Ted O'Reilly

Odd as it seems, I believe Gordon was referring to his very young son. I interviewed Dexter around that time, and his wife and child sat outside the studio, and he lovingly referred to the boy (maybe 2ish years old?) as the Little Monster. He was indeed an active lad... Perhaps "Lullaby" was an attempt to quiet him down?

Good band, but nevertheless, bruising Fats Waller, et alia... https://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=youtube+mccartney+very+good+friend+the+milkman+live#id=1&vid=b8718e0091e0c7b764c1af931581acdc&action=click

Jack Lesberg was a bassist... Who's the "jack-of-all-trades drummer" you're referring to?

Benny Goodman had 'friends'? Just how small IS this band...

Ordered. Thanks for the link.

Art died last May... I produced an LP/cassette by Art, with Tommy Flanagan on piano. Great stuff, sold maybe 500 copies, so it must be among the least-heard Flanagan records. It seemed few people knew who Art was, so it was ignored.

Too much penance required -- you'd NEVER get out.

Okay. Makes good sense.

Is the punch line "...wear it!"?

Great music.

Good music, good narration. But it would be nice if Loren would NOT talk over the music, telling us the soloists when they've already been introduced. This certainly whets one's appetite for an issue. I hope the Ellington family/executors can come to a reasonable agreement and share Duke's genius once again.

...the underground ran out of banjos I suppose?

No, he does both now. Phil's a dynamite piano player, too. (And a good cook!) He never went to university, but was admitted into law school as a senior student and aced it. He's very much a "community" lawyer.

I heard Pat playing mostly soprano (a guest appearance) in a big band setting last Thursday. Sounded wonderful, as one would suspect. He switched to tenor for a performance of his brother John's arrangement of a rare late '40s Ellington composition, "Fantazm". I was later told Pat usually plays soprano on that... Musicians!!! So unpredictable.!!!

Keep an ear open for Quinsin Nachoff. He's active in Toronto and New York mostly...

Well, maybe 'best'. But then, Pat LaBarbera, Don Englert (both long-time Toronto refugees from Buddy Rich-land), and add John MacMurchy, and the late multi-talented doctor, psychiatrist and tenor-woman Kira Payne. A real loss there... Absolutely. I was just adding the Toronto guys I see and hear a lot. Could add others, too...

Absolutely. I was just adding the Toronto guys I see and hear a lot. Could add others, too...

Pardon my ignorance: what is a 1955 Bowman? (And is it that much different to a 1954 or for that matter, a '56?)

Grant Stewart and Seamus Blake are also Canadian, along with Murley. We in Toronto have more than a few others who aren't as widely known as they should be: Kelly Jefferson, Perry White (excellent on bari, too), Kirk MacDonald for example...

Thanks...I'll look for this brand at one of Toronto's good art supply stores...

Thanks for that information, Kevin. I'll look into that site. As to that paper label problem, my ignorant contention is that there's some kind of chemical reaction going on...is that so?

On a slightly different angle, if you have any CD-Rs with those stick-on paper labels, you might find they've been corrupted by just sitting on a shelf for a decade or so. I'm working on a project now, taking radio broadcasts so-saved, and they've become unplayable. Gotta be a chemical reaction eating through or something, because an un-labled copy plays perfectly. Oddly, a bad disc copied onto another finds the copy will play when the master won't...

No hornet's nest here. Just, as you'll know, we Canadians do get encompassed into other dominant cultures, eh? (Didja know Oscar Peterson was Canadian? )

Very much Canadian was Kenny Wheeler. So too, Robert Farnon, and Art Ellefson... (Some people just can't get over the days when most of the world's maps were the red, and the sun never set on the British Empire. )

Happy to do so. I recorded a LOT of things and always told the artist the tapes were theirs to use as they wish. Artists should own what they produce. Which reminds me that I should get in touch with Laurie Pepper and buy the new releases from Toronto, which I recorded. Glad to see it's out, and cleaned up much better than I could do, given the kind of equipment that's available today.