John Tapscott

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.

I have the orignal LP and am really surprised (but pleased) that there is enough unissued material for a 2 Cd set. Great session.

I always thought the LP sounded crappy - I always chalked it up to the pressing rather than the mix ('70's era vinyl was notoriously inferior). The CD sounds much better. I'd recommend that you get it. The music is way too good for you not to enjoy it because of lousy vinyl.

Thanks Paul. From the musicians you listed, it looks like it might have been recorded in Las Vegas (I believe Carl lived there at the time). Also the tunes reflect the fact that Louis had just gotten off the Basie band. Would like to find this one.

Wow. great album cover. Has this one ever seen cd reissue? Yes, a Japanese import. This is a Bellson recording I know very little about. Hardly any info at amg. FFA, could you kindly give some details? Thanks

I have all three books. I read ALS first, really enjoyed it, then went to KOB. It's good too, but I didn't find it quite as interesting. I think there's a bit more depth in the ALS book. For me, "The House that Trane Built" was the least interesting of the three.

Yes, this is sad news. I really enjoy my Bellson recordings and fondly recall the time I saw him live with his big band. Quite by coincidence, I have been recently listening through the Count Basie Live Roulette Recordings on Mosaic. Discs 5-8 feature Bellson with the Basie Band live in Sweden (lots and lots of great music), and I have been reflecting over the past couple of days on how great Bellson sounded with Basie. He gave the band a slightly different feel (perhaps a bit more on top of the beat) but it was still the swinging and satisfying Basie groove and sounds wonderful. RIP Louie Bellson

I was thinking about this, and then Lon posted pretty much what I was going to say. You remember how Wes "smoked" on Impressions? I actually think there would be quite a bit of compatibility. Three great soloists, each with their own individual voices, all playing on the same field, if not the same position, yet inspiring one another. I bet Wes would have sounded great with Elvin behind him.

The particular electric piano used on the date sounds "crappy" to my ears, muddy, mucky, blah. Of course, I only have it on a 1st pressing Columbia LP, so perhaps it sounds better on later issues.

I think Getz himself plays very well on the session, and I do like Corea's compositions, but the whole thing is marred, in my view, by the crappy sound of the electric piano.