duaneiac

CDs 4 & 5 of 5.

On May 11, 1945, the woman who would later be my mother celebrated her 20th birthday. I'm sure that occasion must have been extra memorable for her, falling right on the heels of VE day. The man who would later be my father (indisputably the least of his accomplishments) was at that time stationed in Europe, I believe in a supply unit in the UK. I'm sure TWWWLBMM was extra-happy knowing that the war was over in the theater in which TMWWLBMF was stationed. On May 11, 2020, she will celebrate her 95th birthday. I will have to ask her if she remembers anything of that day.

I bought the first of those RCA boxed sets. I was really disappointed by the seemingly random presentation of the music and the rather cheap looking packaging. I liked the music, but I felt Mr. Puente and this historic yet still vital material deserved better. It dissuaded me from buying Vol. 2, but now I kind of wish I had bought it back then. Copies are usually pretty pricey these days, The booklet for Vol. 1 lists Jorge Garcia & Giraldo Ramirez at Miami Tape Inc. for the mastering. Dick Baxter is mentioned in the "Special Thanks" list.

It still surprises me that George Barnes is that one degree of separation between Bob Dylan and Ruby Braff.

Surprisingly, this 2003 Tony winning show has a number of songs which would fit right in on a COVID-19 experience soundtrack: "There Is Life Outside Your Apartment" "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today" "The Internet Is For Porn" after several weeks of staying at home, many might relate to the lilting ballad, "The More You Ruv Someone" ("The more you love someone / The more you want to kill 'em") and lastly, there's the musical reminder that this horrible mess, like everything in life, is only "For Now".

I hadn't seen this film in almost 40 years until I found it on YouTube. Granted, it's a gimmick movie, but it still kinda works. It's clearly an attempt at a Hitchcock style film, but the suspense isn't always maintained. Ray Milland's character is an American physicist who is engaged in sending secret nuclear documents to . . . well, this being 1952, the audience would know to who/where. The G-men grow wise and he has to take it on the lam and hide out in some cheap NYC hotel until his "partners" can smuggle him out of the country. There is a chase up the stairs of the Empire State Bldg. which Hitchcock probably could have made into something more suspenseful/memorable than the extended scene of two guys just running up flight after flight of stairs that exists here. It has a very wimpy ending, but it's still worth seeing at least once.

I saw him a number of years ago at the San Jose Jazz Festival with one of his Alto Madness Orchestras. I quite enjoyed his show that day and always hoped I'd have another chance to check him out again. He signed (in silver Sharpie!) a CD or two for me that day. He seemed like a cool enough guy, chatting with the folks as he sold his CDs after the show. Rest In Peace, Mr. Cole. Thanks for your musical contributions.

Well, according to the article "Owning a funeral home took some getting used to, Dawson said Thursday, and now he's adjusting to life as a mortician during a global pandemic." That and the article's title, Hall of Famer Dawson deals with coronavirus as a mortician, must have lead me to believe that Mr. Dawson is a mortician. I really don't know what his status is in that regard. It was just an utterly surprising story. Good wishes to Mr. Dawson!

1958 recordings from dances held at Travis AFB and Mather AFB. Very satisfying. I wonder what bands play at Air Force dances these days (or I guess "the not too distant past days" since there won't be any dances "these days") . . .

Huh -- Andre Dawson is now a mortician in Miami and having to deal with Covid-19 victims https://sports.yahoo.com/hall-famer-dawson-deals-coronavirus-mortician-193644819--mlb.html

The International Jazz Day's "Jazz Day At Home Virtual Global Concert". Currently, Stevie Wonder & Esperanza Spaulding performing "Midnight Sun". https://jazzday.com/

This CD version also includes the album Jazz Epistle - Verse 1 by The Jazz Epistles

David "Fathead" Newman has a nice feature on a quartet version of "(Back Home Again In) Indiana" here.

Disc 2 0f 2, so Vol. 4 of this set. All 4 volumes are easily recommended.

No mention of Melba Liston? Or Vi Redd? Or Marjorie Hyams? Or Mary Osborne? Here's a group I just recently discovered. According to the comments on YouTube, the featured drummer, Viola Smith, was still alive at age 106 last year.

I've only been to the Berkeley and SF stores, but unless their Hollywood store is the size of an aircraft carrier, I don't see why just three locations should have over 400 employees (as the article states). Seems like some prudent pruning needs to be done in that area.

Within 8 bars of the title/opening track, Sir Charles Thompson's playing had put a smile on my face and that smile reappeared every time he played for the rest of this CD. No offense to Eric Schneider -- he seems like a perfectly fine reed player and he certainly loves Ben Webster and that is an admirable quality in any individual -- but each track where he is featured just means that much less time for Sir Charles to play. A delightful recording. Another delightful recording, for different reasons. This is a Feb. 22, 1970 concert in Paris.

I fear this will be the case for a lot of stores. From sfgate.com -- On the Monday that Amoeba shuttered for the foreseeable future, all three of their record shops had collectively generated about a third of the sales they normally make in a day. Now, as the duration of the closure creeps past a month, San Francisco manager Tony Green says there’s very little money coming in — and the bills aren’t going away." “It’s been tough going for all three stores, and COVID-19 has taken our condition from serious to critical,” he said. The current crisis certainly isn’t the first faced by Amoeba, which has endured countless hurdles from the recession to the rise of the Internet and the shift to digital listening formats. Green said there’s infrastructure in place to keep things going if the store is able to re-open in May, per Gov. Gavin Newsom’s current shelter-in-place orders. And if not? “We don’t know that we can weather the COVID-19 storm,” reads Amoeba’s GoFundMe campaign. “With no way to generate income, our savings are running out, with bills and rent coming due, and with a primary commitment to our staff, who we are trying to keep as healthy and financially sound as possible.” https://www.sfgate.com/coronavirus/article/Facing-an-uncertain-future-Amoeba-Music-launches-15214265.php#photo-19320719