John L

This session is in print, or at least it was until very recently on chronological classics

Neither are sex, whips, Interstellar Space, and black leather, for that matter.

Rooster: You sure know how to start some complicated threads.

Don't forget that Gil Evans was a very important part of the mix. As far as the origins of "cool," you can't get much cooler than Pres, and he made his mark more than 10 years before Birth of the Cool. Before that, there were Bix and Tram. P.S. Gerry is not from L.A., and went to L.A. only after the Birth of the Cool project. In fact, as I recall, he used to get upset when people labeled him as West Coast.

As a childrens' record, it's great. My children loved it. For adults, I would say that there is much better later period Satch, including the Hello Dolly album.

Love and weed mix a lot better.

Personally, I really loved what McCoy Tyner did in the 1970s. I never missed him when he came to town, and he almost always delivered. By the end of the 70s, he didn't excite me as much any more. But I may have just overdosed earlier on his brand of jazz.

There are three more tracks as well: Wabash Blues, Tampa Shout, and Going Away Blues. These and the two 78s that Lon mentioned can be found on the excellent release on Timeless: "Jazz in Texas"

There is also the Boston concert with Blanton that has been on CD before. I will wait until I see a price tag. Then I will probably join the complainers.

Taking a broader definition of blues ballads, there were certainly a lot of them outside of big bands in the 1930s. Leroy Carr and Lonnie Johnson were probably the most important figures in developing black popular music in this direction. As far as big bands go, the real pioneers may have been territory bands that didn't record much, if at all. The George E. Lee Orchestra with Julia Lee might be considered a prototype for Buddy and Ella Johnson. Troy Floyd and his Shadowland Orchestra from Texas were only able to make a few recordings, but their featured singer, Kellough Jefferson, gives the impression of being a great blues balladeer. Then there is the Jay McShann orchestra with Walter Brown, which emerged around the same time as Buddy and Ella Johnson. Count Basie with James Rushing, Helen Humes, or Billie Holiday was menioned above.

A "good job" doesn't cut it in this kind of company. Listen to this album too much and you might come to believe that the ride cymbal had never been invented.

Darn that Dream

There is some good stuff on this box. Some of those Tadd Dameron sessions with Miles were including as filler material on the Bird's Eyes series. Often they ended up being the highlight of the discs. We don't have enough Tadd Dameron on wax.

Lonehill never pays anything for the music that it releases as a matter of principle.

My understanding is no.

The Fletcher Henderson band really took off after Louis Armstrong joined in 1924, and the latter 1920s were its glory period. 1923 is of major historic interest, but musically quite a bit weaker.

Hard to find some of the original originals--urge, etc. will only go so far in obtaining rights to obscure stuff. Did find the Tampa Red version of Hurts me Too! Thanks. ANy additions, suggestions, are of course welcome. The others ones that I listed shouldn't be too hard to find. You can PM me if you need a little help.

Great! "There is Something on Your Mind" is actually an old Big Jay McNeely hit from the 50s. Bobby Marchan scored with it too. "Next Time You See Me" is a Junior Parker classic. Cotton (and most likely Pig) got it from him. "It Hurts Me Too" is a Tampa Red original, although Elmore James did a great job in covering it. Pig most likely got it from Elmore.

Lon: Supposedly, you are allowed to authorize up to 5 computers. So what happens when you go through your fifth? Do you lose the music? Yes, burning and ripping most likely works. Yet there will be a sonic loss involved. There are also limits to transferability that I don't completely understand. For example, no matter what I do, I can't get my daughters iTunes to handle MP3s that I bought from iTunes. Apparently, since her iTunes is in her name, it won't allow transferability at all, not even with my authorization. All other MP3s work fine. Maybe it is more psychological than anything else. I don't want Big Brother controlling the music that I buy. I am also worried that new generations of computers might not be compatible with the computer-specific restriction technology that Apple is currently using. Oh, and I can't even get my own iTunes Store bought files on my own computer to play on any media software other than iTunes. That also causes problems for me since my iTunes is very large. Loading and unloading it takes a lot of time.

"For Losers" and "Things Have Got to Change" have been made available as vault reissues, I believe. They are available at iTunes. But I avoid downloading from iTunes due to the copy control bullshit that limits transferability to other computers. Is there any other way of obtaining the Verve/Impulse vault releases?

I agree with this statement! As much as I like the Mingus stuff on Columbia, Candid, and other labels, this Atlantic stuff is just the most soulful, swinging, masterful stuff he ever did. The essential Mingus purchase, IMO. I third this sentiment. This box contains at least half of my favorite Mingus. This is the single Mingus item that means the most to me.

Those who embody the spirit of the Pig never age.

RIP

Yes, Jerry could certainly play good Bluegrass. He did so later in his career as well. I agree with you that what the Dead created was very authentic and quintessentially American. But I would only conjecture that this authenticity lies primarily in the end product of their particular synthesis of American music, as opposed to the bare bones blues, R&B, country, or Tex Mex elements that enter the mix. That early Garcia collection looks very interesting.