Ken Dryden

Yeah, he was amusing. JJA would have celebrating guest emcess. The first show I attended had both Avery Brooks and Soupy Sales. Soupy's jokes included: "I'm in a self-help group, sex without partners." "My grandmother was told by her doctor to walk 3 miles a day. It's been two weeks and we don't know where she is..."

Stateside Distributors is still sending me regular SteepleChase CDs, no damned CDRs. Amazon and ImportCDs have been notorious for selling CDRs without labeling them as such. I usually try to look at the artwork before opening any new CD, as the burns sometimes remove the credits and original text from the tray card, a dead giveaway that it is not what one paid for according to the description. Amazon will take CDRs back if you act promptly, if they failed to list them accurately on line, even if they have been opened.

I found Crouch's writing to be frequently overbearing, much like his public persona. During one Jazz Journalist Association he took a swing at president Howard Mandel, then there's the time he cold-cocked another writer in the side of the head while he was seated. My one encounter with him was during a JJA Awards Show, which he had bulldozed his way into being a part of it (with Mandel's blessing), even though he was not a member. He talked for a few minutes, then sat at the drums and gave a rather boring solo. Afterward, Francis Davis made fun of it when he took the microphone, but even better was comedian Al Lewis, who was a special guest that year. Lewis remarked, "I remember being on 52nd Street back in the 1940s and hearing Sid Catlett, now there was a real drummer!" The audience groaned and hooted in agreement. I always wonder if Crouch thought about taking a swing at either of them.

Didn't he play on that LP by Daphne Hellman, called Helman's Angels?

I received it as a gift, but since I owned all the individual tracks, I sold it.

Thanks for the tip. I don't even know the contents of the hard drive, so I'm not sure if is worth spending that much money. Thanks for the tip.

I tried to save the show I produced today to a portable hard drive (Seagate, 4 TB) and was unable to do so. Is there any way to salvage the contents before it dies?

Many restaurants should be able to open up to 50% capacity without undue risk, if they can space out the tables. Granted, it will be hard for some jazz clubs to meet such guidelines due to their already compact seating and minimal square footage, but at least discussions should be on the table. I can't imagine how many favorite restaurants and jazz clubs will be shuttered for good by my next trip to NYC.

I am sure that a lot of people are wishing that the bumbling mayors who have ground business to a near halt in their cities soon close their final term in office.

I am saluting Sonny Rollins' 90th Birthday with a special edition of Timeless Jazz this Sunday from 3 to 5pm EDT, webcast at wutc.org. Included will be some excerpts of a phone interview that I did with him in August 2007 for a Hot House feature. Since there is so much great music, I will probably extend it into the following week's program as well.

Sorry, voting is restricted to jazz artists, not jizz artists like the Milquetoast Maestro, the Duke of Puke, the King of Hairdo Music...

I had Neil Swainson autograph my US CD of 49th Parallel when we saw him with George Shearing. He immediately quipped the old comeback, "Oh, so you're the one who bought it!"

Martin Williams?

I don’t buy or review downloads. Feel free to post a cd list.

I wonder if the Monk estate ended up throwing a monkey wrench in it.

I just picked up this LP and the sound is far better than some of the 180 gram LPs that have been hyped as limited edition.

Claire's music is always worth hearing, I'm looking forward to this new CD!

There is little evidence that anyone bothered to proofread or do basic research about songwriters. Three of the songwriters of "Body And Soul" have their last names misspelled, while Johnny Green is omitted entirely. Lyricist Mort Dixon is missing from a vocal version of "Bye-Bye Blackbird." No credit is given to songwriters Nat Adderley and Oscar Brown, Jr. for "Work Song." Benny Carter is listed as Carter King and Irving Mills as Erving Mills for the songwriter credits to "Blues in My Heart." The songwriter of "Just The Way You Are" is given as Billy Joe, not Billy Joel. The liner notes are equally sloppy. It must have been in danger of going overbudget, or someone's in-attentive in-law was put in charge of research. That's true, but the liner note writer, artist or producer should be aware of the difference between the two songs. Ellington's song is far better known than Waller's song. Also don't take as gospel the composer credited by the bandleader. Cyrus Chestnut credited Bill Evans with writing Miles Davis' "Nardis" on a live CD I have.

The life expectancy of a CD-R is limited. I have had at least one that quit playing at all. I have never had that happen to a CD during my decades of collecting them. Alan Grant used CDRs for his bootleg Thad Jones-Mel Lewis release. CD-Rs inevitably have matrix / runouts that are nothing close to the original releases, most have been long strings of numbers. You won't generally see the catalog number, a glass mastering credit, SID codes, etc.

A lot of European labels are putting out CDRs without labeling them as such (Document is one of many), as are domestic labels. I had to return Cal Tjader: Monterey Concert to Walmart.com after discovering it to be a CDR. This is false advertising, CDRs just don't have the lifespan of CDs, nor do I wish to pay inflated prices for them. You have to be careful with Oldies as well. Some of the small labels they carry like Squatty Roo (mostly poorly recorded bootleg reissues) seem to be all CDRs.

I'm sure the easily offended will want "Chattanooga Choo Choo" banned for the line, "Boy, you can give me a shine." Then there is "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny," recorded by both Ray Charles and the Mills Brothers with Louis Armstrong. The reference to darkies is more than a bit dated. It's not like anyone requests this tune these days, so I don't know that it qualifies as a good song. The composer of this song was an African-American. https://www.discogs.com/artist/710668-James-A-Bland

I did a phone interview with her for a Hot House profile, then saw her at The Metropolitan Room while I was in New York City for IAJE. My seat mate was none other than Lee Konitz... I remember Warren Vaché and Tardo Hammer accompanying her.

She has a few hundred CDs of various things, but doesn't listen to music much at home. Generally she likes me to pick jazz for dinner. The car radio is another story, I can't take a lot of the monotonous pop country of today.

I think that I probably have all of them except for one of the early ones. I probably missed it after a move when I didn't update my address immediately with Mosaic. Now to find them all in scattered boxes in the basement and put them in order.