Ken Dryden

There's a story about Slam Stewart having a bit too much to drink during an engagement and Art Tatum ran him through the ringer with his technique as punishment. The late George Ziskind got ahold of some unreleased Art Tatum but didn't feel like he could share it, evidently due to an agreement with whoever supplied him the music. He never went into any details about what he had. Of course, that was the same situation for the late Art Tatum discographer Arnold Laubich.

I can listen to Art Tatum in any setting, this will be a treasure. I wonder why the family didn't approach a label sooner rather than risk something happening to these precious tapes? Maybe the club owner died and they were packed away and not immediately discovered.

One of the things that drove me crazy was the amount of incorrect data entered, probably by minimum wage workers at the home office who knew nothing about the music. Writers didn't submit the song lists, composers, musician credits, etc., unless there was a release not in the database that was approved for us to review. I tried to look over them before submitting reviews. When Scott Yanow was editor, he tried to purge as many errors in jazz entries that he could find time to do, but it seemed like a low priority for the powers that were in charge. The fourth and final edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz was a disaster, with many of the errors Scott had corrected reappearing in the book, while the excessive, frequently over the top reviews by Thom Jurek that helped make that volume forgettable. Read his ridiculous review of Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert, one of his most amateurish reviews . Another time I had an artist contact me and ask why my glowing review of his CD was only given 3.5 stars, which wasn't the rating I had assigned. I contacted the editor and was told I gave too many 4 and 4.5 star reviews. My response was I didn't enjoy wasting my time pitching reviews of mediocre and terrible releases, due to the high volume of worthy new releases, plus the back catalog I was pitching. They also had a policy of not allowing 5 stars unless it was a landmark release that had stood the test of time. Once in a while, there is a release that merits five stars. I've lost count of the number of times it has been sold but anyone I was in contact from at Allmusic.com has long since left. At least none of the checks had issues clearing....the money was good for a time until they cut back the assignments to a handful each week.

I doubt that I would have made it through the entire set.

That's one of many reasons I don't subscribe to HBO / Max. I am sick of the whiners who are constantly offended by everything, what we used to call the pc mob. Mel Brooks ought to make a movie about these people, he doesn't believe in sacred cows, everything is a target for his humor.

I contributed as a free lancer to Allmusic.com for fourteen years, but the last few years were pretty sad. It didn't help that the last of us freelancers were dropped near the end of 2012. It seemed like they ignored jazz for the most part after that time, other than the best known artists. I rarely visit the site any more.

It was one of the high points of the Carter administration, along with the performance of Vladimir Horowitz, which was also broadcast live.

Disc 2

Drummer Kenny Washington and jazz vocalist Kenny Washington.

Denny Zeitlin told me that there was around another full CD's worth of unissued music worthy of release. Sadly, the original LP has only been reissued in Japan, though I snapped it up to replaced my shopworn used LP that I bought some time in the 1970s.

I am not sure which Jimmy Rushing album I acquired first, though it may have been The You And Me That Used To Be in the late 1970s. I ended up getting all of them in one form or another over the years. Many people forget it was Rushing himself who suggested interest in recording with Dave Brubeck. One thing that was overlooked was Jimmy Rushing's guest appearance on Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual, which was issued on CD, DVD and VHS. It's great seeing him at the piano playing "Trix Ain't Walkin' No More." Today's cancel culture crowd would probably been screaming their purple hair off. To be fair, Rushing's appearance on the program wasn't issued until well after his death and at the time, it would seem unlikely that it was intended as a commercial release.

Maybe his son is running it? You have to admire Susan MIngus' dedication to promoting her husband's legacy. I imagine that she didn't tolerate b.s. from anyone, any more than he did. Nearly $18 for tracked shipping on this set, you would think they could throw in free shipping at nearly $39 per LP.

I was wondering if Boris Rose's daughter ever found someone to buy or license any of her father's tapes after he died. I haven't compared the tracklists, but it looks similar to this 3 CD Hi Hat bootleg:

Likewise, this is an interesting set, but priced higher than I would prefer to pay.

My nephew recent used a program to transcribe my 200 interview with Denny Zeitlin and while it had issues with repeating some sections, it wasn't too difficult to edit. Do any of you have transcribed interviews recommend specific apps, whether free or purchased? Many thanks!

I wonder how he selected on Vanderbilt for his collection, did he attend there or have some special collection. I will look forward to hearing any live broadcasts he had from NYC clubs or jazz festivals.

I just acquired this set with the CDs still sealed. I had most, but not of all the tracks.

This joke should give away my age. A mongrel dog who was new to the neighborhood was making his rounds and encountered two stuffy French poodles. He greeted them and asked for their names. The female dog arrogantly replied, "My name is Fifi, F-I-F-I." The male dog was equally condescending, answering, "My name is Bobo, B-O-B-O." Then the male poodle asked, "Well, what is your name?" The mongrel dog replied, "My name is Fido, P-H-I-D-E-A-U-X..." The joke is funnier told than in print...

I watched one episode of the 1980s revival and hated it, I never watched another episode. It was the idiotic rewrite about the story where a man found a stopwatch that caused everyone to freeze in place. The revised episode had a housewife yelling "Stop talking!" to freeze everything in place, which made even less sense. I figured if the rewrites were going to be that bad, I wasn't going to waste my time with the revived series. Surely Rod Serling wouldn't have approved had he lived. I was fortunate to get to hear Rod Serling in person when he visited Tulane University in 1974, the year before his death. He was absolutely fascinating and he had a great sense of humor as well. One of the funniest memories is when he stepped to the podium and said, "Good evening," there was a vocal response of amazement at hearing his famous baritone speaking voice that so many of us had grown up hearing on Twilight Zone reruns and his narration of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" documentaries. Night Gallery was a mixed bag because he didn't have creative control of the scripts and he hated the blackouts that were inserted as filler. Far better is the one season western he created starring Lloyd Bridge called The Loner, it is available on DVD. I need to watch the rest of the episodes, one guest starred Allan Sherman as a phony Civil War hero appointed sheriff.

If the label had source to the master rapes, it seems short-sighted to use eidted performances just for the sake of putting together a limited edition LP.

Peter Straub has written liner notes for several CDs.

I have a few of their CDs and a Sun Ra I got in trade in a few years ago that I have never opened. Their scattershot approach to reissues is intriguing.

Frank Zappa stuffed his song "Rhymin' Man" full of quotes. He was surprised that I recognized "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" in it and claimed no one in his band knew it and he had to teach them the song. Then he didn't know that piece was a parody of the old hymn "Revive Us Again." He always loved sticking quotes into songs, including Gustav Holsts's "The Planets,"Igor Stravinsky's "Petrouchka" and the hilaious solo in "Let's Move to Cleveland" that opened with the introduction to "The Rite of Spring," with the band playing "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" behind him. I heard that in the 1984 Atlanta concert.

I go a laugh out of that when that CD set was released. Paul Desmond and Dave Brubeck would exchange quotes at times during concerts, though Desmond was the master for including obscurities.

I don't really keep track of amusing song quotes, though as I was driving and listening to the Larry Coryell & Kenny Drew, Jr. version of "Moanin'," i got a laugh out of Drew inserting "Theme From Perry Mason" into his solo. Please share some of your recent (or long time) favorites.