John Tapscott

Happy birthday Lon and thanks for all the insightful musical posts!

As I said, nuts, plain and simple. Some of you guys are right - she doesn't need to be locked up in jail, but rather, confined indefintely in a psychaitric institution.

Call me puritanical or whatever you want, but I'm sorry, we have really lost our moral compass when we can defend the sexual relationship of a 12 year old boy with his 34 year old teacher, or a 15 year old boy with his mother. LeTourneau is nuts, plain and simple. She wrecked her own marriage, and seems to have messed up her young lover pretty well, and brought two children into the world who will have little chance at a normal family life. I wonder if the word "NO" ever occurred to her. The jail sentence was totally deserved, and I hope she got some serious psychiatric help when she was in prison.

I'm a fan of Maria's and enjoy her CD's, especially Allegresse. I would love to hear this new CD and just went to the site to order it. But besides the $16.95 cost for the CD which is OK, the price for shipping to Canada is $6.95! There is no friggin' way I'm going to pay that. The cost for mailing a single CD to Canada from the US is under $3.00 (and usually less than that, including the mailer.) I know because I've ordered a ton of single CD's from the US over the years. Usually the postage stamp says $1.40 or sometimes even less. I would like to support Maria and all, but I'm sorry, the profit should come from the CD, not the shipping of it.

I don't know whether he's been mentioned or not, but I'm really enjoying Tardo Hammer's latest CD "Tardo's Tempo" on Sharp Nine. (He has two earlier trio recordings on Sharp Nine). Tardo's a Powell man who really digs in and lays down some powerful solos. Ably assisted on this one by Dennis Irwin on bass and some fiery drumming by Jimmy Wormsworth.

What about the review copies? Or would they be unnumbered? You would think there would be 20 or 25 copies sent out to the various jazz "publications" (I use the term loosely) for review. I've always been curious about how Mosaic handles those.

Maynard Ferguson - Disc 7

There was a fellow in the town where I grew up whose first name was "Seaman." I knew another guy a few years ago who had the same first name with the same spelling. I'm wondering, Jim, if this is the true spelling.

All right. I'll spell it out. Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen (BASS)

Don't know how that happened. NHOP (B)

I personally find it hard to believe Oscar is playing solo. All of his recent (and rare) concerts have been with Ulf Wakenius (g), NHOP (B) and Martin Drew (d). Oscar basically lost the use of his left hand due to a stroke over a decade ago. He comps a bit with his left hand, but most of his playing now is with his right hand. I think that's part of the reason he always always plays concerts with his quartet. Oscar still plays well, and you've got to give him credit for his courage and his continued "will to swing", but to put it gently, he is nowhere near the powerhouse pianist he once was. In his prime, his solo playing could be almost overwhelming. But you should go to see him, whatever format he's using. Please tell us about it if you do.

I saw the Basie band three times that I can remember, first in '74. Sonny Payne was back on drums for a short stint and really tore things up. Al Grey, too. The next time was in '75. Butch Miles was on drums and Dave Stahl was in lead tumpet. Jimmy Forrest did one of his feature numbers, Body and Soul, I believe. The audience was disappointed because the band only did an hour long set before departing for the night. There was a mix-up somewhere. Perhaps the most enjoyable Basie concert I attended was in the early 80's. Basie came on stage in a scooter, slid onto the paino bench, played little, said even less, and hardly moved thoughout the whole concert. The band was very good, however. I believe Dennis Mackrel was on drums. Some of the soloists were Kenny Hing, Dennis Wilson, Booty Wood and Bob Summers. Freddie Green was still at Basie's side. Most of my Basie exposure has been though recordings, - the Pablos, Verves, Mosaics, and some of the earlier Decca and Columbia sides. I prefer the later recordings, however, because of the superiorr recoding quality. The Mosaics are among my most teasured musical possessions. The live Birdland material is exceptional IMHO. It's so well recorded you'd think you were sitting at a table a few feet in front of the band. Listening to Basie's music always lightens your load, helps to make the sun come out, and seems to make the world a brighter, better place. Basie's music is a supreme example of how the swinging blues can "blow your blues away."

All right, bad enough, but nothing on Buddy. I like the way he gives the guys three days to "get it right", then one week "to get it right. " A few more minutes and it would be two weeks to "get it right." A little while longer and it would be the whole tour "to get it right". Personnel changes in the middle of a tour are a pain, no doubt.

I have it. It's an excellent set, marred only by a couple of sub-par pop tunes which not even Gerald can redeem by his arrangements. However 90-95% of it is top-notch. If you like powerful big bands that swing (and it sounds as if you do), then this is a great set to have. Personally, I'm really looking foward to the Johnny Richards Select.

Of the three you mentioned I only have the JJ. I've heard some of the Stitt, and enjoyed it, and I have some of the Hodges on Lp. They are all very good sets. I would get the JJ first for the reason you mentioned.

I remember the day after the "not guilty" verdict, OJ proclaimed on national TV that he would spare no time and personal expense to find Nicole's "real" killer. Uh.... we'e still waiting, OJ.

Though 80% at least of my jazz listening is in the mainsteam/hardbop/straightahead vein, I must say that this is really great album, easily my favorite Taylor. to Jimmy Lyons, too.

I guess not - that's too bad. I would have ordered a couple.

32 years ago at age 17. Jazz has been my only real musical interest since then. I have probably bought 500 jazz recordings for every one of any other style since then, and since I have 5,000+ jazz recordings, you can figue out how much "else" I have. My wife and daughter buy the "other" stuff around our house.

I listened to Dinah last night on the website (very nice, BTW). On that tune, it sounds to me that Cooper solos first.

Sam Noto. I very much enjoy two of his mid 70's Xanadu albums - "Entrance!" and "Act One" (especially the latter).

Paul Chambers/Wynton Kelly disc 2. Ok, you guys told me this was a good set, but c'mon, I didn't know it would be THIS good! Cannonball - man alive- he is on fire! Give me all the alternate takes you want when they're this good. Right now I'm listening to the 1st Bassman set - another winner! This set is on course to becoming one of my favorite Mosaics (out of the 40 or so that I own). And to think I still have 4 more discs to listen to.

Chambers/Kelly Disc 1 - just arrived today. This is GREAT stuff, freakin' GREAT. And to think that I did the hesitation shuffle over it!

Oh, just the thought of a Mosaic set being destroyed cuts me to the heart. I know it's just silicon, plastic, cardboard and paper, but still! I believe that the numbers do matter when a set comes to the end of the run. The Vee-Jays must have both topped out under 2,000. Again, I'm guessing 1,850. Hopefuly, someone who ordered in the last couple of days will post their number.

Well, I'm a bit surprised, too, but to call them "popular" is stretching it a bit. My Kelly/Chambers, ordeed 2 weeks ago is #1,795 of 5,000. At most they sold 1,850. Someone posted that Mosaic had expected to do one more pressing even after the Vee-Jays passed into the "running low" category, but then were unexpectedly told "no." So my guess is that they just didn't have that many sets on hand when the word came down.