Ken Dryden

During a recent interview, Harold Mabern told me of another pianist on the Memphis scene who deserved wider recognition, Evans Bradshaw. He recorded a couple of LPs for Riverside, though his career evidently never took off. I don't know if you've ever run across him, but he is worth investigating.

Money Johnson Dick Johnson Philip K. Dick

Norm Cash Johnny Cash Johnny Carson

I need to make a trip to Yankee Stadium, something I've never done during my visits to the city. Evenings are reserved for jazz or Broadway (if my wife is with me, I could care less about attending a play in most cases). I hope Judge continues with his success, he's exciting to watch and doesn't seem to be an egomaniac.

I was doing an interview with Sonny Rollins prior to his 50th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall. He delighted in selling the bootlegs of his performances as downloads and I can't blame him, he's had enough music stolen by them. I also sent him CDRs of a number of good quality broadcast recordings that I had acquired over the years.

It is fun to imagine what individuals recorded off of television and radio broadcasts that aren't widely known. One of the oddest things to happen to me occurred right after I began writing my Not For Sale column for AllAboutJazz.com. I had written one column and before I could begin on the next one, Concord Records contacted me about writing liner notes for an unreleased concert featuring Mel Torme, Gerry Mulligan and George Shearing at Carnegie Hall in 1982. My response was "I know that concert well. I recorded the Jazz Alive! broadcast of it back in the fall of 1982." Unfortunately, they omitted all of the Mulligan Big Band instrumentals, it deserved to have been a two CD set. Though this anecdote has nothing to do with Ray Nance...what can one expect at this hour?

I think it was some of that stuff that appeared on Solid State, then maybe was reissued on LRC and Blue Note. Nance also is a lot of fun on Jaki Byard With Strings!, though Fantasy screwed up the CD reissue by alternating tracks between it and Solo then deleting Hello, Young Lovers from the solo LP. As Frank Zappa would call it, "Cheepnis..." As you can tell, I didn't click on your link. I had the CD, though not in front of me...

Thanks for sharing that memory, Peter. No wonder Ray Nance's nickname was "Floorshow."

I was not aware of the Complete Charlie Parker Records CD set. I own a few of the LPs. It was a shame that Anthony Barnett discontinued further new releases on AB Fable, but he was having problems with others bootlegging the rare jazz violin recordings he was issuing.

I sold a CD through Discogs awhile back. After putting stamps on it and mailing it, the buyer informed me after a couple of weeks that he still hadn't received it. Since it was media mail, I asked him to allow a couple of more weeks. It didn't arrive and I gave him a full refund. Then something like two months later it shows up, with the stamps unconcealed. That taught me to take it to the post office to at least get a tracking number. I returned 4 CDs to ImportCDs a month ago with they prepaid return label. Unfortunately, the USPS would not give me a tracking number to trace it and I have yet to have my inquiries answered by them. It may be my last order with them if they don't get on the ball.

The binding came apart on my copy as well. Destined to hold up about as well as those deliberately shoddy Neil Young LP jackets in the 1970s.

This is what was shared by the head librarian at Stanford, with a few additions I made after viewing the video (link in earlier post): There is the concert from 15 September 1967. As you can see he is playing on 2, 3, and 4. If he would like copies of this performance, they can be obtained from the Monterey Festival by asking the General Manager, or we can send it if we have written permission from the General Manager.Thanks for contacting us.Jazz Violin ConclaveRAY NANCE and trio1. The Man I Love [incomplete]JEAN LUC PONTY with GEORGE GRUNTZ, piano ; NIELS HENNING ØRSTED PEDERSEN, bass ; DANIEL HUMAIR, drums 2. Sunday Walk3. Carol’s GardenSVEND ASMUSSEN, RAY NANCE, JEAN LUC PONTY with JOHN LEWIS, piano ; NIELS HENNING ØRSTED PEDERSEN, RAY BROWN, basses, LOUIS BELLSON, drums4. Take the A Train5. [No content]DIZZY GILLESPIE QUINTET6. [Sudden Samba?]7. Gentle Rain [incomplete] genreJEAN LUC PONTY, violin ; with GEORGE GRUNTZ, piano ; NIELS HENNING ØRSTED PEDERSEN, bass ; DANIEL HUMAIR, drumsSVEND ASMUSSEN, RAY NANCE, JEAN LUC PONTY, violins ; with JOHN LEWIS, piano ; NIELS HENNING ØRSTED PEDERSEN, RAY BROWN, basses LOUIS BELLSON, drumsDIZZY GILLESPIE QUINTET(DIZZY GILLESPIE, trumpet ; JAMES MOODY, alto saxophone, flute ; MIKE LONGO, piano ; RUSSELL GEORGE, electric bass ; OTIS "CANDY" FINCH, drums)

It is a shame, he deserved more opportunities to record as a leader. Here's what I own under his name: LPs: Ray Nance w/Paul Gonsalves Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin' Black Lion 191 Ray Nance Huffin' N' Puffin' MPS/BASF 5057 Ray Nance/Cat Anderson & the Ellington Alumni A Flower is a Lovesome Thing Parker 827 Ray Nance Quartet & Sextet Unique Jazz 11 CD: Ray Nance The Complete 1940-1949 Non-Ducal Violin Recordings AB Fable 14 Ray Nance Body and Soul Mighty Quinn 1108 (originally issued on LP by Solid State) I don't remember if I previously shared this link, but I learned about it when I interviewed Jean-Luc Ponty in May. https://archive.org/details/calauem_000153 It contains one song featuring Ray Nance with John Lewis, Ray Brown and Louis Bellson, then a second track that also adds Ponty, Svend Asmussend and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. There is other music from that festival in the Monterey holdings of Stanford University, including a set featuring Ponty with his own rhythm section that he evidently had forgotten, plus at least one incomplete song by Nance.

You can provide a forwarding mailing address to the USPS. There is no way to do it for UPS, as I tried in the past, due to sometimes getting packages I wasn't expecting via UPS. Of course, I moved in 2014, but I am still having issues with publicists using my old address. Some of them didn't update the information (I did several mailings well in advance) or some are just using old information they got from someone else. Just today I was notified of a CD that was returned with my old address. The lost car note payoff check was a big pain, as I had to put a $28 stop payment on it. I didn't want a check for $10,000-$12,000 supposedly being lost then showing up after I wrote a second one. My favorite USPS record horror stories include a lazy postal worker who left a box with an LP between the flag and the mailbox on a hot summer day, rather than make the short trip to the porch to put it in the shade. It was warped beyond belief by the time I got home. Another LP was ruined when something punched through the carton in transit and cracked the LP. The first one I have yet to replace, fortunately, the second was still available from the supplier and I got a replacement.

The USPS has lost one mortgage payment (another took 11 days to go across Tennessee), one five figure car note payoff, two consecutive checks to the same doctor's office an who knows how many promotional CDs sent over the years. UPS has occasionally screwed up as well. One lazy driver left a package by our sliding glass door in a duplex, if he had bothered to look through the open blinds and curtain he would have seen that the unit was empty, as we had moved to our new house. I only found it because I came back to get some stuff out of the storage room behind the duplex. There is no way to give a forwarding address to UPS, if the sender doesn't have it and UPS drops off the item, it will likely disappear thanks to a thief.

Many newly created administrative jobs over the past few decades have done nothing but to raise debt and tuition rates. Unless the graduate music program has had a cliff-like decline in enrollment, eliminating unnecessary administrative jobs should be the first priority.

Fathead Newman Fats Navarro Fats Waller

David Spade Tardo Hammer Peter O'Toole

A pic of what? Anything not political or religious?

Likewise, I got a big order from Jazz Messengers. Love the free, expedited shipping with a big enough order.

Harry Houdini Magic Johnson James P. Johnson

Got it last week, it's in the huge stack of stuff to hear.

One thing I've noticed about Venus covers is that a number of websites that sell them will scan the back cover to post rather than include the front. That even happened to me when I included a Kenny Werner Venus CD in my top ten list when I was a member of the Jazz Journalist Association. I do think that artists deserve to be consulted and have some sort of veto power, even if they don't choose the final cover themselves. But of course, with Venus, they must know what they are facing. I've had more than a few artists vent during interviews about hideous covers for their CDs (other labels as well). Charles McPherson told me how much he hated the cover photo on his Venus CD during an interview. It is likely why he has not since recorded for the label.Maybe creepy was an odd term to use for it but it sure didn't appear erotic, which seems to be Hara's intent with many of these covers.