duaneiac

That's Buddy Clark and Mel Lewis obscured by the tab in the photo above. Arrangements here were provided by Bill Holman, Manny Albam, Al Cohn, Marty Paich, Lennie Niehaus, Med Flory and Sy Johnson.

Disc 2 of 3. This collection ranges from 1938 to 1983, during which time Big Joe Turner conquered the fields of jazz, blues, r 'n b and rock 'n roll -- all without changing his style one iota. Some of the songs included on this disc sound kind of muddy. I wonder if better sound could be gleaned from remastering using today's technology vs. the technology available in 1994 when this set came out.

One of Ms, McPartland's finest albums, recorded live at the Maybeck Hall in Berkeley, CA back in 2000. How many Ellington tribute albums went beyond the predictable standards to include "Take The Coltrane"?

Disc 3 of 4

Disc 1 and 2 of 2. Most of this music was recorded at Carnegie Hall on Sept. 25, 1954, with some additional Count Basie Band tracks (with special guest Stan Getz) coming from a Dec. 1954 date at Birdland.

A 1997 recording by the Akua Dixon Turre led group, with Regina Carter & Marlene Rice on violins, Ron Lawrence on viola and the leader on cello. A nice change of pace from my usual listening, I guess.

A 1978 session. Her voice started to show its age here, but it's a pretty good session overall, probably one of the last of her good albums. She was joined here by the likes of Lou Levy, Laurindo Almeida and Ernie Watts. And you'll notice you-know-who got a couple of his songs included.

With JSngry's recent excursion into the work of Billy Eckstine, I revisited this video of a performance from later in his career. I love the performance and I love that he is wearing pretty much the same tux I wore to my high school prom about 10 years later (it looks much better on him!). You can really feel that "long, hard climb" the way he sings it. And he must have been about 55 by this time, but I bet he still was a powerful chick magnet with his looks, style and voice!

I really wish this series of MJF recordings could be revived by Concord Records. There must be tons of good stuff left in the vaults somewhere.

Some of the movies mentioned here have been lingering in my Netflix list for a loooong time. I have bumped a few of them up the list and recently watched My Name Is Nobody. Good movie which should appeal to folks who like traditional Westerns, yet also have a sense of humor. It's a good mix of drama with comedic elements, but it's not a satire of Westerns. Henry Fonda was good as always.

It's MJF time this weekend, so this seemed appropriate Wow! Hard to believe it is the 20th anniversary of this work already! I remember hearing -- and being delighted by -- it for the very first time as it was debuted at the MJF in 1997, via a "live" radio broadcast on KCSM.

Disc 1 of 2.