John L

Yea, they were fantastic live. I remember one especially memorable show at Keystone Korner around this time of the year. It might have even been New Years. There were several bands, including one with both Joe and Eddie Henderson. Old and New Dreams had top billing. Don Cherry seemed to be distracted by something. But I'll never forget how Dewey Redman and Ed Blackwell hooked up that evening. Incredible.

Jim: I agree with everything that you wrote in your first post. But I am not sure about the sentiments in the second. You brought up Miles. He is indeed an interesting example of someone who succeeded in consciously updating his sound in a profound way. What he achieved between 1968-1974 is inspirational. But I would consider that to be an exceptional case. By contrast, look at Miles post-retirement. If you ask me, he and Wynton were two of a kind during that period. Miles was consciously trying to project himself into a future that wasn't his to be had in the same way that Wynton was trying to take refuge in a past that wasn't his. Sure, the current technological revolution is changing sensibilities and the way that people perceive the world. That doesn't mean to me that mature middle-aged musicians who have pursued a consistent and fulfilling musical direction based on their pre-revolutionary values and sensibilities should be forced to take heed, change directions, "put on their sons' clothes," and cater to the new generation. On the contrary, that strikes me as a recipe for almost certain failure.

Don't mess with Southside Chuck! Sounds like you were trouble back then. Dan: I think that the new Junior Wells release is an excellent documentation of vintage blues in a Chicago club in good sound. The ambiance is great. The music is raw, but right. Good stuff. Musically, I wouldn't say that it reaches the artistic heights of the recent Otis Rush (live at Wise Fools Pub) or Junior's earlier live recordings from Pepper's Lounge (available on "It's My Life"). But it doesn't need to. It is just authentic, highly satisfying, and unpretentious Chicago blues being played the right way on its home turf. As time goes by, the value of this record will only grow as a historical document (IMO).

to save the neck of a certain Chuck Nessa. So tell the liner notes of a just released "Junior Wells Live at Theresa's 1975" on Delmark. Is that right, Chuck?

Well, of course. But those are places you never will go, because those are places that don't exist anymore. If the inspiration is to find those places that don't exist anymore, then...no thank. But if the inspiration is to find some places here, now that you haven't been before, then hell yeah! That's all I'm saying - the past should inspire the present to create the future. It shouldn't inspire the present to rebuild the past. I think that we are all, in some sense, trapped in the time-generation that we occupy. Moving forward beyond our calling strikes me as no less artificial than moving back into the past. My son is a big Hip Hop DJ and fan. What he gives me to listen to has a strange effect on me. On the one hand, I recognize and admire much of it as highly innovative, dynamic, and foward looking. I enjoy dancing to a lot of it. On the other hand, no matter how much I admire it, most of it will never be my music. I couldn't make it mine no matter how hard I tried. I am of a different vintage, and have different sensibilities that can no longer be changed. I am at the age where I am at least as much a part of the past as the future. And I accept that. I think that we all just need to be true to ourselves, our time, and our sensibilities. I think that musicians should play the music that is in them, that is a part of them, that corresponds to their past, present, and future. The relevance to the past, present, or future of greater society will fall into place by itself. Trying to artficially project it into the future is no less a problem than hiding it somewhere back in the past.

I don't wear my father's clothes, but I also don't wear my son's clothes.

I still hear things all the time in recordings of the 50s, 60s, or even earlier that take me places that I have never been.

Don't get me wrong. I am not giving a blanket condemnation of the 50-year public domain limit or so-called legal "pirating" (although I think that these laws might be carefully reconsidered). There are costs and benefits associated with any such policy. I was just pointing out some of the costs. Some labels like Retrieval, Timeless, and Frog have released a number of compilations of more obscure or less recorded artists from the 78 era, particularly from the 1920s. But there is a commercial problem with seeking out and releasing obscure 78s. Either there is no real market for it, or there is a small market that can be captured by the "public domain" labels after release. In any case, the question of how to finance serious endeavors to release this kind of music on CD is a complicated one.

While I'm sure that's right in ideal terms, Rod, with a record collection that's a very awkward thing to arrange. If you're getting new recordings nearly every day, then you need quick and easy access to both hard drives. How you do this when you have to drive across town to get at your second copy isn't perfectly clear. Would you update both discs monthly or what? MG MG: One external hard drive is a backup. So you don't need access to it every day. I only access my backup external hard drive once every two months or so. In the mean time, I keep backups of all new files on the internal hard drive of my computer. My backup hard drive is across the ocean. So I bring new files to the other side of the world on my PC. Works just fine. As I wrote earlier, part of the game is minimizing the use of external drives in order to prolong their life.

A few points here: a) European labels like Chronological Classics have done fairly comprehensive reissues of studio recordings from the 78 era. So most studio recordings from this era new to disc would have to be something newly discovered and pulled out of the vaults. b) Due to copyright laws in Europe that put all of this music in the public domain, and a number of pseudo-pirate labels that are waiting to steal immediately anything new that hits the market, there is very little incentive to invest time and effort in searching the vaults for something new. So don't expect much.

Just be sure and keep the ones with Ed Blackwell on drums.

Apparently, it was supposed to be a Lee Collins date. But Collins didn't show due to illness and Dewey Jackson took his place.

Yes, burning and re-ripping will work, but you will lose a lot of audio quality in the process. I also boycott iTunes music store for this reason. Does anyone know of another source for downloading the Verve vault MP3-only issues?

I have a large CD collection (about 8000 discs) and have been living away from home. So I have ripped the vast majority of my collection to MP3s. I don't use WAVE or Lossless since that would far exceed the capacity even of a 500 GB external hard drive. It would also make ripping time extremely long. I find the sound quality of my MP3s to be adequate, and I am keeping my CD collection at least until the next generations of technology will make ripping and storage in WAVE an easy option. Yes, DO back up your MP3s on a second external hard drive. Not only do external hard drives fail, but they sometimes give no prior warning. If you have a large collection, it also makes sense to buy several iPods or other MP3 players. Why? The more music that you have loaded in MP3 players, the less often that you will be compelled to fire up your external hard drive in search of other music that you want to hear. That will increase the probability of a long life for the external hard drive. Too bad that there is no market for larger MP3 players that hold more music. I would certainly buy one.

I actually don't think that soloing is going to disappear in the 21st century. On the contrary. In the computer age, new instruments are going to appear that will allow people to communicate musical ideas much more easily and directly, and without the same need to woodshed for years to develop technique. That will give profound musical solo voices to thousands, and they will be heard... ...just a fantasy.

Sounds more like a 90s jazz list to me than a 21st century list.

In addition to what has been suggested, look for the early Dodo Marmarosa sides, including the ones with Lucky Thompson. The early Howard McGhee sessions give you a classic glimpse of West Coast bebop in embryo. Get all the Sonny Criss and Teddy Edwards that you can from any era. There was a lot of creativity in rhythm and blues on the West Coast in the late 40s that had jazzy roots: Illinois Jacquet, Roy Milton, Johnny Otis, the Liggins brothers, Amos Milburn, Lowell Fulson, Pee Wee Crayton. You need to feel that to understand the whole vibe that penetrated jazz on Central Avenue back then. You must already have the LA 1945 Slim Gaillard session with Bird, Diz, and McVootie. Right?

You can put all 7000 of your discs in iTunes (although you will most likely need a 500 GB external hard drive), but will not be able to fit the majority on your iPod at one time. Rotating what you have on your iPod only takes a few minutes, however.

Brownie: I picked it up due to the historical interest. Musicially, it doesn't do too much for me. It's fairly stiff and run-of-the-mill Dixieland-type stuff. Only Don Ewell manages to catch your attention sometimes. The sound is also rather muddled on this private tape.

That's what happens when the all-night frantic one hears the real gone music of so many wonderful organizations.

Now you got me REAL confused.

Yes, the book should contain a lot of valuable information. As far as the political agenda of the book, I think that it is clear that Crouch is out to debunk the "myth" of the movie that Bird flew only on the basis of inborn natural genius, and was nothing but an irresponsible junky in real life. I am sure that Crouch will do his best to portray Bird as serious, responsible, and hard working as possible. Even if Crouch takes this agenda too far, I think that we can use a book like this. Many of the myths need to be debunked. Even just listening to the consistently brilliant almost weekly live recordings that we now have of Bird makes you realize that he was a much more serious, responsible, and professional musician than the mythology would suggest.

RIP

The later Holiday may belong to a more limited emotional and vocal realm. But what a realm and what emotion!

In the 1980s, Savoy issued the complete Charlie Parker Royal Roost broadcasts on four CDs that include the complete radio shows with Symphony Sid. Everything is there: ads, long spoken passages, etc. Sid would often ask Bird the names of the next tracks before announcing them. More recent reissues cut most of this out. Frankly, I don't miss it. Symphony Sid gets on my nerves. From the historical point of view, it is interesting to hear it once. After that, I just want to hear the music.