B. Clugston

Slightly Latin is a big favourite of mine. Other favourite Kirk moments are his solo on "Perdido" on the Mingus Carnegie Hall date and "I Say a Little Prayer" on Dog Years in the Fourth Ring. What always impressed/amazed me about Kirk is he could take songs like "Ode to Billy Joe" and Bread's "Make it with You" (!) and make them great.

Never was a big fan of Freedom & Unity. Sounds very time-warped. The Panther and the Lash, on the other hand, is fabulous. Btw, Jason Guthartz has done a Thornton discography at http://www.restructures.net/Thornton/thornton_disco_home.htm.

I wouldn't take Copeland too seriously. Many rock musicians of his generation tend to say silly things to appear provocative and get attention. Just be grateful he didn't pull an Elvis Costello. Copeland may also be confusing jazz with the tantric soft rock that Sting pursued.

"Accelerator Whip Ghost Trance Music," to be exact. Compositions 350-358.

and Andrew Hill is playing in April. It's good you have the Cellar on your radar. I'm pondering a visit over the next few months (was thinking of either April or June, when the main Jazz Festival events take place. Wish I could do both..) I see that Andrew is playing in trio format on April 12th at a Cathedral location. Sounds intriguing ! Any current recommendations on vinyl stores in Vancouver and Victoria? Thanks. That A&B Sound store used to be the biz. Friwend of mine got the Coltrane Heavyweight Champ set for 20% off at one of their Canada Day sales. Their stores in Calgary and Edmonton used to be pretty good too. A & B went bankrupt a few years ago, but was bought by a new company and saved. Selection isn't the same, prices are higher and those 20% off sales are now 10%. They appear to be adding more stock at the moment, so there could be a mini-revival in the works. HMV, which took over Virgin's location, is now the biggest CD store, but at European prices. Magic Flute, which had a decent jazz selection, just went bankrupt. Victoria has Ditch Records, which has a good selection of vinyl for a city that size. In Vancouver, Zulu has probably the broadest selection of vinyl, but at rip-off prices. Neptune on Main Street has a lot of vinyl, but it's mostly rock.

When are you coming? There is a great jazz fest in June and Andrew Hill is playing in April. It's good you have the Cellar on your radar. In terms of record stores, Vancouver has gone from feast to famine. We used to have some of cheapest CDs in North America and tonnes of selection. Now most of the stores have shrunk or closed. Zulu Records on W. 4th is pretty good and Sikora's, located downtown, is great for classical music. I don't really check out the clubs. Vancouver has an annoying 'worst aspects of L.A.' north kind of vibe. It's getting better, but too many either cater to the pretty people or barf-stawned yoof. I prefer Victoria, which is just a ferry ride away.

The icy sound of a Nordic echo chamber but slightly muffled Though who can forget the great Edward Vesala and the Maupin one

Charnett Delfeayo

Quite nice, I think! Haven't played it often enough to really say, but upon first listen, it's a good one! This one really grew on me. The sequel is great as well.

I get the whole Bee Gees/ABBA/whoever are cool/no they aren’t/yes they are again cycle. The problem with late-’80s Miles is it sounded dated at the time. Same goes for most of the lame synth pop of the era. It was the modern equivalent of bad kazoo.

I'm only slightly familiar with this period of Miles's career, but "informed sources" tell me that the best stuff was live. Hence, if you are interested (and loaded) you should skip the studio recordings and go for the Montreux box. Guy The eight discs with Sco are pretty good (though the afternoon and evening sets are pretty much identical). It's also interesting hearing the band with Robben Ford on guitar. But the rest of the Montreux gigs (except the big band) are bogged down by cheese-strewn synths. Funny how the final few years of Miles' work sound the most dated.

Reading the lines (and between them), I get the impression Vince didn’t like the mentions in Paul Tingen’s Miles Beyond of him getting canned by his uncle. Holzman was a bandmate at the time and is a major source in the book, so Vince probably blames Holzman. Petty stuff. It’s a shame a dispute between two minor figures from late in Miles’ career held things up. And I think the Cellar Door material is fantastic.

I saw Fe-Mail in concert twice last year. Fantastic stuff in a live setting, even better than their recordings. Ratkje has great musical instincts.

From Paul Tingen's site miles-beyond.com: "The On The Corner boxed set appears on schedule for a release in the fall of this year."

They could get Kenny G to do overdubs on some of the Mosaic favourites a la his "It's a Wonderful World" fiasco. Early contenders would be The Four Freshmen, the Bix or the Andrew Hill.

Well, Wynton Marsalis obviously. And Chewy.

Black Fire .

I've often wondered about that. Played blindfolded, you would think it was the saxophonist's gig. But Lee has some great lengthy solos on Disc 1 of the Fresh Sound "Lighthouse" recorded shortly before the Blue Note Lighthouse.

I can't wait for this show to tank and see Cowell, Adbul and company selling steak knives on infomercials in order to keep in the spotlight.

Wasn't Kenton Wagner's stage name?

There ain't no justice in them Andorran hills.

Lonehill is crass. Avoid the Aylers, anything that says “Complete” and, for truth in advertising purposes, the Dolphy/Lalo Schifrin billing that doesn’t even feature Lalo Schifrin. Caveat emptor. There’s a lot of great Fresh Sound. I’m not sure about the provenance of some of their stuff, but the reissues are done with a certain amount of care. I recommend the Lee Morgans, the Al Haig reissues, Lucky Thompson, etc. Fresh Sound’s Lou Blackburn has been superseded by Blue Note’s resuscitation.

If you are referring to the duo disc on Rastascan, it's a good one. There aren't a lot of Braxton duo discs with percussionists out there. Still, I could name you 50 other Braxton discs I'd snap up first. By the way, Robair is releasing a DVD-A of Braxton recordings with a similar line-up to the 4-CD box.

Because the Parker/Gillespie CD is a new issue and the Mingus was a painstakingly assembled labour of love that some git from the hills of Andorra turned around and pirated without having to do any legwork.

If I'm catering to knowledgeable jazz fans, selling incomplete needle drops wouldn't be a profitable choice in the long run.