Ken Dryden

There’s an anecdote about the late humorist/author/humorist Lewis Grizzard back during his days at the University of Georgia. While a student, he worked for the sports department at one of the daily papers in Athens. His editor had hit the bottle a little during the day, so he submitted a story about the upcoming football game. Robert “Happy” Dicks (who is now a retired neurosurgeon) was a star running back for Georgia, but he was injured and unable to play that week against South Carolina. Sure enough, the editor overlooked the title and the paper published the piece, “Dawgs Play Cocks With Dicks Out.”

I own the 1999 Koch Jazz CD reissue, which is long out of print. I'll have to play it when I have some time.

I did a phone interview awhile back with Charles McPherson and he was furious about the photo Tetsuo Hara chose for his CD. No wonder he never again recorded for the label. I’d love to hear Charles McPherson in any venue.

I did a phone interview with Michel Petrucciani around 1996, he was funny and expressive. I'm sorry that I never had the opportunity to see him in person.

Yeah, I own that set.

It is always sad when a future Hall of Fame member returns for one more season, only to realize that his skills have faded so much that he either retires or is released a month or two into the new season.

A great career!

I remember reading in the Art Tatum discography about a similar record of interview answers where a disc jockey could insert the scripted questions in his own voice.

At least by doing it an interview this way there was no danger of risking getting a Maori spear inserted where the sun doesn't shine. If you haven't read Mercer Eillington & Stanley Dance's bio of Duke Ellington, check it out. That scene is a scream...

I never knew what caused the change in the spelling of Stephane Grappelly's name, I always assumed that it was some record label executive. The interesting thing about Stephane Grappelli's name is that he continued to sign "Stephane Grappelly." I learned this in a chance conversation with Marian McPartland, when I happened to ask her if she had considered having him on Piano Jazz. She replied, "Funny you should mention it, we're taping this week." I brought up the old piano trio LP I had by him from the 1950s and she asked me if I'd FedEx it to her to show him (at her expense). I agreed to do it and asked her to request that he sign it, which he did, the day the show was taped in October 1989.

It reminds me of a gag from a B.C. comic strip: What’s the fastest way to get to Topeka? Bat .186.

Reading microscopic liner notes on mini-LP sleeves in large boxed sets is justification for retaining the earlier individual CD reissues.

I had my first doctor appointment yesterday where no mask was required. Unfortunately the one today did.

While I don’t collect Grover Washington’s smooth jazz recordings. the man could play. It’s not like playing smooth jazz ruined his chops for playing great straight ahead jazz when he chose to do so, unlike certain white saxophonists… I replaced a lot of Ron Wynn’s one sentence reviews during my 14 years as a contributor.

They took 2 of 3 from the Braves…

I was thinking of the Brubeck a la Mode cover but the Near Myth with Bill Smith album title. Brain freeze. Sadly, Witches' Brew is unlikely to see the light of day.

Bill Smith appears on a fair number of Brubeck albums, including one for Fantasy, another for Columbia, and a slew after Jerry Bergonzi departed. There is also an unissued album in the Columbia vaults entitled “Witches’ Brew.”

A highlight from last night's Braves-Rangers game, with something that you don't see every day... https://www.mlb.com/gameday/braves-vs-rangers/2022/04/29/661911#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=661911

The conglomerate that combined the jazz holdings of Columbia/Legacy & RCA was active for a time, but I guess they just weren't selling enough units. I'd like to see all of the Dave Brubeck with Gerry Mulligan recordings in a box set.

I've got to get around to hearing the CD, which is buried under stuff on my desk. I picked up the German LP when it was first released.

David Grisman is a challenge to file by genre.

When there isn’t a definite leader in a one time all star ensemble, I usually file them in with the various artist anthologies, but there are exceptions that I make for no particular reason.

One of the things that drives me crazy is when two artists record together often as co-leaders, but top billing is alternated from one to the next. I tend to want all of them in one place, so I pick my favorite and file them all together under that artist. If I keep up my collecting ways, I may end up as one of those old men who leaves an estate that includes a few thousand factory sealed CDs and LPs that I never got around to hearing…

One of the things that puzzles me is that another local post office with an even higher volume of mail and walk in customers rarely has more than 1 or 2 staff manning the windows. Their building was damaged in the 2020 tornadoes, yet the USPS didn't expand the building (n empty building next door could have been acquired and demolished) or move this location to a larger property that could better accomodate its mail and customer volume. Maybe the local congressman is unaware of the issue.

Recently I purchased over $500 of LPs + CDs from a vendor whom I've dealt with for years. As fate would have it, informed delivery let me know that the packages were due to arrive on a day when I would be away for hours, meaning that they would sit in the hot sun on our porch and possibly be stolen. When informed delivery wouldn't allow me the option to have them held at the local post office, I visited it yesterday and they told me to have my mail held for two days. I was shocked when they were listed as out for delivery this morning on informed delivery, so I took a quick trip to the post office to see if they were held. The clerk was very helpful and spent 10-15 minutes tracking them down. It turns out that "out for delivery" is an automatic default in their system. But it wasn't our regular route driver, but a sub, who was unaware that there was a hold order on all of our mail. Both packages were located and given to me before he left to begin his day. Consider adding insurance to any package that is valued over $50, though you must decide whether you want to absorb the cost or pass it on. Even if you use media mail, insurance seems to speed up the delivery time to no more than 5-7 days, unlike regular media mail, which can bounce around for weeks before reaching its destination. My record is 42 days to travel two states from me. A third option for sellers would be to require a signature for large orders, so they aren't left in poor weather conditions for hours. While the failed hold order was a disappointment, I have strong praise for the staff at our local post office. They actually had three clerks at the window both times I visited and the lady who helped me treated me like I was a valuable customer. So here's a cheer for the USPS working hard to solve an issue.