The Mule

OH. MY. GOD! I had ALL of these and I haven't seen them in more than 30 years! Wow, this picture brings back some memories.... We must be about the same age RDK, because I had almost every toy you've posted. Where did you find this picture?!

Indeed it is. Here's the AMG entry. I should pick this up myself. Looks like a good compilation...

According to the PBS website on the series it was: Dave Brubeck Travelling Blues (D. Brubeck) Dave Brubeck (piano) Produced by Clint Eastwood & Bruce Ricker Recorded Carmel, California, September 21, 2002 First issue Might be available on the sountrack to this episode. I'll have to check...

I saw an interview with him recently where he revealed that he got most of that "business" from his father. Evidently, his dad would go through similar rituals--licking the end of a pencil before writing, shaking out his sleeves--before doing things. One hopes Art exaggerated it a little....

Easily my greatest find was the long OOP Larry Young Mosaic set in a used record store in Glendale, CA and it was priced at $35!!! Totally intact. Booklet. Box in fine shape. I scrutinized it to see if I was missing some massive flaw. Nope. It was used, but it was in fine condition. Thing was, I already owned the Larry Young Mosaic! I had purchased it from someone on the old boards for the very reasonable price of $96. So I bought it again and gave it to a friend for his birthday. Must admit I considered putting it up for auction on E-bay...

This was discussed on the old boards, but the booklet to the Mosaic Larry Young set mentions that Trane and Young would get together often to jam and some of those performances might have been privately recorded. Man, would I love to hear those! Wonder if Alice has the tapes?

Weizy! I didn't know it was your birthday! I never knew when your birthday was and I never, ever told you HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I'm sticking with it for the time being as well. Download speeds seemed back to normal on Saturday and I spent most of the weekend completing all the messed-up downloads I had attempted since the big announcement. So far everything downloaded previously can be downloaded again WITHOUT counting against your new monthly total. I'm in the $14.99 for 65 tunes a month plan. Since I download mostly jazz that's a pretty good deal. The average jazz album has 8 or 9 cuts so that's about six or seven albums a month. Hell, most of the ESP titles have only three or four tunes on them. You could still download a lot of their whole catalog in one month! So, for now, I'm hanging on...

Later this month I'm going to Montreal on business. I'll be there at least a week, probably longer, and I'm not sure I'll have much spare time. If I do, however, anyone know of any good used record/cd shops????

Man, these are flippin' fantastic! Waiting for the EMI legal department to come calling now, tho.....

Dig this: According to this guy I was talking to, Booker claimed he lost his eye to Ringo Starr's drug dealer after some dispute over money/drugs. That's why he wore an eyepatch with a star on it....

I was in high school and was listening to the Who, the Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, Yes, Springsteen, and Joe Walsh when I picked up KIND OF BLUE.... Which then led to Lester Young's COMPLETE SAVOY SESSIONS, Trane's MY FAVORITE THINGS, a best-of Monk album, a best-of Brubeck album, more Miles...and now I have no more space in my house for one more record or cd!

That was an excellent date (I give it a slight preference to the 'Jazz Guitar' session). Very spontaneous and featuring Red Mitchell on piano. OK he was not a real match to Carl Perkins but he could play the 88. Hall, Mitchell and Kelly obviously had fun recording this. I have a Japanese LP issue of it. The album title is 'Good Friday Blues'. This was the original title. May be wrong but think the 'Modest Trio' title was given by the Pacific Jazz people to one of its reissue reincarnation. The album does not seem to have seen the light in CD form. I believe the actual title is GOOD FRIDAY BLUES: THE MODEST JAZZ TRIO and it was available on cd as a Japanese import in the early 1990s.

Yeah, that's him. This guy I met was telling me a story about one of Booker's last recording sessions. He spoke to the bass player who told him that from where he was standing he could see the ends of the piano's keyboard, but he couldn't see Booker. On one number, Booker was playing some wild solo with his arms outstretched, one hand playing on each end of the piano. Suddenly there was a third sound coming from the piano. The bass player couldn't figure out what Booker was doing so he leaned in to get a better look and saw that Booker's partial dentures had fallen out onto the keyboard and Booker had his face on the keys trying to suck the false teeth back into his mouth. He never stopped playing as he chased his teeth around the keys.... This was just one story from two hours worth that I heard today...

Guy I just met who lives in New Orleans told me some totally outrageous stories about blues piano player James Booker. If he can be described in one sentence it is: Black, gay, one-eyed, drug-addict piano prodigy. Based on what this guy told me I have to run right out and pick up some sides. Anybody know about him and, if so, have any recommendations? Eastwood seemed to have skipped him in his "Blues" documentary....

SUPERFLY SUPERFLY SUPERFLY SHAFT TROUBLE MAN and love, love, LOVE the song "Across 110th Street."

I really wanted to like this, as I admire Bacharach's songcraft, buy I totally agree with Bev: Mush. It's the only Tyner album I've ever gotten rid of....

Finally somebody mentioned Serge! I was also going to put in a thumbs up for Sahib Shihab. His album CONVERSATIONS on Black Lion is a favorite as well as JAZZ SAHIB (w/Bill Evans, Oscar Pettiford, Phil Woods and Benny Golson!) on Savoy. Cecil Payne is wonderful and Pepper IS the boss!

Interesting that you say this as over the weekend I noticed problems with the Andrew Hill and the Charlie Rouse. When I played them both on the "burning" side of my Phillips burner they started skipping around after about 20 seconds. When I then played them on the "play" side of my burner they played fine. No other disc I own skips around like that on the "burn" side of my burner. The only two that have are the two new Conns. Coincidence or are these copy-protected somehow? I played the Hill on my computer and it seemed fine, however.... I don't know what to think. Anybody experience any other problems with this batch?

Not sure which I like more, Chris Walken hosting SNL or Kevin Spacey on SNL doing an imitation of Chris Walken....

iTunes Music Store Most of the Bags and Lucky Thompson cuts could be found on these Savoy cds: They're now OOP, but you might find them used...

Savoy Label Group music now on iTunes Music Store October 17, 2003 - 07:08 EDT The Savoy Label Group today announced the availability of its music catalog through Apple's iTunes Music Store. "Home to a who's who of jazz such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, John Coltrane, Jimmy Scott and many others, as well as current luminaries such as Hubert Laws, James Moody, Lou Rawls and Andy Bey, SLG now offers over 3000 classic and contemporary tracks from the extensive catalog." SLG will also be offering tracks available only through the iTunes Music Store, such as an exclusive cut from the upcoming "Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project" (release date, October 21). As part of the "Bird Up" promotion, listeners will be able to purchase the bonus track "Constellation (Heavenly Bodies)" produced by underground hip hop artist/producer El-P -- an alternate mix available only through iTunes Music Store. Additional catalog tracks and bonus exclusives will be offered in the months to come.

You misunderstood. Both sets on Saturday night for Tyner & Hutcherson were sold out (or close to it). I don't know how the rest of their week-long stay went, but Saturday was packed. However, I've been to some concert were there was a pathetic lack of people there. Last year I saw Andrew Hill at the Bakery and there were only about 12 people there. I saw Martial Solal in what was his FIRST EVER appearance in LA and it wasn't even half-full for the first set. A few years back I saw Hutcherson and Harold Land and it was only about half-full as well. It's been my experience that only the really BIG names pack the house in LA.

It's relatively small. Think it seats about 200. It's more of a concert hall than a nightclub. You can buy coffee, beer & wine at a small bar in the lobby, but there are no tables or waiters inside--just rows of seats (plastic ones). Acoustics are only so-so. Catalina Bar & Grill is a jazz supper club. There's an infamous two-drink minimum on top of the ticket price. They serve dinner as well. I prefer the atmosphere at Catalina, but you get the tourists and loudmouths who aren't necessarily there to see the band. That be can irritating. The Jazz Bakery, on the other hand, is pretty much all about the music and everyone is quiet and attentive. I go to both clubs several times a year and RARELY are they full. The only time I've ever seen Catalina's sold-out was for Jimmy Smith and last night at the Bakery was the most crowded I've ever seen it.