Dave James

The best single note guitarist I know is Grant Green. His entire output for Blue Note is readily available from multiple sources. Welcome aboard. This is a great place to be if you are looking to learn more about jazz in general or the jazz you're enjoying right now. The beauty of this music, and you'll find this out if you stay with it, is that one thing leads to another. It's like a set of musical Legos.

Yeah, that's a very good commentary. He also provided a nice commentary to one of the editions of "Casablanca." Amen to that. I thought the job he turned in on Casablanca was about as good as audio commentary can get. Lots of interesting insights, the sort of fascinating minutia that separates the pros like Ebert from us amateurs.

Not too deep into Bear Family releases. I have some early Chet Atkins and all four Dean Martin boxes. They do a nice job. A guy could get lost in there. I've made it a point no to.

http://blog.smalldog.com/article/cool-dog-food-ad-shot-1000-fps/

From the Portland Tribune right around the 2004 Presidential election: 75% Of Men Prefer Bush

Sounds like a porn film.

It plowed into a figure skater and that was that. Anyway, the event's a shell of what it once was. So NBC buried their skeleton coverage. That's the skinny on that one. Someone ate their Wheaties this morning.

The BBC aired a four part series last year suggesting that 1959 was the watershed year for jazz. The program argued its point by reviewing four important albums recorded that year; Kind Of Blue, Mingus Ah Um, The Shape Of Jazz To Come and Time Out. Author Fred Kaplan ups the ante considerably in his recent book, 1959, The Year That Changed Everything.

I miss Cheryl Bernard.

I've been an inveterate hunter gatherer for as long as I can remember. First it was 45's followed closely by LP's, then CD's and now, digital media. The days I recollect most fondly though, were those spent with vinyl. Bev is right about nostalgia. As someone once said, "the past is like a foreign country; they do things differently there." Still, there was something about holding that shrinkwrapped cardboard sleeve in your hands that was very satisfying. Much more so than a CD, even in the long box era. Because you didn't have much money, deciding what to buy and what to leave for the next time were both parts of the process. This was back when almost every LP you bought was a borderline crapshoot. No samples online, you were just going on the basis of one tune you might have heard or the song line-up or the members of the band or just word of mouth. When you "won" it was great. When you "lost" it was $2.98 down the drain. I think that was part of the fun, although it might not have seemed so at the time. What goes around comes around. I find myself slowly getting back into vinyl. The cracks and pops and the occasional warped record or the need to get up and turn the record over every 20 minutes or so don't seem to be the kind of impediments they used to be. Is this nostalgia? Maybe so. It sure isn't very practical or convenient. I look at it as the musical equivalent of comfort food.

I know Lyle Murphy's name has come up before in these parts, but I was listening to Gone With The Woodwinds yesterday, and I decided he was worthy of his own spot. If you've heard him before, then you know what I mean. If you haven't, you should give him a listen. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. In terms of deep background, here's a link to a column Marc Myers posted a few months go on his JazzWax blog: http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/12/lyle-murphy-west-coast-tonal.html As far as I know, Murphy only recorded twice under his own name. The aforementioned Gone With The Woodwinds and New Orbits In Sound. Joe Bob says check 'em out.

Four hours to Wampner. I'm wound up tighter than a 10 day clock.

Concord is attempting to answer the age old question, how many angels can you stack on the head of a pin? I don't blame them for trying to figure out ways to maximize their Fantasy (in more ways than one) investment, but there are limits to what a small and focused fan base can accommodate. What's interesting to me is that what they're doing isn't any different than what their counterparts are doing in the Japanese marketplace. If you don't believe me, just check out the next upcoming release list from Early Records. What I don't understand is the vitriol that's directed at Concord. No other label takes anywhere near that kind of abuse.

Dude, the end has come and gone! I'm confused. Does this mean we're back at the beginning?

Would love to see pictures of that original 61 Macintosh system. Nice. While I was going through some papers tonight, I came across my parent's receipt for the sound system described above. Turns out they purchased it in 1967, not 1961. Here's the cost of the individual components: McIntosh MC250 amplifier: $379 McIntosh C24 Pre-amplifier: $249 McIntosh MR67 Tuner: $299 JBL C36 15" extended range loudspeakers (030 package): $297 each Dual 1019 Turntable/Changer: $130 Total system cost: $1,651

Meets The Rhythm Section is one of my all-time favorite albums. Hearing this in 24 would be nice.

I'm not after this set, but if my understanding is correct, Sonny Clark was Washington's pianist in or around 1956. Any evidence of him on these Mercury sides?

The last minute or so of Canada Slovakia was nuts. So many good chances. How Demitra missed that shot I'll never know. I'd already chalked it up. He's been so rock solid throughout the tournament, you just figured there's no way he could miss. That's hockey. The gold medal game is going to come down to goaltending. If I was Canada, that would concern me. Luongo hasn't been the kind of shut down goalie they hoped they might be getting when he replaced Brodeur, but for the U.S., Ryan Miller has been lights out. My prediction? U.S.A., 4-2. One other thought. Is there a better national anthem than O, Canada?

Kris Williams is a stone fox. The Ghost Hunters camera crew appear to be well aware of her assets. Here's a brief clip of her discussing "crotch shots": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiwVzmxLEGk Also, she has been in several movies. Here's the trailer from one called Diabolical Tales Part II that makes Plan 9 From Outer Space look like an Oscar contender. http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi2979398425/

The new Hadley Caliman is nice. I DL'ed it last weekend. David S. Ware - "The Freedom Suite" It's 4 tracks, so you'll have one to look forward to when your account refreshes. This is what pisses me off about the new e-music. It used to be that an album with four songs would take four credits. Now, the four tunes from Ware's album cost you 12 credits. That's total B.S.

You guys are money. The Korean gal took the gold.

Marc Myers who blogs about the music at Jazzwax.com did a 19-part series about Creed Taylor in early 2009. It covers his entire career and is quite comprehensive. He also did a two part series around the same time about the gentleman who photographed many of the CTI covers. His name is Pete Turner. Here are the links: http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/04/pete-turner-cti.html http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/04/pete-turner-c-1.html

A U.S. Canada gold medal final would be as good as it gets. My fingers are crossed. I'm not sure I'd have a dog in that fight, as I'm a fan of both squads, but the intensity level, the media build-up, and the fact that Canadian national pride is on the line, would make this an awesome match-up.

With all due respect to the Canadian men's hockey team, I don't think you can discuss what happened tonight in the context of the history that exists between these two teams. The Russian club used to be made up the very best players from all over the Soviet Union whereas now, it's divided into four different teams; one from Belarus, Slovakia, Latvia and what's known as the Russian Federation, the Alexander Ovechkin led team that Canada beat tonight. This would be like Canada having one team from Quebec, one from Ottawa, one from Manitoba etc. etc. Now if you could wave a magic wand and create an all-star team from the remnants of the old Soviet Union and Canada beat them like they did tonight, then it might rise to the level of some of the near mythical confrontations involving these two hockey teams.

Reminded me of old time hockey. The lost art of the well-timed hip check, preferably of the open ice variety. Takes me back to halcyon days of Doug Harvey, Leo Boivin and Tim Horton. What those guys did was almost a science. Not the kind of find 'em with their heads down and tee off thuggery of a Scott Stevens.