John Tapscott

Sad news, indeed. R.I.P Jack. Yesterday and Today is a really fine CD.

Pianist Jessica Williams, rather overlooked in my view (I now see that RDK mentioned her near the beginning) . I also like vocalist Roberta Gambarini.

I certainly enjoy his playing, and every album of his that I have. though I probably gravitate more to guitar players whose style is slightly more modern, like Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Raney, Kenny Burrell, and Jim Hall. But Alden is definitely a fine player. One of his CD's I highly recommend is a two guitar quartet album he made with Jimmy Bruno on Concord. The name of it escapes me at the moment but the guitarists are well separated on left and right channels and make a compatible but somewhat contrasting combination.

Yes, the Shorter/Morgan for me, too. It went to Last Chance at the same time as the Chambers/Kelly set. I figured I could only buy one so I opted for the latter set. I enjoy that set, but I should have bought both. Sometimes you overthink these things and cheat yourself.

I like Reeds and Deeds by Grant Stewart and Eric Alexander; Manhattan Afternoon by Cedar Walton

I have it, but it's been a long time since I listened to it. Will have to give it a listen. I recall that it is very good, though.

Samples are sometimes misleading IMO. I have it and have always liked it. It's beyond OK; it's very good, I would say.

Glad to hear he got over it ... you happen to know who the dismissed pianist having trouble to read Pepper's new tunes was? Yes, I was wondering that, too. I have to think there was more involved. Are Art's tunes all that much more difficult than most jazz comps? As usual, Laurie's notes go into great detail (almost more than we need to know) about Art's problems and the convoluted/difficult background to the session. Interesting to hear Art tell the audience that the previous bassist had to "fly home because his mother was very, very ill."

I second all of that. Yep. All true for me as well, except that I received it yesterday and have only listened to discs 1 & 2 thus far. I am very, very happy with this purchase.

Sad news! A great musician who kept developing and making fine recordings right to the end. Bud's recent recordings (including a DVD) on the Jazzed Media label are especially good. I also have his Mosaic set which I very much enjoy (especially the tenor session). But I also enjoy his alto playing - one of my favorites, for sure.

I guess the "social" aspect was important to me since I first met several long-time friends in the jazz sections of record stores.

What I really miss are those large retail stores which had large, separate jazz sections with knowledgable managers and or staff. You could go into those sections and spend an hour or so talking and listening with staff and other customers (since they tended not to be overly busy except on the weekends). So I guess what I miss is that "social" aspect of jazz listening and collecting, those memorable times when the manager called you into a little cubbyhole of a room which said "staff only"" on the door, opened up a drawer and said, "Here's something I know you'll want. I put this aside just for you." And now since everything is available so easily on the ' net, there's no more of that "Look at what I found" surprises to pull out and play for your jazz friends. I think the 'net has taken away some of the excitement and and joy of collecting. I also think spent just as much $$ in those days on recordings as I do in these internet days.

OK. Mine shipped. So I take back the "poor service" to "weird service." Likely to be amended again to "good service" when the thing actually arrives.

Mine keeps saying "in progress". Either ship the thing or cancel the order. Poor service.

But not for me - yet!

Yes, I was going to say that a cut-out is essentially a title that's been deleted from a company's catalogue and won't be repressed. The name either comes from the fact that the title has been "cut-out" of the catalogue or more likely because in the days of the LP, a corner of the LP cover and sleeve was literally cut off to make a little triangle. Sometimes the cut was dangerously close to the actual LP. In the case of the Pepper box it's obviously being "cut-out" of the catalogue and the distributor dumped the sets on retailers for probably a dollar or two each. Quite a write-down, I would say. They other possibility is that they were being stored in a warehouse that suffered fire or water damage. Insurance would have covered them, but the undamaged goods were picked up for cents on the dollar and found their way on to the market. I don't care about the details, thoguh. I just want one!

Yes, I've never ordered from these guys before, and I really do hope it's for real. Haven't heard this particular Pepper music for a long time. I had a couple of the LP's, but never did get any of the CD's, so mostly it's all new stuff for me. But more and more I enjoy late Pepper (I always appreciated it, but now I'm enjoying it more and more), and the back-up group here is nothing short of terrific, so who can turn it down at the price (which, as sidewinder says, is essentially a give-away).

Yes, mine too, and free international shipping to boot. Almost too good to be true. Thanks

Happy Birthday FFA!

Back around '94 or '95 I suggested the Woody Herman Phillips recordings (which we finally got last year - lots of red tape surrounding that one, I'm sure), and the Buddy Rich Big Band Pacific Jazz recordings (which we got as single CD's).

"Lady Luck", by Joe Lovano and Hank Jones from "Kids" (BN) . I love this Thad Jones tune no matter who does it, and Joe and Hank do a great version on this magnificent CD (one of my favorites from the last couple of years)

Just received the new Sackville newsletter in the mail and FWIW here's John Norris' take on Dave Bennett's playing on the Arbors disc ( for me John's opinions are worth a lot!). John writes, "Dave Bennett is into Benny Goodman but much of his playing is overwrought and repetitive." I have not heard Dave Bennett but somehow this comes as no great surprise.

The amateur psychologist in me says that there's something wrong with guys who do stuff like that. Something missing in their childhood perhaps. I can understand a young player sounding like someone else, almost inevitably perhaps (some players never find their own voice), but trying to LOOK like someone else is really weird in my view.

Happy Birthday, Wes! Have a great day and enjoy a Mosaic set or two!

I'm in the same boat. I used to buy it quite often from the late 70's through the early 90's, but it became very expensive in Cdn $ and I couldn't justify the cost anymore, so I stopped. It was available at a specialty magazine shop, and even then, rather sporadically. It certainly had a "mainstream" bent and I always enjoyed the reviews and Steve Voce's column. I have some old back issues I'll have to look up.