Hot Ptah

There has already been one album in which hip hop artists took old Miles Davis albums and reworked them: Panthalassa: The Remixes Several of the efforts on that album sounded nothing like the Miles Davis albums that they were working with. Some of them, to my ears anyway, were electronic sound effects with the Miles Davis album barely audible at times, far in the background. I wonder if this new effort will be any more interesting.

What about David Murray, considering all labels he has recorded for? In some years, he seems to have released a great many albums.

I agree completely. What also bugs me is when someone comes out to introduce a jazz concert and gives a fervent speech about how jazz is equal to classical music. A variation on this speech is that jazz is better than classical music. The person giving the speech always seems to shout, and to build to a mighty emotional climax when the jazz-classical music comparison is made. I always think, jazz and classical are not alike, and to compare the two head-on is foolish. I have noticed that this jazz is greater than or equal to classical music speech is often given by someone raising money, or campaigning for public office.

I think that the three Sun Ra albums on Horo are among the very best of his entire recorded output. The big band album, "Unity", may be the only time that the full Arkestra was successfully captured live, in a consistently excellent album from start to finish, playing swing and mainstream jazz pieces in a tight, focused way, with inspired solos--it just all came together on that 2 LP set.

Does anyone have definitive information on what happened to the albums released on the Italian Horo label? Why haven't they been reissued on CD? Who has the rights to them? Will they ever be issued on CD?

Oh yes! "Out of Our Heads"! That one is great, and clearly essential. I had missed one!

Regarding the Pharoah Sanders question, you don't mean that his job was to replace John Gilmore during the time that Gilmore left the Arkestra to play with Art Blakey and others, do you?

Victor Feldman Frank Butler George Coleman

That's the personal taste element. I played it several times this year, and was surprised at how much I did not like most of it. But that is just me.

Sgt. Pepper Veruca Salt Chili Davis

"Aftermath" is the most glaring omission. It is obviously essential, I would say. I also believe that the first four studio albums, "England's Newest Hitmakers/The Rolling Stones":, "12x5", "Rolling Stones Now", and "December's Children", are essential. There are too many excellent cuts on those albums not contained on "Hot Rocks". "Flowers" repeats some songs from other albums but has enough solid new material to be essential to a fan. The rest is a matter of personal taste. There are those who really like some of the other albums. I tend to think that the others are all a notch below the ones you and I have now mentioned.

While not one of the most spectacular episodes, I have always remembered the episode in which an elderly married couple is given a substance which, if ingested, will make them young again-- but there is only enough of the substance for one of them. They are quite in love with each other, and discuss at length how to handle the situation. In the end, the man takes the substance, turns from a frail, bald, old codger into a Charles Atlas-like young athlete, springs about the room shouting out his enthusiasm for the change--but in the end, decides to go back to his frail old self so that he can share his life in an equal fashion with his loving wife. It impressed me that someone would not simply take something great in a selfish manner if it hurt someone he cared about, and that he would instead sacrifice self for the one he loved. Even in my youth I sensed that this is not the way the world works very often.

In the inexplicably paired category: This Rahsaan Roland Kirk/Al Hibbler collaboration is one of Kirk's most "inside", mainstream sessions. To pair it with the Ornette album makes no sense to me.

There is a section in the maligned biography of Wayne Shorter, "Footprints", about Miles claiming half of the composer credit on Shorter's "Sanctuary". Shorter wrote a letter to try to get full composer credit back, which is reprinted in the book.

That's what we have in Kansas City every summer.

I received an email from Concord today stating that my 7-21 order had shipped. This was the first communication from them since 7-21.

I have more than 50. I haven't counted, but it is easily more than that. My mother has bought a set for me for Christmas, and another for my birthday, every year since Mosaic started. She always says that they are so nice to her and so easy to order from. She is afraid to use any other mail order service because they may not be as wonderful to her as the Mosaic people have been. Also, I have ordered many on my own over the years, to be sure.

It is interesting to read that Donna Lee was a real person, one person. In Charles Mingus' autobiography "Beneath the Underdog", the impression is given that he was the lover, or perhaps the pimp, of two beautiful women, one named Donna and one named Lee. While it is never stated that they are the inspiration for the song title, it certainly jumped out at me and I wondered if they were.

I know that Richard Davis owns Jimmy Blanton's bass. I think that he has donated it to the University of Wisconsin, where he has taught since 1977.

Oscar Lopez Jose Lopez George Lopez

Bob Lurie Peter Magowan Horace Stoneham

I don't think so. In the Mid-Atlantic states we get a variety that only comes out once every 14 years! Do they really come out every summer where you live? How about in the south? The noise they make might be associated with mating. Sounds like a crowded noisy bar with partying going on! They sure are a topic of conversation when they appear around here! They do come out every year in Kansas City. The noise they make is deafening. It would permanently harm your hearing if you stood in our back yard for any period of time in July or August, especially as sundown approaches. You can hardly hear conversation inside the house, when all of the doors and windows are closed.

There is something that will indeed kill them, but it can be considered a problem itself. On the other hand, they are only around for a few weeks. Cicada KIller Wasp Cicada KIller Wasp Wow! I have seen one of those wasps and a cicada rolling around on the sidewalk, on top of each other. I did not stick around to see who would win.

Is there a predator that will destroy them? We would love to get several such predators, for the thousands which seem to live in our trees. This was a shocking thing to us when we moved to Kansas City, the incessant deafening roar of the cicadas in July and August. Combined with the heat and humidity, it's a hell on earth, when you are in a section of a block with thousands of cicadas. Then you can walk about four houses away and it's quiet. Visiting friends from Milwaukee stopped their car on busy Kansas City street because the din of the cicadas had them convinced that there was something seriously wrong with their car--they thought the sound was coming from a major mechanical breakdown. What animal will eat them, in large quantities?

Sonny Simmons Willie Williams