duaneiac

That is an excellent photographic portrait of the artist as an experienced man. I'd say the photographer merits a mention if you have that info handy, soulpope. Now playing: Ahmad Jamal covering both Billy Joel and Steely Dan on this 1978 album?!?! My day just got a whole lot better!

It may be odd that my favorite tracks here are not the many Monk compositions, but the standards he interprets. It may not be a word often used to describe Monk, but I found this version of "Darn That Dream" to be rather touching; his playing sounded quite sincere. "Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland" is kind of sweet (another term not frequently associated with Monk). It is sweet in the obvious affection he has for the tune and it's sweet that, given a free hand to play/ record in this setting pretty much anything he desired, he chose to present this nearly forgotten ditty from days gone by. If Thelonious Monk thought this song was worth his attention, it's definitely worth our attention too, And "Nice Work If You Can Get It" -- that tag at the end, whoa, does that ever take things in a new and unexpected turn.

Which includes the albums: and

What a delightful album this is! And with a band like this, it's no surprise! Bass – Leonard Gaskin Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – Bob Wilber Drums – Don Lamond Electric Guitar – Mundell Lowe Piano – Hank Jones, Marty Napoleon Trombone – Vic Dickenson Trumpet – Emmett Berry, Ruby Braff Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Roy Eldridge

An album I was not aware of before. And looky here -- some more Bob Brookmeyer on piano!

You know you are old if I mention the phrase "And they call it Charlie" and you can instantly start humming the tune which once accompanied those words. Here are different versions of that long ago ad campaign. Bobby Short and Mel Torme are each featured singing the jingle in separate versions. It's interesting seeing that right after the Torme version, the ad company took things in a whole new direction with a country western themed ad. I'm guessing this was around the time Urban Cowboy was a box office hit and the whole country discovered country (and jazz fell even further into neglect).

A full album of jazz whistling with Bill Mays, Akira Tana and Steve La Spina as the rhythm section

Disc 2 of 2, which contains the episodes "The Spanish Suitcase" (pretty good) and "The Last Tram (from Clapham)" (meh), both from 1954.

Well, the 1970's were when Adrienne Barbeau, Suzanne Somers, Loni Anderson and Farrah Fawcett-Majors became TV stars because of their "talents" . . .

A Quincy Jones produced album. This is a really strong album, no disco (although one could easily dance to some of the tracks) and it concludes with a surprisingly good version of "Lush Life"

Oops. In all the recent 50th anniversary hoopla, how did I forget about this? Wow! I did not know that. Another one to hunt for. Thanks!

And here's something one would never see nowadays -- a TV commercial for a jazz album!!!

Disc 3 of 4, which includes the album A Musical Portrait of New Orleans (with Frankie Laine).

I enjoyed this Chick Corea & Bela Fleck pairing, although I guess they have another album (which I have not heard) together now, so it's no longer a one-off . . .

From the Making Lemonade Out of Lemons Dept. -- If you are suffering through part of the heat wave right now, the hot, sweaty weather does provide the perfect atmosphere for listening to a version of Porgy and Bess. Disc 1 of 2. I had not listened to this version of P&B in probably 20 years. Mel Torme as Porgy and yet somehow, we are not in Bizarroworld. It's hard to know what to make of this at times, making the reassuring presence of Al "Jazzbo" Collins as the narrator very welcome indeed. Gosh, I miss Jazzbo.

This is the other 2 CD set in this Columbia House series i recently got. As you can perhaps see from the track listings, there are quite a few more jazz artist represented here. Hoagy Carmichael is perhaps an instance of less being more. In order to get 40 tracks here, they had to dredge up some pretty awful songs. That Claude Thornhill track, "We're The Couple In The Castle", is such a steaming, fetid pile of overripe schmaltz that I could not make it to the end (and I'm one who is not averse to a little schmaltz in vintage recordings). It's horrible and I then come to find out -- not from the liner notes, since there are none in these sets -- that the lyrics were by Frank Loesser, one of my very favorite songwriters! The other titles there that seem unfamiliar to you, there's a reason why. Still, when just two of the melodies you've written are "Georgia On My Mind" and "Stardust" you've entitled to strike out a billion times and you still win. Yep, you just win. Then there is the issue which must be addressed on some of these tunes. If it would be too controversial nowadays to label the lyrics "racist", some of them certainly have uncomfortable racial overtones. Listeners might be willing to overlook it in a tune like "Lazybones" since the tune itself is kinda catchy, but there is no justifiable reason to include "Snowball" in this collection. It's hopelessly dated and racially insensitive and really not that strong a tune. Some songs deserve, if not to die, then to at least fade away when their time has passed. (Besides, 40 tunes and they didn't find room to include "Billy-a-Dick"? Now there's a tune!) "Memphis In June" is presented as an instrumental by the Harry James band. It's nice enough, but that tune is forever wedded in my mind to the very evocative and languid lyrics of Paul Francis Webster to really capture the essence of summer. There are two versions of "Rockin' Chair" (Frankie Laines the hell out of it!), but oddly enough, neither of them by Mildred Bailey, aka The Rockin Chair Lady. This version of "Baltimore Oriole" is done by someone who might politely be described as a caberret singer. Then there is "Stardust" by Louis Armstrong. It's hard to describe in words how much I love this recording. Each time I am hearing it I am laughing and like a baby I am crying (tears of joy, to be sure). (And oddly enough, it's probably only my second favorite recording of "Stardust" -- The Nat Cole version with those soaring strings, that's my favorite version. See, I told you I was not averse to schmaltz.) You get a really good vocal by Louis and his version of the lyrics bear a resemblance to the original words, but in Louis' hands they mean so much more. And then it hits you -- every time -- it hits you -- Oh memory . . . Oh memory . . . Oh memory . . . And the brilliance is, his tone and phrasing are such that you the listener can read into those "memories" whatever you want to. It could be a joyful memory or a sorrowful memory or a humorous memory or a romantic memory or a bittersweet memory -- you decide! And then there is Louis' trumpet solo. All I know is, Louis was Buddha and this trumpet solo is one of his more eloquent and most profound teachings. Not about music. Louis wasn't no damn music teacher. He learned music anywhere and everywhere and so should you if that's you're desire. No, Buddha Louis taught about LIFE in his music and our nasty, bickering, squabbling old world would be a much better place if more people took the time to listen and learn what he had to teach us.

And Senor Wences! Don't forget Senor Wences!

This 2 CD set is part of a series put out by Columbia House back around 1990. I've found some of them at the local library and I recently found a couple of them on sale for less than a buck each. These are far from jazz albums although there are jazz performers here. The only instrumental on the album is a version of "Lover" by the DBQ. Other jazz associated performers represented here include Buddy Greco, Jackie & Roy (their terrific "Mountain Greenery"), Tony Bennett (who really delivers the goods on "Nobody's Heart Belongs To Me") and Billie Holiday (although her sole entry here comes from her final Columbia album, which is far from my favorite of her recordings for that label). It's odd that such former Columbia recording artists as Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and Louis Armstrong are not represented here. There are no liner notes included at all, so the rest of the selections come from pop singers of the period (Doris Day, Vic Damone, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, The Four Lads, etc.) or what I assume were cast albums done specifically for a studio recording or as part of a Broadway revival of a show. The latter selections feature a number of singers I'm not familiar with (Mardi Bayne? Sandra Church? Beverly Fite? Marge Dodson?), but three of them feature actor/singer/sire of 1970's Tiger Beat idols Jack Cassidy. Every time I saw him on TV as a kid, he struck me as the creepiest man alive and hearing him sing "Babes In Arms" is a special kind of creepy. For me, some of the finest tracks here are the 5 from Mary Martin. If you only think of her as Peter Pan, you are overlooking one of the finest lyrical interpreters the GAS has known. She was quite a fluid singer, not a great range, but she could communicate the mood and meaning of a song so well. When Doris Day sings "Ten Cents A Dance", well, sorry, but I don't believer a word of it coming from her; from Mary Martin, I could. Here, Ms. Martin shines on fare ranging from "Johnny One Note" to "Where Or When"

When I was a lad, a local variety store which sold records among many other things, for a time, gave away free textbook covers (remember when you had to fold these unwieldy paper book covers around your grade school textbooks to protect them so they would still look good when you turned them in at the end of the year? Any one? Or am I revealing just how ancient I am here?) featuring the album cover art of popular albums of the day. I remember having this one. Mine too. The only Billy Joel album I own.