Kalo

But who did the mastering?

Funny, I can hear the dialogue. IN MY MIND.

I fell in love with Lee Wiley the first time I heard her warm, sweet and husky voice on James Isaacs' Boston radio show in the mid-1980s (he had a cool feature where he'd play a few tunes by a featured vocalist at 2:45 a.m., introduced by Sinatra's "One For My Baby": "It's quarter to three..."). I rushed out and bought the then-newly-reissued 1939-1940 Liberty Music Shop Recordings: Sings the Songs of George & Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter, and the 1940 Music Box and 1943 Schirmer Recordings: Sings the Songs of Richard Rogers & Lorenz Hart and Harold Arlen. These were Audiophile Records LPs. I believe I've seen these on CD, too. Originally issued, of course, as albums of 78s, these are reputedly the first Songbook recordings ever devoted to the classic Broadway writers. Even though I've heard a lot more since then, these are still the definitive Wiley to me (especially the Gershwin/Porter). They all have her backed by small Condonite groups. There are a few nice tracks she did with Jess Stacy on Commodore. I still need to catch up with the Columbia stuff. I've got a 1981 Japanese RCA mono LP reissue of West of the Moon, and it's pretty good. The arrangements are by Ralph Burns in a 1950s Songbook orchestral style different from, but reminiscent of the kind of backing Fitzgerald and Sinatra were receiving at the time. She sounds a bit nasal throughout the record, almost like she has a cold, though the Wiley warmth comes through winningly. Also, oddly enough, one side of the record has a good deal of reverb while the other does not. (I'm not sure if this is a characteristic of only this particular issue. It's a bit jarring to flip sides, and hard to imagine that the original was done this way on purpose. You'd think a reissue wouldn't introduce such an anomaly, but I'm sure such things happen. Has anyone else noticed this?) Anyway, it wouldn't be my first choice, though Will Friedwald places it very high in his book Jazz Singing. The only Connor I have is the aforementioned 2-disc 32 Jazz "Warm Cool," which draws from the Atlantic recordings. It was programmed by Connor in collaboration with Friedwald, and it's an excellent anthology. It includes a totally credible vocal version of Ornette's "Lonely Woman." I haven't felt the need to expand my holdings of Connor yet, but when that urge hits I suppose I'd start with the Bethlehems. The Gershwin Atlantic is tempting, too.

I agree with Adam's first assertion. Once you've seen a film on the big screen then a DVD or video can be a fine reminder. But if you've only seen something at home, then you can't truly evaluate it. Of course with the newer home theater set-ups, the image is more of a scale with the moviegoing past. Still, there's no substitute for a living, breathing audience (especially for comedy). I've been lucky enough to live in the Boston area for many years, within walking distance of Brookline's Coolidge Corner Theater, and Cambridge's Brattle Theater and Harvard Film Archive. Movie history Heaven. Sturges keeps growing over the years, despite his flaws (primarily an affection for but lack of ability with physical slapstick). He's perhaps the primary example of film as a verbal medium as well as a visual one. See him in a theater with an audience if you ever get the chance. Otherwise, just SEE him any way you can. My favorites are The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story, but almost everything he did was good-to-great, including stuff he just wrote but didn't direct.

brownie wrote: "Since Buster Keaton's name popped up here, anyone seen 'The Cameraman? Not sure it's on release now. I love the other Keaton classics, but 'The Cameraman' is so perfectly constructed and beautifully photographed. It is my Keaton favorite." I saw this on the big screen years ago. It's an excellent film and the last great Keaton. It's currently available on DVD as part of a Keaton at MGM 2-disc set. As for The Cameraman's perfect construction, it was used for years as a training film for MGM comedy production teams, explicitly as a model of perfect comic construction. Apparently it held this place at MGM well into the 1950s. Meanwhile, substantive author of this perfection, Keaton himself, was employed by MGM as not a director or comedy scenaist, but as a "consultant" and gag man for lame Red Skelton re-makes of his silent classics. Ah, Hollywood.

Has anyone ever made better period films than Keaton? The General, set in the Civil War era, looks like Matthew Brady photos in motion. And Our Hospitality, set even earlier, boasts glimpses of a rural Manhattan and an amazing early train journey. I have no hesitation in saying that these Keaton films are great American art. We see in Keaton's grace, humor, timing, sense of form, and intelligence exactly what it is that speaks to us in the great jazz players and composers works.

I second the Keaton endorsement. Great choice of favorites, Nate. The General is (deservedly) a perennial on top ten movies of all time lists, but Our Hospitality is an over-looked gem (love that train). Steamboat Bill, Jr., is a wonderful and under-rated film, too. And don't forget Sherlock, Jr., as technically innovative and philosophically provocative in its own time as folks say The Matrix is now. And Sherlock, Jr. still holds up magnificently 80 years on. How will The Matrix look ten years from now? Hell, silent era Keatons are among the best films ever, in any genre. The Marx Brothers were a great comedy act (well, at least Groucho and Harpo), but their films are not great as films. Keaton's are. Beautiful, timeless stuff. BLACK & WHITE FOREVER!

There's a Thin Man DVD box set coming out soon. Heads up for William Powell Fans (not to mention Myrna Loy lovers). I haven't seen the Criterion My Man Godfrey yet, but I hear it's an amazing restoration. I love the film, but every print I've ever seen has been very gray and washed out. Apparently the Criterion is better than most circulating theatrical prints. No surprise from this exemplary company. I second Berigan's hats off to Criterion for restoring a PD title this way. I have 16 Criterions. I got most of them used. I just scored a Criterion of the Maysles Brothers amazing documentary Grey Gardens for $8.

Excuse me for coming late to this conversation, but I just want to get this right. By "rip-off" you guys mean labels that steal masterings, rather than labels that issue stuff still under copyright in the U.S? Correct? Thus John R.T. Davies JSPs are kosher, while recent ones aren't? Even though it's the same company getting the money? I really like Davies' work, but have been holding off from buying ANY JSPs. I assume that Chronogical (sic) Classics does its own mastering. Definitive just reeks of rip-off, as does Lonehill. Proper, too, though I did buy the Woody Herman box used for $15. Hard to resist, as I had none of it.

Clusone Trio-Soft Lights and Sweet Music: that's a good 'un. Irving Berlin meets new Dutch swing! I'm glad I've already got a copy. Surprised to see the price for I Am an Indian--I thought that was pretty easy to find. The tough one is Rara Avis on Hat. I've got all the others though, as well as my memories. Saw them in '98 in a tiny lecture hall at MIT. One of the best shows ever.

Such Sweet Thunder is a great album, indeed. I'm listening to it again right now. It's even better than I remembered. This thread has inspired me to pull out ALL my Ellington Suites. Such sweet listening in store. Thanks, guys.

I agree that Hodges on "Half the Fun" is great, but would argue that it's more of a cameo for him than a showcase. That being said, it's a great piece, and Hodges plays with beautiful, smoldering restraint.

Monorails and Satellites is my favorite. Here's something I wrote about it a few years ago on another site: I don't play the piano, except in my dreams. And I mean that literally: sometimes, when I'm asleep, I dream that I'm playing the piano. And when I do, it sounds just like this Sun Ra record. So much so that I experienced a shock of recognition upon first playing this disc. Piquantly dissonant Ellingtonian note clusters struggling towards form and fitfully finding it; a species of stride with a dreamy deliquescence reminiscent of Dali's melting watch; a sidelong slipperiness of phrasing that brings to mind the impressionistic ballads of Andrew Hill or, again, Ellington. The previous reviewer found this recording too dissonant and abstract, and it's true that the first two tracks are among the disc's most daunting, but the more ballad-like numbers are quite accessible. There's even a relatively straightforward rendition of the standard Easy Street. This is one of Ra's few solo piano recordings and my nomination for the best. In fact, it's one of my favorite Ra albums period. (And you've got to love the classic cosmic cover art.)

In the late '90s my band had a song on a compilation CD of winners of Musician Magazine's Best Unsigned Band Contest. We also put out a CD on our own label, called It Must Be Jelly (the label, not the CD). The CD was called "File Under: Popadelic Funk'n'Roll." We sold it at gigs and online. We also made a video that was shown on a Swedish digital interactive television network (a friend ran the station). If you liked a video you could order the CD by clicking your remote. We actually sold a few in Sweden that way! Without airplay or press, the only way a buyer could have known about us was through seeing the video the 8 or 9 times it was shown at off-peak hours. I have this fantasy scenario in my mind of a drunken, suicidal Swede catching us in the wee small hours and finding a new reason to live, then buying the CD as a memento. I can dream, can't I?

I've been a big fan of The Queen's Suite since buying the LP back in the early '80s. "The Single Petal of a Rose" is amazing. So beautiful. But my favorite is probably Such Sweet Thunder. I LOVE the swaggering title tune, and Strayhorn's "The Star-Crossed Lovers" is one of his finest Hodges showcases. The idea of translating sonnet form into musical form is cool, too. Too bad Phil Schaap F'd up on the CD version. Maybe this has already been covered elsewhere on the board, but in his notes to the CD, Bill Berry writes of the tune "Up and Down, Up and Down (I Will Lead Them Up and Down)" "At the end, Terry's trumpet pronounces Puck's famous quotation from A Midsummer Night's Dream: 'Lord what fools these mortals be.' " What we hear on the CD, unfortunately, is an alternate take with a different ending. As usual with Schaap there's a boatload of alternates on the disc--but we don't get the take that the liner notes on BOTH the LP and CD refer to. It's hard to imagine that he was unacquainted with the original; but what other explanation is there for leaving off one of the most distinctive moments in the suite? I'm glad I held on to my vinyl. I only recently picked up Latin American Suite and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse. I'm not sure what took me so long. I'm enjoying them both. (I appreciate JSngry's observations about Eclipse--right on the money.)