jeffcrom

Barry Harris - Stay Right With It (Milestone). A two-fer, drawn from Mr. Harris's Riverside albums.

Thanks for the recommendation. Kick ass Jazz here. $2.99 at Stereo Jack's - well spent. Norris Turney is pretty awesome on this, Worth the price of admission. Hell, so is Budd... so is Norman Simmons on piano. Nice swing-style Jazz. About the only downer here is the 70's bumble-bee bass sound. If you find this in a used bin a few bucks, grab it. You'll like it. After Jim's post I was sure that I would be able to find a vinyl copy of this in Atlanta. Nope, but I did get a used CD, and I've really been enjoying it.

Monk wrote you a birthday song.

Yes, Mr. Wondraschek posted some fairly intense replies to my blog post. I'll be editing my post in light of his replies - he seems to know what he's talking about.

After spending four hours in Howard Finster's Paradise Garden yesterday, I felt compelled to spend some time with the jazz musician who most reminds me of Finster - they were both driven, visionary prophets whose creations were odd, messy, and off-center, and they both believed that they were sent to help mankind. Sun Ra - Hours After (Black Saint) Sun Ra - The Sound Mirror (Saturn) No point in posting a picture of The Sound Mirror - my copy is in a plain white sleeve. The title tune takes up all of side one - it's a Ra recitation over the monumental riff also known as "Mayan Temples." Side two is from the 1978 quartet tour of Italy which produced Disco 3000, Media Dreams, and two Horo double albums.

Played through a small stack of new purchases today, the best of which are: Norfolk Jazz Quartet - Jelly Roll Blues/Southern Jack (Okeh). I love this one. This vocal quartet was usually called the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet, but they sometimes recorded secular material under the name above. Really nice 1921 performances that swing hard. Metronome All Stars - Overtime/Victory Ball (RCA Victor). The 1949 poll winners record from Metronome magazine, with Dizzy, Bird, Tristano, J. J., DeFranco, etc. For some reason, this originally issued take of "Victory Ball" was very hard to find for years - almost all reissues used alternate takes. It's probably not as rare as it used to be - I know it was on a Philology CD - but this is the first time I've heard it. At age 53, I finally got to listen to the last issued studio recording of Bird that I had not previously heard.

Wow! That's a nice find - congrats.

Yes, and that cat is the father of bluesman Chris Thomas King. Probably scratched Chris when he was a kid.

Yes, although I didn't see this thread until just now.

Rockin' Tabby Thomas - King of the Swamp Blues (Maison de Soul)

Chick Corea/Dave Holland/Barry Altschul - A.R.C. (ECM)

Assuming that the parents were the ones who recorded and posted this, in my opinion they can only be faulted if: 1) They told the kid to hit the cat. 2) The child was seriously hurt. The latter doesn't appear to be the case. I like this video because of what it shows about life. Life is learning, and this child just learned a valuable lesson. He hit the cat hard, and learned that there were consequences. Presumably he's fine, and a little smarter.

Some nice 20's country - I've probably mentioned all of these before: Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers - Don't Let Your Deal Go Down/Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister (Columbia) Roy Harvey and the North Carolina Ramblers - The Brave Engineer/The Wreck of Virginian No. 3 (Columbia) Ernest Stoneman - Bully of the Town/Pass Around the Bottle (Romeo) West Virginia Night Owls - I'm Goin' to Walk on the Streets of Glory/ Blind Alfred Reed - Fate of Chris Lively and Wife (Victor) Carolina Tar Heels - When the Good Lord Sets You Free/I Love My Mountain Home (Victor) Alfred Reed was one-third of the W.V. Night Owls; the Tar Heels consisted of the great Gwen Foster and Dock Walsh. Most of these are pretty worn, as are many of the old-time country records I find. They often sound better than they look, however.

Clare Fischer Orchestra - Extension (PJ stereo)

Andy Rooney once said that there was Bob, there was Ray, and there was Bob & Ray, and that "Bob and Ray are interesting to meet separately because two duller people you never talked to." He then went on to describe a chance meeting with the pair that sounded as funny as anything I've ever heard from them.

Here's one of their all-time best routines, from The Two and Only. It's as well-paced as a Steve Lacy solo.

Bob and Ray Throw a Stereo Spectacular (RCA Victor). A truly bizarre 1958 stereo demonstration record, featuring impressive stereo tracks from the RCA catalog interspersed with tracks documenting Bob & Ray's visit to the mysterious castle of Dr. Akbar. Of course, at Dr. Akbar's castle, various stereophonically striking events happen.

For many years, I've been a fan of the comedy team of Bob and Ray. Like a lot of folks my age, I suppose, I discovered them on a Saturday night in 1979. I was 20 years old, and turned on the TV at 11:30 PM to watch "Saturday Night Live." Only it wasn't on - something called "Bob and Ray, Jane, Lorraine and Gilda" was on. At first I was baffled - the show purported to be a broadcast of the Finley Quality Network, and featured commercials for the Bob & Ray Hotel and Friedolf and Sons Shoelace Wash ("Shoelace washing is the only thing we do.") By the end of the show, I was a confirmed fan of B & R's dry/absurdist style of humor. Shortly afterwards, I found a copy of Write if You Get Work: The Best of Bob & Ray, a collection of their routines, on my mom's bookshelves. I devoured it, so I read many of their classic routines before I heard them. In 1982, I faithfully recorded the Bob and Ray Public Radio Show every Friday night I didn't have a gig. This past Christmas, my wonderful wife gave me a USB thumb drive (available from bobandray.com) which has all the public radio shows, as well as countless hours of B & R from 1946 to 1982. Bob Elliott (born 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922–1990) were primarily radio performers. Their banter on Boston's WHDH, where Bob was a disc jockey and Ray read the news, impressed the management of the station so much that they were given their own show, Matinee With Bob and Ray. (The rhyme is why they weren't Ray and Bob.) They had shows on NBC, CBS, and Mutual radio and television in the 1950's and 60's, and had a four-hour afternoon radio show on WOR in New York in the 70's, in a period when there was nothing else like them on radio. In 1970 they had a Broadway show - Bob and Ray: The Two and Only. Later in their career they appeared fairly frequently on The Tonight Show and David Letterman's show. All Bob & Ray fans have their favorite routines and characters. A favorite of many is the roving reporter Wally Ballou, who invariably started his reports before the signal from the engineer: "...ly Ballou here." Wally was proud of his 16 diction awards (two of which were cufflinks). I always liked the sign-off lines by their two sports reporters; Biff Burns ended every report with "This is Biff Burns saying this is Biff Burns saying so long," and Steve Bosco's reports ended with "This is Steve Bosco rounding third and being thrown out at home." Many of their regular features were parodies of old-time radio shows, but you didn't have to be familiar with the source to enjoy Bob & Ray's parodies. Their soap opera "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife" ran daily on WOR in the 70's; few listeners could have known that it was loosely based on "Mary Noble, Backstage Wife," a radio soap opera from 30 years earlier. "Mary Backstayge" was truly bizarre; it was improvised each day based on a loose outline. At the end of each episode, Bob would say, "Tune in tomorrow, when you'll hear [one of Ray's character's] say..." The next day's episode would be based on whatever Ray decided to say. Their "sponsors" included Einbinder Flypaper ("The flypaper you've gradually grown to trust over the course of three generations"), Coogan's Ball Bearings ("Remember, it's Coogan's: B-A-L-L-B-E-A-R-I-N-G-S - Coogan's"), and The United States Mint ("One of the nation's leading producers of genuine U.S. currency"). And I love the names they came up with. Bob would frequently interview an interesting guest or audience member, played by Ray. One was Illegal Left Turn Bronson. He changed his name because the drivers license bureau typed his traffic violation where his name should go, and it was easier to just change his name. Ethel Merman Strunk was a man who was so named because his parents had only heard Ethel Merman on the radio, and assumed that she was a man. I hope there are some other Bob & Ray fans out there. I'll end with their usual signoff: This is Bob Elliott reminding you to write if you get work, And this is Ray Goulding reminding you to hang by your thumbs.

I'm glad I read this.

Dewey Redman - Coincide (Impulse)

My career as a Professional Published Photographer continues apace. This Sunday the Atlanta Journal/Constitution will use my picture of Turner County, Georgia's giant peanut stature to illustrate a story on state money for local projects. This time my only payment will be a credit. The Journal/Constitution is in such bad shape these days that I'm not pressing the issue. Incidentally, I was on my way home from one of The Radiators' last concerts, in Orlando, when I stopped at the Giant Peanut and took this picture.

"You'll Know the First Time" from Sounds for the 60's by Onzy Matthews. Overall, this album isn't as good as Blues With a touch of Elegance, but this beautiful, moody piece got to me.

The liner notes of Sounds for the 60's by Onzy Matthews are very helpful in identifying which tracks have solos by saxophonists Sonny Crisp and Curtis Amey. Sonny Crisp - I actually kind of like that....

Yeah, I've found some nice, ususual vinyl lately. My copy is in really excellent condition, much to my surprise. Now, another new find, also in excellent shape: Onzy Matthews - Sounds for the 60's! (Capitol mono)

I don't know what kind of licensing nightmare it would entail, but perhaps those eight QRS sides could be combined with the four great Okeh solos from the same period and the 1932 Brunswick/Columbia solos (only two titles, but five takes).