Alexander

This may well happen to some jazz fans in the Albany area soon... You see, it's almost spring, and that means spring cleaning down at the ol' Albany B&N. I have the sad duty of going through the jazz section and pulling returns. Now for a long time (and I mean a LONG) time, we didn't do this. And the jazz section is packed tight as a result. So, with a heavy heart, I have to send a whole lot of oop CDs back to the distributor (the good news is that they might turn up in cut-out bins all over the country). I don't wanna do it, but I kind of have to. We need the room! Plus, we did the same thing to the classical section last month, and our classical guy (kinda like I'm the "jazz guy") challenged me by asking if I would do the same thing to jazz. So I said I'd do jazz next, and I'm doing it now. What I want to know is this: Why on earth is Verve deleting several Joe Henderson titles? He did a lot for that company. Looks like everything but Lush Life and So Near So Far is going oop. The long and short of it is, a lot of Albany jazz fans have may have been on the fence about certain titles, but when they come in next, they will find them gone.

Another Chet recommendation (also without singing)..."Chet Baker & Crew" on PJ. Great, great disc. I'm listening to it now. Chet is in top form (sounds a lot like Kenny Dorham on this disc, actually). The rest of the crew is: Phi Urso - tenor, Bobby Timmons - piano, Jimmy Bond - bass, Peter Littman -drums, Bill Loughbrough - chromatic tympani. It was recorded in July, 1956. Nice playing. Nice sound. Nice disc all around. Even if you don't like West Coast stuff, you'll like it.

I think you're right. I'd go for the RVG, in any case. The sonic improvement is such that you can hear it on ANY system. It's really amazing. It literally knocked me out of my chair the first time I heard it. I do have the "Complete BOTC" for the live material, and the difference is like apples and chedder cheese...nothing alike, but they do compliment each other in an odd way...

These are all Japanese imports? Where are you guys scoring them? Who's your connection? I need a CTI fix, dammit! That Mulligan/Baker looks good...

The Vogue CDs are out of print. You may still find volumes one and two around (my store has them, but not for much longer) but I think volume three is pretty rare. I'd snag 'em (I love Brownie's stuff) but all those damn alternates! I have quite a bit of Brownie, anyway, so I think I'll just be happy with what I have. Oh, and "At Basin Street" was recently reissued as a VME. The old edition is still floating around, but don't be thrown...there is a new one with lots of extras and terriffic sound.

Who's on the Stitt? When's it from?

You must get it! It's fantastic! Great line-up too: Haynes, Holland, Hargrove, Garrett, and Dave Kikoski (the first time I'd ever heard him, in fact. I have a couple of his albums now, plus those two BeatleJazz discs he participated in). Real top notch playing all around. Check it out!

Maybe. Maybe not. You may come around to Chet someday. Then again, you may *never* really enjoy his work. I used to say that the difference between Miles, Chet, and Tom (Harrell) (all of whom have a similar middle range trumpet style) was to say that Miles sounded stand-offish, Tom sounds abstracted, and Chet simpered. To a certain extent, I still think that's true. There is something almost "effeminate" about Chet's playing (not that there's anything wrong with that B) ), just as his voice is somewhat androgynous (people always ask me if that's a man or a woman singing when they hear Chet sing for the first time). That can be a bit off-putting, I'll admit, but I don't think that it stems from any preconceived notion of "manliness". Chet played the way Chet played. Either you like it, or you don't. I didn't like it, now I do. Why? I don't know. I highly recommend Chet's Prestige albums with George Coleman. You can only get them as imports, but they're not too terribly expensive and they are usually available through Amazon.

Fat Gumbo Davis... Yas, yas... B) "I ain't got no Lincoln Continental, Lawd...Sho' ain't got no Ford Windstar... Lawd, I ain't got no Lincoln Continental...An' I sho' ain't got no Ford Windstar... Gotta drive down that ol' dirt road In my low down dirty Honda Civic...My Honda Civic, lawd..." Who says white guys can't sing the blues?

So has anyone heard from Greg since the BNBB when down with all hands?

Yeah, being an atheist I don't hold with all the "power of prayer" crap. The Smarts are *extremely* lucky that a *real* nutjob didn't kidnap their kid. They were fortunate to get a "second teir" loony and not a "first teir" loony (a la Samantha Runion's kidnapper). Otherwise, and I'm very sorry to have to say it, all the prayer in the world wouldn't have saved Elizabeth. Again, I say, it's good news that she's safe and sound. I couldn't be happier for the Smarts right now. But ascribing cosmic significance to a human event...please. If there is a God, he's hearing about it on CNN just like the rest of us. To imply that the Smarts were somehow "in" with God in a way that the Runions weren't (or the ten million people who died in the holocaust, for that matter) is actually remarkably insensitive (I know, pot calling the kettle black). Sorry to drizzle on everybody's parade, but I'm the kind of person who likes to remember all the bad things in life whenever something good happens. I look for the cloud in every silver lining.

Being that I live in the U.S. (where the album has not been released) and in a lame city (where advanced copies of cool new albums don't turn up in used bins), I'll have to wait until 3/25 for this one to come out before I'll hear it. But I can personally *guarantee* that it *will* be going home with me THAT VERY DAY. Oh yes...

In fact, some of the tracks (originally intended for "Happy People") were recorded on September 11, 2001. They were left off of that album because they were deemed "inappropriate" for some reason. As if Kenny could have known what was going to happen when he scheduled the date. A lot of albums were released on 9/11 (it was a Tuesday, recall, and that's when new albums are released) and got lost in the post-9/11 shuffle (like Roy Haynes' excellent "Birds of a Feather"). I haven't heard the new Kenny, in any case, but I have it on hold at work and plan on getting it in the next week or so.

I think the liner notes are flakey, but the music is excellent (the whole). Not really news, though. I've thought Harris was a major talent for a long time. He keeps growing by leaps and bounds.

It is good news, indeed, and I am glad for the Smart family. However... Is it really necessary for CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News to devote all of their coverage to this particular news item? I just checked a few minutes ago, and they're STILL talking about it. What's to discuss? She's alive. She seems to be physically well. The details of her abduction will become known over time. Do the talking heads have to repeat the same information over and over again until some new news surfaces? I HATE cable news!

For a long time I *hated* Chet Baker. I hated the way he played. I hated the way he sang. I hated the pathetic cult that grew up around him after his gradual disintegration from drug abuse and his mysterious death. I hated the way people romanticised him (the same way I used to hate the way people romanticised Billie Holiday). Then, a few years ago, I got "Chet" (because of Bill Evans, really) and I was surprised to find that I liked it. I picked up the stuff he did on PJ with Gerry Mulligan and on his own with the great Russ Freeman, and I found that I liked that stuff too. While I wasn't crazy about the vocals, I did like his playing with Getz in the 80s. After that, the only remaining hurdle was the singing. I picked up "Chet Baker Sings", and I never looked back. I'm a fan now. I love his playing. I love his singing. Still hate that stupid cult, though. I don't think his life or death were glamorous. He was a sad, but talented, man who lived a rather pathetic life. That's the odd thing about Getz: he abused himself as badly as Baker did, but it never interfered with his playing.