Ken Dryden

So Live @ San Francisco has a backup hard drive, that still is little solace in case of fire, burglary, earthquake, etc., unless that backup is in another location. I'm not exactly a Luddite, but I believe physical copies of commercially issued CDs have more merit than digital copies on a hard drive or two. Then again, with the insane prices of San Francisco real estate, physical storage of a large collection may be a problem for him.

There's a new Spike Jones collection, consisting of 2 DVDs with 4 television shows, an interview and a CD of performances. It's called Spike Jones: The Legend.

I still subscribe to Cadence, though I quit writing for them years ago. The paltry pay makes it hard to justify the time and effort spent compared to my other options. I still believe that it covers more imports and obscure releases than any other magazine, though not always in a timely manner. They could easily purge all of the smooth jazz reviews from the hodge podge and shorties section to make room for more significant things.

Since there isn't a lot of Art Tatum video and film footage, you see a lot of photos of the pianist a la Ken Burns. Interviews and demonstrations by Dick Hyman and Hank Jones, plus contributions by a few others, including Milt Hinton and Tatum discographer Arnold Laubich. The group shots from 'The Fabulous Dorseys' are included, but not the trio material. There's a short clip of Tatum's trio playing "Tiny's Exercise" and the pianist's solo treatment of "Yesterdays" from 'The Spike Jones Show,' but the solo video clip on You Tube of "Humoresque" is missing. It's pretty well done, all in all.

Not to mention that this list is made up of fairly common titles that most board members likely own... What do you do when your computer crashes for good, go rebuy them again?

I'm delighted that I started getting serviced again with Steeplechase CDs. Not only have I enjoyed George Colligan, Vincent Gardner and Eric Rasmussen, all of whom I was previously unfamiliar, but I also dig Andy LaVerne, Harold Danko, Rich Perry and many others who have recorded extensively for the label.

The daughter of an artist I interviewed sent me a dub of the complete Berlin Piano Workshop from 1965. The audio came out on a Philology LP in the 1980s. I also treasure Jaki Byard's solo set at the Chicago Jazz Festival, which I dubbed as it aired straight from the satellite.

I guess the powers that be thought that the two CDs wouldn't sell as individual units. In addition to unjustly dropping "Hello, Young Lovers," I am puzzled as to why they mixed up the order of the performances from the two albums, rather than focusing on each session in turn. Too bad it won't be reissued right.

Blue Notes surprising have had low resale value, probably because everyone expects them to be reissued in the JC or RVG series. But I had been looking for Sphere's Bird Songs for some time, it was the only album by the group that had escaped me, though I have the shorter LP. Besides, there's still room for music in my basement, even if the shelves are overflowing.

Some of us actually already owned most of the discs that were being offered that we wanted...

I've been fortunate and held onto what I desired to keep, though it is starting to get a little crowded in my basement.

PM sent on: Conte Candoli, Candoli Live (Nagel Heyer) $7 The Harper Brothers (Verve) $6 Sphere, Bird Songs (Verve) $7

DB has been promoting itself as Jazz, Blues & Beyond for some time. But I don't subscribe to jazz magazines to read about some douche bag like Prince. Leave that for Entertainment Weekly readers, Rolling Stone and other publications of no interest to me. One of the many reasons I canceled my subscription some time ago.

Why would anyone buy this counterfeit piece of crap? Yeah, European copyright laws allow this nonsense, but this material is available in more complete form from legitimate U.S. labels.

I've heard all but the Puente since they've arrived Monday. Good stuff, though it is frustrating that some of the releases were samplers from different years instead of complete sets. But I also enjoyed the diversity of the Brubeck and Tjader CDs.

The only Gaslini album I have is the old "Sit In at the Factory" disc from the 1970s, with guest Jean-Luc Ponty. I haven't played it in years.

That show has been issued by Eagle Eye Media on DVD. Good stuff.

I've got Bud Shank's email address so I'll ask him if he has the complete unadulterated session. The Jazzed Media CD lists 1965, but Timmer's Ellingtonia lists it as early 1966.

I can only imagine how bad the soundtrack must be after some clown overdubbed additonal instruments on top of Duke Ellington's score. I'm guessing that "The Big Heist," which features Bud Shank on flute with Ellington's band in Shank's new DVD/CD Against the Tide, is either an outtake that wasn't used or is under a different title in Ellington's discography. Note: I just heard this selection this morning, fortunately, it doesn't have the later overdubs. Paul Gonsalves and Jimmy Hamilton are also featured soloists.

I have great respect for Harold Danko, none for Tesh. Obviously, Tesh didn't put his lessons to good use.

Najee Plays Charlie Parker John Tesh: A Salute to Lennie Tristano

I'm always concerned when sellers at Amazon or Half.com use generic descriptions (Always Brand New, Fast Shipping) on everything they list. It's my experience that these sellers are more likely to be out of stock of items listed compared to individual sellers.

I wonder if anyone ever considered reissuing Piano Starts Here, retaining the sound flaws but correcting the pitch and restoring the Gershwin medley that was edited out by incorporating the missing music from Arnold Laubich's transcription disc? That would make a better apples to apples comparison, since the various versions of Piano Starts Here were dubbed slightly too slow.

I don't think this is a particularly compelling list. There's a lot of mediocre releases and some, like Don Grolnick's Hearts and Numbers, don't even represent his best work. Why would anyone pick a boot like the Blakey Moon CD or the incomplete Art Tatum In Private, when the more complete Storyville CD (The Complete Jazz Chronicle Solos) of the same sessions is readily available? I own somewhere between 14,000-15,000 jazz CDs and I can't say I'm in a rush to acquire the ones I don't already own from this list. At least the author didn't make the mistake of calling this list "essential."

Bob Brookmeyer wrote a warm tribute to Bill Finegan in his blog.