Dmitry

Well, lads, we went and it was AWESOME. The house is surprisingly small, there are two floors [used to be 3, I believe the 3rd floor was added after Mr. Armstrong's death by Mrs. Armstrong, but it was later torn down. The whole house is not more than 2000 sq.ft. or so. Photography is prohibited inside the house, but I made a couple of shots outside. The house was purchased by Mrs. A in 1943 while Mr. A was touring and he didn't get to see it till some time later. At that time Corona used to be an Irish-Italian neighborhood, but now is mainly Hispanic and African-American. Mrs. A had called him up to tell him she’d bought a house and gave him the address over the phone. When he got in town he told a cab driver to take him to the address on the scrap of paper and when they got there he didn’t want to go in, thinking it was some mistake, that the house was too nice to be his and that he wrote the address wrong. He was in his mid-forties when they bought the place, his first home, and his last. Anyway, the ticket office and the gift shop are on the left, in what used to be the garage. Behind the brick wall is a Japanese garden that the Armstrongs made out of an empty lot they purchased for $10,000 some years after they moved in. I think the house itself cost $3,500. The building is immaculately preserved both outside and inside. Shortly before her death Mrs. A had hired a lady by the name of Bessie Smith[!] who, even 20 years after Mrs. A's death used to come 2-3 times/week and dusted and mopped the place. It's just a very warm, cozy place, nothing flashy except for the 360* mirrored bathroom on the first floor. Gold fixtures, marble basin; that’s how the man wanted it. And it looks good. There are even some bottles of his cologne on the shelves. It's amazing, but the feeling I got was that he just stepped out for a pack of smokes. His hand-written notes are on the desk in his study, next to his reading glasses. It's well-known that he used to record reel-to-reel tapes of everything that he found to be of interest, even phone conversations with friends. Over 600 of his tapes are stored in Queens College archives. I'm plannning to read a good bio of his, but seeing the house was more than enough to tell me - he was not a tragic persona. I was wrong. The feeling I got was that he was quite happy, actually. Above the first floor window is a terrace from which he used to trumpet-call the neighborhood children, letting them know he was back in town. Don't tell anybody, but they let me ring the door bell.

This is one way to find out for myself- http://www.satchmo.net/thehouse/ We'll be leaving in a few minutes.

Tonight PBS was showing a less than memorable early 60s film about jazz musicians with Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman, titled Paris Blues. Cameo by Louis Armstrong, in his best sweat and grins. Score by Duke Ellington[i wonder if it's available]. My wife, with all her admittedly pedestrian knowledge and forced exposure to the music, in response to my saying that Pops had to be a tragic figure in real life, said something to this effect - "He's the most well-known jazz musician in the world. Even those who cannot name any other jazz musician will name Louis Armstrong, well, they know him because of the grinning and the clowning." She probably is right. The amiable, love-you-all Louie, with thousands grinning photographs and a million smiling Made in China Satchmo figurines as portable tokens of his existance.. When I was growing up, my father had one of those pictures at our home, full color, with drips of sweat, eyes rolled out like the Citroen headlights. And a big grin. Now that I have grown this Art Kane photo is hands down my favorite depiction of the man. No grins, no sweat, white handkerchief in shirt pocket. What's the word?

Thanks, Muskrat. I just read [almost] the whole thing. It's quite illuminating.

Have a bunch of Rhino releases that I bought over the years, but never wondered about the company itself. Is it an off-shoot of one of the majors or an independent firm? Couldn't find any company history on their website.. Anyone with insight is welcome to share.

Where do these European companies obtain the master tapes [unless they just copy the existing US cds]? If the source material ceases to be copyrighted 50 years after its release I wouldn't think they just call up Blue Note and tell the vault guy to fork over the Miles tapes. Any copyright lawyers here?

Come back with good news!

Buyer pays fixed amount of $17.95 for shipping. Buyers from Alaska and Hawaii pay 27.00 for shipping. Coincidentally, seller's handle is priceshockelectronics [ndeed] and they operate out of Brooklyn. What a shock..

Belden - Black Dahlia Konitz - Another Shade Of Blue Osby - The Invisible Hand are all good, in their special ways.

FYI, the only two places in the world where I noticed people wearing sneakers in the street en masse are the good old US and Russia. Europe is still holding on pretty well in that aspect. My Latvian wife makes sure her shoes are shined every time she goes out, even if it's to get a carton of milk around the corner.

Not with my cholesterol.

Hmm, search is down. I see you hit the Academy already. Next stop is the Jazz Record Center - 236 West 26th St. Room 804 Phone: 212.675.4480

Search the archives

Lee Morgan - LEEWAY, jrvg, obi, $14 Joe Thomas - MASADA, on Beast Retro [70s big band + singers R&B], scarce, I think, $8 Groove Collective -WE THE PEOPLE, on Impulse!, marker line through bar code. I got two as gifts. It's a keeper!, $7 Jobim & Gal Costa - RIO REVISITED, on Verve, $7 Carlos Garnet - FUEGO EN MI ALMA, on HighNote, hole in bar code, $7 George Russell - LONDON CONCERT, VOL.1, on Stash, $6 Laurent De Wilde - SPOON-A-RHYTHM, on Columbia, $5 Hank Mobley - REACH OUT, on Blue Note, out of print I think, $12 Jackie McLean - NEW AND OLD GOSPEL, columbia house bar code on tray card, disk has no c.h. markings, out of print I think, $10 Graham Haynes - TONES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, on Antilles, $5 Clifford Brown/Gigi Gryce SEXTET IN PARIS, Japanese Vogue mini-lp, obi, $12 Mel Torme - LIVE AT FUJITSU CONCORD FESTIVAL, on Concord, cut on spine, $5 Jonas Helborg - GOOD PEOPLE, on Bardo, $7 Reuben Wilson - DOWN WITH IT, on Cannonball, hole in bar code, $7 John Zorn - THE BIG GUN-DOWN, on Nonesuch, $7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Postage included. If you want to trade or buy, please pm me.

Coincidentally, Stop Making Sense DVD is the darling of the Hi-Fi expos. Seems like every company making high end a/v gear has one to show during their presentations. 'cause it IS damn good! I'm not interested in whether or not is sounds great on $10,000 theatre systems. $10,000?! Where you been, boy? It takes more than that these days. Way more.

Coincidentally, Stop Making Sense DVD is the darling of the Hi-Fi expos. Seems like every company making high end a/v gear has one to show during their presentations. 'cause it IS damn good!

Well deserved!

Before opening the thread I wondered who would be the first one to post a nudie pic. What better way to commemorate the life achievement of the man ! Here's for you, Mr.Newton.

Yesterday when I was at work a good friend who lives in Indianapolis left a message on my machine, telling me about a great jazz program he was listening to. Today I asked him what it was and he said it was the J.J.Johnson Special! What a coincidence! When I told him it was a bulletin board acquaintance who put it on, he said the program was very well done. My friend usually does not have a whole lot of praise to dish out, so it must have been a good one. He said the music fit in quite smoothly with the spoken portion of the program and he enjoyed the whole thing. He also mentioned David Baker's recollection of seeing J.J. with Miles and J.J. with Coltrane's rhythm section . Who wouldn't want to hear that?!

Reading the Rahsaan thread and how people value his performances of the same tunes quite differently made me stumble upon a heretic thought - did Trane ever mock up a solo? Not in my listening experince..

Put these two together and you get a perfect New England winter night. Email is on its way.

Northwest winds around 10 mph. About 3 inches of snow. I'll be in the Hanover - Lebanon area this weekend. Anyone from Dartmouth? Any record stores in the area? Anything interesting and non-physical to do, like good restaurants?

Is that the same David Baker who played w/George Russell and is currently a professor at Indiana University?

He's a member of the current Henry Threadgill band. Check them out.

Amazing! I noticed the same discrepancy. I can see how easy it was to mistake Calvin for Phineas, they looked so much alike. Except Phineas was very short. I remember there was one or two more photos where the brothers were misidentified.