Ken Dryden

I seem to recall reading the World Pacific version of Now Jazz Ramwong was edited byt the often overzealous label owner Dick Bock.

Sonny Rollins is not doin' a Gangsta thing, he's just beating the thieves at their own game, the same way that Frank Zappa did with his two Beat the Boots! boxed sets on the Rhino-distributed Foo-eee label. Those boxes are now collectable themselves. I wish more artists did the same thing, it would put a damper on some of these crooked European labels who never pay anyone for the material they brazenly steal.

I doubt he'll get that much for that 1998 reissue. One is available at half.com for just $80, but I already own this set, in any case.

Michael Cuscuna has frequently said that such unreleased Blue Note sessions may look good but were held back for a damned good reason.

I find it hard to believe that a descendant of the Big Bopper was conned into approving his exhumation to examine him for bullet wounds, according to that stupid urban legend that's been circulating since the crash. Almost as dumb as them pulling President Zachary Taylor out of his crypt 150 years later to see if he was poisoned, all due to some dimwit writer from my home state of Florida and a descendant foolish enough to okay it. Maybe someone will talk one of John Connolly's great-grandkids into exhuming his body to get out the missing bullet from that sad day in Dallas.

One major screw up by the post office was the due to a lazy mailman a few years back who tucked a box with an LP in it between the outside of the mailbox and the flag, just so he wouldn't have to make a 30 step round trip to my front porch like most folks delivering packages too large for the mailbox. It contained an out of print LP on Fat Cat's Jazz by Willie the Lion Smith and by the time I got home, the record was hopelessly warped from a day in the hot afternoon summer sun. Needless to say, I never have been able to acquire a replacement for it. Thanks a lot, you lazy S.O.B....

Among the record show vinyl acquisitions I gave a spin to recently was Gary Wofsey's Kef's Pool, with special guest Phil Woods. But not even Woods' best effort helped the treatment of the mediocre song "Close to the Edge" (by the forgettable rock group Yes).

Elmer's Glue to clean a record? That sounds like an April Fool's joke....which gives me an idea. We once had a station staffer clean records, only instead of using the VPI vacuum machine, he poured tape head cleaner onto them. Needless to say, we tossed every one of them.

Could there have been a worse choice to contribute lyrics and a vocal to "Blood Count" than Elvis Costello? Oh well, Duke often had a preference for odd male vocalists.

I have a fair quantity of Charlie Parker, including all of the Verve, Savoy, Dial things plus the airchecks issued by Columbia and some of the ones issued on various other labels. I'll admit that I go blank as to the name of a tune I should recognize from time to time, too. Then again, I've heard musicians who can't remember what tunes they've played by the end of a set and seen more than a few record labels and writers who can't identify songs correctly. We all are less than perfect on occasion.

I'd love to figure a way to archive this video, thanks for sharing the link.

Do you mean the original British version of The Ladykillers or the awful recent version with Tom Hanks? If you haven't seen the original with Alec Guiness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom, you owe it to yourself to view it.

With declining numbers of public radio stations offering NPR's classical programming, what are they supposed to do, flush additional money away? NPR has dropped lots of programs in the past, including Afro-Pop Worldwide, Heat with John Hockenberry and various jazz programs (Jazz Alive!, American Jazz Radio Festival, Wynton Marsalis Making the Music--though some of these may have lost funding to keep running). Performance Today will be moving to another network, while if there is so much demand for additional syndicated classical programs, I'm sure that some organization can raise the funds to produce it. NPR, like individual public radio stations, can hardly stand still or run up deficits and remain in existence. Why have local stations dropped classical music programming? The aging (50+) of the audience, lack of financial support, lack of underwriting support, etc., are all likely factors. We finally dropped the Metropolitan Opera (again) and our station's audience doubled within the first six weeks, not to mention opening times to sell underwriting and pitch during membership drives. Most stations don't have huge endowments (we don't have one at all) so they live from year to year. This is another case of whining about something without bothering to investigate the factors that brought about the decision.

To top it off, this is a used copy. Not to mention the dolt lists Jim Hall elsewhere on the page as part of the CD. Duh....

As a former retailer myself, I find it extremely dishonest for any business to charge one's credit card unless they have the merchandise in stock and ready to ship at the time of the transaction, especially Amazon or half.com sellers, who are supposed to ship promptly after confirmation. This would be different if it involved a special order of merchandise not normally carried (to protect a retailer against getting stuck with merchandise if a customer suddenly had a change of mind). It's like the old ruse many chain retail stores use of offering a great price on a popular item at or below cost, yet have so little inventory that they run out long before the sale is over, or the bogus huge discounts off a ridiculously high "regular" price. I worked for Gordon Jewelry, which had 50% off gold chains for every day of my tenure with them as a manager (which lasted over 4 years).

I think this is the same organization/person that sells through half.com. I've had some orders filled and some that never arrived that I had to complain about. But they would confirm orders whether or not they had the merchandise, which is very dishonest. How can one confirm an order that is supposed to ship within two business days if it isn't already on hand? I had a friend that never received his only order through half.com and he never got credit either, which embarassed me, since I had directed him to this seller.

I've owned a few of these LPs and CDs, but the label was often sloppy about proper listing of song titles and composers, an indication that this was basically, a bootleg operation paying royalties to no one.

I saw the band in 1974 and again during the reunion tour (1988 or 1989) and I wasn't really impressed with the Moon-less version. I can't imagine that they're up to snuff today.

I find it funny that folks complain about new release and reissue lists failing to be comprehensive or current, but it is one helluva lot of work to keep up with everything. Unless someone's paying you, it would be hard to do for very long. Kudos to Jazzmatazz for doing it as long as he did.

I was well aware of Natalie Cole's career outside of jazz prior to my post. I am unimpressed with her work as a jazz vocalist, period.

Natalie Cole was a jazz artist? News to me...then I guess Michael Bolton, George Winston, Yanni and others must be, too... Natalie, it's time to quit riding on your late father's reputation.

I remember going to meet a man named Harv Taratoot for job interview. I was staring straight ahead and was surprised when he opened the door and was easily a foot shorter than me, causing me to quickly awkwardly redirect my gaze forward. I made it through another round of interviews with him, but didn't get the job.

I've enjoyed the late Red Mitchell's recordings, particularly the duo meetings with Herb Ellis and Joe Pass. I love the story from Bill Crow's Jazz Anecdotes, where Red asked how he got hired for a gig with Marian McPartland. He was told she requested, "Hire a bass player who sounds like Red Mitchell." Anyone ever heard the LP with Red, Whitey and Blue Mitchell, Get Those Elephants Out'a Here? A rarity from the 1950s that I managed to acquire awhile back.

Actually, I think I have all (or most) of the Davis material on a bootleg LP that also included some rare Art Tatum broadcasts (which have since appeared on the Live series issued by Storyville).

Other than rules regarding formatting and word count, I've paid little attention to AAJ's writing guidelines. Other publications, especially the glossy but empty Jazziz and the sometimes sloppy JazzTimes could stand some serious editing, though I've never subscribed to the former and dumped the latter several years ago.