John Tapscott

Joe Henderson - The Milestone Years

Sterling's hatred for the Japanese seemed to be rooted in some specific incident from the war involving a friend or fellow service-man that I couldn't quite pick up on.

I thought this was great episode. Watched it at 10 PM, then again at 11. Bets sure is a piece of work. Yes, I think Sterling was really hateful against the Honda guys. I laughed at Don's devious plan to get the Honda account and how it worked in spite of Roger. Only Draper could have pulled that off. I fear for Roger. I think something quite nasty is about to befall him. He seems to be getting a little more unhinged with each episode.

Charlie Parker, Art Pepper, Phil Woods & early Lee Konitz

Well, Ellington wasn't the first jazz I heard, but I do remember the first Ellington I heard. It was on the late Phil MacKellar's "All That Jazz" Toronto radio program which aired on Sunday nights (10 PM - 6AM). One night Phil played the opening track from the Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Chinoiserie) and I thought it sounded great. This would have been around 1975. Shortly afterward I bought "The Great Paris Concert" 2 LP set on Atlantic. To this day, it remains my favorite Ellington record.

Checking in from a distance. I've always liked George's work. Saw him live once in Toronto. Good stuff. Also the Big George Octet LP is a favorite. The CD Brownie mentions I have here with me on vacation. Just listened to it the other day. George's playing on this CD is as good or better than anything I've ever heard from him; in fact, to be honest, even among this heavyweight band, he may be the "star" of the set.

Right, Charles Ellsworth Russell appeared with Monk in '63, the earlier date is a Miles Davis Sextet appearance. I'm very fond of this official release. It came out at one of the lowest points of my life and still cut through my haze and dazzled me. Yes!! Get this one. IMHO it is a wonderful Monk recording, one of my favorites.

A solid set, worth getting. Not quite the Curtis of old, but very respectable nonethless. On first listen, I marginally prefer the studio tracks to the live tracks, but it's all good stuff.

Good for Frank. Hope it works. I wish him all the best.

I must name 2 1) Lee Morgan playing "I Remember Clifford" from the Art Blakey Live in '58 Jazz Icons DVD 2) Scott Hamilton - "Castle Rock" from Organic Duke (Concord) w Mike LeDonne, Dennis Irwin and Chuck Riggs

A sad story, for sure. He seemed like quite a pro with those smokes. Nut-case parents. Did I catch the end of it right - that he's now in the custody of the child care authorities? But hey, you know how it goes. Smoking this year - next year he'll be drinking booze and having sex. Just a few years ahead of the curve.

Happy B'day Robert, belatedly. Hope you had a good day!

Tommy Flanagan - "Goodbye Mr. Evans" from Nights at the Vanguard (Uptown)

Thanks for the rec. I just ordered it. It's on sale today at http://www.cdconnection.com for those interested. I also ordered the new John Fedchock NY Sextet CD live at the Red Sea Jazz Festival. On a side note, one of my very favorite underrated LP's has always been Curtis' "Fire and Filigree" on the old Beehive label. That label put out some excellent LP's in their short life span.

Yep, I remember those days too (mid 70's - mid' 80's). I worked in the Yonge-Bloor area of Toronto and every 2nd week we got paid. So every 2nd Friday, sometimes by myself and other times with a jazz-loving friend, I would start just a bit north on Yonge Street at the Jazz and Blues Centre (until they moved downtown), then walk south to Sam's and A & A's. It was a great adventure and a real adrenalin rush. The selection between those three stores was really massive. None of the other "attractions" on Yonge Street caught my eye (though they tried hard at times!) I was single-minded in my pursuit of those jazz LP treasures. At the end of the hunt we would sometimes wind up at Bourbon St. or some other club to hear a jazz artist. But either earlier or later I would take the subway home with 10-12 LP's tucked under my arm (some rare; some widely available), and read the liner notes on the way. One thing I remember about those days was that if you saw something you wanted (often a rare import like the Miles Plugged Nickel LP's), you had to buy it THEN, because it would likely never show up again. Today, collecting is not nearly as hard, nor as exciting, IMO. Just enter a recording into Google and you'll find it somewhere. No challenge.

Listening to Disc #3 of the Tyner - what a magnificent set! Next up - Stanley Turrentine

Indeed. I just received an email from Fred thanking me for working with them and saying that they are resending my order including the Basie set on Monday. This will all have a good ending, at least for me and hopefully for Mosaic, as long as they get cooperation from the guy in Belgium....??? My order arrived yesterday, with the Basie added as per agreement. No taxes, no customs, no hassles. A few weeks late, but the addition of the Basie makes it all worthwhile. Very good customer service. I'm glad I could help Mosaic out, too.

Today - alternating between two of my recent purchses - McCoy Tyner and Andrew Hill (solo) Selects.

started today - listening through the Tal Farlow set

"Loverman" from Stan Getz at the Shrine (Verve)

I second those who say the WH Select and Young/Basie. (I presume you are choosing from one of the three and not the Herman Columbia and Shaw together). Nothing against the others (I don't have the Shaw), but what a great variety of great swinging music these 7 discs would give you.

I'm with Peter -- just checked my shelves and found I had a dozen CDs by Allen, and he's on others as sideman. Guess I like him! One that might have been missed by some is a nice one co-led with Joe Temperley "Cocktails For Two" on Sackville. Good rhythm section, too: John Bunch, Greg Cohen and Jake Hanna. I too like Harry Allen's playing. I really enjoy his early 90's recordings on Nagel-Heyer. I have 4 or 5 of them under his own name - one or two others as a sideman. On these live dates he really stretches out and builds up a head of steam. Some very exciting playing. Besides the date with Joe Temperley on Sackville Ted mentions, another excellent Allen outing is on Keith Ingham's Back Room Romp, also on Sackville.

Indeed. I just received an email from Fred thanking me for working with them and saying that they are resending my order including the Basie set on Monday. This will all have a good ending, at least for me and hopefully for Mosaic, as long as they get cooperation from the guy in Belgium....???

I received an email from Fred at Mosaic this afternoon asking me to mail the box back to their new address(at their expense). I did so, and it wasn't any more expensive to mail than I had expected ($27.92 Canadian). They are going to resend my order (wonder if they've heard from the guy in Belgium yet), and for my trouble, asked me to pick out another set to add to my order. So I selected the Basie '50's Verve set. Yes, I know it's a large and expensive set and it's one I've been looking at for a while. And because I picked that set, I told Mosaic not to bother reimbursing me for the postage. I think this is a pretty good deal for me.

In case anyone is interested, I thought I'd give an update on where it stands. I sent an email to Mosaic Tuesday monring, saying I was standing by, awaiting instructions. I received no reply, so called this afternoon. I was told that FedEx delivered the wrong boxes to Mosaic's new location, so everything has been set back a couple of days. Still no working computers or internet connection at Mosaic. No orders or emails have been getting through since at least last Thursday. Perhaps they will be up and running by tomorrow. One hopes.