Dave James

I don't think the Yanks are giving up on either Hughes or Kennedy. I think last year too much was expected of them too soon. Hughes is playing in Arizona and by all accounts is throwing bee-bees. Kennedy is also having a good run in winter ball. I still think they both have a future in pinstripes. They have some other pitchers who may make the transition this year. One of them is a Mark Melancon, who has been touted as the next Joba Chamberlain. Up over and out.

I guess I'd rather have Sabathia with all the question marks than not have him at all. Buster Olney says he's a great, even unifying clubhouse presence, and I think the Yanks could stand that. For sure there's pressure aplenty in New York, but I think if anyone has the chops to accommodate that, it's a laid back guy like Sabathia. Look for the Yanks to add Lowe, Burnett or Sheets as well. Lots of questions there too, but with the retirement of Mussina and the uncertainty surrounding Pettite, they need another starter. With regard to Chamberlain, I've thought from day one that it's a mistake to put him in the rotation. He should be filling the same set-up role Mariano Rivera filled when John Wetteland was the closer. Then, when Rivera is no longer the guy, he can slide right into that spot with a minimum of transitional issues. The kid has electric stuff, but I don't think he's got the body to deliver 200 innings without breaking down. Joba's place is in the pen. Agree that the offense is a problem. This is not a young team. Even if A-Rod bounces back, too many other guys are on the downside. Their minor league system is full of decent pitching prospects, but few position players with real big league potential. Who knows, maybe if they bulk up on pitching, they won't need the kind of offense they've fielded in the past. I really like the idea of adding Texiera, but I just don't see the Angels letting him get away. Outside of him, there isn't anyone I'd sell the farm to get. I think Swisher will surprise. Plus, I really like his versatility. Up over and out.

OK, Chris, fess up. What are we talking about speaker-wise with those triangular shaped enclosures? I don't think I've seen anything like that since my heavy duty stereo days way back in the '70's. Up over and out.

Whoop de friggin' doo. ESPN is reporting the CC Sabathia is all but signed by the Yankees. To sweeten the pot, they added a seventh year to the deal, making it worth $160 million. Let the games begin. Up over and out.

A.R.S., now we're talkin'. No wonder they covered Spooky. If you haven't heard their version, get thee to a nunnery. One of my all-time favorite rock songs. Up over and out.

TM - Right on. The J.J. set is one I forgot about entirely. Full of first class stuff and, as I've mentioned before, probably the best showcase for under-recorded Bobby Jaspar that you're likely to find. Up over and out.

Don't forget that there are a number of musicians who recorded under made up names due to contractual restrictions. The most famous of those would be Charlie Parker appearing as Charlie Chan. Frankly, Boozier sounds a little fishy to me. I would be interested in other examples of musicians playing under a pseudonym. Up over and out.

Details. Only the tunes I've put in bold type are on the CD. BTW, T.T.T. is an acronym for Twelve Tone Tune. Wonder where the tapes from the balance of the program are hiding? Date: July 2, 1988 Location: Jazzhus Slukefter, Copenhagen, Denmark Label: Storyville J.R. Monterose (ldr), J.R. Monterose (ts), Hod O'Brien (p), Niels 'Guffy' Pallesen (b), Jesper Elen (d), Stephanie Nakasian (v) a. 01 I Hear A Rhapsody - 10:15 (George Fragos, Dick Gasparre, Jack Baker) b. 02 Love Is Here To Stay - 10:15 (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) c. 03 You Don't Know What Love Is - 12:57 (Don Raye, Gene DePaul) Storyville CD: STCD 8291 -- T.T.T. (1999) d. 04 Lady Bird - 10:15 (Tadd Dameron) e. 06 Sometimes I'm Happy - 7:07 (Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar) f. 07 Pain And Suffering...And A Little Pleasure - 10:10 (J.R. Monterose) g. 08 Theme For Ernie - 17:10 (Fred Lacey) h. 09 All The Things You Are - 12:06 (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II) Storyville CD: STCD 8291 — T. T. T. (1999) i. 11 Opalessence - 9:55 (Hod O'Brien) j. 12 What's New - 14:12 (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) Storyville CD: STCD 8291 — T. T. T. (1999) k. 13 Central Park West - 11:38 (John Coltrane) Storyville CD: STCD 8291 — T. T. T. (1999) l. 14 Green Street Scene - 10:00 (J.R. Monterose) Storyville CD: STCD 8291 — T. T. T. (1999) m.15 Concierto De Aranjuez - 13:20 (Joaquin Rodrigo) Storyville CD: STCD 8291 — T. T. T. (1999) J.R. Monterose (ts) on c-m; Stephanie Nakasian (v) on e. Recorded by Danish Broadcast Corporation. "Green Street Scene" issued as "Airegin-Bebop Theme"

I've got everything I can find that Monterose recorded. Of those six or seven I have, I've got to go with In Action as a favorite. Even though he's just playing with a house band, Monterose really shines. I will argue until I keel over that his version of Lover Man is definitive. There's a world weary sound on that one that just tumbles out of his horn. The piano solo is also memorable. For a live recording in an out of the way place, the sound is excellent. If you're a fan of his, go into the discography on the Night Lights link and look at all the private, unreleased recordings. Man, I'd give my left you know what to hear some of that stuff. If there's anything that's rare but still commercially available, I'd sure like to know about it. I guess the hen's tooth in my collection is T.T.T. Up over and out.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Tina Brooks. Maybe because it was only released on LP and has subsequently been issued in its entirely on individual CD's, you tend to forget what a revelation it was when Mosaic first made it available. For that reason, I'm going with that as my #1. The "blown away by" factor for this one was off the charts. Second and third would have to go to compilations, the HRS and the Capital Jazz boxes in no particular order. That's simply a function of diversity. The idea of being able to throw on a handful of discs from either set and be able to listen to so many different musicians just seems to be my cup of tea. I know I can only choose three, but I'd feel guilty if I didn't at least bring up the Jackie McLean. Up over and out.

Boy where to start? Dean Martin Sammy Davis Jr. Ocean's 11 (The original) Everything But The Girl Deadliest Catch Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters, Paranormal States Iron Butterfly Spin & Marty Dragnet Post Breezin' George Benson And many, many more. Up over and out.

With regard to Blame It On My Youth, Sammy Davis Jr. does a great version of this on the album he did with Marty Paich called The Wham of Sam. As to Nat King Cole, some of my "obscure gem" favorites are I Realize Now, I'm Through With Love and Beautiful Moons Ago. Up over and out.

Nuts. I thought when I saw this post, that Mosaic was going to re-issue Handy's four Roulette recordings, In the Ver-nac'ular, No Coast Jazz, Jazz and Quote, Unquote. I had suggested this to them a number of years back and I was sure my prayers had been answered. Now that they're putting out the Columbia stuff, it's highly unlikely that the Roulette material will ever see the light of day. So it goes. Up over and out.

Geez, it seems like not a day goes by of late without someone who was important to the music passing away. Maybe this time around, the big guy upstairs will give Freddie a pass. Up over and out.

If I ever got close enough to a set like this, they wouldn't need chloroform to make me pass out. Up over and out.

Blu-Ray is the creme de la creme of DVD reproduction, at least for the time being. I just bought a Sony Playstation because of its reputation as the best Blu-Ray player available. With regard to my original question, maybe the answer is buy one in B&W and see for yourself. Up over and out.

Fred, Not to worry about your English. You're communicating just fine. Besides. many of us on this board are used to deciphering messages we have some difficulty understanding. Usually, they're from Conrad (Berigan). Jump in whenever you like. Lots of knowledge on this board as I'm sure you're aware. Up over and out.

I noticed that both the Monk Black Lion/Vogue (112) and Bechet Blue Note (110) Mosaics were up on eBay over the weekend. As you might expect, they went for big bucks. $202.50 for the Monk and $222.50 for the Bechet. Considering the former is just a 3 CD set and the latter, 4 CD's, that's a lot of money. I would tend to agree with Lon that the older the set, the rarer and more expensive it tends to be. For sure the number in the original issue has some influence as well. To my knowledge, with the exception of the Benedetti, the lowest issue number was 5,000 and the highest, 10,000. If your goal is to collect every Mosaic, you're looking at a long, hard and spendy ride. I've toyed with the idea of trying to get all of them, but I discarded it as unrealistic sometime ago. For me, the problem outside of the cost is that some of the ones I don't have are in a style I wouldn't listen to much. That would mean I'd just have the set for the sake of having the set. I try to avoid that. As far as the rarest of the rare, the one I see least often is probably the Quebec/Hardee (107). Up over and out.

I noticed that a couple of my all time favorite movies, Casablanca and The Day The Earth Stood Still, will be released in Blu-Ray this week. Does anyone understand how a black and white movie is enhanced by this technology? Up over and out.

Did a little Google work on this. Although I couldn't find out exactly who was on the video, I can tell you that Pete Drake's original band which he formed in the late '50's and called The Sons of the South, included Jerry Reed, Doug Kershaw, Roger Miller and Joe South. Also, Drake got around. During his career, he worked with all kinds of musicians from Dylan on Nashville Skyline to Harrison on All Things Must Pass and many, many others. Up over and out.

Me too. A little better than I expected. Some dynamite charts and an unbelievable collection of musicians. The booklet in my set was numbered 1,517 of 7,500. Up over and out.

When my brother and I coached bantam (14-16) ice hockey, we made it a point to meet with the parents before each season. We asked one simple question. Do you want to play to win or do you want everyone to have equal ice time. The answer was always "play to win", so that's what we did. However, when that meant their kid sat more than he played (parents being the least objective talent evaluators on the planet) it was inevitable that someone would start bitching about playing time. A couple of other related thoughts. The best possible thing that could ever happen to enhance the value of sports for kids would be to remove the parents from the equation entirely. Since that isn't likely to happen, the next best thing would be to not allow fathers to coach their own kids. What a train wreck that is. Up over and out.

This could just as easily have been an epitaph for Janis Joplin. As to Amy Winehouse, I've become a fan. I'm currently packing everything she's done on my iPod. No excuses, I just dig what she's doing. Up over and out.

Not exactly the same as getting flattened by Ray Lewis. If one of these guys wound up and fired a knight off the other guy's forehead as hard as he could, it probably wouldn't leave a red mark. Up over and out.

A bit off topic perhaps, but what bothers me a fair amount in youth sports these days is making sure everyone gets a trophy, like there are no losers, you're a winner just for competing. Talk about life lessons. Seems to me you're doing kids a disservice when you pretend that there isn't any difference between winning and losing. They're going to find that out for themselves soon enough, so why perpetrate this charade just because they're kids. IMO. Up over and out.