John L

Do those albums have Bland's complete Duke material? There's so much great stuff there, someone ought to do a box. MG Yes, that is volume 1. All of Bland's Duke recordings were available on three such volumes, each with 2 CDs.

Yes, Mehldau is of a generation for which the Evans influence can be indirect - through other pianists. I see no reason not to believe him when he plays down the direct Evans' influence. There are plenty of other places where he can get similar influences.

That was my thought the first time that I heard him.

Another big vote for Deep Blues (Robert Palmer). Michael Rowe's Chicago Breakdown is also a nice overview of the classic Chicago tradition. I agree that the writings of Paul Oliver are highly worthwhile. David Evans is also an excellent and knowledgable writer on the blues who has different views than Oliver in some areas that are worth considering. I also second the suggestion of the volume "Nothing But the Blues," edited by Lawrence Cohn. Although it is a bit inconsistent, the best essays in the book are truly excellent. I am less enthusiastic about Elijah Wald or Marybeth Hamilton.

RIP. This is a hard one to take. In some ways, he was the last in a line of truly distictive artists who embodied the low down side of the Mississippi/Southside Chicago tradition. Certainly, nobody alive did it better. You don't replace somebody like Magic Slim.

He was also a truly fine blues player. I never had any problem really enjoying Donald Byrd.

Good observation, although one reason why the Hemphill got so much notice and press is that it had never been out on CD before.

Another vote for the Daley!

Just to clarify, does "I personally prefer Gene Harris, Junior Mance, Wynton Kelly among others" mean that you prefer their Blues playing or all their playing, over all the playing of Evans, not just his Blues playing? When many of us congregated on the Blue Note BB, I was known as the Gene Harris Fanatic. So, yeah, I prefer all of their playing over the playing of Evans. I have little use for pianists who don't bring a lot of blues to their playing. So to the above list you can add Kenny Drew too. I came to jazz from the blues and R&B, and for a long time I ignored artists who did not, in my view, sufficiently embody the blues, including Bill Evans. Although the blues is probably still my first love in music, I have come to appreciate Bill Evans very much and a number of other jazz artists who brings something else to the table.

I am a huge Ornette Coleman fan, but his music did not click with me for a while. Given the enthusiasm of others, I still kept force feeding myself Ornette once in a while, and it paid off. One night after listening to Ornette, I couldn't get the sound out of my head, I was hearing Ornette all night in my sleep. I woke up the next morning and already couldn't understand what the problem had been.

Thank you. I don't know why I was under the impression that Benson wrote the song. That is a relief! Now my estimation of George Benson has increased.

Breezin' was trashed by jazz critics when it was released, but it has held up quite well for what it is. Young musicians all around the world still play the title track and Masquerade all the time, even people who don't know who George Benson is. Masquerade is a great song. That said, he should have been arrested for composing and performing "The Greatest Love Of All," and for inspiring Whitney Houston to record it.

:tup So do I. My first exposure to Donald Byrd was actually a live Blackbyrds concert (Walking in Rhythm). I was just getting real interested in jazz back then, coming from R&B, and that was a nice bridge.

RIP. Mr. Byrd left us a lot of fine music.

Cornbread is actually one of my favorites. No, it has no leanings to the Avant Garde. But so what?

Two reasons for me. 1. Pharoah Sanders 2. The Jimmy Garrison bass solos. I tend to just hit "eject" when the Coltrane solos are done on that album. I do fine with the Sanders-led albums on Impulse (even like 'Tauhid' quite a bit), but what he was doing with Coltrane on a lot of that stuff, ('Meditations' being the one exception I can think of), especially the live albums, is just incomprehensible to me. Boy, did poor McCoy Tyner sound spoofed by it all on "Live in Seattle". And don't get me started (again) on 'Om'. I also don't care much for Sanders contributions to VV Again, or for Garrison's endless bass solo. But Coltrane's solo on Naima alone makes the record an absolute classic in my book.

I've never heard this show, but 1980 is a great vintage for Jerry Garcia. It could be great.

That is interesting that he has written up a discography of Docteur Nico.

Kamiblue - I am sure that your intentions are honorable, but you should understand the reaction here. What do you think Bird, Billie, or Chet themselves would think about it? It is one thing to be open and frank about an addiction, and quite another thing to want your picture to be paraded around under the banner of "jazz junkies."

Interesting, but a bit hard to believe, given how strongly Bird WAS obviously influenced by Lester Young. There is even the recorded evidence of the first known Bird recording - straight Lester Young.

Yes. In general, there is a surprisingly large amount of bootleg Dylan that is of very high quality, and often unique. For some reason, his best stuff often didn't make it to the legit records. Witness the current "Bootleg Series," which has already released a huge amount of material of mostly first rate quality, not just alternate takes and minor variations on what is already out there.

But if they can literally press 100 copies and essentially sit on them, that hardly seems reasonable and yet meets the letter of the law. Not sure about the Motown stuff whether it can be found in a tangible format, but iTunes is widely available, even if I have decided to opt out. Yes, there are loopholes, but it would still be a major step forward. Most larger record companies couldn't even be bothered any more to go to their vaults to keep music available, even if they might defend themselves against all copyright violations as a matter of principle. As far as the definition of availability, legit downloads are fine in this day and age (IMO). Of course, one would hope for high quality downloads...

That is interesting about the "use it or lose it" clause in the new EU law. I have always been of the opinion that this clause is exactly what is needed to support reasonable copyright laws that balance the rights of artists, companies, and the public. If only we had something like this in the US!