Christiern

Thank you, Jim. This bland crap is an insult to the artists buried in it.

I recall one release that no arranger should wish to be given credit for. "Back on the Block" was a Quincy Jones abomination that had his name prominently displayed, A terrible mish-mash, it included a who's-who of real talent (Ella, Miles, Sarah, Dizzy, and Ray Charles, among them). I know of no other recording that so wasted fine talent as this crap did. I remember listening several times to find Sarah and others—there was no sign of them. This was a production fatally wounded by Quincy's immense ego.

Pretty much, but you left out one thing: he was a black man with a look that was "acceptable" to whites. Ridiculous, but that's the way things often were, especially when the talent was short of extraordinary.

Sorry that you don't (refuse to?) get it.

It is one thing to make sacrifices for art's sake—i.e. create something for little or nothing, because the end result is the true value. It is quite another thing to sacrifice the sustenance of someone else's career to further your own. What Quincy did—time and again—was to obscure the talents of "colleagues" by pushing them into the shadows and taking the spotlight at their expense. Yes, they were paid for their work, but the immediate financial rewards were insignificant compared to the ancillary ones.

BS

Jim, sometimes when you don't really know what you are talking about, it is best not to talk. Sorry, but, this is not the routine identity theft you describe, and which we already know about.

Or worse: your Blue Note collection!

Thanks, Pete, for the Singing Sumo gesture—I'm glad to hear that his memory is kept alive. Also, thanks for the future date suggestion—that makes a lot of sense.

Sorry Jim, it's not as simple as you seem to think. As an apologist for Quincy Jones, I'm afraid you have flunked.

Hi Pete, good to see you over here. Unfortunately, Google's Blogger does not have an option for storing posts. There are some entries that one wants to get out of the way, but might wish to restore at another time (Holiday stuff, for example), so I have been changing the post date to 2008 or 2009, just to park the damn things. If anyone knows a better way, please tell me. The Googleistas really ought to have foreseen this.

Quincy Jones has a history of taking credit for the work of others, going back to his "Free and Easy" European tour where Melba Liston's charts became his (she told me about this). He committed major "theft" while in charge at Mercury. I touched on that in an early blog entry,

Sherman Fairchild owned a fantastic town house on Manhattan's east Side. It was like something out of a James Bond movie (even had the babes) and the basement converted into a modern recording studio at the push of a button—very hi-tech for the day. There were two interlocking grands (Fairchild was particularly fond of piano music) and said button pulled aside a painting or two on one of the walls, revealing a control room. Hank made many great piano recordings in that studio, which otherwise looked like a luxurious lounge. Fairchild was perhaps best known for his bombsight, which has been credited with helping to win WWII. I used to have a transcription turntable with a Fairchild arm (wish I had it now for my 16" discs)

I should have dubbed it "rumor of the week", but I did a bit of research and discovered an ad indicating that he actually played there!

"Ellington is known to have performed at the Cotton Club." It's from a Washington Postweb article.

They mention Vasa in the clip. That's the Swedish warship that sank in 1628 and was miraculously intact when salvaged in 1961. It is housed in a Stockholm museum of its own and a visit there is among my most memorable experiences. I don't generally use the term, but this museum piece is truly awesome. Don't visit Stockholm without going there.

I must be blessed!

Little Babby Cole—whose English needs work—lives in the UK, but her e-mail address is Japanese. Daddy died in a car crash (of course), stepmother is a slut, and she wants to move in with an octogenarian! I'm Barbara Cole, I'm 15 years old girl I live in Bolton UK before my Dad passed away in a car accident 3 years ago, I now live with my step mother in Warrington, My mother died immediately she gave birth to me. My late Dad Mr.Norman Cole was a big business man in UK before he died in a car accident 2007 I am the only child of my Dad, he died 3 days after the accident, He Will all his life savings to me, I have been trying to collect the funds from the bank but the bank MD CEO refused, he said I should present someone old enough so he can transfer the funds to the person that I can’t be in control of the huge amount of funds because I am still a teenage and it is against the UK law. I would have told my step mother to assist me in collecting the funds from the bank but she is not a good woman, my Dad warned me about her before he died, now that I live with her I now understand that what my Dad said about her was true, because she don’t give me attention she don’t care if I am alright or not, all she do is to take hard drugs and bring different men to the house. I don’t want to have anything to do with her. If I get her involved in this she will use all the funds to take hard drugs. All I wish for right now is someone old enough and honest to help me collect my funds from the bank as I am still a teenage and it is against the UK law. Why I can't wait until i am 18 years is because what my step mum is doing to me is not fair and i don't want her to Influence me with her bad life style i just wan't to live so i can live a better life. I know we don’t know each other but please I need your help if you can assist me to collect the funds from the bank I will give you 50% out of the funds, Then you will help me invest my 50% until I am 18 and I will be staying with you or you will get somewhere for me to stay until I am 18 years old. If you agree to help me, I will send you a copy of the Will and my picture so you will know me, and I will send you the contact of the Bank and tell you how much is the funds so you can contact them, and I will inform the bank that you will contact them that you are the person that want to help me. I will be waiting for your urgent reply so I can send you the contact of the bank and my father’s Will and death certificate. Please this letter has to be confidential,and I need your 100% trust and loyalty because the lawyer I got involved wanted to made away with the money, so I told the bank not to transfer the funds to him, I already promised to give you half of the funds so please be honest with me. If you are interested please reply me on my email: bcole014@yahoo.co.jp Best Regards Barbara Cole

"I used to have a few of tose Vogues, and somewhere around my apartment I have a Columbia Bessie Smith picture disc that they pressed for me." Found it!

No -- first on this cd in 1988: http://allmusic.com/album/sharp-edge-r159961 I know. Sadly for me, I did know. But I think that first one may have been rather more on the licensed side than the one that is now on sale... Yes

I just posted a selection from my 1961 Howard McGhee session. I really like George Coleman's work here. I will be posting more from this session, because the album is not easy to find.

In close to 70 years of drinking coffee and trying more machines than I can recall, no cup of coffee has proved as satisfying as the ones drip-brewed with this simple, tried and true coffee pot—which we used to refer to as Madame Blue. "She" was like one of the family, but she craved the right beans, as any self-respecting madam would. Victor knows what I'm talking about.

This is deplorable, Joel, but not at all surprising. The NYPD is fast becoming a military organization (tanks, armored trucks, helicopters, etc.), an alarming trend that is nationwide. More and more they are there to protect and serve the 1%. One more reason why the Occupy movement is so important. It's good that you are fighting this—good luck with that.

Perhaps the group can get gigs through the Facebooking agency? If y'all face it, the Lowe and Beholds will—almost overnight—accumulate more friends than there are notes in 100 Bird solos.

If you were listening to Phil Schaap, you undoubtedly also learned a lot of revisionist jazz history. Hope you keep a bowl of salt by the radio.