duaneiac

Hands really are difficult to draw correctly.

Disc 1 of 2. On the first Word Jazz album, the drummer was credited as "Forest Horn". Three guesses who that was! It had been a long time since I'd listened to these funny & moving stories told by one of my idols.

Earlier: A 1995 concert with Ray Brown and Mundell Lowe. To be honest, I couldn't really get into this one today, so I bailed about 3/4 of the way through. Now playing:

Given that there is still a version of the Four Freshmen out there today performing, touring and recording and that the group has an active worldwide fan club and that their fans tend to be an older and often more affluent crowd, it's probably no surprise that the set sold well. I don't know how many of those FF albums had been reissued on CD before that Mosaic set was issued, but I'm guessing the Four Freshmen albums were some of the ones Capitol Records most often received requests from fans for a CD reissue. I have the Mosaic set and dip into it rarely. Granted, a little bit of them can go a long way, but they did some terrific stuff. To be able to sing harmony like that and to be talented instrumentalists as well -- that's nothing to be dismissed out of hand, even if it is not to your musical taste. I listened to the Beach Boys' version of "Auld Lange Syne" over the holidays and it gave me chills. The FF influence on the BB is admitted and unmistakable and the best of the FF's recording can also give me chills like that. The FF are not an essential part of my musical diet, but I felt an obligation to speak up on their behalf.

I hope some record label will finally greenlight the Monty Plays Monty (aka Alexander Plays Python) album project so we can hear swinging jazz piano trio versions of "I Like Chinese", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Philosophers' Song", "Eric The Half-a-Bee", "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life", "Every Sperm Is Sacred" and "Anything Goes" (not that one, the other one).

See, the story I read somewhere was that it was written in honor of Dr. Woody after he had performed some very successful and much needed dental work on Woody Herman himself (and maybe one or two members of his band at that time). Most people assume it was written in honor of the more prominent Dr. Herb. Of course, maybe that's completely wrong. Perhaps some one like Marc Myers could contact the Wong family in the coming weeks to get them to clarify the matter. Sounds like the story of the Wong brothers would make a good column for his blog.

Dr. Elwood "Woody" Wong, the inspiration behind the above number, passed away at his home in Palo Alto, CA on Dec. 5th according to an obit printed in the San Jose Mercury News yesterday. Dr. Wong was 90. As a dentist, he served a number of notable musicians including Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt and Richie Cole. He was the brother of the jazz writer/broadcaster/educator, the late Dr. Herb Wong.

Disc 2 of 2

Jazz trombone virtuoso, Urban Clifford “Urbie” Green, 92, passed away on Monday, Dec. 31, 2018, at Saucon Valley Manor, Hellertown. He was the loving husband of actress and singer Catherine “Kathy” (Prestigiacomo) Green. Born Aug. 8, 1926, in Mobile, Alabama, son of the late Robert Eugene and Aurora (Blanche) Green, Urbie is known as the “trombonist’s trombonist” and is considered to be among the elite of the world’s trombone players, due to not only his mastery of the instrument, including his smooth, warm, mellow tone, but also his lyrical phrasing and beautiful solos. Continue reading here: https://www.poconorecord.com/obituaries/20190105/urban-clifford-urbie-green

Disc 1 of 2.

Wow! So cool that you got to meet Ray Ellington. I do like his singing and he was a versatile performer able to convincingly perform ballads, blues, bebop, R&B, etc. It was just a pleasant surprise to hear an instrumental selection by the quartet for a change. I agree completely about Max Geldray. His talent should be much better known/remembered.

They are all new to me. Has any one here heard any of these young musicians in performance? https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/01/12-new-jazz-artists-to-watch-in-2019.html

Earlier: Disc 1 of 2, which contains the episodes "The Great Regent's Park Swim" (which features Major Dennis Bloodknock's showstopping performance of "The Curry & Rice Waltz") and "The Space Age" (which features Major Dennis Bloodknock's showstopping performance of "The Darjeeling One-Step"), both from the Fall of '57. The latter program also has a rare instrumental feature by the Ray Ellington Quartet. Usually the group's numbers showcased the leader's vocals, so it was nice to hear the group stretch out a bit on "Satin Doll". On the first program, harmonica master Max Geldray played a number which I only know as "The Christmas Blues", but that would seem an odd choice for an Oct. program, so I wonder if that melody has another non-seasonal title. Now playing: This edition from the EU American Jazz Classics label also includes the album

Disc 3 of 3, with music from 1972-73. "Adios, Nonino" is one of the finest pieces of music of the 20th century, IMO.

Seeing your post the other day reminded me that I have not listened to anything from this boxed set in forever. I doubt if I have ever listened to all the discs. So, right now I am listening to Disc 4 of 6.

A 2 disc set featuring 1955 broadcasts.

One could do a lot worse than to begin the day with track 1 ("Here Comes The Sun") or track 15 ("New World Comin'") from this compilation. Ms. Simone did the near impossible as she out-Sinatraed Sinatra here with her incredible version of "My Way".

Not sure if this qualifies as a "movie", but I enjoyed it. It does drag a bit in places and could have used a little script tightening up (or some more interesting material for him to discuss), but it is a very moving performance. Never thought I would say this about a Bruce Springsteen show, but you will want to keep a box of Kleenex handy. If you don't want to watch it, the long story short is, even rock stars can have daddy issues. There, now you are free to use that 2 hours you could have spent watching this on something else.

I forgot about the little quote of "Those Were The Days" (the theme from All In The Family) RRK uses on here. I suppose I get this image of my musical heroes of the past wherein they dwelled in some lofty realm where all they did was play music, listen to music, think about music, talk about music. But they were all folks like us -- they consumed pop culture just like we did. I wonder if The Flying Nun that RRK "saw" was better than the one the rest of us were exposed to. The one disc "best of" version.