Ted O'Reilly

Good one, Neal! If only Wills didn't put all those yee-haws in there...

Hmm.... Maybe not the best, but certainly much under-recognized, except as the singer of "When You Wish Upon A Star"... And I've not seen Jack Teagarden's name mentioned yet. He's someone I like to listen to. It seems to me that jazz instrumentalists make the best jazz singers. I don't think Sinatra was a jazz singer (though he could have been), but he's certainly the Best Interpreter Of Light Verse in the 20th Century, slightly edging out his idol, Bing Crosby (who's more of a jazz singer than Frank). BTW, here's some Ukelele Ike fun, with Buster Keaton fingering the uke...

Things have gotten worse since 2002. Bottom Line Radio.

Sorry, white people are never cool. It's one of Newton's laws. James Newton?

On my radio programme twenty-plus years ago, the late John Norris (of Coda Magazine and Sackville Records) and board-member Don Brown and I used to get together at the end of the year and play our Best Of The Year selections. We decided to do one show with New Releases, and to cover the quandary you face, to make the second show Reissues and Archival Recordings. We felt that put the newly-available older material was better placed with its more contemporaneous music. It seemed a fair way to handle it...

(Is that like THE Ohio State University, that I hear footballers shout out on their intros?)

Geez, Jazzjet, I don't know about that. I think there are many, many jazz albums that have 'album integrity', a la *themed* music choices -- whether standards or originals -- or as suites. I produced a record with the late singer Trudy Desmond which followed a love affair beginning to end via the songs selected and the mood of the tune. They were all *just standards*, but I heard it on a 'shuffle system' once and it all seemed wrong. (Maybe I was too close to it). As to the second point, why not go out and support music in person? No recording matches being in the room when the sounds are being made, it seems to me. And I know that's not always possible, for many reasons, but I've often regretted buying a recording, but rarely hearing it live... And I hate MP3s, and the way most music is recorded these days. I like a bit of air around the sound.

I don't understand when the "Papa" thing came in with Jo Jones. I never heard that until v-e-r-y much later. If it was to clear up confusion with Philly Joe Jones, it always seemed the "Philly Joe" was enough of a qualifier. Another thing, re: names that bugs me is calling Ellington "The Duke". Uh-uh. It's just Duke...

Where is Lee playing at? The Charlie Parker 10th Memorial Concert, 3/27/65 at Carnegie Hall. Doesn't this belong in "...Listening to?". 'Tain't a bit like going out to *see* music being made before your very ears. For me, the John MacLeod Rex Hotel Orchestra: http://www.johnsjazz.ca/index.php. They play at the Rex on the last Monday of the month...

It should be the "Horseshow TAVERN", actually. Is this a typo, or is the misspelling on the package? (I think I was there for some of this -- coulda been at the Edge, though... Presented by 'The Garys'?

That used to bug me when I was doing radio stuff. If one played a performance recording (I can't call them 'live' recordings -- all performances are live, save Nat & Natalie Cole ) you'd never know if the timing included applause, or how long the applause would run. Could be a problem when you're up against the clock. It was a little better when CDs came along, as the player (at least the pro versions) had lots of time-read possibilities, and lots of cuing- and stop- options). Just while I think of it (maybe this should be a separate entry) (and I again show my computer ignorance), why is it that when I play some CDs in my computer the track info shows up on one programme (RealPlayer, say) but not in another (Windows Media, say)?

I thought you were going to tell us to Go NAD.

I see cylinders, 78s, LPs, all types of tape on the shelves in front of me... The only things I truly can't listen to are MP3s. No matter the source, any MP3 gives me the shivvery jitters for some reason. Don't own an ipod device, can't abide the sound whether through earbuds or speakers. As others have noted, in the long run the music is what pulls your ears and heart and mind into the experience, and I seem to (after a moment or three of aural adjustment) be satisfied if the music is good. I listen around the problems or something...except MP3s, of course. I know that when I put on Vic Dickenson Showcase on UK Fontana Vanguard series LPs from the '60s, or the FNAC CDs of it, I think I'm in the room with the guys, and it's Dec. 29, 1953. There's one or two mics, and the terrific band balances itself. Real Music...

Weren't they brothers? And Norm also played piano...

Sideways! Can't watch it. Isn't there a way to rotate these things, or am I the only one who's bugged by it?

I think the version of "Red Door" by Zoot and Al on this record is one of the most deeply-swinging things they ever did!

There'll be a lot of duplication for me, but Mosaic sets are always worth having!

Be sure you try to find some of the many recordings Ralph put out on the late John Norris' Sackville label (some of which I recorded). He made solo, piano-duo, trio, piano-with-drums-and-trumpet (Bob Barnard),-soprano (Jim Galloway). I think City Hall records is the best current source for Sackville material. ( http://www.cityhallrecords.com/artist/SUTTON,%20RALPH.htm ) Look for Sutton releases on Nif-Nug from Australia (I think Worlds Records has them), Chazz Jazz, Victoria/Gaslight, Arbors, Concord.... Geez, he was prolific! And always terrific in any setting! I'm a BIG fan.

Paul, you remember well. Lonnie's on only about half of it, but does a great vocal on "My Mother's Eyes" (treating that musty old thing with great respect and depth) and a hot "West End Blues" that's standout playing. I had a slight hand in the genesis of the recording, recording the demo of McHarg's group at the radio station where I worked. Jim took it to Columbia in Toronto, and told them he'd get Lonnie as a guest, as they played a lot together. I'm not sure the record guys knew who Lonnie really was -- just a figure around Yorkville, but they went for it. The band went in the studio on November 24, 1965 and did it all in about four hours. It was called Stompin' At The Penny, after the coffee house (The Penny Farthing) where they worked Something makes me think a CD bootleg of it came out, too.

My friend Mark Miller is a dauntless researcher and writer, and his 10 jazz books are accurate and valuable additions to anyone's library. He has a new book coming out, and if it's anywhere near as valuable as his previous works, (most recently "Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life") it'll be one for all serious jazz (and in this case, blues) fans to get. "Way Down That Lonesome Road", 159 pages in length, is published by The Mercury Press/teksteditions. Dead-Tree-Technolgy aka 'books' (my favourite still) will be available November 2 from Chapters/Indigo in Canada and from Amazon. Keeping up to date, you can get it as an e-book, or on a print-on-demand basis from www.lulu.com. I remember well seeing Lonnie in the late '60s in Toronto's then-hippy-dolkie Yorkville area, but only speaking briefly with him, so I'm looking forward to Miller's no doubt in-depth coverage of Lonnie's last years. From the back cover: "Toronto was Lonnie Johnson’s last stop in a career of stops, at least the eighth city in which he lived for any length of time. The influential African-American singer and guitarist, a formative figure in the history of blues and jazz dating back to the 1920s, travelled north for a brief appearance at the New Gate of Cleve in May 1965 and returned for a longer engagement at the Penny Farthing in June. Over the next five years — the last five years of his life — he rarely left the city again. "Way Down that Lonesome Road: Lonnie Johnson in Toronto, 1965-1970 reclaims Johnson from the realm of legend and brings him back to life through the recollections of the friends, fans and fellow musicians he met along Yorkville Avenue, up and down Yonge Street and, in time, across a city caught up in the remarkable musical and cultural ferment of the late 1960s. "In part a biographical study and in part a social history, Way Down That Lonesome Road documents the warm welcome that Johnson received on his arrival, through the successes and failures that followed, to the automobile accident that left him hospitalized for a year and the final, fleeting appearances of a comeback cut short by his death. "Johnson’s years in Toronto were the happiest of times and the hardest, a Dickensian sort of paradox, albeit in a tale of just one city. This is that tale; here is that city.

Happy Birthday, Chris!

George, or Bill?

The Hawkins set is not available for pre-order yet, so there's nothing about it on their site. The discography was provided directly by Mosaic. I got it a couple of months ago when I asked them about it; at the time they asked me not to post it because it wasn't final yet - apparently it is now. Thanks. Will just have to be patient. I have a great portion of this, but I'll expect improved sound from Mosaic...

You mean, you're doing it again THIS year? I guess it turned out well-enough to try a 2011 Birthday... So, have a good one!