John Tapscott

Agreed. Time Out would be a great choice. Others that come to mind: Paul Desmond - Pure Desmond Miles - Someday My Prince Will Come Getz/Byrd - Jazz Samba Oscar Peterson - Night Train Zoot Sims - and the Gershwin Brothers (turning up the swing temperature a bit) You might want to hold off the big bands for a while, though Miles Ahead and something like Ellington's Three Suites might be OK. Somewhere I read that surveys done for jazz radio stations put big bands are way down the list in popularity. I guess all that brass and the wide dynamics tend to startle more casual listeners. (Personally, I love big bands, far more than vocal jazz which seems to be quite popular these days).

Trombonist Steve Davis (as a leader). Recently someone (on this Board, I believe), recommended his "Portrait in Sound" CD. I recently picked it up, and have to concur. This is a superb recording.

I don't think there's all that many - Duke didn't hire guys right out of college like the other name bands. I can't think of many that are left - Clark Terry, trombonist Art Baron, trumpeter Barrie Lee Hall, tenor Ricky Ford (who played in the short-lived Ellington band Mercer led after Duke died; Mercer just seemed to let the thing fade away, for some reason.) There must be others that I just can't recall at the moment. BTW, I was surprised that Keepnews referred to Ashby as THE featured tenor player during his tenure with the band. Surely, Paul Gonsalves, despite his inconsistencies, would have qualified for that title right to the end. IMHO, Gonsalves is one of the most underrated tenor players of all time.

I have this LP and shouldn't answer without checking it first, but I believe it's a compliation and as I recall, details in the album notes are rather sketchy. I think it may contain some of the stuff Woody recorded in the '50's for the Mars label. My recollection is that it's OK, (just about everything Woody recorded is OK or better), but it doesn't stand out in my mind as prime Herman material.

My favortie Fuller is a BeeHive LP from '78 - Fire and Filigree. It's probably never been out on CD, but definitely worth picking up if you ever see it in a second-hand store. Curtis sounds very good on this - he was just coming off his gig with Count Basie when this was recorded. And the rest of the band really lights it up, too. Sal Nistico, Walter Bishop Jr., Sam Jones, and Freddie Waits.

I don't think it's simplistic at all. I agree. Hank's playing always uplifts my spirit. I can't quite put my finger on why, but to me there's a certain balance and thoughtfulness in his playing (and his composing) which is most satisfying to mind and soul. Hank had a real gift. He doesn't always grab you like Rollins or even Henderson, but after his solos end, you know you've been listening to something very special. I'm not sure he was the most consistent soloist, and on certain sessions where he's a sideman he's a bit overshadowed a bit by the others. I generally prefer his playing on his own dates. "Roll Call" is a desert island disc for me. Two other favorites include the quartet session for the Mosaic set plus a seldom mentioned disc called Far Away Lands. This is a heavy Hank recording. Darn near wore out the cassette from constant listening in my car some years ago. Hank is probably my overall favorite tenor player.

What I've heard of it is fine, though pretty lightweight. I am not going to buy it. Norah's future is pretty secure with all of her fans and no doubt a big contract looming. That's great. No problem. So she doesn't need me, or any hard core jazz fan, to buy her CD. We're always wailing about how underappreciated most jazz artists are, so why not spend the money instead on a CD by some excellent but relatively unknown jazz musician who probably sells about 2-3,000 of each CD he or she makes. That's what I'm going to do.

Nope, that happened with me also. Simon Weil Andrew Hill has reported that the "Jazz" series put him to sleep every night it aired. The series has lots of flaws for sure, though in places, it's not bad (enough to rouse me from my slumber for a few moments, especially some of the live performance clips). But the biggest mystery to me is how the series could take something as VITAL and INTERESTING as jazz and make it seem so DULL. Something got lost in the translation. Of course, with a few exceptions, jazz and TV have never meshed all that well. The apologists for the Burns series often say something like, well it's a good introduction to jazz for newcomers to the music. Personally, I doubt it. Can you imagine showing this series, as it is, video by video, to high school or college students? I may be wrong, but I think the converts to jazz from such an approach would be few and far between.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. As for me, if I'm having a bout of insomnia Monday evenings, I know where to find something that will put me to sleep real fast. Usually jazz stimulates me and wakes me up, but for some reason I kept falling asleep as I watched the Burns series. Just me I guess, but the word "boring" keeps coming to mind.

I think it was Bill Basie who said "give me a great lead trumpet player and a great drummer and I'll give you a great band." Well, this band of Herman's from '62-'64 had two of the greatest - Bill Chase and Jake Hanna. The lock-up between these two guys was just unbelivable. No wonder it was such a great band. And good as this album is, it's probably not even the best Herman Philips recording. The real no-brainer is why somebody - Verve or Mosaic - doesn't put out a box set of this stuff. Unless there's a lot of unreleased material in the can, this is not going to be much more than a 4 CD set. What were there - 5 albums? I'll tell you, if it the box ever comes out I'll crawl over broken glass to get it.

This is an absolutely fantastic big band album. Five stars in every possible category - sound, performance, charts, solos, ensemble playing. There is very little in the world of big band jazz that is better than this. This band just smoked. Wait 'til you hear Jake Hanna tear it up behind Sal Nistico on Sister Sadie. And to think you're going to get it free. Don't think twice. Grab it.

Peter Friedman

Actually, on second thought, as verbose as Wong is, Stanley Crouch is far worse. I just don't know why writers feel the need to show off their intellect when they're writing for people who are not experts. It's a pet peeve of mine, and I'm sorry, but if you can't say it in terms that a person of average intelligence can understand, then you don't know what you're talking about. WAY OFF THE TOPIC OF THE THREAD, I know.

I guess that's what happens when you get a secure postion. But let's give Bob a bit of a break. I think for the most part he writes decent notes, though I agree, they don't seem quite as inspired now as in earlier years. It must be tough when your mandate is to write about every RVG as if it's in the top 10% of Blue Note recordings ever! And you don't have to go overseas to find over-the-top intellectualizing and verbosity in liner notes. Has anyone ever been able to read liner notes by Dr. Herb Wong all the way through?

I have to agree with this. Dizzy was perhaps the only one of these trumpet players who was truly Bird's equal (and far more than a "worthy constituent"). I have come to the conclusion after a listening several times to last weeks AOTW, that Diz inspired Bird like no other trumpet player. The others were all very good and Fats pushed Bird too, but it seems that whenever Diz was around, on trumpet or piano, Bird's playing moved up a notch (if that were possible). So my vote goes to Diz.

I found Hank's "Turnaround " a bit disappointing. Some of the tracks never seem to catch fire. On the other hand I really like "Thinking of Home."

Fans of straight ahead contemporary big band jazz should check out 2003's "A Perfect Match" by the Mark Taylor/Steve Fidyk Big Band (from the Washington D.C area); plus Stan Kenton's "Contemporary Concepts" re-issue on Capitol (a truly classic big band jazz recording).

This is really the key thing, I think. You'll basically get zilch for the car with a blown tranny. The dealer will take almost the full retail value of fixing the transmission off the car's book value (though, of course, it won't cost the dealer that much to fix it). Personally, I would get the new transmission and if the engine is still good and there are no major rusting problems, you should be able to get another 2-3 years and 60K out of it. Yes, there may be a few things you will have to spend money on in that time, but if you buy another used car, you'll likely have to spend it on that car, too. I'm speaking of brakes, tires, shocks, etc. Most us us need cars, but they're an expensive money pit, new or used. No way around it. I have a '99 Ford Taurus and my goal is 250,000 km minimum (160,000 miles). I only has 40,000 miles on it so far, but I'm trying to maintain it well so I can achieve that goal.

I know a lot of people really dig it, but I've never really enjoyed "So Near, So Far" all that much. It's not Joe Hen so much, but Scofield's guitar. (Again, I know a lot of people really dig that kind of guitar plaing, but it's just not my cup of tea somehow). Plus, I don't think Joe and Sco really mesh all that well on that record.

Recently I was revisiting McCoy Tyner's "New York Reunion" on Chesky with Henderson, Ron Carter and Al Foster. IMO Joe is just tremendous on this date, and the recording quality gives his tenor sound a wonderful "up front" presence and fullness that you don't always hear on some other recordings. A brilliant CD from every perspective.

This is strange in a way. I received a CD from cheap-cds yesterday and last week anyway they were still replenishing their stock and getting new releases in stock. Anyway, I can't imagine that a company which lives by internet sales can afford 3 or 4 days downtime. So I guess we have to assume that cheap-cds. com is history. Another dot.com bust. Unfortunately in this case, I would say. Can Board members kindly suggest similar sites where CD's can be purchased relatively cheaply? Thanks

They are still down this morning. This is not good. Cheap-CDs has been my most used on-line store over the last 3 years. And their service was generally very good. I tried calling their phone no. 1-888-549-8800, and there was no response, though that may be because I live in Canada. Perhaps someone in the U.S. could try it and see what happens.

Man, this is a horse race, maybe the tightest poll I ever remember on this Board! Just a couple of thoughts. Interesting to see the excellent pianists getting no votes at all; I thought Andrew Hill might garner a few. Though I didn't in the end vote for Horace Parlan, I did consider him for a few moments and I'm glad he's picked up a few votes. And even before I saw the nominees listed, the first name which popped into my mind was McCoy Tyner, but perhaps that's because I've been listening to some McCoy discs lately. In retrospect, he probably should have been on the list, and might have received a few votes, though not up there up there with Silver and Clark.

I had to go with Horace, but this is a tight one. I do agree with Dan. Horace's playing helped to define the Blue Note "house" sound. Sonny's a great player, but for me, not quite as distinctive as Horace.

I was torn between Smokestack and Rumproller, but voted for the latter. This is a session which I really enjoy, and is nearly the equal of Sidewinder.