Ken Dryden

As I recall, Neal Hefti wrote the theme for the 1960s tv series “Batman.” The royalties must have paid a few bills.

Trumpeter and vocalist Doc Cheatham was still playing gigs when he died a few days short of 92 in June 1997, not long after a gig at Blues Alley. He was 91 when he recorded a CD with Nicholas Payton for Verve in 1996. Eubie Blake was active playing well into his nineties, but I am not sure that he made any new recordings after the mid-1970s. After his death in 1983, supposedly at the age of 100, it was later discovered that he was only 96. The record may be held by Alto saxophonist Benny Waters, who celebrated his 95th birthday with three days of recording at Birdland. As I remember, he was a Jehovah's Witness or Christian Scientist, he refused treatment for a treatable illness and died the following year at 96. .

Liner note author Doug Ramsey attended this recording session and misquoted Phil Woods as saying when it was over, "I'm going to go get me a pear," though he actually said "beer." Woods thought it was so funny, he left it in the notes. That's one of many CDs that I've had since it was released and I've yet to play it... Maybe this week...

It is funny what prompted certain songs, like the road manager’s remark, “Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?” or the outrage shown by European concert promoter Fritz Rau when he saw a lowly roadie dare to take asparagus (which he considered a ‘king’s vegetable’) from the spread for the band, which prompted “Shall We Take Ourselves Seriously?” I still get a laugh out of hearing Zappa in concert open his guitar solo over a vamp of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” with the opening notes of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”

The Hot Rats set was far more interesting, particularly the extended jams that were edited for the original LP and other albums. But hearing the parts separately isn’t all that interesting to me.

I may have reviewed some of Smith’s CDs and I seem to recall that faster tempi proved challenging to him. Rabinowitz gets the nod over him. He died in December 2015.

A lot of the box seems to be dialogue, alternate mixes and rehearsals. There is at least one song in the movie that is still not a part of the boxed set or original soundtrack. A bit overpriced even for diehard Zappa fans…

When I received a CDR to write liner notes for The Classic Concert Live!, I was extremely disappointed that Concord Jazz omitted all three of the Mulligan big band instrumentals from the 1982 Jazz Alive! broadcast. They were some of the highlights of his meeting with George Shearing and Mel Tormé. I have most of Gerry Mulligan's late work to be of high quality.

The Martin Wind CD is due to be released in February 2022.

I am a Google stockholder, but I hated my Google andriod phone and got rid of it, while I also quit using Google for web searches several years ago. I don't trust Google with my data and opted for DukcDuckGo.

One of his most ominous sounding instrumentals...

We went to the first game of a Braves doubleheader in April. They got one hit and lost 5-0. We declined the invitation to stay for game 2, a good move, as they got no hits…

There have been a number of shootings in Lenox Square in Atlanta.

Mall owners have always gouged their tenants and charged a percentage of gross sales. Many stores and chains realize that the added expense, traffic hassle and crime around many malls isn’t worth it any more.

I recently featured this track on a Mel Torme birthday tribute broadcast, featured on the CD At The Movies (minus the intro and sound effects added to the cartoon.

Steve Ellington also played and recorded a good bit with Hal Galper in the 1990s.

I saw Frank Foster play during my first trip to NYC in 1997.

I would add Danish pianist Carsten Dahl, who I am featuring on the October 3 edition of my radio program.

I wonder if Boris Rose's daughter will ever find a buyer for all his tape reels of broadcasts before they deteriorate too much to be digitized?

Not that Musidisc likely paid royalties to anyone for those vintage airchecks...

To be released on November 12 on Laika Records. I am sure this will be on my top ten list for 2021.

I always thought it stood for “dumb researcher.” I think the label often relied on Boris Rose’s deliberately incorrect dates and venues, though I bought a fair amount of Musidisc LPs in the 1970s.

I did a phone interview with bassist Martin Wind today. It will appear in the November issue of The New York City Jazz Record and I may air excerpts on my radio show Timeless Jazz toward the end of the year.

In addition to the Now’s the Time LP, I have a song or two featuring the band at the 1978 Kansas City Women’s Jazz Festival, aired on NPR’s Jazz Alive!

One of the mysteries to me is dropping previously unissued bonus tracks on subsequent CD reissues. The new version of Monty Alexander's Montreux Alexander (Edel/MPS) omits the 3 bonus tracks from an earlier reissue. The 2 CD Stan Getz Dynasty CD (Verve) was later reissued as a single CD minus the bonus track. Royalty savings? Of course, there are rare expamples like the self-titled Joe Morello Bluebird release for which you have to own both the LP and CD to get all of the issued tracks.