duaneiac

Half Duke:

I have the two you have Mike, plus these two that I think were part of that series:

First time for me seeing this classic: There's so much to like about it, beginning with the screenplay by Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett. The two stars were excellent, even if one does not naturally think of Gary Cooper as a comedic actor, and the supporting cast was terrific with legendary character actors like Oscar Homolka, Cuddles Sakall, Dan Duryea, Elisha Cook, Jr. and even a youngish version of the perpetually old Charles Lane. And there's a brief appearance by Roy Eldridge in the Gene Krupa band's scene playing "Drum Boogie". My question is, why was the "G" of MGM producing this picture at RKO?

Has any one heard either of these two?

The original Benny Goodman Trio & Quartet were pretty awesome and they made some great records which still hold up today because of their energy & swing, the groups' cohesive sound and the creative musical improvisations from each of the members. I have a lot of Benny Goodman recordings and happen to enjoy them, but if I were to be stranded on the proverbial desert island (and depending on events, that may be an appealing prospect come Nov. 9th), it would be the Goodman Trio & Quartet recordings, out of all his works, that I would consider indispensable.

4 of the 7 tunes on the album are Monk compositions.

I read via a West Coast Jazz message group that pianist Claude Williamson has passed away. The message said his son confirmed that he passed away July 16. He had been in a nursing home since suffering a broken hip last year. He recorded albums as a leader as well as playing on albums by Chet Baker, Bud Shank, Barney Kessel, the Lighthouse All Stars and many others. May he Rest In Peace.

Would "Benny Golsen" by any chance be Benny Golson?

I've actually never heard this one. Any one have any opinions of it? There is a Bay Area group called Monk's Music Trio. I have a couple of their CDs From what I recall, it seemed like too much of a goodish thing. One of those occasions where an LP length recording might have been better than a CD length one. I have not heard these discs --

Oh wait . . . I'm sorry . . . this is actually a Bad Donkey song!

Half an album is better than none -- or perhaps not in the case of the immortal Jonathan & Darlene Edwards . . .

It's fair to say Thelonious Monk was a major influence on Jessica Williams. I've only heard the first of these albums and quite liked it.

Like the Junior Mance disc in the Ellington thread, this too was recorded at the Floating Jazz Festival. Here, though, most of the tracks were recorded in 2000, with just one track from the 1996 sessions which produced the Ellington disc.

I have this on vinyl, but haven't listened to it in years, so maybe it's not a real "favorite", but here it is anyway. And I'm generally not a big Dr. John fan, but I thought his Ellington tribute album was good in many ways,

It's been a long time since I listened to this one, but I recall liking it. The band included some native Far Eastern instruments along with the usual jazz instrumentation. This Newport Jazz Festival concert was an Ellington tribute by the DBQ with 5 Ellington tunes, "Flamingo" (which had been a hit for the Ellington band) and DB's own "The Duke".