Ken Dryden

Willie Ruff's A Call To Assembly: The Autobiography of a Jazzman is superb and a compelling story. I've seen this long out of print book on Amazon for a low price in the past. Jon Gordon's book For Sue is about his troubled mother as much as himself and jazz isn't as central a topic as you might think. But I've never read any autobiography that matches the challenges that he faced when he was still in elementary school.

He played a lot of the Miles material during his May gig at Mezzrow.

I will get an order to you this weekend. I'm trying to avoid duplications with the various earlier CD editions of some of these titles, which is compilcated by packing for our upcoming move.

I always looked forward to running into Steve at IAJE. The way his show was ended was ridiculous.

I tried reading Troupe's book when it came out and gave up before long. His writing style and playing loose with the facts has no appeal to me.

That cyst was drained some time before Eric Dolphy left for the European tour in 1964. I think his mother referred to it as his "love bump," as I recalled reading somewhere.

Since all of these songs have titles related to chess, it's likely that John Lewis played as well.

Correct, I thought by not addressing your dismal of Grant Stewart that you would figure it out.

I remember a photo of Braxton playing chess in a book that mentioned "in lean times, he made a living playing the game." Paul Desmond also played, as mentioned in a Doug Ramsey liner note. I know that Brian Charette plays chess.

It is not Ralph Lalama.

It is John Marshall, but the tenor saxophonist is not Dutch.

Correct.

Correct.

Track 11 is not an Ellington or Strayhorn composition, though it is Ken Peplowski. Track 12 isn't by Pepper Adams. Track 13 isn't Phil Woods, though he was aware of this saxophonist. Track 14 should be easy to find on line, though I am not sure if it is in print. Track 15 isn't Keith Jarrett.

Milestones posted: Track #2 has a 50s vibes: a little mellow for bebop and too fast for cool. Nice tenor, and the trumpeter has some of the qualities of Miles. But no guesses here. Track #3 is Jackie McLean from an early session on Prestige--one that's not in my collection. I know he did a record with Ray Draper on tuba. Correct on all counts. Track #4 is a cool rendition of "Seven Steps to Heaven" on acoustic guitar. It sounds a bit like Charlie Byrd, but both the guitar work and the overall concept/sound suggest it's not him. Not Charlie Byrd, which you understood. Track #5 is, of course, "It Had to be You." No guess at all on the singer, who doesn't sound like he has much of a voice (but who am I to say?). Trombone work by J.J. Johnson? See Bill F's answer later in the thread. Track #6 is a nice grooving number--some virile tenor work and fine playing by the guitarist (both the solo and the comping), but he's not a really distinctive player like Wes, Kenny Burrell, or Jim Hall. Actually, the comping reminds me of Hall, but this guy goes for a bit more speed. I think he is a distinctive player... Track #7...oh, that's instantly recognizable as the gorgeous "Single Petal of a Rose." Very nice...I've got some fine versions (but none top Duke's original), but I can't recall any with trumpet in the spotlight. Clark Terry? I doubt that it is Clark. But this is lovely; this needs to be in my collection. Not the song you named, but you were in the neighborhood. Clark Terry would have been identifiable in a couple of notes due to his unique sound. Track #8 is "If I Were a Bell." Did Milt Jackson do this? But it's probably not such a famous player. See the answer in a later post. Track #9 is "Turn Out the Stars." The tenor reminds me a bit of Joe Lovano, but this is certainly not his version with Motian and Frisell. The pianist has listened to his Evans, but needs to slow down on the pace. Whether it's Lovano or someone else, he takes out the tune in fine fashion. Correct title, but it isn't Lovano or the saxophonist's date. That's it for now. I really like your choices. I've got several of the titles, but only on #3 am I certain of the artist. Thanks for your kind remarks. It was fun assembling this test. Bill F posted: Track 5 From Frank Rosolino's album Turn Me Loose! with unmistakable vocal by the man himself (and of course tbn), Victor Feldman pno, Chas Berhofer bs, Irving Cottler dms. Correct. Track 8 Lem Winchester on vibes from Winchester Special with pretty unmistakable (and not very much to my taste ) Art Taylor on drums, Tommy Flanagan pno, Wendell Marshall bs. Correct. Track 10 "Darn That Dream." Correct. Track 11 Possibly Tony Scott? Know the tune very well, but can't put a name to it. Not Tony Scott. Track 12 Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". And who's that fine baritonist? Ronnie Cuber? Correct composer and song title, but it isn't Ronnie Cuber. Track 14 Albert Mangelsdorff and Lee Konitz, "Creole Love Call" Correct.

Correct, now which recording?

For your dining and dancing pleasure, here is BFT183, with 15 tracks. Have fun! http://thomkeith.net/index.php/blindfold-tests/

I've started requiring insurance for LPs after the USPS bent a package to hell, the buyer's photos were convincing. No complaints about that so far and if they destroy another LP, the buyer will collect $50 ffom the insurance, which is what I insure every shipment for that I send.

Felser's advice is spot on. That is the way to deal with dishonest sellers. Always use a credit card through Paypal so you have two layers of protection when dealing with a seller on such a platform the first time. Most people are honest and will try to accommodate reasonable claims.

The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings box didn't included Jackpot! Live in Las Vegas or any of the other live albums. It also omitted the recordings with Bill Smith and Gerry Mulligan.

Dave Brubeck was never happy with this LP because of the iffy piano that wouldn't hold its pitch.

According to discogs, 33 claim to own the US mono LP CL 2712.

Accoridng to the linterview with Juanita Smith in the recent CD set of Eric Dolphy's recordings for Douglas, he was showing signs of diabetes prior to leaving on the ill-fated tour of Europe with Charles Mingus in 1964, but nobody recognized them at the time.

Discogs has been helpful in many ways but lots of CDs that I own aren't in their database. Some contributors are sloppy or enter the bare minimum of information, while some of the Europeans seem to label almost everything as contemporary jazz.