Ken Dryden

The USPS has lost: several CDs that were mailed to me or sent by me, a mortgage check, a car note payoff check, two consective payments to the same doctor's office, among other things. One funny thing was a book put in my box with a bunch of CDs, but it wasn't addressed to me, anyone on my street or in my subdivision. It did have a delivery confirmation sticker...

There are too many to list who are nice guys or gals. Whether it has been a phone interview, a rare in person interview, or just meeting with someone after a set, there has been only one who was difficult. I had the opportunity to talk or hang out with Dave Brubeck, Marian McPartland and Bill Mays many times (Oh, the stories Bill would share at the bar during IAJE!). David Liebman couldn't be more gracious and helpful. Clark Terry was a hilarious interview on both occasions, though he put me off for a few hours the second time and I ended up talking to him at one a.m. on my birthday in the middle of a work week. By the time I met him in person, he was rather ill and it was one of his last (if not the last) public performances. Ken Peplowski is a very funny guy. Lorraine Feather is a delightful lady. And it is still a nice treat to get a thank you letter or email from an artist for an article or review, not something that is expected, but I still appreciate it. I shouldn't have forgotten Milt Hinton, who was a joy to talk to and very cordial.

My cover feature on Dave Liebman is in the May issue of The New York City Jazz Record, viewable here for those of you outside of NYC: http://nycjazzrecord.com/issues/tnycjr201605.pdf HutchFan and I just saw Liebman's Expansions in Duluth, Georgia last week. It was a great show, though poorly attended. The upside is that Liebman was very pleased with the sound technician and he had the concert recorded. He told me today that he will likely issue some of it on an upcoming live CD for Whaling City Sound. My full interview (which was around 70 minutes) may also be appearing on Dave Liebman's website some time in the next few weeks.

It was great to run into HutchFan and his friend, though the crowd was sparse. I guess Atlanta jazz fans don't want to drive 10-12 miles outside of the I-285 perimeter on a weeknight. It was worth the drive for me and we heard an all electric set. Dave Liebman was so pleased with the soundboard engineer and venue that he had Expansions recorded.

I've received two shipments of great stuff at incredible prices. Thanks, Bill!

I'm going to the Duluth show on Thursday, not the Athens show tonight. Your text had me worried, I prepaid for the hotel and I probably can't cancel it at this point.

Thanks for sharing that info. I just did a phone interview with Dave Liebman in February for a cover story in May's issue of The New York City Jazz Record. He told me about his Nashville gig, but I think that Duluth would be a lot easier for me to attend.

The Nice burned a flag during a performance of Leonard Bernstein's "America" and royally pissed him off.

If you still have these, I'd like them: 50th Anniversary Massey Hall - Hancock, Garrett, Hargrove, Holland, Haynes - Toronto 5-15-2003 Kenny Burrell 10-17-1977 Sandy's Jazz Revival Beverly MA Charlie Parker Legacy Band 10-8-2005 Sweden, Terrell Stafford, Jesse Davis, Grant Stewart, Ronnie Matthews, Ray Drummond, Jimmy Cobb Johnny Griffin 9-2000 Denmark (2 Sets) Russell Malone Quartet, 1999 Edmonton Art Blakey, July 1985 Montreal Jazz Fest Benny Golson - 6-10-2000 Jazz Baltica 2000 Salzau Germany George Coleman Quartet 11-12-1979 880 Club Hartford CT (2 Sets)

1201 Music made Charles Tolliver's Paper Man available as a download, I wrote the uncredited notes to go with it on line.

I reviewed the Alan Grant release and had no idea it was a boot until the planning of the Resonance release was revealed. The packaging on Grant's CD was cheesy, with a number of photos of him with other musicians that had nothing to do with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, reeking of an ego trip, just like his annoying announcing for his Four Queens Jazz Night From Las Vegas radio series.

I remember ordering the debut ELP LP from a record club as a freebie and was astounded at the difference from typical rock. I wasn't familiar with Bartok or Janacek at the time, but also loved the use of the pipe organ. I saw them a couple of times in concert and did a phone interview with Emerson in the early 1990s for a planned radio special which never came to be. While Emerson could be bombastic, he got me interested in Meade Lux Lewis, Joe Sullivan and Alberto Ginastera. I was already very familiar with Ravel's orchestra scoring of Pictures at an Exhibition and laughed when a classical LP was reissued with Vladimir Horowitz's solo piano version backed by Alberto Toscanini with the NBC Symphony's recording, with the blurb on the jacket: "The piece that inspired Emerson, Lake & Palmer's hit." He will be missed.

PM sent about Bob Dorough – Eulalia (Merry Lane)

I had problems removing the middle disc from several of the boxes in the Bee Hive set. I complained to Mosaic and they told me they have passed on this info to their jewel box manufacturer, but with no response. Great music, though I owned a number of the LPs.

John: Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Are any of these still available? Bernstein ,Peter – Earth Tones (Criss Cross) Goldings $7 Bernstein ,Peter – Signs of Life (Criss Cross) Mehldau $8 Hazeltine ,David – Blues Quarters, Vol. 2 (Criss Cross) $8 Jordan ,Duke – Wait and See (Steeplechase) Dannie Richmond $8 Jordan ,Duke – Tivoli One (Steeplechase) Dannie Richmond $8 Jordan ,Duke – Tivoli Two (Steeplechase) Dannie Richmond $8 I’ll need to check to see if any of the Duke Jordan stuff has been reissued as 2 CD sets under a different title. I’ve got to go 2 floors down to check. I’ll also get together an updated trade list if you’re interested. Ken

I've never found Miles Davis' Warner Bros. recordings to be of any interest to me. Boring vamps and uninspired improvisations over them.

If labels and sellers are offering CDRs, they should be charging less and being up front about what they are selling. I hate CDRs disguised as manufactured CDs, with some Amazon sellers being frequent culprits, though Amazon's own listings seem to mention when something is a CDR that they sell. Those damned labels have a tendency to work loose, a real problem if you use a slot-loading CD player. As for backing up all of my CDs and CDRs on digital files, good luck. That would be very time consuming due to the size of my collection.

Interested in Clifford Jordan & Ran Blake - Masters From Different Worlds (Mapleshade) VG+ - $4 I can do a straight purchase but have a wealth of CDs for trading if you're interested.

I've got an Affinity LP by Duke Ellington entitled Paris Jazz Party. I know Don Byas is on it, but didn't remember Archie Shepp. I'll have to go downstairs to take a look and listen.

PM sent for: Sun Ra - Helsinki 1971: The Complete Concert & Interview - (Transparency) 3 discs, 15 as new Sun Ra - Live at Slug's Saloon - (Transparency) 6 discs 30 unplayed Lee Konitz, Chris Cheek, Stephane Furic Lubovici - Jugendstil II - (ESP) 5

Please set these aside while I view your other list: Gryce, Gigi Saying Somethin' OJC 7 Robinson, Spike The CTS Session Hep 5 Robinson, Spike & Cohn, Al Henry B meets Alvin G Once in a Wild Capri 5 Smith, Willie the Lion The Lion's in Town Vogue 4 Williams, John (piano) The John Williams Trio Emarcy 17

Save it for me. Do you need an updated trade list from me?

PM sent for: Lateef ,Yusef – The Centaur and the Phoenix (Riverside/OJC) Zawinul $6 Lateef ,Yusef – The Three Faces Of (Riverside/OJC) $7 Adams ,Pepper – Hollywood Quintet Sessions (Fresh Sound) $10

I just visited a retired engineer who was downsizing and he had a copy of the out of print Complete Emarcy Recordings of Clifford Brown & Max Roach. If anyone is interested, I will share his contact info via a pm. I don't know what he's asking, but it looks like it was just opened.