duaneiac

I saw this post earlier today, but did not have time to respond then. Since the original post discussed was one of mine made back on the AAJ board, I'll state a case for the artists i mentioned. Sir Charles Thompson -- Still with us at age 98! I don't know if he performs at all anymore. An excellent pianist with a lengthy and varied career. If Dorothy Donegan was deserving of this honor, certainly Sir Charles is as well. Bob Dorough -- I disagree with the "not enough vocal ability" sentiment. As the saying goes, "Tain't whatcha use, it's the way that cha use it" and mr. Dorough uses his vocal limitations to suit the purposes of his songs, whether singing his own material (like his classic version of "Yardbird Suite") or others. He's also a good pianist and has recorded some as an instrumentalist. For a coulple of generations, at least, Vince Guaraldi and Mr. Dorough have been the first introduction to jazz for American kids. Mr. Dorough's work as musical director of the Schoolhouse Rock series, made education fun and memorable with songs like "Conjunction Junction", "Three Is a Magic Number" and "Electricity" (plus the series also introduced kids to the singing of Blossom Deaire, Jack Sheldon and Grady Tate). Plus, it's an axiom in jazz that any one who spent more than six and a half minutes in the recording studio with Miles Davis automatically qualifies as a "living legend"! Dave Frishberg -- Another good pianist and, once again, his vocal abilities suit his material quite well. I disagree with the "too cute" sentiment. Some of his songs are perhaps "clever", but "You Are There" is one of the most beautiful songs ever written about the loss and memory of a loved one and "Sweet Kentucky Ham" says a lot without ever quite saying it directly. He's had a long and varied career (he also wrote one of the more memorable Schoolhouse Rock songs, "I'm Just A Bill") and if Mose Allison deserved this honor, so does Mr. Frishberg, IMO. Mark Murphy -- Is now RIP, so he's not longer eligible for this award. Pity they didn't see fit to honor him. Jessica Williams -- I have been "knocked out by" her playing many times, both in concerts and on recordings. She is one of may all-time favorites and it's very inexplicable to me that she has yet to receive this honor. A couple of other names I would add, but I know they will never be considered as they are too West Coast/Hollywood for the East Coast jazz establishment: Terry Gibbs Lennie Niehaus Lalo Schifrin Guitarist Martin Taylor I would add, but I don't know if he ever became a US citizen.

I know my tastes are more mainstream, but looking over that list of past honorees, some of the names notable by their absence for me were: Ernie Andrews Dr. Lonnie Smith Junior Mance George Cables Bucky Pizzarelli Bob Wilber (I find it utterly inexcusable that they never got around to honoring Tito Puente while he was with us.)

The homepage of the TCB site says it was last updated in July of 2015. The record label's founder, Peter Schmidlin, passed away in May of 2015, so there may be some lack of direction in keeping the website updated. At least the company is still going and still putting out new releases.

This CD is showing up on UK Amazon with a release date of April 29. I haven't seen it on US Amazon yet. 1. I Remember You 2. I've Told Every Little Star 3. It Could Happen To You 4. Oleo 5. Will You Still Be Mine? 6. Nica's Dream 7. Cool Eyes 8. Shirl 9. Ecaroh 10. Senor Blues I have a couple of these "Swiss Radio Days" CDs and the sound on them is generally good, so that is promising. I'm wondering if the Sonny Rollins Trio tracks were previously included on that EU 3 CD set of Trio recordings from this period. I don't have that set yet, but would this new CD duplicate what is included on there or supplement it?

Disc 6, "live" tracks from various concerts in different settings, 1969- 1973. Clark Terry shows up on a pair of tracks, including a great "Things Ain't What They Used To Be".

Dick Hyman

Miss Peggy Lee : An Autobiography -- Miss Peggy Lee Fever: The Life and Music of Miss Peggy Lee -- Peter Richmond Girl Singer: An Autobiography -- Rosemary Clooney with Joan Barthel I Wish You Love -- Gloria Lynne with Karen Chilton

I think Frank Jr. inevitably suffered just by nature of his name and by his choice of musical pursuits. Being "Frank Sinatra, Jr." was far different than being say, Desi Arnaz, Jr., Ed Begley, Jr., Alan Hale, Jr. or Robert Downey, Jr. While people may have known of the famous fathers of each of those men, none of those fathers was an ICON of their profession. Being named "Frank Sinatra, Jr." must have been akin to some one being named "Albert Einstein, Jr." or "Alfred Hitchcock, Jr." -- enormous shoes to fill. And then for Frank, Jr. to enter the musical field inevitably brought comparisons to his father. Even if he was a good singer (which he was) he could never be "as good" a singer as his father. If he had pursued a more rock/pop oriented career as other famous sons did -- Ricky Nelson, Dino Martin, Gary Lewis -- the comparisons to his father would have been minimal. That wasn't who he was nor what he felt like do. He earns respect just for following his musical path knowing full well that it would be a bumpy road. The fact that he was able to endure and survive such constant comparisons and to pursue his own path both in his career and in his life speaks pretty well for the man. Lesser men would have cracked under such strain, I fear.

"My Wild Irish Rose" by Keith Jarrett (no vocalizing)

There was also the Broadway musical Swingin' The Dream, which starred Louis Armstrong, Maxine Sullivan, the Deep River Boys, the Dandridge Sisters and the Benny Goodman Sextet. It only ran for 13 performances in 1939, but it did give us the standard "Darn That Dream".

I'm a fan of both Maxine Sullivan and Dick Hyman, yet I have always shied away from getting ths album. I haven't heard it, but it is certainly Shakespearean in its concept.

I really like this one: I recall hearing this music when it was premiered by Mr. Wilson at the Monterey Jazz Festival back in the days when the festival could still be heard "live" on KCSM. The crowd loved it. Each piece of the suite is a variation on the same theme and they all work wonderfully.

Not for the Marsalis haters, but I think this track is some of the sweetest and most sensitive playing I've ever heard from him.

Very sorry to hear this. May he Rest in Peace.

There was a discussion on a Stan Kenton internet forum I belong to about the Navy band of Sam Donahue. I knew very little about Sam Donahue. I knew he had played with the Kenton band for a short time, butI had no opinion one way or the other about his music. One member, whose opinion I respect, stated the Donahue band was one of the finest service bands with some really good arrangements and he recommended this CD I found a copy being sold by a dealer on Amazon for under a buck and figured I'd give it a try. The disc arrived yesterday and to my surprise, what I received was not only this disc, but two more as well. Apparently whoever had owned this disc before took it out of the single jewel case and combined it and the other two discs into one of those fat-boy jewel cases. So I also got the bonus CDs of and each with the back tray card and liner notes included! Sweet!

Thanks for that info, John L. I saw those Count on The Coast CDs in Tower stores back when they were still new/in print, but never bought any of them because I was unsure what the audio quality would be like. (I'd been bummed out a few times by the lo-fi quality of a few vintage "live" recordings I bought back in those pre-internet days.) So I guess I don't have this material. I do have the Mosaic set of Count Basie's "live" Roulette material, but that covers 1959-62, just right after these recordings. I guess I have to decide how much "live" Basie from that era I really need . . .

A 5 CD boxed set of live Count Basie coming out now -- http://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/71694/count-basie/complete-live-at-the-crescendo-1958 So the description says this is "long unavailable material", not "previously unissued", so I am assuming that some or all of this music has been available somewhere before. Has any one here heard it and if so, what's your take on it? I certainly love Basie from this period, but this is a LOT of music with several numbers repeated night after night. Could this be too much of a good thing?

I received mine in the mail yesterday and the seller even included a brand new "bonus" cassette tape of some R&B material. A nice little surprise! It looks like a nice little set with what looks to be an informative booklet. I have not done a track by track comparison, but I think this is a compact repackaging of this out-of-print boxed set of King material that used to come in the longbox format.

I would never try to make the case that these are essential Django Reinhardt recordings, but there is much here to enjoy. I actually liked hearing him in the big band setting and it looks like there will be some more of that on other discs in this set. I have not listened to the other discs yet, but looking ahead I can see there is a reunion with Stephane Grappelli and Joseph Reinhardt on Disc D as well as appearances by Raymond Fol and Pierre Michelot. Many tracks find him in a small group with the Benny Goodman-like clarinet of Hubert Rostaing, which I also find interesting -- kind of like a Goodman small group with Mr. Reinhardt playing the Lionel Hampton role. The sound quality, so far, is generally fine/good for recordings of that period with only some exhibiting surface noise or distortion. I have two other boxed sets from JSP of Django Reinhardt material and I would probably recommend either/both of those first to some one interested in exploring his music.

But if this movie proves to be a commercial success, perhaps I should dust off and complete my screenplay for Thelonious Monk Vs. The Ninja Vampires From Mars . . . (And yes, I can already hear the skeptics saying, "well you needn't" . . .)

Discs A & B. Disc A has Mr. Reinhardt accompanied by big bands and small groups from within those bands. There are 4 tracks from the 1946 Chicago concert with Duke Ellington that have been previously released as part of an Ellington CD. Most of the tracks find him accompanied by the members of the big band of the US Army Air Transport Command in 1945. While there were no famous musicians among their personnel, they were a very competent (if generic) swing band and probably played even above their usual skill level given this once in a lifetime opportunity to perform with a genuine jazz master. Disc B finds him back in France playing in quintet or sextet (when a pianist is included) formats in 1947. Electric guitar was his instrument of choice by then and shades of bebop are in his playing. Since most of these are radio transcription performances, the sound quality varies depending on the condition of the given source material for each number.

Well, since it's a movie about Miles Davis, shouldn't the title be Walkin' Tall? To be followed by the sequels Workin' Tall, Steamin' Tall and Relaxin' Tall . . .