Kalo

Well, that's different.

How about Boston?

OK, the EU copyright laws are one thing, one thing which many people on this board have understandable objections to, but if Lonehill even flouts the laws of their own country, then there's absolutely no excuse for them in my opinion. I don't own any of their discs and don't plan to.

My feelings, exactly. That would be my plan as well. But I'm pretty sure that stricter critieria thing would fall by the wayside pretty quickly... I sometimes think that it would be a relief to be out from under the weight of it all. I've always felt that I operated under a pretty strict set of criteria myself, but it's funny how some of the more, shall we say, "peripheral" sessions are the most enjoyable, for the short term anyway. I wonder how much of the "classic" stuff I'd re-acquire. I think I'd sell my comic books first.

Best wishes for a successful procedure and a speedy recovery!

1938 and 1940 weren't too bad for Hollywood either.

The movies ain't bad either. (Though I agree that the commentaries are this series are very good.) I was especially impressed by "Curse," which could probably win some kind of award for "Best Movie with Worst Title." The little girl in the movie gives an amazing performance. What was your take on that one, Bruce?

Klook's probably my favorite jazz drummer. I'll have to keep an eye out for this.

My favorite of these is Paul Motian On Broadway, Vol. III , which adds Lee Konitz and Charlie Haden to Motian, Lovano, and Frisell. An excellent record that includes a great version of "Skylark."

What he said.

To me, Kenny G is the musical equivalent of those plug-in air fresheners, un-neccessarily using electricity to perfume a place with repellant, artificial aromas. Give me any kind of honest stank over that.

Stag-o-lee Crouch?

The guy used to actually have something to say. What happened? We all know that absolute power corrupts absolutely, but SC proves that even the tiniest sip can undo some folks.

Caetano Veloso - Araca Azul (Phillips Brazil) Duke Ellington - The Centennial Collection (RCA/Bluebird)

First one I thought of, too. But there are so many freakin' great ones it's hard to pick.

Happy Birthday to a guy who has one of the coolest pseudonyms on the whole board, not to mention one of the best avatars!

I have the Charly Jesse Hill on LP and can attest that it's a killer. I love 1950s-60s R&B ( the 5 Royales are one of my all-time favorite groups in any genre) and the New Orleans stuff really hits the spot for me. I've been a fan of Chris Kenner ever since my sixth grade teacher brought in his 45 of "I Like It Like That" for the class's delectation, circa 1973. Good to know that so many of you dig this stuff too.

Alvin Robinson was the shit, indeed. I have the Rhino three LP series A History of New Orleans R&B which includes his "Down Home Girl" and "Something You've Got," which are among the greatest cuts on a superbly assembled anthology. I would love to hear more. So sign me up for that set if it ever appears.

I have the Guido Nielson James Scott and I like it quite a bit. Haven't heard the others. Lamb's music is beautiful and underplayed, and I look forward to hearing Nielson's interpretations. I grew up on the Rifkin Joplins, but haven't heard them in a long time. The rap on them, as I recall it, was that they were too classical, too stately, too much rubato, etc. I bet I'd still like them, though. There's a lot of room for different interpretations of this music. Joplin himself preferred his work to be played at moderate, though steady tempos. For a less classical, more driving interpretation of Joplin, Butch Thompson's disc on Daring Records is quite nice. I also have Dick Hyman's Complete Joplin Works for Piano on RCA Red Seal LP. I'm not sure if these have been on CD, but they are very good. The LPs even have a side of Hyman's jazz improvisations on Joplin's themes that he played in between takes to loosen up. A recent disc that is worthy of any ragtime aficionado's eartime is Brun Campbell - Joplin's Disciple (Delmark), recorded in 1947 by a white follower of Joplin's (Born in Washington, KS, in 1884). This is some crude, raucous, street ragtime -- real saloon piano with nothing effete about it. Campbell has a left hand like a sledgehammer and his beat is rock solid. Fascinating stuff.

At least a foot of snow, if not more, in my neck of Boston.

Verve did an excellent 2CD collection called 20th Century Piano Genius. It's a collection of home recordings, before a small, attentive audience, done in Hollywood in 1950 and 1955. The sound is very good. Yes, yes, yes. Great stuff. The Tatum/Webster session is justifiably included on almost every top 100 best jazz recordings lists I've ever seen. There's something about the combination that's perfect: Webster paraphrasing the melodies with that massive tone filling the room like a beautiful fog, providing the perfect atmosphere for Tatum's fireworks and filigree. Word. Just one?

Been re-reading bits of this lately (something in itself - I'm definitely not one for re-reading things in general) - and I stick by what I said earlier. It's amazing stuff Maybe I need to try this translation. I ploughed through the Putnam version last year for my reading group, but bogged down halfway through Volume II. Recent books read: Richard Stern's Other Men's Daughters(written in 1973). Set in Boston/Cambridge in the late 1960s early 1970s, it was sort of a time capsule for this Bostonian. Very well written and sensitively observed. One critic wrote that it was reminiscent of Lolita as re-imagined by Chekhov. Tom Perrotta's Little Children, is also very good, though is set in the here and now and more of a standard comic novel than the above. I've read all of his books and this one was very good. He's a funny, observent writer who is exactly my age, so that might be part of why I respond to him. His best book is Election (also made into an excellent movie, by far Alexander "Sideways" Payne's best), and my second favorite is his short story collection Bad Haircut, but this one runs a close third. Give Joe College a skip, though. I also just reread Janet Malcolm's The Silent Woman. It's about Sylvia Plath and Richard Hughes, but it's really more about the ethical and philosophical problems of biography in general. I'm a big fan of Malcolm's writing, whatever the subject. In the Freud Archives and The Journalist and the Murderer are her most amazing books, but they're all so provocatively good that you could start anywhere.

Verve did an excellent 2CD collection called 20th Century Piano Genius. It's a collection of home recordings, before a small, attentive audience, done in Hollywood in 1950 and 1955. The sound is very good. Yes, yes, yes. Great stuff. The Tatum/Webster session is justifiably included on almost every top 100 best jazz recordings lists I've ever seen. There's something about the combination that's perfect: Webster paraphrasing the melodies with that massive tone filling the room like a beautiful fog, providing the perfect atmosphere for Tatum's fireworks and filigree.

You really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY might want to consider getting a copy of There's A Riot Goin' On ASAP. Trust me. YES! Everyone who doesn't own There's A Riot Goin' On should stop whatever they're doing and score a copy right now. One of the most inexhaustably deep albums ever.