Dave James

Based on some recommendations from other board members, I downloaded a couple of sides from emusic last night that have really got me wound up. This first appeared on the "Out" OJC thread. It's "Jazz for Moderns" by Duane Tatro. Some pretty interesting music going on there. It really reminded me of someone else, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then is popped into my head that it there was a lot of the Mulligan CJB going on with this one. Does anyone else hear it that same way? The second album is Don Sleet's "For Members Only". Boy, that's a rock solid piece of work. Mightily swinging stuff afoot with this guy. Every cut is a treat. What happens to guys like SLeet and Tatro? One recording and it's see you later and thanks for the memories. Go figure. Up over and out.

William Hung is a walking, talking and, dare I say it, singing violation of The Peter Principle. That's the theory that you rise to your level of incompetence. Hung is well beyond any level of competence I can even imagine. Still, you have to give him credit for making the best of bad situation. Most of us will never experience even one minute of fame, much less our theoretical allottment of 15. He's had months and we're still counting. I do have to admit cracking a smile, though, when I first heard he'd put out a Christmas album called "Hung for the Holidays." You gotta admit, that's pretty good. I almost hate to cop to this, but over the holidays, I was desperately searching for the elusive William Hung bobblehead. Never found one. Hope that doesn't buy me a visit from the dreaded Masterhit. Up over and out.

Mariah Carey's legacy will be bent note and the accompanying hand signals. It spawned an entire generation of women who think that's the way you sing. Spare me. Up over and out.

I'm with a lot of others in that I just watch the auditions. Once they winnow it down to the people who have talent, it's no longer interesting. Maybe that's perverse in some sort of way, but I also guess I don't care. I agree that there seems to be some who are just looking to be the next William Hung (fortunately, there will only ever be one of him) like the guy who sang "Eye of the Tiger" last night. Of course, the show isn't anything other than totally supportive of showing the worst of the worst. They definitely know what puts the butter on their bread. I do think A.I. is beginning to show some cracks around the edges. Even though there's never a shortage of truly bad singers, even that's starting to get old. And, that faux confrontational stuff between Paula and Simon is really annoying. It's not unlike what American Chopper has morphed into what with the very deliberative adversarial relationship between Paul Sr. and Paul Jr. I also don't like the guest judge concept. That adds no spice to the national knockwurst. I continue to be amazed by how highly people think of themselves and their talent. Thousands of people show up for these auditions and you have to think most of them really believe they have what it takes. Once they get the boot, they still don't think they're bad. How many times have you heard one of the contestants say, "all my friends tell me I'm great." Well, as we know, no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public and that's what you're seeing here. Either their friends can't tell talent from a titmouse or they're part of the great unwashed, musically illiterate masses who couldn't pick up a beat if you clapped in time for them. One thing I'd like to know is exactly what drug that black guy was on last night. What a piece of work. Up over and out.

I like this guy a lot. A genuine swinger. That Sinatra album - I think it's Live in Australia, with Red's band is a good one. Don't forget to catch him in the original Ocean's 11, backing up Dean Martin on "Ain't That a Kick in the Head." Good stuff, Maynard. Up over and out.

Palu Congo by Sabu Martinez is kind of a waste of time. I worked real hard to find this one cuz it was part of the 1500 Series, but when I finally tracked it down and listened to it, I had to wonder what I was thinking. I still have it but I think I've only heard it that one time. Lots of pointless pounding, whooping and hollering in an attempt to pungle up something akin to excitement, but with no discernable end in mind. Speaking of drum intensive albums, I'm not much of a fan of Blakey's Orgy in Rhythm Vols. 1 & 2 either. Way too much of an otherwise good thing, at least IMO. Ditto on the two Byrd w/ voices albums. Never quite got the point of those. There were more than a few Sidewinder-esque "funk" BN's in the '70's that I could live real well without. Can't think of any specific titles right now, but I sure know 'em when I hear 'em. Up over and out.

Other than the George Gobel "brown shoes" comment, one of my favorite moments occured when Johnny and Madeline Kahn were discussing phobias. After sharing several of their own with eachother, Ms. Kahn says, with a completely straight face, "what I'm really most afraid of is balls coming towards my face." You can only imagine what Carson did with that one. Up over and out.

E-bay is at once the best and worst thing that ever happened to Mosaics. While it's enabled me to obtain a fair number of OOP boxes, the prices have gone through the roof. I remember finding the Benny Goodman Mosaic (box, book and CD's all in perfect condition) at a little shop here in Portland called Birdland. Got it for $40. I can assure you that will never happen again. Up over and out.

Do those rejected takes still exist? Would sure be interesting to hear them and try to get some sense as to why they were rejected. I know one of the cuts on the Lost Sessions CD, the one with Dex and Sonny Stitt, originally got bounced because they were both so drunk they could hardly play. Up over and out.

I've had this set for a number of years. Highly recommended, especially if, as was the case with me, you don't have a whole lot of Lester in your collection. Only caveat, listening to the last couple of sessions is really quite sad. It's still Young, but for all intents and purposes, his intonation is gone. Up over and out.

Kevin, If you do run into a used copy of the Grolnick, let me know. I'd love to get my hands on a copy. Up over and out.

I was down in Eugene, Oregon a number of years ago at a small jazz record store called The Cat's Meow. For some reason that's now lost to antiquity, I got into a conversation with one of the owners about Serge Chaloff. He told me that an outfit called Mosaic Records was going to be releasing a box set of his recordings. I had never heard of Mosaic, but he told me how to get ahold of them. I ordered the Chaloff box and the rest, as they say, is history. Up over and out.

How about Don Grolnick? I still remember having that BN two-fer in my hands at Tower Records and decidiing that $24.99 was more ransom than reasonable. Bad dog. I believe this was a compilation of Grolnick's two BN releases, "Weaver of Dreams" and "Nighttown", the former, a piano trio and the latter, a larger group featuring Joe Lovano, Dave Holland and Randy Brecker. Seems to me this is what the Connoisseur Series is all about. Up over and out.

One of the comments I came across this morning (I think it was from Jay Leno) referred to Johnny as the "gold standard". That really sums it up. A true one off. Fabulous timing, quickness and a sense of comedic possibilities that was second to none. The famous Ed Ames tomahawk incident is a good example. If you watch this clip closely, as soon as Ames realizes where his tomahawk has landed, he starts to make a bee line for the cowboy outline so he can remove it. Johnny grabs his arm and almost forcibly spins him around to keep him from doing so, thereby opening up the possibilies for what eventually ensued and making this as famous a bit as exists in the entire history of television. So long Johnny... Up over and out.

Here's one I don't think has been mentioned. Taft Jordan's Mood Indigo. This was originally released on the Prestige Moodsville label, but has been augmented by the addition of a half a dozen songs from The Swingville All-Stars. All in all, a Baker's Dozen worth of tracks. The Moodsville entry features Jordan along with Kenny Burrell, Richard Wyands, Joe Benjamin and Charlie Persip. The Swingville segment has Jordan, Al Sears on tenor, Hilton Jefferson on alto, Don Abney on piano and down in the engine room, Wendell Marshall and Gus Johnson. Nothing groundbreaking here, but some awful nice music nonetheless. And the inclusion of the Swingville material keeps this from bogging down like some Moodsvilles have a tendency to do. Jordan is a marvelous player. His open horn has a fat, smoky, burnished tone to it, while muted, he's just plain fine and mellow. Kenny Burrell acquits himself especially well on this one. Worth looking up. Up over and out.

At $36, the price of the catalog is a bit steep, but I'm almost tempted to get one. Lord knows that would be as close as I'd ever get to owning any of this stuff. I'd sure be interested in finding out what rich folks wind up paying for some of these things. Up over and out.

Jimmy Jones Wade Legge Oliver Jones Renee Rosnes Don Pullen Up over and out.

Anyone out there remember The Sons of Champlin? They had some pretty serviceable horn arrangements in some of their stuff. Another of the many Bay Area bands like In Cold Blood, Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks or Pacific Gas & Electric that had some serious chops but still flew under the radar for most of their careers. One quick plug for Chicago, but when they were known Chicago Transit Authority, or CTA. Their first album, the one with I'm A Man and 25 or 6 to 4, flat out smoked. After that, not even worth listening to, at least IMO. Up over and out.

I have to agree with Chuck. In a sports context, this strikes me as an owner endorsing a losing coach or manager with a vote of confidence. Next thing you know the guy's looking for work. Now that Concord has expanded their holdings, it seems even less likely that I'll ever see a reissue of the three Concord Richie Kamuca sessions. So much for my own personal Holy Grail. Bummer. Up over and out.

This is one I'm going to have to get. A lot more going on with this guy than just the music. $45 is a bit steep though. I did a quick search on Amazon and B&N and there's nothing posted on either of those websites. Up over and out.

Kind of surprised there's been no mention of Marshall Royal, Basie sideman par excellance. Brother of trumpeter, Ernie. Led the band for awhile after the Count's demise if I'm not mistaken. I used to have a casette tape of five of his LP's that was was pretty nice. Unfortunately, it was stolen along with a case full of other irreplaceable tapes several years back. I remember it well. With regard to the brief discussion of Jimmy Dorsey. Let me come down firmly on the side of those who recognize his brilliance. I've seen a number of clips of him playing in the '40's and I thought he was about as good an alto player as I've seen. Complete and total mastery of his horn...just like Earl Bostic. Also noted Lon's mention of T.K. Blue. I caught him on Uncut on the BET Jazz channel several months ago and immediately added several of his CD's to my collection. Very much underrated. With regard to Stephano Di Battista, he has a CD on Blue Note coming out this month that's based on the music of Charlie Parker. I've heard several cuts from it on our local jazz station and it sounds like it will be worth picking up. Up over and out.

THE 2005 LOU DONALDSON CALENDAR? Up over and out.

Ed, Somehow I missed this review when you first put it up. I just got curious if you had ever penned your impressions, decided to search the Mosaic thread and, voila, there it was. Nicely turned I must say. Even though I have but a couple of Dinahs in my collection, one of them just happens to be a Roulette. I'm thinking, based on that one CD, if it had been me who had the Mosaic, I would have summed it up in much the same manner as you. Personally, I like this kind of material. I think as long as you're expectations aren't too high and, as you say, you pick the right time to listen to it, it can be very satisfying. Right now, I'm saving my nickels and dimes for the new Columbia Swing Sessions box, but the Washington is definitelly on my "to get" list. Thanks for sharing. Up over and out.

I went out during lunch yesterday and bought a USB 2.0 upgrade. Eagerly anticipating download Nirvanna, I hustled back to my computer room as soon as I got home last night to put this baby to work. According to the instructions, this should be no more complicated than plugging the card into the port. Once you do that, the computer is supposed to take over and install it. Well, to make a long story short, I can't get this to work. The laptop I have is a 2001 HP Notebook that's running a theoretically compatible program (Windows Home XP), but when I plug in the card, it tells me it cannot locate the software to make the upgrade happen. That makes we wonder if the machine I have is simply too old and too decrepit to ever make this run. Any thoughts or ideas? Oh, one other terrific development. Even though I could not get the upgrade to work, I was still able to download music by plugging into one of the BUS ports, albeit at the same reduced speed I had before. Then, while I as having dinner, something happened and now I can't download anything at all. When I plug the i-Pod in, nothing happens. It's like the computer doesn't recognize it's even there. If anyone has any ideas on either of these two problems, please let me know. I'm about to go around the bend. Up over and out.

I discovered this morning that you can play the Pod and charge it simultaneously. At work I'm run mine through a Bose Wave radio, and charge it at the same time. This is probably not news to gen-u-ine Pod people, but it was to me. Same thing if you have one of those Altec Lansing mini-speaker systems. It charges and plays at the same time. Thanks for all the good information guys. Hopefully, I'll be ugraded before the end of the week. Up over and out.