Ken Dryden

I remember the lively reaction to one take outside the booth that caused Johnny Varro to stop playing and ask for quiet. My wife and I were present for one of two nights of recording at Feinstein's. Like the Shoeless John Jackson Quartet CD, this session was produced by Phil Carroll on the Sunday afternoon and evening following the Atlanta Jazz Party. Something upset Kenny Davern and he cut loose with a seemingly endless barrage of four letter words. The other musicians stayed calm, as did Phil Carroll. But Kenny Davern was never again invited to play the Atlanta Jazz Party, although Bob Wilber was booked again.

Agreed.

My wife and I are proud to present Fred Hersch in concert on Tuesday, April 21st at 7:30 pm EDT. This concert is a benefit for my station, WUTC-FM, where a I served as development director from 1989 to 2015. If you know of anyone living close to Chattanooga (Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta and Huntsville are all close enough to make the drive), please let them know about the concert. Fred Hersch has played in the Atlanta area a few times but this is his first appearance in Chattanooga. https://calendar.utc.edu/event/fred-hersch?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=University+of+Tennessee+at+Chattanooga&_gl=1*1m0gudx*_gcl_au*MjA2ODMzMzg5NC4xNzY3NzM1MzE0

I finally found this long out of print gem on ebay at a reasonable price. Still searching for Volume 2.

Disc 2, Carla Bley: Roller Coaster

My introduction to Bernie Senensky was hearing him on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz. Like many Canadian artists who recorded for Canadian labels, I had no exposure to his recordings until I started getting serviced with his music.

This week I received two shipments on back to back days from The Lost Recordings, though I only ordered one copy of each release. I contacted them and asked for their FedEx number, and they responded that I would have to prepay to return it and they would credit me on a future order or refund the shipping charge on my credit card. There are several issues I have with this reply. One is I had to supply a new box, neither one was in any shape to be reused, two, I seem to be taking the risk in case the returned package is lost or stolen and I get stuck filing insurance claims. I am tempted to reject their solution and ask for a better one, like my getting an estimate from FedEx, ask them to refund my credit card that amount, then I will ship the box. How would you reply to this situation?

Love that strip!

I remember attending a Nat Hentoff interview one year at IAJE and it was enjoyable.

This John Coltrane set was not available as a CD set. The CDs I bought were the Sarah Vaugan 1969 and 1975 titles.

I received a rather beat up box from The Lost Recordings yesterday, though the LPs and CDs were intact in spite of the badly torn cardboard. I haven't had a chance to listen to the John Coltrane set yet, but I am looking forward to it. A second shipment arrived today, duplicating my order. I await a reply from them about that, it would be a rather expensive error.

So do I have May? I requested either April or May back on October 21.

Her vocal duets with Eddie Erickson were always fun at jazz parties.

I met her years ago at the Triangle Jazz Party in Kingsport, Tennessee, I think her first Arbors CD was fairly new. I got to know her over the years attending both the Triangle and Atlanta Jazz Parties, my wife and I were also present for one night of the Feinstein’s recording. Don’t overlook her CDs as a part of the group BED with Eddie Errickson and Dan Barrett.

I didn't find out about it until 2005.

When I lived in Broward County, jazz offerings were slim. I never made it to Bubba's, but I did catch one great evening in Sunrise while visiting home from either grad school or work, a show that opened with Oscar Peterson solo, followed by Ella Fitzgerald with Count Basie & His Orchestra. I think Butch Miles was his drummer.

At least no one was promoting collecting 8 tracks and cassettes, two flimsy, unreliable formats. I actually see that cassettes of recordings long available are being made once more.

There's nothing wrong with collecting vinyl, I still buy out of print LPs, LP sets with tracks not available on the CD editions, new LPs not issued at all on CDs, etc. But for the most part, I prefer CDs, they sound just as good to me, take up less storage space and usually have bonus tracks that the LP versions do not include. I do find the LP prices for today's releases a bit high for my tastes, especially labels that ask a fortune, only to find out they are reissued on CD by other labels with bonus tracks a few years later.

Less music for more money and more space taken up on shelving for the privilege.

I recorded some of the shows when we carried it, but I missed some and I'm not sure that we aired every season. I'm glad I brought up the series with Lewis Porter.

Lewis Porter shared this link with me when I brought up the NPR series Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center: https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/TOJB/browse/?q=billy&t=fulltext&sort= In addition to those shows, there are interviews by Owens, along with some (but not all) of the Jazz Alive! shows that he produced. Enjoy! Happy New Year!

One of their worst was the compilation of Jaki Byard Solo and Jaki Byard With Strings. They resequenced the tracks, alternating between the two albums and omitted his solo version of “Hello, Young Lovers.” They should have reissued them separately in the original track order. I have been trying to find Oleo without success. I am surprised that I overlooked it when I could get Fantasy CDs for $5 each at a media discount. I took frequent advantage of it before the catalog was sold to Concord.

I was pleased when Lewis Porter asked me for a copy of my 2007 phone interview with Sonny Rollins during the summer, which was done to write a feature in Hot House promoting his 50th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall. It was published today on his Playback with Lewis Porter Substack page, here is the link: https://lewisporter.substack.com/p/sonny-rollins-phone-interview-with I asked Lewis if I could edit the interview, as phone interviews inevitably have gaffs that would be edited out of a transcription or radio broadcast, but he believes it is important to share the conversation as it happened, He also shared a link to my original Hot House article. The interview has never been broadcast or shared on line in any form. Merry Christmas, everyone!

I have only seen bits and pieces of it and it is little wonder how little Ken Burns knew about jazz. What was bizarre to me was having Wynton Marsalis talking about what it was like playing with Duke Ellington, the question would have been better asked of Clark Terry.