Ken Dryden

I received Moderna shot number two earlier this afternoon. Aside from the pharmacy being very disorganized as they came back from lunch, it went well. This second one is far less painful than the first one was.

Diego Figueiredo, a brilliant Brazilian guitarist.

It's nice to have an air of credibility. What sold the McPartland/Zappa Piano Jazz Not For Sale piece was the fact that George Duke did appear on her program and played a bit of Zappa's "Echidna's Arf" while discussing how much fun he had playing with the bandleader. I'll have to admit that I had a lot of fun creating Rod Stewart: Just One of Those Things, a tribute to Mel Tormé, as well as the live radio transcription pairing Larry Fine with Stuff Smith: Fine Stuff. What is hilarious is that my Bolton review preceded the release of his awful Sinatra tribute on Concord (one of many releases that probably had its founder spinning in his grave). Bolton's vocals remind me of someone with chronic diarrhea and hemorrhoids. Here's the other piece from yesterday. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/nocturnal-mission-fourplay-provolone-review-by-ken-dryden.php?width=1920

One of the oddities about this April Fool's piece is much of the stuff in the opening paragraphs is true. Everyone there that night remembers Al's putdown of Stanley Crouch, the audience reaction was "Whoaaa..," followed by laughter. I even had a brief conversation with Al Lewis before I went up to announce the award for best baritone saxophonist. These April Fool's reviews practically write themselves once an idea takes hold. By making it so obvious that it's a joke, that cuts down on the email requests to help track down a release. Some of the ones that did provoke email requests: Michael Bolton Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (it provoked a phone call from a nameless promoter, who was trying to land the account and couldn't find the ficticious Jazzemup label on the web) Yanni: A Tribute to Art Tatum (the late Arnold Laubich, the Tatum discographer, wrote me about it and I was apologetic in my reply - He was a good sport and said he should have recognized the gag) Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Frank Zappa (a publicist wanted a copy of the non-existent broadcast I described, though I should have warned Marian McPartland about it, because someone else actually got in contact with her about it) Another review provoked the artist's attorney to get in touch with me, asking where I had gotten ahold of this "obvious bootleg." Given the ridiculousness of the described recording, it was obvious that the attorney never got in touch with his client about it.

Here's a review I had published today: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sings-swing-street-favorites-grandpa-al-lewis-april-first-records

I need to upload the Jaki Byard Chicago Jazz Festival broadcast from my archive of taped shows. I always hated it when the Chicago and Montreux / Detroit Jazz Festivals aired on the same weekend, so our station couldn't air both festivals. But Chicago announcers always did a better job, since they weren't prompted to gab for several minutes at the top of the hour, while a band was still playing. I always wonder who the airhead was who recommended this inane, useless chatter.

I have all six and you definitely got a terrific price for all of them. I can remember when Jazz Record Center in NYC had all three volumes of The Complete Commodore Recordings for sale long after they were out of print, asking $2400 for the set. Prices have cooled somewhat since then, but you paid less then what they cost new, which I recall was around $230 plus shipping.

Well, that's not as bad as Mark Gardner's inability to identify the correct songwriters in liner notes he wrote for various SteepleChase CDs, such as crediting Bill Evans for "Nardis" and "Locomotion" for Thelonious Monk.

I am guilty of not pruning often enough, especially with the backlog of unheard CDs. I don't typically sample tracks of new releases, I play them straight through unless they annoy or bore me. There are always 1200 or more unheard promos, then there are the purchases that I haven't gotten around to hearing...yet.

I can't imagine that basements like the ones most jazz clubs occupy are all that attractive to most businesses, unless they are entertainment -oriented, but landlords are jacking up rents for every business tenant in many cases. But NYC and state officials are piling on too much with their draconian rules.

I just bought a bunch of SteepleChase CDs and started to play the Bob Rockwell Quartet: Shades of Blue (SCCD 31378). Instead, I heard a swinging big band, even though the CD was labeled correctly. After taking a look at the matrix/runout, I noticed that the typical SCCD catalog number was missing and something else was in its place, DCCD 9420. When I did a search of that number, here's what turned up: I pulled my copy of that very CD and that's what it was. I wonder how many similar defective pressings were shipped before they discovered it?

The thing that puzzles me the most about this stupid situation is the ban on advertising. How can any business survey at 25% capacity if they can't even promote themselves? Too many politicians are in the pockets of big business and have no clue about the damage they do to small businesses, regardless of which party they label themselves. Maybe Spike has deeper pockets than we think, but Smalls and Mezzrow have been two of my favorite haunts on visits to the city in recent years.

I had heard that Philology owner Paolo Piangiarelli had a nervous breakdown. The last time that I tried emailing him a few years ago it bounced back as undeliverable. I wish him well, as he was a devoted jazz fan but he struggled to get American outlets to publish reviews of his CDs. After AllMusic.com quit assigning them, I had little luck pitching them to anyone else.

I just finished listening to this set today.

What do expect from a city run by a moronic mayor and a clueless city council? They are doing their best to kill off small businesses like jazz clubs with their draconian, nonsensical edicts. Spike Wilder is hardly getting rich running such small capacity clubs with low cover charges where people tend to nurse one drink for an entire set, even prior to COVID-19.

Max Roach Jack Mouse Beetle Bailey

Michael: These titles are of interest, with a caveat on the last one: STUCD 05012 Bollani/Bodilsen/Lund GLEDA Songs from Scandinavia digipak $3 LBLC 6695/96 Bollani, Stefano I Visionari digipak $3 Edwards, Teddy Teddy Edwards Quartet La Villa $3 Verve 523 495-2 CD JP1044 Casey, Al A Tribute to 'Fats" $6 (if it is a CDR, I don't want it...)

The USPS continues to find ways to underachieve. I sold a CD on Discogs and shipped via media mail on 12/29 to Indianapolis. It next tracked in Cinncinnati on January 6. Then on February 25, it arrived in Pittsburgh. The empty package was returned to me today (3/19) by my carrier, with one end torn completely off - no sign of the tape I used to seal it) and it obviously had water damage. It was sealed in a bag with a form letter apology. I was told that I could get my postage refunded by going to the post office where I mailed it. No dice, I was told the claim had to be filed on line. When I tried to do that, it was automatically rejected, since it has been over 60 days. Screw the USPS...they need to be reformed or at least driven out of handling packages.

George Washingmachine William "Refrigerator" Perry Fred Dryer

Phil Woods Jimmy Forrest Courtney Pine

I don't have a specific budget in mind, but thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences.

Thanks, I will look them up. Search engines have been useless.

I finally got around to watching this DVD, which I have only owned since the review copy arrived in 2006. It was just as delightful as I imagined. I was fortunate to see Gary Burton and Makoto Ozone on three different occasions together: a 1984 concert with Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum, Eddie Daniels' Benny Rides Again tour (with Makoto in place of Mulgrew Miller), along with the IAJE 2002 preview duo concert of their forthcoming Virtuosi CD.

I am thinking about taking the plunge and investing in a SACD player. Any recommendations about particular brands/models and online vendors is greatly appreciated.

None to be found there.