Ken Dryden

Insure your music, handle it with care and enjoy it. Consider adding a burglar/fire alarm system, after installation costs, monitoring usually only runs between $20-$30 per month. I would bet that the office is no safer than home (maybe even less so!) for storing valuable items. Backing up my Mosaic collection is simply not feasible, as I have far too many of them (88 + all 20 Mosaic Selects), including the massive three volume Commodore LP collection and the Nat King Cole Trio sets.

$75 to $100 is probably a bit high for a copy of Jim Hall's Jazz Guitar LP (not the later edited or overdubbed versions), but I am pretty sure that NM or better copies will likely command at least $40 to $50 from most sellers. I don't think it is all that common a record in better shape. Prior to the internet, pricing of out of print jazz LPs was far more erratic.

Personally, I think Mosaic does a damned fine job at holding the line on price increases. With many labels offering $18.98 list priced CDs of mediocre music (often 40 minutes or less), Mosaic has done there best to make available long out of print recordings to serious collectors. It is interesting that they are eliminating the numbered boxes in the Mosaic Select series. They did away with hand numbering of the regular Mosaic boxes for a time, then returned to it.

I have quite a few Tom Harrell CDs and LPs, love his work with Jim Hall, Art Farmer and especially Phil Woods. One thing I treasure is a broadcast from the old Four Queens Jazz Night From Las Vegas in the band he briefly co-led with Swiss alto saxophonist George Robert. Here's the information: 1. One For Thad (Robert) 2. It Always (Harrell) 3. Mr. Timing (Robert)...also introduced as Mr. Lucky Timing 4. unidentified title (Harrell) 5. I Love You (Porter) Geroge Robert/alto sax Tom Harrell/trumept/flugelhorn Dado Moroni/piano Reggie Johnson/bass Bill Goodwin/drums recorded Oct. 2, 1989

Actually, I found the Steely Dan Piano Jazz far superior to Elvis Costello's appearance and I'm not even a fan of the band. Costello has long been a joke to me, especially after seeing his inept guest vocal with Chet Baker on a DVD, where he sight-read the lyrics to a couple of tunes. The vastly overinflated Van Morrison appeared on another song. BTW, there are supposedly two separate Cecil Taylor shows and I failed to record the second, thinking it was a rerun. Now I check the recording date and songs on-line before skipping a show. Speaking of Piano Jazz, how many of you saw the one edition of the program that was videotaped for PBS? I attended the taping (along with my wife) and received a copy of the VHS from the SCETV folks (they supposedly only made about 50). It was aired in some markets (not ours of course, which offers Yanni, John Tesh, Jim Brickman and other musical jokes).

Ken Dryden (All Music Guide, All About Jazz, Coda, All About Jazz-New York, Hot House) + member of the Jazz Journalist Association and a contributor to Jazz Notes on occasion...) My top ten list, combining new issues, reissues, boxed sets and historical discoveries (a banner year for the latter!): Top ten of 2005 (in no particular order) Denny Zeitlin: Solo Voyage (Maxjazz) Dizzy Gillespie/Charlie Parker: Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 (Uptown) Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall (Blue Note) Lorraine Feather: Dooji Wooji (Sanctuary) Gene Bertoncini: Quiet Now (Ambient) Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax (Rounder) Dave Brubeck: London Flat, London Sharp (Telarc) Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio: Live in New York (Omac) Mel Torme/Gerry Mulligan/George Shearing: The Classic Concert Live (Concord) Count Basie: The Complete Clef/Verve Count Basie Fifties Studio Recordings (Mosaic) Since every organization requested a top ten list, that's what I provided, though I would have preferred to do separate ones for new releases vs. reissues/historical discoveries.

The pieces for Andrew Hill's Piano Jazz show are listed as they were posted on the Piano Jazz website. The last track definitely isn't "As," which I know through Jean-Luc Ponty's version (I don't collect Stevie Wonder's recordings). Frequently there are mistakes in the song titles or composer credits as posted there. I won't have the time for a few days to make the other comparison, though I do own the Adnrew Hill Blue Black CD reissue.

I'll have to agree that just because something has been bootlegged in whole or in part shouldn't prevent it from being omitted from anyone's best of the year release list. It was a very tough year to choose just ten because of the historic discoveries and terrific reissues, though I finally ended up picking 5 new releases and 5 historic or reissue titles. It's posted at the Jazz Journalist Association web site, jazzhouse.org (if anyone cares), along with a number of other writers' lists.

I have hundreds of McPartland Piano Jazz shows recorded onto CDR and cassette, if anyone is interested in trading copies of other shows (including but not limited to Jazzset, American Jazz Radio Festival, Jazz Alive!, Four Queens Jazz Night From Las Vegas, Riverwalk: Live From the Landing, and various other jazz broadcasts of non-commercially issued material). Please send me a PM (rather than post a reply). Note--none of these shows are for sale--period. The Andrew Hill show was excellent. It was recorded on February 24, 2005. 1. Nicodemus (Andrew Hill) 2. Blue Black (Andrew Hill) 3. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Maschwitz/Sherman) 4. Now's the Time (Charlie Parker) 5. Tough Love (Andrew Hill) 6. Free Piece (Marian McPartland/Andrew Hill) 7. Portrait of Andrew (Marian McPartland) 8. Portrait of Marian (Andrew Hill) 9. I'll Be Loving You Always (Stevie Wonder) Among Marian's least interesting guests (to me): Paul Shaeffer (from Letterman)--by far the worst guest, as Marian told me that he came prepared only to be interviewed, not to play. He played one duet and Marian essentially carried the show alone from there. Michael Kamen--the late film composer, who kept playing bland music and requesting that Marian "play some of her famous flatted fifths." Elvis Costello--Why in the hell this crappy show was issued on CD is beyond me. Hundreds of far more interesting real jazz artists who have guested on the program (not occasional wannabes) have yet to be issued. Mercer Ellington--spoke a lot about his famous father, but played only briefly during the show. I am still puzzled as to why Bob Brookmeyer has never been invited onto the program. Marian did tell me that both Keith Jarrett and Horace Silver declined repeated invitations to appear (their loss and ours).

Sometimes you just have to pull the trigger when you spot things, particularly boxed sets at reasonable prices, or titles on small labels that may end up being out of print before you can blink. I've got both the Brown set and the earlier Mosaic version of the Desmond material, both sets are essential.

FZ died far too young! I saw him several times in concert between 1978 and 1984 and wished the 1988 tour hadn't self-destructed in Europe. I did a phone interview with him in 1989; my favorite moment was when I asked him about the quote of "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" in "Rhymin' Man" and he replied, "You're right--you're the only person that knows that song!" Actually, it wasn't that unusual for a jazz fan who also dug his work, but the average rock writer, dj or fan would have been clueless. I hope the FZ vault is forthcoming with more unreleased treasures at a faster pace. Bootleg audience cassettes of live performances are hardly satisfying.

Jaki Byard: Flight of the Fly

I enjoyed Gerry Mulligan's unaccompanied soundtrack to I'm Not Rappaport. I seem to remember that he played baritone sax, soprano sax and clarinet in spots, one instrument at a time. I enjoyed it more than the movie.

I think if you did a survey of what used CDs and DVDs sold for on sites like half.com and Amazon (sold for, not some of the outrageous prices posted by some dealers) and documented your effort, I don't think that the IRS would challenge it. Of course, the larger the overall value of the gift, the more likely to draw scrutiny. I imagine $7-8 for used CDs and DVDs in excellent condition might be an average fair market value, but anyone donating a large collection might consider having it appraised independently, as the donor is prohibited by law from assigning values.

Duke Ellington Johnny Mandel (name someone else still living writing memorable standards) Dave Brubeck Sorry, but I can't think of any rock or pop stars that I would include on my list, even if were increased to 25 names.

I have a friend who will yank every Kenny G CD out of the jazz section and spread them around a music store, as she believes that he is not a jazz artist at all. Frankly, I've thought about acquiring one used Kenny G CD and leaving it around my music shelves. When company asked me about it, I could reply "It's his only CD I like." But the CD iwould be superglued to the back of the jewel box. Dr. Herb Wong told me that this bestselling pop star had great bop chops as a high schooler, but the pablum he has issued on the pseudo-jazz label Arista make him the ultimate soundtrack for hell, along with George Winston.

I think that Telarc already deleted some jazz titles on their own over the years. I believe that Dave Brubeck remains their topselling jazz artist. I don't know how heavily the new owner will cut the Telarc catalog, but fortunately, I own every Telarc jazz release that I want. Jim Hall's most recent 2 CDs have been on the limited edition Artistshare label.

It doesn't show up in my copy of the Lord Discography, though I'm using one of the older CD-Roms. I did run across an oddball unissued session from 1950, featuring the Dave Lambert Singers (Lambert, Hendricks & Ross) with Williams. I also have a track or two from a broadcast of the 1st annual Kansas City Williams Women in Jazz Festival, that featured Mary Lou. There are also 2-3 tracks by Marian McPartland, all aired over NPR.

I don't know if any of you ever read a spoof CD review that first was posted by Bret Primack at Bird Lives, but it was of a non-existent Mosaic set that included all unreleased Duke Ellington, it was so big that a forklift was included. I forget the writer's name but it was a scream.

I knew the owner of Black Label and wrote a couple of liner notes for his releases. He never did manage to include any documentation about the dates and venues of the music and this was before I had access to the web or Tom Lord's Jazz Discography. I'll have to check my Coltrane discography and my latest Lord CD-Rom at home to provide a definitive answer for the date and location of the Coltrane/Dolphy Black Label CD.

I'll getting ready to review the Clifford Brown-Eric Dolphy disc for All Music Guide within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Steve Allen bemoaned the discarding of kinescopes of his old Tonight Shows, as he regularly featured jazz musicians on his program. The audio portions of a couple of Art Tatum appearances have been issued at least twice, but I'm not sure of any others. Another senseless loss. Duke Ellington did a pilot with Billy Strayhorn for a program, but some union official demanded that the video be erased. Another great example of the redundancy of the term "union stupidity."

I just discovered this thread so I might be of some help. I own both an original copy of Jim Hall's Jazz Guitar CD and the long out of print original Pacific Jazz LP (prior to Bock's dumb editing and overdubbing of Larry Bunker's drums). The LP is not in terrific shape, but at least plays without skips. I interviewed Jim Hall around 1990 and he told me that the longer version of "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" was actually the master take and the one shown as the master on the CD reissue was actually Bock's edited version of the same take. I imagine that the budget and time constraints prevented Michael Cuscuna from continuing a search for a near mint copy of the original LP (wouldn't a jazz library like Rutgers have one?), though I bet someone out there will be glad to loan a mint copy in case it is reissued again. BTW, Lord's discography relies on the CD and has the alternate/master situation backwards, just like the CD.