Ken Dryden

The word from my Telarc publicity contact is that Geri Allen's CD Timeless Portraits and Dreams will be released on August 22.

You're probably just sayin' that, in case you ever happen to end up on a speaking pannel with her sometime. If Paul de Barros is the interviewer, it will be worth reading. I don't pull punches, though there are probably a few artists that I'm not eager to run into at IAJE after some scathing reviews (not that I write that many). I contribute to Coda, All Music Guide, Allaboutjazz-New York, Allaboutjazz.com and Hot House (NY). Once in awhile, I also do liner notes (1-2 a year at best).

I got a review copy a few weeks ago, but I really haven't had time to explore it very much. It looks very thorough.

It's due out this month, but it is not strictly a trio affair. Telarc sent me an advance to help me prep for my interview with her, which was the source for my recent Hot House article. It's a great CD, with a lot of variety!

No matter how U.S. copyright law reads, I can't imagine any musician or label making a fuss about a CD owner making a personal copy on Ipod or a CD-R exclusively for his own use. For example, some folks might not want to take CDs into a hot car, preferring to leave CD-Rs instead. Not only would a label have trouble tracking such dubbing by individuals, I think it would probably be laughed out of court in most jurisdictions. Making copies for anyone else is another matter. I don't burn CD-Rs from my vast CD collection for anyone. I don't have the time to tie up my stereo and my computer doesn't have a burner.

I can't say that any of the Tyner CDs that will be included in a Mosaic Select set is among my favorites. Better are his solo Blue Note efforts, the duet with Bobby Hutcherson, and meeting with Jackie McLean (It's About Time). My guess is that Mosaic is giving some folks a chance to save up their money for future projects by promoting them way in advance. I doubt that their relationship with EMI has deteriorated all that much and I doubt that Blue Note will focus on much of the material that Mosaic seeks to lease these days.

Perhaps if Manilow had attempted some standards, maybe things could have loosened up. In any case, it would have been a better outing than the recent, ridiculous Michael Bolton CD Bolton Swings Sinatra, issued by Concord. The late Carl Jefferson is spinning in the ground...

From Mosaic's website: Future Projects Mosaic Select: McCoy Tyner (3 CDs) This set contains all six sessions recorded by Tyner for Blue Note between August 1968 and September 1970. This includes "Expansions," "Extension," "Asante" and three sessions not issued at the time which later appeared on the double album "Cosmos." This was one of Tyner's most overlooked and highly creative periods. The first three have been reissued on CD, though I don't know if they're still in print at this moment. They should be easy to find. A little tougher to acquire may be the 2 LP set Cosmos, though I can't imagine it would be a long, hard, expensive search.

I have two of the earlier editions of Tom Lord's Jazz Discography on CD-Rom Version 5.0 $180 via 1st class mail, insurance is extra Version 4.4 $150 via 1st class mail, insurance is extra This valuable research tool is of great help to serious collectors, writers and broadcasters. I am also open to trade proposals, if you wish to send a PM with a list of jazz LPs and CDs available.

Part of the problem you may have with Chambers' bowed bass solos is that he really wasn't in the league of Milt Hinton, Michael Moore and others who have far better technique playing arco bass. Then again...maybe you just don't like bowed bass solos!

It may be a problem similar to proposed DVDs of television series, which also require royalty payments for music included within them. The issuers want to pay a flat rate, the music publishers want a per piece royalty, in case the DVD is a hit. Therefore, nothing happens. It may be that the that huge conglomerates holding long unavailable material are just too short-sighted, looking only for the next megahit, instead of producing income from stuff they already own and would have minimal costs to make available as CDs.

The Oslo set by the Mingus Sextet is complete, as on earlier releases: So Long, Eric Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk Ow (sometimes labeled Parkeriania) Take the A Train On the last track, Jaki Byard takes a wild stride piano solo, but it is Dolphy's wailing bass clarinet that steals the show.

While I like the early Mothers, they're hardly my favorite edition of Zappa's many bands. I enjoy the musicianship of later bands, including the 1984 and 1988 touring groups, as well as the Grand Wazoo Orchestra and the short-lived group featuring Jean-Luc Ponty. I do feel that some pieces like "Advance Romance" and others featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock had a tendency to go on too long. It's also sad that many of the live bootlegs that have turned up have never had a proper commercial issue made from Zappa's master tapes.

Sounds like it would be fun. Is there a touring schedule available?

I just reviewed the Dolphy DVD for Coda, though I'm not sure which issue will include it. The mislabeled "Blues Improvisation" is actually Dolphy's "245," which was recorded the year before for his Prestige album Outward Bound, his debut as a leader. Also, bassist George Joyner is better known as Jamil Nasser. The Mingus portion is also good, though there are some brief dropouts and distortion in the footage (particularly if you look at Mingus' bass strings). But I haven't looked at my Shanachie VHS copy of the 1964 Oslo concert, so it may have been in the original source. In any case, if you are an Eric Dolphy fan, you'll want to pick up this DVD. It's available through ejazzlines.com.

Actually, the worst Mosaic decisions I made are the ones that I didn't buy, though some of the early oop sets that I missed have been pretty much reissued in full on individual CDs. I'm sure that anyone dissatisfied with a Mosaic will have no trouble selling it for a reasonable price and might even make a profit if it is out of print. The smartest Mosaic purchase for me? All three volumes of The Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings, while they were still available. A total of 69 LPs, with no more than 2500 of each set manufactured.

Sorry that I didn't take notes, but they delved into a number of swing era tunes as well as their patented version of avant-garde jazz. I was busy sitting on the side of the stage and walking around the crowd at this outdoor event. This week's Riverbend Festival offers only Al DiMeola (yawn...).

If one waits for ALL of the Nat King Cole Trio jazz recordings to be reissued individually, I bet it will be a long wait...

I bought an English translation of Berendt's The Jazz Book back in the 1970s. I searched for a lot of the stuff he listed in the discography and finally just acquired George Gruntz: Noon in Tunisia (as a Japanese CD reissue). I remember reading how he died after being hit by a car while crossing a street and thinking "Das ist aber schade" or something like that. I wish more hosts of jazz television broadcasts would follow the lead of the creators of "The Sound of Jazz" and let musicians do most of the talking...long introductions by anyone are tedious.

That depends upon the condition. When it was still in print, it could be had for $240 plus shipping from Mosaic. I've seen them go on ebay from around $200-$900, though condition varied. Most sets for sale will likely have some minor shelf wear on the bottom of the box, while any other wear might lower the price. Mosaic set out to sell 10,000 of them, but I have no idea how many were manufactured and sold prior to the 3 year time limit imposed on their licensing agreement. My esitmate would be a minimum of $600-700 plus shipping and insurance if you can find one, though call Fred Cohen at Jazz Record Center in New York to see what he's charging for one, if he has it. I treasure my review copy!

I took 5 1/2 years of German but didn't have time to try to translate all of it. Joachim E. Berendt did a lot to promote jazz in his career, but I felt like having his long commentary prior to each number was going overboard and interfered with the flow of the music. Then again, it was 1961... In any case, my comments were a bit overboard.

Ejazzlines.com has a new Eric Dolphy DVD available that includes four numbers from a 1961 performance in Berlin, along with footage of the Charles Mingus Sextet on April 12, 1964 in Oslo. The 1961 show has a few shortcomings: There is a dweeb emcee who takes forever to announce each selection, then walks right in front of a camera as the band is playing. The camera work and editing are odd at times, particular the focus on Dolphy during his bass clarinet solo of "God Bless the Child" (listed as a sax solo on the cover, duh!) which cuts off the lower half of his body for far too long. And the last tune is listed as "Blues Improvisation," while I know it is a tune I recognize from Dolphy's Prestige Boxed set (I didn't have time to check the real title). But the quality of the footage, the sound and the performances make it worth the investment. I haven't watched the Mingus set yet (I have the previously issued VHS of this concert) but it consists of some great stuff.

The Sun Ra Arkestra came to Chattanooga, and though they were depleted by the deaths of Sun Ra, John Gilmore and June Tyson since their last appearance here circa 1991, they are still going strong and should hardly be considered a "ghost band." The musicianship was high caliber, with plenty of wild moments and unexpected twists, complete with Michael Ray's acrobatics (though the last time he did cartwheels on stage here, he tore loose a kneecap) and lots of fun. The encore was a hilarious interpretation of "Hit That Jive, Jack."

I got mine long ago and it was #1617. At least Mosaic is still in good hands with Michael Cuscuna. It is hard to imagine him selling out to some conglomerate that would promptly turn it into another purely commercial, barely jazz venture, like has happened to so many once-proud jazz labels in recent years... We're safe from the Complete Warner Bros. Studio Sessions of David Sanborn or Kenny G Mosaic Select.

I can just imagine a set of liner notes by one of these hack writers beginning with "It was a dark and stormy night...."