Christiern

The relationship became a nasty mess and I think some kind of settlement was finally reached, but the personal differences remained beyond fixing.

When I heard it on BBC World, they played the blurry original and did a seamless segue to a modern recording of Au Claire de la Lune, leaving it to the listener to figure out that it wasn't the same recording in an enhanced form. Would loved to hear the BBC presentation you describe.

Thank you. I hope the "Mr. is a joke.

...and that's when you forgot that this is 2008.

It is essentially to promote a new CD, "Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson," which I have mixed feelings about, so far, but I hope they also include some real Lonnie. Here's more on the program.

Your criticism of the design could be applied to any number of Verve sets, They thought they were being cute when the placed photos over text of the same density, for example. In case of the Evans box, the rust never bothered me much, although I find it somewhat offensive, esthetically. What really bothers me about that release is the excessive inclusion of alternate takes, which not only would have greatly disturbed Bill, bit also made no sense, there being very little difference between takes, in most cases. The "complete" gimmick is often just that, an excuse to cram releases with every scrap and thus increase the number of CDs and, of course, the price. The most ludicrous case of such idiocy appeared on Mosaic's Benedetti release, where a tin-eared jerk (whose name we all know) threw in literally every scrap, including "tracks" that lasted less than 10 seconds and were identified as "possibly Lover Man."

No, but this might be a clue...

I thought this was about the dog walker.

FEMA employee Robe Carou holds up rare recording of jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden. Recently found in a 9th Ward house wreck, among turn of the century barbershop paraphernalia, it was at first believed to be part of a shoeshine kit. "He plays two notes, and they are fuzzy, but Wynton Marsalis has made a positive identification," the jazz historian Dan Morgenstern said, adding that a speck of gumbo from the same piece is currently under examination by Mr. Marsalis, a gumbo authority.

Oh, I heard the one on the left--didn't care much for it.

The spray worked in the old days, but I have had good results with compressed air.

Conference of the Birds is more than nice, IMO. I also have high praise for the duets. I haven't listened to the duets in many years, but here's what I wrote about that album in a 1976 issue of Stereo Review: SAM RIVERS/DAVE HOLLAND. Sam Rivers (soprano and tenor saxophones); Dave Holland (bass). Waterfall; Cascade. IMPROVISING ARTlSTS 373843 $6.98 (from Improvising Artists, Inc., 26 Jane Street, New York, N.Y. 10014). Performance: Masterly Recording: Excellent At this writing, the Improvising Artists, Inc. label, operated by pianist Paul Bley, has but four albums in its catalog, but the degree of excellence exhibited so far bodes well for the future of this musician-owned label. IAI’s latest addition consists of two extended free-form duets performed by saxophonist Sam Rivers and bassist Dave Holland, who enjoy high reputations in that relatively small circle of connoisseurs that embraces the so-called “new music.” Holland played with Miles Davis from the Filles de Kilimanjaro period until well beyond Bitches Brew, he has recorded extensively with leaders ranging from John Simon and Carlos Santana to Joe Henderson and Anthony Braxton, he participated in the celebrated Circle Paris concert, and he has led groups on ECM recordings. Sam Rivers, who has several recordings as a leader on the Blue Note and Impulse labels, is co-owner (with his wife) of Studio Rivbea, a gathering place for New York musicians and fans who come there to hear such artists as Anthony Braxton, the Human Arts Ensemble, and, of course, Rivers himself. A serious, introspective musician, Sam Rivers does not have the aggressiveness of Archie Shepp, nor is his playing as bizarre as that of the late Albert Ayler. Consequently, though he is often likened to Shepp and Ayler, he is not as well known. I would place him above the two, and I think it is only a matter of time before he gets the recognition his artistry deserves. This album, being on a small label, probably will not get as wide a distribution as Rivers’ previous releases, but it is his best work to date: two masterly pieces of impressionistic playing by two uncompromising musicians. And lest I seem to shortchange Dave Holland, let me note that his importance to the success of these dialogues is equal to Rivers’. My preference is “Waterfall,” which takes up all of side one and on which Rivers plays the soprano, but I wouldn’t exactly kick side two off my turntable.

Be careful what you ask for. ...and don't ask me to elucidate.

Here's a publicity photo and some that I took in Perugia during the Umbria 84 festival:

So it wasn't an outing to the BDVRWF? Thought you might have had a bit too much of their celebrated scrum cake. Good to have you back--now, do the sensible thing and get a Mac! * Basingstoke Daughters of Victoria Rugby Widows Festival?

"Did you see the smoke when the cat farted in Hamburg?" is the closest on-line translation for this I can find.... HELP!?!?!?!?!? Close, Jim, just wrong tense. Did you see the smoke when the cat farted in Hamburg? It is a question frequently asked where I come from. One night, while doing my all-night show on a NYC radio station, I arbitrarily injected that question (in Danish). I didn't think anyone would catch it, but the phone soon rang and it was Torben Ulrich, a well-known Danish tennis pro and clarinetist. We had known each other since my early jazz days in Copenhagen and I had no idea that he was in the U.S. He had, indeed, seen the smoke. BTW, Torben likes to joke that he was the first jazz musician to play Newport--he played tennis there before Elaine Lorillard whispered an idea into George Wein's left ear. Torben's son, Lars, is a founder of Metallica--helps to explain why Lars Ulrich's godfather was Dexter Gordon.

Så du røgen da katten fes i Hamborg?

Så du røgen da katten fes i Hamborg?

Lugoff?

Excellent clarification. I remember how incredibly primitive the sound was on early 78 and 33 1⁄3 issues.

....and then there was Gladys.

And here I thought you ran into a badass sailor!

I had left Riverside when Orpheum came about, but it would not surprise me if Herman Gimbel had something to do with it. Herman worked at Riverside. I am not sure what he did, but it had to do with the mysterious financial aspects of the operation. Herman came from a wealthy family--they were either the largest or the second largest real estate company in Baltimore. His wife's family also owned either the largest or the second largest real estate firm in that city. In other words, they had that sucker sewed up. Bill Grauer kept Riverside afloat, albeit barely. I don't know what else they might have been doing, but they were putting out far too many albums (those were also the days of separate stereo and mono releases) and they did not bother to wait for orders from their distributors--they just shipped the stuff out. As might be expected, much of it was eventually shipped back, but the original papers showed what looked like a very brisk business, so I guess that looked good to banks. When albums were returned, they somehow made their way to bins in Sixth Avenue stores that conducted what really amounted to factory sales. I suppose there were such outlets elsewhere, too, but I only saw the ones here in NYC. Herman was said to have put a lot of money into Riverside and to have taken out a life insurance policy on Bill--just in case. I have no reason to believe that it wasn't so. Naturally, when Bill died, rumor had it that the coffin was filled with rocks and that he was enjoying life in Switzerland. I have no good reason to believe that story. So, there was Orrin, who knew how to handle a stopwatch but not a business. He rented a very expensive computer (no desktop job in those days) into which a lot of sales and other figures were programed. The computer's job was to generate feasible projected sales, in various categories and by artist, so that over-runs could be avoided. RCA had such a computer at that time and Brad McKuen told me that it sort of worked, but routinely rejected the Star Spangled Banner, because it was not a hot item. It was, however an item that RCA wished to keep in its catalog, so it was just as routinely programed back in. Getting back to Riverside, Orrin did not trust the computer, so he tended to ignore or take lightly its projections. That was probably just one factor that led to Riverside going belly up not long after Bill Grauer's departure. The scene eventually shifted to another locale, another company. Herman Gimbel bought Audio-Fidelity Records (hmmmmm) and, next thing we know, Orrin is in that office space with a new label of his own. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but Milestone's roster and reissues definitely had a touch of Riverside. This may have ben where Orpheum Productions came in, but that's mere speculation on my part. BTW, nobody mentions the Battle label, which Riverside either leased or bought from a Detroit guy named Joe Von Battle (he also had the JVB label). It was a Riverside subsidiary that mainly featured gospel, but I always wondered why the kept it so low key, because there were several Battle albums featuring the Rev. Franklin, and one contained Aretha's first issued recordings. There were also good blues recordings, but I don't know if Bill Grauer arranged to acquire the whole lot or just a handful. I do know that Riverside had the Aretha selections, which were made in her father's church. Have I edified, or confused?

You can probably credit Goddard Lieberson and the "tone" he set by his hirings. Yes, Lieberson was to music what Clive Davis isn't, but then there was John Hammond, to whom Goddard owed his job. As you know, Hammond and Duke never got along--the former could not control the latter.