John Tapscott

Well, I haven't got this set yet, but I concur with you, David. All this does speak of an uncharacteristic carlessness on Mosaic's part. Could it be that Michael Cuscuna is not paying as much personal attention to each set as he used to? I have been listening to some of my Phil Woods Mosaic set today. I'm sure glad they didn't reverse Phil's picture on that. It would drive me nuts to see his hands upside down, so to speak, especially on the cover.

I have several of those Phil Wilson Lp's on Famous Door. The best one IMHO is the quitet date he made with Vic Dickenson. Without looking, I believe the title is NY-Boston Axis. A great date with two contrasting but very complementary trombone styles. During some of Phil's time on Woody's band the second 'bone was a guy named Henry Southall. I think he almost upstaged Phil at times, playing in a brash Dixieland meets bebop style.

As the former owner of two wonderful Dodge cars. (Actually to be fair, the '87 Shadow was Ok; the '91 Spirit was a piece of junk), I will never buy another Chrysler product again. I now own a Ford Taurus which is OK. I read recently that Daimler Chrysler is putting mega bucks into sponsoring a football game at half time of the '04 Super Bowl between two teams of bikini clad women. Not that I don't like watching women in bikinis play football, but I think Chrysler would be much better advised to put the money into assembly line quality control (an area in which they are sadly lacking).

Absolutely they exist. Here's three off the top of my head in which valve trombone is the ONLY horn. Bob Brookmeyer Quartet - Live at Sandy's (I think that's the name of it) - a live double LP on Gryphon rec. 1978 - Jack Wilkins, guitar, Michael Moore, bass, Joe Labarbera (I think) drums. I believe this has been reissued on CD. Loads of valve 'bone on this one. Rob McConnell - Trio Sketches (Concord) 1993 - Neil Swainson, bass, Ed Bickert guitar Rob McConnell - Three For the Road (Concord) 1996 - Don Thompson, bass and piano, Ed Bickert, guitar Of course, I could mention all the big band recordings by Brookmeyer and McConnell, but on these their horn (as opposed to their composing/arranging) is up front.

Some notable valve trombonists off the top of my head; Bob Brookmeyer Rob McConnell Maynard Ferguson (through the '50's and '60's). Later he played a Superbone, a combination of valve and slide. It was kind of wild watching him play it. Listening to Brookmeyer and or McConnell will give you an good idea of what a valve 'bone sounds like. Peronally I think the sound is a bit more "hollow" and perhaps less focussed than the slide' bone, which makes some sense since the air has to pass through more tubing. McConnell can really play the thing loud at times, though. My guess is that it probably takes a bit more "air" and effort to play than the slide 'bone, though on the other hand, valves are easier to play than the slide. Also, with a valve you don't get the Dixieland-type smears and I imagine the valve gives more tuning problems.

I'll also add Frank Rosolino, bop trombonist supreme (Notice I left out the word "the"). His sound sparkles with joy.

Dicky Wells, Vic Dickenson & especially Trummy Young, whose broad and brash sound always makes me smile.

Hey Deep (Danny): I dug the first Bloviation Big Band CD (even wrote a review of it). Can you give us a run-down of tunes and personnel on the new one? Thanks

The short answer is "NO." What I need a break from is all the other music one hear in our culture without choosing to listen to it - in the malls, barber shops, supermarkets, radio, TV, CD stores (they're the worst), etc. 99.5% of the music I deliberately CHOOSE to listen to is jazz.

Sonny Clark. A very tough call, though. I picked him mainly because he's the pianist on "Go!" my favorite Dex album. Considered George because he's the only one I saw "live' with Dexter; also Kenny, for the sheer number of fine recordings he made with the Tall one. George and Kenny are both fine with Dex, but had to go with Sonny on the basis of that super album. Obviously a very special hook-up there.

What about something like Lou Donaldson's Blues Walk? It's been remastered because it's in the Mosaic set. And for that reason it's not likely to be RVG'ed very soon. So if you want it by itself (which I do), you'll have to pick up the old version.

I thought 80 minutes was the limit. I have some LP to CD burns which are between 79 & 80 minutes and play fine. 20 minutes per side was supposed to be the LP limit until Columbia began issuing live Miles LP's with 30 minutes per side. You know the old saying, "if they can put a man on the moon..."

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.