Ken Dryden

Far too many of them seem little known or outside of jazz. Put the true jazz stars at the top of the billing, not the nobodys.

I remember seeing Eliane Elias perform a set at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead around 1991 and she was very attractive without overdoing it. If I could figure a way to find and load the photo, I'd share it. As fo Connie Han, I'll likely pass.

A good sign of the composer gene is when fellow artists record a musician’s compositions on a regular basis.

He will be missed.

After several self-released titles in his teens, he was signed by Novus and issued four CDs, then vanished from recordings until a few years ago. I wonder what ever happened to Derrick Shezbie? Another young player who vanished after a few CDs was pianist Sergio Salvatore.

The reason I brought up Christopher Hollyday is that as he recorded, he focused more and more on his originals with each new CD. He seemed to run out of gas by his fourth Novus CD. I emceed a show he did around 1989 when his pianist was a young Brad Mehldau and every number was uptempo, there was no attempt to pace the set. I’ve got his recent CDs and he has matured as a player and composer. Of course, both Gerry Mulligan and Bob Brookmeyer were accomplished composers and arrangers writing for bands in their youth, but it was not like they were thrust into leading a band for a major label or a subsidiary in their late teens.

Florida Man Friday is always a great read about dumb criminals in the Sunshine State. https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2025/04/04/florida-man-brings-knife-to-gunfight-n4938600 Although I am not sure if I still have the clipping, there were a couple of them that came out when I was in high school or college. One was titled "Fido Holds Key to Nude Scene," where a couple got naked and kinky in handcuffs, only they were locked through a bookshelf. One of them dropped the key and their dog came up and swallowed it. Somehow they managed to call police, who freed the couple. The officer wouldn't identify their names, but quoted the husband as saying that he "felt like kicking the hell out of the dog." The other was a story about a Fort Lauderdale police officer who came across a couple engaged in nocturnal game of Hide the Salami in a parked car. It turned out that the man was a local judge. I always imagined the officer when he recognized who it was thought of Pigmeat Markham's famous song, which was used in Laugh-In skits featuring Sammy Davis, Jr.

I remember how so many of the young stars hyped by major labels in the late 1980s & early 1990s simply seemed to vanish after a few CDs: Christopher Hollyday, in particular. We're spoiled by those who produced a lot of memorable originals in their early years in the 1950s and 1960s. But musicians who are produced by jazz education rather than getting experience playing with a veteran leader who will let them know when their writing and playing needs work have a tougher time of it if they haven't paid their dues and honed their craft. I still remember the phone call our PD got about the awful Amani A.W. Murray debut CD from the late Duke Dubois at GRP. It was something like, "I'm not pushing this one. The kid came in and blew one take after another, Clark Terry and Roland Hanna started getting mad and we ended up having to splice it all together. I told him, 'If you're going to make it in this business, you're going to have to practice!'" Murray vanished after that embarrassing release.

She ceased operations with her label Widow's Taste, though it is possible that she is involved in getting additional tapes issued by other labels like Omnivore.

I am puzzled by so young musicians who emphasize their originals on a CD or live set when they clearly haven’t developed into clearly gifted composers with something to say. Even veteran bandleaders who are/were prolific composers have tended to include standards and established jazz works in their concerts. It is a challenge for many musicians to play eight to ten originals which hold one’s interest. Of course, there will be exceptions.

I saw Dweezil Zappa last night, his band was tight and they had a sense of the absurd. Especially the new guy, who insisted that they play "Punky's Whips." Even funnier was a cover of Lionel Richie's "Hello," with a duck call in place of the vocal.

Joe Lovano would have been atop my list to see at Big Ears. I just did a phone interview with him for an upcoming Hot House feature in May. He was a lot of fun. There are several copies for sale on Discogs.

I seem to recall Jackie Davis appearing on Oscar Peterson’s CBC TV series, which aired for a time on Friday nights on A&E.

I consider CDRs not labeled or listed as such to be false advertising. Anytime I get them from Amazon, I return them for a refund. I have had several CDRs fail, while I haven't had a manufactured CD acquired new fail.

I will spend the money on CDs, I don't use the granite stones I was given a few years back, a waste of good whiskey.

Sonny Lester had a reputation for cutting corners and not verifying things like song titles and composers, while more than once he issued music that he didn't have the rights to release. Both issues can be found with Dave Brubeck: The Quartet.

I don't post as often as I might, but I was so happy to meet HutchFan, who tipped me off to a David Liebman concert that was much closer to me than the one I was considering attending in Nashville. We had a great time and the bonus was that most of the show appeared on the 2 CD set Expansions: The Dave Liebman Group Live. We have attended other concerts and I hope he makes it to the solo piano concert that my wife and I are underwriting on September 11th, which I can't announce here until the last of the paperwork is signed.

I have never understood people who upload current recordings readily available, I would be afraid that the labels, publishers and artists might try to include the uploaders in the lawsuit. I can't believe that Internet Archive is putting a serious dent in anyone's income by uploading used 78 rpm records, especially ones that have never been made available on any other music format. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Where else can you get to hear Spike Jones' original version RCA Victor 78 rpm record of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," which has an brief, mild insult hurled at Vaughan Monroe at the end. Unfortunately, Monroe was a major RCA Victor stockholder and got his panties in a wad, so it was withdrawn, edited and reissued without it.

I have a duplicate of the Cables release for sale. Message me if interested.

I did a phone interview with Bob Thiele in May 1995 when he published his memoir, though I don't recall him talking specifically about Flying Dutchman. I don't think that I owned many Flying Dutchman LPs at that time, but here is an excerpt: Ken Dryden At what point did you leave impulse and then eventually start flying Dutchman? Bob Thiele Oh, goodness. I would, I'm terrible on dates, but it would seem like the late 60s, really. And usually I started these, I've had a few labels and nothing ever really worked out financially for the various companies that I formed. And so it always involved the executives again. We'd say, well, damn it, I don't like the way these guys operate. I'm going to start my own company with much bravado and wound up a couple of years later, wishing I hadn't done it, but I think we made some good records. Ken Dryden I agree. The one in particular in Flying Dutchman that stands out in my mind is the duo piano, well, plus rhythm section and Mike Lipskin. Bob Thiele Oh, yeah, I forgot all about that. Oh, Mike was working at RCA at the time. He wasn't really a professional musician, but he loved to play ragtime and he loved Willie the Lion and James P. Johnson, people like that. And to be honest with you, Ken, I don't even know how we came about it, but we did it. ---- As a postscript, when Bob Thiele died, it was discovered that his final label, Red Baron, was a Ponzi scheme with well over 100% of the company sold to investors, so it promptly folded. One artist who recorded for him suspected that he just enjoyed making records, rather than trying to swindle tha money to spend elsewhere.

Well, the technology to make the recording in a home studio is a lot cheaper these days and some independents are going the CDR route, though I reject paying $15 or more for a CDR. You would have to ask a musician or somebody in the record business about costs of making a CD, I have no idea.

I think Allen Lowe could best address this, but unless you have a label sign you and advance the costs of making the recording, they either have to raise the money themselves or use apps like GoFundMe. The one time I made a gift to support a musician who was planning a recording resulted in a CD that was never made. I wasn't mad, because he threw a liner note assignment my way and interviewed the artist for me, making my work rather easy. I have been told more than once that "nobody's buying CDs" by artists, although I spend a few thousand dollars each year for ones that I don't get as promos.

I have enjoyed the Microscopic Septet’s recordings and those by Joel Forrester and Philip Johnston.

I have lost track of how many musicians whom I’ve interviewed who have quit making CDs because it is not worth the investment of time and money.

The George Duvivier Oral History and Discography revealed an unissued duo date at Rudy Van Gelder's studio on February 25, 1995. Before Williams' death in the summer of 2004, I asked him about this session and he said that he didn't feel that his own playing was that good. A cassette of the session exists in the James Williams Archives of William Patterson University and I just sent them a copy of my circa November or December 1993 phone interview with James Williams. Unless I dig around and find the original reel tape, I may not be able to date it exactly. The session includes: Common Knowledge Old Time's Sake For My Nephews Basically Simple The Lovers' Celebration Time After Time Edward Progress Report Do Nothing Til You Hear from Me Folk Song 'Round Midnight Our Love Is Here to Stay Hopefully Rudy Van Gelder's archives include the original master tape.