Jim R

Interesting. He has one of my favorite (and usually recognizeable ) tenor sounds. I'm not sure yet, but I think I associate him more with his later, harder/brighter tone. This recording sounds great, but the tone is different (at least to my ears) than the sound I associate with him. At any rate, you nailed it Marty, so apparently I need to listen more closely. BTW, this album was issued on CD in 2001 (as a twofer, combined with another LP he did for the same label). It's track 3 on the CD (I'll try to remember to do a link later... gotta go right now).

Joe Cinderella / Ella Fitzgerald / Gerald Wilson / Sonny Clark / Clark Terry / Terry Smith / Smith Dobson / Sonny Criss / Chris Connor / Honor Heffernan

Okay, time to give this a shot... 1. This track would not play for me. So, I'll take a wild guess. ZZ Top? (that's probably wrong). 2. This wouldn't quite play right either, but I did recognize it as "White Christmas". 3. A nice arrangement of "Little Drummer Boy". Don't recognize the tenor... 4. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". This is from a CD I have. Both guitarists have the same initials. 5. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (down at Birdland)". Telarc CD 83438, produced by John Snyder; 20 bit digital; total playing time 62:39; Copyright 1998. The guitar player is from Canada by way of Holland, and he's really into Brazilian music. 6. "O come all ye faithful / Silent Night". Nice... but I don't know who... 7. "Hark, the herald angels sing". Never heard this either... 8. "Joy to the world". Never heard this either... 9. "Hark, is there an echo in here"? Wait, maybe this is "Hark the herald angels swing" (and I'm serious). But who...? 10. "White Christmas"... nice vintage piano... Fatha Hines? 11. "O Holy Night". I'll guess John Fahey (not that I'm familiar with him, but because Al has mentioned him before). 12. "Snowfall". Telarc CD 83438, produced by John Snyder; 20 bit digital; total playing time 62:39; Copyright 1998. The guitar player is from Canada by way of Holland, and he's really into Brazilian music. 13. "Angels we have heard on high". Whew, nice nice nice! Tell me who! 14. "Little Drummer Boy". Greeeeeaaaaazzzzzy! No, no, but very nice. 15. Oh, you GOT me, Al. This is becoming my favorite Christmas tune. I have a Rosemary Clooney xmas CD, but this ain't on it! Nice surprise! 16. "Frosty the snowman". Is THIS ZZ Top? (sorry, I can't help it). I should know who this is... not the Beach Boyz....? I dunno... 17. The GOSPEL according to K.B.!! Yeah!! B-) 18. Mantovani? This provided a couple of good laughs, Al. Nice way to end it, even though I'm clueless...

"Frank's Tune" is from a BN session led by an artist that was on my BFT (the classic, unforgettable BFT #3 B-) ). 1. It Had To Be You. Looney!! But that's all I know... 2. Energizing!! Terry Gibbs? 3. Nice lush ensemble arrangement. 50's cool... need to listen further... 4. ZZ Top? I dunno... 5. Ellingtonianish... yes... I know this theme... just not by name Ah... now the band kicks in... "rockin' in rhythm"? 5 stars! 6. Basietonianish! This is becoming a nice battle o' the bands disc, Al. B-) 7. The swinging continues... in small group form. I can't ID this... 8. Nice latin piece... no idea yet... 9. Very pretty changes, lovely sound. A bit of Horace Silverianish style in the piano solo. Gotta spin this again... 10. I'll bet I own this. Is that Joe H on tenor? I definitely need to spin this again... 11. Some nice blue flaut! Moody? Nice arrrrrrrrangement! 12. Gee, this reminds me of the shortattentionspan disc too (track 68, for those who are playing along). Al KNOWS that I know that he knows that I know that we both know what this is. This tune was sung by a female jazz singer on another BFT some months ago. 5 thumbs! 13. Angels we have heard on... oh, no, that's the wrong CD. Funky, greasy, even greeeeaaaazzzy little ditty here (see shortattentionspan disc, track #1... I think... going by memory here...). I'm stumped. 14. Hmmm... I dunno. 15. see #14 (could these be from the same album?) 16. That's Grant Green on guitar, but beyond that I'll need to do further (actual) research. 17. See above. Track #69 on the S.A.S disc. BeeYOOtyful! Al, this was one well-rounded trip through the world of swinging, grooving, floor-pounding jazz. Now I gotta go listen again (and see if my attention span is any better this time).

All three were mentioned already (see the opening post, which was edited at one point to include most of the names listed so far). ===== Jazz artists. B-)

Bill Bell Bob Bushnell Danny D'Imperio Henk Haverhoek Jerry Jemott (Philly) Joe Jones Mabel Mercer Marian Montgomery

I voted for "Christmastime is Here", not only because of Guaraldi, but because I've always loved the version that (guitarist) Ron Eschete recorded back in the 80's on his CHRISTMAS IMPRESSIONS (Bainbridge). I love the tasty changes, and usually stumble through it (solo guitar arrangement) at least once every xmas season.

oh... the mail's here... hm... there's a package here from Big Al... that's nice... I'm not excited or anything... it's just... good to see it's here. Talk to you guys later. ... ohhhhhhhhh,,,, YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! B-) I know what I want for Christmas.... TIME to listen to these!

Edward Kennedy Ellington should be added to the list (hey, we allowed "Bill" Basie B-) ).

Benny Barth Billy Bean Cal Collins George Golla Lawrence Lucie Phillipe Petit Wayne Wright

..... ( ) Hey Al, see if there's any fastbirds in the garage.

Bob Bates Bill Bickford Diz Disley Lorne Lofsky Paul Parker

The idea is to name some that haven't already been posted...

Quincy, Thanks for that. A couple of those song titles bring back a few memories. I don't do much of this type of trading anymore (don't belong to any "trees"), but I might be able to come up with some bait. B-)

So he DID send some to the west! No mail yet today... come on, come on, be the DAY!!

I'm curious to know how many Cray fans there are around here, and how many of those were aware of him before he got really well-known. I have an older brother who was in some blues bands in Eugene (he went to the U. of Oregon) back in the 70's, and he hipped me to the Cray band, as well as the whole Belushi/Ackroyd "Animal House" connection (Cray was the bassist in Otis Day & The Knights). Of course, I would have known about them anyway, because they were gigging up and down the west coast, and were always a big hit at the SF Blues Festival. The band that really killed me was the quartet with Robert, Curtis Salgado on harps and vocals, Richard Cousins on bass, and Dave Olsen on drums. I only saw them a few times- at the SFBF, and a couple of club gigs, and I also managed to tape a radio broadcast on one occasion. The sound quality is terrible, unfortunately. Aside from the underwhelming studio recording- "Who's Been Talkin'" (Tomato), I used to have an okay various artists LP on P-Vine, but it only had a couple of good Cray/Salgado duet vocal tracks (don't know what ever happened to that record...). After all these years, and with Cray becoming such a big name, I had hoped that some vintage material from that band might have seen the light of day (don't know why Tom Mazzolini never was able to release more material from the SFBF, for example), but if it has, I missed it. I sometimes get an urge to hear that band again. Anybody have any "leads"? B-)

Billy Butler Herbie Harper Ike Issacs Red Rodney

Cyrus Chestnut Essiet Essiet John Jenkins Kenny Kirkland Monk Montgomery Sal Salvador

Hey- I named three, and he only named one! Granted, his was a bit tougher...

I just ordered: Jack Dieval- Jazz Aux Champs Elysees Alain Goraguer- Go Go Goraguer Bobby Jaspar- Modern Jazz au Club Saint Germain Bernard Peiffer- La Vie En Rose Gus Viseur- De Clichy A Broadway (I like the accordian, for a change of pace) ===== Already owned: Chet Baker- Quartet Plays Standards Art Blakey- 1958 Paris Olympia Max Roach- Parisian Sketches Rene' Thomas- The Real Cat Elek Bacsik- Guitar Conceptions Lou Bennett- Pentacostal Feeling Sonny Criss- Mr. Blues Pour Flirter Rene' Thomas- Meeting Mr. Thomas Slide Hampton- Exodus Don Byas- Laura Michel Legrand- Paris Jazz Piano Dizzy Gillespie- The Giant Barney Wilen- Jazz Sur Seine also, the Sarah and some of the Django material

A few more post-'57 recordings... Victor Feldman- 1958; The Arrival Of Victor Feldman (Contemporary) Frank Rosolino- 1958; Free For All (Specialty) Howard Roberts- 1959; Good Pickin's (Verve) Richie Kamuca / Bill Holman- 1959; West Coast Jazz In Hi Fi (Hi Fi Jazz) Lou Levy- 1962; The Hymn (Philips) Barney Kessel- 1966; Contemporary Latin Rhythms (Reprise) Johnny Hartman- 1966; Unforgettable Songs By Johnny Hartman (Impulse) Jack Wilson- 1968; Song For My Daughter (Blue Note) (Levey on vibes)

Ah, I keep forgetting that. Still seems rather steep, especially together on the "new arrivals" page with all of the $4.99, $5.99 and $6.99 discs...

What's up with the Sacha Distel (2 CD's) being listed at $21.99?

I'm just glad I don't have to pronounce it!