Ted O'Reilly

You can understand Donald Duck? I've been trying for nearly 70 years, and have never understand one word.

I agree 100% with Bixieland. (On this topic ONLY!) I received the Vol 6 Waller yesterday, and feel a sense of accomplishment that I have lived long enough to have actually finished a Complete Set of the artist's work. Save for all the transcriptions and radio shows....I'm working on that.

Actually, Allen you're sorta right, but I think the only confusing part is the claim that the acoustic horn's sound is channeled to another room. In fact, they should have explained that it's pretty much the opposite of Nipper and his horn.... Band into horn, on small end of horn is a diaphram with a cutting stylus attached, which etches the waveform into a wax disc. All mechanical. Once there were mics and amps, equipment moved out of the recording room into a separate control room, with a cutting lathe taking the amplified electrical signal created by the mics to drive a cutting head to etch the waveform. Interestingly, it took years for the turntable of the cutting lathe to be electrically driven. Even in George Martin's earliest days of the 1950s (I heard him describe this) the speed of the cutting lathe's turntable was driven by a falling weight/clockwork system, as the electrical supply of 50 cycles per second in England was too erratic to be trusted, and flutter would result in the cut disc. Gravity was much more reliable.

This is covered pretty well in Wikipedia's item at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recording_studio then go down to "History".

The radio station I worked at for 37 years had a Keith Monk vacuum cleaning machine, and the recommended cleaning solution was 50% distilled water, 50% isopropyl alcohol, if I recall correctly. Interesting to read that some here call alcohol a no-no. (Maybe it has to be isopropyl, for its purity?)

I don't know if it ever came out on CD, but in the mid-'60s Mulligan made some interesting (if lightweight) records for Limelight (a Mercury label) that included some of his great clarinet playing. "Feelin' Good" was one of them, and another called "If You Can't Beat 'Em" (pop songs of the day), that put him in different settings on different instruments. Very pleasant stuff, if not invigorating. I know he liked playing clarinet. Backstage at the 1990 Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland I was chatting with Kenny Davern, and Gerry came over to compliment Kenny and Mulligan started talking about the instrument with great affection. He remarked that he was in an apartment, and found the baritone was too loud to practice with, so he kept his chops up by working on the clarinet. He indicated he was going to play it more in public. (Don't think he ever did, though...). At that discussion, I mentioned how much I liked Irving Fazola's playing, and Kenny said he had Faz' clarinet! He wouldn't play it though, because once it was warmed up it reeked of garlic... I suppose Faz ate lots of garlic, and the fragrance (?) was invested in the wood.

You may not know about the great Canadian ragtime pianist (the late) John Arpin, but you should. (Eubie Blake called him "The Chopin of Ragtime"). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Arpin Here's a fine set of his Joplin interpretations, at a great price for two CDs. I recommend it highly.... http://www.amazon.com/Joplin-Greatest-Hits...4872&sr=1-1

Ted, I have it hooked up to my 37" flat screen via HDMI cable (it accommodates virtually any cable) and the quality i remarkable. Most of us have a wireless router, I suppose, and that's all you need. In my case, it is a Mac with Apple's Airport. You create your film que on the computer and they show up on your TV when you need them. Roku comes with a small remote control unit that allows you to stop, start, resume, play from beginning, freeze, etc., as if youu were running a DVD. I have the $8.95 Netflix deal, which means that I can get unlimited thru-the-mail discs, one at a time. Roku is included, so I could watch movies 24/7, if I were an idiot BTW, a Netflix account also lets you see movies on you computer screen. Geez, I hope it's not available in Canada. My daughter (the movie/TV maven) will go crazy with something like that. Pleeeze, Roku, be USA only!

So, pardon my complete ignorance, but does this have to watched on a computer screen? Or is the device meant to take an internet feed and send it to my TV set?

You've made me go the shelves and listen to The Anachronic Jazz Band, from a two CD set issued on JBM 34011. It consists of "The complete studio recordings and 7 unissued live performances". (Giant Steps: Great fun! ) Now, if it is so that it's complete, I wouldn't need the JIP, would I? Yeah I guess not--I hadn't seen that release. Enjoy! I have the Lord version 6.0 which notes the two Open LPs (that's what seems to be on my JBM, plus a Nov. 1978 Mantes performance Lord doesn't know), and another LP which I know nothing about: "Paris Live: Anachronic JB & Beryl Bryden" on Calig (G)30622 -- is that Humphey Lyttelton's Calligraphy label? A few other concert tracks are on collection records from Joke and Amiga. This was a great concept ("52nd St. a la Basin St.") which used to get a lot of response when I played it on my radio shows years back. One person even said the Anachronic's version of 'Giant Steps' opened the door to his understanding Trane's own version!

You've made me go the shelves and listen to The Anachronic Jazz Band, from a two CD set issued on JBM 34011. It consists of "The complete studio recordings and 7 unissued live performances". (Giant Steps: Great fun! ) Now, if it is so that it's complete, I wouldn't need the JIP, would I?

....but Chuck, this is a new book BY Armstrong. How many of those do you have? One. Louis Armstrong In His Own Words, edited by Thomas Brothers, 1999 Oxford. That's a good one!

Thanks.

Wow, Allen, that last post is hard to follow: who says what, where?

....but Chuck, this is a new book BY Armstrong. How many of those do you have?

"Caldonia", or the backstory?

There's another side of Armstrong-as-artist, just published (I have it on order, and await its arrival): "Satchmo: The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong [iLLUSTRATED] (Hardcover) by Steven Brower (Author)" Here's Amazon's product description: Satchmo: The Wonderful World and Art of Louis Armstrong is a biography in the form of an art book. It tells the story of Armstrong's life through his writings, scrapbooks, and artworks, many of which have never been published before. Armstrong was the single greatest creative artist in the history of jazz and the American popular song. A true American original, he was prolific in coining colorful expressions that entered the lexicon; he wrote long, colorful prose pieces about his experiences; and he made hundreds of collages using marvelous photographs that capture archetypal scenes in the life of a jazz musician. Everything he did was an extension of his artistry. Satchmo is a vivid trip through American jazz at mid-century, to the beat of Armstrong's own jazzy words. The book also includes photographs of Armstrong and is framed by a text that describes his significance. It will be enjoyed not only by jazz fans but also by art lovers, who will welcome Armstrong into the pantheon of American visual artists.

I mighta known Don Brown would know the backstory as well as the fact. (And I can guarantee you, he knows it off the top of his head -- no need to look things up...)

Hmmm.... "Caldonia"?

Hard to find his stuff, especially in the US, but the late Doug Riley, a great Toronto organist/pianist is highly recommended.

.... when the union found out (just before the band went on)..... What union are you referring to? Musicians'? 'Cause I could tell you tales about IATSE when trying to record in a union hall... (IATSE is the stage hands union...)

If I correctly recall my "Broadcast Equipment 101" courses of 45 years ago, most of the earliest mics would have been crystal or carbon devices, then ribbon mics, dynamics and over here at least the condensers most recently. A simple Google search leads to http://chss.montclair.edu/~pererat/mpermic.htm which covers this under #2, under radio mics, since there's very little difference in radio or studio mics.

Well, yeah, Peter and Larry, but BG couldn't hold a candle to "Shoeless" John Jackson, right????

Here you go, Ted: http://www.norwichjazzparty.com/Programme.asp Nice city, Norwich. Thanks. Just signed up for it... (My friend and neighbour and great musician Jim Galloway's playing there, so I gotta go... )

Bev, any word on the Norwich jazz event, in May I believe? A jazz weekend rather than festival -- a jazz party. I've been to Blackpool a couple of times, and may get over to the UK at the right time...