Ken Dryden

I haven't purchased many RSD vinyl releases but they haven't blown me away. I made the mistake of buying the RSD Sonny Clark LP set from a Discogs seller a few years ago then failed to listen to it promptly. When I tore open the outer wrap, I discovered a chip on the edge of one LP, close to but not in the playing surface. Since I had waited so long, there was no way to exchange it or get a refund, even though it was obviously damaged prior to being shipped from the factory, as there was no loose chip nor was there damage to the sleeve. The pressings haven't always been quiet which is troubling given the higher price of RSD vinyl. Give me a CD any day...

After running across an old obituary for one of my Tulane history professors, I recalled a joke he shared in class. Years earlier, he had a young co-ed, Miss Minor, in a class, where he shared a joke about Paul Revere's famous ride. Dr. Esthus said, "You are aware of Paul Revere's famous ride. He rode up to the first house and shouted the alarm. A light appeared as a woman came to the window. 'Is your husband at home?' 'Yes!' 'Tell him the British are coming.' He went to the next home and a woman appeared and he asked, 'Is your husband at home?' 'Yes!' 'Tell him the British are coming.' He rode to the next home and a woman appeared and he asked, 'Is your husband at home?' 'No.' 'Whoa!'" At that point, the co-ed, Miss Minor, wanted to share her knowledge that Revere was arrested by the British before completing his ride and she shouted out, "Dr. Esthus, do you know that he didn't go all the way?" It always got a roar, even if some of his other jokes were lame and one of his monotone lectures actually put a good friend to sleep for a few minutes next to me in the front row. I still remember the 1950s sportcoats and narrow short ties he wore, like he could have been a walk on in a 1950s sitcom.

Carl was a couple of years older than me and was writing for the Miami Herald while I was still an undergraduate. Somewhere in my files I have one of his old columns, with a title something like, "A Girl, A T shirt, A Pitcher of Water and That's Entertainment?" He already had a knack for writing funny prose back in the mid-1970s. I also have the wirephoto of our local Representative J. Herbert Burke, obviously three sheets to the wind, being lead off from the nude bar parking lot. He went down to defeat that fall, no doubt in part from the publicity of his arrest.He claimed that he overheard a drug deal being discussed in another bar and was following up to get more information for the police. I still remember that photo being on his occasional newsletters that were always captioned "not printed at government expense."

I buy mostly historical books and biographies new, although there are a couple of novelists that I include, one of them a guy who grew up five doors away from me, Carl Hiaasen (Striptease, made into a movie starring Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds). I love Hiaasen’s gift for the absurd and parodies of real life people, including the pervert congressman in Striptease, inspired by the arrest of J. Herbert Burke outside of a Broward County nude bar in the mid-1970s for causing a disturbance and drunkenness, plus the thinly disguised lampoon of Geraldo Rivera as Reynaldo Phlegm in Skin Tight.

I don't buy as many books as I used to but still buy them. One of the things I found in a recent trip to a local bookstore was the first volume of the Benny Carter discography published by Scarecrow Press. I forget the price but it was a steal.

George Duvivier’s final session listed in the excellent bio/discography published by Scarecrow Press was a duo with pianist James Williams. I asked him about it and he said that his own playing wasn’t up to his standards, though Duvivier was great. I have no idea if the unissued tape is in the James Williams archives left to William Paterson University, they never responded to my query. In Ed Berger's Bassically Speaking, an oral history and discography of George Duvivier, there is no listing of a recording by the bassist with either Michel Hausser or Martial Solal, though he did make a recording in Paris in May 1956 with Bill Coleman and another with Sacha Distel.

I remember reviewing the album with Moraz and trashing it.

Pass.

When Pinder left, his replacement, Patrick Moraz, hastened the band’s decline with his mediocre contributions.

That is correct. He discussed working with Jordi in the Zoom interview I did a few weeks ago. I just got the new Downbeat and I felt the article about Zev Feldman was edited down for space too much, it deserved more.

I like the 1969 set better than the 1972. George Duke is a great musician, but he's on electric piano for the whole show, which gets old. Fender Rhodes has never been one of my favorite instruments, too often an artist's touch is compromised with the mushy sound. Isn't Ruth Price the owner of The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles?

The Bob Mover/Walter Davis Jr. CD just arrived yesterday so I haven't had a chance to hear it.

I recently reviewed these shot glasses for Amazon Vine. They may get a few laughs at your home bar.

A number of classic homes on West Paces Ferry near the Governor's mansion in Atlanta have been razed over the years and replaced with McMansions. Of course, the only way to preserve a historic, classic home is to set up a trust and donate it to a foundation with the stipulation that it can't be razed or excessively remodeled. But heirs usually want the money and don't care about preserving buildings. It is always interesting how people want to control other people's property, which costs them nothing to do.

The two chanting tracks on the Sun Ra CD set quickly grew tiresome, it might be more fun to witness that in person, but I would rather have music on a CD. Of course, that may have been all that was available and useable from that show. I I would rate them all as outstanding and worth buying if you are a fan of the artists.

That’s where I found it.

I snagged the last copy on another website a few minutes after posting my rant.

The Tatum is unbelievable, a real find. The solos are the Tatum showpieces like “Elegy” and “Tabu.”

Whoever the genius is who decided to make the Nat King Cole Live At The Blue Note Chicago CD set a limited edition of 5000 has evidently created a firestorm of speculators snapping up every copy for resale. I was planning on buying it online at 8 am ET when it was first available, but got up early and then fell back asleep. All of the usual sellers had no stock by the time I awakened again at 9:15 am, it took awhile to find a copy anywhere. I already spotted some obvious resellers asking prices of $50 or more.

Michael Cuscuna made a huge contribution even before he formed Mosaic Records with the late Charlie Lourie. His many accomplishments and success in creating some of the most treasured boxed sets in jazz history will be a great legacy. He died far too young at 75.

I can't ever remember seeing it happen, or even attempted, in all of the games I've watched over the past 40+ years.

You don't see it all that often, but it deserves an Oscar when pulled off successfully. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/new-jersey-hs-baseball-team-uses-hidden-ball-trick-win-game Scroll down to the X video.

I haven’t been all that impressed with the Glasper CDs that I’ve heard, though I probably haven’t heard any since the first two Blue Notes.