Ted O'Reilly

Could you offer some help? What are the tunes, what is the record catalogue number, etc.... It could be (and likely is) an issue of music from some other, original, source....

Chuck, you're not wrong about Ed. But when the 'switch' was thrown, HOT! (And a BG influence ain't necessarily a bad one...) How did I leave Pee Wee off my quick list!?!? And please note, flamers, it was a quick list--off the top of my failing memory with no re-reading...there are lots of great clarinetists, it's just that Ed has never failed to ignite me. Anyway, the "Petite Fleur" arrived today, and it sounds great, so you can buy with confidence, MONTG. In fact, I'll ask my engineer to check his turntable speed--it may be a little slow, as an B/C check shows my CDR to be sounding a little slow. As I haven't a TT hooked up at the moment, and can't do an A/B/C test I'll assume that the Mighty Quinn release had the master tape as its source, and is properly transferred. (Oh, for perfect pitch!! or maybe not, as tuning can be like a constant toothache for those blessed/cursed). The record's great, and highly recommended by me. After all, it has jazz' shaggy dog Vic Dickenson, Ellis Larkins (playing at bright tempos), Milt Hinton and the solid and under-recognized Jimmie Crawford, and Emmett Berry, who never got his due.

..... in the meantime I'd be interested to hear how it compares, sonically, to the original lp. ← I'll let you when I get my copy--I'll A/B/C it with the LP and my current CDR transfer, and let you know. (I like my own CDR copy, as it sounds just like my LP, but cleaned up).

I've ordered the Edmond Hall--I'll be interested to hear how well the "official" transfer will stand up to the one I had done (for my own listening) by a Toronto engineer who adds nothing, only takes away rare clicks or pops--my discs are in great shape for the most part. I was given the LP by Ed in 1965 when he appeared here, and it's autographed to me personally, so I'll never give it up. It's musically great, showing Hall to be much more than a 'dixieland' clarinetist, as he's often pigeon-holed. Great band, too, with Emmet Berry, Vic Dickenson, etc. Hall's my favourite clarinetist--the hottest ever. Okay, there'll be arguments about that, I'm sure, but I have my own taste on that horn: Lester Young, Phil Woods, Kenny Davern, Gerry Mulligan, Phil Nimmons, Irving Fazola and Herb Hall (Ed's brother) and on some days a few others...

You won't be offending me, Allen, but I know Newton to be a finicky perfectionist. As always, the "inconsistencies" may be in the people he works for, to say nothing of the sources he has to work with...

Lots more. I've been dealing with this stuff for years. ← Ah, yes, "Grand Master" 456! We couldn't afford it in public radio, but its 406 & 407 brothers were pretty bad, too....

Oh, one more thing: many reel-to-reel tapes (especially the back-coated Ampex 406s and 407s) had a 'lubrication' that has now turned gummy, and the oxide can stick to the back of the next layer, ripping it off. There are techniques to literally bake it and dry it out, so if you think the tape is stuck to itself DON'T TRY TO PLAY IT if it's valuable. Get in touch with someone who can save it...Pomeroy, Newton, some archivists, etc....

There's a good guy here in Toronto, too, and his prices may be a bit less given the dollar exchange. He does a lot of work for Naxos among others: Graham Newton P.O. Box 672 Don Mills, ON M3C 2T6 gn@audio-restoration.com www.audio-restoration.com (416)444-3444

It probably does, Jim. Most broadcast (professional) tape machines were 'full-track', using the whole 1/4" width in one pass. Home (Revere, Wolllensak, Sony etc.) and semi-pro machines (such as Revox) were usually fitted with quarter-track heads, so you could double tape use. But at the same time, it's like writing half-size. And a bonus is that it took twice as long to find the little snippet you wanted to use.... If you play a full-track tape on a quarter-track machine you're likely to get good reproduction of the Left (top) track, and not-so-good sound from the Right track which is buried about, but not quite, half-way down the face of the tape. A quarter-track tape, recorded one direction only, may be playable on a pro machine, but not if it's been recorded in both directions. The wider tape heads will pick up the second recording and play it backwards at the same time as you hear the first material...

It's hell keeping original recordings retrievable. On 1/4" tape, I have mono, full-track stereo and quarter-track stereo (variously at 3.75, 7.5 and 15 ips), on 3-, 7- and 10.5 inch reels I have 1/2" tape on 10.5 inch reels, with four tracks, and eight tracks. I have digital audio recordings on VHS cassettes (known as PCM), and 1/2" Beta (Sony F1), and I have 3/4" Beta cassette masters. I have audio on Stereo HiFi VHS audio--an under-recognized format. I have DAT recordings, on tape so narrow you wonder how it works. Some are recorded at 44.1 kHz, some at 48 kHz. I have ADAT 8-track cassettes that need the other 2 ADAT cassettes to make up a synchronized 24-track master. I have audio cassettes on regular, ferri-chrome, chrome and metal tapes. (I never did buy the Sony Elcassette, thank goodness!) I have (endless loop) broadcast cartridges that run at 3.75 ips, similar to Country Music's favourite format--the 8-track that'll only run in a semi, it seems. I've just found that my single Edison cylinder shattered when it fell last week. On disc I have 78s in lateral and vertical cut, 10" and 12"; 45 rpm singles and EPs, mono and stereo; 10" and 12" LPs in mono and stereo, and Gil Evans' "Svengali" in 4-channel discrete. I have CDs, CDRs, SuperAudio CDs, DVD Audio, and MP3 recordings on CDR and DVD. I listen to radio on AM, FM, various short-wave bands, and am considering Satellite Radio, which is just being licensed in Canada. TV comes in off an antenna, via cable and satellite dish. And of course, Video is on Beta, VHS, DVD and godknows what new standard they'll soon be sending out. It strikes me my grandfather was born before useful electricity, and as a child only ever heard live music and live theatre. I further wonder if I'm much better off than he was.....

Sad news. While Lucky has been silent for years, his music will live on in recordings. And: his horns continue to be played--Toronto musician Pat La Barbera owns and plays Lucky's tenor and soprano saxes. I've been trying to get him to make a record of LT's fine compositions, using LT's horns...

Off topic, but any chance of reissuing this one? I've only heard Ellefson from a Sackville album (I forget the title, it was a quartet with a guitar I think)--would be interested to hear more. ← In order to not hijack this as a KW thread, "Time To Wait" by Art Ellefson Sextet (Jazz Modus Music JMM-2) has Kenny Wheeler on it, and trombonist Ian McDougall, a third Canadian who was in Britain in the 50s/60s, and all in Johnny Dankworth's band at the same time. The producer/guitarist is Art's son, Lee. The Sackville release you speak of ("As If To Say" SKCD2-2030) has Lee, bassist Russell Botten and Buff Allen on drums. Ellefson pere et fils with bassist Chris Nelson are on "Interwoven" (Boathouse BHR CD-009. As to the Unisson LP with Ellefson and Flanagan, there is nothing to be added to it in order to pump it up to the length most folks want on CDs, so I don't think I'd ever put it out again, but one never knows, do one?

As long as we define "support" loosely -- sometimes what the soloist needs is a good kick in the ass. Guy ← Yup, that's true enough, Guy. Maybe it's not always 'good kick in the ass', but 'inspiration by example' the comper can offer.

Let's remember what comping is for....to support the soloist. No soloist was ever more demanding than Ruby Braff, and for me, his best piano accompanist was Ellis Larkins--the same man who made Ella sound so great on the early '50s Decca Gershwin stuff. No guitarist ever pleased Ruby more (on Sackville SK2CD-5005) than Ed Bickert who has also supplied perfect accompaniment to Paul Desmond, Rosemary Clooney, Rob McConnell, Humphrey Lyttelton, Buddy Tate and dozens of others, too. For all his soloing abilities, he is also the best accompanist I've heard in 50 years of jazz listening, bar none.

I produced/recorded the "Justin Time" Kenny Wheeler/Sonny Greenwich Live At The Montreal Bistro release noted earlier. (JUST 114-2). It comes from two different years' performances at the club, with Joe LaBarbera on the 1993 session and Barry Elmes playing drums on the 1997. As you can imagine, there's probably about three hours of unreleased music. It's an excellent Sonny Greenwich album (and you know we need more of that), and KW sounds great, but he's not heard on two of the six tracks. (The label decided what would be issued, not me). A sympathetic piano player is all Wheeler needs, I think, and John Taylor is probably the best for him. See if you can find Moon on a small Italian label, Egea SCA 086. Also on Justin Time, there's Touche with KW and Paul Bley, together and singly. Interesting stuff from both guys. And someone mentioned Art Ellefson a few messages back. He's fine and still playing, living in British Columbia. I did a nice record--yes, an LP (yet to appear on CD)--with Art and Tommy Flanagan for my Unisson label back in 1985. It must be among Tommy's rarest records--I doubt we sold a thousand copies, as no one had really heard of Art...

S. I. Hayakawa took Dianetics apart some 54 years ago, but still Mr. Cruise fell into it. Maybe he doesn't read Hayakawa. http://www.lisamcpherson.org/hayakawa.htm Here's a Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._I._Hayakawa And, Sam was a jazz fan--I recall he wrote liner notes for a Don Ewell record once.

Of course, now that I think of it, Ager wrote the music, and Jack Yellin wrote the words... Was Yellin thinking of Shana, I wonder? I often think it's okay to write songs for your children, but not not your spouse. Things change in adult life...I wonder how Alice (MacLeod) Coltrane felt when "Naima" was played. I also wonder to how many women Duke intimated "Sophisticated Lady" was written. Smaarrtt.....

That's a pretty good song to dedicate to 'an unloved child', Alan. (And isn't "Shana" yiddish, or Hebrew, for "Beautiful"? Musta bin some kinda affection there...)

Sorry, but I'm a couple of steps behind you all on this.... Are these "Jazz in Paris box sets" repackagings of what was out singly 5 or so years ago (at budget prices)? I got a few individually, then got a slip-covered set ('Jazz In Paris' on Gitanes) of CDs 1-76 (skipping #8). I kind of lost track after that, and how far they got along (77-???) escaped me. The booklets with each disc have pretty good info which seems to be duplicated on that German site. (No doubt there are some goofs: there always are). (At the time, I was told #8 was a Chet Baker disc that should not have been in the series, so they pulled it, leaving all the others with their original series number alongside the individual catalogue number).

I don't remember the Evans thing, but Paddy Sampson was certainly the man at CBC who would have done it. I was at the Smith/Ewell taping, and remember it well--just a 30 minute show. I think it was saved, but I'm not sure. I may still have a contact or two at the CBC who can find out for me. Meanwhile, Smith and Ewell made a record at that time, produced by a Toronto journalist named Patrick Scott. He made a thousand copies or so (Exclusive 501--never re-presssed). John Norris made it widely available on LP ("Grand Piano") for his Sackville label, using as cover photos shots taken at the TV taping. The good news is that it's now on CD, as part of a 2CD set of three similar piano LPs, all recorded in Toronto. "Grand Piano" Sackville SK2CD-5011 Willie 'The Lion' Smith and Don Ewell (1967--Grand Piano) Claude Hopkins (1972--Soliloquy) Sir Charles Thompson (1984--Portrait of a Piano) If you have any trouble finding it, you can send a fax to Sackville at 416.465.9093 as Norris is happy to sell by mail. In fact, he's just about to send out a new mail-order catalog of things, so use that same phone number and ask him to send one out...he has lots of interesting stuff. (He's a bit of a Luddite, though: NO eMail or website).

Didn't Wynton Marsalis make a cylinder recording at the Edison Museum (?) a few years back? I seem to remember it being dropped onto one of his yearly-dozens of CDs. I didn't understand the purpose of that, either.

Jay Thomas! That's the name I couldn't come up with--thanks, Peter. Don Thompson is a pretty good drummer, though I've not heard him on 'drumes' Don used to play trumpet, he told me, loving Clifford Brown; and a good trombone playing friend (Dave McMurdo) once traded trombone lessons for arranging lessons with Don, and after three or four sessions Thompson could play at a professional level. He's just an amazing musical talent---

If it's not unfair, many/most reed players can play all the reeds comfortably, but pick one horn as a specialty. I really think it's not at all remarkable therefore to note someone plays tenor and soprano. (And probably both especially well). Remarkable should be reserved for someone like Scott Robinson, whose name hasn't popped up yet--he really plays 'em ALL, and WELL. You should check him out for his range and understanding of the whole music, too. He plays all genres, committedly, and still sounds like himself. He's way under-recoginized. The Australian James Morrison (mentioned earlier) once made a big band record on which he played every part but guitar, bass and drums. That was because he had Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton. (Morrison could probably have played those instruments, too. Oh, yeah--he wrote all the charts). I have recordings of Benny Carter on trumpet, trombone, clarinet, alto, tenor, and piano. I hear he wrote pretty good, too.

Doug Ramsey has a new blog, and started on June 15 with a mention of Ratliff's pre-review at Rifftides: http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/

Ah, well, if you want to get past nerds/tones/dichotomies/etc. there always music, and Ed Bickert. I found a nice appreciation of him today at