Ken Dryden

Doug Ramsey's birthday is today, October 3, like mine. He is exactly twenty years older than me. I miss his Rifftides blog.

Lots of interesting titles, but the ones I like I already own and there are a lot of them in my collection.

I just sampled the upcoming CD online and the recording is far better than that dreadful Art Blakey set LP with Andy Bey. Good separation between the instruments, maybe a touch overmodulated in spots.

August works for me.

I talked to my cousin in Tampa. One foot of water from the storm surge into their home on a manmade island in Tampa Bay. Her husband prevented further damage by parking his Tesla on the firth floor of a parking garage before the storm, but two other island residents didn’t prepare and their Teslas caught fire. My sister lives west of Asheville on a hilltop and they lost power and cellphone service, though they installed a permanent generator several years ago and have power. She said the damage was minor but I haven’t gotten details. The videos of washed out roads and bridges, along with floating houses are heartbreaking.

Somehow I think that Blue Note has higher standards than the label that issued the pathetic Art Blakey LP, it wasn't anything like the Jazz Messengers, that was complete false advertising by that label. I returned that crappy LP for its several skips and dreadful sound.

Is Mark Elf still active? I remember running into him at IAJE yearly and I knew he had a health scare awhile back.

We got rain from Helene’s outer edge but it was no big deal. Asheville didn’t fare as well.

I miss churches with pipe organs and great acoustics.

I have had this for 2+ years and I'm just now listening to it for the first time.

I haven't checked how much of the music that I already own on other releases, but I think that most, if not all, of the Art Tatum has appeared on various labels on LP and/or CD, along with the Fats Waller and Red Norvo. But Mosaic will have the best possible sound and excellent annotation.

Ordered the moment that I saw the email.

It looks like the Braves need to sweep the Mets then take two of three against the Royals to at least tie the Mets for the final wild card spot, which they would earn because of head to head competition. The odds are against them due to their inconsistent pitching, but who knows?

Thanks for sharing Mike’s post, especially for those of us fed up with FB.

I never got to see him perform, but he is well represented in my collection and he was a delightful interview, which took place in December 2007. One of the greats who will be missed.

Devin Daniels Quintet - LetsGo! (Sam First Records)

I got to hear Rod Serling in person at Tulane in 1974, the year before his premature death. It was a memorable evening and he had a great sense of humor, although one of the funniest things was his reaction to the audience’s response to his opening “Good evening.” I have the Zicree book, his daughter’s memoir and all five seasons of The Twilight Zone on DVD. I pass on the attempted reboots due to their bad rewriting and the lack of his presence.

There were plenty of electric keyboards on his later recordings but no Hammond B3. It was his call, perhaps it had no appeal.

Count Basie regularly used cocaine. Woody Shaw was also diabetic, which can lead to blindness. Dave Brubeck was straight as they come, though Paul Desmond evidently did some drug experimentation late in his life. Gerry Mulligan had some drug and alcohol abuse issues but was eventually clean. Emily Remler was addicted to heroin and likely died from an overdose at 31.