John Tapscott

Thad Jones - Mel Lewis - fabulous stuff - probably my favorite Mosaic set. The sound quailty is amazing.

Pulling SS from my shelf also gave me an excuse to listen to perhaps my favorite Mobley disc (not saying it's the best, mind you, but it's a real good one), namely, "Far Away Lands" from '67 with Byrd, Walton, Carter and Higgins. A touch of soul here and there, a couple of minor keys, but overall this recording is a real uplift. Hank sounds very good and happy on the disc (4 of the comps are his; one by Byrd; another by Jimmy Heath). The rhythm is excellent, esp. Higgins. To be honest, this is not only one of my favorite Mobley recordings, it's one of my favorite hard bop records, period. A bit overlooked perhaps, but definitely deserving of RVG treatment.

Man, this is a great set in every way. I am very glad I got it. I've listened to it through 4 times now, and whenever I need some music to lift my spirits, this is a dandy for the purpose. I just have to comment on the EXCELLENT drumming by Mel Lewis on sessions L & M, as good, if not better, than any drumming on the set.

James Moody - great entertainer, great musician. I'll always remember the one and only time I saw James live. This would have been the late 70's, I think, at Toronto's old Bourbon St. club where visiting soloists played with a Toronto rhythm seciton. Anyway, a jazz-loving friend and I turned up early for the first set one evening (we were both in our early-mid 20's). This friend had Moody's "Feeling It Together" album, and we really dug the version of Anthropology on that LP. So the musicians start gathering on the stand for the first set, doodling around, getting ready. I recall that James was warming up on alto. We were usually pretty shy about speaking to the musicians but James seemed approachable, and we were seated right in front, only a few feet away. We said hello and one of us asked if he could do "Anthropology." "Sure", he says, "no problem, but where did you hear that?" 'On "Feelin' It Together"', we said. I remember his reply, "Oh, you must be the one who bought the album.'" Well, we figured he'd program the tune into the set somewhere or maybe use it as a set closer. Instead, he turned to the rhythm section, called "Anthropology" and kicked off a punishing tempo, before these guys were really warmed up or ready. The drummer, Claude Ranger, was particulary ticked off and it sure took him four or five choruses to really settle in. (Claude liked to smoke as he played and have an open beer at hand, neither of which were possible at that point, and I don't think he said a word to James the rest of the night). James, of course, sailed through it, and after the tune ended, just looked at us and grinned.

Neat. I dig the bass sax guy - he's well recorded too.

Going to have to get me that one. Lonehill, but what the heck!

Mine arrived moments ago, 2 weeks after ordering. #5722. Though I have probably 60% the music on the set in other formats (which is why I had put off buying it for so long), I'm really looking forward to hearing it all again, as well as the stuff that is new to me.

Happy Birthday, FFA!! Enjoy the warmth down where you are!

I am one of the sick individuals who owns them all. I didn't really plan to acquire the whole series, but one day I discovered I had 20 or 25 of them, so made it a goal to get them all, a goal I accomplished about 10 years ago. It's not really a big deal. For the most part they were readily available back then, and there's only 42 volumes, so it's not like I'm one of those really sick individuals who owns ALL the Mosaic sets. I think the Kenny Barron is my favourite; others that rank highly for me are Adam Makowicz, John Hicks, Hank Jones, Andy LaVerne, Roger Kellaway, John Colianni, Monty Alexander, Kenny Drew Jr., to name a few. Biggest disappointment of the series is that Tommy Flanagan wasn't included.

Not bad today though clouding over now and the wind is blowing in an ominous way. 8 in. of snow yesterday; another 8-10 predicted for tomorrow and Saturday. We are nearing the record annual snowfall amount in the Greater Toronto Area, set back in '38-39. May even beat Buffalo this year! And it's been darn cold, too! Not sure how this fits into the climate change model.

I would have to name Slide Hampton as one of the stars of the band too (I dig his "Mark of Jazz"). The band was in good form and the writing is very good. Benny Golson's piece "Starfire" is a beauty as is his "Night Life". The trombone section is excellent (Hampton and Don Sebesky) and it's good to hear altoist Jimmy Ford getting lots of solo space. The overall thing I noticed was the "boppish" nature of the music, which is not surprising given that by 1959 bop was the common language of jazz. But I think this is an important point in assessing Maynard's own playing on this album. Maynard played things on the trumpet and played them in a way that no one else could (or at least couldn't before him). Maynard leading a trumpet section (as he does here on Lonely Time) is a thrilling one of a kind sound. But if there's one area where Maynard was more middle-of-the pack it would have been as a bop soloist - certainly good enough but not really in the class of Clifford or Dizzy or Fats. That's why I think Maynard doesn't come across quite as well here as on some other recordings - the best things to showcase his playing are the showpieces like "Ole" and "Maria" rather than the bebop things, on which he is fine, but not really outstanding. In fact, on a piece like "Three More Foxes" I find the playing of the other trumpet soloists, Jerry Tyree and Don Ellis, as effective, if not more so, than MF's. On "Oleo" Maynard spends too much of his solo wailing around in the high register, and it might have been fine to hear live, but gets a bit wearing on disc, especially given the "hot" nature of the recording. Better and more coherent, I think, is his solo on "Sea Isle Stomp". Both Ferguson and his fellow Canadian Oscar Peterson (both born in Montreal 3 years apart) had their roots in the swing era and I think that both had established their basic styles before they really had much exposure to bop. Bop was something they both "grafted on" to their styles rather than the style that they grew up with. Maybe that's why both struggled a bit to feel at completely at home in bop.

Garth, a belated Happy Birthday!

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=200-MD-CD I, for one, am glad Mosaic is doing this. I believe the reason that the Ellington Reprise set sold out so quickly after going to running low was that customers were buying more than one copy. (Probably one customer bought a whole lot of them, hoping to make a bundle later on e-bay)

I would hope Mosaic has a bit more integrity than that. They're going to sell all they have on their shelves anyway, whether it's this week or next month. Remember how the Ellington Reprise set went from Running Low to Last Chance to gone in about a week. I still kick myself for missing that one. So I'm glad I ordered the Hodges in time, and I'm glad for the warnings. I also wonder whether the Hodges is an end-of-lease sale or a sell-out of 7,500 copies. Probably the former.

Just ordered the Hodges. What the heck. It just cost me $800 on the weekend to get my furnace fixed, so what's another $100 on top of that!!!!

There are many Scott Hamilton CD's I enjoy (Jazz Signatures is one that comes immediately to mind, as do Radio City and Red Door, and the one with Gene Harris.) I can't recall that he's made a poor CD though a couple have seemed a bit indifferent (Live in London). I agree with the point that it would be good to hear him as a soloist in some different settings, perhaps as the main soloist in a mini-big band or at least with two or three other horns. One good Hamilton Cd that comes to mind is "Groovin' High" with Spike Robinson and Ken Pepowski as front-line partners. I do think Scott often sounds inspired by the presence of another horn soloist. I have heard that Scott does not read music, which may account for the lack of these types of recordings and perhaps for the fact that he doesn't write much original material. (OTOH, I sometimes take it with a grain of salt when I read that a certain jazz musician doesn't read music. It was rumored that Art Pepper didn't read music. Yeah right, that's why he was able to play tough charts in bands like Stan Kenton, Shorty Rogers, Don Ellis and Buddy Rich).

Shorty Rogers Volume 1:1946-1953 (JSP) Disc 1 & 2 Today; 3, 4 & 5 over the next couple of days. Prime stuff, always sounds fresh to my ears.

Great choice. I hope some members will take up the opportunity to order this. This has some smokin' big band music for sure. It's ranked as one of Maynard's best by Maynard experts. I have the music as part of the Mosaic set and look forward to giving it another listen. The last time I listened to the Ferguson Mosaic set was right after Maynard died in summer of 2006.

Had the chance to listen to this a couple of times over the past couple of days. I think it's pretty good, at least as good as I had remembered and better than I had expected. The first couple of tunes drag a bit, but once track three hits, the music picks up steam and swings pretty hard. Not "memorable" tunes really, but interesting enough as you listen to them. Some pretty neat voicings, especially with Wycliffe Gordon adding the plunger sounds. The soloists, notably Wes Anderson on alto and Herb Harris on tenor are very effective. Roberts plays some nice block chord solos and "E. Dankworth" (Wynton) sounds pretty happy as he swings through the closing track. Well worth your listening time, I would say. 3.5 stars (at least).

I have it - thought it was pretty good at the time. I probably thought more highly of Wynton and his associates back then than I do now - it's been a little hard to avoid all the negative talk associated with the Wynton School. I'll admit there may be a point to some of the criticism, though I think it often goes overboard. I think that Marcus' recordings on Novus were pretty good, especially the first one with Charlie Rouse and Elvin Jones. I'll have to listen to this one again and see what I think of it today. IMO one excellent recording from this period and this "school" (perhaps the best of all) is Delfayo Marsails' "Pontius Pilate's Decision."

It was a great game. Incredibly some sports reporter types are saying it was one of the worst Super Bowls ever. I can't understand that. It's all in the ending really and the ending couldn't have been better. I've got to admit that I was hoping for the Giants to beat the arrogant Pats (and Belichick - looks good on him, sorry Pats fans). Mentioning the obvious, but it was the Giants pass rush that made the difference. It might have been Belichick's arrogance that prevented him from making adjustments to his game plan. Only once or twice did I see Brady move sideways out of the pocket to throw downfield. That's one obvious way to bear the pass rush, scramble a bit, move the pocket, or move out of the pocket to make throws, which Manning seemed to do better than Brady. (CFL fans like GA Russell and I are used to seeing what scrambling QB's can do). Maybe Brady's ankle was bothering him more than they let on. Wow, I never thought I'd say it this year, that Brady would be outplayed by another team's QB. And the Giants' defense was rock-solid on third and short .

I sometimes hesitate to buy Lonehill releases too, but you're right, this one isn't likely to be put out by anyone else (which is the real dilemma when it comes to Lonehill and Gambit and all the rest. If you want the music, what are you going to do? ) Anyway, I bought this set over a year ago and really enjoy it.

John, didn't the Ottawa Senators have difficulty finding a new owner after they went bankrupt? And let's not forget that the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets were sold to Americans. I guess I was thinking of last summer's fiasco when the Canadian owner of RIM (which makes the Blackberry) Jim Balslille offered a premium to buy the Nashville Predators NHL team and bring them to Hamilton, Ontario (where they would no doubt do very well). But of course, the deal fell through for a variety of reasons and the team is staying in Nashville (for now, anyway). With the Canadian $ at par now with the American $ an NHL franchise would almost certainly succeed in Winnipeg, and most likely in Quebec. In fact, there's talk of Winnipeg being an expansion or relocation site. The big problem is that the NHL Board of Governors doesn't want any more than six franchises in Canada. They'd rather have them in marginal American cities than in places like Hamilton. The Ottawa Senators are now owned by Canadian pharmaceutical billionare Eugene Melnyk and are doing very well.

... there is no shortage of Canadian millionaires, only of those who don't want a sports team. Actually that's not true - they want an NHL franchise! I personally think the CFL would survive just fine without a team in Toronto.

That is exactly my impression too, I failed to make this point clear enough. The contribution of Nat Pierce's composing and arranging for the band was absolutely crucial, he defined the sound of the Herd. I just thought of something else I read in one of the Herman books. Nat not only did the bulk of composing and arranging for this band; he actually started it. Apparently Woody was in a bit of funk in the early 60's, between bands and not really sure what to do next. So Nat got the core of this band together in Boston, filled it out, provided the charts, and did some rehersals. He knew the band was hot, and figured that once Woody heard it, he would want to step in and lead it. So it happened and Woody got charged up again. Now Woody's leadership was crucial and the band wouldn't have sounded as good without him at the helm, but it was actually Nat's band in the beginning. I think Nat was band manager, as well. Oh yes, that reminds me that Nat "lost" the band's payroll one night at a Vegas gambling house and had to stay on the road a year longer with Woody than he had planned in order to pay it back.