duaneiac

And the next hot new trend among formerly obsolete yet now mysteriously trendy/hip technology will be the millions of audiophiles ditching internet radio in favor of the "crystal clear" audio provided by this device: Everything old is new (to some one) again!

Disc 1 of 2. An interesting collection of Motown songs performed by singers other than the Motown performers who made the song famous. They aren't really "cover" versions though, because in many cases the singer heard here recorded their version of the song before the hit version was recorded by another Motown act. This was pretty common at Motown back then and makes for some fascinating listening. Hearing The Supremes sing "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" or Smokey & The Miracles sing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" (recorded before both Gladys Knight's and Marvin Gaye's versions) is great. Any new Kim Weston is good news and I love her version of "Come And Get These Memories" here, but for some reason, they had her record an almost dirge-like version of "Stop! In The Name of Love" that sounds really odd. It was really interesting to hear this early version of what would become a classic for Jimmy Ruffin. Same backing track, but still a very different song. It demonstrates how songs could be workshopped around with different performers. Here are the Isley Brothers: WARNING!!! -- If you are intrepid enough to listen to the next song, you most certainly do not want to be imbibing any liquid when Mr. Tony Martin hits the chorus (hard!) or you will be susceptible to the "spit-take to end all spit-takes". That one's a "what were they thinking" item for sure.

And then for something completely different . . .

I dunno. I kinda liked this one --

I think this was the first Mark Elf CD I ever bought. I had never heard of him before, but I found this CD in the used bargain bin in a store and based on the other band members alone, I figured it was worth a listen. I have bought a couple of other releases by Mr. Elf and have enjoyed each one. He really is a "talent deserving wider recognition". (as the Downbeat polls used to say).

Well, Terry Gibbs and Plas Johnson are both still with us.

A 1993 "Fresh Air" interview with Jack Sheldon.

I love that album. As I get older, this song in particular certainly has a fuller meaning for me.

Disc 1 of 2. Includes a lot of false starts and incomplete takes, but it's all music by the usual Condon crowd.

One of my favorite Tony Bennett tracks is his performance of "Lost In The Stars" on this album. Now playing:

Disc 1 of 3.

Now Disc 2 of 4.

Disc 3 of 4.

I mailed in a check last month, but it was returned to me as not deliverable in yesterday's mail. Is the P.O. Box address given still correct?

The only MCC album I've ever loved, and I have tried several of her other albums. This one is definitely desert island music for me.

I would think so, but the common knowledge around here seems to be "Blue Note or bust". Jimmy Smith's Blue Note albums are great, but they never would have had the budget for him to record an arrangement like that at Blue Note. So, I for one am very thankful that the Jimmy Smith Verve albums exist. Great music can be found there, in some cases quite different in style or scope from the Blue Note albums. BTW, people who pass on his Christmas album -- either because it is a Verve album or simply because it is Christmas music -- are missing out on one heck of a good Jimmy Smith album.

You are seeing those EU "reissues" because they are jazz and the corporate/political powers that be could not care less about jazz. The copyright laws, as they pertain to music, are now designed to protect 3 principal assets: Elvis assets, Beatles assets and Disney assets. Blue Note music sales are likely such a small percentage of the overall income of whichever multinational corporate behemoth owns the label and its rights nowadays, that it would likely cost them more to put their teams of high-powered corporate attorneys to work seeking out and trying to put a stop to the influx of these EU discs into the US market than they theoretically/actually would lose in profits from that tiny little portion of their corporate sales figures.

Y'see, I woulda thought so too, but I guess we're both wrong. it's one of Jimmy Smith's Verve recordings, so obviously it must be a watered down piece of puerile drivel suitable only for the listening pleasure of the Kenny G loving unwashed masses. No serious jazz fan would ever deign to listen to such trifling "music" as this.

Could some one please clearly explain to me how this particular piece of music/arrangement/performance is "watered down"? To me, it is a vibrant, exciting, swaggering showcase and would certainly be on my list of 100 essential jazz recordings.. It's one of my favorite JOS tracks. You gotta be sure of your skills when it's your record and you give the band a whole two and a half minutes to strut their stuff before you even make your highly anticipated entrance!

An old favorite and its recent sequel

Awful cover aside, this is a pretty good big band album. The band assembled for this recording included a few "star" names (Charlie Shavers, Clark Terry, Chubby Jackson, Nat Pierce) and several familiar NYC studio musicians of the 1958 era. Good arrangements by Andy Gibson, Billy May and Bill Holman. Chubby Jackson's playing really helped propel this band and his bass sound comes through nicely in the mix.