Ken Dryden

PM sent on Rene Urtreger - En Direct D'Antives (Universal Music France, 2003 edition, cardboard digipack) - $8

I have tried various brands of Music CD-Rs, but it has been impossible to find good brands locally at a decent price and package size (50+). I've had success with both Maxell and Sony, though I've seen a few posts recommending Taio-Yuden. Two questions: where do you buy Music CDRs on line? What brands have you used with success? Please note that I use a stand alone unit, not a computer, so I am reluctant to purchase any CDRs that are not specifically labeled for music. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Not only do I find Stuart Nicholson's writing bland, but his books usually contain dozens of obvious errors with dates, misspelled names and even albums attributed to sideman instead of the leaders, among other problems. The one on the resurgence of jazz in the eighties was very sloppy.

I haven't heard anything else from the publisher or editor about future contributions since my chat with Mark a few months ago.

Posters, particularly those new to the board, should be treated in a civil manner. Sometimes the excessive praise of smooth jazz artists comes off as a bit ridiculous and may inflame some of us who have collected, broadcast, written about (and in some cases, played) jazz for decades. I really lost my cool when an uncredited liner note writer in the poorly conceived Legends of Jazz DVD (which included Jane Monheit, among several other non-legends) boxed set called David Sanborn "one of the greatest saxophonists of all time" (I could produce a long list of saxophonists who are far more accomplished, as could most of this board's posters) while ignoring Phil Woods, who was in the very same DVD episode. That is simply gross ignorance on the part of the writer, as if putting Kenny G ahead of Johnny Hodges or Sidney Bechet. Sales alone does not make a musician great, nor should success be a determining factor as to whether one likes an artist or not.

I do find it odd that anyone would react to a newbie's posts with obscenity, even if he/she disagreed vehemently with them. Carole, I would recommend that you spend more time looking to profile veteran jazz musicians who aren't getting wide exposure, as well as new artists. To give you an idea, when I was in New York City in late July for a few days, the artists I heard included Lee Konitz (well, he obviously isn't lacking for exposure, though there are newbies who don't know about him yet know David Sanborn, etc.) with a promising young pianist named Dan Tepfer (they have a new duo CD out on Sunnyside), along with guitarist Paul Meyers, guitarists Jack Wilkins and Gene Bertoncini (both of whom have been around for decades, though I bet there are a number of Examiner readers who aren't familiar with them, along with a talented young pianist/vocalist named Champian Fulton, who for my money, is far more interesting than several singing pianists who get extensive coverage these days. My two cents.

I've been called four times. The first time, I was on commission-only income and my wife was in school, so I got out of it. I was on two panels the second time. A civil suit over a car wreck, though the plaintiffs got only a few hundred dollars apiece. The defense attorney had nothing to work with but convinced the other 11 on the panel that the plaintiff was speeding when the defendant turned in front of him. I didn't hang the case simply because they failed to document their lost income and they refused emergency room treatment (weird, as you always have to assume a concussion may have taken place in many such collisions). I knew the plaintiff (not well) but was still seated. I also was on a case where a woman accused her ex-husband of running her off the road, shattering her car window and beating her in the face. In spite of several witnesses for the defense, we convicted him, as they all seemed to be lying. If any of them had been third party vs. family and co-workers, it might have turned out differently. The third time I was called, I was on an attempted first degree murder case. An ex-con was accused on shooting his girlfriend up the butt, causing horrendous injuries. She was the only one to testify, but the prosecution objected to the defense attorney's line of questioning, then stupidly asked for a mistrial (all of us would have ignored the claim of perjury against the victim, which was clearly bogus). As a result, double jeopardy took place and they were unable to retry him. He did get some time for federal gun charges, being an ex-con in possession. My feeling: the guy fired the shot, though whether we would have reached the requested verdict is impossible to guess. Any beginning attorney should have known better than to ask for a mistrial, according to my lawyer friends. I also served on a drunk driving case, where the appointed attorney convinced 7 jurors that the defendant wrecked his car while sober, called the police after failing to get anyone to tow him, then went across the street to a bar for a few beers while awaiting them. All because the office never touched the hood of the car to see if the engine was still warm, as the defendant claimed. I still have a few weeks to go on Federal jury duty right now, though the two times I was contacted, the cases settled or were postponed before I had to show up.

I think NY jazz readers rely on All About Jazz New York and Hot House for information about gigs, interviews, articles and reviews about real jazz artists. Check them out, while you ought to visit clubs like Birdland, Smalls, Smoke, The Jazz Standard, etc.

I finally got around to placing my order, though 4-5 titles were listed out of stock that I had saved. I'll see what happens and share my experience.

Tell me about it. I had a $20 Best Buy gift card, essentially burning a hole in my pocket and begging to be spent today and I couldn't find one, not one cd to buy. Man, that's sad. So I ended up using it to extend the warranty on my electric shaver instead. The local Best Buy's CD selection is a joke, period. Even for those with a beginning interest in jazz. All smooth crap and misfiled new age, very little real jazz.

Savoy screwed up several of the twofer LPs when reissued on CD, including the Don Byas, Red Norvo and many more. Chalk it up to cheapness and stupidity on the part of the company that owned the label at the time.

Jazz Record Center, owned by Fred Cohen, is around 26th street or so in New York City. If you like vintage jazz vinyl, he has quite a varied collection, including some pricey, hard to find releases from the 1950s and stuff I've never seen anywhere else. I was rather unimpressed during my one visit to Academy, on the other hand.

I have all but three or so. I don't have the organ release, I sold my Art Farmer after it was reissued in a Mosaic box and I think I'm missing one other one. I saved my outer sleeves. Awhile back I found the Hank Jones online for a ridiculously cheap price new at Tower, so I snapped it up and resold it. Had I held onto it, it would have brought a lot more today.

In a slightly different non-Michael Jackson area, I was surprised by One For All's version of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," a piece I have never liked. I always found Gaye's record monotonous and a bit insipid, One For All proved there was a good melody hidden within it.

I really don't have much use for most of the songs Michael Jackson wrote or covered, though I have a few of the CDs mentioned in this thread. Perhaps I'll have to revisit them. I remember a Morganna King version of "Human Nature" that was laughable. I played it on the answering machine of a local jazz musician and he called back to say, "What was that? It was horrible!"

All of my promo Mosaics, when I get them, come intact with box and booklet. Sometimes marked "promo" instead of numbered, and the Lee Morgan had saw cuts on the individual jewel boxes. I know of at least two people who discard Mosaic boxes to save space. One lives in a tiny Brooklyn apartment that can't be over 800 square feet. I bet that kills the resale value...

Chuck: One option would have been to quote all of the costs involved in manufacturing a single LP copy of the Charles Tyler session he requested on vinyl, plus a fair profit. Maybe then he would have gotten the message....nah!

In addition to all of the Brubeck-Mulligan compilations, I acquired a few of their European concerts together from broadcasts, including the complete Berlin show excerpted on We're All Together Again For the First Time.

In the recent biography of Django Reinhardt it was mentioned that after his death, all of his possessions were burned, along with his trailer, in the gypsy tradition (a bizarre ritual). What a waste...though it cuts down on family fights over who gets what...

Wendell Marshall's family did end up with Jimmy Blanton's bass. Since Blanton was born in Chattanooga, our local African-American Museum discussed bringing the bass here, though the proposal was not welcomed by Marshall's heirs. Paul Desmond willed his piano to Bradley's, though I've forgotten where it ended up after the club closed. His alto sax was willed to Michael Brubeck.

For a time, Amazon listed jazz pianist Aki Takase's Clapping Music CD as "Crapping Music."

Some of the rockers like Frank Zappa and Emerson, Lake & Palmer simply compiled bootleg records into boxed sets and sold them in new packaging. What's funny it that Zappa likely had originally soundboard tapes of many of the booted shows, but that would have cost more money to create.

I liked what Sonny Rollins did with some live recordings illegally issued by Harkit. He sells downloads on his website.

Ever remember the Home Alone poster parody, with Michael Jackson behind Macauley Culkin? I think I'll go play Frank Zappa's "Why Don't You Like Me." (He's oxygenated, his nose is deflated and he thinks he looks good to you.)

Moon is out of business. They also had some pretty stupid covers as well as stolen music.