Christiern

I think Tom Ridge's Crayola™ chart is about as useless as anything can be.

This is truly the most useless invention I have come across. It is supposed to tellyou when a boiled egg is ready. About the size of the average hen egg, it is to be placed in the water, alongside the eggs. Fine, but when the water is boiling, it is impossible to see the egg timer's gauge. Totally useless! One wonders how they tested it.

Not to mention beard, shoulder-length hair, and perennial cigarette!

Photo taken at the Oct 17 reception held for Toshiko at the Japanese ambassador's residence. That's Ambassador Ando on the right. If I look a little nervous it's because it was my last day before leaving age 71!

I don't know if there is any connection but a friend of mine, the late Bill Gunn wrote a play called The Black Picture Show. It was produced by Joe Papp in New York either in the late 1960s or early 70s, if memory serves me right. The music was by Sam Waymon (Nina Simone's brother).

Sounds like the same kind of deal.

Watched the second one on DVD last night--impressive special effects, somewhat confusing storyline. Also watched the bonus material on the DVD, including Making the Game. It is interesting that they made the video game using the same actors--even more interesting (telling?) is the fact that the game contains scenes that--according to a crew member--will clarify some of the confusion. I think another interviewed crew member was right when he said that it is a story that one could not really relate to someone who hasn't seen the film. I don't mind that..confusing, yes, but the confusion becomes an integral part of the story, I think. The DVD also contains a great "How They Did It," on the freeway chase--having looked far and wide for a freeway that they could take over for an extended period, they concluded that they would be best off building their own--so that's what they did. And clips from that chase show that stunt people were not always needed where one might expect them to be used. The M-TV Movie Awards spoof of the Oracle court yard meeting in the second film is extremely well done and rather funny. Joel Siegel gave Revolutions a bad review, so it might be good.

and...

Bev, it's just a good row away from Kinlochbervie, to which there is public transportation. Ask for old Ian McGregor or his son, Stuart--they're down by the dock and they will give you good value on a boat rental.

Looking through some old papers, I came across a bundle of old business cards that I had accumulated over the years. Some of them are worth keeping, although long since rendered obsolete by the passage of time. Check the pockets of those flares or plus-fours--you might come up with some gems!

Bear in mind that we are an international group. This could be us, heading for that little hut on the Faroe Islands, the First Annual Organissimo Convention and Insult Swap As you can see, it would be a short walk, no matter where we land...

Switch back to the Mac and try Ho 2.0--it's a bit pricey, but it's remarkably virus free. Besides, it will perform multiple tasks and it comes with...well. Extreme Pleasure (the manual, not the hardware add-on).

Years ago, when RCA approached me about producing albums, John Hammond threatened me: "You do one album for RCA and you're through at Columbia!" I wonder if he's now spinning past Canton province?

I just learned that pianist Aaron Bridges, one-time lover of Billy Strayhorn, passed away in Paris on this day. He was 80 years old.

I listened to the CD last night--very impressive sound and interesting music. Had no idea that John Ewing was our own Johnny E!

Giddins should know better, but he frequently makes such perplexing (ignorant?) statements.

That says a lot about you--congratulations!

I had great professional respect for Martin, and we got along very well; I was on his guest list when he threw get-togethers, and we frequently had phone conversations, but he was in many ways an odd person. People told me stories about his bitterness, etc. Here's a personal experience I had with the odd side of Martin: When I ran a NYC radio station, he called me and said that he wanted to sell his TapeSonic tape deck. When I agreed to buy it for the station, he told me that he needed to make deal right away and he wanted cash. I told him that we didn't have enough cash on hand and reminded him that the banks were closed. He said he didn't want a check, but finally agreed to take one when I assured him that the station never bounces checks (I had a very strict and detail-conscious bookkeeper). Martin wanted the check right away, so I agreed to send it via my assistant engineer, who had a car. It was all done in such a hurry that the check went off without my signature. Well, when he saw that, I apologized and said "send Tom back with the check, and I'll sign it." Martin swore that I had done this deliberately and there was nothing I could say to convince him otherwise! I reminded him that I was essentially doing him a favor, but he insisted that I was trying to pull something on him. I gave up, and didn't hear from Martin for a few years, not until my Bessie Smith biography was published and he sent me a very complimentary note after reading it. After that, when he moved to Washington, and the Smithsonian, our relationship returned to normal. Martin new jazz inside out, but his scope became somewhat limited with the advent of the so-called avant garde.

But is there not value in an answer to the unasked question?

Barak, Toshiko's farewell big band concert was excellent. A few days later, I had the pleasure of introducing her at a reception held in her honor in the residence of the Japanese ambassador. There were some 80 people in attendance, including a few names most of us recognize (George Wein, Peter Washington, Helen Merrill, and Ira Gitler) and Toshiko played three stunning solos. She had a problem with her hands a few years back, but modern medical procedures have fully restored her ability to play beautifully (with touches of Tatum and, especially, Powell).

I believe I have them all. They were hard-cover updates designed to make up for the fact that there was no annual publication of the Encyclopedia, and jazz was moving on. In a sense, they were mini EOJs, started with an edition covering 1956. Here's what the 1957 book contains: An intro by John Hammond. Jazz U.S.A. - A summary of events since the last publication, including sub-divisions devoted to: Radio, Books, Television, and The Movies. Jazz Overseas - Update on overseas jazz activities, with Benny Green reporting on England, Daniel Filipacchi on France, Carl-Erik Lindgren on Sweden, and Joachim Berendy on Germany. Jazz and Classical Music - a piece by Bill Russo Jazz and the Other Arts - a report by Martin Williams The Jazzman as Critic: The Best of the Blindfold Test - Subdivisions are: Early Jazz; Reactions to Louis Armstrong; Reactions to Duke Ellington; Foreign Musicians; Eddie Condon's Comments; Reactions to Dave Brubeck; The Great Ones; Battle of the Sexes (Leonard was always a polarizer - CA); Quid Pro Quo; Reactions to Stan Kenton; Across the Fence(reactions to non-jazz); and Miscellany.. Meet the Critics - EOJ-style bios of 29 critics, complete with their addresses. International Polls - The results of nine jazz polls conducted in the U.S., UK, France, Germany, and Holland during 1957 and 58. Biographies Bios of musicians who either were inadvertently left out of the EOJ or "have risen to prominence." There are about 200. Jazz and the Phonograph - A history of recording (with focus on jazz) by Charles Graham. This includes a Chronology of Phonograph Recording from 1877 to 1959. Where to Find Jazz on Stereophonic Tapes - A list of 14 companies that have issued such. New Faces, New Horizons - Broken down by instrument and function (i.e.male/female vocalist) this is merely some poll results that show who's gaining on whom. Here Leonard also includes a piece on Band of the Year: The Newport International Band, and a loosely structured opinion poll of the band's members, whose bios follow. Jazz Organizations, Schools and Record Companies - A listing with addresses. How to Reach the Stars - A listing of the principal booking agencies handling jazz artists and the artists they handle. Bibliography - Broken into the following categories: Recent Criticism and History; Fiction; Criticism, History and Fiction in Recent Paper-backed Reprints; New Periodicals. And that, Dmitry, should give you an idea of what the EOJ Yearbooks were all about, and it was only after entering all that information that I realized my mistake--you were asking about the down beat yearbooks! Sorry, but I'll let this post stand just in case it is of interest to someone. Worn out like an old yearbook, I'll leave it to another member to answer your question.

If Wynton has done any good--and he has--it has mostly been by default. Musically, he has taken jazz to the depths of mediocrity (Big Train, Blood, and the Morton disaster come to mind), with only flashes of noteworthy performances. Of course there will always be people who "discover" jazz through programs like the Burns series, but that, IMO, is lame justification for spending so much money and time on a "documentary" that ignores half of the music's history while pretending to be the music's history. As the series' chief advisors, Wynton and his sidekick, Crouch, played a large role in limiting Burn's vision. Hell will probably freeze over before there is another grant of this magnitude made to jazz, so Burns' work can rightly be regarded as a wasted opportunity. Thus he--and, in a way, Wynton--made jazz a victim. Lazaro, any extended exposure to jazz (or polkas, for that matter) will spark the interest of the occasional middle-aged man or woman from Grand Rapids, Weehauken, or wherever.

So was at least one of the Swedish kings! Old Gustav, I believe.

Dan, I'll have to listen to the damn thing--painful as that will be--but, as I recall it, the interview was rather bland, with no mention of the military. They inserted an Army recruitment spot and the open and close was a chorus singing: Great Moments Can Be Yours... ...in the new Action Army! Of course all that came as a complete surprise when I slipped the disc onto a turntable. Hiding the real intent wasn't obviously intentional.

May this one be a stupendous one!