close"? But then your tight little island is 874 miles (1,407 km) long. EVERYBODY'S close...

I'll be 15 in September. As for the "jazzers are junkies," the hypo needle is a reference to the album title. Nope, the needle ain't referring to Doctored super sound. Not when the first track is The Man With The Golden Arm -- ever see that flick? And not according to Peter Appleyard, who should know. (No doubt the record company used your argument) But right you are about Lotus Land -- a lovely, lissome version. There's an Amazon edition? I didn't think any of it was ever issued on CD. That Calvin Jackson Quartet was a long-time working ensemble in Toronto, and it was easy for them to record two complete LPs in three NYC sessions in the summer of 1955: the eponymous "The Calvin Jackson Quartet" (Columbia CL756) and "The Calvin Jackson Quartet -- Rave Notice" (Columbia CL824). Both LPs fit neatly on my CDR, running just under 70 minutes.

Geez, TTK, are you 14 years old? "AWESOME!"?!?!? It comes from a period when 'jazzers-are-junkies', and that cover added to the slur, suggesting all jazz was drug-ridden. So I say, tasteless, at least...