Ken Dryden

I think they were $10 per disc new, with a 20% discount on the third volume if you bought the first two sets. The buyer got one heck of a bargain.

Burns could have easily chosen articulate veteran musicians to replace most of the writers and Wynton. But Burns knew little about jazz when he got underway. What if you expect from a guy who owned a handful of jazz CDs when he began?

Check out Mel Torme’s bio of Buddy Rich.

I did an interview with Wayne Escoffery for a Hot House article a few years back when he discussed Jackie McLean's teaching. I don't know how much of it made it to print, as they rarely let anything run over 750 words or so.

I am currently reading this book, which follows his excellent biography (For Sue) of his mother and his own unusual life growing up with a single, unstable parent. This collection of interviews and remembrances is fairly freewheeling, where the interviews seem transcribed with little editing, though he does ask insightful questions that a non-musician might overlook. Part of the value of the book is that in addition to talking to many greats, sometimes in a brief recollection of a long ago conversation versus a recorded interview, Gordon also chats with a number of deserving artists who are under the radar.

What has happened to Blue Note is like someone taking over a legendary 5 star restaurant and turning it into a fast food joint. Verve has also fallen victim to these changes, while many classic jazz labels have had their catalogs deleted, though some label reps claim that having downloads available is the same thing as having CDs to sell...not in my book!

I don't see much unissued material for Joe Henderson's Blue Note recordings between 1963 and 1966, so unless there are some unknown sessions or unreleased takes, it will be hard to get very excited about such a Mosaic set. Most of us likely own most, if not all of his Blue Note recordings as a leader.

I received it recently and it is better than the same band recorded at Rosie's in New Orleans, which has long been a favorite Hal Galper album of mine.

One of the silliest segments featured Wynton Marsalis describing what it was like for a musician to play in the Duke Ellington band. It would have made far more sense to have an actual Ellington veteran like Clark Terry describe the experience.

Jazzology put out 9 LPs of World Transcriptions on the Circle label and later reissued 5 CDs of them, all taken from the original glass masters.They include the following sessions: Novemer 8, 1943 November 9, 1943 December 1, 1943 January 2, 1944 Januar 3, 1944 July 31, 1945 August 7, 1945 The LPs include all incomplete takes and false starts, I don't know if the contents are complete on the 5 CDs.

I agree that new & historical releases that appear at the close of a year get overlooked. But voting for them in either year is better than seeing a poll when aritsts are ranked even though they were dead or otherwise inactive prior to the year being considered.

Trying to analyze a poll as to why it turns out the way it does is pointless. Just like the Jazz Journalist Association Awards, there is a diverse group of voters with different tastes who hear different releases throughout the year. I have participated in both Francis Davis' Critic's poll and the Downbeat Critic's Poll for years and I don't really enjoy ranking albums as "best" in any category, it is more about listing some of the releases that I enjoyed which I had the opportunity to hear. If I see even one or two in the compiled Top Ten list I'm surprised, as I don't feel like I follow the herd mentality that seems to honor the same artists over and over again. I feel the same way about star ratings, but some outlets insist on them. I haven't received any releases by some of the female artists cited in this aritcle (in some cases, never), so it is hard to justify purchasing a CD just so I can consider voting for an artist, although I've spent almost 33 years writing about jazz and 17 years producing a jazz radio program.

Part of the problem of putting together such a list is the erratic servicing of historical releases to both radio and print/online media. It is hard to buy everything that it is issued and I'm not about to vote on reissues or boxed sets that I haven't heard. The Monk Palo Alto was interesting, but not worthy of #1.

I reviewed it in January 2018 so a 2017 release sounds about right.

Thanks for sharing the links. I wonder what happened to the test pressings of unissued alternate takes after Hodges’ death?

I have no interest in the Tone Poet LP series as well. Some of this music I've probably purchased several times between LPs, CDs and boxed sets that include these sessions. I am not about to add a duplicate LP for music that I have long owned. I probably own nearly all of the vintage Blue Note music that I desire.

One publicist just announced he will only be servicing media with downloads from now on. I am not a fan of downloads when there is physical product available, as I do not have a way of playing downloads away from a computer unless I burn a CDR. I still like physical product to check out the data you can't easily find with a download without a separate search of the computer, songwriters, credits, recording info, etc., which is extremely helpful whether reviewing, preparing a radio show or just enjoying music for fun. Most of the downloads I have are of radio broadcasts and webcasts, rather than promos. Even to enjoy them, it is easier to have them on physical discs.

I saw Tony Rice play two duo concerts with fellow guitarist/vocalist Norman Blake. By that time, Rice could no longer sing and his speaking voice was very gravely from his ailment. But he was still recording and performing into the 21st century, with his last performance was in 2013 at the Bluegrass Hall of fame.

Alan Grant moved to Las Vegas and I think he was the driving force behind the launch of the series, taped in the French Quarter Room of the Hotel Four Queens. I think the series ended through lack of funding or the sale of the hotel, when the new owners weren't interested in featuring jazz. The last I heard, Alan Grant had moved to Florida and was in poor health, living with his son. Wasn't the Klabin confrontation story in the liner notes to the legit Resonance release of the Thad Jones-Med Lewis early Vanguard material?

I taped a few of them while we were carrying the show at my station, though I edited out as much of Alan Grant as possible. It was painful listening to his inane first question to Kenny Barron during a mid-1980s broadcast, he sounded like a rank amateur, instead of someone who had been in broadcasting for decades. I've got both Denny Zeitlin shows, Buddy DeFranco & Terry Gibbs, Horace Tapscott, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ken Peplowski and a few others that I can't remember at the moment. I've dubbed several for the artists.

After KNPR quit broadcasting jazz, the archives were turned over to a special collections in the UNLV library. It is a shame that these performances aren’t made commercially available, though at least one Resonance CD and a Hi Hat bootleg Joe Pass CD come from the Four Queens Jazz Night in Las Vegas series.

Discogs has its limits, it is generally not worth one's time to sell cheap titles, but at least it is far less expensive than paying listing fees on ebay for items that don't sell within a given time frame. Discogs really fouled things up with their recent change on shipping policy requirements, it was working fine on a per piece or weight basis until they insisted that everything be made uniform. Usually I have 120 or fewer items avaiable there, but i have cut back on adding LPs, it is getting to be too much trouble. I added mandatory insurance for LPs after the USPS destroyed one that I sold and I don't feel like having to give full refunds for items plus the postage because someone threw a 60 lb. box of books onto a mailer in transit.

I enjoyed the book, though I was surprised that Phil Woods didn't discuss his prolific recordings for Paolo Piangiarelli's Philology label. Phil jokingly called this output "his retirement plan," though I don't think he planned on retiring until he couldn't physically play anymore. He pulled no punches criticizing himself, it was a worthwhile purchase. I do wish that his Phil In The Gap columns that he penned for the Al Cohn Memorial Newsletter had been added as an addendum.

This is usually one of the first Christmas CDs we play each year. I love his interpretation of Bill Evans' "My Bells."