John Tapscott

Very well stated. I totally agree. Here's one that will drive Larry 'round the bend.

Here's a nice one:

Bob Summers Quintet - Inside Out (Discovery)

Sonny Berman - Beautiful Jewish Music (Onyx)

Yeah, it's good, very good, but not THAT good. Little bit of hyperbole there.

Yes, I've had it since Saturday. Bought it at a bricks and mortar jazz and classical CD shop in Toronto. They were actually playing it over the store sound system when I went in. I like it a lot. It's good, very good, actually.

The infamous 'hat' allegedly responsible for the decline in Phil's playing. Or perhaps it was this one:

Live at the Showboat was indeed a 2 LP set. Curious what people think: is this an example of "prime" Woods, or do folks have issues with it? "Prime" Woods, for sure. But not just for Phil, the band was tight and swinging, the tunes and arrangements were generally top-notch, too. Unfortunately the CD reissue left off some of the best tunes, "Little Niles" for example. Speaking on behalf of fellow "Phil-o-philes" I would say that we definitely consider it one of his very best.

Maybe we need a Phil Woods "corner," (then again, maybe not!)

Happy Birthday, Kevin!! 50 is not bad at all (speaking from experience.) Enjoy!

Yes, that's a lovely tune and one of my favorite Joe Williams performances. I am familiar with it from this CD:

I own both these Arbors dates and enjoy them a lot (especially the first one). Joe Cohn is a swinging and tasteful player. (In this case, the acorn didn't fall far from the tree).

We can tell! But I appreciate anyone's enthusiasm for great jazz. Out of reach for me now, but maybe someday...look forward to your review.

You can always tell an American from a Canadian by the way they pronouce the city name "Toronto". American - "Tor-on-TO" Canadian - "T-raw-na" In this case, the Americans are right!

Don't know about this one, but I've never really warmed up to Mintzer's composing/arranging. I have 4 of his CD's, I think. But as they say, your mileage may vary.

When I was around 16 and a high school trombonist, I began exploring jazz by listening to quite a bit of jazz on the radio (thanks to Ted O'Reilly). I enjoyed most of it but I recall three specific sounds that stopped me dead in my tracks - the trombone section of the Stan Kenton Orchestra, JJ Johnson's trombone solos, and McCoy Tyner's piano playing on the Enlightenment LP.

I quite like Gnu High .

Guys like Teekens are just taking advantage of young up and coming American musicians in order to further his own cause. I find this to be a strange statement in need of further explanation. So in your ideal world, all these young American musicians who record for Criss Cross (and the veterans, too) would be recording for ECM where they would not be taken advantage of for some producer's personal "cause?" I don't know anything about Teekens but it seems to me that he must allow the musicians quite a bit of freedom; after all there is a fairly high percentage of original material on many Criss Cross recordings. Did you ever consider that these musicians record for Criss Cross because they actually want to - that this really is their sound and their music and that they are well served by recording for this label? You make it sound as if recording for Criss Cross is some kind of slavery. I'm sure they ccould say "no". I'll bet they even get paid. Let's take two musicians who record for Criss Cross - a veteran like Ralph Lalama and a relative newcomer like Adam Rogers. I'm not putting down ECM, just wondering how they would necessarily be better served by recording for ECM rather than Criss Cross or how their music would be different if they did?

Perhaps not as many of us as you might think. I can't speak for all these labels, but I know that for at least two of them, sales are hardly at a rip-roaring pace, rather anemic, in fact. I'll bet the average ECM release sells at least as many copies as releases from any of these labels. Granted that ECM has strong marketing and distribution.

Hey, that's me...and you forgot Reservoir! I'll admit I don't go out of my way to buy ECM dates, but I do have and enjoy most of the Jarrett trio dates. Plus there are some others I have and enjoy. Kenny Wheeler's Gnu High is a long-time favorite, plus Steve Kuhn's Mostly Coltrane is a fine date. Jarrett's Survivor's Suite also, plus some others I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Great book. Parts of it read like an exciting spy novel, except of course, this was for real.

I have Buddy's Maybeck recital as well as the Sharp Nine date Noj mentions. I recommend both of them.