Ken Dryden

Writing was never a full time gig, though I made some pretty good money on the side for a few years with Allmusic.com. During weeks when I has sufficient assignments and time, I could gross up to $700/week. I also had one batch of liner note biographies for a European label that proved very profitable over several months. Unfortunately, after AMG was sold a couple of times, assignments started slipping and many free lancers were dropped. I was in the very last batch of freelancers still working for them when they dropped all of us just before Christmas in 2012. Scott Yanow has an accounting background but took time off to write full time at least once or twice in his career, though I don't know what his status is these days. I get the idea that only the writers who get steady work writing liner notes and press bios can make a living doing it, as review pay alone is not enough to pay the bills. Since I retired from my pubic radio job in 2015, any writing income is welcome, as it helps me deduct part of my Medicare costs, but I don't feel pushed to try to match the volume of writing that I did in the ealry 2000s, when my wife claimed that I practically lived in our basement listening to music and typing away on the computer.

No disrespect taken. I don't expect to be known as well as those who have authored numerous jazz books and/or contributed to all of the major glossy jazz magazines, etc. Currently I contribute to The New York City Jazz Record, All About Jazz and Hot House (the latter features and spotlights only). Previously I wrote for Allmusic.com, Coda, Jazz Review, Cadence and other publications and websites. I have also written several dozen liner notes.

I can share a story about my dealings with Joe Fields. I was assigned to write liner notes for two unissued sessions featuring Jimmy Ponder, who recorded extensively for Fields. When I reached the guitarist, his response was "They recorded that?" Joe Fields did his best to stop the release of the two unauthorized Ponder CDs and gave me the liner notes assignment for a JImmy Ponder (Somebody's Child) that was in the pipeline.

My urologist used to write prescriptions for prostate issues that read: “More nookie. Take as often as possible for good health.” His nurse circled “”No substitutions” at the bottom of the sheet.

I returned some CDs to a distributor last year and they took 42 days to get from Chattanooga, TN to Myrtle Beach, SC. This is probably a promo CD package but there is no way to tell from tracking who sent it. Part of the problem seems to be the closing of too many distribution centers and those that remain are overworked.

I have been a jazz journalist since 1988, so some releases arrive weeks or sometimes months before the official release date.

I saw that very edition for a bargain price and suggested to my hephew that he'd like it. I wish that I had purchased it instead. This recording was my introduction to Duke Ellington. One question: Is the applause present, as the Columbia reissue omits it, even though the performances are identical. Either there were mikes in the hallway outside the studio, or it was dubbed in later.

After a painter completes a portait of a lady, she looks at it and says, "You know, that's a really ugly work of art." The painter responded, "Well, I had a really ugly work of nature to work with..."

Fortunately I don’t have to use a storage unit, but I woul be careful using one to store anything of value. Unless it is an indoor unit with, heat, air and security, it is far too easy for someone to cut a lock and empty a unit. I had a co-worker whose unit suffered that gate.

The strangest choice for a Pablo title track was when Milt Jackson recorded that pos "Feelings." I can't imagine what he heard in the song... Oscar Peterson recorded several Pablo albums of original music as I recall, though some artists don't think of themselves as composers, unless they improvise a blues. There are far too many albums of all jazz originals that are pretty forgettable, even if I make it through the first hearing.

During a break between sets, a musician asked Lester Young, “Lester, when was the last time we played together?” Young responded, “Tonight.”

When i interviewed Joe Pass by phone in 1993, he credited Norman Granz with getting him to play solo guitar. I believe he is also responsible for introducing him to Oscar Peterson. There are some disappointing albums on Pablo, though a few of them happened after Granz sold Pablo to Fantasy. But it is pure joy every time I listen to the Oscar Peterson Jam at Montreux, with Dizzy, Clark Terry and Lockjaw Davis on fire...

I signed up for USPS informed delivery a month or so ago, so I knew that I had a package due to arrive. It supposedly came while I was at lunch. When I got home, there wasn't a package in the mailbox, though the rest of the mail was there. This is what I don't understand about the USPS: packages seem to bounce around at random with no logic whatsoever. It was shipped from LaVergne, TN on Mar 18, arriving in Smyrna, TN, the same day. Then off to Morrow, GA (just below Atlanta) on Mar 21, then Jacksonville, FL (WTF?) on Mar 24, Memphis, TN on Mar 26, then supposedly arriving early this morning, Mar 28, at our post office outside Chattanooga and delivered today. I know it was lost locally, but why in the heck is a package going in so many directions instead of just shipping it across the state? I don't even know who sent it, though I presume it is a CD.

When I moonlighted in a French restaurant, I recorded music from my jazz collection that the owner played for ambiance. No complaints from customers, while today's restaurant's too often sound like music from a millenial or generation X club, the pits.

The graphic design was pretty generic for the Montreux ‘77 LP series, the photos used for the CD reissues was a great improvement. I doubt that rehearsal was needed given the veterans who took part in many Pablo releases, while more originals wouldn’t necessarily make a difference.

The Art Tatum sessions that Norman Granz produced have always been in mono. I’ve never been a fan of pseudo stereo reissues.

Someone sent me the performances of the 1972 Ljublijana concert a few years back, here is the setlist: Very Early Gloria's Step Re: Person I Knew How My Heart Sings TTT What Are You Doing For the Rest of Your Life Nardis Waltz For Debby "Nardis" was issued on the Enja compilation Live At The Festival, but I am unaware of the other tracks appearing commercially.

They will have to have better audio. The Westwind bootleg CD sounds like it was dubbed directly from the Yellow Note bootleg LP set, as groove noise is apparent.

The fact that Norman Granz started the Pablo label and recorded so many valuable artists so frequently is enough for me. What I also appreciate is that he bought the masters to his Art Tatum Solo and Group Masterpiece series from Verve when he learned that they had let them lapse from print and duly reissued them. I do think that listening to the Tatum solo performances in their original order in the CD set makes more sense than to Granz' sequencing on the LPs.

I ran a jewelry catalog showroom back in the mid-1980s and I remember hearing Stephane Grappelli and also Meade Lux Lewis on the easy listening station that we played in the store in place of Muzak.

I hope this doesn't count as a political post... Stay tuned...

I haven't seen anything in the Blue Note Tone Poet LPs series that is of interest that I don't already own on CD or earlier LPs. I have had problems with various new pressings from labels like Newvelle and Storyville, with LPs that had skips or repeats due to manufacturing defects, though I got playable replacements. When I interviewed the owner of the German label Edition Longplay, which specialized in 500 copy limited editions, he explained his issues with pressing problems, which he thought was caused by the overuse of the machinery and the fact that many of the people who were most knowledgeable in the use and maintainance of it had retired or died. Amazon is the pits for their lack of packing for LPs and boxed sets, no padding at all, dropping products into sealed plastic bags.

Sorry, missed that CDs or downloads were wanted. Most of the listings had rather banal pop songs, I doubt that anyone is interested in reissuing them.

Some of them are listed for sale by Discogs sellers, click on each album link to see if the ones you want are listed: https://www.discogs.com/artist/931123-Rob-McConnell-The-Boss-Brass