Big Al

he played with Sonny Stitt on the New York Jazz album for Verve. Also on: BEN WEBSTER AND ASSOCIATES (Verve) THE SWINGER and MR. SWING - Harry "Sweets" Edison (Verve) JOHNNY HODGES WITH BILLY STRAYHORN AND THE ORCHESTRA (Verve)

Bouncing back and forth between Stingray Shuffle by Tim Dorsey and Prayer: Does it Really Matter? by Philip Yancey. I owe my Dorsey obsession to Dave James, who recommended Florida Roadkill sometime back. I haven't had this much fun reading since I was rifling through all of Christopher Moore's books (man, I hope his next book is better than the last one which, literally, sucked).

I really really really REALLY hope so! After listening to FAVORITES last night, I coulda cried. Thankfully I'm coming to Austin around Thanksgiving, so hopefully I can find it at Waterloo or Cheap-O or the other vinyl shops around there. Maybe I should just save myself the trouble and just order the Mosaic instead.

What Lon said. Smith has an instantly recognizable yet simply gorgeous tone.

I guess I'm one of the few folks who really loves this album. Ogerman sounds as inspired as he was when he was collaborating with Jobim on TERRA BRASILIS. At this point, it is easily my favorite album of the year!

I received three Verve Originals from BMG today: Hugh Masekela - HOME IS WHERE THE MUSIC IS John Klemmer - BAREFOOT BALLET Ramsey Lewis - GOIN' LATIN Every one of them in jewel cases, every one of them with the new Verve Original design on the CD (as opposed to a facsimile of the original record label). I don't know if the digipaks are any different for these, but the information is even more scant than usual. Hell, there isn't ANY player information on the Masekela.

Well, I hope it gets better than the opener, "Lester Leaps In." This breakneck-speed play-as-many-notes-as-possible style seems to be the antithesis of everything the Count and the Prez played. Well, the CD does get better. MUCH better, in fact! It definitely rewards repeated listenings!

So I got JOHNNY SMITH FAVORITES by the Johnny Smith Trio today, and I'm all excited because I've got its companion DESIGNED FOR YOU at home, now I can make that CDR of these two LPs onto one CD! So I get home, and I'm lookin' for the other Johnny Smith record.... and lookin'.... and lookin'..... I don't even remember getting rid of it! And if I did, what the fuck was I thinking? a. I love the sound of Johnny Smith b. I love it even more when he's in a trio without a piano c. There's a shitload more records in my collection I would've gotten rid of before I'd gotten rid of THAT I'm sure I'll find it and if I don't, I see it pop up from time to time. But it just irks me that I'd get rid of a record like that without even thinking about it! Or it could really be around here and I've totally lost my mind....

Some nice vinyl treats today: Vince Guaraldi JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF BLACK ORPHEUS (Fantasy red vinyl mono!) Cal Tjader SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE BLACKHAWK (Verve mono) Booker Ervin BOOKER & BRASS Johnny Smith Trio JOHNNY SMITH FAVORITES (Royal Roost white-label DJ Promo copy)

Vince Guaraldi JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF BLACK ORPHEUS Mono red vinyl, found it today for $10!!!

You are right - the exact title is of course t The Classic Quartet - Complete Impluse Studio recordings. Thanks Greg Okay, cool! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on a Trane box I'd never heard of.

Shouldn't that be the John Coltrane Quartet? Or is there a separate Quintet box?

I loooove Brute's avatar!

Wow, that looks like it's as tasty as Down Home Style. Is that an accurate comparison?

Seriously, if my rate of correct answers even jumps by .000001%, I'll be surprised!

Al, it makes sense but I have some questions. For instance, I didn't do a hard disc on mine, rather making it available through a real-time player and/or download. Would this also be an option? Oh yes, absolutely! In fact, I'm even encouraging that by offering to do the uploads myself for anyone who's interested in going that route but has neither the time nor the inclination to learn how to do it.

Yup, great idea! I mentioned that in the BFT Master List thread, but it certainly bears repeating here.

Dumb question of the day: I don't get it.... Its a reference to something Chris shared in his "Found" thread. Basically Driggs was a bad guy who claimed to own the rights to certain historic photos and would "earn" money by "licensing" them or else try to extort money for "unauthorized" use. Ahhh.... NOW I get it! NOW I laugh! Thanks, Dan. And Chris, of course!

In an effort to encourage more BFT participation, as well as streamline things, I propose two ideas: 1) All participants send their mailing addresses to me so a BFT address database can be kept. This way, all anyone has to do is simply post their desire to participate in the signup thread; once enough time has gone by, I can e-mail the mailing addresses to the BFT leader. 2) Since I'm participating in all the BFTs anyway, I will be happy to take on the responsibility of uploading all BFTs to a free download site. I've got a DSL connection here at the house, so it wouldn't take any time at all and not disrupt anything here. This way, any BFT leader who has neither tried the upload/download path nor had the inclination/time to learn, but wants to offer it as an option, can simply send the CD to me (which you were going to do anyway) and I can get it uploaded. Let me know y'alls thoughts on these. Glad that the BFT is off and running again!

Whoops! Didn't check new threads before responding to your PM from earlier. So, disregard my PM, except the part about helping out with distribution, file uploads, address collection, etc. And, of course, I'M IN!!!!

Dumb question of the day: I don't get it....

Finger-lickin' good indeed!

Right before the song began, Jamie Foxx realized that dressing in drag and playing opposite Arsenio Hall was in extremely poor taste.

Yeah, what Thom said! I may hate it and recoil in horror if it's as "out" as you claim, but I'll still dig the journey! That's the whole fun of the BFT's anyway: blindly rushing into the unknown, not knowing what you're gonna get hit with! Really, as long as you stay active within your own BFT discussion (i.e. don't start the thread and then abandon it completely) and then deliver answers when promised, a lot more people will likely respond. At its greatest, the BFT's can generate pages upon pages of high-spirited discussion between the participants and the leader. All we've been lacking lately is full-on commitment from BFT leaders (i.e. keep the discussion thread going), which unfortunately left Thom in the lurch because nobody posted their guesses!

That is probably the first defense of that era of Metallica I've ever read that is well thought-out, rational, and without ignorance of what came before that era. Usually, the defenders of that era of Metallica tend to respond with "U DONT NO WWHAT YR TALKING ABNOUT! METALLICA RULZ! U SUCK!" Of course, Agg, if you're going to use logic and courtesy when talking about that era, then you're no fun!