John Tapscott

Why not buy the Mosaic set? I plan to as soon as I have enough money saved in my "secret" Mosaic "envelope". About half way there already.

Of the 20 (or more) new big band CD's I've I've heard this year, this one is my favorite. I would say the "best" but that is highly subjective, I know. In any case, it is an outstanding big band CD in every way.

Cheer yourself up with thoughts of the great Ellington Columbia CD's coming in the new year. Ellington Uptown Blues in Orbit Piano in the Foreground Piano in the Background Festival Session and a few others I can't think of at the moment.

Sam Rivers Mosaic Gerry Mulligan Concert Band Mosaic Duke Ellington - At the Alhambra Duke Ellington - In the Uncommon Market ( at least 10 times - love this) Duke Ellington/ Ray Brown - This One's for Blanton Johnny Griffin - Way Out Johnny Griffin - Dance of Passion Lee Konitz - An Image Hank Mobley - A Slice of the Top Ronnie Scott - Serious Gold Clifford Jordan - Glass Bead Games Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra - In the Moment Jim Widner Big Band (with some nice trombone from our own "Free For All") Dan McMillion Jazz Orchestra - Up Your Brass Blue Wisp Big Band - A Night at the Wisp Rob McConnell and the SWR Big Band - So Very Rob

There's some great Maiden stories in "Straight Ahead" Carol Easton's bio of Stan Kenton. A lot of Kenton fans hate that book, but it's a terrific read IMHO, and gives great insight into Kenton's persona and career. No time to tell all the stories, but I do remember one about Kenton clashing with Willie over the latter's lack of sartorial sense. Kenton said to Willie, "Either buy some decent clothes or leave the ****** band!" To which Willie asked, "What's more important - the way I play or the way I dress?" Kenton replied, "The way you dress!" There's another about a time when Kenton's band played the Loser's Club, a Mafia run joint in some American city (Dallas?) Kenton was not with the band due to illness, and the band's manager was trying to collect the night's pay with little success. Willie, all 5'5" of him, overheard the conversation, ran up to the Mafia guy, put his nose in his face and said, "Now I know how this place got its' name!", then ran out of the room. The band manager left with his life, but not the money. Oh yes, Willie loved music in 4/4 and wrote some swinging charts for Kenton's band. But he hated the odd time signature charts of Hank Levy which Kenton often played. As a sign of rebellion, Willie rewrote his baritone parts in 4/4, which must have been pretty confusing for those who followed him in that chair.

Listened to it over the weekend and agree with John S's comments. A very nice record. Griffin's solos are the essence of bebop. They have what I love about that style and what is so evident in the playing of Parker and Gillespie and others , a great flexibility in their phrasing and their use of time. Pushing the beat at times, laying back at other times, and all this within a 4 bar phrase! It's not just running the changes or a "sheet of sound". Someone once described it as pulling and releasing an elastic band with both hands. You stretch it out to just before the breaking point and then you release it but not to the point where it falls from your hands or goes limp. Stretching and releasing. To me that's exactly what Griffin's playing is like here, and I love it.

I missed it, but I'm not terribly disappointed. I was kind of on the fence on this one anyway, because I have the prime stuff in this set on LP. Now it's straight ahead in saving up for the JJ Johnson set. The saga of this Ellington set has been strange. It went from Running Low to Last Chance to Sold Out very quickly, much more quickly that any other set I can think of. I remember beginning to save up for the Chico Hamilton set when it started running low and easily bagged it before it was gone. I wonder if there are still Ellington sets in the retail stores?

I voted for Ervin. Tough not to vote for Mariano, though. But you could make a case for any of them. BTW I have Bobby Jones' Hill Country Suite. Glad it was mentioned. I'm going to pull it out and given it a listen (for the 1st time in at least 20 years!)

I'm sorry my observation/inquiry caused some sarcastic replies. I assure you my original posting was sincere. I still think Mosaic has made a significant mistake here which is not worthy of Mosaic quality and accuracy. I'm not surprised the reversed image doesn't bother Chris. He favors anything that comes from the left! BTW, Browine is right about the Mulligan set. The cover of brochure 50 shows has the picture "right" while the image is reversed on the box cover and the CD's. Strange, but not so significant, since it's mainly a head shot and only a bit of the baritone. I am a right-handed trombonist and when I see pictures of Slide Hampton playing left-handed it really makes my head spin. Of course, in that case, I know that what I'm seeing is "right."

I was just checking out the new Roy Eldridge set on the Mosaic web-site. In the cover photo on the box it appears that Roy is playing the valves with his left hand. I wasn't aware of this and will have to check out some other photos I have of Roy. Or on the other hand (so to speak) has Mosaic reversed the image of this picture? I know this happens sometimes in liner notes and quite frankly, it always bugs me. You often see people's hands reversed on the saxophone, for example. If Mosaic has done this to Roy, I am very surprised, especially on a cover shot. Isn't Mosaic supposed to be about accuracy in all details?

I'm not at all convinced that Kennedy would have pulled America out of Vietnam. I think it's far more likely the war would have proceeded as it did. And it's hard to imagine Bobby Kennedy serving as VP under anyone. What's this about the Israelis and Palestinians signing a "final" peace treaty? That's not going to happen because too many meddlers don't want it to happen, ever. This guy dreams in technicolor.

Voted for Oswald acting alone, since he was the one who most likely pulled the trigger, but I still can't shake the idea that somehow the Cuban Government was behind it all.

It's probably true. 20 years ago or so, Pullen played so hard on a brand new Yamaha Piano at a jazz festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that it required extensive repairs. The music shop owner who supplied the piano was absolutely (and understandably) livid.

I bought this LP 25 years ago at the Jazz and Blues Center (long defunct) in Toronto. The pressing was very noisy. Whe I complained about it, I was told they were "all like that." So I would recommend buying it but don't be surprised if the pressing is not very good.

I pulled the "Way Out" Lp from my shelves this morning. Really looking forward to giving it a spin. Great choice.

Seems to me there was a Chrysler car (could have been a Dodge or Plymouth, of course) that actually had a sidewinder insignia on the front fender. One of those mid' sixties muscle cars with a 'hemi motor. 8 miles to the gallon but went like stink (at least in the quarter mile).

Chuck may be right, but I always thought it was Chrysler.

Listened to it yesterday from my Mosaic set. A wonderful, wonderful recording. One of those magical times when everything just fell into place and probably exceeded everyone's expectations. Tony Williams - simply magnificient. And I still have "Beatrice" running through my head this morning. I'm going to listen to this one again soon.

Overall, I like this album and would recommend it to Lee fans. Some really good tunes as Jim said, and as Daniel said, Walton is the star (Higgins on right on the money, too). I think Mobley's pretty good here, and Lee too, though he's a bt tentative in places, especially on A Pilgrim's Funny Farm. I always cringe at his quote from "And the Angels Sing". It just seems out of place and out of mood, somehow.

RonF : Wasn't it the other way around? Evans wrote the tune (for his niece, I believe) and perhaps a year or two later Lees wrote the lyrics. That's my understanding, anyway.

Well, I took the quiz and got 10 right. I should have done better. I have the book and was browsing it last summer. But it's been years since I read it thoroughly. I do enjoy Eric's recordings with Booker Little.

I once met Joe after a fanstastic gig he played with a trio. We spoke for a few minutes and he signed a Cd booklet for me. He struck me as a very conscientious musician as well as a friendly and decent person. I'm sorry he is into defending what is really indefensible. Can he honestly believe the sound is state-of-the art on this CD? It's not even state-of the art "bootleg." Sorry, Joe, something went wrong here and you'd be better to admit it, and make sure the next project is up to snuff.

Finally got this the other day. The music is wonderful, as it often is with Lovano. But I truly hope the engineer, Kurt Lundvall, is never allowed near another Blue Note recording. He doesn't have much of a clue about recording jazz. Granted the thing sounds better on headphones than through speakers, but at first listen, you'd think Lewis Nash had forgotten to bring cymbals to the gig. In the '50's and '60's Blue Note would not release a date if something was substandard about it. Obviously, that has changed. Again, it's not the music, but the sound. It's not unlistenable but it's way below what we should expect. (I've heard bootlegs that are better than this). Anyone have any idea what would cause an "official" recording to screwed up so badly?

Usually, my Mosaic orders arrive here in Canada 7-10 days after ordering. Probably 8 or 9 years ago , one of my orders from Mosaic (I specifically remember the sets - the McLean and the Jones/Lewis) was very slow in arriving - 2, 3, 4 weeks passed and no delivery. I started to get nervous and called Mosaic. They said they would send replacements, which arrived in the usual time. FINALLY, at my door one day was a gray British Mail bag with the original order in it. It seems that rather than being sent to Halifax, Canada (where I was living at the time) it had been sent to Halifax, ENGLAND, where it no doubt sat in the back room of the post office for several weeks before someone realized it was in the wrong country (the address was very clear on the box, so this was obviously a post office screw-up). Mosaic had asked me to send the original box back to them, which I did immediately. Mosaic said they would reimburse me for postage, which they never did. That surprised me a bit, given Mosaic's reputation for customer service, but it was maybe $10, so I let it go. I was just so happy to finally have the great sets, which to this day are among the 5 Mosaic sets I would take to a desert island.

Bought my first jazz record at 17 - Buddy Rich Live at Ronnie Scott's and have listened to little else but jazz since then (nothing else seriously, at least). Listened to mainly modern big bands at first, since I played trombone in the high school jazz and stage band. There were good radio jazz shows in the Toronto area at that time, and I well remember my jaw hitting the floor when I first heard JJ Johnson and McCoy Tyner on the radio. Read Ross Russell's Bird Lives at age 18 and bought my first Parker/Gillespie record. Within a year or two I was really starting to explore small groups - Miles, Trane, 'Tyner, Brubeck, Rollins, the Blue Note label, etc. etc., helped along by a friend in college who was really into Miles and 'Trane. By age 20 I was exploring all kinds of jazz styles, though my preference then and still is today what I would call the modern mainstream, jazz that swings, is coherent, is not too far from the blues. Still love modern big bands, too.