jeffcrom

Ravi Shankar Norah Jones Elvin Jones

I agree - that's a good one.

Problem fixed - I think. Try again.

Would y'all stop putting ideas into the man's head, please? I'm tryin' to buy me some Jazztet.

I've been on a self-imposed hiatus from buying new music, but I think I've got to have the Jazztet set.

Lee Konitz/Karl Berger - Seasons Change (Circle). Just gorgeous.

Mud Boy and the Neutrons. I love "Money Talks."

Michael J. Smith - The Dualities of Man (Horo)

Hello Louis! - Bobby Hackett Plays the Music of Louis Armstrong (Epic)

I'm in. Download's fine.

Okay, I'm ready to give a more informed opinion - I just spent an hour in early-jazz geekdom. I listened to the following recordings from the same general period with Tommy Dorsey on trumpet: Dorsey Brothers Orchestra - My Melancholy Baby (April 24, 1928) Tom Dorsey and His Novelty Orchestra - It's Right Here for You (November 10, 1928) same - You Can't Cheat a Cheater & Tiger Rag (April 23, 1929). And some from the same period with Oliver confirmed on trumpet. I tried to pick some with style, tempo, and feel similar to the Blind Willie Dunn sides: Clarence Williams and His Novelty Four - In the Bottle Blues & What Ya Want Me to Do? (November 23, 1928) King Oliver and His Orchestra - What You Want Me To Do, Sweet Like This & Too Late (October 8, 1929) I also re-read the relevant passage in the Laurie Wright book. The Blind Willie Dunn Gin Bottle Four session is from May, 1929. I still think it's Oliver, but I also think we'll never really know definitively. But the main arguments against Oliver don't hold up, in my opinion. Wright and others say the range is too high for Oliver, but the highest note is a C (in trumpet key) above the staff. That's high for Oliver, but not unreasonable, and he plays the same note in "Too Late" - a confirmed Oliver solo. The vibrato is also supposed to be uncharacteristic of Oliver, and to an extent it is, but it is, but it sounds even less like Dorsey's vibrato, which is wider. Oliver's "Sweet Like This" is played with a vibrato that sounds something like the Gin Bottle Four trumpeter, but which is somewhat less pronounced. I don't think it's unreasonable to think Oliver may have played with a slightly more prominent vibrato on some occasions. More damning to my argument is the fact that, late in his life, Dorsey told researcher Ken Crawford that it was him on the session. I don't necessarily consider that to be definitive evidence, considering how many times Dorsey was in the studio during the twenties and thirties, but it is evidence to be considered. So I don't think we can know for sure, but I still think it's Oliver. Thanks for indulging me in this geekdom.

Too soon to lose this giant.

I recently picked up a Red Callender 78 on the Sunset label. The personnel is listed on the label, and the guitarist was some nobody named Paul Leslie. After the guitar solo on "These Foolish Things," I ran to the computer to find out what else this incredible nobody had recorded. You can guess who it was - and he was already 30 years old at the time (1945). What an amazing career and what a brilliant man.

Monk's Music: what a flawed, sloppy, slightly insane, incredible masterpiece you've got to look forward to - but you probably already knew that. This has been a mainstay of my life for over 30 years. And those two Byrds are the peak for him, in my opinion.

Laurie Wright, in his King Oliver bio-discography, says it's Dorsey. I think it's Oliver, but what do I know? Maybe one day when I have a free hour I'll compare those tracks to other Dorsey trumpet recordings from the same era - so far I haven't done that.

Punch Miller - Hongo Fongo (Imperial mono)

Michael J. Smith w/ Jonas Hellborg & Michael Shrieve: All Our Steps (Day Eight Music)

Bill Dixon - Intents and Purposes (RCA Victor stereo)

Ah! Yes I see these have now caught on for data storage. I wonder how many commercial music releases there are in this format though... I have six of these. I'm not sure I can tell you why.... Three from MCA's Vintage Gold series: Louis Armstrong (I kept it for the one track I don't have elsewhere.) Bo Diddley Bo Diddley II (These eight tracks are about all the Bo I feel I need.) Two from Delos' Pocket Classics series: Timeless All Stars Joe Williams - Come Back And an Ensoniq promo CD by the Dixie Dregs - two tunes and an interview. This one came with an adapter to play these oddities in a car CD player. I'm playing the Joe Williams now. When I stuck it in the computer, iTunes recognized it and came up with the track and artist info, much to my surprise.

Never posted in this thread before, but tonight.... Catfish po-boys - my Nebraska-born wife has learned the ways of the catfish and has a really nice touch - on fresh French bread with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles thin-sliced lengthwise, a couple of bags of Zapp's Louisiana potato chips and a couple of cold beers. Simple and amazing. If I can't be on Frenchmen Street tonight, this was the next best thing.

All the George Russell talk made me want to hear my battered copy of this. A really nice version of the sextet (Don Ellis, Dave Baker, Dave Young, Chuck Israels, Joe Hunt) and a couple of cool/funny Carla Bley tunes.

You're welcome. No birthdates, and the back cover states that it was produced by Jackie Mills.

Ben Tucker - Baby, You Should Know It (Ava). Not profound, but a nice little album (with Larry Bunker on vibes and Victor Feldman) by my fellow Georgian.

I don't think you ever got an answer to what you were really asking - it's a Dexter Gordon tune. And the recording Allen is talking about is probably "Rainbow Mist."

I just listened to this album again for the first time in years. They're all good musicians, but I don't much like the music, mostly because of the earnest 1968-era vocals, with half-baked lyrics, from what I could tell. The tunes range from funk/rock to kind of wispy folk-hippie stuff. Draper has a couple of short solos, but nothing spectacular. Richard Aplan on tenor sax is the best thing about the album. He solos on about half the tunes, with a hard, Billy Harper-like sound and with fire and imagination. The cover reads "Red Beans & Rice Featuring Ray Draper," but the label has "Red Beans & Rice Featuring Spareribs," then "Ray Draper" below that in larger type. I don't know what the "Spareribs" is referring to, but I'm guessing that there was a change in billing at some point. The Fitzgerald discography Niko links to has all the album info except for the astrological signs of each player, which are dutifully listed on the back cover. I'll probably pull this one out again in another six or seven years just to satisfy my curiosity.